Journal articles on the topic 'Musical notation – Methodology'

Dance has traditionally been taught using a style based on teacher-pupil oral transmission, imitation and repetition. While there are notation methods for dance, few proposals for zapateado notation exist. This research develops a critical analysis not only of the currently existing notation systems for flamenco zapateado, but also of rhythmic notation systems for percussion based on the traditional Western system of musical notation, which form the basis of the foundations of the system of the method of notation presented here. The article shows that this flamenco zapateado notation system is the first to combine how the foot strikes the floor with the rhythmic aspects using notation with a clear visual appearance and a sequence of didactic content which takes into account motor aspects as well as rhythmic ones.

Dance has traditionally been taught using a style based on teacher-pupil oral transmission, imitation and repetition. While there are notation methods for dance, few proposals for zapateado notation exist. This research develops a critical analysis not only of the currently existing notation systems for flamenco zapateado, but also of rhythmic notation systems for percussion based on the traditional Western system of musical notation, which form the basis of the foundations of the system of the method of notation presented here. The article shows that this flamenco zapateado notation system is the first to combine how the foot strikes the floor with the rhythmic aspects using notation with a clear visual appearance and a sequence of didactic content which takes into account motor aspects as well as rhythmic ones.

During the production of Eduardo Lopes’ record Musiking Shapes, several aspects were identified that suggested an unpremeditated collective consciousness in aspects such as metrics and pulse, in a work that was based on unconventional notation, without any time-related indication. The intention was to identify a kinetic of collective pulse with common time and metric implications. The methodology applied involved auditory observation through spectrograms and the respective transcription in the musical notation of the recorded music. When triangulating these data, substantial results of the communication that underlies the interpretation of this unconventional notation were found. It was possible to prove an effective organization through what we call Prevalent Sound Events (PSE) and that these are determining factors for the collective organization that typifies musical discourse, consubstantiating the spontaneous organization of these moments in Vertical Agreement Sound Events, Horizontal Agreement Sound Events and Absolute Agreement Events

Augustine's appraisal of music's moral value in Confessions, as selectively abbreviated by Isidore of Seville, provides a conceptual framework for understanding early medieval Iberian musical values. Augustine advocates a devotional focus primarily on text, expressing anxiety about elaborate liturgical music. For Isidore, by contrast, diverse melody leads both faithful and unfaithful toward a transcendent anticipation of heaven, beyond reason-based concentration on text. In this article I test the hypothesis that Isidore's musical values shaped the extant Old Hispanic chant texts and melodies, offering a new appraisal of the way Old Hispanic musical values and practice relate. Examples are drawn from Old Hispanic (“Mozarabic”) chant, whose texts (preserved before 732) are closer to the late antique context than any other Western liturgy. Old Hispanic melodies are preserved in unpitched notation ca. 900. The methodology developed here has the potential to be applied to other ritual traditions.

This article presents the problem of the relationship between two landmark subsystems in the conceptual space of the musical composition text: notation and author’s instructions, comments of various types and functions. The author contrasts the text formal division (it is used in performing and pedagogical practice, non-binding “notes” and instructions by the composer of minor importance) and views of musicians who see in the traditional dichotomy “musical text – comments on it” a theoretical problem. The differences in approaches to it are analyzed in the works by S. E. Feinberg, E. Ya. Liberman; it is proposed to consider the position of the author of the article, treating the first of these subsystems as a base, the second as a superstructure in a united conceptual space of a musical text. The author develops the theme and carries out historical-style excursions and reveals the evolution of the composer’s comments in the music in 17th – early 20th centuries due to aesthetic, artistic, technological and other factors. In the historical-style sections of the article, the author relies on the concept by S. S. Skrebkov, that is in the book “The Artistic Principles of Musical Styles”. In particular, the author uses the principle of centralizing unity postulated by the scientist as a methodological guide, and interpreted broadly in the article as a general dialectical principle of musical logic. This allows to differ stylistically and at the same time to study dialectically the practice of composer commentary in musical works of the Baroque, classical and romantic eras. The main conclusion of the article is the reference to the need for performers and teachers to deepen into essential, substantial relations in a united conceptual space of a musical text of two main plans: notated, reflecting introverted, immanently musical meaning, and composer comments, where denotation is carried out, symbolization of the deep structures of music.

The paper represents a kind of contribution to the methodology considering the phenomenon of music literacy. It suggests some guidelines to be observed for future research. Acquired findings of the main reasons for the emergence of the Neum notation as well as of the shaping process of the chanting book during the first stage of the written musical tradition (from the end of the 10th to the middle of the 11th centuries) served as a starting point, but it was pointed out who might have been a scribal team member, what professional qualification he was expected to have and what was an organization of rewriting process like, depending on type of manuscripts that served as copying models. An interpretation of chanting book function was also presented and its main purpose in liturgical life practice after the establishing of the middle Byzantine Neum notation.

