Sailing on is an investigation into how light music has evolved from its origins into a style of music for the twenty-first century. I am a light music composer and a contemporary use of the style is explored in a portfolio of compositions, all in score form, substantiated by an autoethnographical commentary. Light as a term to describe music was first used in the nineteenth-century to label music that was created for the entertainment of the masses and it was sometimes used to explain the more accessible works of ‘serious’ composers. The music enjoyed a golden age of approximately one hundred years between 1870 and 1970 and this study contextualises light music in respect of the functions that it fulfils and the relationships it has undergone with serious and popular music during the period and to the present day. Entertainment and accessibility to mass markets are terms used more in relation to commercial music rather than art music and the thesis includes an exploration into the role of light music as part of the industrialised music businesses as well as being at the forefront of technological developments. The relationship between art and money has been difficult for some to reconcile and part of the reason for the criticism and neglect of light music by many in the music establishment and these aspects are considered as part of the contextualisation. I have identified a number of common musical and expressive elements in light music and an analysis of techniques is presented as a means to describe the characteristics of the style. The works surveyed have been selected from a period that embraces the golden age to the present with examples from records, radio, television, film, games and web based media. All these influences plus my own experiences in music have been considered during the composition of the portfolio of music that proffers my interpretation of light music for the twenty-first century.

Kuwait, post-oil (1932), invested heavily in educational development at all levels. A curriculum was developed which included music, both Eastern and Western. Initially the piano was adopted, but the curriculum was broadened to include other Western instruments, more recently the clarinet. A need for a programme of training to produce versatile clarinet teachers in Kuwait was therefore identified. In order to ensure that the curriculum to be designed met the specific needs of Kuwaiti clarinet students, an analysis was made of the social, historical and geographical situation of the country, Kuwaiti Folk Music, Music in Islam, and curriculum and instrumental music teaching in Kuwaiti schools. From these initial findings the specific needs of Kuwaiti clarinet students were identified. These include adult beginners, no aural model of the clarinet, little familiarity with the clarinet repertoire, and no transferable instrumental technical skills. In order to support these students in their learning, theories of motivation were analysed, and situation-specific teaching strategies have been identified and developed. Simultaneously an analysis was made of clarinet teaching, past and present in Kuwait. From these recommendations best practice was identified. These informed curriculum development. As a consequence the Ahmad Alderaiwaish Clarinet Curriculum (AACC) for the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training, Kuwait, was developed. Peer review and critical response followed. The AACC, which is in the form of five parts, delivers the clarinet teacher education element of the Bachelor of Arts programme. These parts are designed primarily for the student and include scales,arpeggios, exercises, pieces and recommended sources, both Eastern folk and classical, and Western music. The former have the additional benefit of preserving and promoting Kuwait’s cultural heritage. Complementary teaching equipment has been invented to introduce students to specific playing techniques with which they were not familiar, for example, breath control.

This study explores the popularity of lute instruction in late sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century England and the ways in which this accomplishment was used in constructions of social status. The opening chapter outlines the functions of the lute in early modern English culture and surveys previous research on the instrument and its repertory. Chapter 2 provides an overview of the hierarchical structure of Elizabethan society, highlighting shifting conceptions of “gentle” status during the sixteenth century. The complex position of music within early modern discourses on elite identity is discussed, alongside the potential of lute-playing skills to contribute towards social advancement. Four case studies follow, each exploring the uses of lute-playing amongst practitioners located on the hazily defined boundaries between “gentle” and lower-class status. Chapter 3 uses the autobiography of Thomas Whythorne as a focal point in order to examine the ambiguous role of musicians in household service. By teaching coveted “courtly” skills to their social superiors, these music tutors were in an advantageous position to secure further rewards and enhance their status. Chapter 4 reassesses the Mynshall lutebook, highlighting the roles of music-making and literary production amongst a circle of mercantile-class men in provincial England. It reveals how lute-playing and poetic exchange facilitated social interaction and consolidated kinship bonds within this group as they sought to forge a collective identity grounded in the cultural practices of more elite circles. The role of recreational music-making amongst university men is examined in Chapter 5 through a reappraisal of the Dallis lutebook, showing how playing and collecting lute music could form a strand in the fashioning of a distinctively learned “scholarly” identity. My final case study assesses the printed tutor books marketed from the 1560s onwards, paying close attention to the material forms of extant copies (as evidence of their usage) and their paratextual materials. A close reading of Thomas Robinson’s Schoole of Musicke (1603) reveals how this publication was designed to appeal simultaneously to two very different markets: aspirant middle-class autodidacts, and wealthier “gentleman” readers who could provide further patronage and career advancement to the author.

