This thesis comprises two articles based on qualitative empirical studies and a theoretical introduction. All three texts deal with the same problem area concerning musical meaning making and the concept development process in the course of composition learning. Each text could be read separately. The composition tasks in the empirical studies are both in electroacoustic music but the research problems and findings concern a broader sense of composition learning and even musical learning in general. The corpus of music education research on composition, rarely takes the body of artistic research and development literature into account, which means that contem- porary techniques and aesthetic discussions commonplace in composition education practice are not considered in music education research. This the- sis contributes to the research field of music education by acknowledging some of the fundamental research on composition, and discussing it from an education perspective. As a consequence, a contribution salient in the arti- cles is to begin to develop research methodology accordingly. The introduc- tion takes on a quest to map out the field in a new way by bringing together research in music education with artistic research on composition, writings on music philosophy, semiotics and cognitive psychology. The boundaries and interplay between semantic significance and syntactic meaning are ex- amined and discussed, as is the relation between aesthetic meaning making and learning. The articles deal with these issues in the context of composi- tion learning at a music program in upper secondary school. The one entitled Synthetic Activity is about fundamental aspects of soundgeneration and hence directed towards semiotics in the form of phonology and significance in connection to musical gesture and spectral content. The learning and meaning making processes of two composition students are studied as they engage in additive synthesis to build sounds, musical phrases and eventually a short musical composition. One of the most striking results is that the pro- ject came to be as much a listening experience as one of creative music mak- ing, and that the concept development process included rehearing and reas- sessing familiar sounds and music. The article Creative Structures or Struc- tured Creativity deals with form and syntactic structure, as the students learn to develop and apply composition algorithms to further their creative think- ing. The results show that there are several different layers to the concept development processes in this project. One layer concerns to be able to struc-7ture musical parameters on an aggregate level; to learn to plan musical de- velopments as space of possibility rather than as a determined linear se- quence of musical events. Another layer comprises problems of learning the programming environment and how to embody the musical algorithms in working computer-code. A third layer concerns letting the algorithmically generated materials influence your creative thinking. Tokens of the concept development process as described by Vygotskij (1987, 1999) in language- based learning were prominent also in the music composition learning of these studies. Implications for further research include formalizing criteria for the developmental phases of the concept development process in musical contexts.

Undergraduate honors paper--Mount Holyoke College, 2009. Program in Film Studies. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 121-123). Filmography: leaves 119-121.

It is no secret that Frédéric Chopin was fond of dance music. Dance genres—including the mazurka, polonaise, and waltz—dominate his oeuvre. According to the Henle Urtext edition, Chopin penned fifty-seven mazurkas during his lifetime, writing in this genre more than any other. It is interesting, then, that the mazurkas seem to be one of Chopin’s most historically misunderstood genres. In their haste to point out the mazurkas’ seeming irregularities of rhythm, harmony, mode, accent pattern, and such, critics both of Chopin’s time and in more recent history often ignore two equally fundamental issues: (1) the relationship between Chopin’s mazurkas and the dance of the same name, and (2) the manner in which that relationship might inform hermeneutic readings of the mazurkas. Surely, the perceived “irregularities” were not employed haphazardly, but rather for specific expressive purposes. This essay aims to construct a model for embodied musical meaning as it pertains to Chopin’s mazurkas by examining the intersection of gesture, narrative, and temporal theories. Drawing on Robert S. Hatten’s (2004) and Alexandra Pierce’s (2007) work on musical gesture, I will relate the steps of the danced mazurka to their abstract musical counterparts in Chopin’s solo piano works and examine the affective connection between the physical steps and the musical gestures. I will then call upon the narrative theories of Michael Klein (2004) and Byron Almén (2008) and the temporal theories put forth by Jonathan D. Kramer (1973, 1996) and Judy Lochhead (1979) to construct a framework in which the musical gestures (and the expressive states they imply) interact to produce emergent meanings. Finally, I will present a gestural/narrative reading of Chopin’s Mazurka in C# minor, op. 50, no. 3, which aims to demonstrate both the utility of my proposed theoretical model and the necessity of going back to the dance to grapple with issues of musical meaning in the mazurkas. / text

