Research Catalogue

research expositions

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  Transcribing Johann Sebastian Bach's Lute Music for Guitar Bouzouki (2015) author(s): Andreas Aase connected to: Norwegian Artistic Research Programme published in: Journal for Artistic Research
  Johann Sebastian Bach's lute suites were probably written on the harpsichord, and are commonly performed on the guitar. This project examines the possibilities and limitations in transcribing one suite for a four-course, fifth-tuned instrument in the cittern/octave mandolin family, while preserving supposed interpretation practices from Bach's era and/or from Scandinavian traditional music. The final artistic result may or may not express these traits. The audiovisual examples aim to express problems of interpretation, and suggestions for their solutions in the cases where they are specific to my instrument. I will attempt to contextualise the process through introducing various strands of research and the observations of others. The discussion commences at a point where I have produced a suggestion for a transcription, as I embark from the premises laid out in the previous paragraph and ask, Is it possible to create an edition of Johann Sebastian Bach's Lute Suite BWV 997 for my instrument? Deriving from this question, I simultaneously ask, Which methods and contexts can I employ to make the artistic outcome convincing for myself, as well as for an audience familiar with this music?
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  FolkImproV (2015) author(s): Andreas Aase connected to: Norwegian University of Science and Technology published in: Research Catalogue
  Can pieces of dance tunes from Nordic folk music, organized according to principles from jazz, provide source material for building an improvisation language? Scandinavian folk music traditionally used for dancing consists of melodies, organized in a limited amount of measures and sections (typically two or three eight-bar sections, played with repeats). The organizing principle in ensemble playing is for every musician to learn the melody first, and to let each following contribution be dictated by it. Variations in arrangements occur frequently in modern-day interplay, with harmony parts, chord changes, counter rhythms and dynamics meticulously employed in order to avoid monotony. But interpretation of the melody remains the main activity. The ability for creativity on the spot is big among folk musicians, though it is seemingly framed by the strategies discussed above. I have yet to come across a methodical investigation of using material from traditional tunes as a musical vocabulary for improvisation. Consulting supervisors from the folk and jazz genres, I try to use source elements from the folk repertoire while employing organizing principles from jazz. As I present these ideas on several instruments, and over rhythmic foundations in a slightly modernized folk idiom, I'll try to encourage the use of these ideas in contexts not necessarily associated with traditional music. The project seeks to encourage participation, and may possibly work as tutorial material. This exposition focuses on portions of a Pd.D.-level project I finished in 2009. The original three-year undertaking was supported by the Norwegian Artistic Research Programme, hosted by NTNU, and was supervised by John-Pål Inderberg and Geir Egil Larsen. The current version was supported by HiNT University College.
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  V. Bach - Sheets and tablatures (2017) author(s): Andreas Aase connected to: Norwegian Artistic Research Programme published in: Research Catalogue
  The recording "V. (Bach)" (Øra Fonogram, 2016) is the artistic outcome of my research project "Transcribing Johann Sebastian Bach's Lute Music For Guitar Bouzouki" (2015)[1]. I've slowly arrived at a personal way of playing this material, simplified to fit my small, four-course guitar, and I've tried to maintain a Nordic folk music approach throughout. Some music written for other instruments has been added as well. Consequently, the results deviate quite a bit from the direction of the process documented earlier, and things have kept changing even after the recording, which took place in August of 2016. These sheets and tablatures correspond as closely as possible to the music on the record, which is accessible through the most common streaming and download services. The conventional sheet music attempts to show what my arrangements actually sound like, irrespective of instrument, but with significant visual simplifications that belie polyphonic richness; this particularly concerns the duration of bass notes, and individual voice-leading within the music. The ear will hopefully compensate for this when the music is sounded. The tablatures, on the other hand, start from my default tuning (bottom to top F - C - G - D), occasionally using a capo to alter the keys, which adhere to Bach's original ones (I use the capo to maintain access to open strings, an important feature in traditional fiddle music). If you play an instrument within the CBOM (Cittern-Bouzouki-Mandolin) family of plucked folk instruments, the tablatures can work with the fingerings represented here in whichever key you find suitable, or maybe you even have access to the tunings listed here on a different part of your instrument than I do - if, say, you play a five-course instrument.The important thing is to work in an essentially fifths-based tuning. Some of the movement titles are Norwegian-language approximations that are commonly in use among musicians in my part of the world. - - - Arranged and performed by Andreas Aase Produced by Jo Ranheim and Andreas Aase Mastered by Karl Klaseie All work conducted at Øra Studio, Trondheim Supported by Nord Universitet, Levanger, Norway [1] https://www.researchcatalogue.net/profile/show-exposition?exposition=85891
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  Eon: Blurring lines on a small (time-) travel guitar (2019) author(s): Andreas Aase published in: Research Catalogue
  A simple reconfiguring of a mass-produced guitar results in an affordable and comfortable instrument that straddles the gap between the fiddle and the classical guitar. The instrument’s playability gives birth to a new set of eight guitar compositions with two main components throughout: Partly reworked versions of eclectic ideas from my youth decades ago, partly new melodies and improvisations inspired by Scandinavian traditions. A long-held desire for softer dividing lines and cross-bleed between disparate bodies of musical material is expressed in a process of composition, performance and recording that simultaneously redefines memory, dreams and connotations. The artistic results constitute the primary text and will be represented as videos and sound clips throughout. The written text leads up to, and/or comments on, the artistic issues tackled in the videos.
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