The deliberate practice: the sports excellence versus the musical excellence

[ENG] If we look around us, we can observe that there is someone who is the best in each field of activity. We could think that they are exceptional individuals. This Final Project aims to increase knowledge of the effects of Deliberate Practice in the domains of music and sport. This will define you a concept of Deliberate Practice and then focus on the diversity of situations in which it shows us how it is presented in real life. From a questionnaire that has been designed for this study and distributed to the music students, I have expected to obtain a result that allow me to come to the conclusion that exists a relation between the hours of practice and the expertise in the execution. This reality has been linked to the regarding situation in the sport practice, whose information has been provided by the coordinators of the different sports. Taking into account the limited number of references available, this work has focused on a qualitative analysis of the data, interpreted from my point of view and my personal experience, which has been confirmed in the results obtained. The statistics managed allow me to conclude that, although the argument is not definitive, the guide effort through deliberate practice is essential to achieve the excellence.

Uma memória ímpar: a trajetória de Arthur Napoleão na sociabilidade musical de dois continentes (1843-1925)

Essa tese tem como objetivo primordial estudar a trajetória musical do pianista português Arthur Napoleão (1843-1925), desde a sua iniciação musical na cidade natal do Porto, até o falecimento no Rio de Janeiro em 1925. Discute-se aqui a relevância da inserção do pianista e de sua música nos meio sócios-culturais dos países da Europa e Américas, em cujas cidades se apresentou durante os primeiros quinze anos de sua carreira. Do mesmo modo, estuda-se também as circunstâncias da permanência do notável intérprete no Brasil, como imigrante radicado, desde 1868, bem como se deu a consolidação da sua nova perspectiva laboral no campo da música, como empreendedor e mediador cultural. E ainda por meio da organização de estabelecimentos comerciais voltados para a venda de pianos e partituras musicais, que se tornaram importantes espaços de sociabilidade musical na Corte, depois capital federal da República, ao longo de sua vida. As numerosas e variadas fontes aqui utilizadas são caudatárias do texto autobiográfico legado por Arthur Napoleão, de 1907. Essas "Memórias", ao mesmo tempo fonte de informação e objeto de estudo, possibilitam traçar, pelo exame vis-à-vis com a documentação restante, a trajetória artística de Arthur Napoleão, desde Portugal até o Brasil, no universo sócio-cultural em transformação, da segunda metade do século XIX ao primeiro quarto do XX.

Enseñanza-aprendizaje musical: una visión de los docentes de instrumento en los conservatorios profesionales

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Vamos montar uma banda?: um olhar sobre os processos de criação musical de crianças

Esta tese possui como tema os processos de criação musical de crianças e tem como objetivo geral problematizar e compreender esses processos no contexto de uma oficina musical. Derivam-se daí questões mais específicas que consistem em saber que aspectos musicais estão envolvidos, como as crianças se relacionam e se organizam, e que sentidos as crianças atribuem a esses aspectos nos processos de criação musical. Através de uma leitura sócio-histórica, o percurso dessa pesquisa compreendeu discussões acerca da infância, da cultura e da linguagem em articulação à criação musical, que abordaram diferentes perspectivas acerca do tema. São conceitos fundamentais dessa tese o pensamento de Mikhail Bakhtin, Lev Vigotski e Walter Benjamin acerca de criação e experiência intrínsecos ao ser humano. Apresenta-se uma perspectiva crítica à infância contemporânea destacando aproximações ao universo da cultura e da música. Nesse sentido, discute-se uma concepção de música que leve em consideração os aspectos sociais articulados à produção musical, propondo-se um diálogo acerca de criação musical entre os campos da vida, da ciência e da arte. Apresentam-se como principais interlocutores dessa tese: Solange Jobim e Souza, Manoel Sarmento e Rita Pereira, sobre infância; Johan Huizinga e Gilles Brougère, sobre o lúdico; John Blacking, sobre conceito de música; e Teca de Alencar Brito, François Delalande e Lucy Green, sobre crianças, música e educação musical. O trabalho de campo teve como objetivo realizar composições numa oficina musical, sob o formato de uma banda de música popular, realizada numa escola pública federal da cidade do Rio de Janeiro, com um grupo de crianças entre nove e onze anos. Para interlocução com as crianças, adotou-se como suporte teórico e metodológico a perspectiva sobre alteridade e dialogismo de Mikhail Bakhtin, assim como a perspectiva de uma pesquisa-intervenção e de uma pesquisa como experiência estética. Como achados da pesquisa, observa-se que os processos de criação dessas crianças na oficina são negociados entre pares, obedece a condições próprias para seu desenvolvimento e se dão entrelaçados às suas experiências musicais revelando laços da criança com aspectos da cultura. Destacam-se nesse processo também uma integração entre as atividades de criar, aprender, reproduzir e as motivações que dão conta disso e que sugerem uma singular relação com a cultura contemporânea. Ressalta-se a importância da atividade de criação musical como lugar de compartilhamento de significados e sentidos

Bayesian estimation of simultaneous musical notes based on frequency domain modelling

This paper proposes a Bayesian method for polyphonic music description. The method first divides an input audio signal into a series of sections called snapshots, and then estimates parameters such as fundamental frequencies and amplitudes of the notes contained in each snapshot. The parameter estimation process is based on a frequency domain modelling and Gibbs sampling. Experimental results obtained from audio signals of test note patterns are encouraging; the accuracy is better than 80% for the estimation of fundamental frequencies in terms of semitones and instrument names when the number of simultaneous notes is two.

