Artículos de revistas sobre el tema "Harmonic Practice in Tonal Music (2004)"

Introduction. Flamenco is a cultural phenomenon that dates back to the 5–6th centuries. This artistic practice organically unites plastic, gesture, singing, word, instrumental play. It is difficult to determine the hierarchical relationships between these components. Each of them has its own “vocabulary”, its own laws of constructing the artistic whole, that is, its canons. In a wide artistic field, canons consider a set of certain rules, based on which creative activity is carried out, and the originality of its result is ensured by the specificity of their improvisational transformation by a particular performer. Any phenomenon that is subject to the action of a set of these specific canons acquires formal, stylistic, genre qualities that indicate the cultural and artistic environment from which they originate. Flamenco is developing dynamically and actively absorbing the experience of other musical cultures. Any phenomena that fall into the gravitational field of the flamenco canons acquire the specific traits inherent in this culture. This assimilation of alien elements is defined by the concept of aflamencado (“one that acquires the characteristic features of flamenco”). Theoretical background. Contemporary views toward flamenco culture are very different: the discrepancies are noticeable among flamenco fans, performers and scientists. The paper of Marta Wieczorec “Flamenco: Contemporary Research Dilemmas” (2018) considers disputes about the scientific issue of flamenco. She pays attention to the debatable side in science comprehension of this ethnic phenomena and its place in Spanish culture. This article also looks at the antagonism between traditional and contemporary, or, “pure” and commercial branches of flamenco. William Washbaugh in his book “Flamenco music and national identity in Spain” (2012) considers as a ambitious project the tendency to rethink Spanish national identity under the influence of the spread of flamenco music culture, its various forms. Among many contemporary musicians, he also calls Miriam Méndez. The purpose of this paper is to identify the basic strategies of aflamencado in piano art of the XX century (the ways of interaction flamenco and piano performance art of this period). Such study requires the use of musicological and performing analytical methods of scientific research, among them the methods of genre and style analysis, historical and comparative approach that are applied on this paper. The genre theory by E. Nazaykinskiy (1982) is used in this study. This theory defines genres as historically established types and kinds of musical creation, which divides according to number of criteria: by purpose (public, common, artistic function); by conditions and facilities of performing; by content and ways of creation. Aflamencado characterization using the theory of T. Cherednichenko (2002) about typologique of musical practices allowed considering different methods of adapting the flamenco ethnic elements to the academic traditions and to determine the degree of transformation of the constituent elements of the synthesis. Research results. Piano art began to embrace flamenco culture in the late XIX century. The pioneer along this path was maestro F. Pedrell and his students. One of them, І. Albenis, composed the cycles for piano “Spanish Music” No. 1 (1886), No. 2 (1889) and “Iberia” (1906–1908), where the piano pieces are enriched with the characteristic flamenco sound. The piano texture includes some elements of guitar technique: the “razguiado”, which involves repeated chords, the “punteado” – accenting performance of each sound. Melody line of Albenis’s piano works correlates with flamenco due to its generous embellishments, melismatics and hangs in detentions, which are also a projection of flamenco vocal art. The metro-rhythmic sphere of the Spanish opus by I. Albenis is often based on the typical flamenco-“compass” associated with changeable the dual and triple pulsations. Tonal and harmonic reliance on Lydian and Phrygian modes and the use of the so-called “Andalusian cadence” (t-VII-VI-D) complements the palette of flamenco expressive means of expression. These aflamencado examples have some contradictions. The nature of the pianoforte is extremely elitist and aristocratic. The “wild” and arbitrary art of Spanish Roma from the poorest regions of Andalusia, when it falls into the sound pianistic “wrapper”, is transformed significantly and acquires an academic taste. Authentic art with its oral tradition of imitation is engraved in the musical text, such fixation sends flamenco to “foreign” territory, creating grounds to believe that the cycles “Spanish suite” and “Iberia” are examples of “composer expansion” on the flamenco territory. In this example, the principles of aflamencado have a specific vector directed into the sphere of “opus- music”, and a set of tools and techniques that allow to attract the characteristic features of folk practice, with its oral and collective nature (according to T. Cherednichenko’s typology of musical practices), to creation of original, individual, non-canonical composer work. In such interaction the resources of one cultural layer allow to reach of new artistic content in other. In this sense, aflamencado acts as a means of simulating a particular object of reality in the individual perception of the author. Aflamencado in the works of contemporary composer, arranger and pianist Miriam Méndez is oriented in the opposite direction. She called her first album “Bach por Flamenco” (2005). The intertextuality of this musical experiment provides radically new content to the work that has long been canonized. J. S. Bach’s Fugue is transformed into a target. The rigid, immutable confines of the genre are being tested by the ever-changing, flamenco element. The timbre, the properties of the tools used, the built-in “cante” – all serve to update the original. The pianist, who, along with other musicians, created this genre mix, was guided, mainly, by the idea of flamenco. Conclusions. Thus, in the contemporary piano art, the aflamencado phenomenon reveals a dual nature that depends on the basic level of interaction between cultures. In one case, composer creativity engages a flamenco resource to implement authorial creative strategies. Otherwise, the composer’s work is being “prepared” for the purpose of immersing it in the primordial folk element. As a result, two fundamentally different models of pianism are formed – the academic and its flamenco variety adapted to the musical-linguistic canons. This version of piano performance in listening circles was called “flamenco-pianism”. The hybrid nature of this phenomenon now needs in further investigation.

The present study examines both gradual and rapid changes occurring in 20th-century jazz harmonic practice. A newly-assembled corpus of 1,086 jazz compositions was used to test the idea that jazz music exhibits a mid-century decline in traditionally “tonal” chord usage. Evidence was found for slow, incremental changes in zeroth-order chord quality distributions, consistent with gradual, unconscious changes in harmonic usage. Typical tonal chord-to-chord transitions became less common between the 1920s and the 1960s, consistent with the hypothesis of tonal decline. Finally, use of root motion of an ascending perfect fourth dropped suddenly in the 1950s, suggesting that chord-to-chord transitions might be more susceptible to rapid change than chord frequency. Possible constraints on stylistic evolution are discussed.

Our understanding of the long-term tonal relationships that grow out of seventeenth-century harmonic language is at an elementary stage. An enormous gap seems to exist between our ability to deal with, on the one hand, a sixteenth-century compositional language that basically adheres to a contrapuntal technique and tonally abides by the rules of modality and, on the other, an eighteenth-century tonal language for which we quietly assume harmonic functionality. That scholars have largely avoided an investigation of harmonic language in the seventeenth century is perhaps surprising. Problematic and somewhat enigmatic features of seventeenth-century music are, in some cases, not very different from the characteristics Harold S. Powers attributed to late sixteenth-century modal music: ‘sometimes faintly exotic, often charmingly vague and undirected to our ears, but hardly alien’. Benito V. Rivera appeared to corroborate Powers's perception when he characterized some of the idiosyncrasies of seventeenth-century harmonic practice as ‘isolated harmonic quirkiness’.

Research in music perception has typically focused on common-practice music (tonal music from the Western European tradition, ca. 1750–1900) as a model of Western musical structure. However, recent research indicates that different styles within Western tonal music may follow distinct harmonic syntaxes. The current study investigated whether listeners can adapt their harmonic expectations when listening to different musical styles. In two experiments, listeners were presented with short musical excerpts that primed either rock or classical music, followed by a timbre-matched cadence. Results from both experiments indicated that listeners prefer V-I cadences over bVII-I cadences within a classical context, but that this preference is significantly diminished in a rock context. Our findings provide empirical support for the idea that different musical styles do employ different harmonic syntaxes. Furthermore, listeners are not only sensitive to these differences, but are able to adapt their expectations depending on the listening context.

psychoacoustic theories of dissonance often follow Helmholtz and attribute it to partials (fundamental frequencies or overtones) near enough in frequency to affect the same region of the basilar membrane and therefore to cause roughness, i.e., rapid beating. In contrast, tonal theories attribute dissonance to violations of harmonic principles embodied in Western music. We propose a dual-process theory that embeds roughness within tonal principles. The theory predicts the robust increasing trend in the dissonance of triads: major < minor < diminished < augmented. Previous experiments used too few chords for a comprehensive test of the theory, and so Experiment 1 examined the rated dissonance of all 55 possible three-note chords, and Experiment 2 examined a representative sample of 48 of the possible four-note chords. The participants' ratings concurred reliably and corroborated the dual-process theory. Experiment 3 showed that, as the theory predicts, consonant chords are rated as less dissonant when they occur in a tonal sequence (the cycle of fifths) than in a random sequence, whereas this manipulation has no reliable effect on dissonant chords outside common musical practice.

