Musical Concepts Research Articles

An Imperfect Legacy

An Imperfect Legacy

Особенности поэтики и музыкальной концепции «Оды о свирели» Ван Бао (I в. до н.э.)

The study aims to identify features of poetics and musical conception of “Fu on the Panpipes” by Wang Bao (I century BC), the first surviving ode in the history of China specially devoted to description of a musical instrument. Scientific novelty of the work lies in the fact that this ode has never before been a subject of special study from the holistic and historical-typological viewpoint with the use of modern achievements of the humanities. It is also the first time that the ode has been translated into Russian. As a result, the researcher has identified the main principles of poetics and musical conception of the ode, which concern composition, genre features, pathetic and elegiac motifs, symbolism, compositional and stylistic devices.

Instrument-based music theory on YouTube: Entries and barriers to lifelong learning

Many adults are motivated to learn about music independently; YouTube is a particularly popular resource. This study analysed YouTube searches, videos and viewer comments for evidence regarding the feasibility of learning music concepts through YouTube in the context of instruments that are popular among independent learners. It appeared that many such learners successfully use this resource, but multiple barriers to novice-level learning were also found. Music educators can help prepare students for lifelong learning by teaching independent use of online resources.

Changing Lyrics Centered on Musical Concepts as a Music-Making Activity in Elementary School

본 연구의 목적은 현 초등학교 3~4학년 음악 교과서의 노랫말 바꾸기 활동을 음악개념 중심으로 전개하는 수업 방법을 모색하는 것이다. 먼저, 음악 만들기의 정의에 나타난 교사의 역할, 음악과 언어의 연관성에서의 노랫말 바꾸기의 의미를 살펴보았다. 이후 교과서의 내용을 바탕으로 모든 노랫말 바꾸기에 포함되는 필수적 음악개념(악센트, 리듬)과 제재곡에 특징적으 로 나타나는 선택적 음악개념(형식, 조성 등)이 노랫말의 내용적, 언어적 특징과 결부되는 다양 한 방법을 제시하였다. 이 연구는 노랫말 바꾸기가 포괄적 음악성 함양과 성악작품 만들기로 연계될 수 있음을 확인하고, 2015 음악과 교육과정의 성취기준 [4음01-03]에 관한 세부적인 예 시로서 의의를 갖는다.

Development of a musical concepts assessment tool for young children

Development of a musical concepts assessment tool for young children

Transgressing the Wall. Mauricio Kagel and Decanonization of the musical performance

The article discusses selected some musical concept by Maurcio Kagel (1931–2008), one of the most significant Argentinian composer. The analysis concerns two issues related to Kagel’s work. First of all, the composer’s approach to musical theatre as an artistic tool for demolishing a wall put in cultural tradition between a performer and a musical work – just like Berlin Wall which turned the politics paradigm in order to melt two political positions into one. Kagel’s negation of the structure’s coherence in traditional musical canon became the basis of his conceptualization which implies a collapse within the wall between the musical instrument and the performer. Aforementioned performer doesn’t remain in the passive role, but is engaged in the art with his whole body as authentic, vivid instrument. Secondly, this article concerns the actual threads of Kagel’s music, as he was interested in enclosing in his work contemporary social and political issues. As the context of the analyze the authors used the ideas of Paulo Freire (with his concept of the pedagogy of freedom) and Augusto Boal (with his concept of “Theater of the Oppressed”). Both these perspectives aim to present Kagel as multifaceted composer who through his avantgarde approach abolishes canons (walls) in contemporary music and at the same time points out the barriers and limitations of the global reality. Moreover, Kagel’s pieces built bridges between the South American and European musical paradigms.

Harmonizing Music Theory and Music Law

Attorneys, judges, and jurors litigating and adjudicating music copyright disputes find themselves at the intersection of two complex fields, U.S. copyright law and music theory. While most generalist judges—and the attorneys representing clients in such cases—have at least some experience with the former, very few have formal training or informal experience with the latter. As a result, legal opinions purporting to incorporate musical concepts sometimes fail to do so accurately, resulting in decisions that are inconsistent with copyright law and policy. This Article is the first in a planned series of interdisciplinary articles designed to harmonize U.S. copyright law with relevant theoretical materials from the field of music. It begins with an accessible primer on basic principles of music theory, with a special focus on the concepts of melody and rhythm. It then summarizes music copyright jurisprudence, and identifies ways in which the latter correctly and incorrectly incorporates principles of music theory. This Article demonstrates that U.S. music copyright jurisprudence is plagued with a fundamental misunderstanding of the basic musical concepts of melody and rhythm as those terms are understood within the field of music. In general, legal precedents equate melody with pitch sequence and rhythm with meter and time signature, and give primacy in their analysis to melody—as they define it—to the exclusion of rhythm. Yet as this article demonstrates, not only do music theorists define melody as consisting of pitch and rhythm combined, but their findings also demonstrate that rhythmic design plays a greater role in creating distinct melodies than pitch standing alone. The result is a jurisprudence that is both over- and under-inclusive in finding instances of copyright protection and infringement. Using both historical and contemporary musical examples, this Article concludes that courts should re-define and re-weight these two musical concepts in order to arrive at just results in music copyright disputes that are consistent with the balancing of policies that form the foundation of U.S. copyright law.