Comparison of the various printed and manuscript sources in the early songs of Gabriel Fauré reveals considerable discrepancies between the punctuation and formatting of the poems in their original published forms and the way in which they appear on the musical page. Numerous articles of punctuation are omitted, others appear in different form to their poetic originals and new symbols occasionally appear. Despite the many source variants and lacunae (notably the absence of engraving copy and proofs), together with the composer's occasionally haphazard notation, the disparities between musical and literary sources are often sufficiently numerous and consistent as to suggest deliberate compositional intervention. While critical editions of song and opera typically allow for compositional initiative with regard to changes to the words of poems, punctuation and formatting are generally (and often tacitly) amended to match literary, rather than musical sources. This study tests that standard editorial practice – one little discussed in the critical literature – against a more nuanced methodology, viewing the demands of a grammatically and semantically coherent text within a musical rather than an exclusively poetic context. It explores the symbiosis of musical and grammatical symbols, which Fauré often seems to have used almost interchangeably, and tests the implications for performers of Fauré's text-setting practices. In seeking a balance between fidelity to the poet and the composer, it also readdresses our editorial responsibility to the performer.

"The Music Pedagogy Workshop working within the Institute of Music at the University of Nyíregyháza has initiated several programmes related to music methodology, financed by EU funds. Within the framework of subproject entitled “Renewing the practice of teaching music in public education based on folk traditions,” digital handbooks and teachers’ books have been designed for the Grades 1 to 4 of primary schools. The present paper introduces the novel features of the material designed for Grades 1 and 2. It touches upon the issues of the relevant points in curricular regulations, the possibilities of the innovative methods of score notation and score reading, tailored to the age characteristics of students, and the new approach to teaching the musical elements connected to a selected song corpus. The basic concept in designing the material of the first two grades was the amalgamation of folk culture, including folk tales and children’s game songs, and the world around children. The elements of the knowledge of the present and the past appear side by side in the individual thematic units. Interdisciplinarity also gets emphasised. The generative and creative music activities, the tasks aimed at developing receptive competences, games, and the application of graphic notation, targeting the development of fine motor skills and music literacy, have been designed to broaden the toolkit of music pedagogy for junior schools. Keywords: digital education material, folk music, children’s songs, graphic notation, generativity"

Following Edgard Varèse’s influential lectures – translated and documented in ‘The Liberation of Sound’ – electroacoustic music has spawned many different styles and genres. His argument was for composers to follow their imagination and not be bound to the constraints of musical notation. This, arguably, was one of the catalysts for the emergence of electroacoustic musical works. With past and recent technological advancement, the varieties of genres and styles within electroacoustic music have only expanded, challenging the notion of how one could analyse such works. It is therefore unsurprising that there is no general consensus on analytical methodologies. But for an art form that celebrates all musical possibilities should the analysis of such musics be constraint to a set number of formalised analytical methodologies?Rather than propose a new all-encompassing methodology, this article will argue for a universal approach to electroacoustic music analysis and the liberation of sound analysis. The concept of an analytical community (a community that accepts multiple analyses whilst encouraging practitioners to find new and innovative ways to analyse such works) will be raised as a means to address the issues facing electroacoustic music analysis, using the OREMA (Online Repository for Electroacoustic Music Analysis) project as an example of such an initiative.

This article is a continuation of the topic on methodology of generalized corporeality, which stems from the concept of quantum-synergetic anthropology, developed in the previous parts of the triptych. Ontologies of the states (functional bodies and subbodies of generalized corporeality), as well as temporal ontologies are viewed on the example of theatrical acting. The author structures an isomorphism of the well-known musical notation, and representation of the changing anthropological profile in form of a chord of the simultaneously activated “resonating” states of the actor. The article discusses the appropriateness of such musical metaphor, analogy between the freedom of actors’ improvisation, as the anthropological jazz characteristic to any performer, although to different extent. The classical style is even less versatile than jazz improvisation. The author draws parallels of such performances with works of the classics of theater directing, philosophy of acting, and communication of musicologists: K. S. Stanislavsky, A. A. Vasiliev, B. Latour, J. Huizinga, J. E. Berendt. A certain language of interpretation of acting is offered using the dynamic patterns of description of events in the course of the play.  If these patterns are adequate to stage reality, which the author was trying to prove, they can be implemented in training the actors, staging performances, etc. This virtually led to creation of a new psychological technique that allows amplifying the acting skills. Moreover, such type of notational representation of actor roles allows archiving and decoding the director's intention using a fairly universal method.

Purpose The present paper describes an Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) research project into Scottish fiddle music and the important considerations of music digitization, access and discovery in designing the website that will be one of the project’s enduring outcomes. Design/methodology/approach The paper is a general review of existing online indices to music repertoires and some of the general problems associated with selecting metadata and indexing such material and is a survey of the various recent and contemporary projects into the digital encoding of musical notation for online use. Findings The questions addressed during the design of the Bass Culture project database serve to highlight the importance of cooperation between musicologists, information specialists and computer scientists, and the benefits of having researchers with strengths in more than one of these disciplines. The Music Encoding Initiative proves an effective means of providing digital access to the Scottish fiddle tune repertoire. Originality/value The digital encoding of music notation is still comparatively cutting-edge; the Bass Culture project is thus a useful exemplar for interdisciplinary collaboration between musicologists, information specialists and computer scientists, and it addresses issues which are likely to be applicable to future projects of this nature.

Voices of Umeå was a three-year interdisciplinary artistic research project initiated in 2012 by the author. The main aim with the project was to explore new artistic possibilities for composition and performance practices within the field of contemporary art music. More specifically, artistic possibilities, which arises when non-professional performers regardless musical backgrounds enables to participate in the composition and performance processes. The idea was to develop and explore new pedagogical methods to involve non-professional performers by using new technology and combining knowledge from the fields of artistic and educational practices. Different aspects of participatory art were embraced in the artistic processes aiming towards three compositions, including two concerts and one exhibition. An action research model in three steps –planning, action and analysis of results inspired the methodology, where the analysis and experiences of each cycle within the project were affecting the further cycles of the project.This article reports from selected parts of the process of the project and contributes with new knowledge to the fields of animated music notation and participatory art.

