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The aim of this master’s thesis is to explore concert institutions’ informative texts prior to upcoming concerts – texts in promotional materials and descriptive texts in programme papers. The thesis is carried out from a critical discourse analytical perspective. The discourse analysis is focusing on finding the texts’ messages and it asks the question: To whom are these texts addressed? Theoretical support is mainly taken from Foucault’s theory about the relation between power and knowledge. On the basis of this theoretical framework, Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis (CDA) is applied to an analysis of informative texts from Swedish public financed concert institutions. In addition to a linguistic text analysis the discourse analysis also turns to the texts’ intertextual and interdiscursive relationships and to the texts’ historical, cultural and social contexts. The results show that the texts, analysed in this study, primarily address individuals already initiated and established within the discourse. The texts are also addressing individuals not yet belonging to the discourse who, in order to become established within the discourse, have to acquire the cultural and social characteristics that are requested by the discourse. The discourse analysis indicates that the language of the informative texts contain an exclusive mechanism. With this mechanism, the texts constitute a barrier hindering access to the art form. Based on these findings, it is concluded that concert institutions for Western art music could be more generally inviting by using a more inclusive language in their informative texts prior to upcoming concerts.As I haven’t found any previous Swedish or other Nordic studies of texts that are published prior to upcoming concerts, it seems likely that a small research gap has been discovered. / Syftet med denna masteruppsats är att granska konsertinstitutioners informativa texter inför konserter med västerländsk konstmusik – texter i reklammaterial inför konserter samt beskrivande texter i programtidningar. Studien genomförs ur ett kritiskt diskursanalytiskt perspektiv. I syftet ingår att söka fram sådana informativa texters budskap. Studiens essentiella frågeställning lyder: Till vilka riktar sig de informativa texterna? Teoretiskt stödjer sig uppsatsen främst på Foucaults teori om förhållandet mellan makt och kunskap. Utifrån detta perspektiv tillämpas Faircloughs kritiska diskursanalys (CDA) för en analys av strategiskt utvalda informativa texter från svenska offentligt finansierade konsertinstitutioner. Utöver en lingvistisk textanalys riktar sig diskursanalysen även mot texternas intertextuella och interdiskursiva relationer samt mot texternas historiska, kulturella och sociala sammanhang. Studien visar att de analyserade texterna främst riktar sig till dem som redan är initierade och etablerade i diskursen. De riktar sig även till individer som ännu inte tillhör diskursen vilka dock måste tillägna sig de kulturella och sociala beskaffenheter som diskursen fordrar för att kunna bli etablerade i denna. Diskursanalysen indikerar att språket i de informativa texterna innehåller en utestängande funktion. Med denna funktion kan texterna utgöra ett hinder för tillträde till konstarten. Utifrån dessa resultat dras slutsatsen att konsertinstitutioner för västerländsk konstmusik skulle kunna tillämpa ett mer generellt inviterande genom att använda ett mer inkluderande språkbruk i de informativa texterna inför konserter.Eftersom jag inte har funnit några tidigare utförda svenska eller andra nordiska studier av texter som är publicerade inför konserter kan detta betyda att en viss forskningslucka har upptäckts.

In the centuries since the colonization of the New World, the people of Cuba created a strong musical tradition. Initially, their music mirrored the European composition canons of structural, melodic and harmonic order. The eventual confluence of its distinct cultural elements (i.e. the European, African, and, to a lesser extent, Amerindian) led to the emergence of a new, distinctly Cuban musical tradition. The wars for independence that began in the United States and Europe in the eighteenth century created a surge towards political and cultural autonomy that swept across the Latin American colonies, generating a wave of nationalism during the nineteenth century. After finally gaining its independence in 1902, Cuba sought to define itself as a nation. Cubans looked inward to their regional folklore—their indigenous and popular traditions—for the source of their national identity, a trend that became of primary interest to Cuban artists. The nationalist trend found full musical expression during the twentieth century, when composers turned to folklore for their inspiration in creating new art music (works for the concert hall) with a unique sound and vitality. This study concerns itself with the Cuban nationalist movement and its role in the creation of art music by twentieth-century Cuban composers, most specifically that of Mario Abril. The monograph is organized into three general sections: the first section (Chapters 2 and 3) identifies the significant characteristics of nationalism, describes the manifestation of some relevant nationalist movements (e.g., in Europe and Latin America), and explores the manifestation of the nationalist movement in Cuba. The second section (Chapters 4 and 5) provides a history of Cuban art music, concluding with a biographical sketch of composer Mario Abril. The third part (Chapters 6 and 7)consists of a study of the music, beginning with a description of the pertinent characteristics of Cuban popular music, followed by an examination Mario Abril’s Fantasía (Introduction and Pachanga) for clarinet and piano. The document concludes with remarks about the characteristics that qualify the work as an example of Cuban nationalist art music with suggestions for the study and interpretation of the work.

