Maintaining Disorder: Some Technical and Aesthetic Issues Involved in the Performance of Ligeti’s E´ tudes for Piano

This article examines some of the particular questions and associated strategies concerning matters of rhythm, perceived metre, notation, accentuation, line, physical approach to the keyboard, pedalling, and more in the performance of Ligeti’s Études for piano. I relate these issues to those encountered in earlier repertoire, including works of Schumann, Liszt, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Bartók and Blacher, and argue that particular approaches and attitudes to both technical and musical matters in the context of these Études can fundamentally affect the concept of the music. A particular focus is upon issues of continuity and discontinuity, and the ‘situation’ of these works within particular pianistic and other traditions by virtue of the approach taken to performance

Simple mappings, expressive movement: a qualitative investigation into the end-user mapping design of experienced mid-air musicians

© 2018, © 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. In a New Interface for Musical Expression (NIME), the design of the relationship between a musician’s actions and the instrument’s sound response is critical in creating instruments that facilitate expressive music performance. A growing body of NIMEs expose this design task to the end performer themselves, leading to the possibility of new insights into NIME mapping design: what can be learned from the mapping design strategies of practicing musicians? This research contributes a qualitative study of four highly experienced users of an end-user mapping instrument to examine their mapping practice. The study reveals that the musicians focus on designing simple, robust mappings that minimize errors, embellishing these control gestures with theatrical ancillary gestures that express metaphors. However, musical expression is hindered by the unintentional triggering of musical events. From these findings, a series of heuristics are presented that can be applied in the future development of NIMEs