Background. The history of the development of orchestral music for Chinese traditional instruments covers more than a thousand years. During this time, the traditional orchestra has undergone significant changes. In the article the modern stage of the development of the orchestra of a new type is considered starting from the 1920s, when its modification began and integration with the principles of the Western Symphony Orchestra. The modernization of the Chinese orchestra of traditional instruments began in the twentieth century after the overthrow of imperial rule and the emerging changes in Chinese society. Nevertheless, the process of integrating the Western musical traditions was carried out in China for several centuries, which prepared the ground for the qualitative changes that began in the 20th century in the field of national musical art. The development of orchestral music for Chinese traditional instruments is not sufficiently studied today in musicology. One of the little studied periods is the initial stage of the formation of the Chinese orchestra of folk instruments of a new type in the 1920s – 1930s. Objectives. The purpose of the article is to reveal the prerequisites and specifics of the formation of the Chinese orchestra of traditional instruments of a new type in the 1920s and 1930s, to determine the role of outstanding Chinese musicians in the process of modernizing the orchestra and creating the appropriate national repertoire. The methodology of research is based on musical-historical approach combined with musical-theoretical and performer analysis. Results. The first shifts in the integration of Western and national traditions in Chinese traditional orchestral music became possible thanks to the activities of the music society “Datong yuehui”, as well as the emergence of higher professional musical institutions in China and the training of Chinese musicians abroad. The most important role in the formation of the Chinese orchestra of traditional instruments of a new type was played by outstanding musicians Zheng Jinwen, Liu Tianhua, Zheng Tisi. Zheng Jinwen was the initiator of the creation of the society “Datong Yuhui” in 1920. He began the process of standardizing various Chinese instruments with the goal of unifying their sound tuning fork. This was necessary for a well-coordinated game in the orchestral ensemble. The musician modernized and developed new methods of tuning traditional instruments for flute dizi, multi-barrel sheng and expanded the orchestra to forty people. Zheng Jinwen adapted the national repertoire to a new type of orchestra, performing as an author of orchestral transcriptions of ancient music for traditional Chinese instruments. Liu Tianhua became the creator of the Society for the Development of National Music at Peking University (1927–1932). The musician reformed the old system of Chinese notation “gongchi” based on hieroglyphs, modernized it and adapted it to the Western musical notation. Substantial achievement of Liu Tianhua was a significant modification of the erhu with the replacement of strings by metal, changing the settings in accordance with the standards of Western stringed instruments. As a result, the erhu acquired the status of a leading or solo instrument in a new type of orchestra. The activity of the first modern Chinese orchestra of traditional instruments, the musical collective of the Broadcasting Company of China, created in Nanjing in 1935, had a great importance. In 1937, from the Second Sino-Japanese War, the orchestra was transferred to Chongqing, and after the victory of the Communists in 1949, he moved to Taiwan. One of the orchestral musicians, Zheng Tisi, played an outstanding role in the formation of this group. The musician carried out the reformation of this orchestra in the field of tuning instruments. The range of the orchestra was expanded by the introduction of additional wooden string instruments dahu and dihu, having a volumetric sound-board and tuned an octave below the violin erhu. Their purpose was to fill the lower register, alike to the cellos and double basses in Western orchestras. For the first time the post of conductor and his assistant was introduced by Zheng Tisi, which was also able to attract professional composers to create a multi-voiced orchestral national repertoire. The innovations of the outstanding musician made his orchestra a role model for all subsequent similar contemporary Chinese orchestras. Conclusions. The process of forming a Chinese orchestra of traditional instruments of a new type in the 1920s and 1930s made it possible to modernize Chinese traditional folk instruments and the ancient Chinese notation system in order to adapt Chinese orchestral music to the integrative processes in musical art. Orchestral music was reformed in accordance with the principles of Western European symphonic and conducting art. In this process, outstanding highly professional Chinese musicians who contributed to the development of orchestral music in their country and the creation of a corresponding national repertoire played the leading role.

The purpose of the research is to highlight the role of inclusive education in higher art educational institutions of Ukraine. The realization of this goal implies attention to the issue of introducing music education for people with special needs, ways of improving the educational process and its facilitation. The methodology of the research is connected with the use of methods of analysis and synthesis, thanks to which the actual problematic aspects that are available in this field are highlighted. The task of the study is to highlight the specifics of working with students in the class by specialty (using the example of mastering the art of playing the classical guitar). Thanks to the practice of working with students who have visual problems, the author of the article singles out the innovative algorithm for learning the music text and further work with the works. It is proposed to actively involve various programs related to typing notation text, recording audio files, processing them and modifying them. The scientific novelty consists in synthesizing practical conclusions obtained by the author in the course of teaching activities. A number of problem aspects and algorithms for their solution are singled out. The importance of learning a musical material with a teacher is emphasized, especially when it comes to persons with special abilities - visual impairments. Existing software, for example Finale, Sibelius and other music editors provide the ability to change the typed music text, its slowdown, and solfeging. Although this innovation is not capable of becoming a complete substitute for a nocturnal text, typed in Braille, it becomes a good alternative. In modern art education there are a number of problematic moments. First of all, despite the fact that the issue of introducing inclusive education in the Ukrainian space has been actualized, the practical implementation of this task involves a number of difficulties. Development and musical education in the guitar class by specialty involves the introduction of computer equipment and technically computer equipment during classes, which will simplify the process of learning and the subsequent reproduction of a musical text.

