Exploring an Instrument's Diversity: Carmen Liliana Troncoso Cáceres Phd University of York Music September 2019
Exploring an Instrument’s Diversity: The Creative Implications of the Recorder Performer’s Choice of Instrument Volume I Carmen Liliana Troncoso Cáceres PhD University of York Music September 2019 2 Abstract Recorder performers constantly face the challenge of selecting particular instrumental models for performance, subject to repertoire, musical styles, and performance contexts. The recorder did not evolve continuously and linearly. The multiple available models are surprisingly dissimilar and often somewhat anachronistic in character, juxtaposing elements of design from different periods of European musical history. This has generated the particular and peculiar situation of the recorder performer: the process of searching for and choosing an instrument for a specific performance is a complex aspect of performance preparation. This research examines the variables that arise in these processes, exploring the criteria for instrumental selection and, within the context of music making, the creative possibilities afforded by those choices. The study combines research into recorder models and their origins, use and associated contexts with research through performance. The relationship between performer and instrument, with its cultural and personal complexities, is significant here. As an ‘everyday object’, rooted in daily practice and personal artistic expression over many years, the instrument becomes part of the performer’s identity. In my case, as a Chilean performing an instrument that, despite its wider connection to a range of other duct flutes across the world, belongs to European culture, this sense of identity is complex and therefore examined in my processes of selecting and working creatively with the instruments. This doctorate portfolio comprises six performance projects, encompassing new, collaboratively developed works for a variety of recorders, presented through performance and recorded media.
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