Seeing music performance: Visual influences on perception and experience

Drawing from ethnographic, empirical, and historical/cultural perspectives, we examine the extent to which visual aspects of music contribute to the communication that takes place between performers and their listeners. First, we introduce a framework for understanding how media and genres shape aural and visual experiences of music. Second, we present case studies of two performances, and describe the relation between visual and aural aspects of performance. Third, we report empirical evidence that visual aspects of performance reliably influence perceptions of musical structure (pitch related features) and affective interpretations of music. Finally, we trace new and old media trajectories of aural and visual dimensions of music, and highlight how our conceptions, perceptions and appreciation of music are intertwined with technological innovation and media deployment strategies.

Pau e lata para uma educação musical: uma partitura de vidas

The field of experience and reflection in this dissertation is the Pau and Lata: Artisticpedagogical project and its activities in the field of music education It was created in 1996, by the Community School Sementes da Luz, located on Tabuleiro do Martins district, Maceió / AL. The work extended to the Rio Grande do Norte and later returned to Alagoas, keeping their activities in both states, involving approximately 280 people. The issues that moved us front the experience of Pau e Lata were: What are the main references and theoretical-methodological elements that constitute the formation of the musician in Pau e Lata? How members perceive this project and include themselves in the educational process of music formation? How it works and what is the meaning of the use of instruments and the learning of musical writing and reading? These questions lead us to undertake this dissertation, in order to deepen reflection on the processes of musical training on Pau e Lata, relating the experiences of its members in the process and the theoretical references governing their educational practice. In this sense, we outline the research objectives, which are: describe the Pau e Lata project, focusing on their context of action and their methodological processes; investigate the relationship between the effective participation of its members in the process of composition of the artistic and pedagogical repertoire and its performance in the field of cultural militancy in the environment where it operates. The writing process of this research is based on the phenomenological perspective. Therefore constitute our methodological research path two roads that communicate: 1) the organization and description of historical record of Pau e Lata (supporting documents, certificates, posters, etc.) and memories of the researcher and from other members of the group. 2) the formation of focal groups and writing and sending, via online, testimonials the participants of Pau and Lata relating to issues scrap and onomatopoeia, respectively. Participated in this process 11 components, adding the presence of the researcher, with the age between 21-45 years, all members of Pau e Lata, Core UFRN. The results of this research are focused on the discussion of three axes that describe and guide the work of the Pau e Lata: collective work, the use of the scrap as instrument and the onomatopoeia as base of a methodological process of musical training. This score was composed of three parts. The first part is presented from a collection of references from Pau e Lata, composed of printed and videographic records. The second part refers to the instrument used by Pau e Lata, and the perception of group members on these instruments, which occurs so that they are integrated in the training of the musician.The third axis tells how and what it means learning of music writing and reading, that occurs in two related aspects: the teaching-learning process and the body as a musical element in this process, associated with other actions characterized as studies and theoretical deepening

Abordagens de estudo e performance da obra Responsório ao vento para violoncelo solo de Sílvio Ferraz

Recognized for his relevant writing for the cello, Silvio Ferraz wrote , in 2012, Segundo Responsório for cello solo and chamber group which followed Responsório ao Vento , a version of the same piece for solo cello . The work is characterized by the idea of continuity of sound moving through different textures , timbres , dynamics and musical gestures. The composer uses extended techniques, such as large sections in sul tasto playing three strings simultaneously, trills of natural harmonics , muffled trills with natural harmonics , col legno batuto , different types of glissando and simultaneous sounds of harmonic and non harmonic notes corroborate to a wealth of sounds and layers that create different textures. This article investigates the relationship of the composer with the cello, and relates Responsório ao Vento to his other works and studies the influences of the composer addressing technical and interpretive aspects of the piece drawn from performance experiences.

O gesto regencial para além do compasso: uma discussão acerca das ferramentas da regência e de seus usos para a performance na música do século XX

This work is the result of a master’s program research developed in the post graduation program in music at the Music School of the UFRN ( Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte) under the orientation of Dr. Andre Luiz Muniz de Oliveira which aimed at making a reflexion about regency gestures and its implications about the objective and subjective elements of the performance connected to a number of regency tools concieved in accordance with the tradition of historic music. As a tool for gestual analysis we’ve used the Harold Farbermann PatternCube method. We’ve used videos from conductors Pierre Boulez e Valery Gergiev, both conducting Igor Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. In the analysis of the videos we’ve observed the technical use of the gestual aparatus instead of the use of musical gestures fundamented in Hatten. The research showed us the importance of the use of analitical tools in helping subsidise a direction in performance in regency.

