The problem of this study was to make a transcription of the third movement of Dvorak's Symphony Number Five in E Minor from the "New World" for a class A symphonic band. A critical discussion of the musical and technical problems involved was included as a supplement or complement, as was a brief history of the composers life and works. In the arrangement of the data, the discussions were presented before the transcription might be readily understood.

Esta tese é dedicada ao estudo de processos composicionais que se desencadeiam a partir de obras musicais preexistentes e acabadas. Dentre a enorme variedade de possíveis abordagens criativas a materiais musicais preexistentes, o presente estudo se volta para o que, a exemplo de Berio, denominamos comentário composicional: processos que se caracterizam, grosso modo, por operações de cunho intrínseco, isto é, que buscam desdobrar uma obra preexistente através da exploração de potencialidades latentes na própria obra e nos processos formativos que lhe são inerentes. Para tanto, nossa abordagem orienta-se por uma dupla pergunta de faces complementares: pela abertura que (a) se pode reconhecer nas obras (em suas dobras) e que (b) emerge por meio de novos processos (nas redobras e desdobras). A fim de investigar de forma ampla as condições para que uma obra musical já consolidada possa vir a ser tomada como ponto de partida - e como objetoproblema - para um nova composição, a primeira etapa de nossa exposição - capítulo I - busca examinar um princípio de abertura composicional. Conforme a hipótese que assumimos, tal abertura seria imanente às obras e apreensível na forma de um excedente de potencialidades criativas que emerge do inacabamento e da não-univocidade dos processos que as formaram. As noções de atual e virtual elaboradas por Deleuze e o circuito dinâmico - de virtualizações e reatualizações - no qual elas interagem, servirão como chave conceitual que auxiliará o exame deste principio de abertura intrínseca em peças de autores diversos, entre eles Pergolesi, Bach, Schumann, Stravinsky, Berio e Andriessen. Os capítulos II e III se voltam para duas modalidades de reelaboração de obras preexistentes que, de modos distintos, acionam a tensão entre o acabamento da obra e o inacabamento de seus processos. No capítulo II, nos debruçamos sobre a prática da transcrição a fim de interrogar em que medida a operação básica que a caracteriza, a saber, a reconstrução de uma peça em um meio instrumental distinto daquele para o qual fora anteriormente concebida, pode implicar uma intervenção em níveis processuais, acessando e refazendo dimensões formativas da obra original. À luz das reflexões estéticas de Lévi-Strauss - em especial da noção de modelo reduzido -, e a partir da análise de transcrições de Bach, Stravinsky, Webern, Messiaen, Sciarrino e Kurtág, propomos que a transcrição possa ser entendida como um processo de reatualização, que traz à tona dimensões que se mantinham latentes na versão original e assegura o caráter composicionalmente aberto das obras. No capítulo III, examinamos uma variedade de exemplos - de Monteverdi aos Chemins de Berio - em que uma obra preexistente, tomada como objeto de um comentário composicional, é integralmente conservada em meio à expansão de seu efetivo instrumental e/ou o desdobramento, \'em tempo real\' e in loco, de seus processos formativos. O objetivo geral deste trabalho é fundamentar teoricamente, com base em uma diversidade de exemplos de diferentes períodos históricos, uma prática composicional que se desenvolva como um modo de reflexão explícita e direta sobre obras e processos musicais preexistentes. Ao final, complementamos este percurso relatando um conjunto de estratégias de comentário desenvolvidas em nossa própria prática composicional. / This thesis investigates compositional processes that are triggered out from preexisting and finished musical works. Among the wide variety of possible creative approaches to preexisting musical materials, the current study is interested in the practice of compositional commentary (as originally named by Luciano Berio): processes which are distinguished for operating intrinsically upon the work from which they stem, i.e., by endeavoring to unfold a preexisting work through the exploration of latent potentialities in the work itself and its inherent formative processes. For this, our approach is oriented by a twofold investigation of (a) the openness that can be identified within the works (on its folds), as well as (b) the openness that emerges by means of new compositional processes (through