This thesis comprises a portfolio of compositions with supporting commentary in addition to a general commentary on past and contemporary models of performance practice. The compositions all use elements of improvisation and are documented in recorded and score formats. Recordings and discussion of the rehearsal process of these works are also included. The thesis is divided into four parts. The first, entitled ‘Context’, examines issues of performance practice through reference to both historical and contemporary models. In this regard, particular attention is given to the work of Miles Davis and Peter Wiegold. Parts 2, 3 and 4 consist of the portfolio of original compositions with sub-headings as follows: ‘Beginnings’, ‘Transition’ and ‘Current Projects’. As a part of the commentary on the portfolio, the role of the performer as creative artist will also be examined.

The thesis summarizes the research in application of statistical methods of computational linguistics in music processing and explains theoretical background of these applications. In the second part methods of symbolic melody extraction are explored. A corpus of approxi- mately 400 hours of melodies of different music styles was created. A melody model using the language modeling techniques was trained on this corpus. In the third part of the thesis the model is used for an attempt to develop an alternative method of audio melody extraction which uses the melody model instead of commonly used heuristics and rules. The chosen ap- proach works well only on simple input data and produces worse results than the commonly used methods on the MIREX contest data. On the other hand, the experiments help to understand the conceptual between the pitch frequency development - the physical melody - and the melody perceived on an abstract level in the symbolic notation - the symbolic melody. 1

The aim of this work is to explore how I can use three different playing techniques on the clarinet in my interpretation of the Trinity, a graphic scored piece composed by Kristin Boussard.In this project, I have interpreted Trinity, a graphic scored piece for solo clarinet composed by Kristin Boussard. The piece consists of three movements, and for each movement, I have used a chosen playing technique. The three different playing techniques I have used are: traditional sounding tones, alternate playing techniques that do not generate traditional sounding tones and finally traditional sounding tones combined with three electronic pedal effects, distortion, delay and chorus effects. I have made profound analysis of the graphic score based on a variety of musical aspects. Afterwards I have made a practical interpretation of the piece which has generated additional analyzes and reflections on the relationship between the graphical notation and the sounding result.My result shows the different ways that I, as a clarinetist, can work with a crafted graphic piece. I show the different approaches in my analysis and what the graphic score tells me without having any, in advance, given guidelines.The artistic part of this project consists of a recording of the Trinity, made February 29th 2016 in the auditorium of the School of Music in Piteå. / Validerat; 20160626 (global_studentproject_submitter)

Cette thèse étudie l’impact de la réputation des agences de notation sur la perception de leurs annonces par les investisseurs, ainsi que sur leur propre comportement à divulguer des informations précises et ponctuelles. Elle est constituée de quatre chapitres. Dans les premier et second chapitres, nous étudions comment la perception des investisseurs des notations des agences change suite à l’observation d’une erreur de notation. Les résultats montrent que les investisseurs réagissent peu ou pas aux changements d’annonce après avoir observé des notations erronées, ce qui suggère que la mauvaise performance des agences de notation affecte négativement leur réputation. Dans les troisième et quatrième chapitres, nous étudions les déterminants de la ponctualité et de la précision des annonces de notation financière. Il ressort que la réputation de l’agence de notation affecte la qualité des notations. En particulier, plus la réputation est élevée, et plus la note semble surévaluée et non-ponctuelle. / This thesis studies the impact of the reputation of rating agencies on investors’ perception of ratings, and on rating agencies ability to disclose accurate and timely information. It consists of four chapters. In the first and second chapters, we study changes in investors’ perception of rating agencies’ ratings following the observation of rating failures. The results show that investors either ignore or react less to ratings after such failures, which suggests that rating agencies poor performance affects negatively their reputation. In the third and fourth chapters, we study the determinants of ratings timeliness and accuracy disclosed by credit rating agencies. The results suggest that the reputation of the rating agency affects the quality of ratings. In particular, the higher the rating agency s reputation, the less accurate and timely the rating is.

