Trio on musiikin taiteellieen tutkimukseen, esittämiseen ja pedagogiikkaan, esityskäytäntöjen, niiden estetiikan ja historian sekä nykyhetken haasteiden tutkimukseen keskittyvä vertaisarvioitu julkaisu, jossa on sijaa myös muulle musiikintutkimukselle, esimerkiksi musiikin historiaan, filosofiaan ja analyysiin liittyville aiheille. Trio ilmestyy kahdesti vuodessa, ja lehti on saanut Tieteellisten seurain valtuuskunnan (TSV) myöntämän Vertaisarvioitu-tunnuksen ja sitoutunut sen ohjeiden mukaiseen eettiseen toimintaan artikkeleiden vertaisarvioinnissa. Käsikirjoituksia voi lähettää ympäri vuoden. Vanhemmat numerot vuosilta 2012–18 (Vol. 1–8) ovat luettavissa Taju-julkaisuarkistossa.
Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki
Aspects of melodic and rhythmical textures in György Ligeti’s micro and macro polyphony
The subject of this article falls within my previous musicological research on contemporary era and is focused on the exploration of the methods which György Ligeti applied on a number of his chamber, orchestral and solo works, to generate various, previously unheard, interactive textures. Although Ligeti’s aesthetic trajectory is differentiated from his contemporaries “pure” sonoristic composers (Penderecki, Lachenmann, Sciarrino and others), his polyphonically constructed textures often create diversiform sonoristic environments, based more on melodic and rhythmic material and less on timbral extension for each particular musical instrument. In addition to Ligeti’s orchestral masterpieces, the works Ramifications (1968–69), Chamber Concerto (1969–70), Melodien (1971), and Piano Etudes No. 3 and No. 4 from the first book (1985) are some representative examples of the above aesthetic direction. Through analysis of particular extracts from the above-mentioned works, this paper will attempt to demonstrate a number of applied compositional principles, in order to explore both the micro- and macro-structure of “Ligetian” micropolyphonic textures. In addition, innovative, sophisticated techniques, such as the blocked keys in Etude No. 3 and the repetition of pitches combined with sfz-p subito dynamics in the Chamber Concerto’s second movement, have been proved to be strong tools in the attempt to achieve rhythmical complexity, characterised by ultimate levels of rhythmic accuracy. Various pitch (or pitch-class) sets and intervallic ratios are often used as starting points for the generation of multi-layer canonic textures and imitative passages. Both the horizontal (melodic) and the vertical (harmonic) organisation of the pitch material form structures of linear sonic events, which in turn consist of multiple interactive, polyrhythmic gestures. Ligeti’s distinguishable polyrhythmical, sonoristic, effect often occurs from several types of linear and non-linear arithmetic series and sets which will be analysed and examined. In summary, based on particular extracts of the works mentioned above, this paper will focus on: • How Ligeti’s micropolyphonic techniques create a variety of sonoristic textures and • How Ligeti’s micropolyphony forms sophisticated macro-polyphonic structures • Arithmetic series which dominate the rhythmical construction of these works and on ways they affect the overall textural plan of each work.
In the penprints of György Ligeti in Basle – Historical Aspects on Performance Notes in Piano Etudes 1–6
The article is a discussion on tempo markings and performance notes in the first volume of the piano études by György Ligeti. It draws attention to certain differences between the manuscript, the preliminary facsimile editions and the final edition by Schott. It also highlights various post-publication corrections, comments and notes written by Ligeti on the sheet music in his possession. According to the sources, Ligeti changed his mind about the tempo several times and attached great importance to the nuances in the written performance notes. It remains open whether he had intended more corrections and comments to be published than are seen nowadays in the available editions. The information is based on unpublished material and archive sources at the Paul Sacher Foundation in Basle.
