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This commentary accompanies the portfolio of electroacoustic works realised at the NOVARS Research Centre, and intends to provide insight into methodologies for acousmatic composition as researched at the University of Manchester between 2013 and 2016. Six compositions are presented in order of realisation, as follows: Frictions/Storms, Rise, Glitches/Trajectories, Transmissions/Intercepts, Reductions/Expanses, and Iteration/Banger. An analysis of each work in relation to research-specific topics is provided, adopting Denis Smalley's concepts of spectromorphology and space-form as appropriate syntax in the elaboration of compositional methodologies and overall outcomes. The research focuses primarily on the appropriation of transformed and synthesised sound materials in acousmatic spatial composition. Resulting works are intended for presentation in concert via the practice of live sound diffusion performance. The portfolio documents an arc of development working in fixed media formats incorporating live electronics processes into the realisation of multi- channel compositions, to finally arrive at a methodological merging of fixed media studio composition and live electronics performance practices. Additional supplementary materials in support of the portfolio and commentary are provided including Max coding patches, video tutorials, technical information and related audio materials.

Strawson famously classified Aristotle as a descriptive metaphysician, alongside himself, and in contrast to more revisionary philosophers like Plato. The extent to which Aristotle was merely concerned to describe our conceptual scheme has, however, been over-estimated by some. Although common-sense beliefs are among the starting-points from which Aristotle pursues his metaphysical inquiries, the conclusions of those inquiries are in fact quite radical. In chapter one, we identify three interpretative questions about Aristotle's notion of substance: (1) does Aristotle change his mind about what things are the substances between writing the Categories and the Metaphysics? (2) are matter, form and the compound of the two all substances, albeit to different extents, or are only forms substances? (3) however we resolve these questions about hylomorphism, what range of forms count as substantial, and why? In chapter two, we examine the criteria of being a substance. These provide evidence for Aristotle's changing his mind between the Categories and Metaphysics. An examination of the 'χωρıστóv' criterion also supports the view that only forms are substances: Aristotle claims that compounds are separate simpliciter, since they can exist without items in other categories, and not vice versa, but this claim cannot be supported. Only forms are separate in definition, and so, on the assumption that being separate is necessary for being a substance, only forms are substances. If we are to understand the claim that only forms are substances, we should acquire a better understanding of what is meant by 'form', and why Aristotle thinks there are such things. Chapters three to five undertake this task. Chapter three discusses Aristotle's introduction of matter and form in the Physics to account for substantial generation, and his argument in Z.17 that form is substance, since it is what makes some matter one thing. In chapter four, this unificatory role is distinguished from the role of a principle of individuation, and it is argued that only individual forms are suitable to play the latter role. In chapter five, we examine some recent attempts to blur the distinction between matter and form, by maintaining that form is essentially matter-involving. We argue that the view according to which form is defined independently of matter is preferable. In chapters six and seven, we address the third interpretative question. Chapter six argues that artefacts are not substances (and not merely substances to a lesser degree than organisms) because they are not separate, since they depend on the intentional activity of their creators or users. Chapter seven considers Aristotle's views about mixtures. These are also compounds of matter and form, but fail to be substances because, like matter, they depend on a higher form to make them one thing.

This study provides insight into the compositional features of the monophonic ballata, a genre developed in the early to mid-fourteenth century in northern Italy. In analyzing the formal structure, melodic contour, application of musica ficta, and relationship between text and melody, I suggest ways in which performers of this repertoire can highlight the exceptional qualities of this music while remaining rooted in a historically-informed tradition of early music performance practice. Using principles of Schenkerian ideas of prolongation, Salzerian approaches to constructing voice-leading analyses of early music, and Steve Larson's theory of musical forces as criteria for well-formed melodies, I created a method that shows every note as structural or ornamental at every given level. The use of these theoretical approaches serves to highlight what about this music is compelling and what can be brought out as 'familiar' in a piece, what repeats, and what connects sections and how. I conclude that counterpoint is behind the organization of these works at the structural level, even as monophonic songs. I acknowledge that there are features we could construe as "tonal," but that information is only useful to a performer familiar with tonal elements, and it is therefore only one of many layers of understanding that should be accessed by the modern performer.

