Descriptions of improvisational thinking by expert musicians trained in different cultural traditions

Research about improvisation often focuses on one musical tradition. The current study investigated descriptions of thinking behind improvisation in different cultural traditions through interviews with advanced improvisers residing in a metropolitan area in the United States. The participants were rigorously trained in their tradition and have performance experience within it. However, as immigrants they are experienced in communicating with Western audiences and conversant in Western ways of thinking about music. Immediately after completing the improvisation, each participant listened to a recording and looked at its visual representation, while describing the underlying thinking. The visual representation showed pitch contour and note length without reference to any notational system. A thematic analysis revealed eight main themes: Licks and Conventions describe how prelearned material and convention guided creation; Reaction, Forward Looking, and Repetition & Variety outline various processes that shape creation in the moment; and Aesthetics, Communication, and Emotion provide clues to the improvisers’ motivation behind choices. Interestingly, the use of prelearned patterns appear to facilitate improvisations in all the traditions represented. This and other identified strategies appearing cross-culturally may be shaped by shared cognitive constraints. These shared strategies may also facilitate understanding as educators broaden their curricula to multiple musical traditions.

Popularization of M. Fedoriv’s creativity by modern leaders of the music culture diaspora in Canada

The purpose of the article is an esthetic and cultural analysis of art by M. Fedoriv in the projection of performing practice the contemporary figures of musical culture in the diaspora. Methodology. To achieve the set objective was used comparative-historical, culturological, axiological theoretical and methodological approaches, also biographical and art history methods of scientific knowledge, which directed on the disclosure of the immanent features of investigated products of the creative activity of the personalities in this scientific research; determining the significance of M. Fedoriv’s in the context of the development of Ukrainian musical culture of the 20th century. The scientific novelty of the work consists in applying cultural products of the music industry (gramophone record, CDs), as elements in the source base of research in methodology comparative analysis performance-conducting interpretation of the musical heritage of the composer in the context into the professional activity of Canadian musicians. Conclusions. M. Fedoriv is a representative of the highly professional musicians from the diaspora, which multi-vector activity is marked by the upturn of the basic form of cultural identification. In order to convey the historical authenticity of the national musical tradition of liturgical singing, he researched and published church-religious tunes of the practice of worship in Ukraine, which stoped the total simplification in the performance of canonical chants in the churches of the diaspora. Reaching our time, the popularization of M. Fedoriv's work was possible thanks to the performance and production work of M. Maksymiv and R. Hurko. Thus, in except to the rotation of the digitized album «Jerusalem Matins» by M. Fedoriv on the air of foreign radio broadcasters: CBC (Canada), BBC Radio 3 (Great Britain), M. Maksimiv succeeded to reissue the CD recording of the Liturgy twice and distribute it on social network platforms. However, the precedent of reviving the process of integrating the composer's heritage into the modern media space is the activity of R. Hurko. However, the precedent of reviving the process of integrating the composer's heritage into the modern media space is the activity of R. Hurko. Under his record label CARO Productions, the artist places the audio content produced by him, the same Liturgy on Youtube, and in the form of a tracklist of a music album on commercial services (Apple Music, Deezer, Spotify). Thus, the planes of the personal activity of M. Maksymov and R. Gurko became an example of representation of dominant features of the nation's cultural genome between different generations of Ukrainians, and M. Fedoriv's work is available to its target audience beyond temporal and any territorial borders.

Ensemble timing and synchronization

Timing and synchronization represent fundamental elements of ensemble playing. Empirical research has demonstrated remarkably tight synchronization in ensembles, including instrumental and classical singing formations. Nevertheless, asynchronies between co-performers during ensemble playing are inevitable and, to some extent, desirable: musicians deliberately co-vary their timing and synchronization to attain mastery in expressive ensemble performance. By reviewing published studies on ensemble synchrony, the contextual factors that may impact synchronization are presented. Considerations of ensemble timing are then broadened to better recognize variations by musical tradition. Ultimately, the chapter reflects on the relationships between intrapersonal and interpersonal synchrony in ensemble, from the lowest levels of the temporal hierarchy, including neural activity, to the higher levels comprising breathing and cardiac activities, and musicians’ body gestures. This overview provides a conceptual framework to explore aspects of context as well as the physiology and the psychology of collective music-making, suggesting a fruitful avenue for further investigations.

