“I am the wife of Mao Tse-tung” is an aria from the opera “Nixon in China”, written by American composer John Adams in 1987. My interest in contemporary music is driven by the opportunity to engage directly with living composers and the modern relevance of the themes. While searching for a new audition aria, I discovered the role of Chiang Ch’ing, which suits my coloratura soprano voice. This prompted an in-depth study of her historical background, reversing my usual method of learning an aria. This approach allowed for quicker and deeper internalization of the role, demonstrating that understanding a character's context can enhance performance, even without personal empathy. This method improved my connection with the audience and enriched my overall performance. I plan to apply this approach to future roles, whether they are based on historical figures or fictional characters.

This treatise has been prepared largely because of an increasing interest in contemporary music and an awareness on the part of many music educators of its merits in the curriculum of public schools and colleges. Since contemporary music is a controversial subject among directors, it has become necessary to search for specific, positive approaches to the teaching of contemporary music in high school.

En un peu plus d’un siècle, la musique contemporaine s’est construite à Taiwan un univers bien réel et au vu de son histoire, elle a conquis une place certes modeste, mais indéniable.À l’échelle de ce petit pays, Taiwan a la particularité d’avoir accumulé des cultures et des régimes politiques différents qui se sont succédé au gré des bouleversements politiques depuis la fin du XIXe siècle qui ont fortement interrogé les habitants de cette île. De la création du terme « taiwanais » par le colonisateur japonais à un retour forcé à une « Chine classique » au temps du Kuomintang (KMT) puis vers une identité sino-taiwanaise, pour aboutir à une « taiwanitude ». Au fil du temps et des événements, s’opère un glissement d’une identité fantasmée à une identité politique, puis d’une identité culturelle à une identité artistique. La musique contemporaine s’est construite au cœur de cette complexité historique de Taiwan où les compositeurs ont dû se confronter à de nombreux écueils en s'enrichissant de cette complexité.Loin d’une dilution vers un style international, la musique contemporaine de Taiwan, qui s’est épanouie en symbiose avec la société civile, en emprunte aussi les traits les plus marquants, faits d’un certain dynamisme et de l’absence d’a priori. Sans oublier ses racines multiples, qui sont un atout et non plus un questionnement, les acteurs de la musique contemporaine à Taiwan assimilent de l’Occident technique et savoir-faire, pour les restituer avec leur propre génie sous une forme novatrice qui exprime bien l’originalité taiwanaise et qui laisse augurer de belles œuvres à venir. / Within a little less than a century, contemporary music has acquired a real presence in Taiwan, and while this may be admittedly modest, it is undeniably well established in view of the country's turbulent history. Since the end of the 19th century, Taiwan was created within a context of successive cultural and political upheavals - from the creation of the term “Taiwanese” by Japanese colonial powers, to a forced return to “Pan-Chinese culture” at the time of the Kuomintang (KMT) dictatorship, then on to a Sino-Taiwanese culture, and eventually leading to the notion of “Taiwanitude” - resulting in a strong sense of self-examination by its inhabitants, Through the course of time and events, a shift has occurred for Taiwanese composers of contemporary music, in which an imagined identity becomes a political identity, and a cultural identity becomes an artistic identity. Contemporary music has been engrained within the heart of the historical complexity of Taiwan, yet not without some obstacles for composers.Far from moving towards a diluted international style, Taiwanese contemporary music, which has blossomed in symbiosis with civil society, takes on the most notable traits of its society, made up of a certain dynamism and the absence of a priori. Without forgetting their diverse roots, Taiwanese contemporary music composers have assimilated Western technique and savoir-faire in order to render their own form of innovative genius which truly expresses Taiwanese originality, while showing great promise for works of future generations.

