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The bass clarinet in bassoon form: its history, repertoire and acoustics
Get PDFThis thesis explores the history, repertoire and acoustical properties of the bassoon-form bass clarinet: arguably the first successful bass clarinet type. More than 80 such instruments have been found in museums. The emphasis throughout the thesis is on understanding the empirical evidence that exists in the surviving instruments and in the musical repertoire.
The establishment of this form is traced through primary and secondary sources and the extant instruments. An improved typology of the bassoon-form type is presented, based upon the acoustic properties of its different variations: true bassoon-form, bassoon-form with left- hand keys, half-bassoon-form and ophicleide form.
The early repertoire for the bass clarinet is reviewed. It is shown that bassoon-form instruments (1793 onwards) and straight-form instruments (1838 onwards) were both introduced in Art music and in military and civil bands, until c.1850. The straight form then became the instrument of choice for Art music, whilst variants of the bassoon-form continued in bands until c.1914 and were probably preferred for the latter role.
The main original contribution made in this thesis is to the modelling and analysis of the acoustical resonances of a set of thirteen bass clarinets, selected to examine various stages in their history. It was possible to calculate the intonation and pitch of the instruments with careful dimensional measurements, without playing them. Verification of the modelling was obtained by experimental and playing tests on one well-preserved instrument; musical examples are provided to illustrate the accuracy of the modelling. The MatlabTM code and data files are provided to allow continuation of this work. Significant acoustical differences were found between the bassoon- and straight- form instruments, primarily on the value and regularity of the important cutoff frequency. This was traced to the constraints innate in the different designs and methods of construction of the instruments.
******* IMPORTANT NOTE: This thesis is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 (CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0) licence as indicated below. This licence does NOT apply to third party copyright material included in the thesis with permission of the copyright holders. Third party images are acknowledged as such in their figure captions; any image or music clip for which no third party copyright acknowledgement appears in the caption is copyright of the author, and is licenced under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 (CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0) applied to the thesis. Please note also that the audio file below labelled "5 Trio (Bass clarinet solo) from Les Huguenots.mp3" has a standard copyright licence (NOT a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence). ******
Nox ruit…hic locus est (derivata)
No full textFor solo oboe. Nox Ruit…Hic locus est is one of a collection of 200 solo pieces commissioned to celebrate the bicentenary of the Royal Academy of Music in 2022. Programme note: "A contribution to the Royal Academy’s bicentenary in 2022, Nox Ruit… Hic Locus est (Night falls… this is the place) takes material from my oboe and orchestra work Viae (Pathways), recasting and recontextualising various portions of the original narrative. Whilst not an overt showpiece for the instrument, the work nevertheless poses challenges of technique, pacing, and shaping." The composer wishes to thank oboist Chris Vettraino for his premiere performance and for various suggestions and assistance in the preparations of this work
Review article: People power: 'The art of appreciation: music and middlebrow culture in modern Britain' by Kate Guthrie.
No full textMusic and emotions
No full textDiscussions on music's relationship to the emotions reach back to Antiquity. During the Enlightenment, this relationship gained particular significance as the arts were framed as tools in the modern moral and social education project. The first part of this chapter explores the aesthetic, theoretical understanding of the idea that music is the ‘language of the emotions’, charting the history of this ‘language’ as it emerged in tandem with idealised notions of fixed works of art. In contrast to the idea of universal emotions in music, the second part reveals music's role as an emotional tool within wider social discourses: here music's emotional impact is not immanent to a work of art; instead music as practice uniquely inspired emotional communities, networks and agencies
Synchronous online learning, teaching, and performing
No full textSynchronous online learning, teaching and performing in music is a fast-emerging innovation within the global Higher Education (HE) system. Numerous advantages for including videoconferencing as a means for communication via high-performance networking technologies are: the expansion of international collaborations through live performances and
masterclasses; possibilities for remote rehearsals in advance of events; development of new forms of teaching, learning and performing; and lowered costs and reduction of carbon emissions due to decreased air travel. These benefits are increasingly being recognised not only for music, but within the wider context of arts and humanities. In addition, entry level platforms, such as Skype, Zoom and FaceTime, enable musicians to work from home.
However, none of this comes without challenges. Issues of latency, audio and video quality, acclimation to the technology, presence, communication, and adapting alternative teaching approaches, are important issues that need to be addressed. This chapter provides a brief timeline on the emergence of the technology, outlines the substantial influence on teaching, learning, and performance from teacher, student, and professional performers’ perspectives, and highlights the necessary setup considerations for use in HE with practical examples from around the world. Finally, the chapter closes with the exploration of technology innovations that will soon be within reach for use in HE music. *** For a video based on this chapter please see http://researchonline.rcm.ac.uk/id/eprint/1801/ **
A phylogenetic analysis of two Preludes from J. S. Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier II.
