Unconventional sound production on the xylophone: outcomes of an artistic research collaboration

Rita Torres; Helvio Mendes

doi:10.35699/a8q81s80

Authors

Rita Torres INET-md – Institute of Ethnomusicology: Center for Studies in Music and Dance, Department of Communication and Art, University of Aveiro https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6369-6250
Helvio Mendes INET-md – Institute of Ethnomusicology: Center for Studies in Music and Dance, Department of Communication and Art, University of Aveiro https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2502-0000

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.35699/a8q81s80

Keywords:

Practice-based research, Creative process, Composer–performer working relationship, Musical gestures, Performative gestures

Abstract

The xylophone’s timbral resources have been little explored. Despite recent efforts to promote the solo xylophone, conventional sound production prevails in most of the compositions reviewed by the authors. The first author contributed to an investigation of the second author, exploring with him sound production on the xylophone through practice-based research oriented to art music creation. Entering each other's domains, the authors ended up arriving at instrumental and compositional gestures almost certainly unheard of in the instrument until then. In the musical work, these are juxtaposed with conventional gestures in a varied and predominantly discontinuous compositional flow, counteracting the tendency in many of the compositions reviewed by the authors.

Author Biographies

Rita Torres, INET-md – Institute of Ethnomusicology: Center for Studies in Music and Dance, Department of Communication and Art, University of Aveiro

Rita Torres is an Assistant Researcher of the Institute of Ethnomusicology: Center for Studies in Music and Dance (INET-md) at the University of Aveiro. She holds a PhD in Science and Technology of the Arts from the
Portuguese Catholic University, as well as degrees in Chemical Engineering, Guitar, Musicology/Music Informatics and Composition. Torres was a Research Fellow at CESEM (NOVA University Lisbon and University of Évora) and a PhD researcher at CITAR (Portuguese Catholic University) and, as guest, at IMWI (Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe) and IMA (now Hertzlab, ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe). She is particularly interested in exploring unconventional sound production on resonant instruments.
Helvio Mendes, INET-md – Institute of Ethnomusicology: Center for Studies in Music and Dance, Department of Communication and Art, University of Aveiro

Helvio Mendes is a percussionist and researcher at the Institute of Ethnomusicology – Center for Studies in Music and Dance (INET-md) of the University of Aveiro, where he is doing a PhD focused on pioneering research on the xylophone. His research proposes to expand the artistic
and expressive potentialities of the instrument, privileging sensory experiences that emerge from sound experimentation, in dialogue with contemporary technologies and in close collaboration with composers. He holds a master's degree in Music from the State University of Campinas/UNICAMP and a bachelor degree in percussion from the São Paulo State University/UNESP, both in Brazil. Working at the confluence between performance,creation, research and pedagogy, he develops authorial projects for solo xylophone, is a founding member of the Clube do Choro de Aveiro and the Strings+Bars Duo and teaches at the Academia de Música de Cantanhede. He has performed as a soloist and collaborated with orchestras and ensembles in the USA, Brazil, Canada, Portugal, Morocco, Holland, Spain and Slovenia.

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Unconventional sound production on the xylophone

outcomes of an artistic research collaboration

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