Après la Révolution culturelle, toute une génération de compositeurs de Chine continentale a émergé sur la scène internationale. Ce mouvement est indissociable de la mondialisation artistique, puisque beaucoup de ces compositeurs se sont dispersés dans le monde pour se construire hors de leur contexte culturel d’origine. C’est à Chen Zhen, un plasticien chinois de la même génération, que nous avons emprunté les trois concepts de « résidence, résonance et résistance », pour éclairer leurs trajectoires. 1 Résidence Comment relier par cette notion des compositeurs qui vivent aux États-Unis, en Europe, et même … en Chine ? Ce n’est pas dans la géographie qu’il faut chercher un ancrage commun, mais plutôt dans l’histoire. Dix années de Révolution culturelle, suivies de dix années d’ouverture, ont façonné très fortement cette génération.2 Résonance Dans la délicate alchimie à opérer entre techniques occidentales et traditions musicales chinoises, on repère une sorte de circulation entre différentes couches de mémoire. L’étude des œuvres permet de voir combien les influences s’enchevêtrent.3 Résistance On note chez nombre de compositeurs chinois une volonté de se démarquer de la musique contemporaine occidentale : univers incontournable pour être reconnu, elle semble avoir opéré à la manière d’une sorte de « surmoi ». On peut y voir la résurgence de l’idéal esthétique chinois ancien du naturel (ziran), mais aussi un accommodement aux lois du marché. / After the Cultural Revolution, a whole generation of Chinese composers arrived on the international music scene. It is not possible to dissociate this movement from the artistic globalisation, since almost all of these composers are spread out over the different continents and are working outside of their original cultural context. To clarify the paths taken by these composers, we shall use the categories (“residence, resonance and resistance”) elaborated by Chen Zhen, a Chinese visual artist of the same generation1. ResidenceHow can we possibly group together under this term composers living in the United States, Europe and even … in China? We cannot look to geography to find a common basis but rather to history. Ten years of the Cultural Revolution followed by another ten where China had opened to the West have had a very strong impact on this generation of composers.2. ResonanceIn the delicate alchemy that takes place between Western technique and Chinese musical tradition, we can see a certain inter-penetration of different layers of memory. Studying the works of these composers, we can see how much these influences become entangled.3. ResistanceWe can notice with many of these Chinese composers a growing tendency to take distance from Western contemporary music, a world essential to be part of, if one wants recognition, acting as a kind of Super-Ego. We can see this phenomenon like the resurgence of very old Chinese aesthetic concept, the ideal of the “natural” (ziran) or like a compromise with the market power.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-05T18:23:08Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 5 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Esta pesquisa busca compreender de que modo as disputas sociais se manifestam na crítica musical jornalística. Através de investigação das aproximações constituídas entre os campos musical e mediático, bem como de análise das estratégias editoriais da crítica musical do jornal Folha de S. Paulo, nos meses de maio e junho de 2003, discute-se em que medida se proporciona uma conversação polêmica sobre a música contemporânea. / This research tries to understand in which way the social disputes are manifestated in the journalistic musical review. Through the investigation of the constituted approach between the musical and the mediatic areas, as well the analyse of the editorial startegies of the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper, in the months from may to june of 2003, it is dicussed in which level a polemic conversation is provided about the contemporary music

A presente pesquisa traça um percurso referencial artístico que culminou num gênero de performance digital denominado electropera. Este gênero híbrido é formado pelo encontro, numa mesma arena, da performance art, da música contemporânea assistida por tecnologias eletrônicas digitais e das mídias visuais manipuladas (cinema found footage e vídeo arte). A pesquisa parte da abordagem da performance na música com preocupações analíticas acerca da construção da persona no performer musical; caminha para os desdobramentos sonoros nas vanguardas e alcança os movimentos de música experimental resultantes da contracultura dos anos 60; analisa as concepções estéticas de alguns compositores referenciais que saíram dos limites restritivos da escrita musical e optaram pela inserção de múltiplas linguagens em suas obras e lança um olhar analítico sobre novo papel das mulheres como performers e conceptoras de trabalhos musicais no universo da multimídia. A síntese de toda essa genealogia conceitual, histórica e auto-referencial culminou com a produção e a análise crítica e processual de um trabalho pessoal, a electropera Ópio. / This research traces the referential path which culminated in a gender of digital performance entitled electropera. This hybrid gender is constituted by the encounter, in a same arena, of performance art, contemporary music assisted by digital electronic technologies and the manipulation of visual medias such as found footage and video art. This study analytically approaches performance in music by focusing on the elaboration of a persona by the musical performer. Including the sonorous developments on the avant-garde movements through the resulting experimental music derived from the sixties counter-culture and the conceptual aesthetics of some chosen composers which transgressed the restrictive boundaries of musical composition by encompassing multiple art forms. Allowing an analytical glimpse on the new role of women as performers and creators of musical works in the multimedia universe. The synthesis of this conceptual historicized and self-referential genealogy culminated in the production, critical and process analyses of an authorial work, the electropera Ópio.

