Thesis (Ph. M.)--University of Madras, 1989. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [31]-32).

This thesis accompanies the folio of electroacoustic compositions, describing the reasons behind, and methods of realising, the compositions. Each approach is designed to create a musical structure that relates sound materials throughout the work in a meaningful way, with the final aim of presenting a memorable experience, enticing further listening. These relationships are explained by analysing the musical structure and by presenting sound examples on local and global scales. The methods by which we may perceive and remember sound information are important to the compositional processes. Detailed relationships achieved by using computer sound-transformation and mixing techniques are shown to provide scope for listeners to explore and react personally to the music, investigating the structure with different listening strategies. The significance of pitch in acousmatic music is shown to have an underlying and unifying structural role. Methods of unifying structure and capturing the listeners' attention over longer durations are investigated by considering sound-behaviour throughout the composition, and the listeners' perception of time in relation to different sound materials. The discussions suggest coherence not evident on a local scale. Composition of the work involving mixed media attempt to integrate the different parts such that the listener's attention focuses on the totality. Consideration of the differences between acousmatic, visual, and live aspects, affect the structural coordination between different media and the complete structure itself.

This project is concerned with the musical and therapeutic processes involved in therapeutic improvisation.(1) Previous studies in music therapy have, in the main, focused their attention on avenues of outcome, attempting to validate through strict psychological designs and statistical data_ This thesis argues that the musical and therapeutic processes are integral yet independent aspects of the overall concept of therapeutic improvisation and the efficacy contained therein. In terms of valid enquiry it is proposed that the unity and division of both musical and therapeutic avenues will afford music therapists a greater clue to the understanding of the music therapy process itself. In terms of analytical and methodological framework, this project attempts to discover a formula for viewing the therapeutic improvisation at both macro and micro levels. Three clients, living with the virus HIV and AIDS were chosen and worked with collaboratively throughout the whole of the data collection_ The investigations were initiated through a four-stage analytical format ; from the complete therapeutic framework through to the indepth evaluations of two small sections of one complete improvisation. The four stages were subsequently evaluated in drawing possible connections between the macro and micro levels. Further to this data, the client and three outside validators added information with regard to the single improvisation, in validating the questions raised. The analysis and subsequent results highlight the merits and problems of such an analytical procedure. The conclusion and results of this thesis would seem to suggest that further process-orientated research in musictherapy needs to be undertaken to complement and contrast the issues of outcome research. 1. For the purposes of this project the term Therapeutic Improvisation has been chosen to identify the improvisational aspects of music therapy.

"Anything made by man, no matter how many varieties it assumes, and how much of the superhuman it seems to contain, must reveal its secret to the close observer." Paul Hindemith (1942: 176). "Are you one of those guys who wants to put crutches under my ass?" Lonnie Johnson (Keil 1966: 35). It is the aim of this thesis to define a musical genre by showing how, in the realisation of an improvisation, two key elements - the physical layout of a musical instrument and human movement patterns - are combined to produce music. This thesis takes as a model the twelve bar blues form, and examines the above aspects in the output of two pioneering figures of the melodic improvised guitar: Lonnie Johnson and T-Bone Walker. The thesis is in divided in to three sections; the first, which considers context, is divided in to four topics. • Identification of the model - the twelve bar blues form, and an examination of the meaning of the model to black culture. • Consideration of the role of geography on the emergent style • The guitar design and development. • Identification of the pioneering figures of the genre. The second section, which is concerned with musical, physical and analytical aspects, surveys theories of scale, mode, blues scale and blue notes, and suggests that blues improvisation is inextricably linked to spatio-motor based patterning. A geographical layout of the guitar is presented to aid in the analytical process. The third section is analytical and attempts to identify the melodic 'characteristics of the blues guitar genre. A series of transcriptions were made of improvisations of early blues guitar soloists. These are analysed by reduction and expansion. The tones produced in the improvisations were reduced to a modal hierarchy of principal, secondary and incidental tones which are presented on a fretboard form of notation. The resulting mode is reduced to a scale which is compared to theoretical definitions of blues scale. This raw data is then expanded by considering the left hand gestural movement between tones. gestures are seen to be linked together to form cells. These are sub-grouped in to various types. Larger structures, motives, are then defined as comprising several cells. The location of the cells in the model is indicated. These are categorised in groups for each performer. Thus improvisation is presented as an interaction, which takes place in time and space, between left hand movement strategies of the performer and the surface of a musical instrument.

