Historical Hermeneutics of Musical Styles

The relevance of the study of the historical hermeneutics of musical styles is determined by the need to find a philosophical basis for changing the cultural paradigm and the desire to return classical canons to musical art in particular. The aim of the work is to analyse the characteristic features of the interpretation of musical styles in accordance with the principles of historical hermeneutics on the example of jazz music. The research was conducted in two stages on the basis of interdisciplinary, systematic and hermeneutical approaches using general scientific methods of cognition: analysis, synthesis, systematization, comparison and ascent from the abstract to the concrete. In the process of scientific research, the views of researchers on the interpretation and understanding of hermeneutics in the context of musical art were considered; a general characteristic of the hermeneutics of musical styles in accordance with historical and philosophical prerequisites was given; the main elements of the theoretical model of musical philosophy of interpretation, which include critical interpretation, the purpose of interpretation, compatibility with description and limitation by requirements were described; the author’s concept of interpretation of musical styles, formed at three levels, were proposed; the characteristics of the hermeneutics of jazz style, in particular the presence of musical improvisational discourse, historical duality, transcendentality of content and form, advertising integration are determined; the article summarizes the specifics of jazz in accordance with two components: the European harmonic system and the fret principles of blues intonation, which made it possible to identify and generalize the theory of interpretation of jazz in the historical and philosophical paradigm. The practical value of scientific work consists in providing a comprehensive hermeneutical base of jazz style in order to further improve the practical application of musical style by teachers, students, musicians and specialists in the field of musical art.

‘Empfindsamer Stil’ And Its Literary Connections: A Cue To Music Instruction

Empfindsamer Stil is a German expression whose meaning has historically been debated as either a “human emotional disposition” or “a musical style”. This descriptive bibliographic study seeks to investigate the historical development of Empfindsamer Stil, its application in musical contexts, as well as its nexus with literacy works, to inform music instruction. Given the COVID-19 pandemic research environment, most of the data were collected virtually and reported thematically. Findings indicate that Empfindsamer Stil is characterized by an emphasis on the expression of a variety of deeply felt emotions within a musical work, with Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach being the principal exponent. The study also reveals that historians of philosophy across time failed to agree on the meaning of the term Empfindsamer Stil. It was therefore concluded that language is dynamic and evolving. Music educators must ensure to explore the history-contextual significance of musical terminologies, especially those that may be alien within the specific musico-cultural milieu of the learner. Also, in teaching, applying, and assessing lessons involving terminologies, music teachers must take a cue from specific historical epochs and cultures to maximize relevance and fairness. Future studies in music history, in correlation with modern psychology and literary works, will therefore help clarify further whether the term Empfindsamer Stil is best explained as a phenomenon of human emotional disposition or a musical style. Also, more research will better explain the interdependent coexistence of music and various literary works.

Style as a Topical Category of Modern Musicology and Music Education

"The aim of the work is to arrange the scientific achievements on the category of “musical performing style” and identify mechanisms for practical testing of theoretical provisions in the pedagogical activities of higher musical education institutions. The research methodology is based on a combination of general scientific and musicological approaches, in particular: system approach hermeneutic, historical, comparative, genre-style, interpretive method, as well as performance analysis. The results of the study indicate that domestic art schools were formed by synthesizing several national and historical style traditions. Music and performance schools were actively developing in parallel with the compositional work in Ukraine in the second half of the twentieth century; the work of representatives of those schools presents a fairly wide range of style research. A natural result of the studied problem of musical performing style should be its transfer to the practical plane of professional education of musicians and performers, formation of musical style competence in students. Kotlyarevsky Kharkiv National University of Arts was selected as an experimental platform for its formation. During 2019-2021, a pedagogical experiment continued to test the formation of musical and style thesaurus, performance and intellectual skills, professionally important qualities of music students. In the context of studying of different styles in the system of musical performance by the students of higher music education institutions, it is important that the art of music is constantly evolving and new directions and trends in music styles emerge almost every day in Ukraine and the world as a whole. This undoubtedly makes the need for further research on this issue urgent (usually with the use of advanced domestic and foreign experience in music education). Keywords: Style. Category. Art. Musical work. Musicology. Music education. Educational process. Organizational and methodological system."

