Research Catalogue

an international database for artistic research

• The Drum Also [insert blank]: jazz drumming and electronic sound processing (2025) author(s): Rita Brancato published in: Codarts
  The following report aims to explore the potential of electronic manipulation of sound applied to drums’ playing, with a focus on designing hybrid drum setups that can function in a jazz-derived band setting. Although the universe of hybrid drumming - blending a traditional drum kit with triggers, pads, or sample pads - continues to expand, the process of building such a setup is rarely documented, and the challenges involved are often overlooked. Through experimentation, interviews and media review I researched a way to fill this gap while embarking on my own journey with hybrid drumming. Although the outcomes match with a very personal exploration, they also offer a variety of examples of how electronics can be applied to an acoustic drum set up and how this application can influence a drummer’s perspective both in terms of improvisation and composition. These results, indeed, can encourage musicians interested in the same topic to initiate their own creative processes, incorporating elements that resonate with them, with the goal of achieving a similar level of artistic progression.
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• The musical environment of the duet Zurna-Davul to Laouto (2025) author(s): Asterios Varveris published in: Codarts
  This research is about the implementation of elements derived by the musical environment of the Zurna-Davul duet into a stringed instrument named Laouto. Although, in Greece, Laouto is mainly used for accompaniment roles close to violins, clarinets, singers and lyras, the potential and the possibilities of this instrument seems to have changed given that enough musicians use it to perform even complicated and demanding melodies. In any case, I am really glad that I dived in the process of revealing and formulating the solo aspect of the Laouto in association with this distinct musical environment. During this research, I experimented and tried to find ways to utilize elements of this duet on Laouto; those elements were the Zurna phrasing, including ornaments, Davul phrasing, the songs’ structure and rhythm flexibility - rhythm plasticity. Furthermore, practicing the idioms’ repertoire, playing, improvising as well as composing over odd rhythms such as 7/8, 9/8 and 11/8 while using the above mentioned elements was part of that research. As my main reference about this style and idiom I used recordings conducted by the Ethnography process in the city of Naousa. Last but not least, in this musical environment dance constitutes an indivisible aspect.
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• Berio Sequenza VIII: The violin’s journey through the music (2024) author(s): Sara Molina Castellote published in: Codarts
  The path that a musician traverses when starting and playing a new piece it’s a long process of discoveries and learning. In this case, this process is settled on a deep understanding and analysis of the Sequenza (that is based on Berio experts’ knowledge) and which supports the technical and musical decisions made for my approach to this piece. The steps are made by intervention cycles: the piece is divided in four big sections and each of them is addressed in one intervention cycle. The analysis of two important recordings of the piece was basic for this Research: Jean-Marie Conquer’s and Carlo Chiarappa’s (the latter one was the player that premiered the piece), and also the meetings that I had with some experts on this field: Joseph Puglia and Simone Fontanelli. I didn’t take the decision of starting to play this piece carelessly: it is a piece which requires a great deal of knowledge about violin technique and about contemporary music notation. The kind of work that I carried out was very helpful for me as a musician and as a violinist: I learnt about how to approach technically many problems that I can find, and how useful different sources can be which in other contexts I wouldn’t have considered as a learning source. This Research could be very useful for other musicians that are interested in Berio’s music, and of course for violin players who wonder how they can solve some of the problems that can be found on this or similar pieces.
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  Instruments of Emotion: Exploring the Use of Musical Parameters in Film Scoring (2024) author(s): Malcolm Eric Lagger Caldwell published in: Codarts
  Music has always been a crucial element in films. In fact, a scene can have absolutely different meanings depending on the music. In this research project I tried to investigate to what extent these differences rely on the use of musical parameters such as instrumentation/timbre, melody, harmony, rhythm and tempo among others. I focused on 4 different emotions: Tension, Sadness, Rejoice and Nostalgia. The goal was to find out how these parameters can be used in order to maximise the depiction of the specific emotion being portrayed in each scene. The main source of information was the analysis of cues from various movies portraying different emotions in combination with interviews with film composers, some of them being the authors of the analysed films. All this led to the composition of new cues putting into practice what I learned. As a result, there are findings that suggest that to maximise the depiction of these different emotions the most important musical parameters to manipulate are tempo, harmony and instrumentation. As a research outcome, I composed music for cues for films such as Blood Diamond (2006), Luna de Avellaneda (2004) and Big Fish (2003).
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• Afro Cuban drumming: the drummers of Chucho Valdes (2024) author(s): Marc Gómez Masdeu published in: Codarts
  This research wants to be a guide of my personal and artistic process of how I have developed and improved my skills in Afro-Cuban music and Afro-Cuban Jazz through Enrique Pla, Rodney Barreto, and Dafnis Prieto. And how I have integrated this into my background to help me grow as an artist. The topic that has motivated me to do this research is my interest in Cuban music and especially in Irakere. Many Cuban drummers are worthy of in-depth study, but I have chosen these three because all three have played or currently play with Chucho Valdes. Talking about Enrique Pla undoubtedly leads you to the founding of Irakere; Rodney Barreto played in Irakere when they reunited again and Dafnis Prieto is his current drummer. The strategy that I followed is: Strategy: Case study and experiment of the exercises with other students. Methodology: Triangulation (analysis/transcription, feedback/reflection, interview). Experiment with the drummer’s feedback. The results of this research can be seen in the following categories: Personal: Results that have enriched me and my way of playing. Audiences: Elements that may interest the reader and the musician who wishes to gain a deeper understanding of Afro-Cuban music, in particular, its drummers and more specifically those associated with Chucho Valdes On a personal level, the most important thing has been this two-year process of studying these great musicians and everything that I have acquired musically, technically, and the transcriptions I made during the research. Readers of this research can appreciate the interviews I have conducted with these three musicians and other related Cuban drummers, the exercises I have created to develop these aspects of the music and repertoire in particular, and the transcriptions of compings and solos that I have made of them. I have learned many new skills and tips from these drummers and from listening more deeply to this music and this has enriched me a lot as a musician. Looking back to the results of this research, one of the important conclusions that I reached is that any drummer who wishes to gain an understanding of this music has to listen to and study the tradition of the Afro-Cuban percussion, all the styles, and the periods, and of course open mind and don’t be a slave of it since you also have to listen to the evolution of styles.
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• COMPOSING NON-LINEARITY IN MIXED MEDIA PERFORMANCES (2024) author(s): Sophia Bardoutsou published in: Codarts
  This paper aims to explore the potential of merging acoustic music with digital media and other art forms to create non-linear compositional forms. Often, it’s difficult to get away from traditional composition processes, make a piece adaptive in form and not strictly bound to time. Through case studies on works by Walter Giers, Michel van der Aa, Yannis Kyriakides and more, I focused on the elements of integration, interaction and nonlinear composition of different media. Looking at their work and through self- experimentation, I noticed that the different media can get dramaturgical meaning and interact live with every element of the performance. Digital media can specifically function as tools for interaction between the performers and the audience. By incorporating playful ideas in the compositions, derived from the world of games and indeterminacy, we can end up in nonlinear processes of performing notated music and allow for interpretation by other artforms. As a result, I composed the pieces In Medias Res for musicians, circus artists and interactive media, Dots for Pierrot ensemble and visuals, the 15’ opera Aer and the interactive music game A poppy blooms. Through this process, I tried to free myself, as a composer, from specific writing habits and approaches. A new field of possibilities opened up on how to develop music material, notate it and perform it.
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