Heritage Value of the Malayness Socio-Cultural Symbols in Millennium Artist Series of Arts: A Research Analysis in Semiotics

This study explains the analysis of the semiotics in the painting artworks of the Din Omar, who focuses on the forms of heritage values in his creations. This study is also important for the documentation of the Malay culture, which has customary and culturally-related elements, where the human value is given a touch of heritage elements, as portrayed in the production of the serial works Tepak Sirih Series, Tepak Sirih: Menanti Tetamu siri 5, and Ukiran Indah di Puncak Indah by Din Omar. The study looks into more details the description of the meaning of semiotic approach analysis by Ferdinand De Saussure, which is interview with the curator and analysis of three selected artworks. The researchers are also providing exposure to elements behind the cultural materials, such as the Tepak Siri Series, Tepak Sirih: Menanti Tetamu Siri 5, and Ukiran Indah di Puncak Indah. The findings of the study revealed that the Tepak Sirih series artwork possesses the value of non-verbal communication in community engagements and weddings. The legacy and Malay culture in the Tepak Sirih: Menanti Tetamu siri 5 work carries the meaning of customary wealth in official ceremonies, but not suitable for arbitrary activities. In the Ukiran Indah DiPuncak Indah artwork, Hulu Keris Patah Tiga gives the meaning of a Malay traditional weapon used to complement Raja sehari or the Malay wedding dress. Para pandai besi produced a dagger with a Malay identity and spiritual elements which will not be extinct and is always kept as national treasures. Received: 29 March 2021 / Accepted: 23 June 2021 / Published: 8 July 2021

Sounding Structure, Structured Sound

The chapter addresses compositional strategies in works by Arvo Pärt unifying his different creative periods. The impetus of early Flemish polyphony, which is present in the Symphony No. 3 (1971) and in the first tintinnabuli pieces (1976) is predicted in some of his earliest compositions: Pärt sought equality between the horizontal and vertical dimensions and the maximal structural reduction of composition since his serial works in 1963. The other focus of this chapter is on the specific relation of verbal text and music. The similar mathematical method for structuring music around the accents and number of syllables in words, such as is common in Pärt’s text-based tintinnabuli compositions, is difficult to find in any other examples of composed music, but the connection is prevalent in liturgical chanting. One parallel comes from Conrad Beissel (1691–1768)—the founder of a pietistic community in Pennsylvania and the author of a singular system of harmony for his hymns.

The Twelve Tones

Serialism retains its cachet as one of the most severe, learned styles to have been developed in the last one hundred years. Adès seldom uses serialism on its own, but rather in concert with other compositional techniques. For example, he opens The Four Quarters (2010) with a striking juxtaposition of serialism and isorhythm. In a somewhat different vein, Adès relies on what he calls a “magnetic” approach to serialism in Polaris (2010), which artfully masks intricate row relations behind a gradually additive structure. Taken as a whole, Adès’s serial works demonstrate his comfort with not only the history and techniques of serialism, but also the potential for certain strict compositional styles to achieve particular affective ends in diverse contexts.

Thirty-Six Views of X: Variations on a Theme Reveal Individual artistsʼ Approaches to Composition

How do artists position the key element of their composition? Is this choice random, or does it follow rules? I propose that a fruitful domain for studying key element framing is found in suitable serial works having a strong thematic homogeneity. What characterizes such series is that they might be regarded as variations on a theme by the same artist, allowing meaningful assessments of random variations while keeping other factors approximately constant. In this work, I report two studies on series originally inspired by 19th century Japanese prints (Hokusaiʼs Thirty-six views of Mount Fuji) and later revisited, in similar form, both in later Japanese works and at the beginnings of the 20th and then 21st centuries in Europe. I call this database of images Thirty-six views of X. Results do not support framing according to a centring bias or to ‘power’ points or lines defined by known principles of composition, suggesting that key element framing shows an overall bias for moderate asymmetry, that this bias is modulated by individual and cultural differences, and that there may be an additional effect of print aspect ratio.

