Embodied Invention

This chapter develops a historical account of Bach’s musicking body, and those of early-eighteenth-century keyboardists more generally, as a way to rethink how Bach’s keyboard music was conceived and performed. It synthesizes aspects of contemporaneous medical, scientific, and theological discourses about the human faculties of touch, memory, and invention, and brings these into dialogue with the inventive and performative dimensions of Bach’s keyboard practice. The chapter unearths historical conceptions of memory as physiologically grounded and distributed across the body, of touch as a corporeal-spiritual faculty, and of human bodies as purposive and intelligent. These notions of a bodily kind of intelligence suggest the need to ascribe much greater agency to the embodied aspects of early-eighteenth-century modes of composing and performing. The chapter thus offers a somatic alternative to the customary focus on mental, disembodied patterns of invention in understanding Bach’s compositional and improvisatory practices at the keyboard.

Bach the Humorist

From chortling gags heard in his church music, to the off-beat physical humor enlivening his first published keyboard music, to the jesting chutzpah of his Brandenburg Concertos, Bach’s wittiest creations display the composer/performer’s irreverence for expectation and reflect his musical—and social—daring. While no composer’s image is sterner than that of Johann Sebastian Bach, his early admirers painted a more varied picture of the composer than did later commentators driven by the imperatives of Art and the rigors of unsmiling scholarship. Convivial, dramatic, domestic, and courtly contexts could spark Bach to indulge in droll escapades and jokes, but even beyond such occasions, the prankster lurks in the transgressions of genius.

Keyboard instruments in the system of R. Tureck’s individual performing style

Statement of the problem. The thinking of a performer is conditioned by the organology and “sound image” of his instrument, which gives rise to questions about how flexible is the individual style of musicians who have mastered several instruments. Especially when it comes to performers who turn to related instruments, playing techniques of which are sometimes mutually exclusive. Analysis of recent research and publication. The research is based on works, the subject of which is the study of: 1) the sound image of the instrument (N. Riabukha, I. Sukhlenko and N. Kuchma); 2) the specifics of the organology of keyboard instruments and the regularities of interpretation of Baroque era works (N. Sikorska, M. Latcham, J. Chapman, R. Cypess, J. E. O. La Rosa and C. Wagner); 3) issues of music interpretation (H. J. Hinrichsen). Main objective of the study is to identify the role of keyboard instruments in the system of R. Tureck’s individual performing style. The scientific novelty is to create a holistic creative portrait of R. Tureck. Research methodology focuses on the relationship of special methods of analysis: comparative, systematic, stylistic and interpretive. Results. The American pianist, teacher, writer, lecturer R. Tureck was a representative of the generation of musicians of the twentieth century who became famous due to their interpretations of J. S. Bach’s legacy. At the same time, she was one of those who responded to the changes that happened in academic musical art under the influence of the development of sound recording and electronic instruments. Under the guidance of L. Theremin, she studied for a year to play the theremin and synthesizer of the inventor, and since the late 60’s of the twentieth century she played various models of Moog synthesizer. R. Tureck also collaborated with the famous American scientist Hugo Benioff to create an electronic piano. It was concluded that R. Tureck’s interest in electronic instruments, which influenced her performing thinking, can be explained by the fact that: 1. R. Tureck tried to bring J.S. Bach’s music to modern sounding. 2. This was a feature of her individual creative style. 3. She dreamed of creating a new concert instrument. Conclusions. R. Tureck mastered all the existing keyboard music instruments at that time and participated in the creation of a new one. This experience enriched the sound of her interpretations and confirmed the fact that the desire to recreate the deep sense of music works by Baroque era composers does not imply the rejection of the sound of modern instruments.

The effects of group keyboard music making on the mood states of college students

Our pilot study explored the effects of a new, five-session group keyboard music-making protocol on the mood states of non-musician college students. Twenty-five math and engineering students participated in a keyboard music-making program without the expectation or need for extensive technical preparation or regular music practice. To assess changes in mood states before and after music-making activities, we administered the Profile of Mood States-Short Form (POMS-SF) questionnaire. Here, we show significant and lasting improvements in participant’s negative and positive mood states, which were more robust than mood improvements reported with other Recreational Music Making (RMM) protocols, suggesting a strong therapeutic potential of our group keyboard music-making program.

The Multi-Tuned Piano: Keyboard Music Without A Tuning System

A physical synthesis instrument, such as one of Pianoteq's series of grand pianos, unlike a physical grand piano, is not necessarily constrained at any moment to a single tuning system. The article discusses why a system using discrete piano pitches (not sliding pitches) chosen freely amongst the audible pitch continuum presents interesting musical and expressive possibilities. Audio and video of compositions and an improvisation exploiting the system demonstrate its potential and a performing interface for it.

Transformasi Bentuk Pertunjukan Ronggeng Pasaman Grup Ganto Saroha Kecamatan Duo Koto Kabupaten Pasaman

This study aims to determine the transformation of the Ronggeng Pasaman performance of the Ganto Saroha group in Duo Koto District, Pasaman Regency. Ronggeng Pasaman is a performance art consisting of pantun, joget, and music, especially in Simpang Tonang, Pasaman, West Sumatra. The form of the Ronggeng Pasaman show is combining bouncing skills while dancing to the accompaniment of violin and drum music. The show starts at night, and ends until early morning. Currently Ronggeng Pasaman has undergone a transformation, people, especially young people, are less interested and begin to leave their regional arts, so the Ronggeng Pasaman show is rarely displayed. There was anxiety from the artists themselves, then initiatives emerged to attract the attention of the people. So it formed the Ronggeng Pasaman Ganto Saroha group, with the addition of keyboard music instruments in the show. Unlike the Pasaman Ronggeng Performance in general, the Ganto Saroha group does not show male singers with female appearance, but rather singers are real women or men. This study uses qualitative methods, is analytic description, observant participants. The results showed that the transformation carried out by the artists, made the Ronggeng Pasaman performance of the Ganto Saroha group well received and in great demand by all people in Pasaman, and was fully supported by the local government.

Maurice Ravel : Le Tombeau De Couperin – Part II. The Reminiscence of Baroque Dance Forms

"According to Alfred Cortot, the suite Le tombeau de Couperin could be divided into two main units. The first part presented in the previous volume of this journal, analyses the structural arch of the suite: the first two and the last part, which uses specific compositional technics of the Baroque era. This second part presents the middle section of the suite, the reminiscence of baroque dance forms, through the three contrasting dances: Forlane, Rigaudon, and Menuet. The fusion between the elements of the French baroque keyboard music and the characteristics of the modern piano music transforms this suite into a real and unique masterpiece. By analyzing the Forlane, the Rigaudon, and the Menuet of the suite we can understand the view of twentieth-century artists on the music of the Baroque era. Keywords: Ravel, Suite, Baroque, Reminiscence, Baroque dance forms, Piano, Forlane, Rigaudon, Menuet"