Research Catalogue

an international database for artistic research

• 3. Internal publication Research published in this issue are only for internal circulation within the Royal Conservatoire, The Hague.
• 2. Royal Conservatoire Investigations Royal Conservatoire Investigations
• 1. Master Research Projects All research in KC

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  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.
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  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.
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• 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.
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  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.
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  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.
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• You will never be a singer. (2022) author(s): May Kristin Hegvold Limited publication. Only visible to members of the portal : KC Research Portal
  Name: May Kristin Svanholm Hegvold Main subject: Classical singing Research supervisor: Gerard Bouwhuis Title of research: You will never be a singer. 
 Research question: How can focus on primal sound and positive reinforcement make a better singer? 
Summary of research: Walking through the halls of a conservatoire or a music school, attending a rehearsal or an audition, one can feel the stress and second guessing in the air. Maybe even hear things like “I am not sure I can do this”, “my teacher said I am not ready - will I ever be?” or “at least I will have a nice hobby”. The use of the voice is strongly tied with joy, self-confidence, self-realisation, personality and, in the end, life. We use our voices daily and for everything, such as communicating, sighing, laughing, crying and, of course, singing. The voice is our own built-in instrument that can be use freely to make music. Because we carry it with us and it is such an important part of our bodies, it is a personal one. Often singers feel that criticism of their voice is an attack on who they are and their musicality. It is as unique as a fingerprint and it reveals who you are immediately. My theory is that if singers are trapped in a negative environment it can cause them to sing in a way that is not true to their voice or, in the worst case, stop singing. In this research I have looked at how healthy vocal technique, with focus on primal sound, and positive reinforcement in teaching can lead to better, more confident and healthier singing.
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