How can working with musical materials of the past influence and help shape an extemporaneous practice at the piano?

Developing new methods for performing improvised music

Which role did improvisation play in 19th-century music making?

How are notation and improvisation interfaced in contemporary and experimental music?

Tactile Paths is an artistic research project that aims to expand and articulate the feedback between notation and improvisation in experimental music.

Improvisers in experimental music do not record their music in a conventional score, but in ever-changing 'tactile pathways'. This is the proposition put forward by researcher Christopher Williams. PhD defence 13 December.

How to further develop and enrich one's own improvisation and composition skills and techniques, and to develop a framework to continually expand one's own performance repertoire.

Between 1600 and 1800 countless manuals appeared on the subject: the improvised bass part on the harpsichord, pianoforte or organ. Musician and researcher Kathryn Cok unravels the secrets of the Dutch basso continuo accompaniment for modern-day musicians.

Recently, four books have been published which contain a chapter by ACPA senior researcher, lecturer and PhD-supervisor Dr. Marcel Cobussen.

The results of this research project demonstrate the generous contribution that the Dutch Republic has made to the genre of basso continuo, including a survey of twenty-six Dutch sources from the 17th and 18th centuries.

On 20 December 2013, the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) announced that 37 teachers will be conducting doctoral research funded by a Doctoral Scholarship. Using this scholarship, teachers are enabled, in addition to their educational activities, to conduct research leading to…

Prof. dr. Marcel Cobussen has published a free e-pub: The Field of Musical Improvisation.

docARTES is a doctoral programme for performers and composers. It offers a unique environment for critical reflection on musical practice.

How can we enhance inspiration in metric modal improvisation and subsequently, in modal composition?

Arts and Culture

Based on recent scientific insights and both historical and recent music examples, the author develops a concept of 'intercorporeality' that sheds new light on the relationship between music performers, composers and music consumers.

In this on-line dissertation, jazz saxophonist Dick de Graaf investigates a variety of compositional and improvisational models and techniques in contemporary jazz and Western art music, and discusses possible applications of these materials in current jazz practices.

This thesis focuses on the concepts of freedo and fixity as two central topics of my artistic research. I present, analyze. and contextualize four of my works which have explicit links to fleedom and fixify and which demonstrate the dynamic interrelationship between the two.

Today’s performances of medieval polyphony have a lot in common with those of other ‘classical’ or ‘early’ music. Ensembles perform pieces written by known or lesser known composers, which the listener can revisit by listening to recordings or reading a score.

Why does the textural gap between the music that one can improvise and that which one can practice and learn to play (as in completely written-out music) seem to be bigger in the case of the guitar than, for example, in that of keyboard instruments?

ACPA Professor of Auditory Culture and Music Philosophy Marcel Cobussen will give a lecture at the Gaudeamus Academy Workshop Weekend. The GMW Academy is a prelude to the contemporary music festival Gaudeamus Muziekweek, taking place from 7 to 11 september in diverse venues within the center of Utr…

The principle of Werktreue, or fidelity to the musical work, has long been performers' most important ethical imperative. Yet, the rigid work concept may not be the best way to think about the fluid arts of performance during the 17th century. Edwards proposes instead to approach this music through…

Two events on Music and the Brain will be held in Leiden later this month.

Microbial rhodopsins are photosensitive pigments implemented in the growth and adaptation of a large population of microorganisms.

Music of Possibility is a personal account of what, for composer Richard Barrett, are the most consequential areas of twentieth- and twenty first-century musical innovation, and how, together with a web of technologies, cultures and politics, they have informed his creative practice.

Knowledge and culture subproject 1: "Music Cognition" of Leiden University Centre for Linguistics

Besides teaching BA and MA classes at Leiden University and supervising PhD candidates doing artistic research both in Leiden and Ghent, a third major component of Marcel Cobussen’s activities is (of course) doing research.

Promotor: C.J. ten Cate

What are the critical elements in sonic materialization of fixed media electroacoustic music and how can these parameters be classified? How would interpretation be defined in performing fixed media music? What are the creative and new ways of presenting fixed media music by incorporating all the presentation…

This thesis investigated how microphones and loudspeakers could become musical instruments.

Composer Paul Craenen (1972) is actually a pianist, but as part of his PhD ceremony, he performed a composition on PVC pipes. Craenen studies the position and role of the body in music. ‘I am interested in what precedes the resulting sound’.

My research takes the artistic use of the devices that bring sound waves into electricity and back as its central focus point; they are commonly called microphones and loudspeakers. These devices have become essential for many forms of music making.

How is it possible to play a song that is part of the rituals of other people? How to transpose an idea to the stage while maintaining respect for indigenous communities? Are these performances a way of throwing light on these indigenous communities looking for a strategy of decolonization? How is it…

How do we experience electronic music? How does electronic music operate on perceptual, cognitive and affective levels? What are the common concepts activated in the listener’s mind when listening to electronic music? Why and how are these concepts activated?

From The Cognitive Continuum of Electronic Music: "The use of the electronic medium to compose music entails a variety of cognitive idiosyncrasies experienced by both the artist and the audience."

The aim of this research is to define the relationship between sources of articulation for different kinds of instrument in the period between the beginning of XVI century (first extant indications) and the end of XVIII century.

What are the precise identities, possibilities and current practice examples of the various time frames in music and what bearings do they have individually and in combinations on the speed of the music?

How can musical interactions impact neural and behavioral processes? Can we isolate aspects of musical interactions that are crucial to the effectiveness of music-based health interventions? Can specific patient groups be identified for whom music-based interventions are most likely to be effectiv…

PhD Defence, Lectore Presentation associated with Public Defense

Promotor: Prof.dr. S. Haring

This research project proposes multiple paths towards the development of a performance practice in computer music. It starts with the author’s transition from traditional instrumentalist to electronic musician, assessing the roles of composer, performer and instrument builder as integrated in computer…

This thesis proposes multiple paths towards the development of a performance practice in Computer Music.

What was the relationship between women and modern media in different parts of Asia in the 20th century? Under what historical and social conditions did women achieve prominence in popular music in Asia?

ARC (art_research_convergence) is an outreach initiative of Leiden University Academy of Creative and Performing Arts, and the University of the Arts The Hague, for the active communication of artistic research.

The Leiden Academic Course Center offers a large variety of short and longer music courses. The music category includes various Singing courses, but also courses such as African percussion and Musical Workshop. A number of courses are offered at different levels. At the end of the course it is possible…

What type of violones were used to perform Bach’s music in his time? And which octaves and tunings are appropriate for his stringed bass instruments?

The music studio is a multipurpose room measuring 9.4 x 8.9 m, with marmoleum on the floor and 40 chairs. Music system and piano available. Cost of rental studios: Students*: € 10,- per uur Employees UL: € 20,- per hour Others: € 30,- per uur (a daypart of 4 hours zost € 95, a daypart of 8 hours…