How can autonomy and active learning be stimulated in a blended oboe class program?
(2023)
author(s): Irma Kort
published in: KC Research Portal
This research is an exploration into stimulating autonomy and active learning in musical tuition. Through an explorative journey in my teaching practice I developed tools to increase autonomy, active learning and self-regulation in students, using the self-determination theory, new learning and self-regulation as the main learning theories to find answers to my research question. In my lesson practice students rarely come in as active-, self-directing autonomous learners. However, literature and experiences of other teachers, show us that students – even beginners – can learn to become active, self-directed learners. It is not common practice yet to implement these theories in music classes. This is why I would like to create a toolkit and a user manual for teachers that would like to incorporate autonomy supportive teaching and self-regulation in their practices. I will also create a blueprint to inspire working with blended programs in music classes. A flipped classroom can trigger an ongoing learning process in the week, it can aid students in their practice and it is a tool to reflect on teaching practices, teaching styles and programs.
The research took place in the BASIS oboe classes at the School for Young Talent, in The Royal Conservatoire of The Hague. There were 5 beginning oboe players, in the age group of 7 till 13 years.
I used a combination of design and action research. With the design research I developed the online learning space and the tools for active learning and self-regulation. With action research I reflected on my teaching, students learning, development and well-being and the use of the tools.
It was possible to use learning theories in different ways. I used tables and frameworks to reflect on my teaching, I used existing tools, I tailored tools to the age group of my students and I combined aspects of active learning and self-regulation. After three design cycles there is a blueprint of a toolkit that can be used in a flexible way and there is a blueprint for blended learning in instrumental music classes. The changes in my teaching style, the implementation of the learning theories and the reflections on the program using the online environment had a great impact on the teacher – student dialogue, the content of my lessons and the overview of the program. In students I saw an increase in motivation, autonomy and effectiveness. They are very engaged young learners, they learned to choose repertoire and strategies in their practice, they are able to plan, practice and reflect on their process and they have covered more repertoire and technique over the last year in comparison to the year before. They started sharing their music outside of classes and started thinking about their own goals in their oboe practice.
The Kodály effect: Measuring musical literacy in Dutch primary school children
(2022)
author(s): Ingrid Roig
published in: KC Research Portal
Name: Ingrid Roig
Main Subject: Music Education according to the Kodály Concept
Research Supervisor: Suzanne Konings
Title of Research:
The Kodály Effect: measuring musical literacy in Dutch primary school children.
Research Question:
What is the effect of Kodály inspired music education on musical literacy in Dutch primary school children and how can musical literacy be measured?
Summary of Results:
Recent years have shown a growing effort to increase the number of music lessons in Dutch primary schools. Nonetheless, an apt way to track children’s individual musical development is currently lacking, and no studies have been conducted to investigate the beneficial effects on musical literacy. The Kodály approach to music strongly emphasizes musical literacy, and prior research shows evidence of a positive impact on specific music skills.
This thesis presents a study investigating the effect of Kodály inspired music education on the musical literacy scores of one hundred and thirty-four Dutch primary school children, Mage = 8.72 years. Children were randomized into two groups: a Kodály music intervention group and a control group. Gordon’s IOWA Tests of Music Literacy provided data on musical literacy outcomes. A Musical Aptitude test assessed the learning potential for music.
Musical literacy increased significantly in the music intervention group compared to the control group. Children with a high musical aptitude showed greater improvement in musical literacy scores than children with a low musical aptitude. The present results indicate a beneficial influence of Kodály music education on musical literacy.
In the second part of the study, the focus lies on developing a Dutch instrument and materials to measure and track the individual musical literacy development of Dutch primary school children. A pilot version and materials that music teachers can use in their classrooms are presented.
Biography:
Ingrid Roig (Argentina, 1986) studied Psychology and Developmental & Educational Psychology at Leiden University with a special interest in learning potential. In 2020 she started her studies at the Royal Conservatoire. She is the founder of a choir school in Dordrecht where she currently conducts a children's choir and gives solfege lessons. She is also a music teacher in a Dutch primary school for gifted students.
Listening to Messiaen’s colourful hands
(2022)
author(s): Arjen Berends
published in: KC Research Portal
Name: Arjen Berends
Main subject: Master Theory of Music
Supervisor: Dr. Bert Mooiman
Title of Research: Listening to Messiaen's colourful hands
Subtitle: Analysing harmony and voice leading in the two homorhythmic chorales from Messiaen’s La Transfiguration de Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ.