The sound of whiteness: early music vocal performance practice in Britain

American Musicological Society annual meeting, San Francisco, 10 Nov. 2011

Into the Bends of Time and Musical Forces in Jazz: Group Interaction and Double-time in “My Foolish Heart” as performed by the Bill Evans Trio with Scott LaFaro and Paul Motian.

Into the Bends of Time is a 40-minute work in seven movements for a large chamber orchestra with electronics, utilizing real-time computer-assisted processing of music performed by live musicians. The piece explores various combinations of interactive relationships between players and electronics, ranging from relatively basic processing effects to musical gestures achieved through stages of computer analysis, in which resulting sounds are crafted according to parameters of the incoming musical material. Additionally, some elements of interaction are multi-dimensional, in that they rely on the participation of two or more performers fulfilling distinct roles in the interactive process with the computer in order to generate musical material. Through processes of controlled randomness, several electronic effects induce elements of chance into their realization so that no two performances of this work are exactly alike. The piece gets its name from the notion that real-time computer-assisted processing, in which sound pressure waves are transduced into electrical energy, converted to digital data, artfully modified, converted back into electrical energy and transduced into sound waves, represents a “bending” of time.

The Bill Evans Trio featuring bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential piano trios in the history of jazz, lauded for its unparalleled level of group interaction. Most analyses of Bill Evans’ recordings, however, focus on his playing alone and fail to take group interaction into account. This paper examines one performance in particular, of Victor Young’s “My Foolish Heart” as recorded in a live performance by the Bill Evans Trio in 1961. In Part One, I discuss Steve Larson’s theory of musical forces (expanded by Robert S. Hatten) and its applicability to jazz performance. I examine other recordings of ballads by this same trio in order to draw observations about normative ballad performance practice. I discuss meter and phrase structure and show how the relationship between the two is fixed in a formal structure of repeated choruses. I then develop a model of perpetual motion based on the musical forces inherent in this structure. In Part Two, I offer a full transcription and close analysis of “My Foolish Heart,” showing how elements of group interaction work with and against the musical forces inherent in the model of perpetual motion to achieve an unconventional, dynamic use of double-time. I explore the concept of a unified agential persona and discuss its role in imparting the song’s inherent rhetorical tension to the instrumental musical discourse.

Unified: The Musical by Guy Le Jeune

A large-scale community play based on interviews with former workers at the Unifi textile plant in Letterkenny, Co. Donegal

Performance interpretativa das sonatas nº1 em Sí emol maior e nº2 em ré maior de Felix Mendelssohn

Este texto, define o trabalho final do Mestrado em Música da Universidade de Aveiro, e é um documento de apoio ao projeto artístico. Tem por objetivo perceber a importância dos compositores, Bach, Mozart e Beethoven, sobre Felix Mendelssohn “Bartholdy”, analisando o impacto que eles tiveram sobre o curso de vida desta compositor e até a que ponto influenciaram as suas obras. Centro-me na análise das sonatas em Sí bemol Maior, e Ré Maior para violoncelo e piano, que também é apresentada neste projeto, e cuja performance constitui o repertório do recital na defesa do trabalho. Inclui ainda uma reflexão sobre a liberdade criativa no quadro da composição e da interpretação musical, articulando este conceito com os nossos limites enquanto artistas “originais”.

O contributo dum Programa de Educação Musical na capacidade de iniciativa, na socialização e no autoconceito de alunos com Necessidades Educativas Especiais

Pretende-se com este trabalho, salientar a utilidade da música, como caminho a considerar pedagógica e socialmente, para os alunos com Necessidades Educativas Especiais (NEE) de modo a facilitar/promover a capacidade de iniciativa, a socialização e o autoconceito. Definiu-se como objetivo geral Compreender a influência de um programa de Educação Musical na Capacidade de iniciativa, na socialização e no autoconceito de alunos com NEE. Foi aplicado um Programa de Educação Musical (PEM) aos alunos em contexto escolar, em aulas extracurriculares, durante três meses com a durabilidade de vinte sessões. Cada sessão teve a duração de quarenta e cinco minutos. No estudo de caso realizado, foi utilizada uma metodologia mista. Como instrumentos de recolha de dados foram utilizados a escala de Piers Harris (PHCSCS) aplicada antes e após a implementação do PEM e as grelhas de observação não participante a cinco alunos com Necessidades Educativas Especiais-Incapacidades Intelectuais (NEE-II). Conclui-se ter havido uma evolução positiva na participação das atividades propostas nas suas variadas formas, o que permitiu apreciar o reforço positivo no desempenho e na gestão das decisões pessoais. No que diz respeito à Socialização, observou-se que a música atuou como um incentivo, apesar de em escala diminuta. No que concerne ao Autoconceito não houve manifestação de alteração do mesmo, não tendo sido possível clarificar-se comportamentos que demonstrassem uma melhor aceitação de si mesmo ou do reconhecimento do seu valor, em contextos dissemelhantes.

