Music’s Textual Dilemma

Music is sound: audible, unique, ephemeral. For music composed before the advent of electronic recording a century and a quarter ago, musical texts — the unique arrangements of musical symbols by which music is represented in visible form — are our principal evidence for how that music sounded when it was created. But the texts in which Western music of the past is preserved are not necessarily accurate representations of the music they record. Although the symbols that make up Western musical notation have remained relatively stable over the centuries, much that they represent has changed. Tunings and temperaments have varied — from repertoire to repertoire and from place to place. So have styles of singing and of playing instruments. So have the instruments themselves. Most important in the present context, the conventions for realizing texts have varied substantially; the idea that performers should follow their texts closely dates only from the mid eighteenth century. In these contradictions lies music’s textual dilemma: music historians and performers must depend upon texts, but even supplemented by research in performance practice, texts do not necessarily provide the information necessary to support informed discussion.

In search of truth in service of beauty: the comparison of the autograph of Sonata in a minor by Franz Schubert with available editions

Musicians attach increasing importance to the selection of edition they use for playing. There is a growing awareness of the influence of score material selection on interpretation. Historical performance raises the bar as well by encouraging the use of autographs, manuscripts and first editions. Thanks to referring to historical materials, we can quickly appreciate the effort of contemporary editors who – once publishing scores today – make them much more accessible. It would seem that basing one’s interpretation on an urtext edition should be a perfect solution combining today’s clarity with historical truth. The analysis shows, however, that even these trustworthy urtext editions differ from one another, thus differ from the autograph. Using Sonata in A Minor D 385 by Franz Schubert as an example, the article shows different approaches to music text edition. There are distinct ways in which editors interpret articulation, dynamics, and even sound pitch. The biggest number of differences can be found in terms of articulation, which it largely connected with the necessity to read handwritten material. Unambiguous deciphering (and exact placement) of numerous music markings can sometimes be downright impossible. That is why editors often use the method which consists in searching for analogies between fragments and parts, yet this method does not always seem right. As performance practice shows, treating each part individually, playing a similar fragment in a dissimilar way, often brings interesting results interpretation-wise. The article encourages own experiments, using doubts as material for interpretation, and using the benefits of contemporary editions cautiously.

Rondas (Singing Games)

Part 2: La Música (The Music) contains 90 joyful songs learned on playgrounds, in classrooms, and from families and teachers. The repertoire allows for musical play and movement, encourages lyrical improvisation, and fosters community. The collection is organized into three categories: Rondas (Singing games), Rimas y Juegos (Chants and games), and Canciones (Songs). Canciones, which comprises 51 songs, includes many pieces with accompanying actions as well as three religious songs and three in a Mayan language, Kaqchikel. La Musica includes song transcriptions, game or movement directions, English translations, informant and location citations, brief notes on song histories or performance practice, and illustrations by the Mayan artist Sucely Puluc. Field video, audio recordings, and additional song information on the companion website allow teachers and students to witness the songs in authentic contexts, demonstrate singing games, guide in pronunciation, and learn more about the history of the songs.

Experimental Dining: Performance, Experience and Ideology in Contemporary Creative Restaurants

Considers four of the world’s leading creative restaurants as experimental performance practice. Using ideas from performance studies, cultural studies, philosophy and economics, the book argues that technoemotional restaurants can be understood as both a commodified experience and an artistic and aesthetic practice.

“That is Why I am Telling this Story”: Musical Analysis as Insight into the Transmission of Knowledge and Performance Practice of a Wapurtarli Song by Warlpiri Women from Yuendumu, Central Australia

Insights into the knowledge, performance, and transmission of songs are pivotal in ensuring the survival of traditional Aboriginal songs. We present the first in-depth musical analysis of a Wapurtarli yawulyu song set sung by Warlpiri women from Yuendumu, Central Australia, recorded in December 2006 with a solo lead singer accompanied by a small group. Our musical analysis reveals that there are various interlocking parts of a song, and this can make it difficult for current generations to learn songs. The context of musical endangerment and the musical analyses presented in our study show that contemporary spaces for learning yawulyu must consider the complex components that come together for a song set to be properly performed.

