Protocolos de red

The final part of this chapter analyses the differences between three recordings of the douze notations. This comparison is between concert

performances in 2009, 2014 and 2015. The 2009 performance was recorded in my studio, in front of a small group of family and friends. The concert

performance in 2014 was recorded professionally in Milton Court Concert Hall.39 The performance was an audition with a panel of two musicians. The 2015 performance took place in LSO St. Luke’s as part of the weekend of events celebrating Boulez’s 90th birthday. The hall, seating 450 people, was nearly full, and the performance was recorded for broadcast on BBC Radio 3. In all cases, recordings were live and unedited. For analysis, the recordings will be labelled by recording date (2009, 2014 and 2015).

The three recordings provide great deal of scope for analysis. However, there are some limitations needing discussion. First, the variety of performance settings may have had some effect on the outcome. The difference between performing in the practice studio and for an audition panel is notable, requiring very different energies and inevitable changes in mindset. Similarly, performing live with the knowledge that the performance will be broadcast can affect certain aspects of freedom in the playing. The 2015 audience contained a variety of senior figures from the press and the BBC, a daunting prospect for a performer emerging from conservatoire.

Despite this variety of settings and performance demands, it is likely that the psychological differences were minimal. In all three performances I felt completely relaxed and comfortable at the instrument, demonstrated by the success of each concert. The second limitation relates to acoustic and recording set up. The three venues were very different: a small studio with a mid-range concert grand, a fairly large 700-seat hall with a full-length concert grand

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The 2014 concert performance is reproduced at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0RjPmjW04c

(Milton Court), and a medium size hall of 450 seats with another concert grand (LSO St. Luke’s). The variety of pianos, audience size, acoustic, and recording equipment all have an impact on the final recording. Whilst the 2014 and 2015 performances had similar piano size, resonant acoustic and professional

recording equipment, the 2009 recording was quite different: a small room and audience, and a decent digital recorder (not of professional quality). In addition, the digital recorder was placed directly next to the open lid of the piano. As such, the intensity and onset of notes are exaggerated. There was similar microphone proximity in 2015, however the 2014 microphone was suspended from the high ceiling of the hall. Nevertheless, there is still scope for detailed comparison between these recordings. Issues relating to recording quality and acoustic are addressed in relation to the musical examples.

What does studying recorded performance tell us about memory procedure? When taken on its own, a recording only provides limited information. However, when combined with subjective analysis regarding memory, analysis of performance can reveal exactly what a performer achieves during performance, and hence whether the aims of practice regarding memory procedure are realised. Given the hierarchical importance expressive cues hold in memory structures, the aim of this section is to study the acoustic reality of expressive gestures in performance. Therefore, this reveals the long-term outcome of repeated practice of memory procedures during practice.

There are several ways in which researchers can analyse recorded music. Simple observational close listening combined with markings on a score is the most rudimentary and fundamental skill in this line of research (Leech-

Wilkinson, 2009). Whilst invaluable in providing an objective analysis of a performance, for the purpose of this study the technique is problematic, given the roles of practitioner and researcher are combined. It is difficult to remain

impartial and objective about the expressive details in a recording when the researcher has undergone the procedure of establishing the expressive gestures in the practice room. Thus, a further level of objectivity is required to address this problem. This is achieved with the use of technology: various sound-editing software with quantitative outcomes that can be interpreted. While interpretation here is informed by the role as practitioner (and hence still somewhat liable to

partiality), the data it produces are objective, thereby serving to validate first- person perspectives. Leech-Wilkinson (2009) describes an expressive gesture as:

An irregularity in one or more of the principal acoustic dimensions (pitch, amplitude, duration), introduced in order to give emphasis to a note or chord—usually the start of a note or chord (chapter 8.1, paragraph 15).

Much technological research examining expressivity in recording has focussed on tempo mapping, given the strong correlation between the two dimensions in the performance tradition (Cook, 2013; Leech-Wilkinson, 2015; Repp, 1991; Shaffer, 1984). Research has also examined the connection between memory and tempo. The correlation between these two dimensions is particularly strong: “memory for music seems to preserve the absolute tempo of the musical

performance” (Levitin and Cook, 1996, p.927). In other words, long-term recall of a melody is retrieved with an accurate recollection of tempo. As with

observational listening, this analysis is problematic. Much atonal music,

including the douze notations, is devoid of uniform pulse, thereby rendering the study of tempo changes (and the correlation to expressivity) ineffective.

Considering these difficulties, the most objective and illuminating method by which to accomplish the study of expressivity is through the use of spectrograms, in which recorded music is represented graphically on three dimensions. The vertical axis demonstrates frequency (hertz), whilst time is shown on the horizontal axis. A third dimension is amplitude, or intensity of an individual sound, is denoted by particular colour on the spectrogram. In this thesis, colours representing intensity range from dark green (softest sounds), progressing through lighter green, yellow and red for the loudest noises.40 To examine the three recordings I used the freeware software Sonic Visualiser (Cannam, Landone and Sandler, 2010). Spectrograms offer the possibility to study the expressive outcomes of a recording, and hence what the performer is actually doing, in a relatively detailed and objective manner.

Analysis primarily focusses on dynamic variation. An additional graphic representation highlighting dynamic level is shown in purple at the top of the plates. This was generated using Powercurve smooth plug-in from the Centre for

the History and Analysis of Recorded Music’s Mazurka Project.41 Tempo mapping and the correlation with dynamics is restricted to the eighth notation, which has a regular pulse. The Powercurve plug-in examines the acoustic intensities in some detail, and is an invaluable resource for analysis. Whilst the analysis is illuminating in demonstrating the acoustic variation, and hence dynamic manipulation, gesture and sound heard in real time is likely heard in a more generalised manner according to larger gestures. Whilst there are striking differences between recordings, particularly with regard to detailed dynamic control, as a performer such divergences do not detract from the success of an individual performance it its entirety.