Resonance. (Re)forming an Artistic Identity through Intercultural Dialogue and Collaboration

This artistic doctoral research examines how the third space emerging from intercultural dialogue and transcultural collaboration can be a catalyst for new musical discoveries, intercultural humility, and the (re)forming of artistic identities. The body of this project is centred around three doctoral concerts, a CD/LP recording, and a documentary film which took place between 2016 and 2021. In addition, I draw on the embodied experience of a five-year period that I spent living and collaborating with musicians and dancers in Tanzania and Zambia prior to the doctoral project.As a double bass player, multi-instrumentalist, and composer, I place myself in a series of different musical and multi-arts contexts, engaging in dialogue with musicians, dancers, and visual artists from Brazil, Colombia, Estonia, Finland, France, Madagascar, Mexico, Poland, Sápmi, Tanzania, the UK and Zambia. Various solo, duo, and ensemble settings act as case studies to examine how this process takes place, the new knowledge gained from the collaborations and their resulting artistic outcomes, and the effects of intercultural dialogue, collaboration, and co-creation on my own artistic identity. The instruments and forms of artistic expression used by my collaborators include the Brazilian berimbau, Chinese guzheng, dance, live electronics, experimental instrument making, Finnish Saarijärvi kantele, Sámi joik, vocals, percussion, live visuals, image manipulation, animation, photography and film.The key concepts that I investigate in this research are: artistic identity, global citizenship, hybridity, interculturalism, intercultural humility, liminality, third space theory, and resonance, the latter being viewed both as a physical phenomenon and as an approach to thinking about the ways in which we connect with the world around us. This research contributes to new knowledge and understandings in the areas of artistic identity formation, intercultural collaboration and interculturalism in music education through the interweaving of artistic processes, audio, video, photographs, artistic outcomes and text.Findings emerge in terms of new musical discoveries that surface from the dynamic third space created through transcultural collaboration; the expanding and deepening of musicianship through intercultural dialogue and collaboration; the interconnected nature of interculturalism in music and its reliance on openness, empathy, dialogue and constantnegotiation with sonic material, people and place; and the crucial role of fluidity and resonance in forming a personal artistic identity.Further research outcomes include new techniques and the expansion of the sonic palette of the double bass, enabled by developing custom-made attachments, preparations and electronic manipulation. The complete scope of this doctoral project includes four artistic components (three concerts and a recording), a documentary film and an artistic doctoral thesis comprising two peer-reviewed articles and an integrative chapter, all housed within the main multi-media exposition, Resonance: (Re)forming an Artistic Identity through Intercultural Dialogue and Collaboration.

Musical Representation of The Religious Message in Zoltán Gárdonyi’s Három Nagyheti Kép (Three Holy Week Events)

"Zoltán Gárdonyi (1906-1986) composed his work entitled Három Nagyheti Kép (Three Holy Week Events) in 1966. At that time, he was a professor at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music, in Budapest. He composed the work for organ and a string ensemble (1st violin, 2nd violin, viola, cello, double bass). The work has three movements, as the title Három Nagyheti Kép (Three Holy Week Events) suggests. This paper analyses the work in question in detail, from a harmonic and formal point of view. Keywords: Gárdonyi Zoltán, Három Nagyheti Kép, Three Holy Week Events, organ, strings, harmony, forms, structure, religious message "

New Zealand Works for Contrabassoon

<p>The contrabassoon is seldom thought of as a solo instrument. Throughout the long history of contraregister double-reed instruments the assumed role has been to provide a foundation for the wind chord, along the same line as the double bass does for the strings. Due to the scale of these instruments - close to six metres in acoustic length, to reach the subcontra B flat’’, an octave below the bassoon’s lowest note, B flat’ - they have always been difficult and expensive to build, difficult to play, and often unsatisfactory in evenness of scale and dynamic range, and thus instruments and performers are relatively rare. Given this bleak outlook it is unusual to find a number of works written for solo contrabassoon by New Zealand composers. This exegesis considers the development of contra-register double-reed instruments both internationally and within New Zealand, and studies five works by New Zealand composers for solo contrabassoon, illuminating what it was that led them to compose for an instrument that has been described as the 'step-child' or 'Cinderella' of both the wind chord and instrument makers.</p>

