L'eco dal popolo
(2025)
author(s): Francesca Campo
published in: KC Research Portal
Name: Francesca Campo
Main Subject: Master Classic Harp
Name of Research Supervisor: Andrew Wright
Title of Research: L'eco dal popolo: Exploring 19th-Century Southern Italian Musical Tradition
Research Question: How can music and musical tradition in Sicily be used nowadays to present the identity of the Sicilian people through a harp concert?
Summary of the Results of the Research:
Sicily, a land shaped by diverse influences due to its geographical position, has a rich but often overlooked musical tradition. This research explores the role of the harp in narrating the cultural and musical identity of Southern Italy in the 19th century. Through historical analysis and experimental methods, I have revived forgotten harp works and transcribed compositions originally written for other instruments or orchestras, giving a voice to composers who expressed the emotions and struggles of their time.
Structured as a journey with defined stages, the research begins with an exploration of the historical context and the "Hymn of Sicily," which lays the foundation for understanding the island's musical heritage. The route then leads to the evocative "Sicilian Vespers," highlighting the region’s strong sense of identity. The journey continues in Naples, the historical capital, where urban musical dynamics come to the forefront. In Palermo, the intricate interplay between the musical traditions of Naples and Sicily is explored, revealing the cross-cultural influences that shaped the region. Finally, Sikelia concludes the journey by showing how something new can be created from past inspirations, demonstrating how music helps express the cultural richness of this land.
The results highlight how music—particularly through the harp—serves as a powerful means of preserving heritage and defining cultural identity. The research not only revives the voices of the past but also demonstrates the ongoing relevance of tradition in contemporary music, culminating in a unique composition born from the research's development and collaboration with the Composition Department of Palermo.
Biography:
Francesca Campo is a harpist and music researcher who blends tradition and innovation, exploring the musical roots of Sicily, her homeland. Born to Castelvetranese parents and raised in Verona, she has always navigated between Northern and Southern identities, developing a deep connection with Sicilian culture. After earning her Bachelor's degree in Harp in Italy, she continued her studies at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague. She is a harpist who blends tradition and innovation, exploring the musical roots of Sicily, her homeland. Her research focuses on 19th-century Southern Italian folk music, rediscovering forgotten composers and highlighting music as a powerful expression of identity and culture.
Seeing Each Other Through Music
(2025)
author(s): Ron Aviv
published in: KC Research Portal
Musical performance is not only an aesthetic endeavour, but also a captivating social environment. Hence, this research utilizes principles from social communication theory, mainly through Communicating (Berko et al., 2016), to explore new ways of highlighting and enhancing connections with and among music audiences. A starting point for this study is that most concerts nowadays are built in a similar style to public speaking but use some anachronistic views and inefficient communication methods, thus missing opportunities to convey a message more directly and achieve greater impact. Through literature study and practical experimentation, I will review and test the influence of different factors from interpersonal-communication style – elements that have not been documented and researched enough in this context. These include, among others, performer-audience eye contact, synchronized activity (based on entitativity studies), and vulnerability and openness. The experimental process will be limited to my own artistic practice as a classically trained pianist and free-improviser, and this focus is present in the gathered literature as well. As a qualitative study, the data analyzed is assembled from observations, feedback, and reflection. Results demonstrate how different social and communicational tools create varying levels of engagement, and how challenging the normative role of the listeners can create a more demanding experience yet with more fulfilling outcomes. A performance that really involves the audience enriches everyone, and I hope this paper can inspire new ideas for musicians and artists of any kind to explore this topic further, and to communicate better with the human environment around them.
𝘎𝘦𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴: The Search for Liberty in Authenticity Through Franz Liszt's Interpretation of Beethoven's music
(2025)
author(s): Aruth Masrangsan
published in: KC Research Portal
This work explores the balance between tradition and innovation in classical music performance, focusing on Franz Liszt's interpretation of Beethoven's music and the concept of Geist (spirit). It traces Liszt's evolution from his early studies with Carl Czerny, a direct pupil of Beethoven, through his virtuosic performance years, to his later focus on preserving Beethoven's legacy as a teacher. Drawing on sources from musicians and scholars, the study examines the philosophical and practical challenges of authenticity, highlighting the tension between historical accuracy and artistic expression. It argues that authenticity should not rigidly reproduce the past but should capture the spirit of the music in a way that resonates with contemporary audiences. Ultimately, the study advocates for a balanced approach, honoring historical sources while allowing for personal creative interpretation. By examining Liszt's legacy, this work aims to inform and inspire my own performance practices, blending historical performance studies with personal expression.
