Projects

The Recueils d’airs sérieux et à boire de différents autheurs (“RASB”) 1695-1715

Elizabeth Dobbin

The Recueils d’airs sérieux et à boire de différents autheurs (“RASB”) published by Christophe Ballard represent the major source in which airs sérieux are preserved. The cultural elite sang from these publications in the salon, and in so doing, participated in a highly codified form of communication within society. Ballard, on the other hand, was running a business and his commercial strategies favoured the publication of those airs which would guarantee the sale of the highest number of copies. The enduring commercial success of the RASB indicates that Ballard’s editorial choices were reflective of the tastes of the avid and elite music-public, and successful predictors of the next day’s fashion.

Architectures of speed

Ned McGowan

The speed of rhythms in live acoustic music, literally the velocity at which notes are sounding, can be defined in absolute terms based on clock time. But there is also the perceived speed that, in the simplest terms, states that musical material can seem fast, slow or some other relational quality.

Examining Poiesis and Performance Practice in Physically Parametricized Instrumental Writing

Kevin Fairbairn

I am studying the repertoire of contemporary music distinguished by physically parametricized notation. As a trombonist, I have performed this repertoire for years and have been frustrated by an insufficient literature indicating the practice of performing it. 

The 8' and 16' violone in J. S. Bach's music

Margaret Urquhart

An investigation into the use of the 8’ and 16’ violone in the music leading up to and including J. S. Bach’s compositions in northern Germany in the 17th and 18th centuries.