Research question: How to analyse harmony and voice leading in the two homorhythmic chorales from Messiaen’s La Transfiguration de Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ?
Abstract
Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992), one of the most famous French composers of the 20th century, was also known to be a great organist and improviser, as organist of Église de la Sainte-Trinité in Paris for over 60 years. His huge oratorio La Transfiguration de Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ, composed 1965-1969, includes two entirely homorhythmic movements entitled ‘Choral’. As a listener, I am fascinated by Messiaen's extraordinary approach to harmony. The aim of this research is, therefore, to attempt to understand how best to analyse Messiaen's unique harmonic language.
Many approaches to analysing Messiaen’s music are vertically orientated, including his own way of describing his use of harmony. He himself never discussed the horizontal aspects of his music. Because of his coloured hearing synaesthesia (son-couleur), Messiaen's analyses are particularly special in their manner of addressing the colours of certain chords. A colour analysis by Messiaen therefore may give the listener some insight in the way Messiaen might have perceived his music. This research includes videos with the music and paintings of the colour analyses by Messiaen and two other musicians with synaesthesia of one of the chorales, specially made for this research.
Considering Messiaen’s own lack of emphasis on horizontal aspects of his music, is it possible to understand Messiaen’s music from a horizontal perspective as well? Since the two chorales are homophonic and homorhythmic, the bass and soprano are the most important voices. These parts can be perceived clearly, but the attention of the listener is also caught by other aspects such as the complexity of the chords. It is difficult to determine the precise voice leading of the inner parts because it is ‘blurred’ by the varied orchestration, but by way of harmonic reductions of the chorales, Messiaen’s horizontal compositional techniques can be clarified. This research includes a harmonisation of a melody by Messiaen in the style of the chorales in La Transfiguration.
Biography
Arjen Berends teaches music theory and arranging at the conservatories of The Hague and Utrecht. He graduated in music education at the Utrecht Conservatory, where he also studied classical piano with Henk Ekkel and Martyn van den Hoek. At the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague he completed his studies in music theory with Paul Scheepers, Arie Boers, Diderik Wagenaar, and Ineke Kien. He is répétiteur of Toonkunstkoor Amsterdam conducted by Boudewijn Jansen; he has previously worked with choral conductors such as Louis Buskens, Iassen Raykov and Béni Csillag.
The singing Performer: Who am I on stage when not singing?
(2022)
author(s): Julia Pallanch, Heloisa Amaral
published in: KC Research Portal
Approaching Kunstlieder with the background as a jazz interpreter, has challenged me to find, not only, my interpretation of the lieder/songs but to also find my interpretation of my role(s) as the singer on stage between classical music and jazz scenes. Through performing music, the chosen body of work, we are not only repeating and interpreting the music but repeating and interpreting ways of performing it. This research focuses on the role(s) of the singer on stage and the moments between the songs; the open space between one piece of music and another that offers the possibility to communicate and connect with the audience. What happens in these moments? What stories do we tell and how do we tell them? What do I communicate with, through, in - and outside of the lied, the song, the piece of music. What do I perform in the open space between between the songs - my self(s)?
The German Bow in Tango Music
(2022)
author(s): Maria Alejandra Bejarano Salazar
published in: KC Research Portal
This artistic research compares French and German bow techniques in Tango music. I have been playing for a couple of years with a German bow when I play classical repertoire, and a French bow when I play tango. Considering that Tango has changed and added many things throughout its history, I wanted to investigate why the tradition of playing with a French bow is still extremely strong. So that is why the main question of this work is how to approach Tango music for double bass using a German bow technique? To answer this question I have been studying the method "The bass in tango" published by Tango sin fin, that approaches all of the elements from the perspective of the French bow. However, I have studied this using the German bow technique. I have found that you can play Tango with both techniques, but you cannot follow the same instructions to find the same results. This is mainly because of the anatomy of the bow. Additionally, because there is not a strong tradition outside of Argentina of typical orchestras or soloists that play beyond Piazzolla the tradition of playing with a French bow is still strong. After finishing this research, I would like to continue working on this subject through a new repertoire in a personal search to improve my performance as a tango player and then share this knowledge playing concerts or teaching with other double bass players.
