Defining and Classifying Minimalism in Lithuanian Contemporary Music

The article focuses on issues of microhistory and the usefulness of this historiographical practice in musicological research. The author begins by presenting the key issues relating to microhistory, referring extensively to the book What Is Microhistory? by István M. Szijártó and Sigurður Gylfi Magnússon. She then quotes and briefly discusses the most significant musicological works which employed microhistorical strategy. These are Mark Everist’s book Music Drama at the Paris Odéon, 1824–1828, Tamara Levitz’s Modernist Mysteries: Perséphone and Peter J. Schmelz’s article “Shostakovich” Fights the Cold War: Reflections from Great to Small. The main part of the text is devoted to Mark Ferraguto’s monograph Beethoven 1806. That publication is wholly based on the microhistorical approach, thus open- ing a new perspective in reflection on the instrumental works by the Master from Bonn. Ferraguto analyses Beethoven’s works from 1806 and early 1807 in the context of the people and the instruments for which they were composed; he also explores the nature of and reasons for the composer’s retreat from the „heroic phase”, analysing various aspects of contemporary musical, social and political life in Vienna. He does so while concentrating on selected, characteristic moments which define the given opus. Unlike the earlier musicological works based on the microhistorical strategy, Ferraguto’s monograph is not overburdened with detail, but makes an excellent job of linking contextual issues with analysis of musical composition. In this way it enriches musicological research by providing it with a new, interesting dimension.

On the basis of archival materials preserved in the library fund of the Saratov State L. V. Sobinov Conservatory, the article discloses the main positions of Nina Khlebnikova’s innovational methods in the sphere of teaching music theory disciplines to wind students. The eldest and most experienced pedagogue of the Music Theory and Composition Department, having integrated to the maximal level the courses of solfege, harmony, counterpoint, instrument study, analysis of musical compositions and foundations of improvisation with the students’ major discipline of studies, has activated the students’ instrumental performance during her classes. Along with the approbated (traditional) forms of work, certain new (untraditional) ones have been enriched by new content. Thus, within the framework of the solfege classes a number of didactic exercises have been developed based on creative assignments and the students’ repertoire from their major studies. All of this not only evoked a positive reaction and an unfeigned enthusiastic interest in the studies on the part of the wind students, but also led to high resulting quality of application of the authorial methodology, which has been highly evaluated in a number of regions of Russia and the countries of the near abroad. The aim of the article is to provide information, at least in part, on the content of the unique, in many ways new and timeless methodology developed by Khlebnikova, to acquaint the readers with the prospects of developing the basic practical rises of the present methodology and to arouse interest among professionals in its real actualization and high effectivity. Keywords: authorial methods, innovational instruction, wind performers, specificity, music theory disciplines, solfege, musical ear.

The possibility of organisation the museum pedagogical activities in the musical art and art lessons are reviewed in the article by its authors. The important role of museums as dynamic, cultural and educational, as well as scientific impulse and focus in the educational process is implied. Also, the term «interactivity» in the training process is explained on the examples of different methods of museum pedagogy in the practice of the many educational institutions. The importance of the appliance of museum pedagogy is underlined, especially such approaches as comparison, localisation of the events, auditions, performance, commenting and reconstruction. The functions of these approaches are specified, that is, to develop the interdisciplinary art competency of students and to enrich their experience in analysis of musical compositions. As a consequence, the important role of museum pedagogy in musical art and art lessons as an interdisciplinary method is confirmed.

The impact of digital technology on the generation and implementation of creative ideas in the workplace

Context/Purpose : Survival of organizations in an era of complexity and chaos requires continuous adaptation to these conditions throughout the management of innovative ideas that are crucial to managing change in the environment. The purpose of this study is to evaluate and estimate the the impact of environmental change on the creation and implementation of ideas by using SEM. Methodology: The research method is correlation-explanatory. Statistical population is 1750 students of Shahid Sattari EUROUNATICAL University of Science and Technology. 315 of them were studied using available sampling method. The instrument for measuring environmental change is a researcher-made questionnaire and the idea-creation variable is the Hart and Tegan questionnaire. Findings : Environmental change has a positive and significant effect on the creation of innovative ideas at Sattari University (β = 0.41, t = 5.018, p <0.05). Changing environment has a positive and significant effect on the implementation of innovative ideas at Sattari University (β = 0.56, t = 39.7, p <0.05). Conclusion: Organizations must consider environmental change as one of the key drivers of idea creation and implementation in idea management programs.

