This submission for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy focuses on works for large instrumental ensemble in conjunction with the voice. Instrumental ensemble and vocal mediums such as the orchestral art song, the song cycle and the opera in one act, provide platforms to explore the expressiveness of the lyrical dramatic voice and the dialectic tension between composing for the solo voice with a range of instrumental ensemble forces. The portfolio of compositions includes the orchestral song, The Woman Who Refused to Dance; the orchestral song trilogy, Spirit Songs; and the opera in one act, Queen Nanny of the Maroons. Issues of composition technique, vocal expression and operatic narrative are examined and in addition the three named works explore notions of post-colonial heroic representation of subjects that might not usually attract ideological recognition in Western European art music contexts. Methods for developing inclusive, post-modern musical language for the mixed instrumental and vocal ensemble are explored; including the employment of spoken word expression and the integration of popular music idioms within contemporary Western European art music contexts. In the writing of lyrics for the songs and libretto for the opera, increased responsibility is assumed in the completion of vocal works in addition to musical consideration to find the effects on the works when the roles of composer and writer are combined. With the opera in one act for solo voice, forming the major contribution to the portfolio, critical components that lead to effective music drama are assessed.

This practice-based research articulates a performer's perspective from within the rapidly expanding field of mixed music, wherein traditional acoustic instruments are augmented by means of live electronics. Contemporary technology presents a panoply of sonic and interactive affordances and diverse avenues of potential for a contemporary practice of the clarinet. Pursuing a move from a technically passive approach towards self-efficient onstage operation, the author articulates a journey in which a hybridity of instrumental expertise and technical naivety develops into an embedded practice. A framework of humanising is proposed to establish codes of practice based on the embodied skill and priorities of the onstage performer. A pragmatic and personal approach emerges to managing issues of sound, control, and engagement, with an emphasis on viable rehearsal and performance practices that ultimately privilege an ongoing attention to liveness. The portfolio of sound recordings and the observances contained in this thesis contribute to a growing body of performer-led accounts in a rich environment for the development of new creative work and collaboration, and to facilitating access to interactive music for performers wishing to explore the field. A set of case studies trace three broad roles across a spectrum of creative agency within an interdisciplinary practice of the clarinet, situated at a nexus of diverse approaches - from performing composed works (executant interpreter) to non-idiomatic free improvisation (enactive composer), via hybrid works that blur these authorial distinctions (enabled interpreter). Negotiating multiple, interdependent influences within these respective performance ecologies, and moving over time from a status of technical novice towards one of proficiency and expertise (Dreyfus & Dreyfus 1980), a growing sense of embodied instrumentality is encountered (Nijs et al. 2009). The additional technology becomes less an extension of the instrument, rather the performer becomes present in a new holistic entity (Riva 2009; Rebelo 2006), with an attendant, ongoing re-evaluation of personal sound concept. Instrumental musicianship is reframed as inhabiting an assemblage of tools that filter and resonate physical energy, identity, and culture, and is directed towards an optimal performing presence.

We propose a Bayesian monaural source separation system to extract each individual tone from mixture signals of piano music performance. Specifically, tone extractions can be facilitated by model-based inference. Two signal models based on summation of sinusoidal waves were employed to represent piano tones. The first model is the traditional General Model, which is a variant of sinusoidal modeling, for representing a tone for high modeling quality; but this model often fails for mixtures of tones. The second model is an instrument-specific model tailored for the piano sound; its modeling quality is not as high as the traditional General Model, but its structure makes source separation easier. To exploit the benefits offered by both the traditional General Model and our proposed Piano Model, we used the hierarchical Bayesian framework to combine both models in the source separation process. These procedures allowed us to recover suitable parameters (frequencies, amplitudes, phases, intensities and fine-tuned onsets) for thorough analyses and characterizations of musical nuances. Isolated tones from a target recording were used to train the Piano Model, and the timing and pitch of individual music notes in the target recording were supplied to our proposed system for different experiments. Our results show that our proposed system gives robust and accurate separation of signal mixtures, and yields a separation quality significantly better than those reported in previous works. / What makes a good piano performance? An expressive piano performance owes its emotive power to the performer's skills in shaping the music with nuances. For the purpose of performance analysis, nuance can be defined as any subtle manipulation of sound parameters including attack, timing, pitch, loudness and timbre. A major obstacle to a systematic computational analysis of musical nuances is that it is often difficult to uncover relevant sound parameters from the complex audio signal of a piano music performance. A piano piece invariably involves simultaneous striking of multiple keys, and it is not obvious how one may extract the parameters of individual keys from the combined mixed signal. This problem of parameter extraction can be formulated as a source separation problem. Our research goal is to extract individual tones (frequencies, amplitudes and phases) from a mixture of piano tones. / Szeto, Wai Man. / Adviser: Wong Kim Hong. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 73-03, Section: B, page: . / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 120-128). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [201-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract also in Chinese.

