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The Orgelbüchlein as pedal clavichord music
No full textBased on the practical experience of playing the pedal clavichord, this article revisits central European Baroque organ music and considers it from a new perspective: that of the string – activated and sustained by the finger through the tangent of the clavichord key – rather than the sounding pipe. The pedal clavichord is very demanding to play. It can teach the organist how to sustain musical ideas, listen and react. Its unique touch (by which the player must actively sustain the tone at all times), clarity in the tenor and bass, historically acknowledged appropriateness in polyphony, and greater responsiveness to rhythmic nuance, and vocal and instrumental effects, can all feedback positively into organ playing. Apart from the technical and training aspects of the Orgelbüchlein, it brings many new and apposite insights into organ music and organ performance including dynamic and phrasing, breathing and vocality, string playing as inspiration for rhythm and musical nuance, generally playing notes fuller (with tone), especially in the pedals, and thinking (and feeling) the music from the bass upwards
Music in the community: investigating the effects of group music making programmes on older adults and higher education music students
Get PDFThis thesis examines the potential of music-based interventions involving residents in nursing homes and higher education music students. While a large amount of research suggests that engagement with music can have positive effects on the health and wellbeing of older adults, many questions related to the access to and the meaning of music for residents in nursing homes are still unanswered. At the same time, recent studies indicate that community-based musical activities can also improve the health and wellbeing of the musicians providing them. However, research addressing higher education music students’ involvement in such activities is still at an early stage, and very few research projects have included the perspectives of both the recipients and the providers of music-based interventions in their investigations.
This thesis addresses these gaps through four qualitative studies, employing thematic analysis, carried out in Southern Switzerland. The PERMA model (Seligman, 2011) was used to assess the impact of group music making experiences on the participants, and the concept of mutual recovery (Crawford, et al., 2013) was considered to observe whether the encounter between residents and students generated mutual benefits. For Study 1 (Chapter 5) 20 residents (13 women and 7 men, aged 71-99 years, mean = 84.6, SD ± 7.3) of 6 nursing homes were interviewed about their access to music and the role and function music plays in their lives. The findings revealed that residents, regardless of their musical background, considered music to be an important life resource.
Music was linked to their identity and could improve their wellbeing by promoting positive emotions and facilitating social interactions. However, many residents had less access to music than they had in the past and felt that more musical experiences in their daily lives would be welcomed. Study 2 (Chapter 6) focused on a 10-week programme of group music making carried out in four nursing homes. Each session was led by an experienced music teacher from the Conservatorio della Svizzera italiana (Lugano, Switzerland) supported by 9 students trained to act as music facilitators. Residents were engaged in singing and drumming with appropriate instruments and were interviewed at the end of the programme about their experiences and what effects they perceived on their health and wellbeing through taking part. Residents of three nursing homes (N = 22, 16 women and 6 men, aged 72-95 years, mean = 83.6, SD ± 6.9) reported positive emotions, engagement and anticipation of the sessions, as the programme offered opportunities to learn and to interact both with peers and highly skilled musicians. Moreover, the opportunity to approach unfamiliar repertoires and to listen to students’ short performances were considered rewarding. Study 3 (Chapter 7) investigated how the 9 students involved (7 women and 2 men, aged 19-26 years, mean = 23.1, SD ± 1.9) experienced the programme and the effects they perceived on their health, wellbeing and career preparation. Data were collected through interviews before the beginning of the training and at the end of the programme, and through an oral diary updated at the end of each session. The results highlighted the students’ appreciation of the humanitarian and innovative components of the programme, which had positive effects on professional and personal spheres. Students reported that this experience enlarged their competences and provided new insights into teaching and audience engagement, as well as encouraging them to question their tendencies towards perfectionism. Moreover, they perceived psychological and physical benefits and experienced meaningful interactions with the residents. Study 4 (Chapter 8), based on the same data collected for Study 3, aimed to understand the shortcomings experienced by the students in terms of their preparation, and their thoughts about how to improve the training they received. The findings suggest that the students at times felt a lack of preparation in interacting with residents and the need to improve teamwork and to be trained further to develop some musical skills. As a consequence of becoming more familiar with residents session by session, and of some changes made to the programme in the second academic year, the shortcomings and the problems experienced by students diminished considerably.
Overall, this thesis demonstrates that the encounter between residents and music students generated mutual benefits, and it provides new understanding about the meaning of music-based interventions for both recipients and providers. The thesis highlights the importance of facilitating access to music in nursing homes, and it also describes an activity that can improve the role of musicians and music institutions in the community
Ernst Wilhelm Wolf, ed. Ryan Layne Whitney, collected solo keyboard sonatas, 3 vols (2021), Lulu.com
No full textPolicy brief: HEartS professional: the Health, Economic and Social impact of COVID-19 on Professionals in the ARTs: findings and policy implications for cultural recovery
Get PDFKEY INFO: Research questions:
1. What is the ongoing impact of COVID-19 on arts professionals’ health, wellbeing and livelihoods?
2. How have different arts professionals’ experienced, perceived and responded to the changing situation due to COVID-19?
3. In what ways has the COVID-19 pandemic impacted upon use of technologies to create, consume and engage with the arts, and what are the implications of this for the future?
Policy area or themes: Creative Industries; Arts & Health and Social Prescribing; Skills and Training.