Поэтическая интонация в стихотворениях Александра Блока и Сергея Есенина. К проблеме методологии анализа

In poetry, like in music, the poetic sounding has a semantic meaning and the meaning captured in a poem is “incapable of being renamed”, that is, expressed in any other way. This is what A.V. Mikhailov defines as “musicality”. Based on the concept of musicality in poetry, the article puts forward an original method of analysing poetic intonation. It can be used to identify individual features of the sound structure in a verse and, as a consequence, its emotional tone. The comparative analysis of two poems by A. Blok and S. Yesenin found the difference between the poetic intonation—a sound meaning— chosen by the authors. The manifestation of verse (rhythmic) and conversational (phrasal) intonations shapes the form of the poetic text either closer to the immanent musical or speech patterns. The analysis of the sound meaning in a verse combines linguistic and musicological approaches. This methodology facilitates the retrieval of deep “musical” patterns of the poetic text and their “reincarnation” in a composer's interpretation. The two traditional types of verse recitation, i.e., conventional, done in an actor's fashion (expressively declamatory), and authorial (monotonously melodious, rhythmised) are fundamentally different approaches to the sound embodiment of the text, which also applies to the interpretations made by composers. The poetic (“rhythmic”) intonation is used to show the difference between poetry and prose; hence, it is a fundamental condition for the emotional, semantic and musical unity of the poetic text. In this connection, the article attempts to find a functional equivalent to the poetic intonation in music written to this poetic text so that the words absorbed by music regain their artistic unity.

LEARNING MUSIC THROUGH RHYTHMIC MOVEMENTS IN MALAYSIA

Purpose - Music class should function as a class that triggers joy and a platform for students to express their feelings. Based on observation, there are music teachers who teach singing and the playing of musical instruments based traditionally on a teacher-centered approach. This has caused music classes to become passive and dull, with unexcited students that would cause them to lose focus in the class. The purpose of this research is to investigate the application of rhythmic movements, using one of the components from Dalcroze’s Eurhythmics as an activity to develop active and fun music classes, hence to improve students’ music performance skills. Methodology - The study was carried out within the framework of a ten-week action-research design involving 35 primary school students at Putrajaya, Malaysia. Data collection was through group observation on students’ musical behaviours. Researchers also conducted an in-depth interview with rhythmic movement experts. Findings - Result shows that there is a significant change of musical behaviours among primary students from week 8 to week 10. Experts agree that rhythmic movement can create a meaningful music class with the active participation of students. Three rhythmic procedures have been recommended by the experts to strengthen a music class pedagogy. Significance - Learning music through movements has turned music classes into active and fun places. Rhythmic movement activity has made music lessons to become more meaningful. This study has helped students to explore music through movements, creating an environment in which they have the chance to play, communicate with each other, learn through observation and express their creativity in their own way. This intervention helps students to grasp almost all the music concepts while doing activities. This study has also provided ideas for teachers to integrate rhythmic movements into the music instructional process.