Lyon & Healy: the American Harp
(2022)
author(s): Ian Mcvoy
published in: KC Research Portal
The design of the pedal harp underwent a series of dramatic changes at the turn of the century, most of them attributable to the inventive minds at a Chicago-based musical instrument manufacturer and music publisher, Lyon & Healy.
Of the many innovations of the Lyon & Healy company, three of the utmost importance to the development of the instrument: the “adjustable fourchette,” allowing simple regulation of the harp’s tuning in the natural and sharp positions, the “single-link mechanism,” an internal change to the mechanism greatly simplifying both function and manufacture, and lastly the “extended soundboard,” an extension of the soundbox of the instrument allowing for greater volume. Each of these improvements has since been adopted by every modern-day harp maker.
This paper endeavors to combine original patents, miscellaneous historical documents, and evidence gathered from extant historical instruments by Lyon & Healy to identify each of the above and other specific changes, their inventors, the time of their introduction, as well as the overall motivation behind each of these important changes.
Karol Szymanowski and Polish Folklore. Using Podhale folk music to inform performances of Szymanowski's Harnasie
(2022)
author(s): Ania Szafraniec
published in: KC Research Portal
Karol Szymanowski and Polish Folklore. Compositional copy or inspiration? What musical choices might be made for performing Harnasie and other violin pieces by using knowledge of Podhale folk music to inform violin performance practice.
In this exposition I present my research which consists of a few elements.
Firstly, to get acquainted with the composer - Karol Szymanowski and focus on his Nationalistic period. While exploring Podhale folklore and understanding its main characteristics, I did analyze the way Szymanowski uses this particular folklore in his pieces.
Then, the focus goes to Szymanowski’s most important work of the period - ballet Harnasie and its comperisement with the violin transcription. To discover whether the folk citations used in his pieces are just a copy of original melodies or inspiration and how do they connect with each other?
A significant and most important part of my research is finding out how the knowledge gained through this process can improve and enrich the performance of Szymanowski’s violin music. In short my conclusions are as follows. Folkloristic parts should be treated as original Highlanders would play it. Therefore, violinists need to get some sound simplicity such as no vibrato or playing in the first position. On the other hand, the lyrical parts are very contrasting. Szymanowski was inspired by singers and the way his dear violinist friend Paweł Kochański played. Therefore, the lyrical parts can be compared to the human voice, with a sweet romantic sound, natural voice like breathing in the phrases, continuous fast vibrato.
Musical Monticello: Classical Music and America
(2022)
author(s): Jasper Snow
published in: KC Research Portal
Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello plantation is here used as a case-study examiningclassical music’s foundations in the United States. Among other titles, Jefferson was a statesman, diplomat, slave master, and avid violinist. He is remembered as the principal author of the Declaration of Independence and third U.S. President. Early documentation suggests he was a gifted musician, reading notation at age nine and practicing “no less than three hours a day” for “a dozen years”. Music played an important role in the courtship of his wife, Martha Skelton Wayles, a harpsichordist and singer. They parented six children, of which two daughters survived to adulthood. Both received substantial keyboard training and their eldest inherited her father’s “taste and talent for music”. Upon their mother's death in 1782, Thomas began a complicated relationship with his late wife’s enslaved half sister, Sally Hemings. She became pregnant at sixteen and bore six of Jefferson’s children, four of which survived to adulthood. While Jefferson’s white daughters learned keyboard, two of his enslaved black sons were taught violin. It is likely that Jefferson himself taught them using the treatises of his expansive musical library, notably Geminani’s “Art of Playing the Violin”. A year after Jefferson’s death, the two sons were given their freedom; the youngest’s profession is listed as “musician” in the 1850 census; he is remembered as an “accomplished caller of dances”. These sons span the full stylistic gamut available in 19th century American music: from fiddle to violin. Thomas Jefferson and his family represent the kernels of America’s musical traditions, and the way they have morphed in parallel with America itself. The musical ecosystem of Monticello plantation is a dynamic location to discuss colonial music’s intersections with class, race, gender, and national identity.
