https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/21928 Sat, 18 Apr 2026 01:13:10 GMT 2026-04-18T01:13:10Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/25014 Title: Music, continuity and change in the Maltese wind band tradition Abstract: Wind band music is one of the most popular music traditions in Malta. In almost every Maltese town and village one finds one or two, sometimes even three, band clubs with their own premises, paying members and a band affiliated to them. The highlight of the year for band music is the village feast (festa) – the week-long festivities in honour of the village patron or secondary saint. This dissertation will investigate aspects of continuity and change in the Maltese wind band tradition with special attention to how this tradition has adjusted itself to current trends in Maltese culture and society. For this purpose, the present study will rely on the theories and methods of ethnomusicology. The work consists of an Introduction, five chapters and Conclusion. The Introduction presents the wind band tradition in Malta, the clubs that bands are affiliated to, as well as the typical structure of Maltese towns and villages. The same chapter will show how these wind bands and their respective clubs fit into the social and cultural life of the locality. Chapter one focuses on a historical overview of the Maltese wind band tradition. It presents the process by which Maltese wind bands flourished during the nineteenth century and evolved in various ways during the years that followed. Chapter two explores the band club (każin) from three aspects: (1) the band club as a physical space which hosts both musical and non-musical events; (2) the band club as a community of people that values the banda tradition and the contribution of their club to the social and cultural life of the town/village; (3) the band club as the producer of music both for the village feast as well as for other events. In all the three aspects one notes a very nice balance between the ‘old’ and the ‘new’. Chapter three analyses the Maltese festive band march with special attention to how this changed over the years whilst preserving its identity. Such discussion will incorporate a range of extra-musical processes that place the music of these marches into a better perspective. Chapter four examines the interrelationship of the Maltese wind band tradition and partisan politics in Malta. This link has existed since the beginning of the Maltese wind band tradition. The chapter will also show how this interrelationship has evolved over the years to reflect ongoing propagandistic intentions and strategies. Chapter five explores the role of the recording industry in the recording of Maltese marches. The chapter will show the impact of recordings on the appraisal of Maltese marches and how recording practices of the past can still be observed in today’s banda tradition. The conclusion will bring together and summarise the main points of the overall discussion while pointing out aspects of the tradition of our concern that require further research. Description: M.MUSIC Sun, 01 Jan 2017 00:00:00 GMT https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/25014 2017-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/24657 Title: A composition portfolio beyond communication : an islander’s perspective Abstract: The portfolio presents four highly contrasted works written in the following order along the years 2010-16: Roma Lavrentio, Entrückung, Nidi nel Campanile and Garigue. These four works display a mosaic of intuitions and worldviews emerging from and fused in the same consciousness. The acknowledgement of the roots as an island composer to which I have been exposed throughout my musical career, are part of my compositional DNA. Rhapsodic materials recur with varying degrees of abstraction that are specifically topographical especially in Garigue, a ‘rapsodia concertante’ for violoncello and orchestra depicting the austere garigue insular habitat throughout the year. The other composition Nidi nel Campanile is a work that experiments with acoustic and electronic media, where the music is nested through the motifs that resemble largely dissipative structures, but which are in fact compound re-structurings that spell the exact etymology of the Latin transitive verb ‘componere’ – to put together, to compile, to organise. This work for flute is counterpointed against the manipulated sound of the big bell in the Maltese harbour city of Cospicua. It explores also the idea of migratory patterns that characterise an island status. The other composition Entrückung, a ‘Handlung’ (transaction) for big orchestra flirts with the potentialities of colourful rhythmic outbursts designed to induce the listener into a euphoric state of an ever-increasing spiral of unexpected chromatic twists. The transactional treatment of compositional material with flashes of heart-throbbing rhythmic punches so typical of the Mediterranean passionate character, strikes an emotionally saturated attribute that is provocatively rapturous. On the other end is Roma Lavrentio, a work designed to fit local consumption and thus cast in a very accessible idiom. This extended work employs a purposeful use of ‘traditional tonality’ that can also serve as an efficacious compositional tool within a template of pragmatic strategies. This has been my reaction to localised models of receptiveness, schematically gearing an almost film-music model to help the audience visualise the text. It is music for the sake of itself, untouched by fashions or isms, happy to take its chances, re-consummating the language of tonality, harmony and modulations, earthy more than universal. The score evokes the grandness of mighty Rome and portrays episodes from the life of the archdeacon of Rome Laurence, martyred under the reign of Emperor Valerian in 258 AD. Roma Lavrentio possesses pages of suave moods and spiritual tranquillity that subsequently switch with others of sheer brassy power and above all, one that seeks to transmit the terrors of Roman persecution. It is a work that essentially circumscribes my spiritual convictions, whilst revealing at the same time an intriguing collaboration between a small island composer and the upper echelons of a highly influential ecclesiastical institution bent on propagating heroic models of the Catholic