5,734 research outputs found

    Investigating Performer Uniqueness: The Case of Jascha Heifetz

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    This thesis is based on the conviction that the greatest musical performers of history can and should be granted the same level of academic scrutiny and study as is so often received by the greatest composers. Composers had the early advantage of producing durable manuscripts, while performers prior to the age of recording were unable to leave more than impressions in the minds of those who heard them. With the recent successes of numerous investigations into performance and recordings, including the CHARM and CMPCP projects, such studies are becoming ever more viable and significant. The thesis focuses on the violinist Jascha Heifetz (1901-1987) and primarily his performances of the Bach solo violin works (BWV 1001-1006). While there have been studies of individual pieces, of particular performers, and of multiple recordings of the same piece, a study focussing on specific repertoire played by a specific performer is something that has been somewhat overlooked in the literature. The thesis draws on numerous methods to distil what is distinctive and unique about Heifetz. This includes an examination of what and how the performer played, why the performer played that way, and how that way of playing compares to other performers. The study concludes with a discussion of Heifetz’s unique performer profile in the context of violin performance history. Focussing on one of the most famous and successful performing musicians of the twentieth century along with some of the most frequently played pieces, this case study will suggest research methods and approaches transferable to related studies. The thesis draws on original interviews with former Heifetz students, friends, and colleagues, and on over thirteen months of archival research in the Jascha Heifetz Collection held by the Library of Congress. This array of previously untapped material aided the analytical and empirical investigations into Heifetz’s uniqueness

    The physiological learning process underlying the development of left-hand technique in violinsts

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    Includes bibliographical references (leaves 44-46).In violin pedagogy, the left hand has often been referred to as the artisan and the right hand the artist of the violinist. This general approach to the playing of the violin sheds light on the importance that must be placed on the development of a sound left-hand technique from an early stage. This research was inspired by the ideas of one of the leading string pedagogues of today, Prof. Jack de Wet, whose successful synthesis of the science and art of music making is reflected in his teachings. In this dissertation the relevance of physiological aspects, such as sensorimotor development, is discussed in light of their influence on the basic development of technical aspects of the left hand in violinists. This study endeavours to highlight the role and importance of physiological aspects in the development and transition of the violinist from a """"machine for playing the violin"""" to that of a """"machine for making music""""

    Regular expressions as violin bowing patterns

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    String players spend a significant amount of practice time creating and learning bowings. These may be indicated in the music using up-bow and down-bow symbols, but those traditional notations do not capture the complex bowing patterns that are latent within the music. Regular expressions, a mathematical notation for a simple class of formal languages, can describe precisely the bowing patterns that commonly arise in string music. A software tool based on regular expressions enables performers to search for passages that can be handled with similar bowings, and to edit them consistently. A computer-based music editor incorporating bowing patterns has been implemented, using Lilypond to typeset the music. Our approach has been evaluated by using the editor to study ten movements from six violin sonatas by W. A. Mozart. Our experience shows that the editor is successful at finding passages and inserting bowings; that relatively complex patterns occur a number of times; and that the bowings can be inserted automatically and consistently

    Violin and fiddle: a comparison of styles between traditional schools of violin and folk music

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    This paper presents a comparison between the styles of classical violin and folk music fiddling. There are many influential classical violin teachers, like Ivan Galamian, Dorothy DeLay, Leopold Auer, Shinichi Suzuki, Joseph Joachim, and Otakar Sevčik. The violin and fiddle are taught in different ways; in folk music, the violin is called the fiddle and is rarely taught using Western music notation. Instead, musicians learn the music aurally. Though the instrument itself is not different, the techniques in which it is played between styles is very different. The bow hold, tuning system, and sound of the music is distinct between classical and folk music. However, there are some musicians today that are combining the two styles, like violinist Augustin Hadelich. Though the styles have their differences, the enjoyment they bring musicians are very similar.M. M