The Metrics of Seto Choral Laments in the Context of Runosong Metrics

The aim of this paper is to get an overview of the lament metrics in Seto oral song tradition, which belongs to the southern border area of the Finnic song tradition, and the placement and historical development of lament metrics in the framework of the whole Seto oral song tradition. In the paper the metrical structures of two main genres of Seto choral laments – choral bridal laments and death laments – are analysed that share common features with solo laments and are similar to the structures of Seto runosongs. Metrical structures of the laments are detected based on sound recordings, taking into account the linguistic structure of the lines and the varied realization of it in a musical performance rhythm. The analysis showed that laments’ metrics where 5-unit end structures play an important role, differs the most from the main body of runosongs and is structurally more similar to a group of runosongs with refrains and varying line length. Outlining the development patterns of the metrical system of Seto songs, the influences of local unique musical tradition with varied rhythmic structures atypical of the most runosong area, specific functions of ritual song genres, historical changes in language, as well as possible external connections to early eastern and southern song cultures are highlighted.

CENGKOK GENDERAN DUALOLO SEBAGAI SUMBER IDE PENCIPTAAN KOMPOSISI MUSIK “FANTASIA FROM DUALOLO” KARYA : PURWA ASKANTA

This journal is entitled "Cengkok Genderan Dualolo as a Source of Ideas for the Creation of Fantasia From Dualolo Music Composition" by Purwa Askanta. The focus of the problems studied in this paper includes the analysis of musical composition works that use the source of artistic ideas from a dualolo genderan twist in Javanese Karawitan. How the idea is used as a theme and developed to form a sound building in the form of Fantasia in three parts. In this composition, there are several creation systems that need to be expressed in order to understand the reader in order to understand the concept of creating this musical work. The method used in this journal is descriptive analysis with a form of music analysis approach. The findings of this research will show creativity in composing a new musical composition by Purwa Askanta. Meanwhile, the purpose of this research is to contribute in the form of techniques and methods of creating musical works that raise a simple idea from elements of the Javanese musical tradition in the form of the dualolo gendered twisted. It is hoped that the writings in this journal can broaden the readers' insight and become a reference for those who explore the creation of musical works.

Sight vs. sound in the judgment of music performance: Evidence from Tsugaru shamisen competitions in Japan [Stage 1 Registered Report]

Which information dominates in evaluating performance in music? Both experts and laypeople consistently report believing that sound should be the most important domain when judging music competitions, but experimental studies comparing video-only vs. audio-only versions of performances have showed that in at least some cases visual information can play a stronger role. However, whether this phenomenon applies generally to music competitions or is restricted to specific repertoires or contexts is disputed. In this Registered Report, we focus on testing which type of information might be most impactful in a unique cultural setting and musical tradition that has historically excluded the use of and dependence on visual information. We use 27 performances of “Tsugaru Jongara Bushi” from 9 categories of national competitions in performing on the Tsugaru shamisen, a traditional Japanese musical instrument, to evaluate two hypotheses: 1) visuals are predicted to trump sound when variation in quality is low (e.g., choosing between 1st place vs. 2nd place), 2) sound is predicted to trump visuals when variation in quality is high (e.g., choosing between 1st/2nd place and those who did not place among the top finalists). Data from pilot experiments (n = 11 participants) suggest that participants are able to correctly select the actual non-placing competition participants based on short excerpts at levels above chance. In Stage 2, we will collect a full sample of 97 participants in order to achieve 95% power to detect effects of at least d = 0.4 using our within-subjects design. Our results leverage the characteristics of a unique non-Western musical tradition not previously empirically tested with such paradigms, and may have practical applications to evaluation criteria for performers, judges, and organizers of competitions, concerts, and auditions.

