The present study investigated how knowledge of tonality is used in sight-reading by comparing sight-reading accuracy across three tonal constructs: major, minor and atonal. It was hypothesized that sight-reading performance would be the worst in instances with no tonal information, as participants would be unable to generate appropriate top-down expectancies to guide their sight-reading. To test this, twelve pianists sight-read major, minor and atonal versions of monophonic, homophonic and polyphonic excerpts. The results indicated that pianists performed the major excerpts with greater accuracy than the atonal excerpts. Furthermore, the errors made within the major excerpts were significantly biased towards diatonicism, and there was a global shift towards tonality in participants’ atonal performances, providing a clear demonstration of how pianists’ expectations might have contributed to their sight-reading performance. The diatonic bias was not found in the minor excerpts, suggesting that the minor hierarchy does exert as strong of an influence during sight-reading.

Solo percussionist and composer Glenn Kotche has achieved international fame with his experimental percussion-based music, collaborating with and composing for renowned contemporary music ensembles such as the Kronos Quartet, Band on a Can All-Stars, So Percussion, and Eighth Blackbird. One of his most celebrated compositions in recent years is Monkey Chant, which combines acoustic and electronic elements in a solo multiple percussion setting. Written and premiered in 2006, Kotche was inspired to compose Monkey Chant after listening to original field recordings in Bali from the Nonesuch Explorer Series. Found in these recordings is the popular Balinese music and dance drama known as Kecak. Monkey Chant showcases, through percussion, the intricate vocal patterns and recounting of the Ramayana Epic featured in Balinese Kecak. This monograph serves as an informational performance guide for Monkey Chant that simplifies and resolves performance questions and issues. It provides a contextual setting for the work with a brief biography of Glenn Kotche, including his musical influences and inspiration for the composition. Balinese Kecak is examined as well as the Hindu Ramayana tale as it relates to Kotche’s composition, revealing the function for its compositional form. This document also clarifies and details preparatory procedures for collecting and building the unique instruments required, also detailing schematics for electronic audio equipment and setup. Lastly, there is an analysis of compositional style and form, offering optional solutions to performance obstacles.

Thesis (M.M.)--University of Texas at El Paso, 2007. / Title from title screen. Vita. CD-ROM. Includes bibliographical references. Also available online.

Thesis (doctoral)--Göteborgs universitet, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 387-396).

Thesis (doctoral)--Göteborgs universitet, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 387-396).

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Queensland, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references.

This thesis examines creativity in performance through the study of the performance practices of professional clarinettists. Creativity research has tended to emphasise the innovative, revelatory qualities of the creative process, rather than the more pragmatic activities related to notated performance. This corresponds to a tension between the perceived creative opportunities of improvisation and notated music, and has resulted in a discourse that associates improvisation with spontaneity and novelty, and notated performance with repetition and reproduction. How might this discourse be challenged? Through a series of case studies documenting clarinettists working in a variety of collaborative settings, I examine how performers' constructions of creativity might complement or challenge the perceived creative affordances of notated music, and how the presence of, and/or collaboration with a living composer affects the creative process. A broadly ethnographic methodology is employed, drawing on thematic analysis of qualitative data obtained through semi-structured interviews with musicians, and audio-visual footage of workshops, rehearsals and performances. Conceptually, the thesis adopts an ecological perspective (Ingold 2011; Clarke, Doffman, and Lim 2013), proposing that creativity is a distributed phenomenon, entangled within a complex interweaving of social, material, and historical influences. It draws on work by Richard Sennett (2008) and Tim Ingold (2013) on craft and material engagement, suggesting that the interaction between a practitioner and a tradition entails a synthesis of action, perception and prior experience. I argue that this orientation is useful for developing an analytical framework that accounts for the dimensions of performance that might otherwise be taken for granted. The research offers insights into the performance practices of contemporary concert musics - a line of inquiry that remains largely unaddressed. More broadly, it makes room for a more forward-looking model of creativity based on processes rather than outcomes, and one that better appreciates the fluid pathways between performers and scores.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-12-10T14:23:43Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2015-07-06. Added 1 bitstream(s) on 2015-12-10T14:29:43Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 000853657.pdf: 4538307 bytes, checksum: 181f570d365ee07924a9c31eee5a16bd (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / A presente pesquisa consiste em um estudo sobre a preparação corporal para performance de música de câmara com violão no repertório com técnicas estendidas. A metodologia utilizada baseia-se na revisão de literatura sobre quatro temas apresentados no decorrer do trabalho: 1 - preparação para performance de música de câmara, 2 - considerações sobre o repertório de câmara para violão, 3 - considerações sobre técnicas estendidas e 4 - estudos sobre o uso do corpo na performance. Além disso, algumas técnicas de ensaio trabalhadas pelos autores utilizados na revisão de literatura foram também abordadas de maneira mais específica, relacionando a importância das mesmas com enfoque na preparação corporal, sendo elas: 1 - leitura, 2 - memorização e 3 - comunicação gestual.Por fim, foi proposto um roteiro para elaboração da preparação para performance de três obras do repertório de câmara com violão que contenham técnicas estendidas, sendo elas: 1 - Musica da Camera, de Hans-Martin Linde, 2 - Gruselgeschichten, de Heinz Kratochwil,e 3 - Motets, de Arthur Kampela. Dessa maneira, foram tratadas as abordagens referentes às técnicas estendidas e preparação para performance musical de cada obra com enfoque na preparação corporal / The present work consists of a study on body preparation for chamber music performance with guitar on repertoire with extended techniques. The used methodology is based on a literary review of four themes presented throughoutthis work: 1 - preparation for chamber music performance, 2 - thoughts regarding chamber repertoire for guitar, 3 - thoughts regarding extended techniques and 4 - studies on the use of the body in performances. Moreover, some rehearsal techniques utilized by theauthors in the literary review were also addressed on a more specific manner, relating its importance with a focus on body preparation, such as: 1 - reading 2 - memorization,and 3 - gestural communication. Finally, a guide for performance preparation of three chamber repertoire pieces with guitar containing extended techniques was suggested, being such works: 1 - Musica da Camera, from HansMartin Linde, 2 - Gruselgeschichten, from Heinz Kratochwil, and 3 - Motets, from Arthur Kampela. Thus, approaches concerning extended techniques and musical performance preparation regarding each piece were addressed focusing on body preparation