This article introduces the concept of the transcendental oscillation, in which two chords alternate with one another in a way that transcends traditional tonal practice. This harmonic device appears in a wide variety of settings from Wagner to modern pop music. After discussing some theoretical properties of transcendental oscillations, including their interactions with modality and chromaticism, I analyze transcendental oscillations in the works of Debussy, who made the technique a central component of his style. In Debussy's music, transcendental oscillations may be either intensifying or calming. They are symptomatic of what Sylveline Bourion calls Debussy's "duplication" tendency. As progressions foreign to common practice, they present a novel aspect, but as repetitive progressions, they are easy on the ears. These two central features of transcendental oscillations—their harmonic freshness and their repetitive quality—combine to make them well suited to Debussy's compositional project and attractive to composers to this day.

The late 19th-century dualism of Hugo Riemann exemplifies a widely recognized tendency in Western cultures to think in binary pairs. In recent theoretical writing the primary dualism between major and minor modes has provoked little or no controversy. But the attendant opposition between, respectively, authentic and plagal harmonic systems has not found widespread acceptance, because theorists have been unwilling to grant the latter equal status to the former. An alternative is to accept the validity of the two systems and at the same time to recognize the inequality that comes with any binary pair, thus acknowledging the "otherness" or, to borrow a term from linguistics, the "markedness" of the plagal system. In an essay from 1889, Riemann explored striking harmonic effects in the Andante of the Fourth Symphony and another late orchestral movement by Brahms, discerning the same non-diatonic scale behind the (plagal) idioms in both. The Phrygian and Aeolian scales enable similar unusual plagal passages in two chamber movements by Brahms, the early Adagio mesto of the Horn Trio and the very late opening Allegro from the Clarinet Trio. In these movements plagal harmony appears in a strong sense as the other of authentic harmony and perhaps even of common-practice tonality itself. The semantic significance of certain plagal moments in both has to do above all with their ability to suggest something other than, outside of, or prior to tonal music.

Recent years have seen the rise of musical corpus studies, primarily detailing harmonic tendencies of tonal music. This article extends this scholarship by addressing a new genre (rap music) and a new parameter of focus (rhythm). More specifically, I use corpus methods to investigate the relation between metric ambivalence in the instrumental parts of a rap track (i.e., the beat) and an emcee's rap delivery (i.e., the flow). Unlike virtually every other rap track, the instrumental tracks of Outkast's "Mainstream" (1996) simultaneously afford hearing both a four-beat and a three-beat metric cycle. Because three-beat durations between rhymes, phrase endings, and reiterated rhythmic patterns are rare in rap music, an abundance of them within a verse of "Mainstream" suggests that an emcee highlights the three-beat cycle, especially if that emcee is not prone to such durations more generally. Through the construction of three corpora, one representative of the genre as a whole, and two that are artist specific, I show how the emcee T-Mo Goodie's expressive practice highlights the rare three-beat affordances of the track.

Laura Campbell's article (Vol. 5, No. 3, November 1988) seems a little ambivalent. On the one hand she proposes a ‘method’ for harmonising chorales in the style of J. S. Bach; on the other she seems to suggest that this is not in any case an appropriate task for the student.By implication this raises once again the whole question of the value of ‘imitative’ work as an agent of musical education. Does it teach anything other than knowledge of the particular style involved and if not, does it matter? To take a style even more remote from everyday musical experience, that of Palestrina, I am sure that those of us who devoted a good deal of time to it as students did gain much useful practice in the writing of smooth vocal lines applicable in fields as distant from the idiom of Palestrina as the arrangement of modern light music. In the same way the budding composer can learn from Bach-style chorale harmonisation something of the way in which harmonic considerations interact with the writing of interesting vocal lines, and the compromises that have to be made in the process of fusing the two together. It is true that the principal benefit of this activity is knowledge of Bach's methods in chorale harmonisation, but the same is true of what is now known as ‘pastiche’ work in any idiom; the idea that one can learn a sort of all-purpose abstract harmonic language which can be applied mutatis mutandis to all tonal music from the Baroque to the late Romantic era has now fallen into disrepute. It is worth noting that Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Bruckner all considered it worth their while to work at Fux's Gradus ad Parnassum, a sort of archetypal ‘pastiche’ method. Figured bass, incidentally, is not primarily a method of teaching, but a shorthand performing notation.

From the late eighteenth century onward, composers began to use dynamic signs as an independent layer of expressive meaning, deployed either to reinforce the dynamic tendencies inherent in the music (through melodic or harmonic trajectory, phrasing, texture, etc.) or to counteract them. The study of this phenomenon thus far has been limited to individual observations regarding particular events, such as “surprise dynamics” (for example sudden peaks in volume or a subito piano following a crescendo), with no attempt to reach a systematic understanding. This article elucidates a little-noticed device, the preventive or cautionary dynamic. Some nineteenth-century composers reiterate dynamic instructions in their instrumental music several times in succession. The purpose of these repetitions is to maintain a desired dynamic level that runs counter to the intrinsic ebb and flow of tonal music (the “internal dynamic” as defined by some authors). The device is used most frequently at the extremes of the dynamic spectrum, often to create expressive tension in a poetic/extramusical sense. The first composer to make substantial use of this technique was Beethoven, but it is Mendelssohn who developed and deployed it most fully. This type of dynamic instruction is most prevalent in large-scale instrumental compositions, such as the symphony, and highlights another aspect of musical practice of the period: composers increasingly had to contend with conductors and performances over which they had no direct control. The increased use of dynamic signs in general and preventive or cautionary dynamics in particular can thus be read as an attempt to assert control over expressive aspects of their compositions that traditionally had been left to performers.

Setting problems. The Ukrainian Irmologions represent to our contemporaries the musical and analytical knowledge common in the medieval Ukraine. In line with study of the Ukrainian musical-theoretical heritage, it is important to understand what problems our distant predecessors were solving and how they solved them. Relevance of the study. Studying written sources of the formation of Ukrainian science on music, today turn mainly to the first handwritten treatises, "Grammar of Music" by M. Diletsky. However, the traditions of analytical comprehension of music developed in Ukraine a little earlier and were reflected in writing in Irmologions. It is time to analyze this stage in the evolution of Ukrainian scientific and musical thought. Analysis of recent researches and publications. P. Matsenko noted the analytical abilities of the printers of that time, which were similar to the experience of the Irmologionists' scribes. M. Antonovych noticed different principles of styling in handwritten and printed Irmoologions, etc. O. Tsalay-Yakymenko approached the topic of the beginnings of the Ukrainian musical and theore-tical thought mainly in the direction of musical pedagogy. The Catalogue of the notolinium Irmologions by Yu. Yasinovsky made it possible to a separate special study of musical and analytical knowledgeof their authors-copyists. The purpose of this article. The purpose of the proposed study is the most complete and comprehensive characteristic of the medieval stage of development of the Ukrainian musical and theoretical thought with its worldview, spiritual, aesthetic and musical-stylistic traditions, views and norms. Summary of the research. The Ukrainian Irmoloy is a multi-genre song collection, skillfully composed of various (local and borrowed) songs. At the same time, these books contain all kinds of additional information that is carried in the margins of the text by glosses and interpolations. They show not only the acquired singing experience, but also the established system of the corresponding analytical knowledge. Thus, the songs were selected according to local traditions, local preferences, customs of local schools, aesthetic tastes of their scribes. The scribes were well versed in the origin of the songs that lived in their environment. Some of them pointed out the linguistic translation of the song, which, together with its musical translation from nonlinear notation to new linear notes, contributed to the spread of foreign musical material in the repertoire of local singers. The knowledge of genres is evidenced by "scars", "registers" – lists of material contained in Irmologion. The scribes were quite literate people: they combined the activities of professional musicians and skilled copyistseditors-creators of music Irmologions. Appendices to the main text – "Alphabets" – were brief summaries of initial information on the elementary theory of music. Results and their significance. The versatile activity of secular scribes-singers took place meaningfully, on the basis of certain knowledge and practical experience. Particularly noticeable is the knowledge of theological practice, genre diversity, developed musical thinking and hearing, which contributed to the rapid spread of the norms of the European tonal-harmonic system, and also figurative imagination and natural symbolic thinking, which ensured the unmistakable translation of the old Kyiv backdrop writing into a standardized noto-linear notation. Performing skills "gave the right" to edit the musical text according to their tastes and training in the environment of a particular creative school. The study of the note-linear irmoloys as indicators of early fixation of analytical comprehension of the ancient Ukrainian liturgical creativity proves that it was born long before the appearance of its first written evidence.

