When a particular phase of music theory is omitted from the contents of a treatise or textbook on that subject, the omission can usually be ascribed to one of two causes. Either the omitted phase is of little importance or it is not used in the music of the period on which the treatise or textbook is based. It is the purpose of this research study to discuss a particular phase of music theory that has been omitted or avoided by numerous counterpoint and theory textbook authors. The material in the contents of this work is based on a discussion of the melodic use of the augmented second in the music of the eighteenth century.

This song cycle consists of ten settings, and has been divided into two parts by the composer. Each part is preceded by a short quotation in Latin which has been inserted by the composer. The two parts of the cycle are evidently meant to typify the division of a human life into the periods of youth and old age. The Latin quotations which divide the cycle into its two parts are taken from the Latin Vulgate version of the Bible, Psalm 89, verse six.

This study has three purposes: first, to point out the stylistic elements of music that are present in the piano works of Debussy and Ravel; second, to determine how the composers have used these elements; and third, to discover the effects that have been achieved through individual uses of the elements.

La version intégrale de ce mémoire est disponible uniquement pour consultation individuelle à la Bibliothèque de musique de l'Université de Montréal (www.bib.umontreal.ca) / Les musiciens étrangers installés au Québec ont contribué à l’édification et au développement de la vie culturelle, et leur influence sur le milieu musical est loin d’être négligeable. Mais que connaît-on des conditions d’intégration socioculturelle et professionnelle de ces musiciens immigrants ? Quels obstacles rencontrent-ils, quelles stratégies développent-ils pour poursuivre leur carrière professionnelle dans un nouveau contexte social et artistique ? Cette recherche aborde un des aspects de la vie musicale québécoise à travers la problématique de l’intégration socioculturelle et professionnelle d’interprètes immigrants de musique savante occidentale (ou musique classique). S’appuyant sur le parcours de musiciens installés à Montréal depuis trente-cinq ans et moins, l’étude s’articule autour de quatre axes : l’impact de l’immigration sur les interprètes étrangers; leur processus d’intégration; l’influence du contexte socioculturel et musical sur les stratégies d’adaptation développées par ces musiciens; leurs apports au milieu musical québécois. Basée sur une approche sociomusicologique à partir d’une méthodologie mixte – étude théorique et enquête de terrain –, cette recherche se présente comme une enquête exploratoire visant à dresser un tableau général des situations rencontrées par les interprètes immigrants dans leur trajectoire d’intégration. Un cadre théorique a tout d’abord été bâti afin d’exposer, d’une part, les particularités du métier d’interprète (apprentissage et professionnalisation) et, d’autre part, les diverses étapes de l’immigration et de l’intégration et leurs spécificités. Ensuite, en replaçant dans ce cadre théorique les données recueillies sur le terrain, l’étude plus approfondie de cinq cas particuliers a permis d’appréhender la problématique à travers l’expérience des interprètes immigrants, et d’observer les stratégies qu’ils ont développées en réponse aux situations rencontrées; un de leurs plus grands défis étant de trouver un équilibre entre leurs codes culturels et musicaux et ceux de la société d’accueil. L’étude de cas s’appuie sur la mise en parallèle du cheminement d’interprètes installés à Montréal depuis trente-cinq ans et moins, l’objectif étant de mesurer les incidences des changements survenus dans le milieu musical sur le processus d’intégration socioprofessionnelle de ces musiciens. L’analyse des données recueillies révèle que ce n’est pas grâce à leur formation en musique classique que les interprètes immigrants réussissent à intégrer rapidement le milieu professionnel actuel, mais grâce à leur pratique parallèle de la musique traditionnelle de leur pays d’origine. Cette nouvelle dynamique d’adaptation, favorisée par les politiques de valorisation de la diversité culturelle, entraîne un glissement progressif de l’intérêt des organismes de soutien au développement artistique vers les musiques traditionnelles ou métissées. S’oriente-t-on vers un changement de paradigme conduisant à la perte graduelle de la prédominance du répertoire classique chez les interprètes immigrants, au profit du répertoire traditionnel ? / Foreign musicians living in Quebec contributed to build and develop cultural landscape, and their influence on the musical world is far from negligible. However, what do we know about sociocultural and professional conditions of integration for these immigrant musicians? What challenges do they encounter? What strategies do they develop to move on with their professional career in a new artistic and social context? This research addresses one of the aspects of Quebec’s musical life through the problematic of the sociocultural and professional integration of immigrant performers of (learned) Western art music (or classical music). Based on the career of musicians living in Montreal since thirty five years or less, this study revolves around four axes: the impact of immigration on immigrant performers; their integration process; the influence of the sociocultural and musical context on the adaptation strategies these musicians developed and their contribution to Quebec’s musical world. Based on a sociomusicologic approach from a mixed methodology – theoretical study and field survey - this research is presented as an exploratory survey aiming to draw a general picture of the situations encountered by the immigrant performers in their integration. A theoretical framework was first prepared in order to expose, on one hand, the peculiarities of the work of performer (learning and professionalization) and, on the other hand, the different steps of immigration and integration, as well as their specificities. Then, by placing in this theoretical framework the data collected on the field, a more in-depth study of five particular cases allowed to apprehend the problematic through the experience of immigrant performers and to observe the strategies they developed to pass by the situations they had to face; one of their greatest challenge being to find the balance between their musical and cultural codes and those of the host country. The study of cases is driven by the parallel exposure of the experience of performers living in Montreal since thirty five years or less, the objective being to measure the incidence of the changes that happened in the musical milieu onto their socioprofessional integration process. Data analysis revealed that fast professional integration of immigrant performers is rather due to the parallel practice of traditional music from their home country than to their formation in classical music. This new dynamic of adaptation, favored by policies of valorization of cultural diversity, causes a progressive shift of organisms’ interests towards traditional or mixed musical genres. Are we going forward to a change of paradigm, leading to the gradual loss of the predominance of the classical repertoire within immigrant performers, for the benefit of the traditional repertoire?