Thesis (MMus (Music))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study concerns the widespread phenomenon that music is perceived as meaningful to the listener in some sense. The study adopts a style of conceptual clarification and investigation that is current in the analytic philosophy of language, and is further informed by recent research into the fundamental biology of human musicality, which suggests that musicality and language are neurologically related. The problem of musical meaning is approached as a problem of communicative behaviour, and is hence conceptually related to the concept of meaningfulness in the various modalities of linguistic communication. ‘Communication’ is defined in terms of the intended consequences of communicative acts – that is, a communicative act is an attempt on the behalf of the utterer to cause some sort of change in the listener’s mental states. From this premise, meaning in both musical and linguistic acts is defined in terms the mental states elicited in the mind of the listener. Two classes of mental state are identified: cognitive states, which are propositional in nature; and affective states, which are essentially nonpropositional. It is proposed that meaning in both music and language (as well as in other communicative acts) can be explained in terms of the elicitation of these classes of mental states in the minds of competent listeners, and that in any linguistic or musical act, a competent listener will entertain a composite of these mental states that will be perceived as meaning. The mechanisms responsible for the elicitation of these states are discussed, and it is concluded that the causal powers of the communicative act, as it is represented in the mind, are responsible for the elicitation of these mental states. Directly causal means are responsible for affective states: there is a relationship of direct causation between relevant features of the communicative act, as represented in the mind, and affective states. Affective states are nonpropositional, in that they cannot be subjected to deductive or propositional operations in the mind. By virtue of their being non-propositional, such states are also considered to be beyond verbal explication (‘ineffable’). Cognitive states, on the other hand, are propositional in nature. The mechanisms by which they are realised are complex in terms of propositional computation: the relevant propositional features of the communicative act, as represented in the mind of the listener, undergo manipulation by mental processes (for instance, the computational system for linguistic syntax). Cognitive states are expressible in propositional terms, and are hence expressible in language. Whereas linguistic communication is efficacious for the elicitation of cognitive states, musical utterances tend to elicit affective states to a far greater degree. Furthermore, whereas the syntax of language aids communication in the facilitation of semantics, the syntactic dimension of music is principally a means of implementing affective states in the listener. Therefore, any explanation of musical meaning must take the syntactical dimension of music into account. It is also argued that there are features of performance common to both language (in its spoken modality) and musical utterances that serve to elicit affective states. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie ondersoek die verskynsel dat musiek deur die meeste luisteraars as betekenisvol ervaar word. ’n Styl van konseptuele verduideliking en ondersoek word gebruik wat eie is aan die analitiese filosofie van taal. Terselfdertyd word die jongste navorsing op die gebied van die fundamentele biologie van menslike musikaliteit in aanmerking geneem, wat suggereer dat taal en musikale vermoë neurologies met mekaar verwant is. Die probleem van betekenis in musiek word as ʼn probleem van kommunikatiewe gedrag benader, en is dus konseptueel verbind aan die konsep van betekenisvolheid in die verskeie modaliteite van kommunikasie deur middel van taal. ‘Kommunikasie’ word in terme van die geïntendeerde uitkomste van kommunikatiewe aksies/dade gedefinieer. Met ander woorde, ʼn kommunikatiewe aksie/daad is ʼn poging deur die spreker om uiteindelik ʼn verandering in die geestesgesteldheid (‘mental state’) van die luisteraar teweeg te bring. Op hierdie basis word twee tipes geestesgesteldheid onderskei: ʼn kognitiewe gesteldheid, wat proposisioneel van aard is, en ʼn affektiewe gesteldheid, wat nie-proposisioneel is. Daar word voorgestel dat betekenis in beide musiek en taal, soos ook in ander vorme van kommunikasie, verduidelik kan word as die belewenis van sodanige geestesgesteldhede aan die kant van die bedrewe luisteraar. Dit impliseer dat die betekenis van enige uiting in taal of musiek as ʼn bepaalde kombinasie