Background. The article is a step towards a modern comprehension of the creative heritage by M. Karminskyi, whose work in the second half of the 20 century contributed to the development and international fame of Ukrainian music. Analysis of scientific publications (Heivandova, K., 1981; Ivanova, Yu., 2001; Kushchova, E., 2004 etc.), memoirs (Hanzburg, G., 2000) and a huge array of periodicals devoted to the composer allows us to single out the characteristic features of his creative personality, which determine the originality of his talent as a composer, explaining the constant demand for his music and its successful functioning in the pedagogical process, in particular, in children’s music schools. The purpose and objectives of this study – to consider the artistic and aesthetic orientation of the creative heritage by M. Karminskyi and identify its distinctive features, focusing on the genre and style aspect of his works for children and youth and their methodological significance in pedagogical practice. Research methods are based on general scientific principles of systematization and generalization. The most important role was played by the interdisciplinary approach to the analysis of the composer’s creative heritage from the standpoint not only of musicology, but also of history, culturology, and pedagogy. For reflecting the spiritual atmosphere, where the composer’s talent was formed, the historicalbiographical approach was of great importance. Research results. The way of formation of M. Karminskyi’s individuality, development of his innate musical inclinations to successful realization of talent is crowned with creation of compositions of various genres, both largescale – partitas, operas, music to performances, and chamber – vocal-choral and instrumental miniatures, among which the piano music for children and youth audiences appealed to the style of Ukrainian folklore occupies a significant place. Ukrainian literature, in particular, works by Taras Shevchenko, Lesia Ukrainka, and Ivan Franko, which were carefully studied by M. V. Karminskyi as a student of the Faculty of Journalism at V. N. Karazin Kharkiv State University, had a significant influence on the formation of the composer’s worldview and aesthetic priorities. Probably, it was the love for literature that determined the programmatic narrative nature of M. Karminskyi’s compositions. However, the love for music itself prevailed: M. Karminskyi continued his studies at the Kharkiv Conservatory in the class of Professor D. Klebanov possessed in perfection by the musical artistic heritage and was able to transfer creatively this knowledge to students. M. Karminskyi’s later applied the skills acquired from him in his work. In those years, the Kharkiv School of Composition stood out among other music unions of Ukraine with a high level of creative competence: composers sought their own way and artistic individuality, creating a modern musical language. However, even in this highly educated environment, the personal potential of Mark Veniaminovich, his highly artistic taste and erudition rose. Mark Veniaminovich is sometimes called “the knight of the country of childhood” thanks to his brilliant compositions for children. The composer speaks to the children’s audience with the help of intonations and artistic techniques available to the child’s worldview, but he does not adapt to the child, but teaches him to develop thinking, show strong emotions. Pupils like program music with interesting content that evokes familiar associations, specific ideas. Therefore, in many of his works M. Karminskyi turns to the literary basis, clear concrete and dynamic images, heightened emotionality (“Steppe, steppe...”, “Autumn Day”, “Lyrical intermezzo”, etc.). Such approach motivates children not to perform works abstractly and mechanically, but to bring their own emotions and understandings into them. M. Karminskyi uses clear three-part or couplet forms that contain repetition (the plays “Favorite Tale”, “Ancient History”, “Merry Trumpeter”, etc.), he is characterized by conciseness of melodic phrases. The texture is convenient for children’s hands: parallel intervals, counterpointing voices, organ points of the lower voice, melodic figurations and harmonic degrees sustained in the middle line, register dynamics are used. These and other techniques promote students’ technical capabilities by developing mobility and finger strength. Continuing the traditions of the Ukrainian singing school, M. Karminskyi pays a lot of attention to the techniques of cantilena performance, forcing students to master the art of playing the pedal, which requires careful sound control. Piano ensembles, unique in their poetic beauty, were created by the composer at the end of his not too long life. These plays use themes from the music to the play “Robin Hood”, and the musical images of the pieces are extremely clear even in the names: “Old Grandfather Kohl”, “Lady Tambourine”, “Road to the Temple”, “Crazy Waltz”. M. Karminskyi, feeling a passionate interest in theatrical action with its playful moments and the task of embodying specific images, created music for performances. The radio production “Robin Hood” with the participation of the country’s leading artists, based on the poems of the famous Scottish poet R. Burns translated by S. Marshak and imbued with romantic sublimity, lyricism and sincerity, received a special resonance; it contains expressive melodies that are quickly memorized. In 1978, the company “Melody” released a stereo disc “Robin Hood” with a recording of this radio show. The variety of artistic tasks of the ensemble music of M. Kaminskyi leads to the formation of a variety of pianistic skills. The predominance of playful, moving images in plays develops motor technic and synchronization in performing. The meter and the rhythm of the works are complicated using the measures 6/8, 9/8 or size change in one work: 2/4; 3/4; again 2/4; then 4/4. This technique allows you to transmit movement and free breath of a musical phrase. Karminskyi actively uses chords from fourths and fifths intervals characterized the repertoire of Ukrainian bandura players. Conclusions. The composer gave the children a lot of strength and inspiration, creating music for them in accordance with high moral and ethical criteria and filled with vivid emotions, theatricality, and visible concrete imagery. Miniatures for the children’s choir, the master’s piano pieces have a high spiritual meaning and are among the best achievements of Ukrainian children’s musical literature. The piano music of M. Karminskyi is marked by a tendency to search for a new national style: the composer does not quote folk melodies, creating original musical images in the spirit of folklore. The multi-genre works of M. Karminskyi embody the eternal themes of good and evil, love and death, betrayal and fidelity with the emotional strength inherent in his music, demonstrating the composer’s deep erudition and human decency, originality, uniqueness of his personality and his talent.

Background. The peculiarities of the worldview and philosophy of modern contradictory era put forward before the art new requirements and benchmarks, which the Postmodern aesthetics embodies. The phenomenon of «Postmodernism» covers different levels of contemporary life. In philosophy, this concept was first introduced by J.-F. Lyotard in his report «The status of postmodernism». The French philosopher revealed the essence of Postmodernism consisting in «awareness of diversity and pluralism of forms of rationality, activity of life, as well as the recognition of this diversity as a natural positive state» [2], and defined Postmodernism as «the general direction of modern European culture, formed in 1970–80-es» [2]. Now there is no single definition of «postmodern», probably, due to the incompleteness, continuity of formation of this phenomenon. Some philosophers, in particular, J. Habermas, D. Bell and Z. Bauman, consider postmodernism as the result of politics and ideology of neo-conservatism, which is characterized by aesthetic eclecticism [3]. Italian philosopher and writer U. Eco understands postmodernism as a process of changing one cultural era to another, perceiving it as «... the answer to modernism: since the past cannot be destroyed, because its destruction leads to dumbness, it needs to be rethought, ironically, without naivety» [5: 77]. This approach most accurately reveals the essence of postmodern art. In the field of aesthetics, the work of F. Jameson, «Postmodernism or The cultural logic of late capitalism», where postmodernism is represented as a «cultural dominant» is quite indicative. The philosopher defines such typical phenomenon of postmodern culture as a simulacrum, weakening of affects, the consequence of which is «the replacement of alienation of the subject by its fragmentation» [1: 105], the disappearance of the individual subject and the emergence on this basis of the practice of pastiche [1: 108], the loss of historicity. In musicology, the question of the essence of postmodernism has not yet received a sufficient scientific basis. From the latest works of Ukrainian researchers, in our opinion, it is disclosed most complete in the D. Ruzhinsky’s article “Specificity of the manifestation of postmodernism in musical creativity” [4]. The object of presented research is the specificity of postmodernism manifestations in an art; the subject of research are the postmodern landmarks in the individual style of outstanding Canadian pianist and composer M.-A Hamelin. The purpose of the article is to reveal the interrelation of the composer’ and performing style by M.-A. Hamelin with the aesthetic paradigms of Postmodernism. The methodological basis of the research consists of the concepts of postmodern philosophy and aesthetics presented in the works of J. Habermas, D. Bell, Z. Bauman. U. Eco, F. Jameson. For more full understanding of specificity of the postmodern traits implementation in M.-A. Hamelin’s activity, the “creative portrait” genre as well as analyses of some fragments of his music was used. Presenting the main material. The art of postmodernism reflects a fundamentally new attitude to the process of creativity, which includes of such typical features as 1) quoting or using famous plots, which are the realities of the culture of previous eras; 2) intertextuality; 3) the prevalence of the audience interpretation over the composer’s idea, when the author’s position is not decisive (according to M. Foucault, “the death of the author”); 4) syncretism; 5) the irony and the parody-game designing of works. The creativity of Marc-André Hamelin (b.1961) – the world-renowned Canadian virtuoso pianist and composer – is one of the brightest personifications of these principles, as well as their individual understanding. In 1985, he won the First prize at the competition at Carnegie hall, with which he began his ascent to the musical Olympus as a performer. To date, M.-A. Hamelin, an outstanding pianist and soloist, performs with many leading world orchestras, and his discography total more than 60 albums, including both his own works and the works of many composers of different genres and eras. In addition to intensive performance and interpretation activities, the Canadian artist is also engaged in composition, and his artistic search is concentrated mainly within the framework of piano music, which is quite natural. Among the works for piano solo the transcriptions can be identified, such as the “Etude-fantasy ‘Flight of the bumblebee’” by Rimsky-Korsakov (1987), “Waltz-minute, in seconds” (transcription of Chopin’s waltz). Another group of works ‒ miniatures are, for example, the “Little Nocturne” (2007), “Preamble to the imaginary piano Symphony” (1989), “My impressions about chocolate” (2014); the cycles of miniatures – “Con intimissimo sentimento” (1986–2000); the larger-scale pieces – “Barcarolle” (2013), “Chaconne” (2013). The composer wrote the three cycles of variations and the cadenzas for piano concertos by Mozart (K453 and 491), for the Fourth piano Concerto by Beethoven, the Third and Fourth Concertos by Haydn and The second Hungarian Rhapsody by Liszt. In addition to the solo piano music, the composer turned to the chamber genre (“Fanfare” for three trumpets, “Passacaglia”» for piano quintet, «Four perspectives» for cello and piano). His style is characterized by the frequent using of thematic material from the works by other composers of different eras. From the very beginning, Hamelin rethinks this material, not introducing it in its original form, but transforming it. For example, in the “Variations on The theme of Paganini” the theme of the Twenty-fourth Caprice is already “modernized”: maintaining the harmonic basis of it, the author adds the non-chords sounds and the remark to tempo, which notes that the theme should be played “with a groove”, as it is typical for salsa, rock and fusion style. Interpretations of the quoted material are not in the original, but in its creative processing can see although in the Seventh variation with the theme of the Third variation of Sonata No. 30 by Beethoven. Another typical feature of postmodernism of the Canadian artist’s work is manifested in a certain game with the listener, because to catch all the allusions, to understand the quotes and styles of different eras, he must be intellectually well prepared. Some of the noted features of the composer’s creation find their direct projection in the performing pianistic style of M.-A. Hamelin. For example, virtuosity, which is present in his works in both explicit and veiled form, fully manifests itself in the interpretation of the works of other composers. Another characteristic feature of the performing style of M.-A. Hamelin is his aspiring to end-to-end development and cyclicity. In his discography, there are many different cycles, sometimes quite voluminous, performed by him as a whole. In practice of composition this is manifested at the level of the musical form (cycles, parts of which often follow directly one after another, and sometimes even the final harmony of one of the parts becomes the beginning of the next part). Conclusion. The results of the research confirm the idea of the relationship of Hamelin’s individual creative style with the basic ideas of postmodernism aesthetics. Quite typical for the manner of writing of the Canadian artist is the attraction to the throughness of development, to the creation of micro-cycles (as well as to the performing of cyclic works of other composers); the combination of ironic rethinking of thematic material with virtuosity; the playing with the listener on the basis of the introduction of quotation material and work with it; the combination of different styles within one work. Such manner requires a prepared, meaningful perception, that is, to paraphrase U. Eco, the «ideal listener».

