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This dissertation, which takes the form of a creative project as is sanctioned by the Doctor of Arts Curricular Program, is an investigation of artsong literature, composers and musico-poetic structure. The work is a textbook designed for an undergraduate course in song literature and is accompanied by a performance-based interpretation workbook. The author's approach to the artsong is a threefold one: the artsong is considered as a unique performance idiom and is examined for the characteristics common to all; distinctive features are examined which identify specific sub-genre classifications within the body of artsong; specific artsongs are investigated from a performance aspect in order to develop an appropriate methodology for the interpretation of an individual song. This work includes information about historical analysis, performance practice, translation, phonetic transcription and the characteristics of versification unique to each language covered.The unique contribution of this work, however, is the workbook of sixty-five artsongs.In the workbook, the student is guided through a systematic approach to the interpretive process. The student is asked to examine the poem for type, mode of address and imagery and is asked to consider elements of rhyme, meter and poetic structure. The student is guided through an investigation of the characters both present and implied in the poetry; the student is asked to consider the structural elements of the musical setting in order to better discern the composer's response to the poem. Additionally, the student is asked to place the speaker-the person whose voice he or she is bringing to life-in time and location as well as construct a profile of the speaker's character. At the beginning of the workbook the entire process is demonstrated for the student; as the student progresses through the workbook, he is expected to perform more and more of the tasks until he can independently create a performance-based interpretation.The work contains copious musical examples as well as a source guide to instructional materials (scores, translations, recordings) and a brief glossary. / School of Music

This study describes in detail the preparation that must be done by aspiring orchestral horn players in order to be sufficiently ready for an orchestral audition. The general physical and mental preparation, through to the very specific elements that require attention when practicing and learning a list of orchestral excerpts that will be performed for an audition committee, is investigated. This study provides both the necessary tools and the insight borne of a number of years of orchestral experience that will enable a player to take a given excerpt and learn not only the notes and rhythms, but also discern many other subtleties inherent in the music, resulting in a full understanding and mastery thereof. Ten musical examples are included in order to illustrate the type of additional information that a player must gain so as to develop an in-depth knowledge of an excerpt. Three lists are presented within the text of this study: 1) a list of excerpts that are most commonly found at auditions, 2) a list of those excerpts that are often included and 3) other excerpts that have been requested but are not as commonly found. Also included is advice regarding the audition procedure itself, a discussion of the music required for auditions, and a guide to the orchestral excerpt books in which these passages can be found. / Dissertation (MMus)--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Music / unrestricted

Please read the abstract in the section 00front of this document / Dissertation (MMus (Musicology))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Music / unrestricted

Articulation is an element of musical performance that affects the attack, sustain, and the decay of each sound. Musical articulation facilitates the degree of clarity between successive notes and it is one of the most important elements of musical expression. Many believe that the expressive capabilities of percussion instruments, when it comes to musical articulation, are limited. Because the characteristic attack for most percussion instruments is sharp and clear, followed by a quick decay, the common misconception is that percussionists have little or no control over articulation. While the ability of percussionists to affect the sustain and decay of a sound is by all accounts limited, the ability of percussionists to change the attack of a sound with different implements is virtually limitless. In addition, where percussion articulation is limited, there are many techniques that allow performers to match articulation with other instruments. Still, percussion articulation is often a topic of little concern to many musicians. The problem is not that this issue has been completely ignored, but rather that a vast number of contradictory and conflicting viewpoints still permeate pedagogical methods and literature. This is most certainly the case with the marimba, where a review of method books reveals a multitude of confusing statements about marimba articulation. It is clear that there is still widespread confusion about marimba articulation from composers, conductors, and most importantly percussionists themselves. This study attempts to advance percussion pedagogy in this area through a better understanding of the terminology of musical articulation, the acoustical principles of the marimba, and the techniques that affect sound production on this instrument. After a review of these three areas, this study examines 166 recordings, which look at the actual effect of specific techniques carried out on the marimba. Finally, the project offers a set of recommendations for composers, conductors, and percussionists on all aspects of marimba articulation, in the goal of increasing marimbists' potential for greater musical expression.

The purpose of this study was to develop and test systematically a theoretical model that delineated the constructs and subsumed variables of jazz improvisation performance. The specific research questions were; what specific performance variables are related to single line jazz solo improvisation performance? and; what is the most cogent groupings of variables into underlying constructs which characterize single line jazz solo improvisation performances for all performers, student performers, and professional performers?