The aim of the study. The article is devoted to the research of the Old Kyiv noble collections of the Orthodox Church. Decoding the notebook of this period remains a rather complicated and unresolved problem. There are certain gaps in the study of liturgical notables of the period of Kievan Rus not allowing them to be translated into contemporary notation. The objectives of this study were to analyse and explore the collected collections of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and to develop ways that would facilitate the deciphering of Old Man’s written manuscripts. The research methodology is based on a combination of different research methods: analytical method helped to analyse and explore the collected collections of the period of Kievan Rus; statistical and chronological methods helped to define the time and quantitative characteristics; the comparative method helped to reveal the general and specific features of old-fashioned liturgical manuscripts; the hypothetical-deductive method allowed analysing various hypotheses and outlining ways that will help to decipher the old-time written manuscripts. Conclusions. The main material for studying the liturgical singing from the XIth to the XIVth century is the published manuscripts, the total number of which does not exceed four dozen, which allow concluding that the basic principles of ancient Kievan singing were laid during that period. However, the deciphering of the early forms of Kiev inaccurate writing today represents an unresolved problem to be solved by active cooperation with scientists from Western European countries, using the latest computer technologies and the complete cataloguing of ancient musical manuscripts.

Background. Jazz is one of the most significant phenomena of the entire twentieth century, which in a very short period of time has won the attention of listeners around the world. Finally, many explores are interested in the study of jazz art as a significant element of the world’s musical heritage. There are a lot of works written by national and foreign musicologists who study jazz music from different viewpoints. A great variety of studies in jazz art include works devoted to the technical aspect, on the one hand: the study of scale harmony, rhythm, instrumentation, and on the other hand – the issues of historiography and style formation. However, focusing mainly on the identification of specific methods of using individual elements of the entire complex of music and expressive means of jazz art, scientists are less interested in the study of more «in-depth» issues, such as interpretation in jazz art, form building, semiotic and hermeneuticmethods of jazz music evaluation, musical dramaturgy. The concept of jazzmusic making remains unexplored. In our understanding, the study of musical dramaturgy deserves special attention, because at its level the coordinates of jazz music as a complex improvisation process converge. Objectives. The purpose of the article is to identify and study the main factors that determine the principles of formation of jazz musical dramaturgy at the level of solo piano composition. It is the improvisational nature of the composing and performing arts as well as the absence of a detailed musical notation that indicate the need to study the subject and an attempt to provide its scientific substantiation. Methods. The methodology of the study includes analytical, comparative, systematic and stylistic methods. This methodological basis allows us to identify the principles of jazz musical dramaturgy from the standpoint of piano jazz art, which, in the author’s opinion, gives an opportunity to speak about the peculiarities of organizing a musical text with the texture of different types of arrangement. Results. Over the last decades, jazz, without losing its specificity, has increasingly shown a tendency to interpenetrate with academic musical art, and at the same time become universal. An example of this could be the creative work of the renowned Kharkov jazz pianist Sergey Davydov. Turning to the specifics of the solo improvisational mastery of the pianist, we should distinguish the following important vectors in his work: commitment to the synthesis of jazz and academic traditions, tendency to polyphonize the textual presentation of the musical text, the use of the sonata principles as a consistent processual development of the whole complex of music and artistic ideas. The subject of the analysis offered in this study is a demonstrative example of the arrangement of the musical text of S. Davidov’s solo improvisation, which he demonstrated at the international festival “S. Rakhmaninov and Ukrainian Culturе”, which took place in Kharkiv in 2007 (the analysis was made on the basis of the video footage). The uniqueness of this example is that the pianist in his improvisation synthesized jazz intonation-rhythmic idiom with constructive and creatively inventive correlation of textural and compositional techniques of S. Rachmanino’s pianism. The conducted analysis confirms that S. Davydov, in addition to using the whole arsenal of specific jazz means of organizing sound fabric, adapts in his improvisation texturally-theatrical principles characteristic of S. Rakhmaninov’s work, and not only at the expense of quoting, but and at the intonational level. The factual organization of the composition, in this case, is based on the use of the potential of large and passage techniques, which brings together S. Davydov’s creative concepts with the aesthetics of virtuosity of European pianist composers of the Romantic period. Solo improvisation is analyzed – a kind of musical recital, which lacks the traditional jazz principle of formation based on variational construction, and is dominated by freely interpreted sonatas. Conclusions. Thus, the basic principles of musical dramaturgy formation in jazz art are: the use of specific jazz means of expression, which in the light of textual organization of the musical text realize the emotional and meaningful tension, forming a clear dramatic outline of the whole composition. Conflict, as a multilayered, comprehensive process of choosing an aesthetic position in the climax, reaches a point of dramatic ignition due to specific performance factors: dynamics, agogics, textural-rhythmic combinations. Not only specific performing skills but also energetic translation of the ideological content of the whole composition are involved in this process. In the context of jazz musical dramaturgy, one more important factor, which is fundamental in both solo and ensemble jazz art, is specific communication. However, when compared to academic music, where the listening strategy is interpreted as a «strategy of co-intonation to the sound form» but in jazz culture it is the listener who, at the level of the performer or interpreter, is a direct participant of musical dramaturgy creation. This is expressed by applause at times of intense tension or after the most successful improvisation of one of the ensemble members. Summarizing all the above, on the basis of the analysis we have tried to give our corrections to the concept of «musical dramaturgy in jazz» – is a thematic process of juxtaposition and interaction of elements of jazz language that contains various polystylistic complexes of Western European academic art, directing the energy of communication to the higher artistic unity of a jazz work.