Background. The history of concert music, separated from ritual and other non-musical functions, is closely connected with the art of violin. The violin was the leading instrument of the Baroque concert style, the examples of which are still unsurpassed. Despite the large amount of research on the formation and varieties of violin style, the concept of “concert” in combination with the concept of “violin” has not yet been considered separately, which determines the relevance of the topic of this article. The object of the research is a concerto principle of musical thinking in violin music; the purpose of the study is to identify the features of the phenomenon of concert in the system of music genres with the participation of the violin. Research methodology. To highlight the content of the stated topic, the article uses elements of both general and special musicological methods, including: historical genetic, deductive, comparative (general scientific approaches); organological, genre and stylistic analysis (musicological approach). Results. The article is devoted to the characterization of the “concerto principles” concept, which is the basis for the study of concert works for violin. It is noted that such phenomena and concepts as “concerto principles”, “concertіzing”, “concerto” are based on the reflection of the dialogue idea in its projection on the dialectic of musical formation (according to B. Asafiev). The author of the article identifies the main approaches to classifying the types of concerto as a musical genre, pointing out the following oppositions: “composer – performer-soloist”, “performer-soloist – orchestra”, and “structural canon – freedom of construction”. The significance of such attributes of concerto as virtuosity and improvisation inherent in any concert forms, including with the participation of the violin, is highlighted. It is noted that the implementation of the concerto principles, which come from large concert forms by J. S. Bach (according to Yu. Kholopov), is a prerequisite in the practical application of the concerto violin music models that are individually embodied in the work of modern masters, including Kharkiv citizens. In order to characterize the phenomenon of violin concerto principles, it was necessary to dwell on the nature of a whole complex of phenomena defined by B.Asafiev as “the basis and principle of concerto”. Based on the observations made by the founder of intonation theory, we can conclude that there is a common core of any concerto music – the idea of a dialogue that arises between the generating and generated intonational and thematic impulses that potentially contain a key to the dialectic of the musical process in its various structural formulations. The dialogue nature of concerto as a special musical genre also includes such attributes as virtuosity and improvisation. However, their presence in a concerto has various gradations and is not, as a rule, a foreground factor. At the same time, we cannot deny that the virtus aesthetics (lat. – valor, talent) is important within the system of concerto genres represented in music for a certain instrument, in particular, the violin. In this regard, a concerto is always a “competition and agreement” between the soloist and the orchestra accompanying him. As a result, and on this basis, we can say about the formation of the three main types of interaction between the participants in the concert dialogue: dominating solo, dominating orchestra, and parity (according to K. Kuznetsov). It should be noted that the improvisation clarifies the meaning of concerto as a performing genre, which is aimed at the free expression of a musician, unlimited by the existing canons and structural models. The genome of concerto (M. Bondarenko) is realized in a rather wide variety of musical forms and genre subtypes – from the standard model of a concerto for a solo instrument with orchestra, a concert for orchestra, a “concerto without orchestra” (R. Schumann), to any other genre forms containing signs of concerto (K. Bila). In evolutionary terms, the development of the concert dialogue idea went through several stages in which two multidirectional vectors are distinguished – centripetal (the way to concerto as a special kind of symphonic genre) and centrifugal (“dispersal” of concerto as a principle of musical thinking in different intonation systems – mono-, poly- and liberal-genre, according to G. Daunoravichene). The “Genre Explosion” (L. Shapovalova), inherent in Modern music, influenced concerto as a musical genre, where composers and performers can discover for themselves and for listeners the most diverse elements of language and technology, referring to different eras and genre styles. The absence of a unified concert model in modern composer and performing practice is largely due to the set of instruments. The instrumental component of concert genres (namely genres, not a genre) is in modern conditions a key determinant in implementing the principles of concerto, which fully applies to violin music. It was the violin that was one of the main instruments that determined the appearance of a solo concerto in the Baroque music, where the foundations of the entire subsequent development of instrumental genre traditions were laid in the direction from the typical vision to the author’s version – the hypothesis of the world (M. Starcheus), concentrated in the genre “matrix” (E. Nazaikinsky). The unsurpassed examples of a large concerto form, which composers of all subsequent eras have oriented themselves to, are found in the works of J. S. Bach, who was not so much an “inventor” as a “trend-setter”. In concertos by J. S. Bach, the severity and seriousness of thought are combined with a peculiar “neutralization” (Yu. Kholopov) of form elements that create a kind of its internal tonal and harmonic “frame”. At the heart of Bach’s concerto principles, which apply to all other manifestations of this principle, and to modern violin literature, there are two constructive standards – polyphonic (theme and interlude) and homophonic (theme and episode), in which Yu. Kholopov sees not only differences, but also similarities. The author of this article did not set the goal of illustrating these principles on the material of specific works from the creative portfolios of Kharkiv masters. At the same time, the three principles of constructing a large concerto form – alternative, developmental and reprise-repeated (Yu. Kholopov), developed by I. S. Bach, can be traced in a number of examples – from concertos for violin (violins) with orchestra – to concerto miniatures , where the “image” of the instrument is realized through various gradations of concerto as the basis and principle of musical thinking. Conclusions. The semantics of violin concerto is revealed in two meanings, concentrated in the components of this phenomenon. The main one is “concert” as a principle of musical thinking, based on a combination and different types of ratio of dialogicity (genre constant), virtuosity and improvisation (genre attributes). The second component of the phenomenon – “violin” – specifies the first at the level of the genre system, which is multifaceted and includes works of different models, classified on the basis of mono-, poly- and librogenre. The semantic “matrices” of violin concerto find expression in the corresponding genre forms, which was first demonstrated in the music of the late Baroque (J. S. Bach), where they were divided into two most common types of poetics: polyphonic (theme and interlude), homophonic (theme and episode). The article states that on this methodological basis it is necessary to approach the concert violin style in the works of both individual authors and regional schools, in particular, one of the leading in Ukraine – Kharkiv, which is the immediate prospect of further study of the topic.