Submitted by Erika Demachki (erikademachki@gmail.com) on 2014-09-05T19:34:20Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Produto Final de Mestrado.pdf: 6376276 bytes, checksum: 8ef196a5237a5a463c4b6437557f0a8d (MD5) license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-09-05T19:34:20Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Produto Final de Mestrado.pdf: 6376276 bytes, checksum: 8ef196a5237a5a463c4b6437557f0a8d (MD5) license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-04-30 / This paper deals with improvisation procedures for double bass in Instrumental Brazilian Popular Music (MPBI). Available literature on instrumental popular music focuses on North American jazz, however there is much to be explored and released concerning the material produced and published in Brazil about MPBI, particularly on double bass. Authors such as Piedade (2005) and Cirino (2009) discuss the scarce available literature and ponder on improvisation in overall Brazilian music. These authors' ideas are references to this work, which deepens their proposed discussion of improvisation and spreads it to double bass improvisation, mostly in interpretation of Brazilian genres. This paper's main goal is to discuss the use of rythmic cells and idiomatic melodies in improvisation for Brazilian genres baião, choro and samba. The work's methodology is made up of three main steps: 1) literary review in Portuguese and English; 2) selection and discussion of elements through hearing of audiovisual recordings, 3) applying selected elements to improvisation on popular themes’s excerpts. The work will also bring appendixes with full sheets for the defense recital and audio samples for the suggested improvisations. The research's final results (final product for concluding the Master's Degree in Music course) are presented in two parts: the defense recital (including themes with MPBI improvisation), which presents the research-originated artistic product, and the scientific article’s defense, which records the process of research itself. / Este trabalho trata de procedimentos de improvisação ao contrabaixo acústico no contexto da Música Popular Brasileira Instrumental (MPBI). A literatura disponível sobre música popular instrumental é concentrada no jazz norte-americano sendo que há muito a ser explorado e divulgado em relação ao material produzido e publicado no Brasil sobre MPBI, em particular sobre o contrabaixo. Autores como Piedade (2005) e Cirino (2009) discutem a escassa literatura disponível e refletem sobre a improvisação na música brasileira em geral. As idéias desses autores são referências para este trabalho, que aprofunda a discussão sobre improvisação por eles proposta e a estende para a improvisação ao contrabaixo, sobretudo na interpretação de gêneros brasileiros. O objetivo principal deste trabalho é discutir a utilização de células rítmicas e melodias idiomáticas em improvisos dos gêneros brasileiros: baião, choro e samba. A metodologia do trabalho está organizada em três etapas principais: 1) revisão da literatura em português e inglês; 2) seleção e discussão de elementos através da audição de gravações audiovisuais, 3) aplicação dos elementos selecionados em improvisos de trechos de peças populares. O trabalho traz ainda anexos com partituras completas do recital de defesa e áudio dos exemplos dos improvisos sugeridos. O resultado final da pesquisa (produto final de conclusão do Curso de Mestrado em Música) é apresentado em duas partes: o recital de defesa (com inclusão de peças com improviso de MPBI) que apresenta o produto artístico resultante da pesquisa e a defesa do artigo científico, que registra o processo percorrido pela pesquisa.

Book Summary: The Grove Dictionary of American Music, second edition is the largest, most comprehensive reference publication on American Music. Twenty-five years ago, the four volumes of the first edition of the dictionary initiated a great expansion in American music scholarship. This second edition reflects the growth in scholarship the first edition initiated. At eight volumes, it provides greatly expanded coverage, particularly in the areas of popular music, cities and regions, musical theater, opera, concert music, and music technology, as well as the musical traditions of many ethnic and cultural groups.

Finding appropriate and unique repertoire for the developing singer is a daunting task and ongoing challenge in the teaching profession. There are limited resources to help guide teachers in selecting varied, yet suitable repertoire that falls outside of the standard Western European musical canon. The early years, ages 17–21, are crucial to establishing a healthy and well-rounded vocal approach to singing, while also introducing the student to a wide variety of music. African-American art song is a great option for developing singers. Repertoire should allow a student to grow musically, vocally, and artistically according to the singer’s specific stage of learning and interests. Selecting repertoire through established criteria that considers the student’s personal and cultural interests (in addition to pedagogical needs) allows for a good foundation to support a healthy vocal development. Consideration of numerous elements, such as historical, musical, physical, emotional, and vocal characteristics offers a framework for a comprehensive approach in the selection process. In Literature for Teaching: A Guide for Choosing Solo Vocal Repertoire from a Developmental Perspective, Christopher Arneson provides a wonderful base for further study, and application into repertoire selection. Through the utilization of Arneson’s suggestions, I have created a rubric that quantifies key criteria important to the evaluation of repertoire. Through this rubric, a clear evaluation and assigned difficulty level is provided for each song in the collection. This compilation of songs is only the beginning to a proposed anthology entitled: African-American Art Song for the Developing Singer. Each song offers a historical and pedagogical summary that includes the following: composer and poet biographies, text and translations, basic form, original key and other keys available, performance notes, range, tessitura, suggested voice type, tempo suggestions, difficulty level, and other available editions. This unique anthology of African-American art song offers teachers with a resource that evaluates appropriate repertoire for developing singers, between the ages of 17–21, that is clearly accessible.