ABSTRACT Purcell's surviving autographs have long been a source of fascination, and the extensive evidence they preserve of his working methods has been examined in several academic studies. However, methodology has focused on analyzing notational changes within the sources, and neither the appropriateness of the standard labels ““working draft”” and ““fair copy”” nor the directness of the relationship between the creation of a composition and its encoding in notation has been questioned. This article challenges current assumptions about Purcell's compositional processes, arguing that because the autographs were created for specific, often practical, purposes not necessarily directly connected to the compositional process itself, it is misleading to interpret them divorced from their function and the cultural and social contexts in which they were produced. There are three main factors that help us to determine the different purposes for which the manuscripts were copied: First, Purcell maintained a clear separation between different genres of music in both his private and court scorebooks, so it is possible that his compositional techniques varied between repertories; second, Shay and Thompson have established that the methods Purcell used to record his compositions changed as his employment conditions altered; and third, it is clear from contemporary descriptions that the modern tendency to translate the Restoration terms ““fowle originall”” and ““fayre writeing”” as ““rough draft”” and ““fair copy”” is misleading, and that Purcell's ““fowle originalls”” were not essentially private documents of his work in progress. Instead, the sources seem to have been notated for at least five different purposes, the categories including performance materials, file copies, and what we might term ““transmission”” copies, which, as Robert Ford has highlighted, were sent by the composer to provincial colleagues. Analysis of the autographs surviving for two contrasting genres——liturgical sacred music, written for choir and organ alone, and court odes——serves to illustrate the ways in which a contextual perspective on the sources can transform our understanding of Purcell's compositional methods, particularly when considered alongside significant nonautograph sources. There are distinct differences between the functions for which the manuscripts for these repertories were copied, with a notable emphasis in the liturgical sacred music on transmission around the provinces. More significantly, however, the extant ““fowle originalls”” for the two genres demonstrate variations of approach in the earliest notated stages, while comparisons between the two main court scorebooks and related non-autograph sources indicate that file copies were also produced for different reasons and do not relate to the cre-ation of performance materials in the same way. The manuscripts also suggest that more of Purcell's compositional amendments in the liturgical sacred music may have been made without a specific performance context in mind than has previously been thought, an observation that draws into question modern assumptions about the ontological centrality of musical performance in this period.

