<p>In which ways have composing processes in music appeared over the past 300 years? How may composing processes work today? What does new technology do to this processes?</p><p>The key purpose of this study is to investigate various composing processes. A further purpose is also to gain an awareness of how we use modern technology by computers and their notation programmes.</p><p>The research design of this thesis includes a display of literature related to composing processes. along with an analysis of the writer’s own experiences in the area. Therefore, included in this thesis, is a score and a recording of a new composition together with an analysis of the writer’s own composing process. The results of the writer’s composing process of this piece, are furthermore discussed with three of the writer’s colleauges.</p><p>This study deliberately focuses on Western classical music and jazz improvisation as these are genres where the writer has his own musical background. He will therefore be able to reflect upon his own experiences in the area.</p><p>Today the computer and its programs is a natural component in the musical process, however, it might tempt us to take ’short cuts’ in parts of the creating process. The findings of this study point towards the idea that in order to create a sense of inspiration in a composition or in a performance, the process has to be rooted physically in the body, without any use of ’short cuts’.</p>

In which ways have composing processes in music appeared over the past 300 years? How may composing processes work today? What does new technology do to this processes? The key purpose of this study is to investigate various composing processes. A further purpose is also to gain an awareness of how we use modern technology by computers and their notation programmes. The research design of this thesis includes a display of literature related to composing processes. along with an analysis of the writer’s own experiences in the area. Therefore, included in this thesis, is a score and a recording of a new composition together with an analysis of the writer’s own composing process. The results of the writer’s composing process of this piece, are furthermore discussed with three of the writer’s colleauges. This study deliberately focuses on Western classical music and jazz improvisation as these are genres where the writer has his own musical background. He will therefore be able to reflect upon his own experiences in the area. Today the computer and its programs is a natural component in the musical process, however, it might tempt us to take ’short cuts’ in parts of the creating process. The findings of this study point towards the idea that in order to create a sense of inspiration in a composition or in a performance, the process has to be rooted physically in the body, without any use of ’short cuts’.

This study delves into the temporal organization of music and investigates how double bassists from different musical traditions perceive various components within it, specifically focusing on jazz music and Western classical music. The aim was to explore potential disparities and ascertain the factors influencing their emergence. Respondents in the study have discussed how various teachers, akin to researchers in the field, have different interpretations of aspects within the temporal organization of music and how this has influenced their perspectives on phenomena such as pulse, rhythm, meter, and timing. Four semi-structured interviews were conducted, comprising two respondents enrolled in or having completed a bachelor's program in jazz and two in classical music. The empirical data underwent analysis using the Community of Practice theory, emphasizing how individuals, based on interests, areas of expertise, or leisure activities are part of communities. Particular attention was paid to examining the vocabulary employed within these communities, a crucial aspect in this study. The findings revealed that double bassists from both traditions fundamentally conceptualized aspects within the temporal organization of music similarly at a theoretical level. They defined elements such as pulse, tempo, and rhythm comparably, yet their practical conceptualizations of these same elements diverged. Their musical environments and types of ensembles influenced how they perceived these fundamental concepts. Jazz bassists viewed themselves as establishing a foundational structure alongside drummers, allowing for other musicians in the ensemble to play more freely on the foundation they built. Classical bassists also perceived their role as establishing a foundation, yet they emphasized alternating roles, sometimes following a conductor or soloist. Moreover, their conceptualization of pulse was more fluid, acknowledging that tempo and pulse could exhibit greater variability within their musical tradition. / Denna studie handlar om musikens tidsmässiga uppbyggnad (Temporal organisation of music). Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur kontrabasister från två olika musikaliska traditioner tänker kring olika delar av musikens tidsmässiga uppbyggnad, specifikt inom jazzmusik och västerländsk klassisk musik. Målet var att utforska eventuella skillnader och varför de i sådana fall uppkommit. Respondenterna i studien har diskuterat hur olika lärare, likt forskare inom området, har olika tolkningar av aspekter inom musikens temporala organisering och hur detta har påverkat deras perspektiv på fenomen som puls, rytm, meter och timing. I studien genomfördes fyra semistrukturerade intervjuer, två respondenter som studerar eller studerat ett kandidatprogram i jazz och två som studerar eller studerat ett kandidatprogram i klassisk musik. Empirin analyserades sedan genom teorin Community of Practice som fokuserar på hur individer ingår i olika grupper genom de intressen, expertområden eller fritidsaktiviteter de deltar inom. En del av Community of practice fokuserar även på hur gruppers vokabulär kan se ut, något som denna studie lägger stor vikt att analysera. Studiens resultat visade att kontrabasisterna från de båda traditionerna i grunden konceptualiserade aspekter inom musikens tidsmässiga uppbyggnad på liknande sätt på en grundläggande teoretisk nivå. De definierade aspekter som puls, tempo och rytm på liknande vis, men deras konceptualiseringar av samma aspekter ur ett praktiskt förhållningssätt skilde sig åt. Eftersom de vistas i olika musikaliska miljöer och ensembleformer så påverkas även deras konceptualisering av dessa grundläggande begrepp av detta. Jazzbasisterna såg sig själva som en grund tillsammans med trummisen som resterande musik kan sväva mer fritt över. De klassiska basisterna såg också på sin roll inom musikens tidsmässiga uppbyggnad som någon som skapar en grund för andra, men de poängterade också att de lika ofta följer en annan stämma, en dirigent eller solist. Deras konceptualisering av specifikt puls var också mer flytande, då tempo och puls kan vara mer fri och föränderlig inom deras musikaliska tradition.