van hierdie twee geestesgesteldhede deur die bedrewe luisteraar ervaar word. Die meganismes wat hierdie geestesgesteldhede ontlok word bespreek, en die gevolgtrekking word gemaak dat dit die kousale mag van die kommunikatiewe daad is, soos dit in die bewussyn (‘mind’) neerslag vind, wat hierdie twee tipes geestesgesteldheid ontlok. Daar word beweer dat ʼn proses van direkte kousaliteit verantwoordelik is vir ʼn affektiewe gesteldheid: daar is ’n oorsaaklike verhouding tussen die onderskeie kenmerke van die kommunikatiewe daad, soos dit in die bewussyn voorgestel word, en die uiteindelike affektiewe geestesgesteldheid. ʼn Affektiewe geestesgesteldheid is nie-proposisioneel omdat dit nie in terme van deduktiewe of proposisionele prosesse in die bewussyn verstaan kan word nie. Omdat dit nie-proposisioneel is word die kenmerke van hierdie affektiewe geestesgesteldheid as onsegbaar (‘ineffable’) deur die luisteraar beleef. Daarteenoor is ʼn kognitiewe geestesgesteldheid proposisioneel van aard. Die meganismes wat veroorsaak dat hierdie geestesgesteldheid gerealiseer word is kompleks: die onderskeie kenmerke van die kommunikatiewe daad, soos dit in die bewussyn van die luisteraar voorgestel word, ondergaan manipulasie deur denkprosesse wat proposisioneel van aard is (bv., die denkproses wat die sintaktiese dimensie van taal moet verwerk). ʼn Kognitiewe geestesgesteldheid kan in proposisionele terme weergegee en gevolglik in taal verwoord word. Terwyl kommunikasie deur middel van taal effektief is om ʼn kognitiewe geestesgesteldheid te ontlok, is musikale uitdrukking veel eerder geskik om ʼn affektiewe geestesgesteldheid te ontlok. Verder, terwyl die sintaksis van taal bydra tot verwesenliking van semantiese betekenis, dra die sintaktiese dimensie van musiek eerder daartoe by om ʼn affektiewe geestesgesteldheid by die luisteraar te vestig. Dus moet elke verduideliking van musikale betekenis die sintaktiese dimensie van musiek in aanmerking neem. Verder word beweer dat daar algemene kenmerke in sowel taal (in die gesproke modaliteit) as musiek voorkom wat spesifiek ʼn affektiewe geestesgesteldheid tot stand bring.

No description available.

Notre étude prend l’allure d’un discours argumentatif sur les questions de sens et de signification en musique. Elle s’interroge dans une première partie sur le sens en général et sur la visée musicologique du sens : y a-t-il une réalité ontologique du sens ? Le sens est-il objet, qualité, propriété, état de choses, visée intentionnelle de la chose, etc.Dans une seconde partie, nous engageons une discussion sur la signification musicale et sur le rapport signification/sens en musique. Elle réactive de nombreuses problématiques de la musicologie : l’épineuse question du signe musical, la communication musicale, le langage musical, le rapport son musical/langage verbal — rapport essentiel, eu égard à l’inféodation de l’homme et de sa pensée au langage verbal. Dans une troisième partie, nous envisagerons le sens sous l’angle d’une trilogie, articulant les trois acceptions courantes du sens : la signification, la sensation et la direction. Nous y expliquons notamment ce que l’on peut entendre par « direction » ou « orientation » en musique. Cette partie décrit le processus sémiotique du son musical, et explique, à travers ce processus, la téléologie de la musique : quelle est sa finalité ? Quelle est sa raison d’être ? Quelle est sa fonction dans l’humanité ? Notre étude utilise la philosophie du sens et les théories du langage pour tenter, humblement, d’expliquer la scandaleuse disproportion entre la puissance à dire de la musique et l’inévidence foncière de ce qu’elle dit , disproportion en laquelle réside selon nous tout son mystère. / Our study takes the form of an argumentative speech about the matters of sense and meaning in music. The study will firstly ponder about the Meaning in general and the musicological aim of the sense: Is there an ontological reality to the sense? Is the meaning an object, a quality, a property, a state of object; is it an intentional aim of the object, etc ?In a second part, we do launch a discussion about the musical meaning and about the sense/meaning relation in music. It restarts several musicology issues: the delicate question of the musical sign, musical communication, musical language, musical/verbal language relation –a crucial relationship, with regard to the indentureship of the human and his mind to the verbal language. In a third section, we will consider the sense as a trilogy which structures the three current senses of the word: meaning, feeling and direction. We will especially explain what can be implied by “direction” or “orientation” in music. This part describes the semiotics process of the musical sound, and explain through this process the teleology of music: What is its ambition? What is its reason of being? What is its function in humanity? Our study uses the philosophy of the sense and the language theories to make an, humble, attempt to explain the outrageous disproportion between music’s power of saying and basic non obviousness of it says, disproportion in which lies, according to us, all its mystery.