Ce travail propose d'observer l’effet de différentes structures musicales, extraites du courant musical minimaliste, sur la perception auditive temporelle d'adolescents musiciens et non-musiciens. Pour entreprendre cette recherche, nous avons dû d'abord définir notre conception du temps musical ainsi que son impact supposé sur la perception auditive.Une fois le corpus d’œuvres minimalistes sélectionné, une analyse musicale des extraits sonores retenus pour l’élaboration de deux expérimentations a été réalisée. Elle est destinée à justifier le choix de ces extraits et à définir les procédés d'écriture mis en œuvre, susceptibles d'altérer la perception de la durée chez les sujets. Deux expériences, une tâche de catégorisation libre et une tâche d’évaluation de durées, sont présentées sous la forme de protocoles expérimentaux, permettant d’exposer le déroulement de chacune, de commenter les résultats obtenus et d’expliquer les méthodes de calcul afin de formuler une interprétation des résultats.D’après les résultats observés, seulement certains procédés d’écriture utilisés par les compositeurs minimalistes semblent avoir un effet sur la perception des structures musicales et sur l’estimation de leur durée. Ces résultats sont valables pour les deux groupes de sujets, ce qui prouve que l’expérience musicale antérieure n’a pas d’effet majeur sur la perception de la durée dans un contexte musical. / This work proposes to observe the effect of various musical structures, extracted from the minimalist musical current, on temporal auditive perception of musician and non-musician adolescents. In order to undertake this research, we had to first define our conception of musical time as well as its supposed impact on auditive perception. Once the minimalist musical work corpus was selected, a musical analysis of the sound excerpts chosen for the elaboration of two experiments was done. It was destined to justify the selection of these excerpts and to define the writing processes at work, liable to distort duration perception of the subjects. Two experiments, a free categorization task and a duration evaluation task, are presented as experimental protocols in order to show their progression, to comment the obtained results and to explain the computing methods allowing to formulate an interpretation of the results. According to the results, only some writing processes used by minimalist composers seem to have an effect on perception of musical structures and their duration estimation. The results are valid for both subject groups, which proves that previous musical experience does not have a major effect on duration perception in musical context.

This thesis addresses critical strategies that have been used, or might be used, to approach Pärt's tintinnabuli music. It has three main objectives: to question prevalent narratives drawn around the tintinnabuli concept, to suggest interpretative frameworks that could yield fresh insights into that concept's 'meaning', and to introduce new and neglected materials to anglophone Pärt discourse. In studying the mediating role of the tintinnabuli scholar, I also confront some of the ethical challenges associated with research on living composers. This project places special emphasis on localised narratives of production and influence in Pärt's music, and draws extensively on Estonian primary source material. A major hermeneutic guide has been the composer's 1994 description of seeking 'the appropriate system for the gesture', and this idea figures in each of the four main chapters. Chapter 1 describes and questions existing knowledge around tintinnabuli, approaching this task through a study of "Wenn Bach Bienen Gezüchtet Hätte ...", a work chosen for its critically fertile 'cusp' status. Chapter 2 concentrates on Pärt's explorations of 'Soviet serialism' from 1960-3, engaging with withdrawn and film scores in addition to the well-known "Nekrolog". I discuss this music in terms of a complex freedom-constraint interplay, and suggest links to the tintinnabuli style. Taking "Sarah Was Ninety Years Old" as a case study, Chapter 3 turns to listener-oriented frameworks of musical meaning. I offer an experiential reading of the piece that places tintinnabuli in dialogue with body-based theories of cognition. Lastly, Chapter 4 addresses texted tintinnabuli. I build up a reading of "Miserere" in terms of 'musical rhetoric', comparing Pärt's compositional strategies to those used by Josquin des Prez in the 1503 motet "Miserere Mei, Deus". I also consider the implications of music-rhetorical analogy for wider understandings of the 'tintinnabuli' concept.