A Balinese ‘Call to Prayer’: Sounding Religious Nationalism and Local Identity in the Puja Tri Sandhya

This article examines the Puja Tri Sandhya, a Balinese Hindu prayer that has been broadcast into the soundscape of Bali since 2001. By charting the development of the prayer, this paper summarizes the religious politics of post-independence Indonesia, which called for the Balinese to adopt the Puja Tri Sandhya as a condition for religious legitimacy in the new nation. The Puja Tri Sandhya is likened to a Balinese “call to prayer” and compared to Muslim and Christian soundings of religion in the archipelago to assert how these broadcasts sonically reify the national motto, Bhinneka Tunggal Ika (“Unity in Diversity”), and participate in a sounding of religious nationalism. Although these broadcasts are evidence of a state-sponsored form of religiosity, interviews concerning the degree to which individuals practice the Puja Tri Sandhya point to an element of secularism and position the prayer as an example that challenges the religion versus secularism dichotomy in studies of religious nationalism. This article also examines the sonic components of the Puja Tri Sandhya (when it is sounded, the vocal style, and the gender wayang and genta bell accompaniment), to argue how these elements infuse this invented display of religiosity with authority and facilitate a mediation between technology, space, and local identity. Exploration of the gender wayang accompaniment in particular, further confirms the contrived nature of the Puja Tri Sandhya and demonstrates how technologies used to broadcast the prayer have had a significant impact on the gender wayang musical tradition.

Algunas manifestaciones actuales de la música indígena en Sonora, México

La riqueza de la tradición musical indígena de Sonora estriba en su variedad y significados constituyendo un factor importante en la identidad de sus pueblos. Sin embargo, las investigaciones sobre la música de las culturas autóctonas de la región son escasas; por ello, se hace necesario un estudio enfocado a su significación como fenómeno cultural colectivo y a su análisis musical. El objetivo de este trabajo es dar a conocer como se manifiesta actualmente la música de algunas etnias del estado de Sonora mediante la trascripción y análisis de obras representativas. Se inició recogiendo las evidencias auditivas y visuales de la música indígena que ha llegado a nuestros días como producto de un largo proceso histórico en diferentes etnias del Estado de Sonora. Se seleccionaron cinco obras extraídas de grabaciones propias o facilitadas por Lutisuc (2007), las cuales fueron transcritas y acompañadas con una breve descripción del contexto donde se interpretan y su análisis melódico, armónico, formal y métrico, así como los procesos de acompañamiento, entonación y timbre de voces. Se concluye que la música indígena contemporánea interpretada en el territorio sonorense es trasmisora de los pensamientos actuales de las etnias; en muchos casos, reconstruyendo parámetros antiguos para moldear las generaciones actuales y no interpretándose fuera del contexto local. Abstract The richness of the indigenous musical tradition in Sonora lies in the variety and meanings constituting an important factor in the identity of their towns. However, the research about the music of the native cultures on the region are only a few; therefore, it is necessary a study focusing the meaning as a collective cultural phenomenon and his musical analysis. The objective of this work is releasing information of how music is currently manifested today in some ethnic groups of Sonora through transcriptions and analysis of representatives works. It began by collecting auditory and visual evidence of indigenous music that has reached our days as a product of a historical process in different ethnic groups in the State of Sonora. Five works were selected from own recordings or provided by Lutiscu (2007), which were transcribed and accompanied with a short description of the context where they are interpreted and its melodic, harmonic, formal and metric analysis; as well as the accompaniment, intonation and timbre of voices. It concludes that contemporary indigenous music performed in the Sonoran territory it is a transmitter of the actual thoughts of the ethnic groups; in many cases, rebuilding old parameters to shape current generations and not interpreting itself outside the local context.

Russian musical folklore as a development factor of ethnic self-consciousness of students-musicians in the educational space of a higher educational establishment

The purpose of this article is to analyze the results of the development of ethnic self-awareness of students-musicians using Russian musical folklore in the educational space of a higher educational establishment. As a result of the study and analysis of the normative legal documents regulating the professional training students-musicians in the direction of training 44.03.05 Pedagogical education (with two training profiles), focus (profile): Music, Additional education; Music, World art culture, the disciplines of the curriculum were determined, and the forms of educational work of young people were identified, contributing to the most effective immersion in the Russian musical tradition, the formation of an environment of ethnic unity, the development of ethnic identity. The conducted research has confirmed the effectiveness of the development of ethnic self-awareness of students-musicians in the educational space of a higher educational establishment using Russian musical folklore. The mechanism for the implementation of this process was the provision of a choice of content and forms of familiarizing students-musicians with folk musical art.