Este trabalho aborda analiticamente o Trio em fá sustenido menor (1916) do compositor brasileiro Alberto Nepomuceno, com objetivo de constituir um estudo de caso que permita um melhor posicionamento da obra do compositor no período de transição entre o romantismo e o modernismo brasileiros. Ele levanta dados do contexto ideológico-musical no qual se insere a obra, em especial das noções francesas de progresso e suas consequências musicais no início do século XX. A pesquisa apresenta também os fundamentos teóricos de uma proposta analítica que visa incorporar à análise estrutural os desdobramentos do significado musical. Ela procura unir, por meio do conceito de multivalência, os estudos das tópicas, dos esquemas, da narratividade e da intertextualidade. O trabalho apresenta quatro análises multivalentes, uma para cada movimento da obra. Os resultados apontam para uma obra que se constitui em uma rede de símbolos musicais introversivos e extroversivos, que faz um equilíbrio entre a tradição formal e expressiva e o uso de novos materiais sonoros. / This work analyzes the Piano Trio in F sharp minor by the Brazilian composer Alberto Nepomuceno, aiming to constitute a case study that allows a better positioning of the composer\'s work in the period of transition between Brazilian romanticism and modernism. It raises data from the ideological-musical context in which the work is inserted, especially the French notions of progress and its musical consequences in the early twentieth century. The research also presents the theoretical foundations of an analytical proposal that aims to incorporate into the structural analysis the unfolding of musical meaning. It seeks to unite, through the concept of multivalence, the studies of topics, schemata, narrativity and intertextuality. The work presents four multivalent analysis, one for each movement of the work. The results point to a work that constitutes a network of introversive and extroversive musical symbols, which makes a balance between formal and expressive tradition and the use of new sound materials.

Este trabalho aborda analiticamente o Trio em fá sustenido menor (1916) do compositor brasileiro Alberto Nepomuceno, com objetivo de constituir um estudo de caso que permita um melhor posicionamento da obra do compositor no período de transição entre o romantismo e o modernismo brasileiros. Ele levanta dados do contexto ideológico-musical no qual se insere a obra, em especial das noções francesas de progresso e suas consequências musicais no início do século XX. A pesquisa apresenta também os fundamentos teóricos de uma proposta analítica que visa incorporar à análise estrutural os desdobramentos do significado musical. Ela procura unir, por meio do conceito de multivalência, os estudos das tópicas, dos esquemas, da narratividade e da intertextualidade. O trabalho apresenta quatro análises multivalentes, uma para cada movimento da obra. Os resultados apontam para uma obra que se constitui em uma rede de símbolos musicais introversivos e extroversivos, que faz um equilíbrio entre a tradição formal e expressiva e o uso de novos materiais sonoros. / This work analyzes the Piano Trio in F sharp minor by the Brazilian composer Alberto Nepomuceno, aiming to constitute a case study that allows a better positioning of the composer\'s work in the period of transition between Brazilian romanticism and modernism. It raises data from the ideological-musical context in which the work is inserted, especially the French notions of progress and its musical consequences in the early twentieth century. The research also presents the theoretical foundations of an analytical proposal that aims to incorporate into the structural analysis the unfolding of musical meaning. It seeks to unite, through the concept of multivalence, the studies of topics, schemata, narrativity and intertextuality. The work presents four multivalent analysis, one for each movement of the work. The results point to a work that constitutes a network of introversive and extroversive musical symbols, which makes a balance between formal and expressive tradition and the use of new sound materials.