Syftet med denna studie är att få inblick i musikers syn på traditionens och genrens påverkan och betydelse för det egna musicerandet. Jag har under min studietid blivit intresserad av att ta reda på hur genrer påverkar musikers musicerande och vilken betydelse det har för musikens utförande. Studien utgår från ett sociokulturellt perspektiv, vilket innebär att musicerande ses som en social aktivitet, där kunskap finns i kommunikation och de redskap som har växt fram i samhället. Datamaterialet består av kvalitativa intervjuer med fyra aktiva musiker. Resultatet visar att distinktionen genrer emellan inte nödvändigtvis behöver vara särskilt stor. Litteraturen i bakgrunden visar emellertid det motsatta. I litteraturen framställs jazzmusiker som gehörsmusiker som inte behöver ta så stor hänsyn till notbilden medan klassiska musiker anammar den med perfektionism. I min studie visar det sig att jazz- och klassiska musiker är lika beroende av traditionen, men hur verk tolkas och bearbetas är individuellt beroende av situation. Det visar sig vidare i studien att begreppet musikalisk frihet har olika betydelse för jazzmusiker än vad det har för klassiska musiker, det är upp till var och en att definiera vilken betydelse den musikaliska friheten har gentemot genren. När informanterna definierar sin respektive genre, förklarar de klassiska musikerna att klassisk musik förvisso är notbunden och studeras inom strikta ramar, men därmed inte sagt att musikerna måste definieras av sin genre, inte nödvändigtvis. En klassik musiker anses också vara experimentell gehörsmusiker, skriva sin egen musik eller improvisera på flera olika sätt. / The purpose of this study is to get an insight into what kind of influence and meaning traditions and genres has on musicians. I have, during my period of study, developed an interest in finding out how genres and traditions affect musician´s musical performances. The study originates from a socio-cultural perspective, which means that playing music is considered as a social activity where a great deal of knowledge comes from communication with other people. The data consists of qualitative interviews with four musicians. The result shows that the distinction between genres is not necessarily great. The background literature however proves the opposite. In the literature, jazz musicians are described as having a good musical ear; they do not pay that close attention to the written note, whilst classical musicians do the opposite. My study shows that jazz musicians and classical musicians are both equally dependent upon tradition, but the way they interpret music is individual and depends upon the situation. Furthermore, the study shows that the term musical freedom has a different meaning for a jazz musician than it has for a classical musician, but it is still up to musicians to define it for themselves within his or her genre. When the interviewees were asked to define their genre, the classical musicians answered that classical music is supposed to be played strictly the way it appears on sheet music within a clear framework, but genre does not always automatically shape a musician nor how they think as individuals.  A classical musician can, according to the result, also experiment and with a good musical ear compose their own music and improvise in many different ways.