György Ligeti and organ music – traditional reformer or revolutionary discoverer? Ligeti’s organ music and its influence to the playing technique of organ
The article draws a picture of György Ligeti as an organ composer and it shows the means, which he came up with to produce a new kind of sound on an old, traditional instrument. The aim here is to talk about the relationship between tradition and reformation in terms of playing techniques in Ligeti’s organ music. Because Ligeti didn’t have much experience with traditional organ playing techniques, as far as articulation in all its dimensions goes, with different approaches through historical performance practice, he could begin his work from a clean table. However, he did use all manner of touch, developed new playing skills and invented new ways of registration, which gave his music new wonderful colours and timbres. Ligeti composed three different pieces for organ: an early Ricercare, the massive Volumina and two spectacular études. The article will focus here merely on the last two: the Volumina and the Zwei Etüden. They are both revolutionary in a way because they don’t respect tradition. They are also exceptional compositions, because they are both analogous with either orchestra or instrumental pieces, which Ligeti was writing at the same time. Furthermore, they both need professional organ registrants. The registrant actually has a more important role in the performance than the organist him or herself. If we don’t count his early piece, Ricercare, he was quite revolutionary. In Volumina there is not even a single note, which should be played in a normal way, but Ligeti’s organ playing in it is for instance the use of palms of the hands in gliding across keys and the manuals. By using graphic notation he could best achieve freedom for the player, and the result of the integration of a new playing technique with a new kind of notation made the organ like a timbre-machine. The practice of registration also found a new level in the inventions of Ligeti. György Ligeti’s heritage in organ composition is enormous. After the massive revolution of Volumina and Zwei Etüden organ playing as a whole and especially the way of composing for organ took a new direction. One could not imagine many contemporary pieces without Ligeti’s example.
Report from the symposium “Transforming musicianship: Understanding 19th-century historical style and its implications for learning”, Sibelius Academy, Helsinki, 12 November 2018.
The orchestral and chamber music of the 19th Century includes some of the most widely performed and well known pieces of classical music, and yet most professional performances of this repertoire have been relatively uninformed by what is known about actual 19th Century historical style. Thus, this symposium offered research-based insights on the technical and performative aesthetics of this repertoire, by bridging the widely-recognised gap between period and modern instrumentalists and scholarship through spoken presentations and demonstrations on historical instruments.
The writings in this issue include five peer-reviewed articles based on the lectures given at the György Ligeti Symposium Helsinki 2017, a transcription of the Keynote Speech by Lukas Ligeti and two reports of Doctoral School events at the Sibelius Academy.
An efficient panorama of doctoral research at the Sibelius Academy, Helsinki, 18–19 March 2019
This is a review of the fourth annual exhibition of the Sibelius Academy Research Days, held in March 2019 and organized by the students of both the two artistic and research doctoral schools of the academy. A welcoming atmosphere laid the foundation for a two day panorama of presentations of research projects across a wide spectrum of topics given by the artistic and scientific groups of doctoral students in a variety of formats, from concise spotlights to extended demonstration lectures. Other presentations included a faculty keynote address and a panel on internationalization and career coaching.
The structure of thought. On the writings of György Ligeti
The aim of this text is to identify and characterise the key thematic areas in Ligeti’s writings, and to demonstrate their role in the shaping and expanding of our picture of the composer and his works. The analysis concentrates largely on the writings which may appear far removed from Ligeti’s compositions and his compositional techniques. These writings include reminiscences, articles devoted to other composers, and reflections on the status of music. They present a number of issues which are significant in relation to all of Ligeti’s works. The first issue concerns the status of the composer, whose attitude and activities are suggestive of those of a scholar. They reveal Ligeti’s fascination with science, and his belief in the autonomy of music. Another important thread is the historical placing of Ligeti’s work. When discussing the works of others the composer seems to be very aware of the influences to which he was subject himself. A privileged position is given in Ligeti’s writings to his direct historical predecessors, such as Béla Bartók or Anton Webern, but also to Claude Debussy, Gustav Mahler, Charles Ives or Igor Stravinsky. The third element of significance are the references to autobiographical themes, which go far beyond being anecdotal. On the whole they correspond perfectly to the image of Ligeti’s compositions and later inspirations. Recalling images from childhood also affects the composer’s special way of describing music. Usually it is grounded in the inaccessible, difficult to capture sphere of memory or imagination, yet at the same time it is always music being heard, taking place in time. This special, metaphorised way of describing music defines the fourth thematic area. The composer most often uses visual and spatial metaphors, especially the metaphor of labyrinth, fabric, web, surface or mirror image. Ligeti finds a special, “personal” justification for his metaphors in the form of synaesthesia. The metaphors are also strikingly multifunctional. A detailed discussion of all these issues leads to the conclusion that for Ligeti writing was simply essential. It served as a toolbox of vocabulary and representations which defined his compositions in a unique way. It became a means of defining his self-identity, of working out his own intellectual stance and of constructing an individual vision of the history of music which focuses on those aspects most precious to him. Writing was probably also a way of working through his emotions, of cleansing, of nurturing memories and doing justice to past events. While Ligeti is an individual case, the phenomena and strategies discussed here may turn out to be symptomatic for the whole body of contemporary composer-writers.