Esta tese analisou os processos de significação na música de cinema tendo como referencial teórico estudos musicológicos com ênfase cognitivista e semiótica, decorrentes da teoria das tópicas musicais, a partir dos trabalhos de Leonard Ratner (1985), Kofi Agawu (1991, 2009), Robert Hatten (1994, 2005, 2014) e Danuta Mirka (2014). A pesquisa se concentrou em dois gêneros cinematográficos, o western e a ficção científica, considerando as práticas musicais a eles relacionadas desde o cinema silencioso, para compreender a formação do inventário associativo que constituiu a base do pensamento tópico no cinema. Ao analisar o inventário musical de cada gênero, observamos que o uso recorrente de figurações e materiais musicais específicos correlacionados a elementos da paradigmática fílmica criou aquilo que denominamos - \"imaginário sonoro do gênero cinematográfico\", que definimos como sendo o conjunto de gestos, musemas, tópicas e sons concretos recorrentes na música do gênero e que contribuíram para a formação de uma identidade musical. A identificação dos elementos constituintes deste imaginário sonoro nos ajudou a compreender a significação musical à luz dos códigos e da mitologia que fundamentam o gênero cinematográfico. Em relação à formação do imaginário sonoro do western e da ficção científica, duas tendências antagônicas ganharam relevância: o papel da tradição folclórica e nacionalista para a identidade da música do western e, por outro lado, a importância das experiências da vanguarda musical para a construção do imaginário sonoro da ficção científica. Os signos musicais que permeiam o imaginário sonoro do gênero cinematográfico se combinam em processos tropológicos e se transmutam para acompanhar os desenvolvimentos técnicos, poéticos, tecnológicos e ideológicos que afetam os campos musical e cinematográfico. Em conjunto com as análises musicais, a teoria da marcação, aplicada ao plano musical por Hatten (1994), nos serviu como profícua ferramenta para a análise das antinomias que orientam grande parte das narrativas cinematográficas. A adoção da teoria da marcação contribuiu para revelar a função da música como alienadora ou -familiarizadora? de elementos da narrativa. Verificamos finalmente a possibilidade de correlação entre o discurso paradigmático das referências tópicas e o eixo sintagmático da forma fílmica. / This doctoral dissertation analyzed the processes of musical meaning in cinema using as theoretical fundament musicological studies of cognitivist and semiotic basis that have followed the theory of music topics after the work of Leonard Ratner (1985), Kofi Agawu (1991, 2009), Robert Hatten (1994, 2005, 2014) and Danuta Mirka (2014). The research concentrated in two cinematographic genres, the western and the science fiction, considering musical practices related to them since the silent movies, to understand the formation of an associative inventory that has become the basis of the topical thought in cinema. Analyzing the musical repertoire of each genre, we observe that the recurring use of specific figurations and other musical materials, related to elements of the film paradigms, has created what we called - \"sound imagery of a cinema genre\" . We defined this concept as the set of gestures, musemas, topics and concrete sounds often used in the music of that genre which contributed for the identification of the music with the images and the plot. The identification of the elements of this sound imagery helped us to understand the musical meaning by the perspective of the codes and myths that form the cinematographic genre. In relation to the formation of the sound imagery of the western and the science fiction genres, two antagonist tendencies have emerged, the role of folkloric and nationalistic traditions for the music identity of the western genre and the importance of avant-garde musical experiments for the construction of the science fiction sound imagery. The musical signs that cross the sound imagery of the cinematographic genre blend through tropological processes and transform themselves to follow the technical, poetical, technological and ideological developments that affect the fields of music and cinema. Besides the musical analysis, the markedness theory, applied to music by Hatten (1994), served as useful tool to analyze the role of antinomy that guide many of the cinematographic narratives. The adoption of the makedness theory contributed to reveal how the music alienate or familiarize the elements of the narrative. We also verified a possible correlation between the paradigmatic discourse of the topical references and the syntagmatic axis of the filmic form.

