Eliciting Artistry

Chapter 4 addresses teaching techniques that draw artistry out of children. It describes the tender yet robust nature of children’s artistry and advises that how teachers prompt artistry can draw it out of children or send it into its shell. It identifies aspects of the musical context that are necessary for children’s artistry to thrive and encourages teachers to create the emotional as well as musical context within which children’s artistry can flourish. It also offers techniques for prompting the musical mind so that teachers can most effectively communicate with a developing sense of meter and sense of tonality, directing children’s mindset musically as well as emotionally for developing artistry. This chapter facilitates the application of concepts from previous chapters and builds on the motivation generated throughout this book, empowering teachers to uncover the artistry in their own classrooms and children’s choruses, and to champion children’s artistry in the field of music education.

Redefining Groove

Groove is a popular and widely-used concept in the field of music. Yet its precise definition remains elusive. Upon closer inspection, groove appears to be used as an umbrella term with various connotations depending on the musical era, the musical context, and the individual using the term. Our aim in this paper was to explore different definitions and connotations of the term groove so as to reach a more detailed understanding of it. Consequently, in an online survey, 88 participants provided free-text descriptions of the term groove. A thematic analysis revealed that participants’ descriptions fit into three main categories: music-, experience-, and individual differences related aspects. Based upon this analysis, we propose a contemporary working definition of the term groove as used in the field of music psychology: “Groove is a participatory experience (related to immersion, movement, enjoyment, and social connection) resulting from subtle interaction of specific music- (such as time- and pitch-related features), performance- and/or individual difference-related factors.” Furthermore, we propose the terms perceived and induced groove to distinguish the different aspects of groove that are associated with its perceived musical features and induced effects on listeners. Importantly, this specification will permit further research with a common language to refer to distinct aspects of groove and thus create a more profound understanding in groove literature. Finally, we direct future studies to focus on the concept of groove under influence of different variables, such as the roles of individual differences (such as age, expertise and personality traits), execution of overt movements, or presences of others on listeners’ perceived and induced groove experiences. These will further elucidate our understanding of what groove actually is.

Transformations of drum rudiments in jazz performances

<p>A significant part of the training of many performers on the drum set during the last 100 years has involved mastery of drum rudiments and military-style cadences. Consequently, many jazz drummers have built upon such training to develop an individual style that makes use of some of the techniques and rhythms found in these rudiments and drum cadences but which have often been changed or modified in ways that made these rudimental military - style drumming excerpts suitable for their own stylized musical expression. Research Question: Is there evidence in the improvised drum solos of jazz drummers Philly Joe Jones and Steve Gadd to suggest that the rhythmic vocabulary, stickings and techniques they used had their origins in rudimental snare drum cadences, method books and published snare drum solos? If so, how has this content been adapted by each drummer in their musical context(s) to the purpose of communicating their individual approach on the drum set? Method: To propose answers to this question, I have examined representative solos by each of the drummers in my sample and examined those solos for evidence of rudimental content derived from renowned method books, etudes and published solos. Having identified these rudiments (or rudiment-derived ideas) I have sought to identify the possible origins of the rudiments and their transformation to each drummer’s soloing vocabulary. Representative Solos: To select representative solos, I auditioned many recordings by Jones and Gadd. I finally settled on Asiatic Raes, Jazz Me Blues and Joe’s Debut as performed by Philly Jo Jones; Crazy Army and The 11th Commandment as performed by Steve Gadd. These solos, (as I explain in my analysis), are usefully representative of the approaches adopted by the respective drummers and offer a useful window onto the issues this exegesis examines.</p>