This sonata-form case study investigates the sociopolitical microstances of three secondary mathematics teachers in an urban, comprehensive high school. The study is framed by three questions: 1) How can philosophical pragmatism add a purposive, action focused piece to the sociopolitical framework? 2) What sociopolitical microstances – focused on the practice of teaching – can we identify from the narratives of mathematics teachers? 3) What inhibitions can we identify that are preventing teachers from further transformation in their classrooms? To address the first question both historical and contemporary pragmatist philosophy as well as a bridge between poststructuralism and philosophical pragmatism was used to augment the current sociopolitical theory in mathematics education research. Sociopolitical microstances were identified within the three sonata-form case study narratives – connecting broader social, cultural, and political implications, past and present framings of teacher knowledge, and narrative inquiry with equitable mathematics teaching. The microstances identified in the narratives include: anti-racist, deconstructing ability, community, conocimiento, Napantla, and being more than a teacher. Inhibitions were also identified from the narratives, and these include: time and emotional energy, local/state/national requirements, college course requirements, disconnect from academic scholarship, and having to confront the whiteness in others.

An investigation into the nature and functions of periodicity is presented through analysis and discussion. Periodicity is established by the repetition of any musical event at regular intervals in time. The three works analyzed exhibit periodic elements in a variety of contexts and on different structural levels, thereby illustrating typical functions of periodicities in complex twentieth-century music. These functions include stratum delineation, textural definition, and metric-style organization. In some cases, the regularity of the periodicities is crucial to their function, while in others the periodicity of the elements simply provides a convenient model for study. Reference is made to perceptual tendencies and thresholds including Gestalt principles of grouping, the phenomena of auditory streaming and fusion, and the temporal limits of the perceptual present. As our response to periodicities is affected by the specific rate of recurrence, a classification is made according to the rate of recurrence. The links between rate and function are discussed. Boundaries are suggested for three main divisions: very fast rates (less than 0.10"), medium (between 0.10" and 10"), and long (greater than 10"). An additional tripartite division of the medium range is proposed, incorporating the levels of pulse, sub-pulse, and super-pulse. The term "super-pulse" is introduced to emphasize the potency of the pulse-grouping level. Relationships between levels of periodic events are described in terms of rhythmic consonance and dissonance. The analyses show that a contrast in the degree of rhythmic consonance is a typical means of indicating structural boundaries. They also suggest a link between the levels which produce a dissonance and the degree of harshness felt. Consonance on several levels adds significant coherence to a stratum, enhancing its recognition in complex textures or on later appearances. / Graduate

Orientador: Lia Vera Tomás / Banca: Mario Videira / Banca: Maurício Funcia de Bonis / Resumo: Dentro do âmbito artístico, os conceitos de cânone e tradição são basilares. São eles os responsáveis por orientar e restringir desde a prática até a concepção daquilo que tomamos por música clássica. Seus mecanismos moldam a prática e transformam a teoria. A partir do exame destes conceitos, tal como entendidos por uma seleção de abordagens advindas da musicologia, da filosofia e da teoria literária, investigaremos nesta dissertação como se formou um determinado cânone. Trata-se daquele pensado pelos compositores surgidos no pós-guerra europeu, sobretudo nos anos de 1946 a 1954. Encabeçados por Pierre Boulez, instituições musicais e compositores, publicações editoriais e programas de orquestra pareciam apontar apenas para um tipo de música: a música serial. Analisaremos aqui como Boulez a defendeu e mobilizou forças para que ela se tornasse a poética mais comentada e praticada nos anos seguintes à Segunda Guerra. Para tanto, analisaremos sobremaneira os textos contidos na sua coletânea de ensaiosApontamentos de Aprendiz. Como veremos, longe de ser uma postura arbitrária, a tentativa de manipulação do cânone levada a cabo por uma série de atores torna-se uma medida política, praticada por aqueles que possuem concepções e determinações do que a música, sua prática e o seu entendimento devem ser. / Abstract: The concepts of Canon and Tradition are of the most importance inside the artistic debate. Not only they shape our understanding of what music should be but also what we take as being classical music. Their mechanisms help us shape practices and transform what we take as being theories. Through the investigation of the canon's mechanisms, as exemplified by several notions ranging from musicology, philosophy and literary criticism, we will investigate in this dissertation how one particular canon took shape. It has to do with the music being created and played in the Post-war period, that is, serialism. Far from being the only music composed in those years, Pierre Boulez, among several musical institutions and publications, took every measure to guarantee its power among all the other artistic languages. We will analyze here how Boulez defended that music, being responsible for the dimension it has achieved in those years. In order to do that we will investigate more accurately Boulez's essays collected in Stocktakings from an Apprenticeship. As we will see, far from being an arbitrary solution, the manipulation of the canon has political implications, responsible for what governs our ways of understanding and practicing music. / Mestre