Background. Rapidness of information flows of contemporary life enforces to concentrate a significant amount of information in small formats. This fact meaningfully increases social and practical significance, cultural and aesthetic value of miniature genres, in particularly, in the musical art. The violin miniature is a historically developed, typologically settled genre of professional musical creativity designed to solo music-making in the conditions of chamber or concert performance. Relevance of the genre is also due to its active inclusion in the programs of competitions and festivals. To the violin miniature genre the such outstanding masters of past were addressing as N. Paganini, H. Wieniawski, P. Tchaikovsky, E. Elgar, J. Sibelius, F. Kreisler, as well as the Ukrainian composers – M. Lysenko, V. Kosenko, L. Revutskyi, B. Liatoshynskyi, etc. True renaissance of violin miniature in Ukraine began in the 70’s of the XX century: about 30 miniatures were created by Yu. Ishchenko, I. Karabits, E. Stankovich, O. Kiva, V. Homoliaka, L. Bulhakov, S. Kolobkov and others. At the end of the XX century the Ukrainian artists written about a dozen miniatures and cycles, among the authors ‒ V. Sylvestrov, M. Skoryk, M. Karminskyi, K. Dominchen, H. Havrylets, O. Krasotov, V. Manyk. The 2000s years for the violin miniature genre became even more productive. Let us note the creative achievements of M. Skoryk, O. Hnatovska, I. Albova and M. Stetsiun. The miniatures by famous Kharkiv composer Liudmila Shukailo, who created a cycle of 10 plays, were an important contribution to the violin repertoire. The objective of the article is to consider the peculiarities of the genre interpretation of violin miniatures in the L. Shukailo’s creativity on the example of her collection «10 pieces for violin and piano». At the present stage the study of the genre of Ukrainian violin miniature is insufficient; in particular, L. Shukaylo’s miniatures were not considered by researchers. The methodological basis of this study is the concept of the genre of miniature by K. Zenkin (1997), E. Nazaikinskyi (2009), N. Ryabukhа (2004), L. Sviridovska (2007), N. Govar (2013), O. Harhai (2013), V. Zaranskyi (2009). The research results. Miniature is a genre that embodies a variety of lyrical emotions and subtle nuances of mental states and also presupposes clearness of a form, laconism and concentration of thought, the elegance of means of artistic expression and the chamber conditions for performance. The latter contribute to the passing of depth of its content and special intimacy of utterance. In the works of L. Shukailo all the characteristics of miniature genre are the means realization the composer’s artistic idea. There are a lot of miniatures for various instruments among her works. This genre attracts the artist with its exceptional feature: it is necessary to outline a specific laconic image without «blurring». Working on the violin miniature, the author seeks to achieve maximum effects by minimal means, taking into account the performing convenience and mobility of the chamber type of music. Creativity by Kharkiv composer Liudmila Shukailo, who for several decades has been working in the Kharkiv Middle Special Music School, attracts the attention of performers and art critics. All the time communicating with children, the composer creates a lot of various pieces for young performers. Thus, the original author’s solution demonstrates in the collection «10 pieces for violin and piano» formed on the principle of «school of playing», that is the increasing of degree of complexity. Most of the pieces have the names corresponding to different style traditions: Baroque (Passacalia), Romanticism (Elegy, Scherzino, Waltz, Intermezzo, Burlesque), some of plays are emphasized separately – «Ballet scene», «Variations» and «Spring duet». It is the contrast of genre attributes that promotes to join diverse miniatures into a cycle. The author traditionally prefers the genre of descriptive (programmed) miniature, because in it, in her opinion, it is easier to specify the content and create the vivid image that is very important for young musicians. The first piece of the collection, “Passacalia”, is stylized in the same named genre (moderate tempo, triple meter, elements of basso ostinato, etc.), however L. Shukailo uses the method of stylization creatively: she interprets this genre in the context of a new round of historical and stylistic development, with the maximum introduction of individual musical thinking. The piece “Ballet scene” marked by bright theatricality. Its waltz theme has a cross-cutting development, creates the illusion of whirling; the accents and underscores of weak shares add to it vividness and capriciousness. The piece “Oh, verbo, verbo” (“Oh, willow, willow”) is the miniature variations on the theme of Ukrainian folk song. The first variation resembles a waltz, the second – the Ukrainian dance “Cossack” with its characteristic rhythm and the third associates with the genre of Toccata due to monotonous rapid movement. The romantic quasi-vocal “Spring duet”, a musical dialogue of violin and piano, requires the ability to «sing» on the instrument, to fill the sound with a beautiful timbre. The next piece, “Allegro”, corresponds to its tempo and characteristic designation. The choice of the tonality of the miniature (“bright” C major), “grateful” for a violinist, adds a festive flavor and reveals the author’s goal: to address the music to beginners, taking into account their perception and performance capabilities. The monotony of the “canter” technical figurations, which is maintained throughout the play, unites “Allegro” with the etude and makes it possible to use it as an etude. Semantics of the next piece, “Elegies” in D minor, fully corresponds to the genre of the sad song. Its lyrical and psychological aura outlines the multifaceted image and its tense development. The contrast to the antecedent sad mood the piece “Scherzino” presents – the miniature with a characteristic for children’s music name. The stroke of staccato, the alternation of ascending and descending melodic movements, unexpected stops create a certain comic effect. Unfolded “Waltz” marked by virtuoso-improvisational character, continues the cycle. Song and recitation “Intermezzo” is characterized by the complication of the figurative and semantic aspects. The miniature has a pronounced lyrical and dramatic orientation. Modern harmonious style is manifested in the extension of tonal-harmonic relations, the introduction of alterated tones, tone oppositions, daring shifts-modulations. The piece is marked by equality of violin and piano parts, which seize the initiative from each other creating the continuity of musical development. The last miniature – “Burlesque”, with Rondo features, performs the final function in the cycle. The piece has virtuosic orientation – fast paced, rapid passages, pizzicato, dynamic contrasts and the solo Cadenza with bright loud double notes. Interpretation of this miniature can be complete only in terms of technical assimilation of all previous material. “Burlesque”, in fact, is a test of skill and can be recommended for performances in open concerts. Conclusions. Violin miniature is a conceptual genre of musical culture, performing self-sufficient artistic function like to other genres and being able to reflect the psychology of an author’s personality. In the Ukrainian composers creativity, the genre of violin miniatures is lifted on great artistic high, as the “10 pieces for violin and piano” by L. Shukailo evidenced, which are characterized by melodicism, clarity and persuasiveness of the creative idea, the logics of the musical language. The composer uses the program descriptiveness, genre stylization and folklore sources expressing in music her own emotions, impressions and feelings. Poetic imagery that fascinates with emotion and extremely romanticized reproduction of reality, as well as interesting findings in the field of form and expressive means give the works of self-containment and artistic value. L. Shukailo’s cycle “10 pieces for violin and piano” can be recommended both, for performing as an indivisible work and for using of the pieces in isolation with a methodical purpose. The cycle is aimed at the formation of not only the technical skills, but also on the possession of the specifics of adequate reproduction of the figurative and semantic content of a musical work. Prospects. The questions of scientific understanding of the individual composer’s style of L. Shukailo require the more detailed musicological analysis. Some of the observations obtained in this article can be applied in the study of a wider range of problems of modern violin art, in particular, the use of the latest composer techniques in the genre of violin miniatures. Further development of the theme will also contribute to the enrichment of the teaching and methodical repertoire in the genre of violin miniature, to identify its new genre varieties and to attract its best samples to the violin performance.

Björk Guðmundsdóttir’s 2004 all-vocal album Medúlla provides an opportunity to explore processes of harmonic oscillation, the repetition of two or more alternating harmonies, and stasis, the continuous repetition of a single harmony. Qualities of timelessness are evoked through harmonic stasis, which allows for intricate vocal textures to come to the fore in songs such as “Komið” and “Öll Birtan.” “Who Is It” illustrates how local-level and global processes of harmonic oscillation interact and how traditional chord function may be negated through oscillation. To account for harmonic progressions that suggest tonal centricity, concepts of repose and tension are applied as interpretive models to passages from “Triumph of a Heart.” This paper offers a model to describe oscillation and combines models developed by Tim Hughes to explore other uses of harmonic oscillation and stasis. Overarching oscillations support extra-musical narratives suggested by song lyrics and music videos. These models of analysis can be applied to other songs by Björk, as well as other popular music, as an alternative to traditional methods of understanding tonal harmony, which break down for such songs.

Early studies of Nielsen’s harmony focused on large-scale tonal design, tracking the progression of key areas across large spans of time. With this foundation in place attention has increasingly turned to moment-to-moment qualities in Nielsen’s harmony. Fanning, for instance, attributes its ‘characteristic flavour’ to the ‘interpenetration of modal and tonal elements’. I attempt to define this ‘flavour’ by identifying at least some of its ingredients in passages taken principally from the Fourth and Fifth Symphonies and from the Clarinet Concerto. After discussing the variety of ways and contexts in which these modulations unfold – modulation to a remote key; non-functional modulation; modal interchange and polymodality; mobile pitches and oscillating macroharmony; superimposed scales; and, fluctuating collection modulation – I conclude that Nielsen has a tendency to modulate flatwards at the local level. My approach is informed by Dmitri Tymoczko’s A Geometry of Music: Harmony and Counterpoint in the Extended Common Practice (2011).