О феномене киномузыки Сергея Курехина: от механики к аффекту

The article is devoted to the Perestroika conceptual musician Sergey Kuryokhin and his experiments in the field of film music. Two films—The Castle (1994) by Aleksei Balabanov and Three Sisters (1994) by Sergei Solovyov—are analyzed as exemplary situations with music participating in the structuring of a cinematic form. The peculiarities of the dramaturgic construction of The Castle are largely determined by the film’s musical concept. It combines the genre model of opera ballet with a compositional scheme of the moment-form—a principle of free sequence of self-sufficient structures, invented by Karlheinz Stockhausen. The image of a music box— a visual leitmotif voiced by Kuryokhin’s “mechanical” music—becomes an absurdist metaphor of the social order demonstrated in the film. In Three Sisters, on the other hand, the musicality of the cinematic structure stems from the connection, characteristic of Chekhov’s primary source, of artistic space with the natural universe and the inner intonation of the verbal form. This feature of the original play is answered in the film by filling the diegetic space with visual attributes of the elements (snow, fog, autumn leaves) correlated with the off-screen sounds (dripping water, wind, birds), as well as acoustic auratization of space. The sound text in Three Sisters demonstrates the work with romantic intonation clichés inlaid into the flow of the composer’s individual style. The author of the article shows how Kuryokhin’s searches in the field of film music had anticipated the cultural discourse of the metamodern long before it became a cultural trend in the 2010s. For instance, his methods of transforming baroque expressive figures (ornamentation elements and lamento intonations) into repetitive formulas, as well as deliberate simplification of the intonational development and the musical syntax are interpreted in the text as a search for a new artistic affect in the semantic range from New Simplicity to metamodern post-irony.

«БЕЗЫМЯННАЯ ЗВЕЗДА»: МУЗЫКА ЭДИСОНА ДЕНИСОВА В ДИСКУРСАХ НЕОБЫКНОВЕННОЙ ИСТОРИИ

The article addresses the 1978 film Nameless Star (directed by Mikhail Kozakov, music by Edison Denisov) as one of the few examples of on-screen art in which music not only supports the story, but comes to the fore, becoming one of its characters. Naturally enough, in this article, Nameless Star is considered through the lens of its musical concept. The focus is on some of the composer’s individual features that characterize his film music. Among the main ones is Denisov’s fundamental idea about integrating music into a single canvas of a film work, which directly affects its figurative and stylistic characteristics and poetics in general. In this vein, the author analyzes various interpretations of the plot (or, rather, plotlines—the encounters of the main characters, the discovery of a new star, etc.), which have significant divergences in the texts of different authors and direct participants in the filming process; the main semantic points highlighted in the film by keywords (“station”, “diesel-electric locomotive”, etc.); and, finally, the film’s sound and musical design shaping a single line of storytelling. The special role of sound elements (train noise, station bell, etc.) accompanying the narration and endowing it with special thoroughness and authenticity is revealed. It is noted that the dramatic center of the film is an impromptu performance of the Symphony composed by one of the main characters—Mr. Udrea, music teacher. The significance of this artwork in the context of the narration is extremely high: decisive plot turns are associated with the Symphony; it combines intonations and leitmotifs that determine the overall emotional tone of the film. Edison Denisov manages to reproduce Udrea’s intention to the finest detail, creating a nuanced intonation-thematic profile of the Symphony, thanks to, among other things, skillful timbre-rhythmic differentiation. Over and above, he structures musical drama in such a way that during performance of the Symphony, the semantic dominants of the film, embodied in the system of its main sound images, get actualized (theme of the city, Mona’s theme, etc.). In a sense, the music here goes beyond being a mere soundtrack: it becomes an integral part of the plot, penetrating into the words of the heroes (recurring mentioning of the English horn or the story about the structure of the Symphony). Largely thanks to the music, which brings new implications to the film, the romantic comedy appears as a complex, multiplanar work, revealing an unordinary facet in the creative gift of one of the most convinced avant-garde composers of the 20th century.

Reproducing Musicality: Immediate Human-like Musicality Through Machine Learning and Passing the Turing Test

Musicology is a growing focus in computer science. Past research has had success in automatically generating music through learning-based agents that make use of neural networks and through model and rule-based approaches. These methods require a significant amount of information, either in the form of a large dataset for learning or a comprehensive set of rules based on musical concepts. This paper explores a model in which a minimal amount of musical information is needed to compose a desired style of music. This paper takes from two concepts, objectness, and evolutionary computation. The concept of objectness, an idea directly derived from imagery and pattern recognition, was used to extract specific musical objects from single musical inputs which are then used as the foundation to algorithmically produce musical pieces that are similar in style to the original inputs. These musical pieces are the product of evolutionary algorithms which implement a sequential evolution approach wherein a generated output may or may not yet be fully within the fitness thresholds of the input pieces. This method eliminates the need for a large amount of pre-provided data as well as the need for long processing times that are commonly associated with machine-learned art-pieces. This study aims to show a proof of concept of the implementation of the described model.

