This dissertation comprises two volumes. Volume 1 presents a critique and exploration of the way extended techniques with particular sound properties are used and notated in the contemporary repertoire for the classical six-string guitar. In Volume 2, a set of practical exercises provide both instrumentalists and composers with a way to perceive, think through, and use a repertory of sounds based on developed and newly invented extended techniques. Volume 1 is divided into three sections. The first section constitutes an extensive survey of the literature, where extended guitar techniques are investigated in relation to performance and pedagogy by centring on significant research and key repertoire. The examined techniques are characterized by being alternative to the conventional pitch-based attack/decay paradigm. This is followed by an examination of composers’ notational practices, where certain anomalies in the repertoire are addressed. For example, how spectral relationships may be put into a morphological context by employing tablaturebased systems. A concluding section summarises the current use of extended techniques and how compositional methodologies from key composers can be further developed. Volume 2 presents two sets of studies. The first twenty-eight studies centre on individual techniques, after which techniques are combined in the remaining six studies. A new morphologically based notation model is employed, derived by developing the surveyed composers creativity further through enhancing the perception and execution of music comprising only extended techniques. The archetypal attack/resonance morphology of guitar sound is discussed, and this forms the basis for classifying certain extended techniques as archetypes or variants of the archetype. The pedagogical, compositional, and improvisational potential of the chosen extended techniques are exploited in the studies, both through the juxtaposing and the merging of morphologies. After an overview that reflects upon musical relationships between the theoretical and practical aspects of the dissertation, the final section is concerned with the use of amplification in performance, and further ideas are proposed for expanding morphological combinations.

This dissertation introduces the ‘Edna Iles’s Medtner Collection’ (EIMC), held by the British Library in London, and provides a detailed analysis of her ‘Notes on the Interpretation of Medtner’s Works’. Nikolay Medtner (1880–1951) was one of Russia’s leading, early-20th-century composers, who spent the latter part of his life in the UK. He wrote mainly for the piano, composing 14 piano sonatas, three piano concertos, 108 songs, three violin sonatas, a piano quintet and more than 90 pieces for solo piano. Although he performed and recorded, and was considered a prominent composer while he was resident in the UK, his wider renown in the West was limited. Edna Iles (1905–2003) was an English pianist and Medtner’s last pupil. She took numerous notes during and immediately following her lessons and, in 1997, donated all of her Medtner-related materials to the British Library. I am the fourth person to consult it. The scope of the EIMC is impressive: Medtner manuscripts, newspaper cuttings, photographs and letters, all of which she carefully organized before donating. Importantly, her ‘Notes on the Interpretation of Medtner’s Works’ contain unique information about how he taught and thought his music should be interpreted. She was, in fact, the only Medtner student to leave systematic written evidence of his pedagogy; the recordings she made of his music further demonstrate her mastery of his principles. She became, in effect, his disciple. This dissertation assesses the new light her ‘Notes’ shed on our knowledge of his methods and pianism. The Introduction provides details of Medtner reception history and introduces all available sources on Medtner performance practice. Chapter 1 summarizes the lives of Medtner and Iles, and elucidates the nature of their relationship. Chapters 2 through to 4 discuss the disciplines of Medtner’s approach to playing – basic piano technique, articulation, practicing, pedaling and memorization – corroborated elsewhere. Chapters 5 and 6 unravel the more intellectual concepts of fil rouge, tempo, phrasing, voicing and his distinction between energetic and rounded music that form the core of Iles’s ‘Notes’ and represent the EIMC’s most original contribution to Medtner performance practice. Chapter 7 provides the opportunity to observe and apply Medtner’s interpretive philosophy to a single work (Sonate-Idylle, Op. 56) by blending the advice conveyed in his printed scores with the methodology and insights he communicated to Iles. The Conclusions affirm the importance of the EIMC as a uniquely detailed primary source on Medtnerian performance practice. An inventory of the Edna Iles Medtner Collection and transcript of her ‘Notes on Interpretation of Medtner’s Works’ can be found in Appendices One and Two. Appendix Three offers a facsimile of exercises Medtner gave to Iles, preserved in her own handwriting. Appendices Four and Five provide a discography of Medtner piano works and pertinent contextual photographic evidence.

This thesis examines the way in which jazz evolved in Britain beginning with an examination of the cultural and musical antecedents of the genre, including minstrel shows and black musical theatre, within the context of musical life in Britain in the late nineteenth-early twentieth centuries. The processes through which this evolution took place are considered with reference to the ways in which jazz was introduced to Britain through imported revue shows and sheet music, as well as by the visits of American musicians. Finally, the subsequent development of jazz in Britain in the 1920s is analysed with particular consideration of the 'jazz age', modernism and the 'culture industry' as theoretical constructs and detailed study of dance music on the BBC and jazz in the underworld of London. The thesis falls into two parts, the first provides historical and theoretical perspectives on the topic, and the second presents various case studies that examine particular manifestations of the evolving presence of jazz in Britain. The research makes use of a wide variety of primary source material; in addition to recordings (where available), sheet music, and concert programmes, which offer direct information about the music performed; biographies, film, photographs, government, police and court records, newspapers and periodicals provide the necessary context. This thesis presents a new version of the history of jazz in Britain, not only through the factual findings resulting from the consideration of how jazz evolved in Britain, but also through the methodological approach used. The research establishes the parallel worlds of jazz that existed by the end of the 1920s in Britain: the realm of the institutionalised 'culture industry' and the underworld, and shows the importance of image and racial stereotyping in shaping perceptions of jazz in Britain. Most significantly I this study clearly establishes that the evolution of jazz in Britain is unique, rather than an extension or reflection of that in America.