The expression P3,0refers to one class of parsimonious voice-leading transformations between seventh chords introduced in a 1998 article by Jack Douthett and Peter Steinbach as Pm,n(Journal of Music Theory42 (2): 241–63). In addition to tones that may be held in common, the subscripts indicate the number of voices that move by half step (m) or whole step (n) in connecting one seventh chord to the next. P3,0designates a transformation in which one of the chord members is held in common while each of the other three moves by half step. P3,0transformations produce some of the most striking chromatic harmonic progressions in the late Romantic repertoire. This study focuses on aspects of P3,0transformations that include 1) their place in the broader context of neo-Riemannian voice-leading transformations; 2) their properties and a specific means of notating all possible P3,0types; 3) explications of how the various types are integrated within late nineteenth-century harmonic practice and interact with traditional tonal harmony; and 4) analytic applications that demonstrate how P3,0transformations operate within and contribute to musical structure, including the opening of the Prelude to Wagner’sTristan und Isolde, and a complete song (“Ruhe, meine Seele!” op. 27 no. 1) by Richard Strauss.

This paper investigates harmonic progressions built around two major chords and one minor chord, all related by step. In many pop/rock songs, these chords can be analyzed as Aeolian progressions—VI, VII, and i—(Moore 1992; Biamonte 2010; Richards 2017a). Recent songs by Bon Iver, The Chainsmokers, and others, however, use chord loops where the harmonies can be interpreted as IV, V, and vi, which I call the plateau loop for its plateau-like activity: a constant hovering above Roman numeral I or i tonic chords, while retaining an overall consistent pitch-based topography. I interrogate the tonality of these songs, advancing the notion of a hybrid tonic. Hybrid tonics occur when a song or song section lacks a salient Ionian or (less often) Aeolian tonic on which both the harmony and melody concur. Instead, IV or (less often) VI or vi chords can function rhetorically as tonic, especially when the chords sound simultaneously with a melodic ".fn_scaledegree(1)." and occur in a metrically strong position, or initiate a plateau loop. The paper defines plateau loops and hybrid tonics, and explains the theoretical framework that supports them, consulting work by Harrison (1994), Nobile (2016), and Doll (2017) that decouples scale degree from harmonic function. Song examples by The Chainsmokers, Bon Iver, Jónsi, Astrid S., and M83 show how hybrid tonicity operates in varying degrees of prominence in popular music, and can also be contextualized with Spicer’s (2017) theory of fragile, emergent, and absent tonics. By building on prior scholarship, this paper aims to stimulate further inquiry into how tonal structures of recent popular music subtly differentiate themselves from conventions of common-practice tonality.

Jamming culture has become associated with digital manipulation and reuse of materials. As well, the term jamming has long been used by musicians (and other performers) to mean improvisation, especially in collaborative situations. A practice that gets to the heart of both these meanings is live coding; where digital content (music and/or visuals predominantly) is created through computer programming as a performance. During live coding performances digital content is created and presented in real time. Normally the code from the performers screen is displayed via data projection so that the audience can see the unfolding process as well as see or hear the artistic outcome. This article will focus on live coding of music, but the issues it raises for jamming culture apply to other mediums also. Live coding of music uses the computer as an instrument, which is “played” by the direct construction and manipulation of sonic and musical processes. Gestural control involves typing at the computer keyboard but, unlike traditional “keyboard” instruments, these key gestures are usually indirect in their effect on the sonic result because they result in programming language text which is then interpreted by the computer. Some live coding performers, notably Amy Alexander, have played on the duality of the keyboard as direct and indirect input source by using it as both a text entry device, audio trigger, and performance prop. In most cases, keyboard typing produces notational description during live coding performances as an indirect music making, related to what may previously have been called composing or conducting; where sound generation is controlled rather than triggered. The computer system becomes performer and the degree of interpretive autonomy allocated to the computer can vary widely, but is typically limited to probabilistic choices, structural processes and use of pre-established sound generators. In live coding practices, the code is a medium of expression through which creative ideas are articulated. The code acts as a notational representation of computational processes. It not only leads to the sonic outcome but also is available for reflection, reuse and modification. The aspects of music described by the code are open to some variation, especially in relation to choices about music or sonic granularity. This granularity continuum ranges from a focus on sound synthesis at one end of the scale to the structural organisation of musical events or sections at the other end. Regardless of the level of content granularity being controlled, when jamming with code the time constraints of the live performance environment force the performer to develop succinct and parsimonious expressions and to create processes that sustain activity (often using repetition, iteration and evolution) in order to maintain a coherent and developing musical structure during the performance. As a result, live coding requires not only new performance skills but also new ways of describing the structures of and processes that create music. Jamming activities are additionally complex when they are collaborative. Live Coding performances can often be collaborative, either between several musicians and/or between music and visual live coders. Issues that arise in collaborative settings are both creative and technical. When collaborating between performers in the same output medium (e.g., two musicians) the roles of each performer need to be defined. When a pianist and a vocalist improvise the harmonic and melodic roles are relatively obvious, but two laptop performers are more like a guitar duo where each can take any lead, supportive, rhythmic, harmonic, melodic, textual or other function. Prior organisation and sensitivity to the needs of the unfolding performance are required, as they have always been in musical improvisations. At the technical level it may be necessary for computers to be networked so that timing information, at least, is shared. Various network protocols, most commonly Open Sound Control (OSC), are used for this purpose. Another collaboration takes place in live coding, the one between the performer and the computer; especially where the computational processes are generative (as is often the case). This real-time interaction between musician and algorithmic process has been termed Hyperimprovisation by Roger Dean. Jamming cultures that focus on remixing often value the sharing of resources, especially through the movement and treatment of content artefacts such as audio samples and digital images. In live coding circles there is a similarly strong culture of resource sharing, but live coders are mostly concerned with sharing techniques, processes and tools. In recognition of this, it is quite common that when distributing works live coding artists will include descriptions of the processes used to create work and even share the code. This practice is also common in the broader computational arts community, as evident in the sharing of flash code on sites such as Levitated by Jared Tarbell, in the Processing site (Reas & Fry), or in publications such as Flash Maths Creativity (Peters et al.). Also underscoring this culture of sharing, is a prioritising of reputation above (or prior to) profit. As a result of these social factors most live coding tools are freely distributed. Live Coding tools have become more common in the past few years. There are a number of personalised systems that utilise various different programming languages and environments. Some of the more polished programs, that can be used widely, include SuperCollider (McCartney), Chuck (Wang & Cook) and Impromptu (Sorensen). While these environments all use different languages and varying ways of dealing with sound structure granularity, they do share some common aspects that reveal the priorities and requirements of live coding. Firstly, they are dynamic environments where the musical/sonic processes are not interrupted by modifications to the code; changes can be made on the fly and code is modifiable at runtime. Secondly, they are text-based and quite general programming environments, which means that the full leverage of abstract coding structures can be applied during live coding performances. Thirdly, they all prioritise time, both at architectural and syntactic levels. They are designed for real-time performance where events need to occur reliably. The text-based nature of these tools means that using them in live performance is barely distinguishable from any other computer task, such as writing an email, and thus the practice of projecting the environment to reveal the live process has become standard in the live coding community as a way of communicating with an audience (Collins). It is interesting to reflect on how audiences respond to the projection of code as part of live coding performances. In the author’s experience as both an audience member and live coding performer, the reception has varied widely. Most people seem to find it curious and comforting. Even if they cannot follow the code, they understand or are reassured that the performance is being generated by the code. Those who understand the code often report a sense of increased anticipation as they see structures emerge, and sometimes opportunities missed. Some people dislike the projection of the code, and see it as a distasteful display of virtuosity or as a distraction to their listening experience. The live coding practitioners tend to see the projection of code as a way of revealing the underlying generative and gestural nature of their performance. For some, such as Julian Rohrhuber, code projection is a way of revealing ideas and their development during the performance. “The incremental process of livecoding really is what makes it an act of public reasoning” (Rohrhuber). For both audience and performer, live coding is an explicitly risky venture and this element of public risk taking has long been central to the appreciation of the performing arts (not to mention sport and other cultural activities). The place of live coding in the broader cultural setting is still being established. It certainly is a form of jamming, or improvisation, it also involves the generation of digital content and the remixing of cultural ideas and materials. In some ways it is also connected to instrument building. Live coding practices prioritise process and therefore have a link with conceptual visual art and serial music composition movements from the 20th century. Much of the music produced by live coding has aesthetic links, naturally enough, to electronic music genres including musique concrète, electronic dance music, glitch music, noise art and minimalism. A grouping that is not overly coherent besides a shared concern for processes and systems. Live coding is receiving greater popular and academic attention as evident in recent articles in Wired (Andrews), ABC Online (Martin) and media culture blogs including The Teeming Void (Whitelaw 2006). Whatever its future profile in the boarder cultural sector the live coding community continues to grow and flourish amongst enthusiasts. The TOPLAP site is a hub of live coding activities and links prominent practitioners including, Alex McLean, Nick Collins, Adrian Ward, Julian Rohrhuber, Amy Alexander, Frederick Olofsson, Ge Wang, and Andrew Sorensen. These people and many others are exploring live coding as a form of jamming in digital media and as a way of creating new cultural practices and works. References Andrews, R. “Real DJs Code Live.” Wired: Technology News 6 July 2006. http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,71248-0.html>. Collins, N. “Generative Music and Laptop Performance.” Contemporary Music Review 22.4 (2004): 67-79. Fry, Ben, and Casey Reas. Processing. http://processing.org/>. Martin, R. “The Sound of Invention.” Catapult. ABC Online 2006. http://www.abc.net.au/catapult/indepth/s1725739.htm>. McCartney, J. “SuperCollider: A New Real-Time Sound Synthesis Language.” The International Computer Music Conference. San Francisco: International Computer Music Association, 1996. 257-258. Peters, K., M. Tan, and M. Jamie. Flash Math Creativity. Berkeley, CA: Friends of ED, 2004. Reas, Casey, and Ben Fry. “Processing: A Learning Environment for Creating Interactive Web Graphics.” International Conference on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques. San Diego: ACM SIGGRAPH, 2003. 1. Rohrhuber, J. Post to a Live Coding email list. livecode@slab.org. 10 Sep. 2006. Sorensen, A. “Impromptu: An Interactive Programming Environment for Composition and Performance.” In Proceedings of the Australasian Computer Music Conference 2005. Eds. A. R. Brown and T. Opie. Brisbane: ACMA, 2005. 149-153. Tarbell, Jared. Levitated. http://www.levitated.net/daily/index.html>. TOPLAP. http://toplap.org/>. Wang, G., and P.R. Cook. “ChucK: A Concurrent, On-the-fly, Audio Programming Language.” International Computer Music Conference. ICMA, 2003. 219-226 Whitelaw, M. “Data, Code & Performance.” The Teeming Void 21 Sep. 2006. http://teemingvoid.blogspot.com/2006/09/data-code-performance.html>. Citation reference for this article MLA Style Brown, Andrew R. "Code Jamming." M/C Journal 9.6 (2006). echo date('d M. Y'); ?> <http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0612/03-brown.php>. APA Style Brown, A. (Dec. 2006) "Code Jamming," M/C Journal, 9(6). Retrieved echo date('d M. Y'); ?> from <http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0612/03-brown.php>.