The article highlights and analyzes the key ideas of the national pedagogy of the first third of the twentieth century – the ideas of integrity and complexity, freedom and creativity, labor (productive activity), interaction with society and taking into account social influences – in relation to their implementation in the musical education of this period. The works by B. V. Asafiev, N. Ya. Bryusova, V. N. Shatskaya and other theorists of musical education are analyzed. The author comes to the conclusion that the theory of musical education in the first third of the twentieth century has enriched the general pedagogy with artistic and aesthetic interpretation and implementation of these ideas. The ideas of integrity and complexity in the theory of music education are based on the unity of all the arts, syncretism, depth and sincerity of children’s artistic feeling. The ideas of freedom and creativity are partly based on the principles of free education; they manifest themselves in the position of a teacher as a researcher, assistant, offering, but not imposing a musical repertoire, types of musical activity. Creativity in the theory of musical education of this period is associated with composing music by the children themselves – the highest form of productive musical activity of pupils. The idea of taking into account social influences, interaction with society is manifested in the study of music of a given social environment, in the research and ethnographic position of the teacher and students. The peculiarity of the interpretation and implementation of key pedagogical ideas of the first third of the twentieth century in the theory of musical education allows us to speak about the intrinsic value and, in part, about the anticipating influence of this theory on the general theory of pedagogics.

M. Balfas is one of the minor authors of the Angkatan 45. This is the movement to which he clearly belongs and has always regarded himself as belonging. His early literary work is collected in a book of short stories, Lingkaran-lingkaran Retak 210 (Broken Circles, 1952), which like so many of the stories from the same period, are concerned with the victims and underdogs — the “cross boys” and urchins of Djakarta, in Anak Revolusi (Children of the Revolution); the blind girl who is passed by and becomes an old maid in Lagu Gandrung (Love Song); and the kampong Eurasians in Rumah Disebelah and Tuan Jakup (The House Next Door and Mr. Jakup). But his most interesting writing is to be found in the fragments of the, unfortunately uncompleted, novel Si Gomar, the story of Si Umar, a typical anak Betawi (Djakartan), and his family. Balfas gives us an inside picture of life inside this big city kampong; this is apparently the world he knows most intimately, the world to which he belongs emotionally; the genuine Djakarta dialect which he uses is lively and true to life, and thus he succeeds in giving us a vivid picture of these people in their own milieu.

Reviewed by: Turkestan chinois. Le Muqam des Dolan. Musique des Ouïgours du désert de Taklamakan Nathan Light (bio) Turkestan chinois. Le Muqam des Dolan. Musique des Ouïgours du désert de Taklamakan. (Chinese Turkestan. The Muqam of the Dolan. Music of the Uyghurs of Taklamakan Desert). Pierre Bois. Trans. Frank Kane and Mukaddas Mijit. Paris: INEDIT/Maison des Cultures du Monde, 2006. CD-ROM with liner notes in French and English. Dolan muqam music from Xinjiang, China, has gained some renown in recent years because it is one of the few suitelike musical forms that has not had to be revived from the moribund condition of other Uyghur muqam traditions. The performers are generally not educated, modernized, urban professionals, but have come in a steady stream from the same social and religious contexts as earlier performers. They are representative of traditional Central Asian performers because they are generally local community members who have spent their lives performing at large dance celebrations. Their heterophonic style of singing is a remarkable contrast to the mostly mono-melodic forms of other Uyghur music, both muqam and folk. Nonetheless, more questions exist about Dolan lives and musical repertoires than answers. The Dolan are agriculturalists and herders who live primarily in the area around Mäkit and Maralbashi, two communities roughly 200 kilometers east of Kashgar and somewhat distant from each other (Svanberg 1996). There is not much ethnographic research on the Dolan and probably will not be more until Chinese officials change their attitudes toward rural research in Xinjiang. China’s much-touted openness to international researchers has not affected Xinjiang and no foreigners are allowed to do substantial projects outside of major urban areas. A few people have been able to travel and document the music cultures of the Dolan, with the much-lamented ethnomusicologist Zhou Ji (1943–2008) being one of the most successful, but his works have been published only in Chinese and Uyghur. He is heavily referenced by both Sabine Trebinjac (2000) and Rachel Harris (2008), as well as in my own work (Light 2008), but only the first two briefly consider the Dolan muqam repertoire. The recording under review was made as part of Dolan Muqam performances in Paris by six traditional performers from the Dolan community. Brief details about the lives of the performers are given in the liner notes, and they also show up in Harris’s book albeit with differences in the transliteration of their names: [End Page 140] Huseyn Yahya performing on the CD is Husayn Yakhya, and Ahat Tohti on the CD is Häkhät Tokhti (Harris 2008, 116). On this CD, the performers sing what could be described as both religious and love songs, but the liner notes describe them only as love songs. Nonetheless, the translations preserve much of the allegorical love imagery that reflects the devotion to God that appears in Sufi poetry and dervish singing from many parts of Central Asia. Although the heterophonic singing makes the original song texts difficult to decipher, the religious content in some cases is also clear from the repetition of the refrain “Ah Allah.” Some Dolan performers also know pieces from the tradition known as the Twelve Muqams (Harris 2008, 120–3), the large sequence of suites that has been the subject of standardization and canonization for more than 50 years and has recently succeeded in being declared a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2005. Except for some similar instruments, vocal style, and verse, the Dolan muqam suites are musically quite distinct from the Twelve Muqams. We cannot even say for sure that the term muqam was traditional for this repertoire among the Dolan. The liner notes on the present recording say, “traditionalists consider the term muqam too scholarly, and prefer to use the word bayawan (literally, desert).” This would appear to mean roughly, “scholars and politicians have come and wish to incorporate this tradition into the expanding muqam framework as a further demonstration of the richness of Uyghur tradition,” an interpretation readily supported by observing recent changes in muqam performances over the past 20 years (Harris 2008). As Trebinjac (2000, 260–6...