Aspects of pitch organization in György Ligeti's Piano etude no. 8, Fém
György Ligeti’s Piano Étude No. 8, Fém, is governed by two simultaneous and continuously repeated rhythmic patterns, one of which is for the right hand, the other for the left one. The patterns evoke the medieval concept of Talea, a constant configuration of durations whose repetitions introduce a recognizable element to the piece it is used in. The two Fém taleae are of different lengths, meaning that their starting points coincide only after several cycles. As far as pitch organisation is concerned, Fém contains an element that is as dominant as the Talea patterns are in the realm of rhythm, namely, parallel fifths. It is the purpose of this study to examine how the fifths, and harmonic materials derived from them, govern the pitch organisation of the piece. It is suggested that the fifths form two distinct “harmonic families”. The first one contains collections of notes where the elements can be arranged so that there is a perfect fifth between all pairs of consecutive elements. "Family members" can contain from 2 to 12 elements. The second family contains collections of notes where the elements can be arranged so that in the succession of intervals between pairs of consecutive notes, tritones and fifths alternate. Family members can contain from 3 to 12 elements. Furthermore, the ordering and registral positioning of the elements is free: the family membership of the collection is preserved even if the elements are not in a "pure" interval stack order – the collections are not defined to be chords or other pitch-space objects, but pitch-class sets. It is then examined how the two harmonic families can be utilised in articulating elements of the pitch organization. Among the viewpoints are the relations between the Taleae and the harmonic families, the transpositional relations between family members in controlling the level of dissonance, harmonic-family saturation, completion strategies of incomplete family members, and simultaneous linear instances of family members. The study uses both traditional and pcset-theoretical terminology.
Musiikin tekemisen käytännöt tutkimisen kohteina, keinoina ja tuloksina
Copyright (c) 2025 Laura Wahlfors https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/deed.fi
Ett vokalt perspektiv från 1800-talet till nutid
In his doctoral degree, David Lundblad focused on the overtones of Swedish vowels and the correlation between spoken and sung Swedish language by comparing historical ideals with more modern research. Lundblad’s concerts related to his thesis were aimed at showing the connection between the language and the sound, as well as the repertoire and the sound. In his research he worked with choirs from both Sweden and Finland. This gave Lundblad the opportunity to experiment and emphasize Swedish vowel-sound with both Swedish and non-Swedish speaking singers. This ideal was illuminated in the five concerts given. The knowledge of Swedish vowels and singing tradition opens the door to a new understanding of how the so-called Swedish choir sound is created.
Kohti kriittistä editiota. Musiikkifilologinen analyysi Leevi Madetojan ensimmäisen sinfonian käsikirjoituslähteistä
Leevi Madetoja’s (1887–1947) first symphony in F major, opus 29 (1916) was not printed during the composer’s lifetime. All performances of the work until the 1980s were played from handwritten orchestra parts. The printed score by Fazer from 1984 is riddled with numerous omissions, wrong pitches and mistakes in articulation and dynamics, and it seems to be a hybrid of the composer’s two manuscripts from 1916 and 1943 by an unknown editor. By today’s standards, the result is questionable, considering that the manuscripts were separated by 27 years. This article takes a look at the manuscript sources of Madetoja’s first symphony and is part of a larger project producing critical editions of Madetoja’s orchestral works. My research question is, what are the manuscript sources of Madetoja’s first symphony, and how are they related? I describe the autographs and handwritten orchestra parts and locate them in the source chain using genealogical reasoning and biographical information. I point out which orchestra materials and autographs are connected and highlight essential differences between the manuscripts from the point of view of the critical edition. Finally, I consider which of the autographs would be best suited as the principal source of the new critical edition.