its refolding and unfolding). In order to widely investigate the conditions required for a preexisting musical work to be taken as the starting point - and as a problematic object - to a new composition, we initiate our exposition (Chapter I) by examining a principle of compositional openness which, accordingly to our hypothesis, would be immanent in the works and apprehensible as a surplus of potentialities that emerges from the incompleteness and the non-univocity of its inherent formative processes. The notions of actual and virtual as elaborated by Deleuze and the dynamic circuit of virtualization and re-actualization in which they interact are taken as a conceptual key for the examination of this principle of intrinsic openness in pieces by several composers, including Pergolesi, J.S. Bach, Schumann, Stravinsky, Berio and Andriessen. Chapters II and III are respectively focused on two modalities of reworking of preexisting works which activate in their own peculiar ways the tension between the completeness of the work and the incompleteness of the composition (i. e., of the compositional process). In Chapter II, we approach the practice of transcription in order to investigate to what extent its basic operation (namely, the reconstruction of a musical piece in a different instrumental medium) entails a compositional intromission which brings to question the completeness of the work by reactivating its incompleteness. Through the notion of reduced model elaborated by the anthropologist Lévi-Strauss, and based the analysis of transcriptions by J.S. Bach, Stravinsky, Webern, Messiaen, Sciarrino and Kurtág, we propose that transcription may be understood as a process of re-actualization, which brings up aspects which remained latent within the original version and thus assures its compositional openness. In Chapter III, we examine a variety of examples - including, among other works, a couple madrigals by Monteverdi as well as a few of Berio\'s Chemins - in which a preexisting work, taken as the object for a compositional commentary, is fully conserved within an expanded ensemble and/or amidst the unfolding of its formative processes. The general aim of this research is to provide theoretical ground - supported by musical examples from different historical periods - to a compositional practice which consists in an explicit and direct form of reflection on preexisting works and musical processes. At last we report a set of commentary strategies developed in our own compositional practice.

Esta tese é dedicada ao estudo de processos composicionais que se desencadeiam a partir de obras musicais preexistentes e acabadas. Dentre a enorme variedade de possíveis abordagens criativas a materiais musicais preexistentes, o presente estudo se volta para o que, a exemplo de Berio, denominamos comentário composicional: processos que se caracterizam, grosso modo, por operações de cunho intrínseco, isto é, que buscam desdobrar uma obra preexistente através da exploração de potencialidades latentes na própria obra e nos processos formativos que lhe são inerentes. Para tanto, nossa abordagem orienta-se por uma dupla pergunta de faces complementares: pela abertura que (a) se pode reconhecer nas obras (em suas dobras) e que (b) emerge por meio de novos processos (nas redobras e desdobras). A fim de investigar de forma ampla as condições para que uma obra musical já consolidada possa vir a ser tomada como ponto de partida - e como objetoproblema - para um nova composição, a primeira etapa de nossa exposição - capítulo I - busca examinar um princípio de abertura composicional. Conforme a hipótese que assumimos, tal abertura seria imanente às obras e apreensível na forma de um excedente de potencialidades criativas que emerge do inacabamento e da não-univocidade dos processos que as formaram. As noções de atual e virtual elaboradas por Deleuze e o circuito dinâmico - de virtualizações e reatualizações - no qual elas interagem, servirão como chave conceitual que auxiliará o exame deste principio de abertura intrínseca em peças de autores diversos, entre eles Pergolesi, Bach, Schumann, Stravinsky, Berio e Andriessen. Os capítulos II e III se voltam para duas modalidades de reelaboração de obras preexistentes que, de modos distintos, acionam a tensão entre o acabamento da obra e o inacabamento de seus processos. No capítulo II, nos debruçamos sobre a prática da transcrição a fim de interrogar em que medida a operação básica que a caracteriza, a saber, a reconstrução de uma peça em um meio instrumental distinto daquele para o qual fora anteriormente