Transformations of drum rudiments in jazz performances

<p>A significant part of the training of many performers on the drum set during the last 100 years has involved mastery of drum rudiments and military-style cadences. Consequently, many jazz drummers have built upon such training to develop an individual style that makes use of some of the techniques and rhythms found in these rudiments and drum cadences but which have often been changed or modified in ways that made these rudimental military - style drumming excerpts suitable for their own stylized musical expression. Research Question: Is there evidence in the improvised drum solos of jazz drummers Philly Joe Jones and Steve Gadd to suggest that the rhythmic vocabulary, stickings and techniques they used had their origins in rudimental snare drum cadences, method books and published snare drum solos? If so, how has this content been adapted by each drummer in their musical context(s) to the purpose of communicating their individual approach on the drum set? Method: To propose answers to this question, I have examined representative solos by each of the drummers in my sample and examined those solos for evidence of rudimental content derived from renowned method books, etudes and published solos. Having identified these rudiments (or rudiment-derived ideas) I have sought to identify the possible origins of the rudiments and their transformation to each drummer’s soloing vocabulary. Representative Solos: To select representative solos, I auditioned many recordings by Jones and Gadd. I finally settled on Asiatic Raes, Jazz Me Blues and Joe’s Debut as performed by Philly Jo Jones; Crazy Army and The 11th Commandment as performed by Steve Gadd. These solos, (as I explain in my analysis), are usefully representative of the approaches adopted by the respective drummers and offer a useful window onto the issues this exegesis examines.</p>

Prediction Under Uncertainty: Dissociating Sensory from Cognitive Expectations in Highly Uncertain Musical Contexts

Predictive models in the brain rely on the continuous extraction of regularities from the environment. These models are thought to be updated by novel information, as reflected in prediction error responses such as the mismatch negativity (MMN). However, although in real life individuals often face situations in which uncertainty prevails, it remains unclear whether and how predictive models emerge in high-uncertainty contexts. Recent research suggests that uncertainty affects the magnitude of MMN responses in the context of music listening. However, musical predictions are typically studied with MMN stimulation paradigms based on Western tonal music, which are characterized by relatively high predictability. Hence, we developed an MMN paradigm to investigate how the high uncertainty of atonal music modulates predictive processes as indexed by the MMN and behavior. Using MEG in a group of 20 subjects without musical training, we demonstrate that the magnetic MMN in response to pitch, intensity, timbre, and location deviants is evoked in both tonal and atonal melodies, with no significant differences between conditions. In contrast, in a separate behavioral experiment involving 39 non-musicians, participants detected pitch deviants more accurately and rated confidence higher in the tonal than in the atonal musical context. These results indicate that contextual tonal uncertainty modulates processing stages in which conscious awareness is involved, although deviants robustly elicit low-level pre-attentive responses such as the MMN. The achievement of robust MMN responses, despite high tonal uncertainty, is relevant for future studies comparing groups of listeners' MMN responses to increasingly ecological music stimuli.

When Music Speaks: An Acoustic Study of the Speech Surrogacy of the Nigerian Dùndún Talking Drum

Yorùbá dùndún drumming is an oral tradition which allows for manipulation of gliding pitch contours in ways that correspond to the differentiation of the Yorùbá linguistic tone levels. This feature enables the drum to be employed as both a musical instrument and a speech surrogate. In this study, we examined four modes of the dùndún talking drum, compared them to vocal singing and talking in the Yorùbá language, and analyzed the extent of microstructural overlap between these categories, making this study one of the first to examine the vocal surrogacy of the drum in song. We compared the fundamental frequency, timing pattern, and intensity contour of syllables from the same sample phrase recorded in the various communicative forms and we correlated each vocalization style with each of the corresponding drumming modes. We analyzed 30 spoken and sung verbal utterances and their corresponding drum and song excerpts collected from three native Yorùbá speakers and three professional dùndún drummers in Nigeria. The findings confirm that the dùndún can very accurately mimic microstructural acoustic temporal, fundamental frequency, and intensity characteristics of Yorùbá vocalization when doing so directly, and that this acoustic match systematically decreases for the drumming modes in which more musical context is specified. Our findings acoustically verify the distinction between four drumming mode categories and confirm their acoustical match to corresponding verbal modes. Understanding how musical and speech aspects interconnect in the dùndún talking drum clarifies acoustical properties that overlap between vocal utterances (speech and song) and corresponding imitations on the drum and verifies the potential functionality of speech surrogacy communications systems.

