Diverse practicing methods are evidence of the importance of applying creativity in our practice regimes. Regardless of a player's technique - traditional or modern - it must be regularly practiced and then applied. One of the most common ways to do that is through practicing technical exercises, which generally means the practice of scales, arpeggios and etudes. These exercises generally function as a warm-up regime for all musicians, but this regime doesn't necessarily provide enough reference for the player in the learning process of a new piece. Adapting exercises to address technical difficulties in a newly learned piece can provide the player with a wide range of practice methods to use, to be creative, to be more aware while practicing, and to build a solid technical foundation for the newly learned piece. Two well-known pedagogues who applied this approach are German bassist Ludwig Streicher and Czech violinist Otakar Ševčik. By implementing analytical studies and composing exercises based on the standard repertoire, Ševčik and Streicher became highly influential teachers in the 20th century. Their work serves as a model in achieving the purposes of this dissertation: the assessment of technical difficulties and compilation of a technique booklet based on six unaccompanied contemporary solo pieces written as required works for the solo competition of the International Society of Bassists' biennial convention since 2007.

Contemporary repertoire is not commonly taught or explored by teachers during the intermediate level, when a student's musical training is transitioning to an advanced level. Nonetheless, it is important for piano instructors to be open-minded about contemporary music and have some perspective on the development of music repertoire in the future. The purpose of this dissertation is to provide a performance and pedagogical guide to Stephen Chatman's (b. 1950) Fantasies, from both technical and artistic viewpoints. The collection, which consists of eleven pieces, features a wide variety of contemporary idioms, styles, and means of notation. For instance, there are jazz-like syncopated rhythms, asymmetrical accents reminiscent of Primitivism, and Impressionistic or dissonant sonorities. Fantasies is not only a valuable tool for students to explore new sounds and improve their performing techniques while executing nontraditional notations and contemporary idioms, it is also a great teaching resource for instructors to promote students' musicality through hearing, seeing, and thinking. In this study, I provide individual, detailed descriptions for each of the pieces in the score, adding examples on how to address the difficulties they present to the performer. As a result, instructors can better understand how to help students prepare to perform this collection and spark their interest in playing contemporary music.

The present dissertation consists in an original composition for solo piano, titled Seven Nocturnes (2020). The score is preceded by a critical essay in which I discuss the overall aesthetic and formal qualities of the work, its musical, philosophical, theoretical, and historical background, as well as specific performance suggestions for future interpreters. Particular emphasis is given to the work's experimental use of musical time and original approach in relating expanded time with directional harmony.

This study explores text and music relations in Canadian composer Violet Archer’s “The Twenty-Third Psalm” by analysing the text of Psalm 23, Fibonacci numbers, melodic contours, motives, and the role of the accompaniment. The text focuses on David’s faith in God and his acceptance of God as his shepherd on earth. The four other approaches allow us to examine the work on three different structural levels: background through Fibonacci numbers, middleground through melodic contour analysis, and foreground through motivic analysis and the role of the accompaniment. The measure numbers that align with Fibonacci numbers overlap with some of the melodic contour phrases, which are demarcated by rests, as well as with the most important moments at the surface level, such as the emphasis on the word “death” through recurring and symbolic motives. The piano accompaniment further supports these moments in the text.