Situating Personal Values in Artistic Practice: Towards a Reflective and Reflexive Framework
(2022)
author(s): Annick Odom
published in: KC Research Portal
In what ways can a musician use reflexivity and reflection to situate her personal values in her artistic practice? To answer this question and put the results into practice, the author combined archival and digital research, interviews, and fieldwork. By combining new and found materials inspired by Appalachian folk music and the state of West Virginia, the connected auto-ethnographic case study is a reflective attempt of the author to engage critically with her personal values of empathy, inclusion, and equity in her artistic practice. Using the reflective lenses of the author’s autobiography as an artist, the audience’s reactions, fellow artists comments, and literature review, she was better able to reflexively see her own assumptions and missteps, better allowing her to situate her personal values within her artistic practice. Besides creating a reflective framework by which other artists could consider their own artistic practice, she also found that by taking on new roles outside that of the traditional classically trained performer, she had a greater agency to influence and understand performance elements such as design and form, materials, context, audience, and production process.
Music, Meaning and Emotion
(2022)
author(s): Hannah Jefferies
published in: KC Research Portal
Name: Hannah Jefferies
Main Subject: Classical Flute
Research Supervisors: Ines de Avena Braga,
Research Question: How can elements and features from psychology and philosophy illustrate what is fundamental to our emotions, in what way can these concepts be represented within and expressed by the flute repertoire, and how can we incorporate and convey these understandings as performers to create music meaningfully and be of beneficence to others?
Summary of Results:
This research sets out to contrast and evaluate diverse standpoints from psychology and philosophy to discuss firstly how emotions can be defined, whether music creates real emotions in us, and what capacities we possess to be both receptive and conveying of emotion within music. During my discussion, I incorporate examples of excerpts from the flute repertoire, consider the harmonic language used and function of musical structures, and balance this against the resulting emotional response from us.
This initial discussion is in support of a questionnaire which I conducted in order to gather results from respondents of their perceived emotional response and valence when presented with differing musical excerpts, both upon an initial and second listening. I aimed to gauge and qualify their reaction to musical traits which have been connected more strongly than others to specific emotional states, and additionally I was interested to find if there was a connection between memory of a piece of music, and emotional valence due to this familiarity.
Finally, having demonstrated the emotive strength it is possible for music to hold, I investigate how as artists we can harness and emphasise certain functions of music to create performances which are highly engaging and positively affecting for listeners. Additionally, this research then leads us to an understanding of the impact of integrating the effects of emotion and music, and suggests how this combination can be beneficial and utilised in and for the wider society, namely in the field of music therapy.
Biography:
I am currently a second year masters student from the UK studying classical flute at the Koninklijk Conservatorium with Jeroen Bron and Dorine Schade, having recently completed my Bachelors degree at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. During my studies I have been very lucky to have had the opportunity to perform as part of ensembles including Asko|Schönberg, New European Ensemble, European Youth Wind Orchestra, and Amadeus Orchestra Academy. Outside of performance, I greatly enjoy being part of outreach and community music; a highlight was working with the Manchester Camerata Orchestra, delivering music therapy to people with Dementia.
How the Degree To Which Instrumentalist and Composer Work Together Affects the Compositional Process, the Composition and the Final Performance
(2022)
author(s): Stef Van Vynckt
published in: KC Research Portal
This research focuses on the compositional process from the point of view of the performer. It examines the extent to which collaborations with composers have an effect on the composition and subsequent performance. More specifically: how do compositions in which you, as an instrumentalist, were involved during the composition process compare to compositions where this was not the case? How does the relationship with the composer contribute to the final performance?
Flow, The Optimal Experience
(2022)
author(s): Francesco Siri
published in: KC Research Portal
In this research I would like to investigate the psychological aspect related to the practice of a musical instrument, going deeper into the experience of the flow state that the musician can live intensely. It is a state of mind of complete absorption in what one is doing.
The process started by reading and informing myself as much as possible through books, articles, and personal experience. Based on these I created a strategy of work and exercises that would help me to be more focused and inside the music both in my studies and especially in my performances.
I prepared two questionnaires to be filled in after the performances:
1) Personal Questionnaire
2) Group of critical friends
To check whether the strategy I had been using over the last few months was helping me to achieve my goal or not.
From the results of the two questionnaires until now, I can deduce the most effective and useful aspects of the strategy I implemented. It is also interesting to see how the suggestions of critical friends are similar to the "criticism" I made myself in the personal questionnaire.