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:27:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2013-07-05Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:56:15Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 barros_cg_me_ia.pdf: 1291612 bytes, checksum: a20dac37a388da8b38bb32898c28bfae (MD5) / Essa dissertação tem como objeto de estudo o conceito de agrupamento sonoro, que é investigado de maneira geral e abstrata, i. e., toda discussão é circunscrita à lógica interna do próprio discurso teórico em oposição a estudos experimentais. A partir do questionamento da conceptualização, dominante no campo da teoria, de que o agrupamento sonoro é a essência da percepção musical, realiza-se um estudo detalhado de quatro de suas propriedades (discrição, contenção, recursividade e processualidade) e de sua relação com outros três tipos de processos (tematismo, simultaneidade e métrica) para demonstrar e sustentar a hipótese de que os agrupamentos sonoros estão sujeitos a duas condições de existência: serem constituídos por elementos discrimináveis e estarem contidos em uma camada autônoma na simultaneidade. Por serem condições que podem estar presentes ou ausentes é possível conceptualizar obras sem estruturas de agrupamentos, o que por sua vez demonstra que os agrupamentos sonoros não são nem mais nem menos fundamentais do que qualquer outro processo musical. Por isso, argumenta-se que a necessidade de relacionar os parâmetros de delimitação de sons às leis da cognição, psicologia e linguística representam uma tentativa da teoria musical em expressar uma verdade neutra e absoluta, ou seja, de transformar um conceito que foi criado por uma teoria que responde apenas a um repertório musical específico em uma representação da essência universal da escuta. / This thesis has as its study object the concept of sound grouping, which is investigated in a general and abstract fashion, i. e., all discussion is confined to the internal logic of the theoretic discourse itself, in opposition to experimental studies. Starting from questioning the predominant way of thinking that conceptualize the sound grouping as the essence of musical perception, a detailed study is made of four of its properties (discretion, contention, recursion and processuality) and its relations with three other kinds of processes (thematic, simultaneity and metric) to demonstrate and support the hypothesis that sound groupings are subject to two conditions of existence: to be constituted of discriminable elements and to be enclosed in an autonomous layer of simultaneity. Because this conditions can be present or absent, it is possible to conceptualize musical works without the presence of structures of sound groups, and that proves that sound groups are no more nor less fundamental elements than any other musical process. Therefore, this work argues that the necessity to relate the parameters of delimitation of sound groups to the laws of cognition, psychology and linguistics represents an attempt by musical theory to express a neutral and absolute truth, that is, to transform a concept created by a theory which relates itself to a particular musical repertoire into a reflection of the universal essence of hearing.