Towards a prosodic model for Tiberian Hebrew: An intonation-based analysis

This study advances a preliminary framework for conceptualising the prosodic nature and structure of Tiberian Hebrew (TH) represented by the ṭaʿămê hammiqrāʾ through an analysis of an extant Ashkenazi cantillation tradition. The ṭaʿămê hammiqrāʾ (lit. “the senses of the reading [viz. Scripture]”) are notations added by medieval scribes to the written text of the Hebrew Bible to preserve and transmit its oral performance. Modern prosodic theory and the musical concept of conjunct and disjunct melodic motion are used to demonstrate that the ṭaʿămê hammiqrāʾ have a highly structured iconic and intonational basis that organises the system and conforms substantially to Selkirk’s (2000, 2009) cross-linguistic prosodic hierarchy. The intonation-based prosodic model proposed in this study offers a solution to the limitation Dresher (1994, 2013; see also Dresher and DeCaen 2018; DeCaen and Dresher 2020) encounters with the intonational phrase domain of his prosodic model, permitting an alternative analysis of so-called pausal forms as lengthened forms, which can occur at prosodic phrase boundaries regardless of pause. The intonation-based model is tested by assessing how accurately it reflects the cross-linguistic prosodic features of restrictive and nonrestrictive relative clauses. The results indicate that TH distinguishes three prosodic classes of relatives—prosodically marked restrictives, prosodically marked nonrestrictives, and prosodically undifferentiated relatives—findings that accord with Birkner’s (2012) intonation-based study of the prosodic structure of German relative clauses.

The Effect of Research-based Music Classroom Assessment Techniques on the Students' Performance in Flute Recorder Education

This action research study utilized a quasi-experimental design to examine the effect of research-based music classroom assessment techniques on the students' performance in flute recorder education of one group using the pre-test and post-test design. The study used a purposive sampling of 30 eighth grade junior high school students from the eight sections of Espiritu Santo Parochial School of Manila, Inc. The participants were introduced to three research-based music classroom assessment techniques as an academic intervention in their flute recorder music learning such as Instrumental Schematic Processing, Music Concept Memory Exercise, and Five-Letter Name Pitch Memory Test. The results of pre-evaluation and post-evaluation were compared to determine its effect. The results showed that the students had a low performance in the pre-test and there was an increase in the post-test after its utilization with a mean score of 23.00 and a standard deviation of 2.83. The t-value of 12.717 significant at p < .01 has a significant difference in the performance of the students in flute recorder education. The computed value of normalized gain was 0.469 inferred to a moderate gain on the students' scores. The research-based music classroom assessment techniques as an academic intervention showed positive implications on the students' music learning and performance in flute recorder education. It could also be used as part of an integral domain in assessment and evaluation of learning intended to introduce the classroom teacher and prospective teacher to those elements of measurement and assessment essentials for effective teaching.

Lareh Koto Piliang: Systems of Governmental Power and Bronze Music in the Study of the Concept of Musical Aesthetics in Luhak Nan Tigo Minangkabau

This article aims to reveal the concept of Lareh Koto Piliang: Power Systems and Bronze Music in a Study of the Concept of Musical Aesthetics in Luhak Nan Tigo Minangkabau. Lareh Koto Piliang is oriented towards a monarchy system. It has a main character who has the title Dt. Katumangguangan. As a legendary figure, Dt. Katumangguangan is believed by the community to be a figure who puts an autocratic (monarchic) pattern of power and leadership. The bronze music in this study is talempong bararak (procession) which is played as a musical parade in the presentation of a title for a local leader, and musically consists of three pairs of talempong – talempong jantan, talempong paningkah, and talempong pangawinan. Each of the talempong pairs plays different rhythmic patterns and the combination of the three patterns forms the unique melody of talempong bararak. The issues discussed in this article are : first, the traditional historiography of Lareh Koto Piliang as part of the trilogy of power in Luhak Nan Tigo Minangkabau; second, Lareh Koto Piliang and the concept of bronze music; and third, the musical concept of talempong bararak. A qualitative method involving a close observation of a talempong performance acted as a gateway to in-depth interviews. An interpretative analysis was used to reveal the connection between power and bronze music. The results of the study show a synchronization between power systems and bronze music, represented through the talempong bararak ensemble. Keywords: Lareh Koto Piliang, Bronze Music, Luhak Nan Tigo, Minangkabau, Indonesian Music.