Pathfinder: a performance-game for the augmented drum-kit

Pathfinder is a performance-game for solo drummer, exploring the synergies between multiple contemporary creative practices. The work navigates between music composition, improvisation, projection/light art and game art. At its heart lies a bespoke electro-acoustic instrument, the augmented drum-kit, used not only to provide the sonic content of the work in real-time, but also as a highly expressive game controller that interacts with an instrument-specific game. The musical instrument offers a much wider range of expressive possibilities, control and tactile feedback in comparison to a traditional general-purpose game controller, and as a result it affords a more diverse and nuanced game play performance. Live electronics, lights, projections and the drum-kit all make up the performance-game’s universe, within which the performer has to explore, adapt, navigate and complete a journey.

Gospel Music Training, Performance Practice and Its Impact on Leadership Development and Performed Nationalism in a Collegiate Military Choir

Since America’s beginnings as a British colony, its musical standards have adhered to those of Western Europe. For this reason, musical forms native to America like Black folk spirituals and Gospel music have historically been marginalized in favor of music in the Western classical tradition. Today, a bias towards music of the Western classical tradition exists in those American universities that grant music degrees. While this bias is understandable, inclusion of Gospel music history and performance practice would result in a more complete understanding of American music and its impact on American nationalism. The United States Naval Academy is one of the few American universities that have consistently elevated the performance of Gospel music to the level of Western Classical music within its institutional culture. The motivations for writing this document are to provide a brief history of Gospel music in the United States and of choral music at the Naval Academy. These historical accounts serve as lenses though which the intersection of Gospel music performance practice and leadership development at the United States Naval Academy may be observed. During the last two decades of the twentieth century, Gospel music intersected American military culture at the U.S. Naval Academy. After a few student-led attempts in the 1970s, a Gospel Choir was formed in 1986 but by 1990, it had become an official part of the Music Department. Ultimately, it received institutional support and today, the Gospel Choir is one of three touring choirs authorized to represent the Academy in an official capacity. This document discusses the promotion of Gospel music by the Naval Academy in its efforts to diversify Academy culture and ultimately, Naval and Marine Corps leadership. Finally, this dissertation examines the addition of performed cultural expression (Gospel music) in light of a shift in American nationalism and discusses its impact on Naval Academy culture.

Canções de fogo: a apreensão de saberes através da performance da escuta no contexto da União do Vegetal

O ritual onde se utiliza a cocção conhecida por ayahuasca vem sendo ressignificado em contextos urbanos há mais de oito décadas, sobretudo após sua expansão iniciada pelos movimentos organizados. Essa experiência derivante dos povos da floresta amazônica, vem ultrapassando tanto fronteiras geográficas como culturais, sendo constantemente reinventada por diferentes agentes. Contemporaneamente, o fenômeno abarca indivíduos provenientes de várias partes do mundo incorporando legados doutrinários de mestres originários da América Latina. A linha doutrinária conhecida por União do Vegetal - UDV, na qual este trabalho se centra, vem ganhando espaço entre os circuitos europeus neo esotéricos. Atualmente o ritual é vivenciado por mais de 18 mil pessoas espalhadas pelo globo e tem como característica, após a ingestão da cocção, a utilização da música como uma das ferramentas mediadoras para a apreensão dos princípios doutrinários. Usualmente os mestres da UDV têm como característica a utilização de fonogramas de variadas categorias musicais que adquirem uma dimensão simbólica e funcional no momento do ritual. A comunidade estabelecida em Portugal - foco desta tese – e as comunidades digitais Musincante e Músicas do Alto, permitiram-me perceber, através do trabalho de campo e de observação participante, elementos constitutivos que abrangem toda a comunidade da UDV. O enfoque parte da perspectiva de observar essa doutrina como um lugar de conhecimento sistematizado e formal. No sentido de compreender os processos de construção desse saber, foi verificado o protagonismo do ato da escuta como elemento central para a apreensão da doutrina. Neste sentido, esta tese adota o conceito de performance da escuta como meio de explorar as formas como o indivíduo e o coletivo absorvem um saber doutrinário a partir da música e de como esta assume o papel de mediadora dos saberes transmitidos no contexto da UDV e de manutenção deste conhecimento num contexto extra ritual.