Stephen Foster is acknowledged as America’s first composer of popular music. His legacy can be seen in the number of songs that are embedded in our cultural heritage – “Oh! Susanna,” “Beautiful Dreamer,” and “My Old Kentucky Home,” are but a very few of his most popular works. Stephen Foster’s songs have been incorporated into every facet of American culture including both popular and classical musical culture, television, and film. However, his legacy is complicated as it is tainted by connections to blackface minstrelsy in some works. This document seeks to trace the threads of racial sensitivity and cultural appropriation in works arranged for choral ensembles based on Foster’s songs. The arrangements chosen for this document provide a glimpse into three distinct periods of American history – pre-Civil Rights, the Civil Rights Era, and post-Civil Rights. Using a process of comparative analysis of the music and text of the originals to that of the arrangements, this document traces expected and unexpected changes in music and text associated with each period. Perhaps through the continued study of one of America’s first purveyors of popular culture, we can begin to understand our national legacy of racism more clearly and find a path towards reconciliation.

Claude Debussy's Prelude a l’apres-midi d’un faune [Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun] opens with an unaccompanied flute solo that famously tests breath control, tone production, and capacity for musical expression. All aspiring flutists must master this solo, because it is frequently requested on orchestral and collegiate auditions. To aid flutists in their preparation, many notable pedagogues and performers have provided written and verbal commentary with suggestions for crafting a successful performance; however, it is unclear whether or not actual performances reflect these teachings. In other words, do the pedagogues practice what they preach? This study uses audio analysis to objectively analyze quantifiable aspects of ninety years of recordings of Prelude a l’apres-midi d’un faune and compares the results to current pedagogy. This study’s findings fall into four categories: (1) breath placement, (2) tempo and rubato, (3) vibrato, and (4) general expression. Because of the influence and historical significance of American flutist William Kincaid, a giant of twentieth-century performance and pedagogy, special consideration is given to specific recordings and teaching of Kincaid. The analysis that follows demonstrates disparity between performance practice and pedagogy and will allow flute students and teachers to make better-informed decisions interpreting Prelude a l’apres-midi d’un faune.

World War I (1914-1918) brought with it unimaginable disaster and destruction, reshaping the world and its culture forever. Out of the ashes of this unparalleled conflict came numerous triumphs of art, fueled by the surrounding conditions and personal expressions of their artists. English composer, Dr. Cyril Bradley Rootham (1875-1938) set a powerful and haunting poem from the poet Laurence Binyon (1869-1943) titled "For the Fallen” from a larger collection of his poetry called The Winnowing Fan. The poem was published in The Times on September 21, 1914, just seven weeks after the war began. This monograph seeks to bring to light this glorious and overlooked choral/orchestral work at a time of a centennial anniversary for World War I, bringing even more relevance to the subject matter. Another focus of this document is to highlight the musical accessibility of this work and provide resources that function as a platform for performance. A brief background of the composition, the poem, and the poet will assist in giving context to the setting. This document will also cover specific details regarding musical analysis, textual interpretations, and performance practice concepts.

American composer Christopher Theofanidis’s choral-orchestral work The Here and Now (2005) is a setting of Jalal ad-Din Rumi’s thirteenth-century poetry as translated by Coleman Barks. Theofanidis employs a cappella sonic contrasts, silence, rhythmic text setting, and a libretto based on fragments of Rumi’s poems to tell a story about the search for love, longing, joy, and gratitude. While rooted in traditional Western composition methods, this twenty-first-century work uses musical elements like color chords (bichords), cluster chords, changing meters, and modality, as well as imitative polyphony and unifying motifs within a new, tonal American aesthetic espoused by the Atlanta School of Composers, of which Theofanidis is a founding member. This DMA project presents warmups, rehearsal strategies, and teaching methods to guide the choir and conductor through the challenges of rhythmic text setting and dense harmonic language so that learning and performing The Here and Now is a rewarding endeavor.