In 1956, John Cage predicted that “in the future, records will be made from records” (Duffel, 202). Certainly, musical creativity has always involved a certain amount of appropriation and adaptation of previous works. For example, Vivaldi appropriated and adapted the “Cum sancto spiritu” fugue of Ruggieri’s Gloria (Burnett, 4; Forbes, 261). If stuck for a guitar solo on stage, Keith Richards admits that he’ll adapt Buddy Holly for his own purposes (Street, 135). Similarly, Nirvana adapted the opening riff from Killing Jokes’ “Eighties” for their song “Come as You Are”. Musical “quotation” is actively encouraged in jazz, and contemporary hip-hop would not exist if the genre’s pioneers and progenitors had not plundered and adapted existing recorded music. Sampling technologies, however, have taken musical adaptation a step further and realised Cage’s prediction. Hardware and software samplers have developed to the stage where any piece of audio can be appropriated and adapted to suit the creative impulses of the sampling musician (or samplist). The practice of sampling challenges established notions of creativity, with whole albums created with no original musical input as most would understand it—literally “records made from records.” Sample-based music is premised on adapting audio plundered from the cultural environment. This paper explores the ways in which technology is used to adapt previous recordings into new ones, and how musicians themselves have adapted to the potentials of digital technology for exploring alternative approaches to musical creativity. Sampling is frequently defined as “the process of converting an analog signal to a digital format.” While this definition remains true, it does not acknowledge the prevalence of digital media. The “analogue to digital” method of sampling requires a microphone or instrument to be recorded directly into a sampler. Digital media, however, simplifies the process. For example, a samplist can download a video from YouTube and rip the audio track for editing, slicing, and manipulation, all using software within the noiseless digital environment of the computer. Perhaps it is more prudent to describe sampling simply as the process of capturing sound. Regardless of the process, once a sound is loaded into a sampler (hardware or software) it can be replayed using a MIDI keyboard, trigger pad or sequencer. Use of the sampled sound, however, need not be a faithful rendition or clone of the original. At the most basic level of manipulation, the duration and pitch of sounds can be altered. The digital processes that are implemented into the Roland VariOS Phrase Sampler allow samplists to eliminate the pitch or melodic quality of a sampled phrase. The phrase can then be melodically redefined as the samplist sees fit: adapted to a new tempo, key signature, and context or genre. Similarly, software such as Propellerhead’s ReCycle slices drum beats into individual hits for use with a loop sampler such as Reason’s Dr Rex module. Once loaded into Dr Rex, the individual original drum sounds can be used to program a new beat divorced from the syncopation of the original drum beat. Further, the individual slices can be subjected to pitch, envelope (a component that shapes the volume of the sound over time) and filter (a component that emphasises and suppresses certain frequencies) control, thus an existing drum beat can easily be adapted to play a new rhythm at any tempo. For example, this rhythm was created from slicing up and rearranging Clyde Stubblefield’s classic break from James Brown’s “Funky Drummer”. Sonic adaptation of digital information is not necessarily confined to the auditory realm. An audio editor such as Sony’s Sound Forge is able to open any file format as raw audio. For example, a Word document or a Flash file could be opened with the data interpreted as audio. Admittedly, the majority of results obtained are harsh white noise, but there is scope for serendipitous anomalies such as a glitchy beat that can be extracted and further manipulated by audio software. Audiopaint is an additive synthesis application created by Nicolas Fournel for converting digital images into audio. Each pixel position and colour is translated into information designating frequency (pitch), amplitude (volume) and pan position in the stereo image. The user can determine which one of the three RGB channels corresponds to either of the stereo channels. Further, the oscillator for the wave form can be either the default sine wave or an existing audio file such as a drum loop can be used. The oscillator shapes the end result, responding to the dynamics of the sine wave or the audio file. Although Audiopaint labours under the same caveat as with the use of raw audio, the software can produce some interesting results. Both approaches to sound generation present results that challenge distinctions between “musical sound” and “noise”. Sampling is also a cultural practice, a relatively recent form of adaptation extending out of a time honoured creative aesthetic that borrows, quotes and appropriates from existing works to create new ones. Different fields of production, as well as different commentators, variously use terms such as “co-creative media”, “cumulative authorship”, and “derivative works” with regard to creations that to one extent or another utilise existing works in the production of new ones (Coombe; Morris; Woodmansee). The extent of the sampling may range from subtle influence to dominating significance within the new work, but the constant principle remains: an existing work is appropriated and adapted to fit the needs of the secondary creator. Proponents of what may be broadly referred to as the “free culture” movement argue that creativity and innovation inherently relies on the appropriation and adaptation of existing works (for example, see Lessig, Future of Ideas; Lessig, Free Culture; McLeod, Freedom of Expression; Vaidhyanathan). For example, Gwen Stefani’s 2004 release “Rich Girl” is based on Louchie Lou and Michie One’s 1994 single of the same title. Lou and One’s “Rich Girl”, in turn, is a reggae dance hall adaptation of “If I Were a Rich Man” from Fiddler on the Roof. Stefani’s “na na na” vocal riff shares the same melody as the “Ya ha deedle deedle, bubba bubba deedle deedle dum” riff from Fiddler on the Roof. Samantha Mumba adapted David Bowie’s “Ashes to Ashes” for her second single “Body II Body”. Similarly, Richard X adapted Tubeway Army’s “Are ‘Friends’ Electric?’ and Adina Howard’s “Freak Like Me” for a career saving single for Sugababes. Digital technologies enable and even promote the adaptation of existing works (Morris). The ease of appropriating and manipulating digital audio files has given rise to a form of music known variously as mash-up, bootleg, or bastard pop. Mash-ups are the most recent stage in a history of musical appropriation and they epitomise the sampling aesthetic. Typically produced in bedroom computer-based studios, mash-up artists use software such as Acid or Cool Edit Pro to cut up digital music files and reassemble the fragments to create new songs, arbitrarily adding self-composed parts if desired. Comprised almost exclusively from sections of captured music, mash-ups have been referred to as “fictional pop music” because they conjure up scenarios where, for example, Destiny’s Child jams in a Seattle garage with Nirvana or the Spice Girls perform with Nine Inch Nails (Petridis). Once the initial humour of the novelty has passed, the results can be deeply alluring. Mash-ups extract the distinctive characteristics of songs and place them in new, innovative contexts. As Dale Lawrence writes: “the vocals are often taken from largely reviled or ignored sources—cornball acts like Aguilera or Destiny’s Child—and recast in wildly unlikely contexts … where against all odds, they actually work”. Similarly, Crawford argues that “part of the art is to combine the greatest possible aesthetic dissonance with the maximum musical harmony. The pleasure for listeners is in discovering unlikely artistic complementarities and revisiting their musical memories in mutated forms” (36). Sometimes the adaptation works in the favour of the sampled artist: George Clinton claims that because of sampling he is more popular now than in 1976—“the sampling made us big again” (Green). The creative aspect of mash-ups is unlike that usually associated with musical composition and has more in common with DJing. In an effort to further clarify this aspect, we may regard DJ mixes as “mash-ups on the fly.” When Grandmaster Flash recorded his quilt-pop masterpiece, “Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel,” it was recorded while he performed live, demonstrating his precision and skill with turntables. Modern audio editing software facilitates the capture and storage of sound, allowing mash-up artists to manipulate sounds bytes outside of “real-time” and the live performance parameters within which Flash worked. Thus, the creative element is not the traditional arrangement of chords and parts, but rather “audio contexts”. If, as Riley pessimistically suggests, “there are no new chords to be played, there are no new song structures to be developed, there are no new stories to be told, and there are no new themes to explore,” then perhaps it is understandable that artists have searched for new forms