Background. George Gershwin is often considered as a composer who wrote mainly songs and musicals, but this is a misconception: beside the pieces of so-called “light” genres, among the composer’ works – two operas, as well as a number of outstanding instrumental compositions (“Cuban Overture” for a symphony orchestra, two Rhapsodies, Variations for piano and orchestra and Piano Concerto etc.). Gershwin had a natural pianistic talent, and there was almost not a single piece of his own that he did not perform on the piano, and most of them were born in improvisation (Ewen, 1989). The basis for the creation of this study was the desire to increase interest in the work of Gershwin as a “serious” composer and to draw the attention of domestic academic pianists to the value of his piano works, presented not only the “Rhapsody in Blue”, which has been mostly played lately. The purpose of our research is to prove the relevance of the performance of Gershwin’s instrumental works in the academic concert environment as the music of the classical tradition, tracing the formation of specific features of the composer’s instrumental creativity and their reflection in the cycle of “Three Preludes for Piano” in 1926. Studies of the life and work of G. Gershwin, illuminating a special path in music and the unusual genius of an outstanding musician, were created mainly in the 50–70s of the XX century. D. Ewen – the author of the most detailed biography of the composer (first published in 1956, the Russian translation – in 1989) – was personally acquainted with the great musician and his family, took numerous interviews from the composer’s relatives, friends and teachers, had access to his archives (Ewen, 1989: 3–4). The author of the book enters into the details of the life and creative work of the genius and creates a portrait of the composer as a person “in relationships” – as a son, brother, friend. A separate chapter devoted to the music of Gershwin is in the fundamental work of V. Konen (1965) “The Ways of American Music”, an extremely useful study of the folklore origins and musical foundations of jazz. Cognitive is the “popular monograph” by V. Volynskiy (1988) about Gershwin, carefully structured chronologically and thematically. The Internet-pages of A. Tikhomirov (2006–2020) on the resource “Classic Music News.ru” are also very valuable, in particular, thanks to retrospective photographs and audio recordings posted there. From the point of view we have chosen, the piano Preludes by G. Gershwin have not yet been considered by domestic researchers. Research methodology is based on comparative analysis and then synthesizing, generalization and abstraction when using data from biographical literature, and tested musicological approaches when considering musical samples and audio recordings of various versions of the Preludes (including the author’s playing). The results of reseaching. G. Gershwin, despite his Jewish-Slavic family roots (his parents emigrated to America from the Russian Empire at the end of the 19th century), is undoubtedly a representative of American culture. Outstanding artists have almost always turned to the folklore of their country. In Gershwin, this trait manifested itself in a special way, since American folklore, due to historical and political circumstances, is a very motley phenomenon. Indian, English, German, French, Jewish, African, Latin American melodies surrounded Gershwin everywhere. Their rhythms and intonations, compositional schemes were melted, transformed in professional music (Konen, 1965: 231–246). The first musical teacher of Gershwin was the sound atmosphere of New York streets. This is the main reason that the style of his musical works is inextricably linked with jazz: Gershwin did not encounter this purely American phenomenon, he grew up in it. Among the numerous other teachers of Gershwin who significantly influenced on the formation of his music style, one should definitely name the pianist and composer Charles Hambitzer, who introduced his student to the music of Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, Debussy, Ravel (Ewen, 1989: 30–32). The most part of Gershwin’s creativity consisted of working on musicals, a typically American genre. The work with the musicals gave the composer the basis for writing his first jazz opera “Blue Monday“, 1922 (other name – “135th Street”), which became the predecessor of the famous pearl of the new genre, “Porgy and Bess” (1935). Following the production of “Blue Monday”, Gershwin began collaborating with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra, who was impressed by the piece. On the initiative of the latter, Gershwin created his masterpiece, “Rhapsody in Blue” (1924), which still remains a unique musical phenomenon, since the composer brought jazz to the big stage, giving it the status of professional music (Ewen, 1989: 79–85; Volynskiy, 1988: part 4). V. Konen (1965: 264–265) believes that Gershwin is a representative of symphonic Europeanized jazz, since he uses it in musical forms and genres of the European tradition. However, we cannot agree that Gershwin “used” jazz. For him, jazz was organic, inseparable from the author’s style, and this is what makes his music so attractive to representatives of both classical and pop traditions. For Gershwin, due to life circumstances, turning to jazz is not an attempt at stylization, but a natural way of expression. “Three Preludes for Piano” are significant in the composer’s work, because it is the only known concertо work for solo piano published during his lifetime. At first, Gershwin planned to create a cycle of 24 Preludes, but only seven were created in the manuscript, then the author reduced the number of works to five. A year after the creation of the Piano Concerto, in 1926, Gershwin presented this new opus. The pieces performed by the author himself sound impeccably technically and even austerely-strictly (audio recording has been preserved, see ‘Gershvin plays Gershvin 3 Preludes’, video on You Tube, published on 2 Aug. 2011). It can be noted that Gershwin is close to the European pianistic style with its attention to the accuracy of each note. The cycle is built on the principle of contrasting comparison: the first and third Preludes are performed at a fast pace, the second – at a slow pace (blues-like). The analysis of the cycle, carried out by the author of the article, proves that “Three Preludes” for piano reflect the main features of Gershwin’s creative manner: capriciousness of syncopated rhythms, subtle modulation play, improvisational development. Breathing breadth, volumetric texture, effective highlighting of climaxes bring the cycle closer to the composer’s symphonic works. Jazz themes are laid out at a high professional level, using traditional European notation and terminology. Thus, although Gershwin was a brilliant improviser, he made it possible for both jazz pianists and academic performers to master his works. Conclusions. The peculiarities of Gershwin’s development as an artist determined the combination of the jazz basis of his works with the compositional technique of European academic music. The versatility and musical appeal of the Preludes are the key to their long stage life. Plays are well received both in cycles and singly. Their perception is also improved by the fact that the original musical speech is combined in them with the established forms of academic music. The mastery of the Preludes by pianists stimulates the development of technical skill, acquaints with jazz style, sets interesting rhythmic problems. The pieces are bright and winning for concert performance. Thus, the presence of the composer’s piano pieces and other his instrumental works in the programs of classical concerts seems appropriate, useful and desirable.

Music Gesture can be thought of as being made up of dynamic, multisensorial lines. From this, the author draws from Ingold's “correspondence of lines” as a conception of music and a transformative compositional process, informing gestural line expressions and the development of notation systems for the body. The author outlines the technology he has developed for two compositions, involving a video scoring methodology and software that enables interactive video gestural sampling in a collaborative art music context. The author also engages with Ingold's concept of the “mesh,” as lines that overflow, and imagines how the mesh could be perceived through sensory modalities. This discourse of lines is contextualized through examples of absurdist instrumental pieces and corporeally based music.

This paper describes preliminary research towards the development of a system that can be used to investigate the mechanisms and representations underlying segmentation and phrase structure in music. It discusses the use of rules and principles in The Generative Theory of Tonal Music (Lerdahl and Jackendoff, 1983) and Implication Realization Model (Narmour, 1990). It also discusses the limitations of score notation as the basis for analysis and modelling of melodic segmentation, with reference to the problems associated withtranscribing non-Western music that uses different scales and exploits different organisations of melodic descriptors. This discussion provides a rationale for a methodology thatcan be applied to recorded music rather than notation. It describes MusicTracker — a toolthat extracts measures of change in pitch, dynamics and timbre fromrecordings of monophonic melodies. The use of this tool is illustrated with short fragments of musicfrom Japan, Burundi and Gabon.

AbstractWireless Fantasy, Vladimir Ussachevsky's 4½-minute tribute to the birth of wireless radio, utilises a rich collection of sound materials, from antique spark generators and shortwave radio sounds to a recorded segment of Wagner's Parsifal. Wireless Fantasy is here examined not as much for the cultural meaning of its sources but for insight into Ussachevsky's dramatic counterpointing of those sources in real time. The analytical methodology focuses on pitch, rhythm, and timbre equally, using both standard music notation and spectral analysis to examine the contrapuntal elements in this classic electroacoustic composition. Special attention is paid to the coincidence of accent between the source materials that generates the work's climax and to the involvement of all the sources in articulating its final cadence. The larger issue of quotation within electroacoustic composition is discussed with regard to an abstract reference in the work's coda.