In this project, the purpose has been to research new ways of improving my bebop phrasing on the drums by transcribing one of the great saxophonists in jazz history – Charlie Parker. As a drummer, my main outlet for learning the language of bebop has been by transcribing other drummers. My theory is that I might find new ways of approaching my own instrument by transcribing someone who plays a different instrument than I do.  This work is based around my personal goal of learning the phrasing and the language of bebop. To fully grasp the rich history of the music I´ve examined the rhythmic principles of one of the inventors – Charlie Parker. I write about my findings and my process of incorporating methods of phrasing into my own musical vocabulary.  This project could be interesting for all kinds of practicing musicians but foremost for drummers. / <p>Repertoar:</p><p>Dewey Square (Parker)</p><p>A Night in Tunisia (Gillespie/Paparelli)</p><p>Lover Man (Davis/Ramirez/Sherman)</p><p>Koko (Parker)</p><p>My Little Suede Shoes (Parker)</p><p>Rocker (Mulligan)</p><p>Medverkande musiker:</p><p>Axel Mårdsjö - altsaxofon</p><p>Hampus Adami - trombon</p><p>Kalle Johansson - piano</p><p>Johan Tengholm - kontrabas</p><p>Johan Förnell - trummor</p>

This thesis describes ways a guitarist can apply a saxophone-like phrasing in their playing and also discusses the various differences and similarities which can be found between the two instruments.  The foundation of the work was made through transcription to find the aspects of saxophone playing that may be possible to apply on guitar. I made conclusions based on the transcriptions of a wide variety of saxophone players. This thesis also contains exercises which are specifically crafted for working on applying saxophone phrasing for guitarists. In this thesis I arrived at the conclusion that it is very possible to integrate various aspects of saxophone phrasing onto the guitar although some are less problematic than others. For instance, there are resources that the saxophone has, of which the guitar as an instrument does not have. Despite this, drawing inspiration from saxophone phrasing as a guitarist can be considerably applicable. / <p>Repertoar:</p><p>Oui - Anton Brodin</p><p>All of me - Marks/Simons</p><p>Yum - Brodin</p><p>Body and soul - Johnny Green</p><p>Ode - Brodin</p><p>Pop goes the leesel - Lee Konitz</p><p></p><p>Medverkande:</p><p>Anton Brodin - Gitarr</p><p>Anton Berndts - Kontrabas</p><p>Richard Andersson Rasheed - Trummor</p><p>Emmalisa Hallander - Sång</p><p>Eskil Larsson - Tenorsaxofon</p><p>David Stener - Piano</p>