Over the last few weeks while analysing my latest performances and the results of the questionnaires, I have realised an increase in pleasure in playing and concentration on the task to do, which was not always present before I started this work. I am quite convinced that whatever strategy you want to use, you need patience to see over time if it really works.
Classic Expression: the effect of storytelling in a classical concert for children
(2022)
author(s): Vivian de Graaff
published in: KC Research Portal
The traditional way of classical concerts – i.e. a concert of 1,5 hour, no moving or making sounds, no interaction – is not the way to attract children to classical music. There are different inviting ways to interest children in a classical performance, for example with interaction, participation or storytelling. In this research we investigate if storytelling has an effect on children’s enthusiasm for classical music and their likeability of playing an instrument themselves. Furthermore, we assess if there is a relation between musical interest, engagement and/or emotional intensity during the concert. We do this by comparing a story-condition with a technical information-condition, in which the presenter talks about the instruments or the performance location. It is executed in the Classic Express, a concert truck in which laureates of the Prinses Christina Concours, a Dutch competition for young musicians, perform and present classical music for primary school classes. Children answer questions before, directly after and one week after the concert about how much they like the music, if they want to experience it again and if they are interested in playing a musical instrument themselves. The results can support musicians wanting to give engaging performances to children, improve the quality of concerts for this target audience and raise likeability of classical music in young generations.
Why can't I sleep?: A psychoanalysis of the manifestation of unattainable control through the art of composition.
(2022)
author(s): Franki Dodwell
Limited publication. Only visible to members of the portal : KC Research Portal
After nearly two decades of sleep problems, one question haunts me. Why can’t I sleep? Like many composers, sleep and its mysteries have become an obsession that for myself personally, has inspired an exploration between the conscious and unconscious in relation to the works of The Surrealists, Sigmund Freud and John Zorn. Using autobiographical experiences of insomnia; close analysis of scholarly texts and musical scores I will explore the various ways in which musical expression is informed by the concept of sleep. Through this exploration I will establish how the lack of control I experience due to my inability to sleep can aid my own compositional process. I will investigate how these specific artists use psychodynamic theories to take control away from their audiences and identify what drives their desire to musically capture, embody and control what is at its core, the uncontrollable.
A modern analysis of Historical Informed Performance: considerations about the method, its past and its future
(2022)
author(s): Pedro Antonio Pérez Méndez
Limited publication. Only visible to members of the portal : KC Research Portal
The results of this research will be presented to the public in the form of an exposition in which the whole analysis process will be explained and both an answer to the research question and a reflection about past and future of the Historically Informed Performance influence in the musical stage will be stated. Through this exposition we will be addressing relevant questions about the concept of Historically Informed Performance and its application as a work method that I encounter on my research, such as the use of reconstructed or modern instruments, the existence or absence of limitations of time and style frames for which the Historically Informed Performance is a useful tool or the common misconceptions about this idea by some group of musicians, aiming to establish a basis for the correct application of the Historically Informed Performance idea as a useful work method by any kind of musician and leading to a final reflection about the future development of the Historically Informed Performance ideal.
The Feeling of Sound: Music Curating, Performing and Connecting with and through Music
(2022)
author(s): Laura Sophie von der Goltz
Limited publication. Only visible to members of the portal : KC Research Portal
Long story short
In this research exposition, I would like to invite the reader on a journey of discovery in the field of classical music presentation. Over the last 50 years there have been many suggestions on how to allow the professional field of classical music to develop alongside its time and people.
To get a new perspective on the topic, I approach ASMR as a connected topic, investigate it under the aspect of listening and then make a transfer to my professional practice. ASMR stands for autonomous sensuous meridian response and is describing a special kind of sensory perception. I study ASMR as way of perception and as well as a YouTube / media phenomenon.
My research question is:
What can I learn from ASMR (about contemporary audience’s perception of sound) and how can I integrate this in my artistic practice?
When I talked to colleagues or teachers from a classical music context, ASMR appeared to them at first as something bizarre and insignificant. Still, it has millions of followers on the internet. A large number of followers is not necessarily an indicator of artistic quality, but it can certainly be an argument to arouse curiosity. After all, the number of followers towards a subject does say something about its appeal or the ability to grasp people.
By comparing ASMR to synaesthesia, I want to focus on perception and sensuousness but also explore common traits and differences of the two phenomena as both neurological phenomenon and the social (artistic) movement.