Orientador: Marcos Fernandes Pupo Nogueira / Banca: Graziela Bortz / Banca: Adriana Lopes da Cunha Moreira / Resumo: Essa dissertação tem como objeto de estudo o conceito de agrupamento sonoro, que é investigado de maneira geral e abstrata, i. e., toda discussão é circunscrita à lógica interna do próprio discurso teórico em oposição a estudos experimentais. A partir do questionamento da conceptualização, dominante no campo da teoria, de que o agrupamento sonoro é a essência da percepção musical, realiza-se um estudo detalhado de quatro de suas propriedades (discrição, contenção, recursividade e processualidade) e de sua relação com outros três tipos de processos (tematismo, simultaneidade e métrica) para demonstrar e sustentar a hipótese de que os agrupamentos sonoros estão sujeitos a duas condições de existência: serem constituídos por elementos discrimináveis e estarem contidos em uma camada autônoma na simultaneidade. Por serem condições que podem estar presentes ou ausentes é possível conceptualizar obras sem estruturas de agrupamentos, o que por sua vez demonstra que os agrupamentos sonoros não são nem mais nem menos fundamentais do que qualquer outro processo musical. Por isso, argumenta-se que a necessidade de relacionar os parâmetros de delimitação de sons às leis da cognição, psicologia e linguística representam uma tentativa da teoria musical em expressar uma verdade neutra e absoluta, ou seja, de transformar um conceito que foi criado por uma teoria que responde apenas a um repertório musical específico em uma representação da essência universal da escuta. / Abstract: This thesis has as its study object the concept of sound grouping, which is investigated in a general and abstract fashion, i. e., all discussion is confined to the internal logic of the theoretic discourse itself, in opposition to experimental studies. Starting from questioning the predominant way of thinking that conceptualize the sound grouping as the essence of musical perception, a detailed study is made of four of its properties (discretion, contention, recursion and processuality) and its relations with three other kinds of processes (thematic, simultaneity and metric) to demonstrate and support the hypothesis that sound groupings are subject to two conditions of existence: to be constituted of discriminable elements and to be enclosed in an autonomous layer of simultaneity. Because this conditions can be present or absent, it is possible to conceptualize musical works without the presence of structures of sound groups, and that proves that sound groups are no more nor less fundamental elements than any other musical process. Therefore, this work argues that the necessity to relate the parameters of delimitation of sound groups to the laws of cognition, psychology and linguistics represents an attempt by musical theory to express a neutral and absolute truth, that is, to transform a concept created by a theory which relates itself to a particular musical repertoire into a reflection of the universal essence of hearing. / Mestre

Orientador: Marcos Pupo Nogueira / Banca: Mônica Lucas / Banca: Vitor Gabriel / Resumo: Fundamentado a partir de três eixos do conhecimento da polifonia (teórico, prático e especulativo), este trabalho apresenta o 'conceito das protoformas do cânone', que consiste em cinco matrizes ou formas-base que sintetizam as variadas manifestações do cânone durante os séculos XIII ao XVI. Para a fundamentação da pesquisa, são considerados primariamente aspectos relacionados à periodicidade motívica em tratados e exemplos musicais do séc. XIII, limitando-se à compreensão do termo como apresentado nos tratados práticos do séc. XVI, propiciando assim, materiais e indícios que apontam as variadas etapas do desenvolvimento e realização do cânone. Ao longo da exposição do estudo, uma série de comentários de excertos diretamente ligados às fontes primárias são apresentados, resultando em uma contribuição teórica às questões terminológicas e conceituais concernentes à sua história / Abstract: Based from three axes of polyphony's knowledge (theoretical, practical and speculative), this work presents the 'concept of the canon's protoforms', which consists of five matrices or formsbased synthesizing the varied manifestations of the canon during the 13th-16th centuries. In order to support the research, they are considered primarily aspects related to motivic periodicity in treatises and musical examples in 13th century, being limited on understanding of the term as presented in practical treatises in 16th-century, thus providing materials and evidences that link the various stages of development and realization of the canon. Throughout the study's exposition, a series of excerpts and comments directly related to the primary sources are presented, resulting in a theoretical contribution to the terminological and conceptual issues concerning they history / Mestre