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UBC Theses and Dissertations

Clarinet ornamentation techniques influenced by the traditional use of an historical instrument : the tárogató Milosevic, Milan

Abstract

There is very little literature available related to traditional ornamentation performance conventions from Eastern Europe. This dissertation thus explores the ornamentation performed on the tárogató, a Hungarian historical instrument, as the inspiration for new ornaments to be used both in existing and new compositions for the tárogató and clarinet. As a result of research and study awards received from the University of British Columbia and the British Columbia Arts Council, I conducted fieldwork with Hungarian and neighbouring Romanian and Serbian folk performers in their natural performance environments. Throughout the twentieth century, such performers developed their own variety of music ornamentation and articulation methods on the tárogató related to several different cultural regions of current-day Hungary, Romania, and Serbia. In this dissertation, these traditional ornaments are used as an inspiration to create six new different ornamental models. They can be performed on either the clarinet or tárogató. I begin by outlining the various interpretations of the most similar ornaments to my new models and the symbols used to depict them in related treatises used in Western Europe from the early seventeenth century until modern times. For the purpose of clarity and differentiation from the historical ornamental symbols most commonly used today, I designed a set of six new visual depictions of the ornaments, accompanied by a practical guide to the new side-key and finger-bounce fingerings and the resultant pitch measurements. I conclude with several compositional examples representing my suppositions on the most tasteful ornamental placements within the possible variety of musical contexts of traditional and contemporary origins. Such suppositions are not intended to change the texture or the original composers' suggestions on ornaments; rather, it is my wish to use them to underline and amplify the traditional style in which the piece is to be performed.

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Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 Canada