Research Catalogue

activities

• Doctor of Arts (2013-2017) connected to: Polifonia
  Degree: Doctorate, Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre (Lithuania), recipient: Raimondas Sviackevičius
  
• Acoustic Features of Contemporary Accordion in Modern Music Context
  Polifonia project, Principal Investigator: Raimondas Sviackevičius
  The aim of this artistic research is to fill, at least partially, the gap in the knowledge of the accordion acoustics and perception emphasising the degree of this problem in contemporary accordion music. The research objective is to identify and systemise acoustic and resulting perceptual features of the accordion which are important for the formation of the contemporary sound of the accordion and its proper use in modern music. To this end, the author will review the acoustic process of formation of the accordion sound, study how objective and subjective parameters of the accordion sound and their relevant aspects (especially the timber, stability of intonation, sound level, characteristics of picking) depend on the physical properties of parts of the accordion and performance technique, what are the acoustic and psychological aspects of the accordion within a larger group (chamber ensemble). The author will try to determine how these sound parameters and acoustic-psychological “performance rules” manifest themselves in modern music, what is the basis for their diversity, how they are affected by the composer’s creative “signature”, the communication chain from the composer to the performer to the listener. In the overall context of research into acoustics of musical instruments, the accordion has been rarely studied anywhere in the world. There has been no research into the psychological aspects of the sound of this instrument and nature of performance. The problem of the lack of studies becomes even clearer when we understand that acoustic and perceptual applications of the accordion in modern music actually go beyond limits of the “classical” image of the accordion. The research methods, topic and problems of this artistic project organically fall within the field of the most relevant interdisciplinary research of performance and the results are important as the material for the basis of the methodology in order to improve the process of training of young artists and discover new opportunities for improvement for professional performers.