More about the programme
Groupings and Subdivisions of the Pulse: Reimagining ratios in meter by Sven Heinze
The historic development of European rhythmic notation has led to a system that is very refined for notating simple meters like “4/4”. Here the ratios between all pulse levels are accurately reflected in the designation of note values: a measure contains 4 quarternotes, 8 eightnotes and 2 halfnotes. In compound meters like “6/8”, “9/8” or “12/8”, things get more complicated: “1/8” doesn’t mean “an eight of a measure” anymore, it means “1/3 of a beat; please calculate yourself the amount of beats in a measure”. And odd meters like “3/4”, “5/4” etc. imply equations like „¾=1“, as one full measure contains only 3 quarters (?).
In our daily musical practice, these oddities don’t confuse us, because we think in conventions and not in ratios. But these conventions hinder our understanding and performance abilities of rhythms from other cultures: polyrhythms, irregular meters, metric modulations all look very complicated in European notation, while many of them feel very natural if once understood.
I will present a conception of meter that works with the actual ratios instead of the traditional note values. Although strange at first sight, it can help to develop a much better understanding of complex rhythms (including polyrhythms) and to free our rhythmical imagination from the constraints of traditional notation.
A web-app that I’m currently developing will help to visualize my ideas.
Rhythm, Ear Training and Sight Reading by Marcus Aydintan
The presentations and workhops give insight into a course that combines rhythm, ear training and sight-reading. Various tasks of the course will be practiced with the students, following a successive structure with different levels of difficulty. The main focus is on two-part exercises taken from orchestral or chamber music compositions, examples from popular music are also included. The advanced course focuses on polyrhythms and irregular time signatures. In three steps – reproducing rhythms, dictation, sight reading – the course offers a systematical and practical approach to learn and sightread rhythmic structures.
More about Rhythmical concepts in the music of Tigran Hamasyan by Aljoscha Ristow
Tigran Hamasyan (*1987) is an Armenian jazz pianist and composer whose style is characterized by a high level of rhythmic complexity combined with influences from traditional Armenian music. On his albums ‘Shadow Theater’ (2013) and ‘The Call Within’ (2020), he uses some quite remarkable rhythmical techniques, such as polymetric structures, unequal subdivisions, micro-rhythmical quintuplets, or metric modulations.
In this lecture–workshop combination, we will use examples from Tigran’s music to investigate how the nature of such rhythmical phenomena can be understood and internalized with the help of South Indian Rhythmic Solfege, which has become increasingly important for rhythm pedagogy in the Netherlands over the recent decades, most notably at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam (Rafael Reina, 2015). This approach is particularly suitable for the comprehension of Hamasyan’s music by focusing less on notation, but rather on a direct interplay between perception, internalization, and performance.
More about Schemata application in an integrated music curriculum by Luciano Meloni
Galant style schemata have taken a big flight since Robert Gjerdingen’s book Music in the Galant style (2006). As schemata have interested ever since I encountered them, I decided to dedicate my research to them. For the past year, I have conducted a research in first and second year groups at Conservatorium Maastricht, during which I tried to integrate a schemata approach within the existing curriculum. In this presentation, I will be sharing my findings, discuss student’s opinions, teacher’s observations, and compositions.
More about Organizing the quarter note in flamenco: "Compás de Soleá" by Mario Calzada
During this talk, I will demonstrate the "Compás de Soleá" in flamenco. I will explain what is a "compás" and how does it work rhythmically, melodically and harmonically. We will talk about the traditional way to count it. I will share a technique to integrate it in our musical theoretical system.
More about Benjamin Brinner's workshop and himself
While being a member of the Würzburg vocal ensemble 'Chanter trouvé', we were practising a lot of possibilities to improvise 'chanter sur le livre' in typical Renaissance impro methods like different canon types, pedal points, fauxbourdons, ...
Soon, certain concert projects thematically or musically requested also more modern types of improvisation, which led to new ideas like e.g. improvising canons with changed scales (hexatonic, octatonic, ...).
During our preparation for the artistic competition of 2022 congress of the 'Deutsche Gesellschaft für Musiktheorie' in Salzburg, we wanted to create some new improvisational methods and connect them to current topics and methods of the music theory. The result was a practical approach to Neo-Riemannian theory: Via letter handsigns of the deaf alphabet, we indicated different operations for chord changes (like Relative, Parallel, Hexatonic pole, ...), while the different voices connected their lines via parsimonious voice leading. If practised, you can communicate chord changes quite fast with the group and make the method fruitful for singing: The chords can either serve as accompaniment for a solo-voice improvisation, or being used for a freer improvisation with harmonic orientation.
After a short introduction into Neo-Riemannian Theory, the little workshop would serve to try out those indicated chord changes for ourselves.
More about Travelling in time without a map: a case study on teaching topic theory by Asya Zakhareva's presentation
This presentation will offer a lecture about a lecture, in other words, a case study. The didactical case to be reflected upon is an event held by David Lodewyckx and Asya Zakhareva for BA1-BA3 students of Maastricht Conservatory in March 2024. There, a topic theory (a growing field of musicology established in 1970 by L. Ratner) played one of the central roles. As it will be shown, the event highlighted representative obstacles and challenges to be taken into account when discussing musical topics with students. After explaining what these challenges were, I will focus on analytical and didactical solutions for a few particular musical topics featured in the considered piece.
More about Meters and rhythms in Bulgarian music by Leon Lhoëst
Bulgarian rhythms have fascinated Western audiences, composers, and musicians for decades. Asymmetrical meters represent one of the most essential characteristics of Bulgarian traditional music. The immense variety of asymmetrical meters in Bulgarian music implies the existence of intricate rhythmic organization that needs to be examined in detail.
Meters, rhythm, and harmony are closely linked in many tonal and modal styles of music. A thorough explanation of Bulgarian meters and rhythms is necessary to understanding metric placement of chords and progressions, as well as the overall harmonic motion found in Bulgarian village music, wedding music, and choral obrabotki.
Bulgarian ethnomusicologists have developed a precise system for classifying the most common asymmetrical metric structures.
More about the KMetronome.com Workshop by Laurent Peckels
South Indian (Carnatic) music is founded on a highly structured system for exploring and creating melodic material, paired with a complex rhythmic approach that matches and sometimes even surpasses the intricacy of Western rhythmic techniques. I developed kmetronome.com primarily as a companion tool for the methodology outlined in Rafael Reina's book, 'Applying Karnatic Rhythmical Techniques to Western Music' (Routledge, 2015) and as a practice tool for students of the 'Applications of Karnatic Rhythm to Western Music' program at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam.
The workshop will concentrate on Konnakol principles, the vocal rhythmic aspect of Carnatic music, which involves articulating percussion syllables traditionally performed on the mridangam. This rhythmical base training is common to all South and North Indian musicians and represents the shared foundation of their musical traditions, and is making its way into Western rhythmic practice. The exercises will cover essential principles such as rhythmic cycles, tuplet divisions, tuplet groupings, and nested tuplets. Additionally, kmetronome.com provides an accessible visualization of core concepts like polyrhythm and polypulse.