Syntax-Based Analytic Reading of Musical Scores

As part of a larger research project in musical structure, a program has been written which "reads" scores encoded in an input language isomorphic to music notation. The program is believed to be the first of its kind. From a small number of parsing rules the program derives complex configurations, each of which is associated with a set of reference points in a numerical representation of a time-continuum. The logical structure of the program is such that all and only the defined classes of events are represented in the output. Because the basis of the program is syntactic (in the sense that parsing operations are performed on formal structures in the input string), many extensions and refinements can be made without excessive difficulty. The program can be applied to any music which can be represented in the input language. At present, however, it constitutes the first stage in the development of a set of analytic tools for the study of so-called atonal music, the revolutionary and little understood music which has exerted a decisive influence upon contemporary practice of the art. The program and the approach to automatic data-structuring may be of interest to linguists and scholars in other fields concerned with basic studies of complex structures produced by human beings.

A Parallel Processing Model of Musical Structures

Euterpe is a real-time computer system for the modeling of musical structures. It provides a formalism wherein familiar concepts of musical analysis may be readily expressed. This is verified by its application to the analysis of a wide variety of conventional forms of music: Gregorian chant, Mediaeval polyphony, Back counterpoint, and sonata form. It may be of further assistance in the real-time experiments in various techniques of thematic development. Finally, the system is endowed with sound-synthesis apparatus with which the user may prepare tapes for musical performances.

The musical enculturation of Irish traditional musicians: An ethnographic study of learning processes

The enculturation of Irish traditional musicians involves informal, non-formal, and sometimes formal learning processes in a number of different settings, including traditional music sessions, workshops, festivals, and classes. Irish traditional musicians also learn directly from family, peers, and mentors and by using various forms of technology. Each experience contributes to the enculturation process in meaningful and complementary ways. The ethnographic research discussed in this dissertation suggests that within Irish traditional music culture, enculturation occurs most effectively when learners experience a multitude of learning practices. A variety of experiences insures that novices receive multiple opportunities for engagement and learning. If a learner finds one learning practice ineffective, there are other avenues of enculturation. This thesis explores the musical enculturation of Irish traditional musicians. It focuses on the process of becoming a musician by drawing on methodologies and theories from ethnomusicology, education, and Irish traditional music studies. Data was gathered through multiple ethnographic methodologies. Fieldwork based on participant-observation was carried out in a variety of learning contexts, including traditional music sessions, festivals, workshops, and weekly classes. Additionally, interviews with twenty accomplished Irish traditional musicians provide diverse narratives and firsthand insight into musical development and enculturation. These and other methodologies are discussed in Chapter 1. The three main chapters of the thesis explore various common learning experiences. Chapter 2 explores how Irish traditional musicians learn during social and musical interactions between peers, mentors, and family members, and focuses on live music-making which occurs in private homes, sessions, and concerts. These informal and non-formal learning experiences primarily take place outside of organizations and institutions. The interview data suggests these learning experiences are perhaps the most pervasive and influential in terms of musical enculturation. Chapter 3 discusses learning experience in more organized settings, such as traditional music classes, workshops, summer schools, and festivals. The role of organizations such as Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann and pipers’ clubs are discussed from the point of view of the learner. Many of the learning experiences explored in this chapter are informal, non-formal, and sometimes formal in nature, depending on the philosophy of the organization, institution, and individual teacher. The interview data and field observations indicate that learning in these contexts is common and plays a significant role in enculturation, particularly for traditional musicians who were born during and after the 1970s. Chapter 4 explores the ways Irish traditional musicians use technology, including written sources, phonography, videography, websites, and emerging technologies, during the enculturation process. Each type of technology presents different educational implications, and traditional musicians use these technologies in diverse ways and some more than others. For this, and other reasons, technology plays a complex role during the process of musical enculturation. Drawing on themes which emerge during Chapter 2, 3, and 4, the final chapter of this dissertation explores overarching patterns of enculturation within Irish traditional music culture. This ethnographic work suggests that longevity of participation and engagement in multiple learning and performance opportunities foster the enculturation of Irish traditional musicians. Through numerous and prolonged participation in music-making, novices become accustomed to and learn musical, social, and cultural behaviours. The final chapter also explores interconnections between learning experiences and also proposes directions for future research.