Methods: Longitudinal surveys (n = 1500) and interviews with arts professionals across the sector, including those working in music, dance, circus arts, theatre, film, visual arts and literature. Wider population and public health surveys (n > 15,000)
Britten and the radio
No full textDuring Britten’s lifetime, there were fundamental changes to technology that altered his and his audience’s experience of live and recorded musical performance. Chief among these was the advent of radio, established in Britain in October 1922 with the formation of the British Broadcasting Company (BBC). This chapter explores the BBC’s influence on British musical life and the cultural life of the nation. Discussions include the corporation’s manner of promotion of past and contemporary British music and composers and the changes made to programming during and in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War. The BBC was fundamental to Britten’s creation of a British identity as he disseminated his music to a wider audience, as well as to the success of the Aldeburgh Festival
Nourmahal's Song: an unknown Coleridge-Taylor work
No full textThe manuscripts of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor at the Royal College of Music have long been a valued resource for researchers and performers, with many first editions and first performances resulting from this unique and important collection. A recent research enquiry into one of these manuscripts has led to the discovery of a previously unknown work: Nourmahal's Song. Filed with the piano piece, Nourmahal's Song and Dance since its acquisition, and long assumed to be the same work, Jonathan Frank discovered in April 2022 that RCM MS 4938 is in fact an unrelated work, one which is totally unknown to modern scholarship. This article explores the circumstances which led to the work's absence from Coleridge-Taylor scholarship; how the accompanying materials tell the story of a brief, unsuccessful attempt at a revival in 1937, involving Sir Henry Wood; and how the library's filing led to the work being undiscovered until now
Group music making in nursing homes: investigating the experience of higher education music students
No full textA significant number of studies suggest that engagement with music, in its different forms, can play an important role in terms of health and well-being for a diverse range of people, including older adults. Research focusing on the impact of these activities on the practitioners, namely the musicians carrying out the interventions, is at a more preliminary stage. This study investigated how tertiary-level music students experienced group music making with residents in nursing homes. A music team delivered ten weekly music sessions in four nursing homes, focusing on singing, rhythm-based activities with percussion instruments and listening to short, live performances. The team was composed of an experienced workshop leader, a researcher and nine student musicians enrolled in an elective seminar. Qualitative data were collected from the students through semi-structured interviews and oral diaries and analysed using thematic analysis. The results show that the overall experience had a positive impact on students in both professional and personal dimensions. The findings are discussed using the lenses of mutual recovery and the PERMA model of well-being
The case for Casella: towards new methods of understanding and interpreting the Italian Modernist pianist-composer
Get PDFThis thesis explores the piano music of Alfredo Casella. While there is much literature pertaining to Casella’s position in Fascist Italy, much of it fails to utilise archival sources. Similarly, the literature offers little stylistic analysis of Casella’s music, or discussion as to how performers might approach, interpret and perform his works. This thesis offers a tripartite insight into Casella. Part 1 reviews Casella’s biography and compositional process: Chapter 1 repositions the pianist-composer within Fascist Italy, reviewing archival sources including diaries, letters and personal artefacts and emphasising Casella’s importance as a pianist. Chapter 2 utilises sketchbooks and scores to outline his three-step compositional process. Part 2 of the thesis offers a theoretical interrogation of the pianist-composer. Chapter 3 gives a comparative and descriptive stylistic analysis of Casella’s piano works, based on LaRue and Keller models for analysis. Tactility, and tactile means of stylistic analysis is also discussed. Casella’s compositional style borrows tonality, form and structure, and style of other composers. Casella’s writings on music, and specifically interpretation and performance, are used to form a method for interpreting his works in Chapter 4. In the pianist-composer’s own words, interpretation is a form of construction, building on historical and contextual understanding, score analysis, and the performer’s own response to the work being performed. Part 3 of the thesis comprises case studies, applying the stylistic and interpretative approaches outlined in part 2 to five works: Toccata Op. 6 (1904), Sonatina Op. 28 (1916), Undici pezzi infantili Op. 32 (1920), Sinfonia, arioso e toccata Op. 59 (1936) and Sei Studi Op. 70 (1942-44). These are supplemented with recordings (found in the appendices). This thesis argues the case for Casella as an original and innovative composer whose works offer many interpretive opportunities for performers
The future of the cultural workforce: perspectives from early career arts professionals on the challenges and future of the cultural industries in the context of COVID-19
Get PDFThe COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on the arts sector, disrupting livelihoods and professional networks and accentuating the instability that is common for creative workers. Gaps in support for grassroots organisations and freelance workers have highlighted structural inequalities within the industry, and the significant challenges for individual workers in the early stages of their career. Yet, the pandemic has also emphasised the importance of the arts as a community resource and its role in supporting wellbeing and togetherness. This qualitative study explored the experiences of the pandemic for early career arts workers, focusing on its impacts upon their livelihoods and how it has shaped their future career directions. Sixteen arts and cultural workers across a variety of sectors including theatre, film, circus, music, and literature participated in solo, semi-structured interviews during April–June 2021. Thematic analysis identified three overarching themes: (i) ‘Pandemic precarity and creative practice’, (ii) ‘PostCOVID I: Inclusivity and diversifying audiences’, and (iii) ‘PostCOVID II: Adapting, developing, and disrupting cultural practices’. Overall, the experiences capture an early career workforce that, while committed and engaged with their creative practice, also seeks a more equitable, fairer, and diverse industry that protects artists and engages more flexibly with broader audiences