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L’objectif de cette thèse est de concevoir et de construire, un système Text-To-Speech (TTS) haute qualité à base de HMM (Hidden Markov Model) pour le vietnamien, une langue tonale. Le système est appelé VTED (Vietnamese TExt-to-speech Development system). Au vu de la grande importance de tons lexicaux, un tonophone” – un allophones dans un contexte tonal – a été proposé comme nouvelle unité de la parole dans notre système de TTS. Un nouveau corpus d’entraînement, VDTS (Vietnamese Di-Tonophone Speech corpus), a été conçu à partir d’un grand texte brut pour une couverture de 100% de di-phones tonalisés (di-tonophones) en utilisant l’algorithme glouton. Un total d’environ 4000 phrases ont été enregistrées et pré-traitées comme corpus d’apprentissage de VTED.Dans la synthèse de la parole sur la base de HMM, bien que la durée de pause puisse être modélisée comme un phonème, l’apparition de pauses ne peut pas être prédite par HMM. Les niveaux de phrasé ne peuvent pas être complètement modélisés avec des caractéristiques de base. Cette recherche vise à obtenir un découpage automatique en groupes intonatifs au moyen des seuls indices de durée. Des blocs syntaxiques constitués de phrases syntaxiques avec un nombre borné de syllabes (n), ont été proposés pour prévoir allongement final (n = 6) et pause apparente (n = 10). Des améliorations pour allongement final ont été effectuées par des stratégies de regroupement des blocs syntaxiques simples. La qualité du modèle prédictive J48-arbre-décision pour l’apparence de pause à l’aide de blocs syntaxiques, combinée avec lien syntaxique et POS (Part-Of-Speech) dispose atteint un F-score de 81,4 % (Précision = 87,6 %, Recall = 75,9 %), beaucoup mieux que le modèle avec seulement POS (F-score=43,6%) ou un lien syntaxique (F-score=52,6%).L’architecture du système a été proposée sur la base de l’architecture HTS avec une extension d’une partie traitement du langage naturel pour le Vietnamien. L’apparence de pause a été prédit par le modèle proposé. Les caractéristiques contextuelles incluent les caractéristiques d’identité de “tonophones”, les caractéristiques de localisation, les caractéristiques liées à la tonalité, et les caractéristiques prosodiques (POS, allongement final, niveaux de rupture). Mary TTS a été choisi comme plateforme pour la mise en oeuvre de VTED. Dans le test MOS (Mean Opinion Score), le premier VTED, appris avec les anciens corpus et des fonctions de base, était plutôt bonne, 0,81 (sur une échelle MOS 5 points) plus élevé que le précédent système – HoaSung (lequel utilise la sélection de l’unité non-uniforme avec le même corpus) ; mais toujours 1,2-1,5 point de moins que le discours naturel. La qualité finale de VTED, avec le nouveau corpus et le modèle de phrasé prosodique, progresse d’environ 1,04 par rapport au premier VTED, et son écart avec le langage naturel a été nettement réduit. Dans le test d’intelligibilité, le VTED final a reçu un bon taux élevé de 95,4%, seulement 2,6% de moins que le discours naturel, et 18% plus élevé que le premier. Le taux d’erreur du premier VTED dans le test d’intelligibilité générale avec le carré latin test d’environ 6-12% plus élevé que le langage naturel selon des niveaux de syllabe, de ton ou par phonème. Le résultat final ne s’écarte de la parole naturelle que de 0,4-1,4%. / The thesis objective is to design and build a high quality Hidden Markov Model (HMM-)based Text-To-Speech (TTS) system for Vietnamese – a tonal language. The system is called VTED (Vietnamese TExt-tospeech Development system). In view of the great importance of lexical tones, a “tonophone” – an allophone in tonal context – was proposed as a new speech unit in our TTS system. A new training corpus, VDTS (Vietnamese Di-Tonophone Speech corpus), was designed for 100% coverage of di-phones in tonal contexts (i.e. di-tonophones) using the greedy algorithm from a huge raw text. A total of about 4,000 sentences of VDTS were recorded and pre-processed as a training corpus of VTED.In the HMM-based speech synthesis, although pause duration can be modeled as a phoneme, the appearanceof pauses cannot be predicted by HMMs. Lower phrasing levels above words may not be completely modeled with basic features. This research aimed at automatic prosodic phrasing for Vietnamese TTS using durational clues alone as it appeared too difficult to disentangle intonation from lexical tones. Syntactic blocks, i.e. syntactic phrases with a bounded number of syllables (n), were proposed for predicting final lengthening (n = 6) and pause appearance (n = 10). Improvements for final lengthening were done by some strategies of grouping single syntactic blocks. The quality of the predictive J48-decision-tree model for pause appearance using syntactic blocks combining with syntactic link and POS (Part-Of-Speech) features reached F-score of 81.4% Precision=87.6%, Recall=75.9%), much better than that of the model with only POS (F-score=43.6%)or syntactic link (F-score=52.6%) alone.The architecture of the system was proposed on the basis of the core architecture of HTS with an extension of a Natural Language Processing part for Vietnamese. Pause appearance was predicted by the proposed model. Contextual feature set included phone identity features, locational features, tone-related features, and prosodic features (i.e. POS, final lengthening, break levels). Mary TTS was chosen as a platform for implementing VTED. In the MOS (Mean Opinion Score) test, the first VTED, trained with the old corpus and basic features, was rather good, 0.81 (on a 5 point MOS scale) higher than the previous system – HoaSung (using the non-uniform unit selection with the same training corpus); but still 1.2-1.5 point lower than the natural speech. The quality of the final VTED, trained with the new corpus and prosodic phrasing model, progressed by about 1.04 compared to the first VTED, and its gap with the natural speech was much lessened. In the tone intelligibility test, the final VTED received a high correct rate of 95.4%, only 2.6% lower than the natural speech, and 18% higher than the initial one. The error rate of the first VTED in the intelligibility test with the Latin square design was about 6-12% higher than the natural speech depending on syllable, tone or phone levels. The final one diverged about only 0.4-1.4% from the natural speech.