Even in the midst of their dubious claim that “philosophers did not go to the opera very often,” Slavoj Žižek and Mladen Dolar cannot escape acknowledging the combination of “the splendor of court spectacles, the pomp of national myths, and the sentimental melodramas” that have traditionally driven opera in its social contexts (1).1 Discussions of the Restoration dramatic stage follow the same tripartite preoccupations—they also typically focus on the return of theater to London after the Interregnum, the appearance of women on stage in drama, and the increasing importance of music to theater life before the full arrival of opera seria in the eighteenth century with Georg Friedrich Handel’s appearance in London. However, the specifically interactive relationship between English nationalism, literature, theater, and music is often overlooked. In particular, the role of musical form in these displays of nationalism, especially in conjunction with patriotic libretti, is largely ignored, despite its ability to bridge the divisions between each disciplinary field. Textual studies of libretti rapidly recognize the pro-Imperial feeling that followed the restoration of the monarchy with Charles II in 1660, the Exclusion Crisis’s attempts to prevent the Catholic James II from ascending to the throne in 1685, and the Glorious Revolution of 1688 when James (the last Catholic monarch of England) was displaced by the Hanoverian Protestant William III and Mary II (formalized in 1689). This is readily seen in the histories of John Dryden, Nahum Tate, John Crowne, and many others. Moreover, anti-Papist sentiments frequently appear in an only vaguely coded form as resistance to tensions based on the French and Italian influences via Catholicism on James II and Charles II.