This thesis presents a study of English Gypsy Singing in the broader context of contemporary English folksong research and previous English Gypsy song studies. It describes and illustrates Gypsy singers and their respective song performances in the five detail ed case studies of formal and informal contexts. It examines communal engagement in singing and observes that there are three different Singing roles: the Novice, the Participating singer and the Specialist which it considers in relationship to other roles activated during song performances. It gives an account of the way in which Gypsy singing is employed as an enabling device for social bonding, through song performances of the community's Participating and Specialist singers. It further observes that the social constructs which apply to Gypsy singing change according to gender and context. Finally, it considers the songs that Gypsies perform and emphasises that there is no such thing as Gypsy song, rather, it is the song performance, indeed, the whole activity of singing that is specific to Gypsies. English Gypsy singing provides the opportunity to observe community ritual in a vibrant context.

This thesis is an attempt to develop empirical methods which address the issue of body movements in music performance. The closest equivalent work is found in studies which adopt 'ecological' methods based on the theoretical approach of J.J. Gibson. Chapters 1 and 2 present this framework together with a review of related literature from a variety of perceptual studies. Chapter 3 presents four studies which use 'point-light technique' to illuminate body joints so that pure kinematic information can be presented to observers. The results of these studies demonstrate that kinematics alone provide enough information to distinguish between different expressive manners (deadpan, projected, and exaggerated) and that the movement stimulus provides information equivalent to sound. Systematic reduction of the amount of point-light information shows certain body joints to be more significant than others in conveying performance intention. Chapter 4 presents five studies which explore quantitative and qualitative aspects of body movement in music performance in an attempt to identify those features of body movement which are expressive. A variety of techniques is used including tracking, the construction of a movement vocabulary and semantic differentials. These studies show that the perception of expressive movements is based on a complex mixture of quantitative and qualitative factors incorporating a flexible repertoire of specific movement types. Chapter 5 presents the final five studies which explore the constancy of this repertoire of movements over time and across musical styles, and investigate the organisation and origin of these movements. The techniques used in these studies range from semantic differentials to interviews with the performer. These studies show a degree of consistency in the organisation of the expressive movements across repeated performances and in different styles, and reveal that musical structure and the performer's emotional response to it are important determiners of these movements. The performer has partial knowledge of the movements he makes, and even in the context of imaginary performances, shows consistency in their locations and specific character. The final chapter presents a summary of all the empirical results and develops a framework within which they may be interpreted based on three main ideas: i) a 'centre of moment' for expressive movements; ii) a flexibly applied repertoire of movements; iii) an interaction between physical, biological and cultural factors in the establishment of this repertoire. The thesis concludes with a brief discussion of further possibilities for research in this area and the broader implications of such investigations.

Part I of this dissertation examines five works by the author for solo instruments and electroacoustic sounds composed between 1986 and 1992. Chapter 1 deals with the conceptual framework which underlines the different compositional strategies employed in the works discussed. Chapter 2 examines the integration of instrumental sounds with electroacoustic sounds in the work Papalotifor piano and tape and its use to generate a dynamic structure. Compositional techniques are discussed in detail. In Chapter 3, the author discusses the work On going on for baritone saxophone and electroacoustic sounds focusing on improvisation as a significant element in the composition process and the structuring of instrumental and electroacoustic material. In Chapter 4 the generation of rhythmic objects is examined as the basis for the formal strategies in Acuerdos por Diferencia for harp and electroacoustic sounds. The design and integration of rhythmic objects are then discussed in the context of the composition process. Chapter 5 deals with the appropriation of an instrumental technique as the compositional instigator of choreomusical design in the conception and composition of As! el Acero for tenor steel pan and electroacoustic sounds. Chapter 6 focuses on the use of different stylistic traits as the basis for a compositional genesis, and the elaboration of instrumental and electroacoustic sound materials in Mannam for kayagum and electroacoustic sounds. In Chapter 7 the author discusses the dilemmas presented to the composer when discussing his own compositional strategies. The general context of the works discussed is analysed from the perspective of electroacoustic and acousmatic music, attempting to assess how such works may contribute to the changing sthetic enunciates of a young medium. A number of general theoretical and practical issues pertaining to mainstream electroacoustic music are then examined in closer detail. The author then puts forward the thesis that a significant advancement of experimental composition in general can be brought about by a renewed cross-fertilisation betweeninstrumental and electroacoustic thought and practice. Part II includes recording details, a score and a complete studio recording of each of the works discussed in Part I.