Esta tese analisou os processos de significação na música de cinema tendo como referencial teórico estudos musicológicos com ênfase cognitivista e semiótica, decorrentes da teoria das tópicas musicais, a partir dos trabalhos de Leonard Ratner (1985), Kofi Agawu (1991, 2009), Robert Hatten (1994, 2005, 2014) e Danuta Mirka (2014). A pesquisa se concentrou em dois gêneros cinematográficos, o western e a ficção científica, considerando as práticas musicais a eles relacionadas desde o cinema silencioso, para compreender a formação do inventário associativo que constituiu a base do pensamento tópico no cinema. Ao analisar o inventário musical de cada gênero, observamos que o uso recorrente de figurações e materiais musicais específicos correlacionados a elementos da paradigmática fílmica criou aquilo que denominamos - \"imaginário sonoro do gênero cinematográfico\", que definimos como sendo o conjunto de gestos, musemas, tópicas e sons concretos recorrentes na música do gênero e que contribuíram para a formação de uma identidade musical. A identificação dos elementos constituintes deste imaginário sonoro nos ajudou a compreender a significação musical à luz dos códigos e da mitologia que fundamentam o gênero cinematográfico. Em relação à formação do imaginário sonoro do western e da ficção científica, duas tendências antagônicas ganharam relevância: o papel da tradição folclórica e nacionalista para a identidade da música do western e, por outro lado, a importância das experiências da vanguarda musical para a construção do imaginário sonoro da ficção científica. Os signos musicais que permeiam o imaginário sonoro do gênero cinematográfico se combinam em processos tropológicos e se transmutam para acompanhar os desenvolvimentos técnicos, poéticos, tecnológicos e ideológicos que afetam os campos musical e cinematográfico. Em conjunto com as análises musicais, a teoria da marcação, aplicada ao plano musical por Hatten (1994), nos serviu como profícua ferramenta para a análise das antinomias que orientam grande parte das narrativas cinematográficas. A adoção da teoria da marcação contribuiu para revelar a função da música como alienadora ou -familiarizadora? de elementos da narrativa. Verificamos finalmente a possibilidade de correlação entre o discurso paradigmático das referências tópicas e o eixo sintagmático da forma fílmica. / This doctoral dissertation analyzed the processes of musical meaning in cinema using as theoretical fundament musicological studies of cognitivist and semiotic basis that have followed the theory of music topics after the work of Leonard Ratner (1985), Kofi Agawu (1991, 2009), Robert Hatten (1994, 2005, 2014) and Danuta Mirka (2014). The research concentrated in two cinematographic genres, the western and the science fiction, considering musical practices related to them since the silent movies, to understand the formation of an associative inventory that has become the basis of the topical thought in cinema. Analyzing the musical repertoire of each genre, we observe that the recurring use of specific figurations and other musical materials, related to elements of the film paradigms, has created what we called - \"sound imagery of a cinema genre\" . We defined this concept as the set of gestures, musemas, topics and concrete sounds often used in the music of that genre which contributed for the identification of the music with the images and the plot. The identification of the elements of this sound imagery helped us to understand the musical meaning by the perspective of the codes and myths that form the cinematographic genre. In relation to the formation of the sound imagery of the western and the science fiction genres, two antagonist tendencies have emerged, the role of folkloric and nationalistic traditions for the music identity of the western genre and the importance of avant-garde musical experiments for the construction of the science fiction sound imagery. The musical signs that cross the sound imagery of the cinematographic genre blend through tropological processes and transform themselves to follow the technical, poetical, technological and ideological developments that affect the fields of music and cinema. Besides the musical analysis, the markedness theory, applied to music by Hatten (1994), served as useful tool to analyze the role of antinomy that guide many of the cinematographic narratives. The adoption of the makedness theory contributed to reveal how the music alienate or familiarize the elements of the narrative. We also verified a possible correlation between the paradigmatic discourse of the topical references and the syntagmatic axis of the filmic form.