Browsing by Author "Liebenberg, Visser"

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    Artistic experimentation through decolonial sound projects for clarinet
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2021-04) Liebenberg, Visser; Muller, Stephanus; Pauw, Esther Marie; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Department of Music.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study explores the sounding capacity of the clarinet through decolonial projects. This study’s sound projects are infused by a decolonial imperative that invokes the conglomerate concept of modernity/(de)coloniality (Walter Mignolo, 2012: 90). Mignolo’s term, together with his notion of decolonial aestheSis operate as turbines from which to explore the sounding capacity of the clarinet, an instrument that is conventionally situated in a largely Western music practice. In my research, the clarinet, as well as the researcher, encounter endogenous sounds and thereby engage in processes of sound translation. The method of investigation used is that of artistic research and specifically artistic experimentation that relies on generating knowledge from practice and reflecting on the generated knowledges, as possible avenues for exploration. The avoidance of a potentially opportunistic use of a decolonial imperative for a sound translation process directs this study towards the researcher’s creation of an index of clarinet sounds. This index is codified as a list of newly improvised sounds and from this index a collaborative creation process for a new composition emerges. The new composition, created with the composer Pierre-Henri Wicomb, is composed, notated and performed by the researcher. Throughout this study, various decolonial encounters are staged ranging from interaction with musicians and dancers, discussions with colleague artistic researchers, as well as two research performance events, one in front of a small group of participants at the Percival Kirby Collection of Indigenous instruments, and the other in front of a much larger audience at the Stellenbosch University Museum. The experiments presented through this research delink the clarinet from Western performance practice and its discourses, so that novel avenues for exploring the sounding capacity of the clarinet, and the situatedness of the clarinet player, arise. Resulting knowledges and further questions from the various research processes crystallise into consideration of how a decolonial imperative confronts, questions, and enhances the sounding clarinet, together with how these processes morph with the identity of the clarinettist-researcher. The research finds that a decolonial imperative does indeed transform the sounding capacities of the clarinet, so that the clarinet practice of the researcher itself, as well as its contexts of influence, are shifted into forms of sonic migrancy. Aspects such as these are documented and clarified through self-reflexive writing in the dissertation. The research presented in the thesis is paired with film footage of sound experiments, as undertaken throughout the research.
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    The life of Jimmy Reinders and his approach to teaching the clarinet
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2016-03) Liebenberg, Visser; Grobler, Pieter; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Department of Music.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study is to investigate and document the life of Jimmy Reinders. A biography compiled with music-related events in his life sheds light onto his experiences as a musician and professional clarinet player. This includes the numerous influences that had an effect on his choice of clarinet, accessories and the approach or understanding of the fundamentals of playing the clarinet. The clarinet originated in the 1700s and its use was fostered by the formation of different international clarinet schools with the most significant of them being French and German. The German and French schools of clarinet playing have individual characteristics that are relevant to the modern day clarinet player including Reinders whose approach to the clarinet is multi-faceted due to the influence of these two clarinet schools. This explains his choice of clarinet accessories and his approach to the fundamentals of the clarinet. The study commences with a biography limited to music-related events in the life of Jimmy Reinders whose teachers and mentors exposed him to a wide array of clarinet fundamentals from different international clarinet schools. He achieved what the researcher identifies as a “good clarinet sound” (identified as warm, resonant, rounded, and balanced throughout the whole register) through his choice of clarinet, accessories and his approach to the clarinet. The aim of this thesis is to understand and investigate Jimmy Reinders’ approach to the technical fundamentals of the clarinet, his choice of clarinet and accessories (mouthpiece, ligature and reed) and to place this information within the context of the major international clarinet schools (German or French). The technical fundamentals, as approached by Reinders, include a possible “foundation” of learning to play the clarinet that is also related to an international school of clarinet playing. The document concludes with an overview, placing Reinders’ choice of clarinet, accessories and approach to the clarinet within the German or French school of clarinet playing.