“Leading” as a mode of interaction and communication in contemporary music performance-practice
In this paper, I discuss “leading” in the performance-practice of contemporary music. First, I take a brief view on the development of music from the second half of the 20th century until today to highlight some of the challenges of leading the contemporary music repertoire. I survey existing research on interaction, communication and leadership in ensemble playing and use this viewpoint to briefly explore aspects of leadership and other roles in playing in a contemporary chamber ensemble without a conductor. Finally, I describe my own practice of leading as a violinist through three case studies in the contemporary music repertoire. Based on Leman’s theory of expressive alignment and enactment processes (2016), I approach leading as a multimodal, crossmodal and multidirectional interactive process. I divide leading into temporal and expressive leading techniques that are used to communicate different temporal and expressive musical features. I argue that leading techniques must be practiced and embedded in body language as separate, instrument-specific playing techniques. In addition to leading techniques, I provide temporal, sensorimotor, acoustical, instrument-specific and socio-cultural aspects that affect leading practices.
Den kvinnliga sopranen i barockrepertoaren
The artistic doctoral project of soprano Kajsa Dahlbäck is in two parts. The theme of the concert series is “The female soprano within the baroque repertoire 1600–1750” and that of the thesis is “Singing-in-the-world – a phenomenological study on the singer’s inner work”. In her concerts, Dahlbäck has performed music from different parts of Europe and particularly from communities with female singers, such as for instance Italian nun convents, Vivaldi’s time at La Pietà in Venice and the court of Swedish Queen Christina in Stockholm and Rome. In her thesis, Dahlbäck shares insights from her experience as a singer specializing in early music as well as the genre’s generally intimate concert and rehearsal atmosphere. Experience texts from rehearsals and concerts have been mirrored against phenomenological theories. The practice-based triadic concept of body–breath– mind is linked to the theoretical singing-in-the-world. Body–breath–mind is the foundation for singing-in-the-world, a synthesis of the phenomenological tradition of Heidegger’s being- in-the-world (in-der-Welt-sein), Merleau-Ponty’s being toward-the-world (suis à) and in recent years Škof and Berndtson’s breathing-in-the-world.
Yksi identiteetti monesta peilistä – kanttorin ammatillisen identiteetin ytimessä
This doctoral thesis focuses on cantors’ professional identity. The study material was collected from ten cantors in Finland. Findings include the following themes: lengthy study, high levels of study effort, love for music, critical attitude towards mastery of the profession, fragmentariness of work, ambiguity of boundaries between work and leisure, the idea of working as a lifestyle, striving for high quality and the experience of spirituality as an essential part of work.
In search for hidden repertoire gems: A performer´s approach to Russian and Soviet clarinet music
In her doctoral research, Anne Elisabeth Piirainen sheds light on a little known aspect of the clarinet repertoire – clarinet music from Russia and the former Soviet Union. This performance-based research gives insight into a large variety of very valuable yet quite forgotten compositions with a special focus on clarinet works with Jewish themes. The thesis is published as a website and includes an extensive clarinet composition database that aims to close the research gap on this topic.
Copyright (c) 2021 Anne Elisabeth Piirainen
Agogiikka ja rekisteröiminen esittäjän keinovaroina saksalaisessa urkumusiikissa
The subject of my doctoral studies is the use of agogics in German organ music between the 17th and the 19th century. The repertoire of my five concerts proceeded chronologically in order to demonstrate the evolution of agogics. In my written thesis, I investigate my methods of choosing stops when performing German romantic music.
”Sävelet tekevät tekstin eläväksi”: paaston ja pääsiäisajan liturginen kuoromusiikki sanoman kannattelija
Hanna Remes’s artistic doctoral degree, which focuses on choral church music in worship, is the first of its kind in Finland. The demonstration of proficiency carried out 2016–2020 comprises two masses, a worship service, a passion drama and an Easter concert. She elucidates changes in guidelines for the liturgical use of the choir according to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland’s 2000 church manual from those of the 1968 church manual. The dissertation stands at the junction of liturgy and the history of church music. Remes compares and analyses the liturgical role of the choir in the Church of Finland as stated in the latest church manuals and supplementary materials and explains the guiding principles of the manuals’ preparation.
Arvostelu kirjasta Adaptation and Convergence of Media. ’High’ Culture Intermediality versus Popular Culture Intermediality. Aalto ARTS Books, Espoo, 2018.