Background. The article explores the development of the piano style of the outstanding composer Sang Tong, one of the founders of the national pianistic art. He was one of the first Chinese composers to apply modern techniques of composer writing on the basis of national musical elements. The early period of the creativity of this musician (1950–60’s) was the basis for the formation of his composer personality. The basis of the creative experiments of Sang Tong was his early piano work. In such works as “In a distant place” (1947), “Seven Ballads on the Themes of Songs of Inner Mongolia” (1953), “Three Preludes” (1955), “Two Piano Pieces” (1956), “The Little Children’s Suite” ( 1958), “Miao National Songs” (1959), “Imagination” (1959), the composer’s innovative style crystallized. Objectives. The purpose of the article is consideration and study the early period of Sang Tong’s piano work, the development of his compositional style in the 1950–60’s. Methods of research are based on a set of scientific approaches necessary for the disclosure of its theme. The complex approach, combining the principle of musical-theoretical, musical-historical and performing analysis, is taken as the basis of the methodology. Results. The influence of European teachers V. Frankel (student A.Schoenberg), J. Schloss (student A. Webern), and Chinese musician Xu Luosi on the formation of the artistic worldview of Sang Tong is investigated. If V. Frankel and J. Schloss instilled in the young musician an interest in modern techniques of composer writing, then Xu Luoxi pointed out to San Tong the importance of preserving the national principle in musical compositions. The influence of other musical genres, in particular, vocal and instrumental, on the formation of the composer’s piano style in the 1950s is also considered. Composer’s works have high artistic value due to his composer personality and high artistic merits of his works, which reflect the national style of music. His music is modern, it is often performed on stage, it sounds on radio and television, it adorns a lot of art and documentary films. The early works of San Tong, according to the peculiarities of harmonic language and musical content, can be divided into three groups. To the first group based on traditional harmony, it is possible to carry its vocal works. Although Sang Tong tried to adhere to traditional harmony, he does not associate himself with rigid canons. The composer boldly uses modern harmonic complexes consisting of nine, eleven, thirteen sounds, variable chords performing the function of complication, uses complex polyphonic combinations, which leads to a strong and dramatic sound. The second type of works differs in that their musical language is based on modal harmony and the structure of pentatonic. Mostly it concerns such works as “Spring wild mountain song”, “Jiannan thousand aromas of rice”, “Piano song about Miao song”, etc. The composer creates his own rich, gravitating to the national style, poetically depicting bright and memorable pastoral paintings. Functional limitations of pentatonic allow the author to diversify the style and demonstrate the inherent elegance of writing. The third group of the composer’s early works is based on a modern style. The main works, where the author used modern innovations, are his “Three Preludes”, “Night” and “In that remote place”. Boldly relying on some principles of modern harmony and combining them with a pentatonic fret, Sang Tong made some useful discoveries. In the “Three Preludes” retaining the color of pentatonic, the author used the serial technique of the composition for the development of the material. When composing chords, he relies on the Chinese principle of Yin Yang, which in this context embodies harmony and disharmony and expands the scope of the chord. Breaking the traditional harmonic concept and transforming it into a complex function that depends on factors such as multi-level chords, using a number of modern notions of harmony, the composer invades the sphere of traditional pentatonic sounding, modernizing it, which allows us to rethink the possibilities of the pentatonic fret. Conclusions. Thus, the early period of music creation laid the foundation for the study of the modern theory of harmony in the work of Sang Tong, and also contributed to the further development of innovation in the use of modern techniques of composer writing in synthesis with pentatonic.

The Theoretical Background for the Chinese Composers Piano Music Genre Peculiarities Research

Slow progress in quality improvement (QI) has prompted calls to identify new QI ideas. Leaders guiding these efforts are advised to use evidence-based tactics, or specific approaches to address a goal, to promote clinician and staff engagement in the generation and implementation of QI ideas, but little evidence about effective tactics exists. Examine the association between leader tactics and the creativity, implementation outcome, and evolution of QI ideas from clinicians and staff. Prospective panel analysis of 220 ideas generated by 12 leaders and teams (N = 72 members) from federally qualified community health practices in one center over 18 months. Measures were extracted from meeting minutes (note-taking by a member during meetings) and expert panel review. Multi-level models were used. Leader tactics, idea creativity, implementation outcome, evolution pathways, center, and idea-submitter characteristics. Leaders used one of four approaches: no tactic, meeting ground rules, team brainstorming, or reflection on team process. Implemented ideas evolved in three pathways: Plug and Play, Slow Burn, and Iterate and Generate. Compared with no leader tactic, meeting ground rules resulted in ideas not significantly different in creativity, implementation outcome, or evolution pathway. Brainstorming was associated with greater idea creativity, idea implementation, and ideas following a Plug and Play path (low member engagement and implementation over 2 months or less). Reflection on team process was associated with idea implementation (versus not), and ideas following an Iterate and Generate path (high member engagement and implementation over 3 months or more). Two tactics, brainstorming and reflection, are helpful depending on goals. Brainstorming may aide leaders seeking disruptive change via more creative, rapidly implemented ideas. Reflection on team process may aide leaders seeking high-engagement ideas that may be implemented slowly. Both tactics may help leaders cultivate dynamics that increase implementation of ideas that improve healthcare.

Broadsides were single sheets of printed paper that sold very cheaply in early modern Europe. Printed in their thousands, they contained news, stories and entertainment, not least ballads – song lyrics, sometime with an indication of the air. Ballads covered a wide-range of topics from bawdy and humorous songs, hymns and moral warnings, and love songs. The musical form was considered an important way of conveying news as it could be easily remembered and repeated by a non-literate population. This chapter presents two Scottish ballads, seen in their use of Scottish dialect, and which explore romantic relationships. Both songs are humorous and explore topical issues of the century. The first asks how a couple might form a household with love, but without economic foundation, and involves a discussion with the bride’s family. The second explores the morality of pre-marital sex, a common topic for a community where such behaviour was sinful but commonplace.

<i>Ezra Pound: Poet; A Portrait of the Man and His Work</i>, vol. 2, The Epic Years, 1921–1939. A. David Moody. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014. Pp. xvii+421.

Musical Composition and Changes in Pansori(narrative song) Sarangga(love song) Works