The creative application of extended techniques for double bass in improvisation and composition - Volume 1

Long, Ashley John 2020. The creative application of extended techniques for double bass in improvisation and composition - Volume 1. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University. Item availability restricted.

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Abstract

viiAbstractThis submission contains a thesis, a portfolio of compositions and recorded improvisation, and a website which details extended techniques for the double bass.Exploring extended techniqueled meto considerthe extent to which a set of techniques beginsto form a progressive praxis(andthus an idiom)and how this is reflected within a composition. The thesis explores this question by exploring past examples of such idioms and my own approaches to such concerns within my own work. My own praxis is represented by recordings which demonstrate my approachesto technique and musical language and a series of composed works which explore them in adifferent context. The website is intended for use as a resource for performers and composers who wish to explore the specifics of extended technique within their own work. I similarly examine how such facets within my own workpresent problems for a performer which must be solved empirically.The process of scrutinising my own performance traitsled me to consider how the study of certain works that present significant innovations in technique and expressive devices can act as a means of developing technique heuristically. Such works require a set of procedures which invite the performer to conclude the musical argument and thus instigate a creative response. The double bassist and composer Barry Guy’s solo bass work Statements II is such a piece,and within this thesis I assess the extent to which the work is representative of a core set of musical choices on behalf of a performer/composer, and how the piece functions as a systemisationof his working practices in improvisationwithin a composition. The piece is examined alongside a work by another composer, Bernard Rands, which demonstrates a continuity of language both in terms of its technical resources and in its wider musical concerns.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Date Type:	Completion
Status:	Unpublished
Schools:	Music
Subjects:	M Music and Books on Music > M Music M Music and Books on Music > MT Musical instruction and study
Related URLs:	http://orca.cf.ac.uk/133777/
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	27 July 2020
Last Modified:	17 Mar 2021 02:28
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/133754

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