2,166 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

    A methodology of study for Samuel Barber's Concerto for violin and orchestra op. 14.

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    In this study the author develops a methodology for the study of the Samuel Barber Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, Opus 14 by analyzing the stylistic components of the work, presenting important pedagogical principles, and offering an array of performance practice techniques. The primary tool used to formulate the methodology was a survey of exceptional violinists and pedagogues. Twenty-six professional violinists responded to a survey that asked their suggestions for preparing and performing five specific excerpts from the Concerto. The compilation of the responses provides an invaluable guide for violinists who are studying or teaching this staple of the instrument’s repertoire.Thesis (D.A.)School of Musi

    BowScribe: Supporting the violinist's performance model

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    Musicians often learn about their vision of a piece through practicing it and listening to recordings. However, this does not always free the player to develop his or her own interpretation of the piece, especially when technique is lacking. We have developed software, the BowScribe markup language, that supports a violinist in creating a ``performance model'' of a piece currently beyond his or her playing skills, by allowing the player fine control over tempo, volume, and articulation, including playing of chords, at a level of expressiveness and flexibility that is significantly beyond the MIDI playback modes of popular music notation software. BowScribe has been used by the first author (who was trained as a prfessional violinist) to create a model of the entire Bach Chaconne (edited by Glamian), a long and demanding piece of music for solo violin that has many phrases that span groups of chords as well as melodic passages. The markup language specified chords to be rolled in two classic ways, as well as a wide variety of other strokes, including greater volume for individual notes in long slurs and small but essential variations in tempo

    Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries in the Mediterranean and Black Seas - Advances in Research and Technologies

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    This eBook is a collection of articles from a Frontiers Research Topic. Frontiers Research Topics are very popular trademarks of the Frontiers Journals Series: they are collections of at least ten articles, all centered on a particular subject. With their unique mix of varied contributions from Original Research to Review Articles, Frontiers Research Topics unify the most influential researchers, the latest key findings and historical advances in a hot research area! Find out more on how to host your own Frontiers Research Topic or contribute to one as an author by contacting the Frontiers Editorial Office: frontiersin.org/about/contac

    First record for an alien oriental river prawn Macrobrachium nipponense(De Haan, 1849) (Decapoda: Palaemonidae) distribution in the lower Danube, Bulgarian part confirmed with DNA barcoding

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    The alien shrimp Macrobrachium nipponense (De Haan, 1849), known as the oriental river prawn, has been identified in the Bulgarian part of the Lower Danube for the first time, based on morphological characteristics and DNA barcoding. Four specimens were caught in October 2023 in the Danube River near Pozharevo island (422.2 rkm). The diagnosis of the species was based on the number of teeth on the dorsal and ventral side of the rostrum, the large size of the second pair of pereopods, and the presence of the hepatic spine. A fragment of the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene of mitochondrial DNA was sequenced to supplement species identification. Phylogenetic analysis has revealed a high genetic similarity (over 99%) between the Bulgarian sample and samples from various geographic locations (Ukraine, China, Bangladesh, Iran, Iraq, and Russia). The record of the oriental river prawn confirms its wide expansion and successful naturalization in the Lower Danube region

    Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries in the Mediterranean and Black Seas - Advances in Research and Technologies

    No full text
    This eBook is a collection of articles from a Frontiers Research Topic. Frontiers Research Topics are very popular trademarks of the Frontiers Journals Series: they are collections of at least ten articles, all centered on a particular subject. With their unique mix of varied contributions from Original Research to Review Articles, Frontiers Research Topics unify the most influential researchers, the latest key findings and historical advances in a hot research area! Find out more on how to host your own Frontiers Research Topic or contribute to one as an author by contacting the Frontiers Editorial Office: frontiersin.org/about/contac

    Bowing and fingering for editing violin music.