Understanding how listeners relate and compare pieces of music is a fundamental challenge in music research as well as for commercial applications: Today’s large-scale applications for music recommendation and exploration utilise various models for similarity prediction to satisfy users’ expectations. Perceived similarity is specific to the individual and influenced by a number of factors such as cultural background and age. Thus, adapting a generic model to human similarity data is useful for personalisation and can help to better understand such differences. This thesis presents new and state-of-the-art machine learning techniques for modelling music similarity and their first evaluation on relative music similarity data. We expand the scope for future research with methods for similarity data collection and a new dataset. In particular, our models are evaluated on their ability to “spot the odd song out” of three given songs. While a few methods are readily available, others had to be adapted for their first application to such data. We explore the potential for learning generalisable similarity measures, presenting algorithms for metrics and neural networks. A generic modelling workflow is presented and implemented. We report the first evaluation of the methods on the MagnaTagATune dataset showing learning is possible and pointing out particularities of algorithms and feature types. The best results with up to 74% performance on test sets were achieved with a combination of acoustic and cultural features, but model training proved most powerful when only acoustic information is available. To assess the generalisability of the findings, we provide a first systematic analysis of the dataset itself. We also identify a bias in standard sampling methods for cross-validation with similarity data and present a new method for unbiased evaluation, providing use cases for the different validation strategies. Furthermore, we present an online game that collects a new similarity dataset, including participant attributes such as age, location, language and music background. It is based on our extensible framework which manages storage of participant input, context information as well as selection of presented samples. The collected data enables a more specific adaptation of music similarity by including user attributes into similarity models. Distinct similarity models are learnt from geographically defined user groups in a first experiment towards the more complex task of culture-aware similarity modelling. In order to improve training of the specific models on small datasets, we implement the concept of transfer learning for music similarity models.

This thesis presents a critical examination of the processes of creativity in the performance of Persian classical music. Using current literature, information from musicians, and detailed musical analyses, the thesis endeavours to reach an understanding of what creativity means in the Persian context, and to examine the ways in which creativity takes place and the factors which affect it. A consideration of the nature of human creativity in general is followed by a critique of the concepts and terminology of creativity used within (ethno)musicology. Several areas are subsequently explored for their potential contribution to an understanding of creative musical processes. There is a consideration of possible parallels between musical and linguistic creativity, as well as an exploration of theories about the psycho-physiological determinants of musical creativity. With specific reference to Persian classical music, various aspects of the basic canonic repertoire, the radif, are examined, and this is followed by a discussion of the processes by which the radif is learnt, this being a crucial stage in laying the foundations of musical creativity. There is also a consideration of the concepts of creativity in this musical tradition, as well as changes to such concepts in recent years. The musical analyses focus on a number of performances and versions of the radif, primarily from dastgah Segah. There is an examination of the sectional organisation of both performances and radifs, as well as of compositional procedures, typical melodic patterns, and including specific focus on the ways in which material from the radif is treated in performance. The aim is to comprehend how it is that musicians use the knowledge acquired during training to present unique expressions of the musical tradition at every performance occasion. The thesis seeks to contribute to a greater understanding of generative musical processes and ultimately, towards a better understanding of the nature of human creativity.

The thesis investigates Max Reger's Variations and Fugue on an Original Theme Op. 73, demonstrates the refinement of Reger's composition, and underlines his connection to the great performer Karl Straube. His musical language, dynamic markings and technical problems regarding the tempo, registration and acoustics will be examined by an actual performance in Canterbury Cathedral. Several issues such as cathedral acoustics, mechanical or pneumatic actions and choice of tempi have underpinned this study. Within each variation, the characteristics and techniques of Reger's compositions express his exceptional connection with the art of fugue and, of course, the use of variation technique in the rest of his organ works. The long Introduction falls into five clear sections and is, followed by the wistful mood and resignation of the Original Theme, where the great role of the third bar is often quoted in the course of the variations. Due to the all-pervading chromaticism Op. 73 gives the impression of being completely pantonal. Canterbury Cathedral organ's electro-pneumatic action and acoustics are close to the Leipzig Sauer instrument, and it seems well capable of meeting the challenges of control, polyphonic harmony, mystery and chromatic moods of Op. 73. Approaching the interpretation of Reger's highly demanding Variations and Fugue on an Original Theme Op. 73 through formal analysis and the complicated background of early twentieth century performance practice will be the final goal of the live performance.

This thesis is the result of practice-based research concerning the analysis and performance of solo recorder repertoire composed during the 1990s. Its purpose is to demonstrate that recorder music can support critical scrutiny, and that knowledge gained from analysis can develop a deeper understanding of the rational and empirical aspects of both structure and content, leading to compelling performances governed by, and reflecting, informed choices. This work includes a catalogue of solo pieces for the recorder composed during the 1990s, totalling 326 items, from which five have been selected for detailed analysis and performance. They are by: Peter Crossley-Holland; Calliope Tsoupaki; Donald Bousted; Gerhard Braun, and Maki Ishii. These pieces have been contextualised with reference to some of the important aesthetic concepts prevalent in the 1990s, particularly those regarding conservative and progressive ideas. Three methods of analysis have been used for the repertoire in focus: structural, paradigmatic, and parametric, leading to an understanding of the compositional process at both macro and micro levels. The repertoire demands a vast range of instrumental techniques, many rediscovered from historical treatises as much as from avant-garde style experimentation, including microtones, percussive, and vocalized sounds, providing a serious challenge to both the performer and the instrument. Each is discussed within the context of the selected pieces. The effects of globalisation at the end of the twentieth century are evidenced in the selected composers' use of ideas from many cultures, including historical references to early Western music, as well as to those of Japan and Indonesia. Specific references are made to Derrida and 'différance', and the influence of the Japanese aesthetic and structural principles of 'wabi sabi' and 'jo ha kyū'.