of musical creativity. The notes and chords of mash-ups are segments of existing works sequenced together to produce inter-layered contexts rather than purely tonal patterns. The merit of mash-up culture lies in its function of deconstructing the boundaries of genre and providing new musical possibilities. The process of mashing-up genres functions to critique contemporary music culture by “pointing a finger at how stifled and obvious the current musical landscape has become. … Suddenly rap doesn’t have to be set to predictable funk beats, pop/R&B ballads don’t have to come wrapped in cheese, garage melodies don’t have to recycle the Ramones” (Lawrence). According to Theodor Adorno, the Frankfurt School critic, popular music (of his time) was irretrievably simplistic and constructed from easily interchangeable, modular components (McLeod, “Confessions”, 86). A standardised and repetitive approach to musical composition fosters a mode of consumption dubbed by Adorno “quotation listening” and characterised by passive acceptance of, and obsession with, a song’s riffs (44-5). As noted by Em McAvan, Adorno’s analysis elevates the producer over the consumer, portraying a culture industry controlling a passive audience through standardised products (McAvan). The characteristics that Adorno observed in the popular music of his time are classic traits of contemporary popular music. Mash-up artists, however, are not representative of Adorno’s producers for a passive audience, instead opting to wrest creative control from composers and the recording industry and adapt existing songs in pursuit of their own creative impulses. Although mash-up productions may consciously or unconsciously criticise the current state of popular music, they necessarily exist in creative symbiosis with the commercial genres: “if pop songs weren’t simple and formulaic, it would be much harder for mashup bedroom auteurs to do their job” (McLeod, “Confessions”, 86). Arguably, when creating mash-ups, some individuals are expressing their dissatisfaction with the stagnation of the pop industry and are instead working to create music that they as consumers wish to hear. Sample-based music—as an exercise in adaptation—encourages a Foucauldian questioning of the composer’s authority over their musical texts. Recorded music is typically a passive medium in which the consumer receives the music in its original, unaltered form. DJ Dangermouse (Brian Burton) breached this pact to create his Grey Album, which is a mash-up of an a cappella version of Jay-Z’s Black Album and the Beatles’ eponymous album (also known as the White Album). Dangermouse says that “every kick, snare, and chord is taken from the Beatles White Album and is in their original recording somewhere.” In deconstructing the Beatles’ songs, Dangermouse turned the recordings into a palette for creating his own new work, adapting audio fragments to suit his creative impulses. As Joanna Demers writes, “refashioning these sounds and reorganising them into new sonic phrases and sentences, he creates acoustic mosaics that in most instances are still traceable to the Beatles source, yet are unmistakeably distinct from it” (139-40). Dangermouse’s approach is symptomatic of what Schütze refers to as remix culture: an open challenge to a culture predicated on exclusive ownership, authorship, and controlled distribution … . Against ownership it upholds an ethic of creative borrowing and sharing. Against the original it holds out an open process of recombination and creative transformation. It equally calls into question the categories, rifts and borders between high and low cultures, pop and elitist art practices, as well as blurring lines between artistic disciplines. Using just a laptop, an audio editor and a calculator, Gregg Gillis, a.k.a. Girl Talk, created the Night Ripper album using samples from 167 artists (Dombale). Although all the songs on Night Ripper are blatantly sampled-based, Gillis sees his creations as “original things” (Dombale). The adaptation of sampled fragments culled from the Top 40 is part of Gillis’ creative process: “It’s not about who created this source originally, it’s about recontextualising—creating new music. … I’ve always tried to make my own songs” (Dombale). Gillis states that his music has no political message, but is a reflection of his enthusiasm for pop music: “It’s a celebration of everything Top 40, that’s the point” (Dombale). Gillis’ “celebratory” exercises in creativity echo those of various fan-fiction authors who celebrate the characters and worlds that constitute popular culture. Adaptation through sampling is not always centred solely on music. Sydney-based Tom Compagnoni, a.k.a. Wax Audio, adapted a variety of sound bytes from politicians and media personalities including George W. Bush, Alexander Downer, Alan Jones, Ray Hadley, and John Howard in the creation of his Mediacracy E.P.. In one particular instance, Compagnoni used a myriad of samples culled from various media appearances by George W. Bush to recreate the vocals for John Lennon’s Imagine. Created in early 2005, the track, which features speeded-up instrumental samples from a karaoke version of Lennon’s original, is an immediate irony fuelled comment on the invasion of Iraq. The rationale underpinning the song is further emphasised when “Imagine This” reprises into “Let’s Give Peace a Chance” interspersed with short vocal fragments of “Come Together”. Compagnoni justifies his adaptations by presenting appropriated media sound bytes that deliberately set out to demonstrate the way information is manipulated to present any particular point of view. Playing the media like an instrument, Wax Audio juxtaposes found sounds in a way that forces the listener to confront the bias, contradiction and sensationalism inherent in their daily intake of media information. … Oh yeah—and it’s bloody funny hearing George W Bush sing “Imagine”. Notwithstanding the humorous quality of the songs, Mediacracy represents a creative outlet for Compagnoni’s political opinions that is emphasised by the adaptation of Lennon’s song. Through his adaptation, Compagnoni revitalises Lennon’s sentiments about the Vietnam War and superimposes them onto the US policy on Iraq. An interesting aspect of sampled-based music is the re-occurrence of particular samples across various productions, which demonstrates that the same fragment can be adapted for a plethora of musical contexts. For example, Clyde Stubblefield’s “Funky Drummer” break is reputed to be the most sampled break in the world. The break from 1960s soul/funk band the Winstons’ “Amen Brother” (the B-side to their 1969 release “Color Him Father”), however, is another candidate for the title of “most sampled break”. The “Amen break” was revived with the advent of the sampler. Having featured heavily in early hip-hop records such as “Words of Wisdom” by Third Base and “Straight Out of Compton” by NWA, the break “appears quite adaptable to a range of music genres and tastes” (Harrison, 9m 46s). Beginning in the early 1990s, adaptations of this break became a constant of jungle music as sampling technology developed to facilitate more complex operations (Harrison, 5m 52s). The break features on Shy FX’s “Original Nutta”, L Double & Younghead’s “New Style”, Squarepusher’s “Big Acid”, and a cover version of Led Zepplin’s “Whole Lotta Love” by Jane’s Addiction front man Perry Farrell. This is to name but a few tracks that have adapted the break. Wikipedia offers a list of songs employing an adaptation of the “Amen break”. This list, however, falls short of the “hundreds of tracks” argued for by Nate Harrison, who notes that “an entire subculture based on this one drum loop … six seconds from 1969” has developed (8m 45s). The “Amen break” is so ubiquitous that, much like the twelve bar blues structure, it has become a foundational element of an entire genre and has been adapted to satisfy a plethora of creative impulses. The sheer prevalence of the “Amen break” simultaneously illustrates the creative nature of music adaptation as well as the potentials for adaptation stemming from digital technology such as the sampler. The cut-up and rearrangement aspect of creative sampling technology at once suggests the original but also something new and different. Sampling in general, and the phenomenon of the “Amen break” in particular, ensures the longevity of the original sources; sampled-based music exhibits characteristics acquired from the source materials, yet the illegitimate offspring are not their parents. Sampling as a technology for creatively adapting existing forms of audio has encouraged alternative approaches to musical composition. Further, it has given rise to a new breed of musician that has adapted to technologies of adaptation. Mash-up artists and samplists demonstrate that recorded music is not simply a fixed or read-only product but one that can be freed from the composer’s original arrangement to be adapted and reconfigured. Many mash-up artists such as Gregg Gillis are not trained musicians, but their ears are honed from enthusiastic consumption of music. 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(May 2007) "Amen to That: Sampling and Adapting the Past," M/C Journal, 10(2). Retrieved echo date('d M. Y'); ?> from <http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0705/09-collins.php>.