À la croisée des études sur les processus créateurs en musique et sur l’interprétation (performance studies), la recherche interroge le rôle de l’interprète dans la création contemporaine. L’œuvre musicale est considérée selon quatre états (œuvre projetée, écrite, jouée et entendue) et selon les interactions intervenant dans le processus de création, particulièrement entre compositeur et interprète en situation de collaboration directe. L’étude de cas au centre de ce travail est la création d’une œuvre nouvelle avec le compositeur Gérard Pesson, Blanc mérité (d’après Roman Opalka) pour saxophone et ensemble, dont la genèse est documentée dans une perspective « auto-ethnographique ». Le processus, étalé sur sept années, génère une importante quantité de données dont le traitement et l’analyse impliquent le développement d’outils méthodologiques adaptés. Permettant de retracer l’origine et la place des interactions dans la genèse des objets constitutifs de l’œuvre, la recherche apporte des éclairages sur la dimension infralinguistique du travail et participe à la réflexion sur les enjeux de la création artistique dans sa dimension collaborative. / Drawing on studies focused on creative processes in music as well as performance, the research questions the performer’s role in contemporary creation. The creative process is considered here as evolutions of the musical work between four interconnected stages: work as project, work as score, work as sound production and work as sound perception, among which the nature of the interactions between actors evolves constantly.The main case study is the creation of a new work with composer Gérard Pesson. Blanc mérité (referring to Roman Opalka), for saxophone and ensemble, is observed and analysed by the dedicatee all along a seven years process. Adopting an “autoethnographic” point of view and a “naturalistic” approach, the research draws upon data collected since the project’s premises, by recording exhaustively the interactions between composer and performer. Quantitative and qualitative analysis methods are applied to the amount of verbal data, and crossed with musical analysis of the scores and recordings. Allowing to retrace origins of musical objects as well as interactions in their genesis, the research enlightens an “infralinguistic” dimension of the artistic work and therefore takes part in the reflection about creative collaboration.

This paper presents the history and the theoretical study of mixed music and focuses on two piano solo works and two mixed electroacoustic compositions for piano and electronics. By discussing the working process and giving the analysis of the original composition Alchemy for piano and electronics, this paper investigates the relationship between cause, source and spectromorphology, reflecting how the concept of energy-motion trajectory are embodied in this mixed electroacoustic work. Alchemy is a mixed composition for piano solo and 8-channel fixed electronics focusing on the gestural play and sonic expression. The live piano part explores the gestural sound played with a slide (cup), paper clip, and objects placed inside the piano. The 8-channel electronics part is mainly derived from the recorded acoustic piano. It extends the sonic potential of source materials and presents the diverse vectorial movements of spatialization.

This thesis explores an experimental music approach to writing autobiography. As a composition, Pilgrim Carnival took place as a travelling series of events. The central event was a sound installation for a blindfolded audience. This essay is a description of that series of events as well as a discussion of similar precedents in interdisciplinary art. Beginning with Luigi Russolo and Marcel Duchamp, aspects of autobiography are examined in both noise music and the concept of the ready-made artwork. Body Art of the 1970s, particularly the work of Marina Abramovic, is also tied into the idea of the ready-made artwork as an explicitly autobiographical example. The hybrid form of Pilgrim Carnival and the concept of ready-made autobiographical music create ongoing potential for new work.

This study aims to describe how the basic elements of music are synthesised and manipulated to create a composition in the musical style called Third stream music. This is done through a comprehensive description of the background of this musical style and a detailed analysis of a case study Third stream work, Invictus: Orchestral Prelude in 3 Movements, by the South African composer Noel Stockton and commissioned by the South African Music Rights rganisation. Copyright / Dissertation (MMus)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Music / unrestricted

The work consists of two parts: the first one is focused on the Staré Brno borough, it's historical development and reinterpretation of a water element, that was once present in the form of a millrace that no longer exists. In the second part, one of the important urban knots of the area is chosen to be the site for the public spa and library complex. The design focuses on the cultural aspect of the new intervention and addresses the complex topic of the public spa as the epicenter of the public life.

Reference to a regular pulse is one of the most common ways of measuring time in music. As the basis for tempo, meter, subdivisions, and even formal symmetry, pulse, or the sonic articulation of regular units of time, is found throughout all levels of music. In this paper, I describe how I used a structure of twelve simultaneous pulses to compose "Monolith," a recent piece for MIDI piano, Pierrot ensemble, and fixed electronics. In the first chapter, I contextualize "Monolith" by briefly examining pulse's relationship to hierarchical structure in music and the possibilities for creativity in pulse-based hierarchical structures. In the second chapter, I analyze the use of pulse in Steve Reich's "Music for 18 Musicians," György Ligeti's "Self-portrait with Reich and Riley (with Chopin in the background), and Conlon Nancarrow's "Study No. 36 for Player Piano." In the third chapter, I describe in detail the relationship between the twelve-pulse structure and the various movements that comprise "Monolith," focusing on the relationship between compositional freedom and prescribed structure throughout the work.

My recent compositions are situated within a postmodern theoretical framework. The heterogeneity of materials and hybridity of musical formation in these works are interpreted and contextualized within a personal reading of postmodern theories. The critical essay traces my aesthetics through a historical investigation into the definition of musical postmodernism. Through extensive citation and analysis of the writings of Julius T. Fraser, Italo Calvino, and Richard Rorty, the essay aims to provide a theoretical context for the interpretation of the musical examples. The creative documentation contains three newly-composed musical works: Piano Trio from Opus 3/c, Opus 6 for Violin, and Opus 7 for Piccolo. The works' postmodern features include creative approaches to the fragmentation of musical time into separate levels, historical allusions, and the exploration of multiplicity.