M.Mus. Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, 2008 / This report forms part of the output of a research team investigating the phenomenon of overtone singing as practiced by the women of the Ngqoko Women’s Ensemble in the village of Ngqoko outside the town of Lady Frere in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. This essay examines various systems of musical notation in terms of their possible application in the transcription process of overtone singing as found amongst these women. A selection of their music is transcribed using the formulated notational systems and the effectiveness of these systems is compared. A recommendation as to which system of notation is most effective for documenting this type of music is made. Utilising the soundworld of the Ngqoko recordings, an original piece of music is composed as part of this submission.

Le standard UML est un langage visuel de modélisation pour spécifier, construire et documenter des systèmes logiciels. Une des faiblesses importantes d’UML identifiées par les études de la pratique réelle d’UML concerne la difficulté à spécifier le contexte pour un diagramme donnée ou à l’enrichir pour améliorer sa valeur communicationnelle. En effet, UML ne dispose pas de mécanismes efficaces pour exprimer ce genre de données (exp. les indicateurs de gestion de projets, les indicateurs de qualité). Pour les exprimer dans un langage visuel donné, le framework des dimensions cognitives propose d’utiliser sa notation secondaire : les variables visuelles que le langage n’emploie pas. Malheureusement pour UML, cette notation secondaire n’est pas régulée. La première contribution de la thèse a montré - à travers une étude empirique - que ceci résulte en une grande variété d’utilisation de ces variables et, dans de nombreux cas, de manière non efficace. Elle a aussi montré l’importance de la notation secondaire dans le quotidien des experts UML tout en confirmant leur manque de connaissance sur les bonnes pratiques associées. Dans cette thèse, nous nous basons sur la sémiologie graphique afin de viser une utilisation optimale de la notation secondaire d’UML. Le framework SoG-UML est le résultat de notre adaptation de la sémiologie à UML via 61 directives pour l’utilisation de variations visuelles dans ce langage. Nous avons réalisé une première expérimentation pour valider une partie de ces directives. Enfin, nous proposons Fliplayers et la légende interactive, deux plugins Papyrus proposant respectivement un mécanisme de calques et la construction de légendes "efficaces". / UML is a visual modeling language for specifying, constructing, and documenting software intensive systems. UML diagrams play a central role in the whole software engineering process, starting from early analysis, through implementation, to maintenance. One of the main weaknesses of UML, pointed out by surveys of UML use in industry, is the difficulty to express the context of a particular diagram or to enrich it to enhance its communication value. In fact, UML does not specify effective ways to express contextual information (e.g., project management indicators, quality indicators). To express this kind of information in a particular visual language, the Cognitive Dimensions framework proposes to use its secondary notation: the visual variables that are not used by the language. Unfortunately, in UML, this secondary notation is not controlled. The first contribution of this thesis showed - via an empirical study - that this results in a big variety of usages of these visual variables and mostly, in not effective ways. It also showed that UML practitioners acknowledge the importance of the secondary notation in their practice while confirming their lack of knowledge about the associated effective practices. In this thesis, we refer to the Semiology of Graphics (SoG) in order to target an optimal use of the UML secondary notation. The framework SoG-UML is the result of our adaptation of the SoG to UML via 61 guidelines about the use of the visual variables in this language. We have realized a first experiment to validate a part of these guidelines. Finally, we propose Fliplayers and an interactive keys, two Papyrus plug-ins that respectively implement the layers mechanism and the construction of "effective" keys.

This thesis aims to explore the temporal and material limits of architectural drawing through the question of urban representation. Challenges posed by the latter are used to put pressure on the fixity of drawing conventions, in order to expand architectural drawing’s range of concerns to the transitory conditions of space that emerge between order and event. Since the eighteenth century, the city has acted as the ground and mirror of the productive, economic, social and epistemological breaks and turns that have marked the passage to modernity. This radical transformation of the city and its modes of experience and inhabitation, combined with the visual culture that has since emerged, have raised questions of presence and representation with regards to both the city and its image in architectural drawing. This thesis aims to bring these questions into the frame of the current concerns in architectural representation, following the deconstructive and cartographic approaches that emerged in the latter half of the twentieth century and the effects of a rising virtuality. As the understanding of space has shifted from the idea of an a priori extensity of vacuum versus matter to a dynamic multiplicity of relations, respectively architectural representation is understood as itself a transaction: a complex oscillation between the real and the mental. This research becomes concerned with exploring drawing as a situated experience that involves the inhabitation of both the space of the city and the drawing. Such a consideration of drawing as a distinct spatiality consequently brings to the fore a dynamic and productive reciprocity between the city and its representation. In order to engage with the intangible projective spatiality of drawing and the negotiations that take place in the movement of representation, the thesis examines the processes involved in the representation of the urban through the immersive site-specificity of installation. Installation is proposed as a way of drawing in space, and thus of foregrounding the question of the space of drawing. The thesis unfolds as a movement across the space of drawing, through a series of essays and corresponding installations which cumulatively form a survey of a city, while performing a close inquiry into the agency of the distinct elements of drawing. Edinburgh serves as both the object and the place of performance, the testing ground, for this act of observation and representation.

