Composition has been conceptualized as a method for communicating a way of thinking (i.e., cognition) from composers to performers and audience members. Music notation, or how music is represented in a visual format, becomes the vehicle through which such cognition is communicated. In the past, research on notation has been approached either categorically or as a taxonomy, where it is placed into separate categories based primarily on visual elements, including its symbols, conventions, and practices. The modern application of notation in Western classical music repertoire, however, has shown that the boundaries between these systems are not always clear and sometimes blend together. Viewing music notation from a spectrum-based approach instead provides a better understanding of notation through its cognitive effects. These spectra can then be viewed through multiple dimensions, all addressing different aspects. The first dimension consists of the historical systems of notation, ranging from standard music notation (SMN) to music graphics. Additional kinds of notation, such as proportional, pictorial, and aleatoric, work as the mediary levels between these two. The second dimension focuses on whether notation is processed intuitively, based on either cultural priming or general cognitive principles, or through conscious interpretation. The last dimension views notation as either a visual representation of the sound (descriptive) or a representation of the process performed to create the sound (prescriptive). This thesis conceptualizes a theory for understanding music notation though these multiple dimensions by synthesizing psychological studies about music, music notation research, and pre-existing musical scores.

Most extended instrumental playing techniques are still deprived of a conventional method of notation. In order to facilitate the utilisation of these unconventional musical elements, a coherent and consistent notation system is developed in this thesis. It comprises chapters on string instruments, wind instruments, percussion instruments, plucked instruments and keyboard instruments. A systematic notation of unconventional instrumental playing techniques has not yet been attempted, nor have all tech-niques subject to this work yet been explained in detail. In order to coherently depict unconventional playing techniques, a set of criteria is defined. These criteria postulate that all developments are supposed to be 1. As exact as possible and 2. As simple as possible while the system may 3. Not be contradictory to traditional notation, but should instead extend and be closely related to it. Further, in order to guarantee that the additions are consistent, they need to be compatible with, and distinct from, all other signs of the system. Each unconventional playing technique is classified and explained in detail. Subsequently, previous methods of its notation are presented and discussed with regard to the previously defined criteria. Finally, a suggestion for the notation that agrees with the postulations is provided. In the next step the application of the developments is then described by presenting examples from compositions that were either produced during the writing of the thesis or revised by replacing old methods of notation with the developments from this thesis. Altogether examples from eight instrumental works that employ the new methods are displayed.

No description available.

A portfolio of electronic music compositions employing adaptable controllers, graphic notation, and custom software performance environments. The portfolio is comprised of scores, recordings, and supporting software and audio files for the following: Short Circuit; Sample & Hold; Mute | Solo; NCTRN; Radio | Silence; and Please use the tramps provided. Supplementary files include alternative audio and video recordings of some of the works listed above, additional software documentation, and a video recording of a structured improvisation featuring the controllers and software used in this portfolio.

This thesis argues that a performer’s relationship with a musical score is an interaction largely defined by social and cultural parameters, but also examines whether disparate musical traditions show any common underlying tendencies regarding the perceived relationship between musical sound and visual representation. The research brings a novel, cross-cultural perspective to bear on the topic, combining a systematic, empirical study with qualitative fieldwork. Data were collected at five sites in three countries, involving: classically-trained musicians based in the UK; traditional Japanese musicians both familiar and unfamiliar with western standard notation; literate Eastern Highlanders from Port- Moresby, Papua New Guinea; and members of the BenaBena tribe, a non-literate community in Papua New Guinea. Participants heard short musical stimuli that varied on three musical parameters (pitch, duration and attack rate) and were instructed to represent these visually so that if another community member saw the marks they should be able to connect them with the sounds. Secondly, a forced-choice design required participants to select the best shape to describe a sound from a database. Interviews and fieldwork observations recorded how musicians engaged with the visual representation of music, considering in particular the effects of literacy and cultural parameters such as the social context of music performance traditions. Similarities between certain aspects of the participants’ responses suggest that there are indeed some underlying commonalities among literate participants of any cultural background. Meanwhile, the overall variety of responses suggests that the association between music and its visual representation (when it takes place) is strongly affected by ever-altering socio-cultural parameters.

This thesis explores the possibilities of doing mathematical problems involving algebra on a computer. A language is designed which allows names to occur as unknown quantities. This language has all the facilities of a general purpose language such as IMP, but is designed to be used inter-actively by a user at a console. The language also includes instructions which cause the usual algebraic operations to be applied to expressions. These operators include simplification, differentiation, but not integration. A brief survey is given of other languages in the field, with comments on their capabilities and restrictions. The second part of the thesis describes how the language is implemented. An interpreter is used. Statements of the language are analysed syntactically and then obeyed. Algebraic expressions are stored in byte arrays, using a type of prefix Polish notation. Finally the language is reviewed in the light of recent work done in the field, and suggestions are made for a further version.

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

Något jag funderat över mycket när jag själv som musiker spelat friare improviserad musik är hur man kan skapa olika tillvägagångssätt för att ta sig an sådan musik, även som nybörjare inom området. Jag har även tidigare jobbat med ensembler där jag behövt lära ut enklare förhållningssätt till improviserad musik och det har ofta gett goda resultat. Detta är högst aktuellt då den ensemble jag nu skrivit för bestod av musiker med varierande improvisationsvana och tanken har varit att alla på något sätt ska ställas inför improvisatoriska tillfällen under styckets gång. Den musik jag skrivit och valt att presentera i denna uppsats innehåller helt noterat, helt improviserat och kompnoterat material (vagare notation). Det jag syftar på med kompnotation kan exempelvis vara enklare genrerelaterade instruktioner som indikerar stiltypiskt ackompanjemang, till exempel när trummorna får instruktionen “Ballad, brushes” syftar det på ett vanligt balladkomp med vispar men lämnar det även öppet för tolkning och till viss del improvisation. En faktor musikerna dock inte har kontroll över är styckets storform då jag valt att själv styra detta i kompositionsprocessen - ett beslut jag tagit då detta leder till intressantare resultat än öppnare/friare improviserade former och för att det blir lättare att förhålla sig till för de musiker som inte är vana vid att improvisera. / <p>Stycke: Constant Curve</p><p>Kompositör: William Lindvall</p><p>Musiker:</p><p>Trummor - Jonathan Leidecker</p><p>Trumpet/Flügelhorn - Joosua Sarikoski</p><p>Trumpet - Emma Granstam</p><p>Trombon - Elias Ukkonen Widding</p><p>Altsaxofon - Sebastian Jonsson</p><p>Tenorsaxofon - Björn Bäckström</p><p>Horn - Emil Engström</p><p>Basklarinett - Astrid le Clercq</p><p>Basklarinett - Daniel Gahrton </p><p>Kontraforte - Gabriella Vargas Karlsson</p><p></p>

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 262-271).

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