New Zealand Works for Contrabassoon

<p>The contrabassoon is seldom thought of as a solo instrument. Throughout the long history of contraregister double-reed instruments the assumed role has been to provide a foundation for the wind chord, along the same line as the double bass does for the strings. Due to the scale of these instruments - close to six metres in acoustic length, to reach the subcontra B flat’’, an octave below the bassoon’s lowest note, B flat’ - they have always been difficult and expensive to build, difficult to play, and often unsatisfactory in evenness of scale and dynamic range, and thus instruments and performers are relatively rare. Given this bleak outlook it is unusual to find a number of works written for solo contrabassoon by New Zealand composers. This exegesis considers the development of contra-register double-reed instruments both internationally and within New Zealand, and studies five works by New Zealand composers for solo contrabassoon, illuminating what it was that led them to compose for an instrument that has been described as the 'step-child' or 'Cinderella' of both the wind chord and instrument makers.</p>

Genre and style specifics of Sonata for Double Bass and Piano by Paul Hindemith

Statement of the problem. The works of Paul Hindemith, one of the most outstanding composers of the twentieth century, is distinguished by its universality. P. Hindemith is known as the author of a large number of sonatas for various instruments, among which is Sonata for Double Bass and Piano. The genre and style specificity of P. Hindemith’s chamber sonatas cannot be considered in isolation from the peculiarities of the instruments chosen by the composer, the sound image of which contributed to the formation of certain specific genre features. Sonata for Double Bass and Piano, which became the culmination of the development of double bass music in the composer’s work, can be considered indicative in this respect. Analysis of recent research and publications. There is a great deal of research works devoted to P. Hindemit’s compositions, particularly chamber sonatas, as well as to the peculiarities of his style. One of the most fundamental works is the monograph by T. Levaya and O. Leontieva (1974), which deals with the works of the composer. Among other researchers who turned to the work of Hindemith, we should mention B. Asafev (1975), V. Polyakov (1987), T. Morgunova (2000), V. Batanov (2016). Despite the fact that the stylistic and genre principles of P. Hindemith’s work are outlined in detail in the works of domestic musicologists, most researchers have overlooked the Sonata for Double Bass and Piano by P. Hindemith, which certainly deserves a detailed analytical understanding both in the context of the genre and in terms of the development of double bass performance. Main objective of the study. Today, Sonata for Double Bass and Piano by Paul Hindemith, the performance of which requires significant technical and artistic skill from double bass players, occupies an important place in the double bass repertoire, which is why this article is relevant. The purpose of the article is to determine the genre and style specifics of Sonata for Double Bass and Piano by P. Hindemith in order to further understand the development of solo and orchestral double bass means of expression and rapidly increase the repertoire for double bass in modern art. The scientific novelty of the article lies in the insufficient study of P.Hindemith’s double bass work in the context of Ukrainian double bass school. As a result of the structural-compositional and genre analysis it was possible to conclude about the uniqueness of Sonata for Double Bass and Piano by P. Hindemith as a vivid example of the composer’s search for non-standard means of expression, which lies in choosing the timbre of the solo instrument and the specifics of formative factors. The research methodology includes the following scientific methods: &#9679; historiographic approach (in the aspect of clarifying the data on the double bass compositions by P. Hindemith); &#9679; stylistic approach (in connection with the study of the composer’s work); &#9679; genre approach (which is necessary for referring to certain genres of P. Hindemith’s work); ек &#9679; structural and functional approach (which is used in analytical descriptions); &#9679; comparative, which is applied in connection with the study of different editions of Sonata for Double Bass and Piano by P. Hindemith. Results. In the course of the study, a detailed structural and compositional analysis of P. Hindemith’s Sonata for Double Bass and Piano was carried out, as well as a comparative analysis of two editions of this sonata. The filling of the classical sonata form with modern musical language, the appeal to the means of polyphonic music, the introduction of the genre features of the instrumental concerto, the traditional German song Lied and operatic intonations make this work a vivid example of neoclassicism in the repertoire of double bass players around the world. The varied palette of lines and the flexibility of the imaginative sphere of the Sonata generalize the long-term composer’s search for individual means of expression in contrabass music. Conclusions. The result of the evolutionary path traversed by the double bass from a modest instrument of a symphony orchestra to a brilliant solo instrument was Sonata for Double Bass and Piano – a vivid example of P. Hindemith’s chamber work, which embodied the features of the composer’s mature period. Sonata for Double Bass and Piano by P. Hindemith poses difficult technical and artistic tasks for the performers, the solution of which must be associated not only with the use of all the skills and abilities of the musician, but also with a deep understanding of the internal structure and specifics of the compositional and dramatic solution of the author’s intention.