Get PDFJ. S. Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier II is well known for the complexity of its source situation, and its vast array of variant readings. The current article uses techniques of phylogenetic analysis, developed in the biological sciences, to deepen our understanding of the complex relationships between the primary sources. The computer algorithm NeighborNet is used to analyse data comprising the textual variants for the Prelude in A, bwv888 and the Prelude in C, bwv870. The resultant grouping of sources reflects the differences in revision practice between the two preludes. While Bach saw little need to revise the Prelude in A, the Prelude in C underwent a process of continued revision that can be discerned in the results of the phylogenetic analysis. The analyses also highlight the uncertain relationship of the manuscript DD70 with the other sources of the Prelude in C and the implications for 18th-century performance practice
Tracing change during music therapy for depression: toward a markers-based understanding of communicative behaviors
Get PDFThis article focuses on behavioral markers—changes in communicative behaviors that reliably indicate the presence and severity of mental health conditions. We explore the potential of behavioral markers to provide new insights and approaches to diagnosis, assessment, and monitoring, with a particular focus on music therapy for depression. We propose a framework for understanding these markers that encompasses three broad functional categories fulfilled by communicative behaviors: semantic, pragmatic, and phatic. The disordered interactions observed in those with depression reflect changes in many types of communicative behavior, but much research has focused on pragmatic behaviors. However, changes in phatic behaviors also seem likely to be important, given their crucial role in facilitating interpersonal relationships. Given the strong phatic element of music-making, music represents a fertile context in which to explore these behaviors. We argue here that the uniquely multimodal and profoundly interactive environment of music therapy in particular allows for the identification of changes in pragmatic and phatic communicative behaviors that reliably indicate depression presence/severity. By identifying these behavioral markers, we open the door to new ways of assessing depression, and improving diagnosis and monitoring. Furthermore, this markers-based approach has broad implications, being applicable beyond depression and beyond music therapy
Re-editing the English virginalists: The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book, edited by Jon Baxendale and Francis Knights. Lyrebird Music, 2020. 3 volumes. My Lady Nevells Booke, edited by Jon Baxendale and Francis Knights. Lyrebird Music, 2021. Parthenia and Parthenia In-Violata, edited by Jon Baxendale and Francis Knights. Lyrebird Music, 2021.
No full textThis extended review article revisits current understanding of the The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book, My Lady Nevells Booke, Parthenia and Parthenia In-Violata in the light of the editorial principles of these new editions and reassesses the role that the organ might play in its performance. Much of the Virginalist repertoire is interchangeable between any available keyboard (and there were many, including the ever-present clavichord) while the delineation of organ and virginal along sacred and secular lines which often deters organ performance today is both questionable and anachronistic. Choice of instrument and technique are considered alongside general principles of fingering, a detailed resume of ornamentation and embellishment, and importance of textual meaning and vocality for keyboard performance
Synthrumentation, revisited: towards a new method of additively synthesising speech in acoustic instrumental contexts
Get PDFSynthrumentation is a term coined by composer Clarence Barlow to refer to his innovative, personal compositional practice of additively (re-)synthesising phonated speech sounds purely via means of acoustic instruments, i.e. without the presence of an actual human voice or electronics. I repurpose ‘synthrumentation’ as a general term (broadly referring to acoustic additive instrumental synthesis of all kinds), and detail a number of extant works utilising it, for the purposes of identifying potential trends and deficiencies within historical practice in terms of intent, pre-compositional procedure, and musical usage. It becomes clear
that, amongst other things, the inharmonicity that part-constitutes both speech and other sounds has been largely overlooked in existing synthrumental practices, suggesting a fruitful area of new inquiry and potential basis for developing novel synthrumentation methods.
With respect to the above review of synthrumental works ‘after the fact,’ I continue on to investigate various aspects of sonic material itself, prior to undergoing synthrumental processes, with a particular emphasis on human vocality, phonemes, formants and the characteristics of whispered speech.
Finally, a new method of synthrumentation is devised, aiming to replicate whispered speech, particularly through the continuous formant bandwidths on which it is structured (as opposed to the discrete harmonic peaks of its phonated counterpart), with particular attention given to practical considerations and feasibility in live performance contexts. Resultant orchestrations and audio samples (recorded live by a group of violinists) are appended.
Ultimately, the method proves to be successful in fulfilling its base aims, and resultant sounding synthrumentations are, superficially, sonically characteristic and impactful. However, further research is required to objectively determine their potential uses in musical
contexts, broader aesthetic implications, and general efficacy
Heads of composition perspectives on the role of composition teaching in UK music conservatoires composition department
No full textIn the study being reported here, heads of composition at a selection of music conservatoires (n = 6) in the UK were invited to share their experiences of teaching composition. Arising from the analysis of interview data, three main themes, termed 'pedagogical goals', emerged as important for undergraduate and postgraduate students to progress as composers. These included: becoming independent learners; developing one’s own compositional voice; and building confidence. Findings revealed that these three themes and the pedagogical tools used to achieve them could create tensions between student expectations of what they believed traditional composition teaching to be. On top of this, the interviewees reported having to navigate increasingly neoliberal higher education policy and performativity measures such as the emphasis on student satisfaction, employability and the rising sense of competition between institutions, causing them to reflect on their role as professional educators. Implications for practice are highlighted, particularly around how conflicting priorities and expectations within creative subjects such as composing can in turn create pedagogical conflict. This calls for further research on how composers learn and develop, especially within higher music education contexts