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abstract: ABSTRACT Improvisation, or extemporization, has always played an important role in all genres of music across the globe. In Western art music alone, improvisation has been used in many settings throughout history, such as composition, public extemporization, and ornamenting existing notated music. Why is it then, that improvisation is not an important part in the education of the Western Art Music tradition? Introducing improvisation to music education develops a more well-rounded musical ability, a firmer understanding of musical concepts, and a clearer insight to the composition of music. To examine this issue, I discuss a number of scientific explorations into the use of improvisation. First, new technology in the study of the brain gives insight into how the brain functions during improvisation. Adding to this evidence, I contextualize the use of improvisation into four scientifically developed educational scenarios based on how humans most effectively learn information and skills. To conclude, the discussion then shifts to simple exercises designed to assist musicians and teachers of any skill level in utilizing improvisation in practicing, lessons, and performance. To prevent students of music from reaffirming a continuously narrowing viewpoint of music’s creation, cultural implications, and performance, educational systems should make an effort to teach more than just the preparation of increasingly complex scores. Improvisation is not only a solid foundation for understanding the roots of western music’s own musical traditions, but also a gateway to understanding the musical traditions of the world. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Performance 2015

High school general music classes often primarily consist of lectures about the Western art canon, despite repeated calls for a popular music focus (Deal, 1984; Miceli, 1998; Snell, 2007; Thompson, 1979; Woody, 2007). It is argued that the latter approach can alleviate student apathy toward class content and boredom, provide more meaningful learning experiences for the students, and create a more positive experience for the teacher. The purpose of this study is to examine the experiences of students and teachers in both a traditional general music class and a popular music-focused general music class. In this qualitative comparative study, I studied two high school general music classes in Tennessee and investigated the experiences of the students and teachers with respect to subject matter, teaching techniques, and meaningful learning. My data sources were interviews with teachers and students, classroom observations, and classroom archival documents. I analyzed the data using interpretive coding guided by a constant comparative approach. Cross-case emergent themes involving meaningful learning included students' preference for music studied at the end of the semester and a high level of student-teacher interaction and engagement when studying popular styles of music. Regarding curricula and teaching methods, cross-case themes showed similar attitudes and frustrations for teachers and students in both classes. Within-case themes in the Music for Listeners class included an expressed student desire to learn popular music, student lack of understanding of the Western art canon, and student ability to connect class topics to outside of school activities. Within-case themes in the Development of Rock 'n' Roll class illustrated the importance of delivery style and technology in the general music classroom. I concluded that a combination of curriculum and teaching style produced differing experiences for the students and teachers. Based on the results of this study, suggestions for education profession include employing a genre of music that is meaningful to the students in their daily lives; engaging students in conversations about the music they enjoy; avoiding "busy work" and ensuring that assignments are relevant; and providing ample music listening opportunities.

Syftet för denna uppsats är att utforska och belysa fördelarna kompositionsprocessen av västerländsk konstmusik kan ha för instrumentalister. Det genomförs med att studera referenser, så som Béla Beers masteruppsats Den komponerande musikern och Jessica Duchens artiklar i tidskrifterna Classical Piano och The International Piano baserade på intervjuer med prof. David Dolan, samt intervjuer med cellisten prof. Johannes Rostamo och tonsättaren och pianisten Arttu Ahovaara. Jag analyserar också mina egna kompositioner som skrivits som del av teorikurserna på Kungliga Musikhögskolan i Stockholm, och reflekterar över min utveckling i mina instrumentstudier med huvudinstrumentet cello, samt kompositionsprocessens roll i denna utveckling. Utforskningen gav resultaten, att kompositionsprocessen i samband med strukturerad utövning av tekniska aspekter av instrumentspel kan utveckla och förstärka behärskningen av ens eget instrument, förståelse över struktur och harmonik i musikverk, samt de olika stilperiodernas estetiska och retoriska karaktärer och friheten att utrycka sig kreativt. Studiens resultat påvisar att det skulle vara ändamålsenligt att satsa på ökad integrering av kurser i komposition, som handläggs av musiker som specialiserar i det ämnet. / This paper aims to explore and highlight the benefits of composing Western art music can have for instrumentalists in their studies. This is done by studying references, such as Béla Beer's master thesis The Composing Musician and Jessica Duchen's articles in the journals Classical Piano and The International Piano based on interviews with prof. David Dolan, as well as interviews with prof. Johannes Rostamo and the composer and pianist Arttu Ahovaara. I am also analyzing my own compositions written as part of the theory courses at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm and reflecting on my development in my instrumental studies and the role the process of composing has had in it. The exploration yielded the results, that composition in conjunction with structured practice of the technical aspects of instrument playing can develop and strengthen the mastery of one's own instrument, understanding of structure and harmony in musical works, as well as the aesthetic and rhetorical characters of the different stylistic periods, and the freedom to express oneself creatively. The results of the study indicate that it would be useful to invest in greater integration of courses in composition, taught by musicians specializing in said subject.