A teatro dai Secco Suardo
(2025)
author(s): Irene Luraschi
published in: KC Research Portal
In Bergamo, a small city in Northern Italy, in 1687 a new theatre was opened: the Teatro Secco Suardo, the only example of “teatro impresariale” that existed in this city. Its story is full of interest and allows us to observe a glimpse of the musical and cultural life of a provincial city in the period of Venetian domination and the resulting cultural influence. For this reason, I felt the need to narrate the story of this place in my own way, trying to combine the historical narration of facts and the discovery of music that was brought to life in our theatre. The play I wrote includes both real and fictional characters and develops following the path of historical facts but with some dramatic escamotages. The music plays two different roles, on one side accompanying the story as a sort of comment, and on the other, showing a glimpse of the "behind the scenes" of the work of the musicians. All the music is extracted and selected from the five operas that took place in the Teatro by Domenico Gabrielli, Marcantonio Ziani, Antonio Sartorio and Francesco Ballarotti, all composers of the Venetian area. The aim and the message of the play is to show the sometimes difficult attempts of people to bring cultural initiatives and spaces in smaller and provincial cities. And I hope that my play will be an example of this drive toward cultural vibrancy, with a future performance by the connection with local theatre groups.
Swinging On The Shoulders Of Giants
(2025)
author(s): Jacob J Johnson
published in: Research Catalogue
This work is intended for those who want to learn more about the methods and arranging techniques that can be used to play the same composition in different ways and how to arrange one's drumming within jazz music. This work is not only aimed at drummers. All the concepts, methods, and analyses I present in this work are also applicable to other instruments.
The aim of this study is to explore the relationship between transcription and creative improvisation in jazz drumming. In order to fulfill this aim the following research questions where formulated:
In what ways does transcribing and analyzing my favorite drummers' playing enhance my musicality and personal musical voice?
What characterizes the idiolect of these four drummers?
How does an established jazz drummer accompany a soloist, and is it possible to hear a clear interaction in their playing with each other?
How does my comping and solo playing develop through the process of transcribing and emulating the performance of these iconic drummers?
In this master's thesis, I have chosen to analyze how four different jazz drummers play the same composition. The song I have selected is one of my favorite jazz standards, titled You & The Night & The Music. This is a fairly well-played jazz standard with several different versions and arrangements.
The drummers I have chosen for this thesis are Gary Novak, Niclas Campagnol, Philly Joe Jones, and Jukkis Uotila, who, in my opinion, are some of the best drummers in the world. I have transcribed these drummers’ comping and solo playing, and I have also learned to play the transcriptions myself.
I have done this to analyze what I can learn from it and to absorb the knowledge and skills of these drummers so that I can apply them to my own playing. I have also recorded myself imitating and replicating my transcriptions. This was done to observe what I can come up with spontaneously when improvising and how I interpret and perform the same composition and arrangement as they do.
In this work, I have also analyzed the equipment that drummers use. I have done this to understand what equipment I need to achieve a certain sound or feel in a song. As a final step, I have recorded my own version of this song together with a jazzband to demonstrate my hopefully newly acquired knowledge and interpretation.
This work has developed my musicianship and has also expanded my personal musical toolbox, enhancing and improving my bag of licks. I have also gained a deeper understanding of how interaction works between different instruments in a jazz band, as well as how improvisation and interplay function between a soloist and accompaniment.
The transcriptions have also improved my technical ability in both my hands and feet, and I have had to practice intensely to be able to play some of the drum grooves and solo phrases that they are playing. My sight-reading ability has also improved, and I have become much faster at reading advanced drum notation. The work has also given me an expanded knowledge of the equipment drummers use and why they choose their drums, cymbals, drumheads, and drumsticks.
Revisiting Ballet through Groove
(2025)
author(s): Julie Pecard
published in: Research Catalogue
How can groove influence ballet language to bring forth movement signature and support new meaning? I aim to uncover how groove can bridge classical form and movement signature by developing a method based on groove, revisiting ballet terminology, and allowing the performers to find their movement signature. Resilience has emerged as an accompanying concept that provides a base when generating movement.
I research, create, and perform work that is anchored in Western Contemporary Dance. In my practice, I search for connections between the dancers, the concept, the music, the rehearsal process, and the performance. Questions I ask myself are: What are threads that help all involved connect to the work meaningfully? And how do we all come out of the creation with a sense of authorship? I often invite personal memories of the dancers into the work to make it more relatable, finding that commonalities emerge to connect us. The themes I base my concepts around are identity, finding a place of belonging, home, and womanhood.
I have chosen to approach this research with varying lenses: my personal experience both in life and in the studio, through poetic writing, relating to thinkers and choreographers, and through the creation of Lost Threads. There is an analytical approach through depicting what in groove can serve ballet. I have based my research on music theory and transferred knowledge to an embodied practice around groove. I have analyzed the biomechanics of ballet movements, precisely 8, adding how language can contribute to another level of experiencing movement. I define resilience as the process of finding one's centre, and how the process toward equilibrium can be used to generate drive and inspiration, relating this process to choreographic scores and improvisation. The counter side of this research is the poetic approach I have taken through writing and sketching. This world offers further possibilities to uncover more knowledge on the connection of ballet and groove, performers and movement signature, resilience and improvisation. I’ve come back to my roots of ballet and gone deeper into the ground, emerging with an innovative practice through groove. Daring to search for innovative ways of bending classical form.
Fontys Academy of the Arts, Codarts, Master Choreography COMMA, Master Arts, Cohort 4: 2023-2025