This dissertation examines an Indonesian-North American version of an evolving, transnational and hybrid multimedia art form which has come about through forty years of adaptations made by cross-culturally located artists in creative conversation with Indonesian performers involved in the Javanese and Balinese forms of musical theatre known as wayang. Wayang theatre employs puppets and other components including gamelan music (Indonesian percussion instruments, drums, flutes, strings and vocals). Given this complexity, there are many possibilities for variations, changes, and hybridization. In this research project, I analyze aspects of this hybrid performance by analyzing select Indonesian-North American wayang performances, as case studies. In order to isolate complex changes and various adaptations of wayang performances in the North American setting, I also analyze and contextualize a hybridization of Javanese and Balinese wayang performances. As a performance art form, wayang has always been changing historically—at some points more quickly and dramatically than at other periods of time, thus resisting firm categorization that would provide a baseline for comparison. I have developed the wahiyang theoretical framework as an analytical tool to identify the influence of North American culture on the wayang performances in my case studies. I argue that new genre of wayang is emerging, creating a hybridized form that I call wahiyang gaya NA. This process has progressed to the point that wahiyang gaya NA can be said to represent a new genre of multimedia world art, which combines elements of local and global artistic practises, making the form even more flexible and adaptable than its original forms in Indonesia. The gradual spread and popularization of wayang in North America has definite historical contexts, namely the early 19th-to-mid 20th century conjunction of decolonization and Third World nationalism, with the more recent decades’ layering of multiculturalism and push towards conscious cultural responses to economic globalization. This developing continuum of new hybrid forms spans a spectrum of cultural inclusion and expansion of wayang and new components. At times these may be seen as wayang influence upon Western performance practice; at other times an entire Indonesian wayang production with additional elements added from Western music, theater, and other disciplines may be presented. These developments signify an enhanced and expanded exchange of cultural products between the nations of the world, taking place in an expanded space for dialogue between the artists of the developed and developing countries. I will show, using case studies, how this process has produced and is producing a new branch of wayang as part of a continuum of hybridized wayang forms. By examining selected performance collaborations that have taken place over the last 40 years, I will provide a detailed analysis, which for the first time, lays out the components that constitute the variation of wayang art performance that has developed in response to geographical and cultural contexts of the Pacific Northwest of USA and Westcoast Canada. / Graduate / 2018-04-12 / 0377, 0357, 0465 / sutrisno@uvic.ca

La version intégrale de cette thèse est disponible uniquement pour consultation individuelle à la Bibliothèque de musique de l'Université de Montréal (www.bib.umontreal.ca/MU). / Cette étude vise à mettre en lumière le rôle important de la Société de musique contemporaine du Québec, des Événements du Neuf, de l’Ensemble contemporain de Montréal et du Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, quatre organismes qui ont présenté en concert 515 programmes de musique contemporaine au Québec entre 1966 et 2006. Ces sociétés se distinguent en fonction des genres représentés, des générations d’artistes, mais aussi de l’évolution des esthétiques. Toutefois, elles ont en commun le même objectif qui est de faire connaître la musique contemporaine en commandant, créant et diffusant les œuvres incontournables du répertoire contemporain d’ici et d’ailleurs. De plus, ces sociétés servent à la fois de médiateur entre le public et les créateurs et de catalyseur d’événements artistiques marquants, comme la Symphonie du millénaire (SMCQ) ou le Forum international des jeunes compositeurs (NEM). L’étude historique et l’analyse des orientations artistiques et des activités de concerts de la SMCQ, des Événements du Neuf, de l’ECM et du NEM permettront de dévoiler une nouvelle dimension de l’histoire musicale au Québec au cours de la seconde moitié du XXe siècle. Une fois posées les balises historiques qui entourent la fondation des sociétés à l’étude, une analyse détaillée de leur programmation met en relief l’appartenance des œuvres des compositeurs les plus connus à des courants esthétiques particuliers. Cette analyse est réalisée à partir de l’inventaire des concerts qui retrace de la façon la plus précise possible les données factuelles les concernant (date, lieu, titre), les noms des compositeurs et les titres des œuvres, l’instrumentation et les interprètes. Au final, l’analyse des concerts met en évidence le développement d’un répertoire de musique contemporaine au Québec à travers de grands axes de programmation. On peut ainsi mieux comprendre en quoi ces sociétés ont joué un rôle essentiel dans le développement des tendances esthétiques variées et en quoi elles ont ainsi modelé le milieu de la création musicale québécoise pendant quarante ans. / This study aims to bring to light the important role of four organizations who presented through concert 515 contemporary music programs in Quebec between 1966 and 2006: Société de musique contemporaine du Québec, Événements du Neuf, Ensemble contemporain de Montréal, and Nouvel Ensemble Moderne. These groups are unique in terms of genre, artist generation, and evolution of esthetics. However, they share the same objective, which is to spread awareness of contemporary music by commissioning, creating, and diffusing inescapable pieces of the contemporary repertoire locally and internationally. Furthermore, these societies serve at once as mediator between the public and the artists, and as catalyst for notable artistic events, as the Symphonie du millénaire (SMCQ), or the Forum international des jeunes compositeurs (NEM). The historical study and the analysis of the artistic directions and of the activities of SMCQ, Événements du Neuf, ECM, and NEM will allow for the unveiling of a new dimension of music history in Quebec during the second half of the 20th century. Once the historical markers that surround the foundation of the societies under consideration have been laid out, a detailed analysis of their programming underlines the particular esthetic trends to which the work of the best-known composers belongs. This analysis is accomplished by taking as precise inventory of the concerts as possible, which retraces the concert data (date, place, title), the composers’ names, the titles of the pieces, the instrumentation, and the interpreters. Finally, the analysis of the concerts displays the main programming principles underlying the development of a contemporary music repertoire. This allows better understanding of how these societies have contributed on varied esthetical tendancies development and how they shaped the milieu of Québécois musical creation during forty years.