Eseistyczna chopinologia Piotra Wierzbickiego

Piotr Wierzbicki’s deep interest in Chopin’s music has been revealed in his volumes of essays published since 1993. What appears to make his music writings exceptional in comparison with other Polish essays dealing with Chopin’s life and work is the prevailing concentration on particular pieces or even single performances chosen by famous pianists. Wierzbicki develops his project of extradisciplinary essayistic Chopinology that blends together the musicological knowledge, critical involvement, philosophical reflection and highly individual psychosomatic experience. Having stated a fundamental difficulty of ‘translating’ sounds into words, he tries to elaborate a ‘musical’ style and form for his writing, e.g. he includes ekphrases full of metaphors and synesthetic figures. This wide array of music-centred properties encourages readers to treat these essays as a starting point for coming up with the question of whether it is possible to differentiate a type of ‘musical’ essay.

MUSIC GENERATION USING DEEP LEARNING

We examine how lengthy short-term memory neural networks (NNs) may be utilised to create music compositions and offer a method for doing so in this study. Bach's musical style was chosen to train the NN in order for it to make similar music works. The recommended method converts midi files to song files before encoding them as NN inputs. Before feeding the files into the NNs, they are augmented, which converts them into distinct keys, and then they are fed into the NN for training. The final phase is the creation of music. The primary purpose is to assign an arbitrary note to the NN, which it will gradually modify until it produces a good piece of music. Several tests have been conducted in order to identify the ideal parameter values for producing good music. Keywords: lstm, music generation, deep learning, machine learning, neural networks

Effects of familiarity with musical style on music-evoked emotions: An EEG study

Learning mechanisms have been postulated to be one of the primary reasons why different individuals have similar or different emotional responses to music. While existing studies have largely examined mechanisms related to learning in terms of cultural familiarity or recognition, few studies have conceptualized it in terms of an individual’s level of familiarity with musical style, which could be a better reflection of an individual’s composite musical experiences. Therefore, the current study aimed to bridge this research gap by investigating the electrophysiological correlates of the effects of familiarity with musical style on music-evoked emotions. 49 non-musicians listened to 12 musical excerpts of a familiar musical style (Japanese animation soundtracks) and eight musical excerpts of an unfamiliar musical style (Greek Laïkó music) with their eyes closed as electroencephalography is being recorded. Participants rated their felt emotions after each musical excerpt is played. Behavioral ratings showed that music of the familiar musical style was felt as significantly more pleasant as compared to the unfamiliar musical style while no significant differences in arousal were observed. In terms of brain activity, music of the unfamiliar musical style elicited higher (1) theta power in all brain regions (including frontal midline), (2) alpha power in frontal region, and (3) beta power in fronto-temporo-occipital regions as compared to the familiar musical style. This is interpreted to reflect the need for greater attentional resources when listening to music of an unfamiliar style, where listeners are less familiar with the syntax and structure of the music as compared to music of a familiar style. In addition, classification analysis showed that unfamiliar and familiar musical styles can be distinguished with 67.86% accuracy, Thus, clinicians should consider the musical profile of the client when choosing an appropriate selection of music in the treatment plan, so as to achieve better efficacy.

From Boy Band to Man Band

The chapter begins by considering descriptions of aging boy bands as “man bands.” Taking an interest in the discouraging rhetoric that describes aging masculinities as in a state of decline, the author focuses on the post-reunion career of Take That. Two distinct events in the band’s history serve as the chapter’s focal points: 1) the 2010 release of Progress, the only album to see the whole group reunited since Robbie Williams’ first departure from the band in 1995; and 2) the 2017 release of Wonderland, which was the second album offered by the group as a trio following the departure of Jason Orange and Williams (for the second time). In promoting Progress, the group pursued contemporary trends in pop production and musical style while simultaneously aligning themselves to “rockist” ideas of authenticity and musicianship (even if certain boy band conventions were upheld). Following the release of Wonderland, and in the music video New Day (2017), Take That demonstrated how boy band clichés can be mobilized to signal dissent from gender norms. During this period, the group appeared to embrace banality and self-irony as a means for resisting stagnation and assimilation. By comparing these two moments in the band’s history, the chapter accounts for Take That’s contrasting approaches to navigating the multiplicity of meanings attached to the concepts of age and aging, thus providing new insights into the relationship between masculinity and maturation in pop music.