Background. In recent decades an intensive development of art semiotics, which contributes to the investigation of the concept of musical compositions and their functioning in performance practice, has been observed. Music semantics and performance texture are closely interrelated, since texture elements as semantic signs are able to convey the semantic expression of the language of music. Texture depends on a lot of factors. There is a strong semantic interrelation between an individual music genre and its typical texture, which has established itself in music practice and has become its distinctive feature. The typical examples are chant chords, which is a typical accompaniment of a waltz, and toccata martellato as an articulation technique. There is an interdependence of music styles and texture elements at historical, national and individual composer’s levels. For example, there is exquisite embellishment in French clavecinists’ works and Alberti bass in Viennese classics’ works. An unexpected outburst of virtuoso style in performance art has become a cultural heritage of Romantic era. In the 19th century the semantics of virtuosity, which is evident in the choice of the mediums of expression in piano works, was of significant importance more than ever before. Texture was in focus and tempo-rhythm, articulation, dynamics and agogics created tonal variations (clarity of Chopin’s jeu perlé, bravura octaval passage works by Liszt). Together with the main meaning-making mechanisms of genre and style in piano works of the 21st century, there is program music. In Baroque era it was closely connected with oratory and the theory of affects. Romanticists gained a better understanding of the potential of music art as a universal language. As a result, during the last two centuries, a “dictionary” of texture semantic signs connected with program music was in the process of its creation. Its demonstrative and wide-spread example is the onomatopoeia of bells (indexical sign by V. Kholopova), which provided for using chords, a broad range of registers and polyrhythm (F. Liszt, O. Borodin, S. Rachmaninoff, C. Debussy). C. Saint-Saëns is one of the most brilliant representatives of French piano school, who personifies the phenomenon of a “composer-virtuoso”. That is why, among all the kinds of conceptual-music and conceptual-word signs (by V. Kholopova), which make up the texture of C. Saint-Saëns’s piano music, virtuosity signs are of great importance and their scientific apprehension reveals the principles of his piano style better. Album for piano op. 72 was written in the years of C. Saint-Saëns’s intensive creative work as a performer and as a composer and it emphasizes the main trends in mature pianoforte mentality. Objectives. The paper covers the determination of the style basics of C. Saint-Saëns’s piano music in terms of the influence of a virtuoso performance practice, which was developed in Western European art. Methods. Research methodology is based on the unity of style, genre, intonation and system analysis types, which highlight the significance of the piano music heritage of the great artist for contemporary performers. Results. A genre and stylistic system of the miniature cycle of Album for piano op. 72 is complex and various. There is a principle of genre interrelation, which manifests itself in the use of folk genres of Italian music culture as a national tradition of this country and the combination of prelude genres of Baroque and Romantic eras (Baroque principles of composition in creating a romantic character). The composition of Album can be roughly divided into two “small cycles”, which are characterized, first of all, by the presence of motor (motor-dance) genres in the final parts and, secondly, by the contrast in the middle part, namely a sound representing one and a cantilena one. The first cycle contains Prélude, Carillon, and Toccata and the second one includes Valse, Chanson Napolitaine and Finale. As for the virtuosity, three main semantic complexes, through which it is manifested, can be distinguished. Their differentiation depends on the dominating expressive means. A high tempo, loud dynamics (ff, fff) and a high level of articulation clarity (non legato, marcatissimo, rinforzando) are the most significant ones in the first cycle. The second cycle is characterized by a multilayer texture with a complex metro-rhythm organization and the elements of a polyphonic notation, which compensates a medium tempo. The third complex represents the semantic values, which are opposite to the first one. They are reached due to a clear light texture, fine finger action combined with articulatory leggiero and dynamics (p, pp). C. Saint-Saëns’s Album for piano op. 72 requires the performer to have the whole set of technical skills. The works of this cycle contain not only a creative synthesis of the piano music of Baroque, Classicism and Romantic era, which is heritable for the artist, but also new ideas of a thematic organization followed by the appearance of music impressionism stylistics in future. Conclusions. C. Saint-Saëns’s piano music style combines the fundamentals of common European instrumental music and mental evidences of French national tradition. The main principles of the composer’s pianoforte mentality include polygenre, stylization, onomatopoeia in program music and virtuosity that were brilliantly embodied in the original authenticated forms of piano music. The virtuosity signs, which were determined in the process of the semantic analysis of Album, bring French instrumental miniature to the whole new level of artistic music creation. Being a virtuoso, C. Saint-Saëns further developed miniature poetics, and thus, contributed to the understanding of the virtuosity style of piano music performance.