    Graduate recital, violin. Harrison, M. B., 1988

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    Recorded during a live performance at Dalton Center Recital Hall, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan, January 23, 1988, 8:00 p.m., the 145th concert of the School of Music's 1986-1987 season.Mary Beth Harrison, violin ; Aleen Pocock, piano.In partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Master of Music degree in violin performance, Western Michigan University, 1988.Information from performance program.Suite italienne / Igor Stravinsky -- Mythes, op. 30, no. 1, La fontaine d'Arethuse / Karol Szymanowski -- Sonata in A major / Cesar Franck

    Faculty Recital, Sergiu Luca, violin, Saturday, September 3, 1983 8:00 P. M. in Hamman Hall

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    PROGRAM: Sonata in D major, op. 94a, for violin and piano / Sergey Prokofiev -- Concerto no. 3 in G major, K. 216, for violin and orchestra / Wolfgang Amadeus Mozar

    YI ZHAO Violin MASTER'S RECITAL Tuesday, February 14, 2012 5:30 p.m. Lillian H. Duncan Recital Hall

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    PROGRAM: Violin Sonata No. 7 in C Minor, Op. 30 / Ludwig van Beethoven -- Violin Sonata in A Major M. 8 / Cesar FrankThis recital is given in partial fulfillment of the requirements for Master of Music degree

    An acoustical investigation of the concert harp

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    This thesis is a report of acoustical research on the concert harp. The harp has an established place in the symphony orchestra and is reacquiring its role as a solo chamber instrument that it had before the development of the modern piano. As far as can be determined, this is the first doctoral thesis on the concert harp and serves as an introduction to the science of the instrument, The experimental methods employed- holographic interferonietry, input admittance measurements, Chiadni glitter pattern methods, sound pressure level measurements- have all been successfully used with work on other musical instruments. Theoretical calculations are used to underpin the experimental results for several of the subjects reported. The experimental results are also compared with the results of similar tests on different musical instruments. Analyses of the violin, guitar and piano are particularly used in discussions. This work is specifically on the "Orchestra" concert harp, manufactured and sold by the Salvi Harp organisation, though reference Is made in Chapter 3 to the "Electra" concert harp, which is also a Salvi harp. The "Orchestra" harp has a similar design to many other concert harps built by different luthiers around the world. This thesis is structured as follows. The first chapter is a review of historical and contemporary research an stringed musical instruments. The next chapter is a detailed description of the Salvi "Orchestra" harps the dimensions of all the inportant features are given, the tensions and materials of the strings are reported and there is also a short description on the playing of the instrument. The next five chapters form the kernal of the research report and deal with the vibrations of the constituent part of the "Orchestra" and finally the completed, strung harp itself. In Chapter 3, the vibrations of the free soundboard are reported in some detail. Analysis is made at a number of stages of the construction of the soundboard itself. The position of the neutral axis on the soundboard is also given. There is also reference to the soundboard of the Salvi "Electra" harp. Chapter 4 deals with the air resonances in the enclosed air volume of the "Orchestra" soundbox. Both a Helmholtzian air mode and higher order air modes are discussed. Theoretical models are used for both forms of air modes, Chapter 5 is a report of the vibrational modes of the "Orchestra" soundbox using both Chladni glitter patterns and holographic interferonietry. The results of Chapter 5 are confirmed and expanded by the work in Chapter 6, where input admittance measurements are made on the soundbox.Chapter 7 investigates the vibrational modes of the soundbox, both in the isolated state and as part of a completed, strung harp. This is followed by a chapter on the directivity of the "Orchestra" harp in which the principal areas of radiation from the harp are reported. The next chapter deals with attempts to relate objective measurements with subjective opinions of six concert harps. The last chapter summarises the principal results of the various analyses reported in this thesis. Suggestions for further research on the harp are made. There are also suggestions for the improvement of the Salvi "Orchestra" harp. There are three appendices at the end of this work. The first deals with the testing of spruce samples intended for the soundboards of the harps. The effect of the veneer is also discussed. The second appendix deals with the production and physical properties of gut harp strings. The third appendix describes the changes to the resonant modes of an isolated soundbox produced by changing the shape of the straining and cover bars of the soundboard
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