1857 research outputs found
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Marble Arch 4.30
No full textFor violin, viola and cello, duration 7 minutes.
This piece was commissioned by Music Past and Present and premiered on 20 February 2000 by Chamber Domaine at Jackson's Lane, London
Suntrap
No full textFor solo guitar, duration 6 minutes.
This work was commissioned by the Britten Estate Ltd. and premiered on 28 October 2001 by Craig Ogden at the Jubilee Hall, Aldeburgh
Wind instruments
No full textDescribes the characteristics and tone quality of wind instruments used during the classical period
Shifting the focus of attention between levels of musical structure
No full textThis paper examines the practice and performance of musicians in two separate studies. In the first, 22 pianists, classified into four levels of skill, were asked to learn and memorise an assigned composition by J.S. Bach (different for each level). From cassette recordings of the pianists' practice, values for the mean and standard deviation of “segment lengths” were obtained, as well as a derived coefficient of variation. Following the learning process, the pianists performed their composition in a recital setting and were interviewed about their performance strategies. In the second study, two expert pianists were asked to learn and memorise an assigned composition by Bach and to provide verbal protocols of their performance of the piece under two separate conditions. Analyses of the data from Study 1 revealed that pianists at all levels of skill used longer practice segments as practice progressed. Moreover, they increasingly interspersed short and long segments across the practice process. Analyses of the coefficient of variation revealed that this occurred most often for performers at higher levels of ability, supporting the notion that shifting the focus of attention between levels of musical structure is a salient characteristic of the practice of skilled performers and develops gradually as skill is acquired. The post-performance interviews suggested that the attentional shift was employed during performance and was highly individual-specific with regard to the locations and reasons for shifting. Data from Study 2 provided additional evidence to support the proposed process and demonstrated the use of one possible hierarchical system within which shifts in attentional focus can occur--the music's formal structure. The data are discussed with regard to their implications for furthering an understanding of performance preparation in music and in other domains
Go tango
No full textFor solo piano, duration 7 minutes.
This piece was commissioned and premiered by Robert Keeley at King's College, London on 27 February 2002
Tafos
No full textFor chamber ensemble (2 clarinets, 2 horns, 2 violins, 2 cellos, double bass), duration 15 minutes.
This work was commissioned by the Purcell School with funds provided by the Vaughan Williams Trust.
It was premiered on 25 June 2001 by the Purcell School Contemporary Music Ensemble at the Adrian Boult Hall
Performing through history
No full textA survey of performing practices and conditions from antiquity to the present shows they have varied greatly, and that the Western concert phenomenon of musicians playing with high technical proficiency from an authoritative score to a quiet audience is relatively recent, far removed from any music-making before the beginning of the 20th c. Performance practices also vary worldwide and among popular musics in the Western world
Bartolomeo Cristofori: la spinette ovali del 1690/Bartolomeo Cristofori's 1690 oval spinet
No full textThe role of retrieval structures in memorizing music
No full textThis article explores the use of structure in the encoding and retrieval of music and its relation to level of skill. Twenty-two pianists, classified into four levels of skill, were asked to learn and memorize an assigned composition by J. S. Bach (different for each level). All practice was recorded on cassette tape. At the end of the learning process, the pianists performed their assigned composition in a recital setting. The performances were subsequently evaluated by three experienced pianists according to a standardized grading system. From the cassette tapes, values for the frequency with which pianists started and stopped their practice on “structural,” “difficult,” and “other” bars were obtained. Starts and stops on each bar type were compared across three stages of the learning process. The analyses reveal that all pianists, regardless of level, started and stopped their practice increasingly on structural bars and decreasingly on difficult bars across the learning process. Moreover, the data indicate that starts and stops increased on structural bars and decreased on difficult bars systematically with increases in level of skill. These findings are interpreted and discussed so as to elucidate characteristics of the retrieval structures adopted by musicians in their practice and performance and how the formation and use of retrieval structures develop as a function of expertise. Finally, the elicited values for starts on structural, difficult, and other bars are examined and discussed according to how they relate to the pianists' scores on performance quality