An analysis and five experiments involving technological and dramaturgical tools often used in ASMR, leads to the final chapter: the artistic implementation. During the two years of my master studies, I designed two performance concepts, in which I applied the insights I gained throughout this research. A documentation of the process and a more elaborate explanation of the concept are to be found in chapter 4.
In the end of this exposition, I summarize the conclusions of the research I made on a general and on a personal level.
In order to acquire more information as well as a wider view, I have reached out to literature within the fields of sociology, (social) history, psychology, neuroscience and philosophy . During my years of studies in music, music pedagogic, historical and innovative performance practice, I quenched my thirst for knowledge about the past and now I am hungry to learn about the now and the future.
Arranging and Performing
(2022)
author(s): Wilma de Bruijn
Limited publication. Only visible to members of the portal : KC Research Portal
This research is about arranging and performing; how performing my own arrangements affects my performance experience. The inner motivation for performing and sharing music with an audience has always been there when I felt a strong connection with the piece.
What if I could play and share every piece of music if I feel a special connection, no matter the limits of the original instrumentation? How do I ‘arrange’ this for myself, for cello? And how does performing my own arranged piece influence myself on stage? And how does my audience perceive this performance?
The research involved two phases where each one involved an arranging process followed by a performance. For the intervention, the method involved using a questionnaire and feedback forms to gather internal and external feedback. The internal feedback was about my own experience of performing my own arrangement, and the external feedback included the reactions of the audience and experts on my performances.
It turned out that performing my own arrangements, did have a positive influence on my performance experience for both myself as performer (internal) and for my audience (external). Because of the special connection with the pieces, the inner motivation to share the music was leading and resulted in more self-confidence on stage and authentic performances, even though I experienced more vulnerability than normal.
An additional spin off in this research was that when bringing my own arrangements to my main subject lessons, the lesson dynamic changed and these lessons were amongst the most important lessons for my development as a musician.
What I learned from this research was that making myself able to play pieces that I love makes me happy in my practise room and on stage. I believe this could be a useful key for other performers. Making your own music, or versions and arrangements of existing repertoire can help a musician to feel autonomous, happy, and convinced about their own playing and will result in a positive performance experience.
Johann Melchior Molter
(2022)
author(s): Javier Sánchez Castillo
Limited publication. Only visible to members of the portal : KC Research Portal
Among young musicians there is not much motivation to "go outside the box". We are so used to seeing from a young age the same books and the same typical pieces. All this just to get in front of a jury and play the same passages that we started to study since we were 12 years old.
But it is inevitable that a hurricane of questions sweeps through your head when you see that a composer from the 18th century you didn't know wrote a concerto for your instrument. Which instrument did the composer play? In which stylistic period can we place him? Who was the concerto written for? Do we know if there is another concerto for my instrument?
This is what my research is about, to study the life as well as the bassoon concertos of the German composer Johann Melchior Molter, born in Karlsruhe in 1696, unknown to me until a year ago. He was chapel master in Karlsruhe, he travelled around the cultural centres of Europe, which gave him a unique and varied style that is present in all his works.
Double Bass in Indian Classical Music
(2022)
author(s): SD
connected to: KC Research Portal
published in: Research Catalogue
In this presentation we will discuss the incorporation double bass in
Indian classical music. Although it’s a foreign instrument to India by
origin, but it has immense possibilities for this music. We will discuss
it’s origins in India, basics of Indian classical music, similar Indian
instruments, Indian classical violin, bassists exploring Indian classical
music, cross genre & indian fusion music involving the double bass &
it’s application as an accompanying instrument in this tradition &
arguments for it’s incorporation.
Research and Critical Edition of Capriccio Diabolico by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
(2022)
author(s): Eva Calvo López
published in: KC Research Portal
In short, the proposed work consists in a critical edition of Castelnuovo-Tedesco's Capricho diabolico, backed up by previous research in which I compare the manuscript and Andrés Segovia's interpretative edition. As a result of the significant differences between the two, I propose a version that is faithful to the original work, but without overlooking the collaboration between the two musicians.