Approaching Robert Kajanus´ three last works for violin
This article explores Robert Kajanus’ (1856–1933) three last works for violin, Nocturne (1929), Menuet ancien (1930), and Spiccato (1931). These unpublished works show a largely unknown side of Kajanus as a composer. They highlight the fact that while Kajanus’ compositional output decreased after the 1890s he by no means stopped composing. The style of these works is also strikingly different from his national romantic works from the nineteenth century. The supporting material for all three works consists of several manuscripts, which include versions for both violin and piano, and violin and orchestra. These manuscripts sometimes include major revisions, and there are also sometimes differences between varying versions of the works. The interpretation of the available material therefore has a major role in how the music is presented. The works have initially been approached from a performer’s perspective, with the aim of bringing the works to the stage. Subsequently I have also become involved in an effort to publish Kajanus’ works for violin and piano. These two different perspectives have mostly complemented each other, but especially in the case of Kajanus’ Spiccato I have felt that my musician’s perspective has suggested different solutions than when approaching the work with an editorial mindset.
Shaping identities in choir competitions in Tanzania
In this article, I explore choir competitions as sites for building, strengthening, and expressing identities in one diocese of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania. In addition to being events where the musical skills of the choirs and choir conductors can be demonstrated, these competitions are occasions in which sameness and difference become accentuated and various identities related to both groups and individuals are active. These identities include various components, such as musical, religious, and ethnic, among others. The competitions are occasions for strengthening and expressing these identities, but they also create a space for conflicts between the various aspects of identities.
Työtä ja työttömyyttä. Elokuvateatterien muusikot 1930-luvun vaihteen Turussa
Playing accompanying music for silent films was one of the most important sources of income for musicians in the late 1920s. This practice ceased to exist after the arrival of the sound film, and in Finland approximately three-hundred musicians faced unemployment. In Turku, for example, just before the changeover there were nine cinemas with approximately forty musicians playing for silent films, mainly on string instruments and piano. This article deals with how these musicians were understood as a group of professional performers, and how they survived a professional change that was made even more harsh by the concurrent world-wide economic crisis. The results show that the musicians who played this light classical music became a group that was forgotten both by the art music field and the emerging industry of popular music. New job opportunities were, however, found in cafeterias and restaurants. This became easier due to the tightening of legislation regarding foreign workers in 1930. The removal of the strict licensing rules in 1932 and the end of the economic depression also helped the situation.
Kromaattinen kantele mahdollisuuksien pelikenttänä: käsikirja säveltäjille
The subject of my doctoral studies is the exploration and development of playing technique on the chromatic kantele. I have worked to expand the instrument’s repertoire. The series of five concerts has included new works for chromatic kantele by six different composers and eight new arrangements. My written thesis focuses primarily on the technical capabilities of the chromatic kantele. It is my hope that this handbook will provide composers with the knowledge of the instrument’s wide range of possibilities.
Vanhemman musiikin esittämiskäytännöt sinfoniaorkestereissa
Markus Sarantola’s applied doctoral studies included a collection of articles, two chamber music concerts, and a report. Sarantola explored how historically informed performing practices (HIP) are progressing in modern symphony orchestras. How is HIP received in philharmonic circumstances? It was also central to investigate the basics of the original performing practices themselves. Sarantola’s three main articles were dealing the phrasing, the vibrato, and the history of the orchestral sound.
Resilience in Music – viewpoints of artists’ abilities to deal with crises in life
In my doctoral thesis Resilienz in der Musik ‒ Erörterungen zu den Fähigkeiten von Künstlern, mit Krisen im Leben umzugehen I have compared three historical artists (Ludwig van Beethoven, Vladimir Horowitz and Glenn Gould) with three contemporary ones (Stefan Hussong, Wolfgang Dimetrik and Ioanna Avraam). The historical artists were approached through literature, whereas the contemporary artists were analyzed through interviews. In my research I have concluded that the most relevant resilience factors for musicians are optimism, self-esteem and personal support provided by trusted persons. The central aim of my concert series was to display different aspects of masterpieces of contemporary accordion literature.