만당의 궁중음악과 정악의 연구 배경 및 개념 규정

만당의 궁중음악과 정악의 연구 배경 및 개념 규정

ОСОБЛИВОСТІ ТВОРЧОЇ ДІЯЛЬНОСТІ ДИРИГЕНТА В ПРОЦЕСІ СТВОРЕННЯ МУЗИЧНОГО СПЕКТАКЛЮ

The purpose of the article is to consider the specifics of the composing work of the conductor in creating a performance in a musical theatre. The methodology of the study is based on the principles of sequential analysis and describes the preparatory stages for musical performance's opening, which are to outline the specifics of conducting work in a musical theatre and is based on the development of a certain creative process during rehearsal time. We have applied the attitude approach and methodological recommendations of artistic handling of a music performance task solution. The scientific novelty of the study is to determine the mechanisms of the staging process during the creation of a new musical performance by preparing musical material, to describe the gradual formation of its components, to analyse the work of the conductor, who determines the semantic concept of musical performances and creates a musical concept. The article reviews and describes a concept of a “seated rehearsal” in detail in the context of the contemporary activities of solo musicians and the conductor, as well as the mechanism for the artistic creation of theatrical action, which lays the solid professional foundation for the stage life of a musical performance. We can state that the process of creating a musical performance has a system of scheduling and distribution of rehearsal time, which is distinctly different from the philharmonic orchestra conductor's work. Conclusions. We have proved that the backgrounds for creating a musical performance by the professional conductor are certain knowledge that is necessary for the successful implementation of the entire production process, its distribution in time and effective use. The individual work of the conductor in the musical theatre is aimed at the consciousness of the creative process with the participation of all the soloists of the play, which determines both the technical level of professionalism and the art figurative focus.

A Piece of Music as a Result of the Artistic Research

In the late 20th and 21st centuries, implementation of artistic research into the educational system has become increasingly intensive, both in the field of art as well as in the fields where arts collaborate with sciences. The subject of the paper is artistic research in the musical arts; how valuable is a piece of music created as a result of research from an artistic and scientific standpoint? The purpose of our study is to identify common and distinctive features of two different types of creative processes. To determine this, we use empirical and comparative research methods. To solve a scientific problem, we set a task - to compare the process of creating a piece with the process of artistic research, which results into a musical work. As artists describe their own creative process best of all, the paper is based on creative experience of Eka Chabashvili – the author of the current paper - as a composer. Two of her works are selected to describe the course and sequence of events that occurred in consciousness during their creation. The artistic process is divided into three main stages: 1) Source of inspiration and formation of the idea; 2) Transformation of the idea into musical notion and projection; 3) Materialization of the musical idea – its realization. Both compositions represent the combination of different components of artistic and technical ideas. Intuitive and rational tasks interchange with each other. The paper aims to determine the intuitive and rational ways of constructing musical concept.

Pieśni masowe Władysława Szpilmana w kontekście dorobku piosenkarskiego kompozytora

The aim of the paper is to analyse songs written by Władysław Szpilman during the socialist realism period in the context of the composer’s songwriting achievements. Szpilman’s first hit songs were published as early as the 1930s, and they were followed by others over a period of nearly half a century. The available archival, phonographic and sheet music sources provide information about more than 300 titles which include popular songs, songs for mass performance, for children, for plays and theatrical broadcasts, films and cabarets. The dominant group is that of popular songs and songs for the stage (on themes of love). The group of songs written during the years 1948–56, regarded as mass songs, has distinctive formal features, different musical conceptions, and alongside the march form it includes mostly dance forms (foxtrots, waltzes, polkas, tangos), with the kind of vitality and musical quality that turned them into popular entertainment pieces often achieving the status of hits. In their textual layer the songs are differentiated as well (themes of rebuilding the country, peace, love, work). Evidence of the reception of mass songs shows that they were regarded positively, often as heartening, described as enslaving in view of the context of the performance of selected songs.Popular songs are also characterised by diversity of form and arrangement, differentiated in terms of performance scoring and style (more than 850 archival records). The variety of musical techniques used in this genre, alongside the songs’ melodiousness, ensure that they have a permanent place in the soundscape of the twentieth century.

My View on Confucius’ Musical Aesthetics

During the Spring and Autumn Period and Warring States Period, the ideology environment was severe. Hundreds of scholars competed and argued, and they all used their own musical concepts and aesthetic consciousness to influence social life. Confucius was one of them. As we all know, Confucius was the great pre-Qin period thinker, politician, and educator of etiquette and music. His achievements in music aesthetics are different from other schools of “contend of a hundred schools of thought”. Confucius’s aesthetic thoughts are actually the aesthetic thoughts he formed in the practice of ritual and music education. This article discusses his musical spirit, the aesthetic propositions of “benevolence”, “perfect perfection”, “neutrality”, and music education.