The article describes the stages of development of rhythmic notation, characterizes the essence of the reform of Franco of Cologne. Its significance for the formation of the Ars Nova notation has been revealed. The research methodology is based on a combination of general-historical and theoretical methods. The Franco’s notation reform can be summed up by next basic points. Firstly, in the framework of the already existing and rather long tradition of mensural music, which began condition ally from Johannes de Garlandia (in theory, in practice – even before), the Franco’s treatise had a unifying and systematic meaning. Also, the author brilliantly summarized the groundwork of an entire epoch in the history of western rhythmic notation. If we consider the pre-Franco’s notation to be potentially mensural, then Franco puts it in a classical form that will be relevant for the next two centuries. Secondly, Franco in his reform fixes the transition from a modal notation (which is still not quite stable in terms of unambiguous reading) to the actual mensural (quite stable in this attitude). And finally, in a broader sense, the Franco’s mensural system can be considered a completely emancipated system of musical rhythm. It is not related to the rhythm of the poem, either with the rhythm of prose, or with a priori rhythmic formulas that largely comprise the content of modal rhythm. From this point of view, the mensural system represents a further step in separating music from the word, from the verse, from the grammar. The collapse and interpenetration of modes led to the idea of a triple metric unit, abstraction from modes, to the idea of perfection. The connection with modes remained, since the perfection was a triple one, but it was already a theoretical abstraction, practically equivalent to the modern concept of a bar. Further steps in this direction were made by Vitry and Muris.

Musical performers have typically been categorized as either “classical” (reading music), or “playing by ear,” (usually popular or folk music). The two groups of musicians were seen at polar opposite ends of a spectrum. The intent of this study was to explore a comparison between traditional teaching from notation (reading group), and another method that focused on ear playing, and imitation of a model (hearing/modeling group), with an intact class of music education majors learning to play the guitar (N=22). A panel four of judges who evaluated each student’s final performance of a mandatory prepared piece without knowledge of their treatment group, scored each individual in five categories: note correctness, rhythmic precision, confidence, expression, relaxation and posture, tone quality, and synchronization between the hands. There was a significant difference in the final performance assessment between the hearing/modeling and reading groups. The hearing/modeling group had higher average scores (M=3.07) than the reading group (M=2.50), as well as higher scores on the specific sub-categories. Training “by ear” seems to have positive effects for accuracy and fluency of performance in beginning guitarists. Keywords: Guitar pedagogy, Guitar teaching methodology, Playing by ear, Reading music.

Objectives of the scientific research lies in a) comprehension of the dramaturgy of the holiday of Pentecost on the basis of theological, musical and poetic analysis of the selected sticheras of the evening ceremony from the Liubachiv Irmologion, 1674; b) detailed analysis of the interaction of the poetic text with the melody of the sticheras «Come, people» and «The Lord of the heavens» to understand and perform liturgies correctly c) study of the musical and rhetorical models in the verbal texts of the sticheras. Methodology and scientific approaches. In the process of research, the source-study method was used for manuscript analysis; - historical method is used in deciphering the Kiev square notation; – musical and theoretical method, which is related to the analysis of the sticheras of the holiday of Pentecost; the liturgical and theological method, which is used to understand the connection between theological content and artistic forms. Conclusions of the research. The results of the research showed that the musical material of the sticheras «Come, people» and «The Lord of the heavens» follow all indicated principles of poetic texts and monody colors underline the significance of the theological content. The common base for both sticheras is a melody that is framed by melusmatics in the form of third links of the ascending and descending movement around the supporting sounds, which gives the songs solemn and commendable character. In most cases melos moves smoothly within a second, third, and fourth diapason. The dramaturgy of chants is based on two intonation tunes of major and minor slopes. The interaction of poetic and musical material builds the perfect structural form of the songs. The composition of the melody of the sticheras is set out in repeated tunes based on the principle of the main development of chants. Rhetorical formulas help understand the concealed theological content and interpret them correctly. Poetic texts of the sticheras determine the importance of theological content of the songs, which is manifested through the perfect musical and poetic form of works and shows excellent skills of their creators. The frameworks of the research, the possibility of using the results, the direction for further research. The results of the research are important for use in the study of the liturgy, theology and the history of the Church and they can also be used in further studies of the church monody of the Byzantine and Slavic Christian areas. Practical importance. The ideas and conclusions of this research, which are drawn on the basis of musical and textual analysis, can be used not only in further research, but also in teaching practice, in particular, by including them in lectures on liturgical singing, which will help conductors and singers understand the meaning of the liturgy of the holiday of Pentecost better. Originality / value. The results of the research give an opportunity to understand the world of sacred musical art better in the cultural and aesthetic meaning, which defines a scientific topicality. The analysis underlined the uniqueness of the sticheras in liturgical practice, and the hidden content of the songs by the means of oratory art is shown.

Tasks of scientific research:– to characterize the Ars subtilior style;– to determine the philosophical and cultural prerequisites for the emer-gence of the Ars subtilior style;– to describe their impact on the musical art of that time.The methodology of the research is based on the use of historical andtheoretical methods.Conclusions: Composers of Ars subtilior style tried to achieve absolutepossibilities in music: the complexity of rhythm, visual representation andlyrical content, the variety of ways to fix it, and, to a lesser extent, the matterof harmony. Like their contemporaries in the domain of logic, composersaccepted simple logical puzzles and deliberately made them as difficult aspossible. It looked like this: the composers of Ars subtilior took simplemelodic lines and decorated them in various ways, as if competing amongthemselves, just for the sake of the complexity of the experiment. Followingthe example of their predecessors, Ars subtilior composers focused onexpanding the boundaries of rhythm and notation more than on other musicalcomponents (for example, harmony and melody). However, they did this morefor the sake of curiosity, not seeking to improve or clarify the rhythm andnotation.Experiments in the development of rhythmics went in parallel with thedevelopment of other medieval sciences. Especially close and obvious contactcan be traced with the philosophy of the same time. The 13th century inWestern Europe became a period of its rapid development. There werecreated philosophical schools, particularly in England, France, Italy. Thelargest European philosophical center was created at Oxford University.