Denna självstudie undersöker en lärprocess i improvisation med avstamp i historisk västerländsk konstmusikalisk repertoar och två sonater av Domenico Scarlatti. Syftet med projektet var att se hur min förmåga att improvisera påverkades av övning och att studera historisk improvisation. Under studiens övningsperiod utforskades improvisation med utgångspunkt i historiska improvisationstekniker och nutida forskning. Utforskningen ägde rum under tio veckor och dokumenterades med videoobservation och loggbok som sedan transkriberades och analyserades utifrån tematisk analys. I resultatet beskriver jag designen av min improvisationsövning och konsekvenserna av den designen. Utforskningen av improvisation gick från fri utforskning mot att begränsningar lades till under övningstidens gång. I resultatet kunde ett antal tecken på utveckling av improvisationsförmåga ses. Det framkom också att mina improvisationer blev mer stringenta, med stabilare flöde och med fler musikaliska idéer under projektets gång. I diskussionen diskuteras olika perspektiv på improvisation i relation till resultatet. / This study examines a learning process in improvisation based on historical western art music repertoire and two sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti. The purpose of this project was to see how my ability to improvise was affected by practice and study of historical improvisation. Improvisation was explored on basis of historical improvisation techniques and contemporary research during the practice period of this study. The practice period took place over ten weeks and was documented with video observation and a logbook, which then was transcribed and analyzed using thematic analysis. In the result section I describe my design of my improvisation practice and the consequences of that design. The exploration of improvisation went from free to exploration to a more restricted exploration by the end of the practice period. A number of signs of development of my ability to improvise could be observed by the end of the practice period. I also found that my improvisations became more stringent, with a more stable flow and with more musical ideas during the project. The discussion section discusses different perspectives of improvisation in relation to the result.

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.

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

Exchange between musical cultures has always occurred, but in the age of the global music industry, marketing categories have multiplied and often created boundaries between musics. Today the term “crossover” is attached to many of the musical exchanges that occur across these boundaries. One such exchange is represented by the intersection between Western art music string instruments and popular musics. A well-known commercial niche, this particular crossover is often discussed in popular media, but has been examined by relatively few music scholars. By way of addressing this gap, this study considers the crossover between Western art music string instruments and popular musics in the context of extra-musical promotion and critical reception. It examines four artists in the period 1995 to 2005. These four examples are: U.K./Australian string group bond; Australian string group FourPlay; U.K. violinist Nigel Kennedy; and U.K. violinist Vanessa-Mae. It also draws on other relevant cases to illuminate the discussion. The primary aim of the study is to discover and analyse the complex ways that parties engage, consciously or unconsciously, with the term “crossover”. The inherent complexity of the term is not commonly captured by scholarly musical writing since crossover is often regarded simply as a marketing term. The study begins by establishing the scholarly and popular context of the crossover between the Western art music string tradition and popular forms. Nine constructions or layers of meaning evoked by the term “crossover” are then identified. In the context of each of these nine constructions, the work continues by exploring how the term “crossover” is used in the promotion and critical reception of the examples. It is argued that crossover is constructed as a marketing category, to mark individuality, to provide media shortcuts and signposts, to evoke associations of prestige and of credibility, to increase accessibility, to encourage confrontation and to take part in larger musical debates. This research thus identifies multiple layers of meaning evoked by the term that are “subject to change” and that, in turn, illuminate deeper social and cultural implications of “crossingover”, ones which no doubt themselves continue to change. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1338922 / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, Elder Conservatorium of Music, 2008

När symfoniorkestrar lägger program för nästa säsongs konsertserier finns det många saker att tänka på. De konstnärliga ledarna har sina idéer, musikerna har sina idéer, det finns krav från politiken, sponsorer: många saker påverkar hur man bestämmer det som kommer att spelas på konserthuset, och som publiken kommer att höra och se. I den här intervjustudien kommer jag att gå in på vad som ligger bakom två orkestrars konstnärliga ledningars beslut kring konsertprogram. I den här studien har jag använd mig av metoden grundad teori: teorin grundas direkt ur data. Jag kom fram till att orkestrarnas programläggning påverkas av ett samspel av politiska och ekonomiska faktorer, varav den viktigaste är ekonomin. / When the management of a symphony orchestra makes the planning of the coming season, they have plenty of factors to take into consideration. The artistic leaders have certain ideals and ideas, there is the demands from the government and sponsors: there are many factors that influence the decision making, what the audience will hear and see. In this interview study I will investigate the decision making of two orchestras artistic managements: Which are the ideas behind their decisions? The method and theory I used is grounded theory. The planning of the concert season is influenced by a combination of political and economical factors, of which economical factors play a major role.