O trabalho investiga o processo de construção das performances das obras para piano solo da compositora carioca Marisa Rezende (1944), considerando a interação entre intérprete e compositora. Até o momento, a obra pianística de Marisa Rezende é constituída pelas obras Ressonâncias (1983), Contrastes (2001) e Miragem (2011). Através da documentação de seu processo de construção da performance das obras, das mensagens eletrônicas trocadas com Marisa Rezende, e do material documentado em áudio e vídeo proveniente do trabalho presencial realizado com a compositora, o autor avalia o impacto que essa interação ocasionou em suas decisões interpretativas. / This work investigates the process of creating an interpretation of the works for solo piano by Brazilian composer Marisa Rezende (Rio de Janeiro, 1944). At the present time, Rezende’s works for solo piano comprise Ressonâncias (1983), Contrastes (2001), and Miragem (2011). This investigation considers the contributions of the interaction between the performer and the composer. By documenting the process of creating an interpretation for these works prior to working jointly with the composer, and the interactions with Rezende through electronic messages and an audio/video recording of a working session with the composer, the author assesses the impact of those interactions on his interpretative decisions.

Submitted by Valquíria Barbieri (kikibarbi@hotmail.com) on 2018-02-02T20:43:04Z No. of bitstreams: 1 DISS_2013_Jasson Andre Ferreira Sobrinho.pdf: 16536373 bytes, checksum: 32447dd0fcc830d5aad7f8926009090d (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Jordan (jordanbiblio@gmail.com) on 2018-02-03T13:17:29Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 DISS_2013_Jasson Andre Ferreira Sobrinho.pdf: 16536373 bytes, checksum: 32447dd0fcc830d5aad7f8926009090d (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-02-03T13:17:29Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DISS_2013_Jasson Andre Ferreira Sobrinho.pdf: 16536373 bytes, checksum: 32447dd0fcc830d5aad7f8926009090d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-03-26 / Dentro das possibilidades de procedimentos e materiais sonoros utilizados no processo de composição musical contemporâneo, o uso das técnicas estendidas tem sido um elemento transformador e marcante da percepção sonora e visual desta música de concerto. Falando especificamente do saxofone, as técnicas estendidas têm estado presentes em muitas obras compostas para o instrumento, fazendo com que as pessoas envolvidas neste processo de realização musical sejam levadas a se deparar com constantes e novas possibilidades de composição e interpretação. O presente trabalho tem como objetivo traçar, através das técnicas estendidas, um panorama estético e propor discussões sobre alguns processos composicionais presentes nas obras de concerto contemporâneas para saxofone. Analisando a utilização destas sonoridades em obras específicas juntamente com as necessidades relacionadas à execução geradas por tais sonoridades, procuramos partir da percepção e compreensão das rupturas ocorridas nos processos criativos, culminando na necessidade de expansão das técnicas composicionais e performáticas por parte de intérpretes e compositores. Como parte importante do trabalho, nos propomos também à composição de uma música em que se façam presentes os elementos tratados no desenvolvimento da pesquisa, de modo a servir como material final para a experiência prática nos assuntos aqui tratados. / Within the possibilities of sound procedures and materials used in the process of contemporary musical composition, the use of extended techniques has been a remarkable and transformative element of aural and visual perceptions of this music. Speaking specifically of the saxophone, extended techniques have been present in many compositions for the instrument, so that people involved in the process of making music are brought to find new possibilities for creation and interpretation. The present paper aims to trace, through extended techniques, an aesthetic overview and to propose discussions on some compositional processes present in works of contemporary concert music for saxophone. Analyzing the use of these sounds in specific works together with the needs related to the implementation generated by such sounds, we depart from the perception and understanding of the ruptures occurred in creative processes, culminating in the need for expansion of compositional techniques and by performance by players and composers. As an important part of the work, we propose also the composition of a song where the elements developed across research can be included to serve as final material for practical experience subject.