Orientador: Alberto T. Ikeda / Resumo: Este trabalho busca compreender o pensamento sobre a Linguagem Musical do compositor Willy Corrêa de Oliveira a partir de transcrições das aulas do curso Linguagem e Estruturação Musicais, ministrado por ele no Departamento de Música da Escola de Comunicações e Artes (ECA) da Universidade de São Paulo (USP). O autor desta dissertação parte de trechos de aulas para encontrar relações desse pensamento com a Filosofia Marxista e com diversas teorias e metodologias que resultam em uma maneira de "entender a idéia por trás das notas", característica de suas análises. O materialismo-dialético é compreendido no pensamento de Willy a partir da prática e de uma consciência histórica marxista. Esses também seriam os pontos de ligação entre a teoria marxista e outras, como a fenomenologia, a hermenêutica e a semiótica, no caso. As transcrições encontram-se integrais nos Anexos. Assim, o pensamento musical de um compositor brasileiro contemporâneo torna-se disponível e acessível para os que buscam trilhar os mesmos caminhos. / Abstract: This work aims to understand the musical thought of composer Willy Corrêa de Oliveira from transcriptions of a course named Musical Language and Structure taught by him at Music Department of Arts and Communication School of University of São Paulo. Author works from takes of registered classes to relate this thought to Marxist Philosophy and other theories and methodologies resulting in a way of "understanding the idea behind the notes", which is one of its characterizes. Dialectic-materialism is understood in Willy's thought from practice and a Marxistconscience of History. These would be the basis to join Marxist theory to others, like Phenomenology, Hermeneutics and Semiotics, in this case. All transcriptions are part of this work. Thus, musical thought of a Brazilian contemporary composer is accessible for those who go by the same track. / Mestre

A presente dissertação corresponde a uma etnografia da Orquestra de Câmara Theatro São Pedro, grupo sediado em Porto Alegre, no Brasil. Trata-se de uma pesquisa sobre como ocorre a atuação profissional dos músicos que compõem a orquestra, tanto no âmbito deste conjunto quanto em outros contextos de trabalho dos quais eles também participam. Buscou-se compreender, por meio do conceito de identidade profissional, como estes indivíduos formulam para si e para os outros uma concepção de seu próprio trabalho. Nesse sentido, foram considerados tanto os aspectos materiais de sua atividade laboral (econômicos e práticos, por exemplo) quanto os componentes imateriais (simbólicos, artísticos e estéticos). O trabalho musical, no contexto investigado, é caracterizado por uma grande flexibilidade, no qual predominam as atuações por projetos. As múltiplas formas de emprego, a incerteza econômica e a falta de garantias profissionais marcam esse setor, sendo fatores que influenciam diretamente no modo como esses músicos de orquestra percebem e encaram a sua profissão. / This dissertation corresponds to an ethnography of the Orquestra de Câmara Theatro São Pedro, a group based in Porto Alegre, Brazil. It is a research about how the professional performance of the musicians that integrate the orchestra takes place, both within this group and in other work contexts in which they also participate. It was sought to understand, through the concept of professional identity, how these individuals formulate for themselves and for others a conception of their own work. In this sense, both the material aspects of their work activity (economic and practical, for example) and the immaterial components (symbolic, artistic and aesthetic) were considered. The musical work, in the context investigated, is characterized by a great flexibility, in which the performances by projects predominate. The multiple forms of employment, economic uncertainty and lack of professional guarantees mark this sector, being factors that directly influence the way these orchestra musicians perceive and face their profession.

No description available.

Syftet med undersökningen är att få en översiktlig inblick i hur några fiollärare undervisar och vilket material de främst använder i nybörjarundervisningen. Studien grundar sig på kvalitativa intervjuer av sex lärare inom kommunala musikskolan. Det visar sig att några spelböcker är särskilt populära, men också att alla intervjuade ständigt varierar sitt material och ibland gör eget. Skälen till detta tycks vara dels att de vill lära ut något nytt, dels att lärarna själva vill utvecklas och därför inte vill hålla på med samma sak och riskera att stagnera. / The purpose of this study is to gain a general insight into how a few violin teachers work and what printed material they use when teaching beginners. The study is based on qualitative interviews with six teachers employed at municipal music schools. Of interest, it may be observed that a few violin books are particularly popular, yet also that all interviewed subjects vary their material, while sometimes creating their own.   There appear to be several reasons for this. First, the teachers prefer to teach new concepts, while second, they also strive to develop as professionals instead of repeating identical concepts, thereby risking stagnation.

This work presents a novel approach for the design of a predictive model of music that can be used to analyze and generate musical material that is highly context dependent. The system is based on an approach known as n-gram modeling, often used in language processing and speech recognition algorithms, implemented initially upon a framework of Variable-Length Markov Models (VLMMs) and then extended to Variable-Length Hidden Markov Models (VLHMMs). The system brings together various principles like escape probabilities, smoothing schemes and uses multiple representations of the data stream to construct a multiple viewpoints system that enables it to draw complex relationships between the different input n-grams, and use this information to provide a stronger prediction scheme. It is implemented as a MAX/MSP external in C++ and is intended to be a predictive framework that can be used to create generative music systems and educational and compositional tools for music. A formal quantitative evaluation scheme based on entropy of the predictions is used to evaluate the model in sequence prediction tasks on a database of tabla compositions. The results show good model performance for both the VLMM and the VLHMM while highlighting the expensive computational cost of higher-order VLHMMs.