'Motion in Music' is a study of movement and time through musical interpretation. It looks at ways in which motion, both physical and conceptual, is featured in the musical performance and it is, therefore, written with the performance of music in mind. As such, it provides us with a fresh approach to music-making. The study is based on a series of definitions and a distillation of personal experiences rather than a summation of experimental observations. In view of the author's musical background, the piano is featured most prominently in this study. In Chapter I, we examine the background on the subject and, so as to determine to what extent such motion is virtual and to what extent real, we look at it in its aesthetical, psychological and philosophical contents. The act of music-making is then analysed in four stages: from the preparatory, to the moment contact is made with the instrument and to the passage through time from one note to the onset of the next. The concept of the 'sphere', as representing the musical tone, is introduced in order to trace the course of this sonorous body through tonal space. In the ensuing chapters, we examine the forces which initiate sound - the mechanisms of the instrument and the mechanics of the body - and see how the tonal body reacts when these are applied. Such an investigation permits us, however loosely, to relate musical phenomena tothe laws of motion and to show how the sonorous body, once set in motion, undergoes changes to its speed, shape and direction - changes we refer to as 'speed of music', 'mass of music' and 'direction of music'. As the perception of movement in music involves directly or indirectly the participation of all our sensory system, both in the creative process of expressing the musical line and in its apprehension in the first place, we examine its effect on our tactile, auditory and visual channels of communication. In order to enhance our understanding of musical growth and musical progression further, we impart to it a visual perspective based, amongst others, on melodic contour and bodily movement as well as on the gestures of the conductor or those commonly used in the world of pedagogy. Thus, in Chapter V, a series of free hand-produced graphic representations emerge which represent such musical activity. By way of conclusion, we seek out various degrees of motion and their relationships. We identify these as being of paramount importance in producing aesthetically pleasing musical textures and propose further study as to the precise nature of such relationships.

An article in the London Daily Advertiser, April 6 1752 makes reference to ‘Mr. Granom, whose expression in composition can only be equalled by his fire as a performer’. This quotation testifies to the extremely high regard in which the flute player Lewis Granom was held as both composer and performer, as well as implying that he was known to the music-loving public. This contrasts markedly with the lack of mention in modern musical literature. Only Hugh Arthur Scott, in his article ‘London Concerts from 1700 to 1750’, Musical Quarterly, 24/2 (1938), 194–209 (p. 204), provides a hint of Granom’s standing in musical circles: ‘A star which rose about the same time [1719], and shone for many years afterwards, was Lewis Granom, the famous flautist, who gave a long series of concerts at Hickford’s in 1729’. This suggests that Granom should be better known, both for his compositions and for his contribution to flute pedagogy. His treatise, Plain and Easy Instructions for Playing on the German Flute (London: T. Bennett, 1766), was the first dedicated to the flute by a named English author. This thesis remedies this notable historical oversight with an examination of his life, his pedagogical work (particularly his treatise) and an analysis of his flute sonatas together with their relevant performance practice in the light of the various international influences found therein. It restores Lewis Granom to his rightful place as a significant composer and performer in the context of mid eighteenth-century English music.

The concept of voice is a fundamental thread that underpins my PhD portfolio, with the human voice being present in all but one of the compositions. The drive to make what I think of as 'voice works' has, to a large extent, been influenced by various theatrical vocal practices that are in some way concerned with the development of the natural voice. Such practices help to facilitate a broad potentiality of expression, not only through, but before or beyond text. No one method or theory has had primary influence on my work but rather, in the broadest sense, I recognise a set of affinities with many notable influential practices including that of Roy Hart Theatre; Kristin Linklater; David Moss; Joan La Barbara; Sainkho Namtchylak; and Jaap Blonk. The complicating factor, in every case, is that I also draw on a range of electroacoustic influences.Trevor Wishart's many ideas about 'the human repertoire' - vocal utterance, paralanguage, sound morphology and transformative compositional processes - are perhaps most relevant. But I have also drawn from Denis Smalley's spectromorphological concepts, particularly those pertaining to the aural perception of human gesture. My listening generally has been quite wide-ranging across genres but includes the work of Francois Bayle, Bernard Parmegiani, Francis Dhomont, Robert Normandeau, Natasha Barrett, Dennis Smalley, Yannis Kyriakides, Michel Chion and Heiner Goebels.