Cello map: a handbook of Cello technique for performers and composers

Fallowfield, Ellen (2010). Cello map: a handbook of Cello technique for performers and composers. University of Birmingham. Ph.D.

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Abstract

Many new sounds and new instrumental techniques have been introduced into music literature since 1950. The popular approach to support developments in modern instrumental technique is the catalogue or notation guide, which has led to isolated special effects. Several authors of handbooks of technique have pointed to an alternative, strategic, scientific approach to technique as an ideological ideal. I have adopted this approach more fully than before and applied it to the cello for the first time. This handbook provides a structure for further research. In this handbook, new techniques are presented alongside traditional methods and a ‘global technique’ is defined, within which every possible sound-modifying action is considered as a continuous scale, upon which as yet undiscovered techniques can also be slotted. The ‘map’ of the title is meant in the scientific sense of the word; connections are made between: ‘actions that a cellist makes’ and ‘sounds that a cello can produce’. In some cases, where existing scientific theory is insufficient to back up these connections, original empirical research has been undertaken and areas for further research have been suggested. Within this system there are no special effects, rather a continuum of actions with a clear relationship to sound.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.)

Award Type:

Doctorates > Ph.D.

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