ELGAR AND MART&: THE CELLO WORKS AND MUSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF TWO REMARKABLE, SELF-TAUGHT, NATIONALISTIC COMPOSERS

The British Edward Elgar and Czech Bohuslav MartinB were two of the most prominent Nationalistic composers of their respective countries during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Their musical patriotism incorporates the unique paths of their lives as socially isolated and self-taught composers as expressed their outstanding Nationalistic compositions produced through the period of history encompassing the two World Wars.In the first chapter of this dissertation, a brief biography of Elgar is presented and the essential aspects of his formative years influencing him to become a self-taught musician are discussed. The second chapter demonstrates Elgar's musical characteristics through the study of a selection of his masterpieces. In the third chapter, a brief biography of Martinti is presented along with a history of his musical development, characterized by his social isolation during four different periods of his life-his residences in PoliCka, Prague, Paris, and then in the United States. The fourth chapter considers MartinB's musical characteristics as revealed through the study of a selection of his greatest works. In support of this doctoral project, I performed two recitals of cello works by Elgar and Martini3 at the University of Maryland, College Park. The first recital, accompanied by Susan Slingland and Hiroko Yamazaki, included three of Martini3's works, Sonata No. 2 for Cello and Piano (1941); Variations on a Theme of Rossini for Cello and Piano (1 942); and Sonata No. 3 for Cello and Piano (1952). The second recital, accompanied by Wonyoung Chang and Naoko Takao, presented Martini3's Sonata No. 1 for Cello and Piano (1939) and Elgar's Concerto for Cello and Orchestra Op. 85 in E minor (1 919).

Sikh Sabad Kirtan as a Musical Construction of Memory

The performance of devotional music in India has been an active, sonic conduit where spiritual identities are shaped and forged, and both history and mythology lived out and remembered daily. For the followers of Sikhism, congregational hymn singing has been the vehicle through which text, melody and ritual act as repositories of memory, elevating memory to a place where historical and social events can be reenacted and memorialized on levels of spiritual significance. This dissertation investigates the musical process of Shabad Kirtan, Sikh hymn singing, in a Sikh musical service as a powerful vehicle to forge a sense of identification between individual and the group. As an intimate part of Sikh life from birth to death, the repertoire of Shabad Kirtan draws from a rich mosaic of classical and folk genres as well as performance styles, acting as a musical and cognitive archive. Through a detailed analysis of the Asa Di Var service, Shabad Kirtan is explored as a phenomenological experience where time, place and occasion interact as a meaningful unit through which the congregation creates and recreates themselves, invoking deep memories and emotional experiences. Supported by explanatory tables, diagrams and musical transcriptions, the sonic movements of the service show how the Divine Word as Shabad is not only embodied through the Guru Granth Sahib, but also encountered through the human enactment of the service, aurally, viscerally and phenomenologically.

Exploring Musical Diversity in the Collaborative Repertoire from 1880 through 1963

It is essential in musical performance not only to convey the unique language of the composers but also to approach each composition from the perspective of its style. During the 20th century, diverse musical idioms co-existed, sometimes mixing or fusing, yet retaining recognizable characteristics and thereby remaining distinctive. This dissertation explores myriad examples from Late Romanticism/Post- Romanticism, Naturalism, Neo-Classicism, Nationalism and Impressionism composed during this unusually rich period. In order to explore a broad range of collaborative repertoire and to deepen my knowledge of the styles and performance practices relating to these pieces, I studied and performed the repertoire with pianist Eunae Baik–Kim, clarinetist Jihoon Chang, and singers Joshua Brown and Young Joo Lee. The first program featured Post-Romantic, Neo-Classic and Impressionist two-piano works composed by Debussy, Rachmaninoff, and Stravinsky. Each of the three composers used their own distinctive harmonies, rhythms, melodic inventions, pedaling and figurations. In all of the works, both piano parts were densely interwoven, having equal importance. Lied and operatic aria was the focus of the second recital. Brahms’ Vier Ernste Gesänge Op. 121, Ravel’s Don Quichotte a Dulcineé and Italian, French and German operatic arias were the examples of Post-Romanticism and Nationalism. The representative composers were Verdi, Massenet, Korngold, Leoncavallo, Ravel and Wagner. Despite the fact that all of the repertoire was written in traditional musical forms, the composers’ unique voices mark each work as belonging to a particular genre. The third recital focused on Post-Romantic and Impressionistic music written for clarinet and piano: the Première Rhapsodie by Debussy, the Sonata by Poulenc and Brahms’ Sonata in F minor Op. 120, No. 1. These works, although profoundly different in style, share elements of simplicity, clarity and elegance as well as technical virtuosity, articulation and profound musical depth. The three recitals which comprise this dissertation project were performed at the University of Maryland Gildenhorn Recital Hall on February 27, 2010, October 25, 2010, and January 31, 2011. The recitals were recorded on compact disc and are archived within the Digital Repository at the University of Maryland (DRUM).