The Impermanence of Obsolescence: Performance Practice Challenges in Works Written for Revival Harpsichord

<p>The revival harpsichord leads a double life today—enjoying a small fan base on the edge of obsolescence. Most regard the instrument as a twentieth-century foil to the more historically-oriented harpsichords that replaced them by around the mid-1970s. But they are also valued for the repertoire they inspired during the first seventy or so years of the twentieth century, along with their unique capabilities and signature sound. From mid-century onwards, when historical harpsichords began to gain a wider acceptance, revival harpsichords were derided as representing a false notion of teleological progress. Piano building technologies partially adapted to the construction of revival harpsichords have required compromises that ignore basic laws of the physics of sound—including the differences between plucking a string and striking it with hammer. The ontology of a harpsichord type that is piano-informed has led to a widespread conclusion that revival harpsichords are a mistaken concept and are unsuitable even for many of the compositions written for them. The common practice today is to adapt works written for revival harpsichord to historical harpsichords. Limited attention has been given to revival harpsichords in recent academic literature. While mention is made of their historical significance, a current evaluation of the instruments and treatment of revival repertoire has been lacking. This dissertation seeks to critically assess instruments and repertoire by examining perspectives of authors, builders, performers, composers and critics, addressing current issues in performance practice such as the impact of changing instrumentation from revival to historical models. A case is made for valuing revival harpsichords on their own merits as well as applying first-hand knowledge of revival harpsichords to performances of revival repertoire on historical models. This methodology is supported by interviews conducted specifically for this dissertation, playing different revival models and in presenting information neither widely available nor understood, such as a picture of the current availability of revival instruments and details of their restoration. This dissertation contributes to an understanding of revival harpsichords and their repertoire by, firstly, providing up-to-date information on the nature and history of the instrument, as well as highlighting the existence of many revival models, rather than accepting the notion of one standard type. Secondly, revival harpsichord reception is examined within a context of the changing purposes of harpsichord construction after 1889. Lastly, a selection of relevant repertoire is investigated, including Erik Bergman’s 1970 Energien for solo harpsichord (a critical edition of which also forms part of the Appendices), Darius Milhaud’s 1945 Sonata for Clavecin (or Piano) and Violin, op. 257, and Peter Child’s Concerto for Harpsichord and String Quartet (2005), which was written for an Eric Herz revival harpsichord. A tradition already exists of compromising over and discussing which historical harpsichords to use for early music repertoire that spans centuries and the building practices of different geographic regions. This dissertation explores the extent to which revival harpsichords are indeed easily replaced by historical models for revival repertoire, or whether it is sometimes best practice to consider performing these works on the instruments for which they were originally conceived. Alternatively, the performer of a revival work may choose to take certain features of revival instruments into account in developing a performance interpretation on a historical model. Factors hindering performance on historical harpsichords can include performance practice challenges and controversies that arise when transferring pieces to these instruments. Some works defy straightforward alteration and require extensive editing, whereas others are more easily accommodated. Through an examination of repertoire in performance, interviews, and changes in the reception and use of revival harpsichords, this dissertation considers the position and relevance of revival harpsichords today.</p>

The Impermanence of Obsolescence: Performance Practice Challenges in Works Written for Revival Harpsichord