concebida, pode implicar uma intervenção em níveis processuais, acessando e refazendo dimensões formativas da obra original. À luz das reflexões estéticas de Lévi-Strauss - em especial da noção de modelo reduzido -, e a partir da análise de transcrições de Bach, Stravinsky, Webern, Messiaen, Sciarrino e Kurtág, propomos que a transcrição possa ser entendida como um processo de reatualização, que traz à tona dimensões que se mantinham latentes na versão original e assegura o caráter composicionalmente aberto das obras. No capítulo III, examinamos uma variedade de exemplos - de Monteverdi aos Chemins de Berio - em que uma obra preexistente, tomada como objeto de um comentário composicional, é integralmente conservada em meio à expansão de seu efetivo instrumental e/ou o desdobramento, \'em tempo real\' e in loco, de seus processos formativos. O objetivo geral deste trabalho é fundamentar teoricamente, com base em uma diversidade de exemplos de diferentes períodos históricos, uma prática composicional que se desenvolva como um modo de reflexão explícita e direta sobre obras e processos musicais preexistentes. Ao final, complementamos este percurso relatando um conjunto de estratégias de comentário desenvolvidas em nossa própria prática composicional. / This thesis investigates compositional processes that are triggered out from preexisting and finished musical works. Among the wide variety of possible creative approaches to preexisting musical materials, the current study is interested in the practice of compositional commentary (as originally named by Luciano Berio): processes which are distinguished for operating intrinsically upon the work from which they stem, i.e., by endeavoring to unfold a preexisting work through the exploration of latent potentialities in the work itself and its inherent formative processes. For this, our approach is oriented by a twofold investigation of (a) the openness that can be identified within the works (on its folds), as well as (b) the openness that emerges by means of new compositional processes (through its refolding and unfolding). In order to widely investigate the conditions required for a preexisting musical work to be taken as the starting point - and as a problematic object - to a new composition, we initiate our exposition (Chapter I) by examining a principle of compositional openness which, accordingly to our hypothesis, would be immanent in the works and apprehensible as a surplus of potentialities that emerges from the incompleteness and the non-univocity of its inherent formative processes. The notions of actual and virtual as elaborated by Deleuze and the dynamic circuit of virtualization and re-actualization in which they interact are taken as a conceptual key for the examination of this principle of intrinsic openness in pieces by several composers, including Pergolesi, J.S. Bach, Schumann, Stravinsky, Berio and Andriessen. Chapters II and III are respectively focused on two modalities of reworking of preexisting works which activate in their own peculiar ways the tension between the completeness of the work and the incompleteness of the composition (i. e., of the compositional process). In Chapter II, we approach the practice of transcription in order to investigate to what extent its basic operation (namely, the reconstruction of a musical piece in a different instrumental medium) entails a compositional intromission which brings to question the completeness of the work by reactivating its incompleteness. Through the notion of reduced model elaborated by the anthropologist Lévi-Strauss, and based the analysis of transcriptions by J.S. Bach, Stravinsky, Webern, Messiaen, Sciarrino and Kurtág, we propose that transcription may be understood as a process of re-actualization, which brings up aspects which remained latent within the original version and thus assures its compositional openness. In Chapter III, we examine a variety of examples - including, among other works, a couple madrigals by Monteverdi as well as a few of Berio\'s Chemins - in which a preexisting work, taken as the object for a compositional commentary, is fully conserved within an expanded ensemble and/or amidst the unfolding of its formative processes. The general aim of this research is to provide theoretical ground - supported by musical examples from different historical periods - to a compositional practice which consists in an explicit and direct form of reflection on preexisting works and musical processes. At last we report a set of commentary strategies developed in our own compositional practice.