Gestural communication of music structure during solo classical piano performance

The production and perception of music is a multimodal activity involving auditory, visual and conceptual processing, integrating these with prior knowledge and environmental experience. Musicians utilise expressive physical nuances to highlight salient features of the score. The question arises within the literature as to whether performers’ non-technical, non-sound-producing movements may be communicatively meaningful and convey important structural information to audience members and co-performers. In the light of previous performance research (Vines et al., 2006, Wanderley, 2002, Davidson, 1993), and considering findings within co-speech gestural research and auditory and audio-visual neuroscience, this thesis examines the nature of those movements not directly necessary for the production of sound, and their particular influence on audience perception. Within the current research 3D performance analysis is conducted using the Vicon 12- camera system and Nexus data-processing software. Performance gestures are identified as repeated patterns of motion relating to music structure, which not only express phrasing and structural hierarchy but are consistently and accurately interpreted as such by a perceiving audience. Gestural characteristics are analysed across performers and performance style using two Chopin preludes selected for their diverse yet comparable structures (Opus 28:7 and 6). Effects on perceptual judgements of presentation modes (visual-only, auditory-only, audiovisual, full- and point-light) and viewing conditions are explored. This thesis argues that while performance style is highly idiosyncratic, piano performers reliably generate structural gestures through repeated patterns of upper-body movement. The shapes and locations of phrasing motions are identified particular to the sample of performers investigated. Findings demonstrate that despite the personalised nature of the gestures, performers use increased velocity of movements to emphasise musical structure and that observers accurately and consistently locate phrasing junctures where these patterns and variation in motion magnitude, shape and velocity occur. By viewing performance motions in polar (spherical) rather than cartesian coordinate space it is possible to get mathematically closer to the movement generated by each of the nine performers, revealing distinct patterns of motion relating to phrasing structures, regardless of intended performance style. These patterns are highly individualised both to each performer and performed piece. Instantaneous velocity analysis indicates a right-directed bias of performance motion variation at salient structural features within individual performances. Perceptual analyses demonstrate that audience members are able to accurately and effectively detect phrasing structure from performance motion alone. This ability persists even for degraded point-light performances, where all extraneous environmental information has been removed. The relative contributions of audio, visual and audiovisual judgements demonstrate that the visual component of a performance does positively impact on the over- all accuracy of phrasing judgements, indicating that receivers are most effective in their recognition of structural segmentations when they can both see and hear a performance. Observers appear to make use of a rapid online judgement heuristics, adjusting response processes quickly to adapt and perform accurately across multiple modes of presentation and performance style. In line with existent theories within the literature, it is proposed that this processing ability may be related to cognitive and perceptual interpretation of syntax within gestural communication during social interaction and speech. Findings of this research may have future impact on performance pedagogy, computational analysis and performance research, as well as potentially influencing future investigations of the cognitive aspects of musical and gestural understanding.

Intercultural musical learning in the era of technology

Foreign students abroad need to feel integrated in the new community, which includes complex learning processes in multicultural environments. The fact that we have experienced these processes ourselves was certainly a motivation for this research, especially knowing that we could contribute to help our fellow Portuguese brass players undergoing the same experience. From the singularity of music performance in the style of playing and communication emerge many cultural aspects, which have been developed through centuries of orchestral practice. As the new students are confronted with the aesthetic musical concepts and both professional and social practices of the country they arrive in, they strive to understand these concepts and adapt themselves to the values promoted by the new music practice. The aim of this on-going research is the study of the integration of brass music students in German universities and in the German society. Notably, through the understanding of intercultural processes experienced by the students, professors can become more aware of the challenges that concern music education. In this research all ten Portuguese brass students enrolled in any German music university in the last five years were interviewed in order to deeply understand this process. With a growing importance of the technological facilities, students are able to gather more information, to prepare themselves for the new concepts they try to embrace and to better deal with a different culture.