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Abstract

This dissertation comprises two volumes. Volume 1 presents a critique and exploration of the way extended techniques with particular sound properties are used and notated in the contemporary repertoire for the classical six-string guitar. In Volume 2, a set of practical exercises provide both instrumentalists and composers with a way to perceive, think through, and use a repertory of sounds based on developed and newly invented extended techniques.

Volume 1 is divided into three sections. The first section constitutes an extensive survey of the literature, where extended guitar techniques are investigated in relation to performance and pedagogy by centring on significant research and key repertoire. The examined techniques are characterized by being alternative to the conventional pitch-based attack/decay paradigm. This is followed by an examination of composers’ notational practices, where certain anomalies in the repertoire are addressed. For example, how spectral relationships may be put into a morphological context by employing tablaturebased systems. A concluding section summarises the current use of extended techniques and how compositional methodologies from key composers can be further developed.

Volume 2 presents two sets of studies. The first twenty-eight studies centre on individual techniques, after which techniques are combined in the remaining six studies. A new morphologically based notation model is employed, derived by developing the surveyed composers creativity further through enhancing the perception and execution of music comprising only extended techniques. The archetypal attack/resonance morphology of guitar sound is discussed, and this forms the basis for classifying certain extended techniques as archetypes or variants of the archetype. The pedagogical, compositional, and improvisational potential of the chosen extended techniques are exploited in the studies, both through the juxtaposing and the merging of morphologies. After an overview that reflects upon musical relationships between the theoretical and practical aspects of the dissertation, the final section is concerned with the use of amplification in performance, and further ideas are proposed for expanding morphological combinations.

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PDF (Volume 1: A Survey of Extended Techniques on the Classical Six-String Guitar) - Draft Version
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PDF (Volume 2: Studies in New Morphological Notation) - Draft Version
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Archive (ZIP) (Sound examples. Tracks 1 to 56) - Draft Version
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Archive (ZIP) (Sound examples. Tracks 57 to 109) - Draft Version
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