La version intégrale de cette thèse est disponible uniquement pour consultation individuelle à la Bibliothèque de l'Université de Montréal (www.bib.umontreal.ca/MU). / Cette thèse portant sur le potentiel musical des analyses sonores consiste en une recherche créative et artistique portant sur des propriétés caractéristiques du comportement sonore mis en lumière via divers types d'analyses et susceptibles d'assister la composition musicale. Ce travail présente l'élaboration des outils d'analyses programmés et utilisés à cette fin, en plus d'un corpus de 6 oeuvres dont l'ordre de présentation correspond à leur chronologie d'écriture, et dont la conception et l'analyse musicales sont inégalement exposées (du bref aperçu au survol exhaustif). Au fur et à mesure de la recherche, le répertoire ci-développé intègre, par élargissement conceptuel, des considérations analytiques pour d'autres phénomènes vibratoires (comme la lumière ou l'harmonie des sphères) et, esthétiquement, toute cette démarche est fondée sur le concept aristotélicien de la mimesis, où l'idéal artistique consiste en la sublimation de la nature. / This thesis about the musical potential of sound analysis consists in an artistic and creative research on characteristic properties of sound behavior revealed by various types of analysis and likely to assist musical composing. This work presents the elaboration of analysis tools programmed and used on purpose, in addition of a corpus of six works which the order of presentation corresponds to their chronology of writing, and which both conception and musical analysis are unevenly exposed (from brief to exhaustive overviews). As the research occurs, the featured repertory integrates, by a conceptual enlargement, some analytic considerations for other vibratory phenomena (as light or the harmony of the spheres) and, aesthetically, all that approach is founded on the aristotelician concept of mimesis, in which the artistic ideal consists in the sublimation of nature.

L’objectif de la recherche est d’apporter une contribution musicologique et psychologique à la compréhension de la fonction de transformation symbolique non verbale intervenant au cœur de la psyché humaine. L’objet-flux musical, porté par une onde vibratoire, énergie en mouvement, n’est pas un objet naturel, mais un objet issu de la psyché humaine conçu pour agir sur d’autres psychés humaines. Il semblerait, et ce n’est qu’une hypothèse de travail, que le compositeur aurait la capacité de coder ses émotions en ondes musicales et de les transmettre à l’auditeur, sujet sensible à certaines longueurs d’ondes du penser musical, qui les décoderait. L’objet de la thèse est l’existence d’une communication infraverbale, intuitive, globale et directe entre une œuvre de musique non tonale et l’auditeur à travers l’étude de productions visuelles et de productions écrites, réalisées par cinquante-neuf sujets en situation d’écoute d’extraits musicaux de Stravinski et de Ligeti. Est-il possible d’élargir le domaine d’application du concept de schème de résonance émotionnelle d’Imberty à la musique de compositeurs du xxe siècle ? Quelles autres représentations psychiques sont investies par les sujets en situation d’écoute musicale ? / The objective of research is to make a musicological and psychological contribution to the understanding of not verbal symbolic transformation occurring in the heart of the human psyche. The musical object-flow, carried by a vibratory wave, an energy in movement, is not a natural object, but an object stemming from the human psyche conceived to act on the other human psyches. It would seem, and it is only a working hypothesis, that the composer would have the capacity to code his feelings in musical waves and to pass on them to the auditor, subject sensitive to certain wavelengths of musical thinking, who would decode them. The object of the thesis is the existence of an infraverbale communication, intuitive, global and direct between not tonal music work and the auditor through the study of visual productions and written productions realized by fifty nine subjects in situation of listening musical extracts of Stravinski and Ligeti. Is it possible to widen the application field of Imberty’s concept, schème de résonance émotionnelle, into the xxe century music ? What other psychic representations are invested by the subjects in situation of musical listening ?

