1,720,995 research outputs found
Analysis of analysis: importance of different musical parameters for Schenkerian analysis
Get PDFWhile criteria for Schenkerian analysis have been much discussed, such discussions have generally not been informed by data. Kirlin [Kirlin, Phillip B., 2014 “A Probabilistic Model of Hierarchical Music Analysis.” Ph.D. thesis, University of Massachusetts Amherst] has begun to fill this vacuum with a corpus of textbook Schenkerian analyses encoded using data structures suggested byYust [Yust, Jason, 2006 “Formal Models of Prolongation.” Ph.D. thesis, University of Washington] and a machine learning algorithm based on this dataset that can produce analyses with a reasonable degree of accuracy. In this work, we examine what musical features (scale degree, harmony, metrical weight) are most significant in the performance of Kirlin's algorithm.Accepted manuscrip
Rhythmic maximal evenness: rhythm in voice-leading space
Get PDFMaximal evenness was first introduced in the music theory domain by John Clough and Jack Douthett. Later, the concept was explored by others such as Dmitri Tymoczko and Richard Cohn. Although maximal evenness was first explored with respect to pitch-classes, the concept can be understood in the rhythmic domain. An explanation of voice-leading space can be found here to create a conceptual foundation before departing to the implications of maximal evenness on rhythm. This thesis will then explore the concept further by exploring music from Steve Reich and György Ligeti to demonstrate the applicability and deeper understanding of the concept
The choreographic character piece for piano solo: “Cinderella” by Sergei Prokofiev comparative study between ballet and piano transcriptions
Get PDFThis dissertation attempts to shed new light on the value of Sergei Prokofiev’s
piano transcriptions from the ballet Cinderella, exploring his distinguished body of work through a comparative analysis of the ballet Cinderella and its piano transcriptions. Prokofiev reproduced his nineteen (19) transcription pieces in three sets—op. 95, op. 97, and op. 102—from the ballet, and they are distinctive in many significant aspects, including the organization within a movement, form, harmony, and textural modifications, when compared to the ballet and its piano reduction. In addition, the characters in his three sets are apparent as they are designed in accordance with the dance suite, character piece, and programmatic music. The ultimate object of the dissertation is, through its close examination and reappraisal of Prokofiev’s transcriptions, to provide piano performers with lasting insight into an authentic interpretation of music.
The first chapter provides the foundation for the necessity and importance of this comparative analysis between the ballet and the piano transcriptions from Cinderella, and it proceeds to lay out the overall analytical sequence. The second chapter presents a brief overview of Prokofiev’s biography and compositional background relating to his ballet and transcriptions. In particular, it traces Prokofiev’s compositional philosophy and the surrounding historical contexts during the Soviet era. The third chapter examines the distinctions of all nineteen (19) movements of Prokofiev’s three piano transcription sets in terms of their organization, form, harmony, and textural modifications from the ballet scores for orchestra, investigating the distinguishing features of each transcription by way of numerous illustrative examples. In particular, each section analyzes some of the most notable features of all movements based on its title. Finally, the last chapter concludes with a summary of the comparative analysis, assessing the inherent value of Prokofiev’s piano transcriptions as piano solo works incorporating a choreographic gesture, and with the anticipation and hope that the resulting analytical approach can enable piano performers to play with more authenticity and a well-rounded perspective
Spatialization in the piano works of Claude Debussy
Get PDFDebussy’s works for the piano occupy a significant position in the concert repertoire and have piqued the interest of performers and audience members of the last one-hundred years. The composer, inspired by art, literature, and nature, displays a notable interest in the concept of space. From his programmatic titles to his unique pianistic language, space as a conceptual, perceptual, and metaphorical construct plays a vital role in his output for the instrument. This dissertation examines how the composer utilizes this construct as a means of creating the uniquely imaginative music that has cemented him as the father of Impressionism.
This study examines the piano works of Claude Debussy within the context of musical spatialization by implementing an interdisciplinary approach which integrates traditional musical analysis with research in music cognition and perception. The purpose of this study is to examine the piano works of Claude Debussy through the lens of musical spatialization in order to gain a better understanding of its impact on the conceptual and perceptual facets of these compositions. The result of such an inquiry broadens the current analytical understanding of his compositions and equips the performer with the appropriate tools to represent the spatial aspects of Debussy’s piano works
Studies on annoyance in western popular music
Get PDFThis thesis studies the effect of the difference of felt emotion versus expressed emotion on the rate of annoyance in western popular music. It consists of four experiments, the first of which looks at the general effect of the music and change of emotions. The second experiment looks at the effect of lyrics in songs on annoyance, the third at modality and loop type, and the fourth on rhythmic complexity. There is evidence found that points to a difference in felt versus expressed anger predicts an increase in the annoyance rating. The effect of the difference in happy ratings is not as consistent and depends on the song. Familiarity of the song had a slight effect on lowering the annoyance rating. Lyrics, modality, and loop type do not have a main effect on the rate of annoyance. The combination of faster tempos and simpler rhythms reduced annoyance ratings
Tension and horror: the relationship between music and the scene
Get PDFThe project analyzes the relationship and role that music plays in building tension in horror movies. To investigate the topic, three types of film music were identified: traditional, ambient, and soundtrack. Subsequently, nine horror scenes were chosen that were believed to induce tension, with three being traditional scores, three being ambient scores, and three being soundtracks. Each traditional and ambient score and soundtrack clip was from a different horror subgenre that included supernatural, body, and slasher horror. The music of these nine clips was then analyzed using spectrograms to create tension arcs that were compared to the visuals in the scene. An experiment was then conducted that took these nine scenes and separated them into three variables that included sound+video, video only, and sound only. Participants were placed into one of three groups associated with these variables at random, and were asked to rate their feelings of tension in each clip via a tension slider. Their responses were then compared to a theoretical curve that was created from the analysis of the clips. The results showed that there was a small correlation between the theoretical response and the responses between sound & video. There was another small correlation between sound+video and sound. This showed that music created tension in a similar way to the complete scene, except for in the case of soundtracks, and that music is possibly a larger contributor to tension than the visuals of a scene
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Harmonic Regional Theory: harmonic process, spatial metaphor, and post-Schenkerian epistemologies of tonal structure
Get PDFA theory of harmony plays a determinant role in the epistemology of tonal structure in music of the common practice, a fact that Schenkerian tonal theorists have long struggled to account for because of the polemical denials issued by Heinrich Schenker regarding the role that harmonic concepts derived from Rameau play in his theoretical frameworks (Schenker [1930] 2014). Attempts have been made recently to rectify the incongruity between Schenker’s uncompromisingly monist musical philosophy and the often-unspoken harmonic premises his ideas rely on (Yust 2015, 2018), but many aspects of how theories of functional harmony relate to the hierarchical structuration of musical time through prolongational processes remain undefined and underexamined. In this thesis, I fill in the lacuna of harmonic accounts in post-Schenkerian frameworks of tonal structure through Harmonic Regional Theory, which defines tonal harmonic process as a containment hierarchy of timespans. Using this framework, I outline a discovery process for properties of tonal stability (Yust 2018, 32) possessed by events and prolongational processes that understands these qualities as the product of stabilizing “forces” (Larson 2012) propagated by the structural influence harmonic-regional “fields” (Quinn 2020). The result is an epistemic model with tremendous analytical utility in both formal and informal analyses of tonal structure, the proof-of-concept for which is provided through the implementation of harmonic-regional theory in an automated analysis of tonal-melodic structure in Beethoven, op. 13, ii
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