<p>The revival harpsichord leads a double life today—enjoying a small fan base on the edge of obsolescence. Most regard the instrument as a twentieth-century foil to the more historically-oriented harpsichords that replaced them by around the mid-1970s. But they are also valued for the repertoire they inspired during the first seventy or so years of the twentieth century, along with their unique capabilities and signature sound. From mid-century onwards, when historical harpsichords began to gain a wider acceptance, revival harpsichords were derided as representing a false notion of teleological progress. Piano building technologies partially adapted to the construction of revival harpsichords have required compromises that ignore basic laws of the physics of sound—including the differences between plucking a string and striking it with hammer. The ontology of a harpsichord type that is piano-informed has led to a widespread conclusion that revival harpsichords are a mistaken concept and are unsuitable even for many of the compositions written for them. The common practice today is to adapt works written for revival harpsichord to historical harpsichords. Limited attention has been given to revival harpsichords in recent academic literature. While mention is made of their historical significance, a current evaluation of the instruments and treatment of revival repertoire has been lacking. This dissertation seeks to critically assess instruments and repertoire by examining perspectives of authors, builders, performers, composers and critics, addressing current issues in performance practice such as the impact of changing instrumentation from revival to historical models. A case is made for valuing revival harpsichords on their own merits as well as applying first-hand knowledge of revival harpsichords to performances of revival repertoire on historical models. This methodology is supported by interviews conducted specifically for this dissertation, playing different revival models and in presenting information neither widely available nor understood, such as a picture of the current availability of revival instruments and details of their restoration. This dissertation contributes to an understanding of revival harpsichords and their repertoire by, firstly, providing up-to-date information on the nature and history of the instrument, as well as highlighting the existence of many revival models, rather than accepting the notion of one standard type. Secondly, revival harpsichord reception is examined within a context of the changing purposes of harpsichord construction after 1889. Lastly, a selection of relevant repertoire is investigated, including Erik Bergman’s 1970 Energien for solo harpsichord (a critical edition of which also forms part of the Appendices), Darius Milhaud’s 1945 Sonata for Clavecin (or Piano) and Violin, op. 257, and Peter Child’s Concerto for Harpsichord and String Quartet (2005), which was written for an Eric Herz revival harpsichord. A tradition already exists of compromising over and discussing which historical harpsichords to use for early music repertoire that spans centuries and the building practices of different geographic regions. This dissertation explores the extent to which revival harpsichords are indeed easily replaced by historical models for revival repertoire, or whether it is sometimes best practice to consider performing these works on the instruments for which they were originally conceived. Alternatively, the performer of a revival work may choose to take certain features of revival instruments into account in developing a performance interpretation on a historical model. Factors hindering performance on historical harpsichords can include performance practice challenges and controversies that arise when transferring pieces to these instruments. Some works defy straightforward alteration and require extensive editing, whereas others are more easily accommodated. Through an examination of repertoire in performance, interviews, and changes in the reception and use of revival harpsichords, this dissertation considers the position and relevance of revival harpsichords today.</p>

Development of air contioner split R32 trainer learning media in cooling and air conditioning engineering courses

This study aims to develop learning media for AC Split R32 in the subject of Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineering. The method used Research and Development (R&D), the model of research using the is Successive Approximation Models 1 (SAM). The model goes through iteration 1 (Evaluate 1, Design 1, Develop 1), iteration 2 (Evaluate 2, Design 2, Develop 2), and iteration 3 (Evaluate 3, and product implementation). The data collection method uses instruments in the form of observations, interviews, literature studies, and questionnaires that use a "Likert scale" for measurement the instrument. Based on the research analysis results, media trainers get an average of 76 in the "Very Eligible" category. Then the material results get an average of 63.5 which states that job sheets are in the "Very Eligible" category. Meanwhile, for the Feasibility Test on 30 student respondents, an average of 71.8 was obtained in the "Very Eligible" category. Meanwhile, based on the Performance Practice Assessment, the average result was 83.4 out of 10 students who practiced in the "Good" assessment category. Thus, based on the development research, the trainer and Job sheet can be used as learning media.

Guqin Playing Now: Re-inventing the Past as a Creative Way of Sustaining an Instrumental Practice

Guqin (古琴) music, a cultural practice of the Classical Chinese literati which survived and had seen a surge of interest globally in the early 21st century, can be understood as an interactive whole consisting of the instrument and the performer. The musical interface, its music notation focuses heavily on the instrumental spatial-motor relationship with the performer, with sound as product of this psychosomatic interaction. This paper will examine the various layers of this interaction between: a) notation and movement and sound; b) topography of instrument body and physicality of performers’ hand on it; c) physicality and psychology of performance, leading to questions of musicality, authenticity in expression, and intentions or functions of guqin music. By comparing particular works (such as 山居吟 and 潇湘水云) across score collections from different periods (such as 神奇秘谱 1425, 大还阁琴谱 1673, 五知斋琴谱1722), and highlighting certain peculiar fingering position and combinations in earlier music against recent transcriptions of popular music, I will raise questions on possible musical purposes and expressions in relation to the proposed performer-instrument interaction perspective, so as to further understand the evolving nature of this music making over time. This creative interaction in sonic terms as sound and as music, performance practice and musical expression as culture and aesthetics, are some aspects of what I wish to present on an ongoing reinvention of guqin as instrument and music.