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    Despite the many innovative contributions made toward the improvement of violin playing and teaching in the twentieth century, there is an abundance of pedagogy and musical literature which continues to propagate "old school" thinking. Many editions of violin music from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries are still in print and do not present to student violinists the technical or aesthetic possibilities now considered by recognized artists. Consequently, these flawed versions of the repertoire hinder the development of aspiring violinists.Whether or not an edition is good, editorial notations reflect the violinistic idiosyncracies and peculiarities of individuals and should thus serve only as sources for reference and study. This is because the violinist's perception of and reaction to music would suffer compromise if he were to be unduly influenced by the editings of others. Therefore, it is for the good of his musical growth that he experiment with and discover which interpretive ideas and combinations of bowings and fingerings ultimately bring performances of compositions closest to his conception of them.Although numerous volumes have been written on performance techniques for violin, they usually do not address matters specifically related to deciding bowings and fingerings for given passages of music. Thus, by default, the major texts on editing music for violin might be said to be the books of Carl Flesch, Elizabeth. Green, and I. M. Yampolsky. None of these writings, though, presents both bowing and fingering in a complete and logical sequence of principles and supporting rationales. Conse4uantly, there has been a substantial need for a single volume which thoroughly covers such material in a style suitable for classroom use or for individual study.This presentation of principles for editing violin music is a comprehensive distillation, simplification, and clarification of the beliefs and concepts of others, combined-with those of the author. Systematically grouped and prefaced by rationales, the principles are enunciated in separate chapters on bowings and fingerings and are illustrated by excerpts selected from the violin literature.The author hopes that this approach to editing will facilitate the learning of good editorial practice in violin music and will challenge violinists to continuously seek better bowings and fingerings.The violinist must frequently make alterations in the printed bowing of notes to accommodate the mechanics of playing the instrument and to attain the desired nuance (subtle variation) involving tempo, rhythm, phrasing, dynamics, and tonal coloring. These changes are implemented by the transfer, deletion, or addition of slurs.Bowings considered conventional or "standard" are classified under (a) The Down-Bow Penchants dynamic, tonic, and agogic accents; resolutions; and dynamic gradations; (b) Uniformity of Articulations chords and successions of identical strokes; (c) Compensational Bowings: retaken, combined, and divided strokes; (d) Linked Bowings; for dynamic constancy and bow distribution; (e) Division of Prolonged Strokes: long slurs and long, sustained notes; (f) Oscillation between Strings; rapid alternation and slurred string crossings; (g) Pizzicatos use of the index and middle fingers and thumb."Optional" bowings, which are personal and not essential for efficient performance, are listed as (a) Phrase Accommodation, (b) Melodic Profiling by Slurring, Reslurring, or Separating, and (c) Pulse Dilution.Well chosen fingering reduces or eliminates unnecessary physical tensions, permits velocity of movement with greater accuracy, and promotes maximum expression. As with bowings, fingerings are distinguished by two types: "standard" for efficiency of mechanics and "optional" for personal expression.Principles of standard fingering are grouped in the following sections: (a) Positions, (b) Chromatic Passages, (c) Interval Congruity, (d) Determining Which Positions to Use, (e) Shifting: semitone, contraction, extension, open string, natural harmonic, and alternate finger shifts plus melodic fifths and reduction of shift spans or shift frequencies, (f) String Crossing, and (g) Sequential Patterns.Optional fingerings include (a) Exclusion of the Fourth Finger, (b) Regulation of Timbre, and (c) Portamento.Thesis (D.A.

    Henri Temianka (Miscellaneous Items)

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    This collection contains material pertaining to the life, career, and activities of Henri Temianka, violin virtuoso, conductor, music teacher, and author. Materials include correspondence, concert programs and flyers, music scores, photographs, and books.https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/temianka_ephemera/1167/thumbnail.jp

    Louis Vierne's Sonata in G minor for violin and piano : a performance edition

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    "This performance edition of Louis Vierne's Sonata in g minor for Violin and Piano presents an interpretation of the violin part through phrase indications, bowings, and fingerings. A brief formal analysis of each of the four movements is also included. Chapter one introduces biographical information about the composer, the intent of the study, and the need for the edition. The second chapter explains how the edition was put together and gives conclusions regarding the need for other performance editions of Vierne's string music. After presenting analyses for the four movements, the thesis concludes with the performance edition. "--Abstract from author supplied metadata
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