Esta dissertação discorre sobre os problemas relativos à performance de três obras brasileiras do repertório contemporâneo para flauta solo: Les silences d´un étrange jardin de Silvio Ferraz, Variações de Marisa Rezende e Sete palavras e um punhal de Aylton Escobar. As obras foram analisadas sob a ótica da análise técnico-interpretativa, com destaque às questões relativas às técnicas expandidas para flauta. Investiguei os problemas técnicos de execução em minúcias e procurei descrever as soluções que agregassem o gestual sonoro ao físico. Concluo ressaltando a importância do relacionamento compositor-performer para a criação e execução deste repertório. De maneira geral, todas as três obras dão uma grande liberdade ao intérprete: Les silences destaca-se pela variedade de técnicas expandidas; a obra de Marisa Rezende apesar da simplicidade aparente pode ser interpretada virtuosisticamente enquanto Sete palavras e um punhal o principal desafio é a preparação dos tapes o uso da fala exigidas pela partitura, a qual os músicos não estão habituados. / This thesis deals with the performance problems of three contemporary works from the Brazilian repertoire for solo flute: Les silences d´un Étrange Jardin by Silvio Ferraz, Variações by Marisa Rezende and Sete Palavras e um Punhal by Aylton Escobar. The pieces were analyzed from a technical-interpretive point of view, with emphasis on extended technique for the flute. I investigated the technical performance practice problems thoroughly while seeking to encounter solutions which combine sonorous and physical gestures. In general, all the pieces give a great deal of freedom to the performer. Les silences displays a great variety of extended techniques while Rezendes work, in spite of its apparent simplicity, could be played with virtuosity. The two main challenges of Sete palavras e um punhal are the preparation of the tapes and with the use the spoken language during performance, a situation to which musicians are normally not accustomed. I conclude by emphasizing the importance of the performer-composer relationship in the creation and performance of this repertoire.

The early-twentieth-century culture in western art music of idolizing the composer as the autonomous creative genius has been challenged by recent developments across musicology and creativity research literature. The composer’s music is now regarded as the product of a collaborative network, influenced by all who come into contact with it—first and foremost the performer. Yet, the nature of the performer’s creative impact on the compositional process remains under-explored. This thesis is centred on a qualitative artistic research project, designed to identify and critically evaluate the prospective extent and scope of creative performer agency; it aims to ascertain how a typical lack of familiarity with the instrument may affect the composer’s creative practice, and to reveal key factors that shape the nature and the consequences of composer-performer interaction and collaboration. It proceeds by commissioning new works for guitar from a range of composers for different performers, and by documenting and analysing the processes of collaboration that result. This research agenda challenges the perception of distinct creative roles that remains resilient in present-day cultural understandings and discourse. The findings are intended to broaden understanding of contemporary collaborative practices in the compositional process for the guitar and generalize to the guitar repertoire of the long twentieth century, during which the majority of substantial works were composed in collaboration. The thesis also contributes to a developing and generalizable framework of practice-led research literature that analyses music-making by recognizing the multiple loci and their interactions that underpin all aspects of the creative processes. Chapter 1 discusses the establishment of the creative hegemony of the composer and its opposing currents across disciplines from the late romantic period to the late twentieth century. Chapter 2 comprises an indicative chronology of select collaborations in the long twentieth-century guitar repertoire and an overview of relevant practice-led research projects in performance studies. Ethnographic methodologies are reviewed in Chapter 3 and the fieldwork commissions are analysed in Chapters 4 and 5. Finally, Chapter 6 comprises an evaluation of the performer’s creative agency and its significance when placed in broader frameworks of contemporary guitar practices, contemporary composition across instrumentations, generalizing to historical guitar collaboration and its implications for creativity research.