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This research will examine the various techniques of writing stage directions for choreography or dance action within a feature film script. I will discuss and analyse two methodologies for annotating choreography, both developed by experts in dance notation. I will also examine and interpret the observations made by film director, dancer and choreographer Bob Fosse about the purpose and objectives of dance action in feature film scripts. I will examine two case studies of contemporary feature film scripts that contain dance action. The selected scripts are Strictly Ballroom (Australia, 1992) and Flashdance (USA, 1983). These scripts do not use a published system of dance notation to write dance action. I will analyse and investigate the stage directions for choreography and dance action used within both scripts. The exploration of these various approaches to film choreography may form the basis for writing stage directions for choreography or dance action in my own feature length screenplay titled Learning to Dance. As a screenwriter with particular interest in dance I intend to employ dance sequences at different stages throughout my script as a story telling mechanism. It is important to me to be able to clearly communicate and translate choreographic direction into my script in a manner that ensures its eventual interpretation fulfils its original purpose in the story. Therefore I am seeking a methodology for translating and expressing dance sequences in an accurate and concise written form. One key outcome of my research may be the development of a structural and technical framework for providing choreographic direction appropriate to the conventions of screenplay writing. I therefore intend to contribute to the screenwriting field by attempting to develop a framework for providing stage directions for choreography within a film script and then applying this framework within my own screenplay, Learning to Dance. In addition to the study of choreographic notation I will explore the observations made by film theorists such as Adrian Martin, Jerome Delamater, Rick Altman, J.P Telotte and Steve Neal about genres that contain dance action as a defining characteristic. It is my intention to write a screenplay that in part, borrows from the customs and codes of an established genre or subgenre. Therefore my objective is to understand, appreciate and reflect upon the genre the best fits my vision of Learning to Dance. Learning to Dance is the story of Giselle Williams (18) who aspires to be a professional dancer. When Giselle's father is arrested for fraud Giselle is forced to abandon her wealthy surrounds to live and work in one of Melbourne's tough, inner city, high-rise public housing estates. Here Giselle meets her key support roles, Muslim siblings Yasmina (21) a talented belly dancer and her handsome brother and Giselle's future love interest Ali (20) who welcome Giselle into their humble, tight knit and family oriented community.

The Akai EWI4000s is the most recent model of the EWI (Electric Wind Instrument) family, first conceived by Nyle Steiner in the late 1970’s. A relatively young electronic instrument, the EWI lacks a complete, organized publication explaining how to fully utilize its technical and expressive devices. Furthermore, no instructional aid exists to explain the parameters of the Vyzex computer editor used to create and manipulate the onboard sound bank of the EWI4000s. The purpose of this study is to inform the reader of how the EWI4000s came to fruition, to develop a complete technical and expressive method for learning to play the EWI4000s, and to create a musically based manual for using the Vyzex computer editor. Using text, diagrams, and musical examples, the method acquaints the reader with the EWI’s internal and external controls by explaining their functions using musical terms easily understood by the common musician. Additionally, new notation is created to constrain the EWI’s seven-octave range exclusively within the treble clef staff making it easier to compose and read EWI music without excessive clef changes and musical octave markings. The new notation also develops symbols to dictate use of the EWI’s expressive devices such as pitch bend, glissando, octave doubling, and harmonization.