Sergei Rachmaninoff’ Variations on a Theme of Chopin: Genre and Style Interactions

The article highlights various aspects of the stylistic interaction process within the variation genre in Rachmaninoff’ piano works on the example of Variations on the Theme of Chopin. The relevance of the study is in the emphasis on interpretation aspects in the process of creating a performance version of a musical work. The mutual influences of the artist’s performing and compositional creativity are considered. The range of stylistic appeals to different layers of the musical context of the work is determined. The ways of interrelations with tradition are presented in combination with the semantic coordinates of the hypothetical references to performance repertoire of Rachmaninoff-pianist. Methodology. In considering Variations of the Theme of Chopin to reflect the interaction of Rachmaninoff’ performing and composing creativity, the principles of structural-functional, genre-style, performing and system analysis methods are applied. This allows deepening the interpretation potential of the work. How the study was done. This perspective of scientific attention to Variations on the theme of Chopin by Rachmaninoff in the organic combination of stylistic contexts of his composition and performance determines the scientific novelty of the study. The integration of various levels of interpretation in the pianist’s work process is especially relevant for performing a complex work of the piano top repertoire. Main objective of the study. The purpose of this article is to study this stylistic polyphony, the intersection of Rachmaninoff’ style with the piano style of previous eras and the influence of the composer’s performance experience on the process of building the texture of the work. The focus of the research is genre-style interactions in Chopin’s Variations on the levels of composer and performer’s interpretation and the main models of working with external texts that the author uses in the work. Results and conclusions. The whole layer of hypothetical references of the work to the performance of Rachmaninoff-pianist continues the rather real lines of interrelations with tradition, which reflected in the theme and the intonation plan of the forming of the variation cycle. Each of the variations of the cycle reveals clear allusions to the range of certain author’s works of the composer and a number of opuses from his huge repertoire. The variant circle deploying on the principle of increasing distance from the primary source by figurative definition, genre and style metamorphoses, structural features. In the meantime, composer keep connection with the Chopin theme in each part of the cycle (sometimes only at the micro-intonational level). Rachmaninoff created a symphonic poem for piano. Its scale, dynamics of unfolding, polyphonic plasticity and the beauty of piano colours inspirited by Chopin musical word. Significance. Therefore, Variations on a Theme of Chopin completes a number of variation masterpieces from beginning of 20th century. The finding results of this research can be used especially in the piano performing field.

Sound Embodiment of Rene Eespere’s Piano Cycles: Experience of Performance Analysis

The novelty of the article lies in expanding knowledge about the contemporary outstanding musicians using the example of the performance analysis of the piano cycles of the Estonian composer Rene Eespere in the context of their sound embodiment. The purpose of the article is to identify the specificity of the sound embodiment of R. Eespere’s piano cycles: “4 ostinato” and “24 preludes” (first book). The research methodology is based on an integrated approach that combines the principle of musical-theoretical and performance analysis, which are necessary for solving the tasks set in the article. Results and conclusions. The article examines the creativity of the Estonian composer Rene Eespere on the example of his piano cycles “4 ostinato” and “24 preludes” (first book). The paper detects the key tasks that arise before the performer and contribute to the sound embodiment of the proposed compositions. The basis for this research was the personal performance experience of the article’s author; work in the class of Professor S. Yushkevich; audio and video recordings of piano cycles, as well as direct communication with R. Eespere in the format of electronic correspondence. The article reveals the main features of his composer style, which synthesizes the traditions of Western European and national culture. In addition, the work shows R. Eespere’s gravitation towards minimalism in music. Ostinato is a characteristic manifestation of the composer’s creative thinking in these piano cycles. This compositional technique determines the different emotional orientation of each piece. The article also examines the variants of texture formulas in the proposed piano opuses, which require mobility from the performer in changing pianistic techniques. Analytical study of these works made it possible to identify the following performance tasks: the stability of intricate rhythmic complexes, subtle dynamic nuances, timbre variety, moderate pedalling, as well as the use of expressive key touch. In general, the sound embodiment of the piano cycles of the Estonian composer R. Eespere brings out new facets in understanding of musical context and contributes to the formation of a performance experience so valuable for the development of modern piano art.