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Performing contemporary compositions for viola (2016)

Thora Sveinsdóttir
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Name: Thora Margrét Sveinsdóttir Main Subject: Classical Viola Research Coach: Patrick van Deurzen Title of Research: Performing Contemporary Compositions for Viola Research Question: What is needed in addition to the traditional study methods for viola to meet the technical demands of the modern viola repertoire? Summary of Results: Twentieth century music idioms such as free tonality, complex rhythm and requests of different timbres are hardly ever a part of a violists musical training. By gathering information from dissertations on this subject and examining the standard repertoire, as well as more contemporary compositions, I came to the conclusion that the following subjects needed more attention in the pedagogic preparation for violists: Post tonal scales, advanced rhythm, harmonics, microtones, dissonant double stops, secondary bow techniques and extended techniques. The general perception I encountered before starting this research was that there is no pedagogic material existing that features these techniques. This was my starting point. However, my research has led me to discover over a dozen works especially written for the purpose of introducing contemporary techniques to students. Contemporary studies that prepare students for playing twentieth and twenty-first century music do exist but are not yet included in the standard pedagogic literature every student has to master to obtain a degree in music. A strong emphasis is on transcribed violin etudes that are better suited for the repertoire of the nineteenth century, which does not form a big part of the traditional repertoire for viola. Biography: Thora Margrét Sveinsdóttir was born in 1987 and grew up in Reykjavík, Iceland. Before being admitted to the Master Program at Koninklijk Conservatorium in Den Haag, she earned a degree in Viola Performance from Prins Claus Conservatorium in Groningen (B.M. ‘12) with a performer and teacher profile. Her teacher during that time was Ervin Schiffer. A dedicated advocate of music by living composers, Thora has performed on contemporary music festivals in Iceland giving concerts dedicated to solo viola works in 2013 and 2014. She has performed with Iceland’s leading contemporary ensemble Caput and is currently a member of Skark String Ensemble.
typeresearch exposition
keywordsviola, contemporary music, technique
date01/01/2015
published23/08/2016
last modified23/08/2016
statuslimited publication
share statusprivate
licenseAll rights reserved
urlhttps://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/81632/81633
published inKC Research Portal
portal issue3. Internal publication


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namePerforming Contemporary Compositions for Viola
copyrightThora Sveinsdóttir
licenseAll rights reserved
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