Orientador: Sonia Marta Rodrigues Raymundo / Banca: Werner Aguiar / Banca: Arthur Kampela / Resumo: A presente pesquisa consiste em um estudo sobre a preparação corporal para performance de música de câmara com violão no repertório com técnicas estendidas. A metodologia utilizada baseia-se na revisão de literatura sobre quatro temas apresentados no decorrer do trabalho: 1 - preparação para performance de música de câmara, 2 - considerações sobre o repertório de câmara para violão, 3 - considerações sobre técnicas estendidas e 4 - estudos sobre o uso do corpo na performance. Além disso, algumas técnicas de ensaio trabalhadas pelos autores utilizados na revisão de literatura foram também abordadas de maneira mais específica, relacionando a importância das mesmas com enfoque na preparação corporal, sendo elas: 1 - leitura, 2 - memorização e 3 - comunicação gestual.Por fim, foi proposto um roteiro para elaboração da preparação para performance de três obras do repertório de câmara com violão que contenham técnicas estendidas, sendo elas: 1 - Musica da Camera, de Hans-Martin Linde, 2 - Gruselgeschichten, de Heinz Kratochwil,e 3 - Motets, de Arthur Kampela. Dessa maneira, foram tratadas as abordagens referentes às técnicas estendidas e preparação para performance musical de cada obra com enfoque na preparação corporal / Abstract: The present work consists of a study on body preparation for chamber music performance with guitar on repertoire with extended techniques. The used methodology is based on a literary review of four themes presented throughoutthis work: 1 - preparation for chamber music performance, 2 - thoughts regarding chamber repertoire for guitar, 3 - thoughts regarding extended techniques and 4 - studies on the use of the body in performances. Moreover, some rehearsal techniques utilized by theauthors in the literary review were also addressed on a more specific manner, relating its importance with a focus on body preparation, such as: 1 - reading 2 - memorization,and 3 - gestural communication. Finally, a guide for performance preparation of three chamber repertoire pieces with guitar containing extended techniques was suggested, being such works: 1 - Musica da Camera, from HansMartin Linde, 2 - Gruselgeschichten, from Heinz Kratochwil, and 3 - Motets, from Arthur Kampela. Thus, approaches concerning extended techniques and musical performance preparation regarding each piece were addressed focusing on body preparation / Mestre

This study deals with African neo-traditional choral music of sub-Saharan- and Southern Africa, with specific reference to extemporisation. The research focussed on the evolution of this music through an amalgamation of western choral music and African indigenous and traditional musical practices of sub- Saharan and Southern Africa. Specific reference to the syncretism of western music, which came to Africa through colonisation, and the way African indigenous musical traditions influenced it, is preceded by descriptions on African indigenous musical practices and western choral music traditions. The incorporation of traditional folk songs into African makwaya, or “choir music”, was inevitable. This development saw the birth of African neotraditional choral music as a formal part of many choirs’ programmes. A description of five sample choirs engaging with this music was followed by a case study on the Drakensberg Boys’ Choir. The way these choirs deal with different aspects regarding the preparation and performance of this music highlighted many parallels with African indigenous traditions. It also emphasises the important role of this music in choral performance, as well as choral education. As a genre in evolution, one aspect of this music, namely extemporisation, was studied in more detail in order to suggest another way of engaging with this music. Not only is choral extemporisation a possibility in African neo-traditional choral music of Southern Africa, but it is also a flourishing art form in Scandinavia. In Norway and Sweden it also utilises characteristics and techniques of folk music, which raised the status of this music to be a major art form. This notion prompted the suggested application of choral extemporisation to African neo-traditional choral music of Southern Africa. Even if any method of extemporisation may be utilised, it is proposed that characteristics of African sub- Saharan- and Southern African indigenous music be applied. This may result in the incorporation of more of these African indigenous elements in the neo-traditional choral music discussed than the current western harmonic emphasis. However, the suggestion is seen as a next step in the evolution of this music, which corresponds with international practices, and not to return to indigenous practices as such.