Orientador: Jose Eduardo Ribeiro de Paiva / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Artes / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-12T05:03:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Bota_JoaoVictor._M.pdf: 3423979 bytes, checksum: 0e979c051e12b2f7481b8906b5082ad6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008 / Resumo: Nesta dissertação pretende-se discutir os processos criativos composicionais envolvidos nas atividades de transcrição musical, sobretudo aquelas referentes à produção de repertório para bandas sinfônicas. Acreditando que as transcrições pertencem ao universo da recriação artística, o argumento que permeia esta análise é sustentado por uma reflexão histórica acerca dessas práticas composicionais e da reconstituição do processo de consolidação das bandas sinfônicas como efetivos instrumentais relevantes no cenário ocidental. Por fim, o autor desta dissertação analisa algumas transcrições musicais realizadas por ele, com o intuito de trazer contribuições concretas, embora pontuais, para o exercício da transcrição musical como um processo criativo / Abstract: This dissertation aims at discussing the compositional creative processes involved in the activities of musical transcription, above all on those related to the production of repertoire to symphonic bands. Believing that the transcriptions belong to the universe of artistic re-creation, the argument that runs through this analysis is sustained by a historical reflection about these compositional practices and by the reconstitution of the process of consolidation of the symphonic bands as effective means relevant in the western scenario. At last, some musical transcription analyses are made by the author of this dissertation with the aim of bringing concrete contributions, even if particular, to the exercise of musical transcription understood as a creative process / Mestrado / Mestre em Música

The aim of this thesis is to define a perceptual scale for the ‘Time-Frequency’ analysis of music signals. The equal tempered ‘Bach ’ scale is a suitable scale, since it covers most of the genres of music and the error is equally distributed for each semi-tone. However, it may be necessary to allow a tolerance of around 50 cents or half the interval of the Bach scale, so that the interval can accommodate other common intonation schemes. The thesis covers the formulation of the Bach scale filter-bank as a time-varying model. It makes a comparative study with other commonly used perceptual scales. Two applications for the Bach scale filter-bank are also proposed, namely automated segmentation of speech signals and transcription of singing voice for query-by-humming applications. Even though this filter-bank is suggested with a motivation from music, it could also be applied to speech. A method for automatically segmenting continuous speech into phonetic units is proposed. The results, obtained from the proposed method, show around 82% accuracy for the English and 85% accuracy for the Hindi databases. This is an improvement of around 2 -3% when the performance is compared with other popular methods in the literature. Interestingly, the Bach scale filters perform better than the filters designed for other common perceptual scales, such as Mel and Bark scales. ‘Musical transcription’ refers to the process of converting a musical rendering or performance into a set of symbols or notations. A query in a ‘query-by-humming system’ can be made in several ways, some of which are singing with words, or with arbitrary syllables, or whistling. Two algorithms are suggested to annotate a query. The algorithms are designed to be fairly robust for these various forms of queries. The first algorithm is a frequency selection based method. It works on the basis of selecting the most likely frequency components at any given time instant. The second algorithm works on the basis of finding time-connected contours of high energy in the ‘Time-Frequency’ plane of the input signal. The time domain algorithm works better in terms of instantaneous pitch estimates. It results in an error of around 10 -15%, while the frequency domain method results in an error of around 12 -20%. A song rendered by two different people will have quite a few different properties. Their absolute pitches, rates of rendering, timbres based on voice quality and inaccuracies, may be different. The thesis discusses a method to quantify the distance between two different renderings of musical pieces. The distance function has been evaluated by attempting a search for a particular song from a database of a size of 315, made up of songs sung by both male and female singers and whistled queries. Around 90 % of the time, the correct song is found among the top five best choices picked. Thus, the Bach scale has been proposed as a suitable scale for representing the perception of music. It has been explored in two applications, namely automated segmentation of speech and transcription of singing voices. Using the transcription obtained, a measure of the distance between renderings of musical pieces has also been suggested.