Performing Music Theory
(2022)
author(s): Bart de Graaf
published in: KC Research Portal
In my thesis Performing Music Theory, I will examine how listening to recordings of musical performances may influence my analysis of Chopin’s First Ballade. Therefore, I take the music as heard in performance as the starting point for the analysis, rather than the score. By consulting recorded performances by various pianists, I will analyze how different performances may lead to different analyses. These analytical observations will concern phrase structure, harmony, topical analysis and form. The interpretation of form in particular is highly dependent on tempo choices that pianists make. In the case of the First Ballade, a piece with very few tempo indications, these choices vary widely.
I will show that in some cases clear analytical conclusions can be drawn from performances. And in other cases, rather far-fetched theoretical analyses must be made to describe the performer’s choices, demonstrating how problematic it is to base an analysis entirely on performances. What does that mean for the relationship between performer and theorist, and more particularly for the position of the ‘prescribing’ theorist, who considers analysis as a starting point in a musical interpretation? And what does this mean for the importance of the Analysis course at conservatories?
A Quest for Musical Clarity: Grounding Compositional Practices in Gestalt and Perception Theories
(2022)
author(s): Charles Baumstark
published in: KC Research Portal
What are the main theories on sound and musical perception? Is there a possibility for the composer to understand those ideas and use them as the basis for the organization of his craft? Would those be enough to create the musical ‘clarity’ I am looking for? Finally, can I find a way to formalize any of those theories in my composition practice?
As a starting point for this investigation, part one establishes the philosophical ground for this investigation about clarity, particularly stressing the difference between intention and object, between form and structure, and their complementary nature and interaction with each other, before drawing a first idea on musical perception through the lens of Gestalt theory.
Parts two and three detail the different elements that come into play while applying those ideas into my composition practice. I introduce a list of the parameters that will play a prominent role in the elaboration of the representation of the mathematical formulations seen in part four by developing further my understanding of the theories elaborated by Leonard B. Meyer around the idea of ‘expectation’ in his book Emotion and Meaning in Music, and articulating them from a practical point of view.
The fourth and final part of this investigation exposes a mathematical representation of my thinking on those ideas in order to conceive and use them in my composition practice. This ‘model’, based on an understanding of what will be referred to as ‘motion’, is the ground for the elaboration of the musical shapes in my pieces.
How to understand stage fright?
(2022)
author(s): Matylda Adamus
published in: KC Research Portal
Exposition 2022
What is stage fright, how to understand it and successfully perform with it?
ECOGNOSIS: Ecological Awareness in Multimedia Composition
(2022)
author(s): Richard Hughes
published in: KC Research Portal
This paper is concerned with ecological awareness in multimedia composition often with the use of data as a compositional tool. It covers the philosophy of ecological awareness I wish to represent in my work and the aesthetic principles used to portray it. The philosophy is largely based on Timothy Morton’s Dark Ecology with influence from other writers and artists. The reader will be guided through my methodologies of multimedia composition (acoustic, electronic and visual), in four different works. The motivation behind this research has come from wanting to engage with environmentalism not just through writing and individual actions but through art and how understanding the importance of perception of the environment can change our behaviour to it.
OPTIMAL Practising: An Autonomous Journey of Exploring Enhanced Expectancies and External Focus
(2022)
author(s): Xavier Tan
published in: KC Research Portal
While exploring ways to improve practice methods and reduce stage anxiety, the researcher came across the OPTIMAL (Optimising Performance through Intrinsic Motivation and Attention for Learning) theory of motor learning while reading William’s 2019 research on “Finding Focus”. The theory was proposed by Wulf and Lewthwaite (2016) to utilise motivation and attentional focus in improving performance.
Through a thorough theoretical review of the theory, other relevant studies, and attending workshops and courses, the researcher discovered better approaches and methods to practising for himself, enhancing his quality of practice and promoting personal growth.
By developing and applying an informed method to a group of 13 musicians from the Royal Conservatory of the Hague, this research also investigated the impact of the OPTIMAL theory on the practice of other musicians through a three-week intervention. The goal-coupling action from enhanced expectancies, autonomy, and external focus was found to bring about greater practice quality. The data obtained from the intervention and a retention test also revealed enhanced levels of organisation, objectiveness, mindfulness, and confidence during practice. However, some found themselves more anxious in the process. The intervention highlighted a need for more resources, as well as safe spaces to discuss practice and performance in Conservatoires.
This research hopes that the findings bring about more awareness, acts as a source of information, and encourage more open discussions on the way musicians practice and perform, as more attention could be given to this in the way we shape music education.