The Challengers of public cultural centres
Institutional theory has undergone major development in recent decades, while resource dependence theory has remained essentially unchanged since its inception in 1978. This study examines the associations of these two theories as well as organisational performance in the context of cultural centres in Finland. Few studies have attempted to empirically determine the effects of resource scarcity on institutional pressures. In addition to the novelty of combining these two theories, this thesis addresses this gap in the literature by empirically examining how and why resource dependence influences organisations’ strategic responses. Using a mixed methods approach, this research involved in-depth semi-structured interviews and then surveys in a later stage. A total of 20 interviews was conducted at four private cultural centres in Finland, while quantitative data (i.e. surveys) were gathered from 106 cultural centres. Thematic analysis was applied to the qualitative data to investigate the factors that influence the practices of private cultural centres. Next, the quantitative data were reviewed to confirm or reject the assumptions from the qualitative data. A broad range of participants was selected to generate generalisable, reliable, valid and meaningful data and conclusions. The results support the conclusion that private cultural centres do not passively adhere to institutional constraints. Rather, they selectively choose strategic responses that balance conflicting institutional pressures and their own interests and goals. Additionally, the more dependent a cultural centre is on a single revenue source—in this study, the municipality—the greater conformity it displays. Likewise, the more dependent a cultural centre is on diverse revenue sources, the greater diversity it displays. Through this theoretical discussion and empirical assessment, this research contributes to an expanded, more accurate understanding of how organisations can engage in sustainability practices that improve performance. This study also fills the research gap on Finnish cultural centres and identifies factors that affect the adoption of organisational strategic responses. Finally, this study makes recommendations for future research and implications for the practice of cultural centres, suggesting how resource dependence alters organisational strategic responses.
Ekspressiosta ja taiteen ekspressioteoriasta
In discussing art, expression and expressiveness are important notions. In recent years there have been lots of papers and other publications on the topic of expressiveness of music from the aspect of philosophy of music (e. g. Kivy 2002, Davies 2005, Robinson 2005, Trivedi 2017). Quite often the topic of these discussions has been the question of on what basis we attribute even to pure instrumental music expressive properties, such as cheerfulness or sadness. After all, music has no states of mind that justify those descriptions. Instead of focusing on expressive properties or in addition to it, we might try to find another point of view to the relation in which the human emotions, feelings and other subjective experiences are to works of music and to other works of art. One alternative view is the Expression Theory of Art that emerged in the end of the 18th century during the early romantic era. According to that theory, art is involved in representing and expressing emotions and feelings, and works of art must express emotions or feelings. In another version of this theory, an artist expresses his or her emotion in a work of art by which the emotion is transmitted to the audience.
Miten tullaan kyborgiksi ja meedioksi? Esittävien taiteiden opettamisesta
This article presents the ideas of two French philosophers, Peter Szendy and Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe, on how to teach creativity in performing arts, especially playing an instrument and acting. Szendy is a musicologist-philosopher who studied music from the point of view of ‘deconstruction’. In this article, I show how he has ‘deconstructed’ the classical idea of artistic subjectivity by showing how his work is based on and even mixed with the materiality of the instrument and the score. One could even say that he shows how the musician gradually becomes a ‘cyborg’ of their instrument and a ‘medium’ of his/her score. Then I show how Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe, who is also strongly influenced by deconstruction, analyses the figure of the actor in a way that further develops the idea of the artist as a ‘medium’. This is why I present his analysis of Diderot's ‘Actor's paradox’. The aim of the article is not to explain all of Szendy and Lacoue-Labarthe’s thinking, but to present their point of view insofar as it might contribute to the discussion on performing arts.
Quiet is beautiful: The poetics of soft sound today
This article examines the use of soft sound with reference to late-twentieth and twenty-first century music. My hypothesis is that softness offers a particular type of poetics in contemporary music, thus inviting examination of such poetics in close scrutiny. The article explores the topic through a number of musical examples: each uses soft sound for different effects, yet all demonstrate a similar desire to engage musicians and audience in a new mode of experience for musical sound. I suggest that the use of electronics has played a significant role in this development, accelerating the shift of emphasis from composition to performance and listening, and expanding poetics along the way. I argue further that the recent popularity of quiet music has brought about the emergence of a new sonic sensibility, and I discuss it in the context of current thoughts on inter-subjectivity in musical performance. New sonic sensibility questions the practice of sonic articulation: I examine challenges facing the performer in this issue and identify the process and expertise necessary to find appropriate strategies as research. The article concludes that the poetics of soft sound has brought about a shift in the musical discourse for this genre, permitting a willing and creative engagement for both the musician and listener to participate in the act of listening.