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 essay investigates interpretations of evil as expressed in contemporary music, focusing mainly on lyrics in contemporary popular music. The purpose is to analyze whether there is acertain aesthetic embracing of risk and innovation on display when discussing such subject matters, and to relate such aesthetic connotations to cultural and religious aspects. Lyrical interpretations of evil in a musical context appear to be existent in different forms andare in various ways attempts to integrate the existence of evil acts, as leading to suffering and pain, by incorporating such themes into lyrical material. There appears to be a possible aesthetic embraced when artists are advocating evil acts, however, not totally separable from the aesthetics of the extreme metal scene. Such forms of creative practice appear as reliant on the dialectic between historical perceptions of morality,modern society as globalized, segmented and restructured and the reoccurrence of religion in a secularized perspective. Themes regarding evil appear in this form of aesthetic in different ways to traditional discourse; making use of historical and contemporary images of evil and portraying them as desirable in various ways. In some instances such creative release is also linked to religious belief and practise, making the artistic performance equivalent of a transcendental event.

The puzzle known as tangram was the inspiration behind this composition. Just as the seven pieces of the tangram create shapes, seven contrasting musical fragments appear as thematic materials from which to draw sonic imagery. Sapphic Fragments for two sopranos This composition was constructed from “broken” materials - an analogy for Sappho's dismembered poem. These broken materials were arranged in a pointillistic manner. I drew inspiration from M.C. Escher's works to vary thematic fragments of this work. M.O.N.T.A.G.E. for flute, clarinet, violin and cello This work was influenced by the video work, Wantee, by artist, Laure Prouvost. The title, M.O.N.T.A.G.E., is an acrostic, using words that show intimate relations with my composition: Multicolour, Oscillation, Numbers, Television, the Artist, Gleam, Etc. Once Emerged from the Grey of Night for flute, clarinet, horn, violin, viola and cello This sextet consists of numerous fragments with various colours and textures, forming a musical collage. A picture-poem by Paul Klee offered the starting point for this work. Scale-Free Spaces for flute, guitar, viola and cello I drew compositional ideas from the video installation, Irreversible, by artist Norimichi Hirakawa. This quartet was composed of brief fragments of dots, lines and movements. Various fragments were structured in forms of both simplicity and complexity. For the latter, ideas were drawn from the study in randomness, ‘Scale-Free Network’. String Quartet no. 3 This composition consists of four movements. In the first and third movements, the sound of rain drops and images of light through stained glass are explored. The second and fourth movements effect a structural metamorphoses of musical elements. I drew inspiration from Kafka's novella The Metamorphosis. A Thousand Plateaux for orchestra In this orchestral work, a variety of images of both plateaux and movements were invoked. The work was inspired by both the book, A Thousand Plateaux by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, and the Alhambra palace in Granada, Spain.

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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.

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.

The purpose of this dissertation is to offer a pedagogical guide to Woodsprite and Waterbug Collection (1977) by Dan Beaty (1937-2002) through an analysis of its pedagogical values and teaching applications. This set consists of twelve short, intermediate-level pieces, featuring various contemporary idioms. Each piece is also pedagogically written to help intermediate students to refine specific pianistic techniques beyond the elementary level. In addition, Beaty's collection expands students' musical vision and musicianship for more advanced studies via the incorporation of contemporary music theory and techniques. These qualities make Woodsprite and Waterbug Collection a valuable tool for intermediate piano students. It is also useful for instructors searching for repertoire to introduce contemporary idioms. The author hopes that this study will encourage performers, teachers and scholars to consider this work and Beaty's other piano compositions. By studying Woodsprite and Waterbug Collection, students will be more appreciative of contemporary repertoire and will welcome learning similar pieces in the future.

In Chinese contemporary piano music, large-scale piano compositions featuring innovative polyphonic musical languages are rarely found. Chang-Lei Zhu's Ballade for Solo Piano represents his development of contrapuntal techniques passed on from J. S. Bach and Dmitri Shostakovich in their polyphonic works for solo keyboard or piano. This study focuses on an analysis of Zhu's Ballade as an idiosyncratic composition that makes a significant contribution to the Chinese contemporary piano music repertory. Comparative analysis is made of Zhu's Ballade and J.S. Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier Books 1 and 2, as well as Dmitri Shostakovich's 24 Preludes and Fugues for Solo Piano, Op. 87. Zhu, a living Chinese composer born in 1976, uniquely writes the twenty variations of his Ballade based on the opening theme, a single melody in ten subphrases. This research lays out the close relationship of the opening theme with twenty variations in the Ballade. This study also illustrates how Zhu is an innovative voice in Chinese contemporary piano music literature. This comparative study constitutes the first scholarly study of Zhu's Ballade. Chapter 1 is an introduction to my comparative study. In chapter 2, comparisons on selected excerpts are conducted between Zhu's Ballade and J.S. Bach's WTC, Books 1 and 2, as well as Dmitri Shostakovich's Op. 87. Taking into consideration the pedagogical function of the Ballade, this study includes how the work can be used in Zhu's Ballade in piano pedagogy as an addition in chapter 3.

The author of this thesis endeavours to create a comprehensive portrait of Hanuš Bartoň, a Czech contemporary composer, pianist, and academic educator. The thesis is focused on his compositions and his contribution as a pianist and a teacher with the aim to establish a practical source of information. This source ought to fulfil both its musicological potential, especially concerning the analysis of Czech classical music of the end of the 20th century up till now, as well as its potential in the field of education, noting Bartoň's works for children and his academic pedagogical contribution. The thesis is systematically organised into several parts. The main body starts with the composer's biography. The attention then moves to his compositions, which are systematically presented and commented on from the perspective of Bartoň's musical style development and its tendencies. His works adhere to the postmodern ideal considering the fact that the music deals in a specific way with the synthesis of stylistic elements. The scope of his oeuvre is relatively wide. It mostly encompasses instrumental pieces, although there are many others including, for example, musical-dramatic works, vocal pieces, electroacoustic music, and music for the theatre. The individual compositions and their performances are...

Over the last two decades Bongo Fleva music has become a popular form of entertainment as well as a key cultural element among Tanzanian urban youth. The objective of this paper is to examine the role of pseudonyms in this musical genre in Tanzania. It focuses on how Bongo Fleva artists adopt their pseudonyms and discusses their role in identity formation among urban youths in contemporary Tanzania. The paper argues that pseudonyms in Bongo Fleva, as in various other fields, have an important role to play in portraying one’s identity, culture, characteristics, profile, actions, hope and imagination.