The main concern of this thesis was to investigate the possibility of implementing a Western Classical music listening programme for teacher training through integrated arts in Early Childhood Development (ECD). The outcome of this thesis suggests that it is possible to train musically untrained teachers at a one-day practical workshop how to introduce young learners in an acceptable and enjoyable way to Western Classical music. At these workshops, teachers had to dress up in homemade fantasy outfits to depict different characters in stories to music which they had to dramatize. The costumes turned the listening activity into a fun-filled experience which ensured the success of the training. The teachers were mostly generalists without any previous specialized music training. These teachers needed knowledge and skills to integrate the arts in the Early Childhood learning programme. In this programme, a selection of Western Classical music pieces is vividly brought to life through storytelling, dramatization, creative dance movements, instrumental play and the visual arts. Example lessons from the proposed listening programme were implemented during a pilot study in Mauritius with Creole and French speaking ECD teachers who were unfamiliar with Western Classical music. It became evident through the main research study that took place in underprivileged areas in Gauteng, Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces in South Africa that most black African teachers were also unfamiliar with this music style. Both the pilot study and the main research showed that the methodology of the proposed listening programme is suitable for the training of ECD teachers from different cultures and language groups. Teachers in remote areas made it their responsibility to look for, find or fabricate resources for costumes they could not afford. It has proved to be an effective method that can be implemented at grass-roots level in underprivileged areas and used as a guideline for the integration of the arts throughout South Africa and other countries. The study concludes with recommendations to implement the proposed listening programme at all primary schools in South Africa. / Thesis (DMus)--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Music / DMus / unrestricted

This study traces the development of music education in Nigeria from its origins to the present day and clarifies how certain ideas and practices in Nigerian music education have originated. The study includes the discussions of the historical roots of modern music studies as based on indigenous African philosophy of education, later influenced by Islam and Islamic philosophy of education and Western systems of music education. The thesis looks historically and analytically at some problems of music education policy implementation and their implications or consequences (intended and unintended). Working from a postcolonial discursive perspective, the study narrates the story of Nigeria’s colonial encounters in a way that gives prominence to issues of educational policies and music curricula content that have, to date, been kept on the periphery of the education debate. This study examines the postcolonial Nigerian governments’ attempts to promote African cultures and traditions and efforts to expand as well as reform the education sector to reflect the Nigerian heritage and culture. The efforts to expand have outstripped the efforts to reform The efforts to reform the modern educational enterprise have led to the emergence of National Policy on Education, the Cultural Policy for Nigeria, the central control of education, and the provision of national music curricula. This study investigates the development of music education, policies and curricula since Nigeria’s independence in 1960, examines its current states and concludes that the attainment of independence has done little to erase the footprints of colonial music education ideology in Nigeria. Following an introduction to the music profession in Nigeria, the study provides an overview of the changes to tertiary music education since 1961 and analyses major issues currently faced by Nigerian tertiary music educators and scholars including: a shortage of qualified music academics, inappropriateness of imported music curriculum to the socio-cultural peculiarities of the Nigerian society, the unfit marriage of academic teaching and professional training in the music curricula, inability to produce realistic music teachers, policy makers, music education administrators, and learning texts, inadequate music research, and insensitivity to needs of the labour market. The study finds out that Nigeria has a rich musical heritage which includes the indigenous African, Afro-Islamic and Euro-American music. She has viable indigenous African philosophy, modes, and models of music education which is capable of imparting the modern African person with the human values and theoretical imperatives that can make the modern Nigerian person practice music in the modern global context. This legacy, which should empower the modern Nigerian person educationally to demonstrate national identity and mental authority locally and globally, is however, being repressed in schools and colleges curricula. Nigeria continues to struggle with music curricula that were laid down by colonial regime in the past but still continues to govern the development of musical life of Nigerian people. It is the finding of this study based on the analytical perspectives it adopts that the National University Commission (NUC) music curriculum content does not measure up with the criteria of validity, significance, interest, learnability, utility, contemporariness, relevance and consistence with social realities. The analysis of the curriculum content with Holmes (1981) theories also reveals that it is essentialism, encyclopaedic and less pragmatic in orientation while its objectives are more subject-centred than society-centred and student-centred. The study obtains evidence from observation of about 100 music lessons in ten tertiary departments of music, a tracer study of 400 music graduates, 105 students’ evaluation of institutional resources, and 28 practitioners’ and 22 academics’ (50) rating of capabilities they considered essential in a music graduate. It sources further evidence from 15 employers’ of music graduates who identified some strengths and weaknesses of music graduates they employed. From an evaluation of this evidence, the quality of the present tertiary music curriculum is judged to be generally poor and uninspiring. The study posits that tertiary music education in Nigeria needs a fundamental improvement. Based on its findings, the over-riding recommendations of the study are that all aspects of music education in Nigeria should be indigenous music research-based, indigenous culture-sourced and continuously evaluated to insure that music education programmes in Nigeria are as effective as possible in the context of Nigerian experiences and aspirations as with Nigerian students and other shareholders. It further recommends that music educators must adapt both music curricula and methods to the cultural backgrounds and needs of a changing Nigeria’s student population. / Thesis (DMus)--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Music / unrestricted

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