Serial fiction podcasting and participatory culture: Fan influence and representation in The Adventure Zone

New media affords significant opportunities for audience feedback and participation, with the power to influence the creation and development of contemporary works of fiction, particularly when these appear in serialized instalments. With access to creators permitted via social media, and with online platforms facilitating the creation and distribution of audience paratexts, fans increasingly have the power to shape the fictional worlds and diversity of the characters found within the series they enjoy. A noteworthy and understudied example is fiction podcasting, an emerging form that draws on conventions of established media such as radio and television. Despite the recent surge in the popularity of podcasts, little scholarly attention has been given to the format, except to discuss it as either a continuation of radio programming or part of a transmedia landscape for texts which are centred in media such as television and film. This article argues that fiction podcasting offers unique affordances for creating serial works of fiction, taking The Adventure Zone as a case study which demonstrates the power of successful participatory culture. The podcast has grown from modest beginnings to acquire a considerable and passionate fan network, has diversified into other media forms, and, though available for free, is financially supporting its creators and raising substantial amounts of money for charities. Crucial in its success is the creators’ cultivation of an inclusive environment for fans, and a constant attempt to feature characters representative of a diversity of gender and sexual identities, particularly those typically excluded from other science fiction worlds. This article argues that The Adventure Zone and the format of fiction podcasting demonstrate a shift in contemporary culture, away from established mass media programming and towards a participatory, transmedia, fan-focused form of storytelling which utilizes the unique advantages of new media technologies in its creation, development, and distribution.

Title Change Characteristics of Academic and Nonacademic Serials: Implications for Identifying New Serial Works

The study compared the characteristics of academic and nonacademic serials with title changes, from which it was determined that the two serial subpopulations were similar in the six broad reasons found for a title change but differed in the kinds and proportions of subject and function changes that occurred when a title changed. On the basis of the findings, two alternate RDA rule revision proposals are made (labeled Ideal versus Practical), the first requiring a new access point for a title change only when a significant subject or function change has occurred, and the second requiring a new access point only when the publisher has indicated the start of a totally new serial. It is further recommended that reasons for title changes be determined from statements in the serial or directly from the editor or publisher rather than from word changes in the title.

“On the System of Stravinsky’s Harmony” by Yuri Kholopov

Yuri Kholopov is generally regarded as the foremost Russian music theorist in the latter half of the twentieth century. Though he published articles in a wide array of topics, he was happiest when discussing twentieth-century concepts; it was to this end that he devoted a large part of his life’s work. The essay by Kholopov translated in the present article is from 1997, six years before he died. There are several significant points that he makes with respect to Stravinsky’s music. First, Kholopov links a quotation from Stravinsky on harmony to Sergei Taneev’s Invertible Counterpoint in the Strict Style, thus suggesting that by borrowing ideas from Taneev, the Petersburg-based Stravinsky was influenced by the Moscow-based Taneev. This speaks to a possible Russian influence on Stravinsky aside from Rimsky-Korsakov, whose influence on Stravinsky is not in doubt. Second, Kholopov posits a new fundamental “neotonality” in Stravinsky’s music, which exhibits a “central element” (CE) to which all other tones gravitate. Third, Kholopov’s work situates octatonicism into a broader framework of Stravinsky’s compositional practices. Ultimately, it is but one aspect of this music and is not emphasized as a fundamental structural element in Stravinsky’s music, as it is in writings by Arthur Berger, Pieter van den Toorn, and Richard Taruskin, for example. Fourth, in the section on polarity, Kholopov posits that when Stravinsky uses this term in relation to his music, he may have meant to say “stability,” which was a term from the writings of Boleslav Yavorsky that most Russian musicians knew in the early twentieth century. This reinterpretation of polarity sheds new light on this most important concept in Stravinsky studies. Lastly, there is the idea that Stravinsky was, in fact, a serial composer for his entire life. Of course, Stravinsky famously claimed so himself late in life; Kholopov solidifies this claim, traces the evolution of Stravinsky’s serial works, and finds an intriguing four-note series in Firebird.