faith. This work evolves in a delicate balance that reconciles my musical language and its idiomatic features with the conservative musical expectations of its envisaged patrons as the consumers of the work, without compromising artistic utterance. All the components of this portfolio have one basic ingredient: musical communication, where the composer’s consciousness is relayed directly to the performers through the physical realization of the vigorously subjective blueprints of his music. This becomes the functional and metaphorical medium through which the ultimate recipients, the listeners, are provided with sensory experiences that in some way or other partake of the composer’s states of mind that helped shape his creative output as an islander. After all a composer is a communicator by aspiration. Leaving communication out of the sketch of the composer’s intention would spell indifference resulting in the dismantling of the musical experience and the socio-cultural processes that generate such communication. Description: D.MUS. Sun, 01 Jan 2017 00:00:00 GMT https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/24657 2017-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/23730 Title: A tuba recital : perspectives for a combined historical, analytical and personal approach Abstract: Chapter one presents a general overview of the tuba and its evolution. The overview commence with the predecessors of the tuba, being the Serpent and the Ophicleide, continues with the invention of the valve, the different types of tubas and the key repertoire for the tuba. A Baroque-style score with the name Sonata no.I in F composed by Benedetto Marcello is the subject of the second chapter. The main Baroque elements are widely found in this score. Ornamentation is an essential element. Multiple trills are found in this piece, and these trills are analyzed in detail on the best way to achieve a smooth and a flowing trill during the performance. Andante and Rondo by Antonio Capuzzi is the theme of the third chapter. These two movements form part of the famous Concerto for Double Bass by the same composer. Andante is a slow and lyrical movement with many arpeggiated figures. These figures deal with intonation problems that have been encountered. The Rondo is by far more technically challenging, and here intonation problems still persisted. Details on how the issue has been tackled in order to achieve the tone wanted, has been treated in detail. Chapter four is about the famous Tuba Concerto by Edward Gregson. Composed in 1976, the concerto is considered as one of the major works in the tuba repertoire. It consists of three movements: Allegro Deciso, very rhythmical and technically challenging, presents a difficult task for the tuba player especially in tongue and finger co-ordination. The second movement, Lento e mesto, very lyrical, cantabile and rather slow presents one of the most difficult challenges for the tuba player, the high register. Allegro giocoso, very close in character with the first movement, gathers both these problematic factors. Sonata for Tuba, another major work for the tuba repertoire composed by Paul Hindemith shall be the score analyzed in chapter five. The sonata is divided into three movements: Allegro pesanto, Allegro Assai and Variationen: moderato comodo. Wide leaps in range (both tongued and slurred) and legato articulation, are amongst the difficulties encountered in the study of this sonata. Chapter six is about Serenade no.12 by Vincent Persichetti, a work for solo tuba. The serenade consists of six movements. Being a solo work, the soloist needs to work a lot on the interpretation in order to make the work interesting to hear. Articulation is one of the key factors to achieve this result. In fact, accents and diaphragm accents are the basis of the discussion found in this chapter. The ending chapter describes the piece Sleeping with Cats by the local composer Ray Sciberras. This piece was commissioned by my friend Josef Attard and myself specifically to be utilized for our final recital. Syncopation is crucial element in this piece making it the main concern, so I seeked to discuss in detail how I managed to sub-divise and tackle this syncopation problem. Description: B.A.(HONS)MUSIC Sun, 01 Jan 2017 00:00:00 GMT https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/23730 2017-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/23728 Title: Violin performance practice from the baroque period to the early 20th century : a performer’s perspective Abstract: This Dissertation will focus on the fundamentals of violin performance practice, including: phrasing, articulation, bowing techniques and also provide historical information, from the late Baroque period to the early 20th century, featuring five composers. In my first chapter I focused on the first four movements from the second Partita, in D minor by J. S. Bach, in which I have gained a better understanding of the violin repertoire in the Baroque period, by comparing between the Italian and French models of the dance suite and getting familiar with the Doctrine of Affections by Rene Descartes and Johann Mattheson which have thus had an impact on the execution of the various musical figures employed in the partita. In the other chapters, I have focused on the remaining composers, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Johannes Brahms, Bela Bartók and Dimitri Kabalevsky, all of whom wrote significant works for the violin and acquainted myself with the style of each composer by distinguishing the various articulation marks, bowings, fingerings and phrasing. The Dissertation serves as an accompanying part of the recital, performed on June 14, 2017. In approaching a musical piece it is crucial to perceive the performance practice in which such work was composed and the changes that have been made in the structure of both the violin and bow, which affected tone production, led to different requirements in holding the instrument and had an impact on articulation and performance. Delving deeper and considering the aforementioned aspects, helped me to distinguish between the styles and characteristics of each piece in both my daily practice routine and the performance. Description: B.A.(HONS)MUSIC Sun, 01 Jan 2017 00:00:00 GMT https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/23728 2017-01-01T00:00:00Z