This thesis tracks my journey through eight creative works which employ a broad range of methodologies to map the dynamic life of lines and that focus on concepts of ephemerality, gestural tracing, grains and swarms of sound, and temporal independence. My original contribution to knowledge in composition is led by my personal relationship to sound as mediated through physical gesture in performance. Drawing upon the work of anthropologist Tim Ingold, I have worked with video as a medium for my own sketch processes and as a scoring platform. Video is used to capture and document qualities of motion that bring choreographic and multimodal thinking into my music, propagating divergent approaches to structuring and determining parameters. Through this I have developed ways of thinking compositionally through the visual medium and worked with micro and macro qualities in timbre and movement to achieve effects that I term 'dynamic stasis'. Central to my thinking is an expanded concept of the line as gestalts of sound, video, bodily and mechanical movement, with form arising from a meshwork of such lines. The line as represented in video and musical action contributes to the tendencies and behaviours of precisely notated sound and physical movements in my music, that are reflected in irregular divisions of time and frequent fluctuations of sound characteristics. My discussion of the visual and choreographic perspectives of my notation and multimodal ways of thinking about composition is contextualised with examples from composers such as Jennifer Walshe, Simon Steen- Andersen and Stefan Prins, and the video scoring systems of Cat Hope.

In this doctoral thesis, I examine the influence of multi-ethnic cultures and heritage of East and Southeast Asia on my compositional development. Although the imitation of the outward features of other cultures is an important part of the attempt to compose cross-cultural pieces, such imitation is only one part of the learning process. The most difficult task is to make a meaningful cultural confluence out of these influences. My original contribution to music lies in the way in which I have activated the legacy of my multicultural Malaysian heritage and combined a strong focus on Chinese cultural traditions with a wider Malaysian context that involves theatre, philosophy, rituals, and spirituality. Over the past few years, I have composed cross-cultural works for traditional East and Southeast Asian and Western instruments, collaborating with multiple musicians in Asia, the United States, and Europe. The compositions discussed in this thesis reveal the various elements of my writing for Chinese instruments that are at once original and eclectic. I am particularly interested in incorporating various East and Southeast Asian musical practices such as Chinese dialect folk songs (especially Hakka storytelling and mountain songs), Gamelan music from South East Asia, Indian ritual and ceremonial music, ancient Chinese court music, and chanting of classical Chinese poetry, Korean Pansori music, and Japanese Gagaku music to create my own compositional techniques and languages. Using my compositions as examples, I illustrate the incorporation of East and Southeast Asian vocal and instrumental techniques into Western musical languages. In the first two chapters, I focus more on the importance of Chinese sources of poetry and philosophical thinking in a number of large-scale works. In the third chapter, I examine the key compositional roles played by elements such as sonic mobility and spatialisation, the interplay and interchange of roles in instrumental writing, and the concept of “living ornamentation” in creating heterophony and vocalisation, and present a detailed analysis of one of my works Yuan-Liu (2009). I explain how sonic mobility and spatialisation, as realised through unique instrumental setups in my compositions, are deeply informed by my childhood experience of listening to the acoustics of nature in the woods. In the concluding chapter, I discuss how I use the concepts of time, narrative, and cultural confluence in my music.

This study concerns the manuscript music book of Robert Edward (c. 1614–c. 1697), minister, author and musician. The manuscript, formerly part of the library at Panmure House, is now held in the National Library of Scotland and is commonly referred to as ‘Robert Edward’s Commonplace Book’ (GB-En MS.9450). The present study is in two parts and begins with an exploration of the physical book, including the structure, compilation, hands and ownership before a second chapter explores the biography of the eponymous owner, contextualising GB-En MS.9450 locally and nationally. The third chapter concerns the function of the manuscript which, it is argued, is closely related to pedagogy. The final three chapters discuss the content of the manuscript, taking in turn the vocal music, instrumental music and the selection of Italian three-part villanelle.