“I’m gonna lose my strength, I’m gonna seize and die, And all that Jazz”! Neurological diseases in jazz legends

ABSTRACT Even though jazz is a musical style that excels in improvisation and virtuosity, it is not without its share of anecdotes, drama, and downright tragedy, and the biographies of jazz musicians and their demise are fraught with ominous and dire straits. Unsurprisingly, some would develop chronic and fatal diseases. The neurological diseases that afflicted the following six composers and musicians, all of whom are considered jazz legends, are briefly discussed: Charles Mingus, diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; Lester Young and Charlie Parker, both diagnosed with neurosyphilis; Thelonius Monk, who had possible frontotemporal dementia; George Gershwin, who died as a result of brain glioma; and Cole Porter, who developed phantom limb pain following an amputation. The association of lifestyles, with drug abuse, particularly alcohol and heroin, in addition to great sexual promiscuity factors contributed to the development of a series of diseases such as syphilis. In addition, we also described some fatalities such as neurodegenerative diseases and cerebral glioma.

Afterglow: Belonging, diversity, and emotional expression in barbershop singing in Wellington, New Zealand

<p>Over the last three years, since the development of the Barbershop Harmony Society’s “Everyone in Harmony” inclusivity and diversification initiative, barbershop singing networks have increasingly broken down systems of class, gender and race. Despite a history of conservative and traditionalist musical practice, I argue that participating in barbershop music offers singers in New Zealand opportunities to express themselves and create lasting relationships in increasingly diverse social contexts. In light of this, this thesis explores ideas of belonging, camaraderie, diversity and self-expression in barbershop music in New Zealand, through ethnographic fieldwork conducted with Vocal FX chorus, based in Wellington, New Zealand. This thesis works through these ideas in three ways: I consider historical context and discuss who gets to sing, belong or contribute to barbershop music; I then explore diversity and Māori and Pacific Island influence in barbershop in New Zealand; and I conclude with a discussion of performative emotional expression in the barbershop style, and how that contributes to free and healthy modes of self-expression in a predominantly homo-social male space. These threads combine to display how ideas of belonging – both to an ensemble and to a wider, global style of music – and camaraderie are complex and culturally nuanced concepts in barbershop music contexts. Furthermore, this research displays ways in which established socio-cultural norms in barbershop contexts can be challenged by ensembles working in this musical style. Ethnography, including personal reflection through performative auto-ethnography and memory, informs much of the thesis. I draw on conversations with singers and observations of rehearsals and contests for Vocal FX to narrate many of the ways in which barbershop music works in New Zealand.</p>

Afterglow: Belonging, diversity, and emotional expression in barbershop singing in Wellington, New Zealand

<p>Over the last three years, since the development of the Barbershop Harmony Society’s “Everyone in Harmony” inclusivity and diversification initiative, barbershop singing networks have increasingly broken down systems of class, gender and race. Despite a history of conservative and traditionalist musical practice, I argue that participating in barbershop music offers singers in New Zealand opportunities to express themselves and create lasting relationships in increasingly diverse social contexts. In light of this, this thesis explores ideas of belonging, camaraderie, diversity and self-expression in barbershop music in New Zealand, through ethnographic fieldwork conducted with Vocal FX chorus, based in Wellington, New Zealand. This thesis works through these ideas in three ways: I consider historical context and discuss who gets to sing, belong or contribute to barbershop music; I then explore diversity and Māori and Pacific Island influence in barbershop in New Zealand; and I conclude with a discussion of performative emotional expression in the barbershop style, and how that contributes to free and healthy modes of self-expression in a predominantly homo-social male space. These threads combine to display how ideas of belonging – both to an ensemble and to a wider, global style of music – and camaraderie are complex and culturally nuanced concepts in barbershop music contexts. Furthermore, this research displays ways in which established socio-cultural norms in barbershop contexts can be challenged by ensembles working in this musical style. Ethnography, including personal reflection through performative auto-ethnography and memory, informs much of the thesis. I draw on conversations with singers and observations of rehearsals and contests for Vocal FX to narrate many of the ways in which barbershop music works in New Zealand.</p>