The baroque, one-keyed flute has, within the last half century, been rediscovered for performance, particularly within early music settings, and more recently has been welcomed into the area of contemporary music. This research continues to widen the boundaries of the modern baroque flute by building on its rich history in both technical aspects and practical performance, and by continuing to expand its musical and technical horizon through the extension of historical ideas and the introduction of new ideas within a contemporary idiom. This document begins with a general description of the instrument itself, and explains tonal concepts and technical concerns of the baroque flute. An overview of historical ideas regarding tone production with descriptions by musicians of the 18th through the 21st century provides a basis from which to proceed to new techniques for tone production and their expressive potential. Audio examples are given of all new techniques. Lastly, an explanation is given of how the practice of new tonal-technique exercises a positive influence on conventional sound production. An historical basis is provided by surveying a selection of major tutors from the 18th century through to the 21st and is illustrated with examples showing the evolution of ideas for articulation. An explanation of new, 'extended techniques' focussed on articulation is given and all are demonstrated with audio examples. The effects on conventional flute playing that are enhanced by the practice and integration of new techniques into the musician's sonic repertoire are also described. Practical musical integration of new techniques into a composition and within ecosonic improvisation is explored. A brief explanation of the ecosonic system is given and the process used in developing directional ecosonic improvisation and new techniques for performance within the piece, Less, by Jo Thomas is explained. Notated and sound examples are used to illustrate the aptitude of the baroque flute as a contemporary musical voice. The final section asserts the expressive potential of new techniques, as regards both tone production and articulation, within various models employed through ecosonic improvisation. Finally, the mapping of multiphonics for the baroque flute is documented in two complete catalogues; one is organised based on ecosonic fingering and the other is based on conventional fingering. Each catalogue entry is demonstrated with recorded examples.

All children have the capacity to express themselves musically and to have music be an important part of their lives. In most states classroom teachers in the primary grades are expected to provide all instruction in music, often without supervision or assistance. The idea of the classroom teacher teaching music is not new. This has been a pattern of musical instruction in the elementary schools throughout the history of our country. Teachers cannot teach material they do not know and in which they are not interested. Most classroom teachers welcome new ideas and attractive materials for use in teaching music to children in their classrooms. This dissertation presents a pattern of musical preparation for prospective primary classroom teachers based on an eclectic approach which focuses on the selected pedagogical principles of Kodály, Orff, and Dalcroze. The main body of the dissertation consists of a two semester sequence of instruction organized in thirty lessons based on a vocal approach and emphasizing movement. It includes resource materials such as lists of books on the teaching of music and dance, recordings, films and filmstrips, and song collections. More than 100 songs are used in a variety of ways as are rhymes and movement activities.

Adolphe Sax believed his invention, the saxophone, was the link between louder and quieter instruments. Changes to the instrument and to playing techniques have lessened the saxophone’s ability to play quietly, and subtone techniques are now utilized for playing at lower-end dynamics. This PhD proposes a new method for playing the saxophone at lower-end dynamic levels. This method uses breath control to allow lower-end dynamic playing on the saxophone. The new method has been tested through its use in different musical compositions and in combination with different extended techniques. The new method for playing the saxophone at lower-end dynamic levels has been found to have greater applicability than existing techniques and is demonstrated in numerous recordings that accompany this work. Prominent saxophonists have said that the saxophone is not able to play notes between the semitones. Modifications to the saxophone keywork mechanisms have made some microtones possible whilst prohibiting others. Existing saxophone literature has documented quarter-tone scales but has been slow to expand further microtonal possibilities. This research has developed and proposed new models and new techniques for microtonal saxophone playing. This has been demonstrated on different saxophones, including those with distinct keywork mechanisms. The numerous fingering patterns that have resulted from this work are documented in the appendices. The microtonality that results from using extended techniques, slap-tonguing and key percussion, has also been documented. Recordings of the new models for microtonal saxophone playing accompany this research. The use of microtonal saxophone playing has been discussed in relation to different compositions. The research documented here is of relevance to saxophonists and composers who wish to play or use such techniques.

This thesis accompanies the portfolio of compositions written between 2006 and 2010 and discusses both the overall theoretical concepts, and the specific musical tools, that lie behind their construction. Chapter 1 presents theories of perceptual grouping mechanisms and temporality in reductive music, and applies these to the transformational surface layer from the sustained tones in my music. The use of repetition and gradual process in my music is explored, leading to the application of a decentralised approach towards my structural models. The notion of a 'closure spectrum' contextualises my own music with others, and facilitates a discussion of the teleological nature of my music. Chapter 2 describes the tools which are used in the application of these concepts; in particular, the use of harmony, glissando, duration, use of instruments and notation are reviewed. The individual portfolio pieces are discussed in chapter 3, detailing the various employments of the these tools in different instrumental contexts. This chapter also demonstrates the overall refinement in my compositional approach which took place throughout the doctoral course: my gradual shift towards simpler processes, indeterminacy in notation, and extended note-duration. Less successful aspects of these pieces are also considered in the context of this evolution, along with those aspects which were retained and employed in future pieces. The conclusion evaluates the overall progression, and discusses areas for future development which have arisen from my own research through composition.