Event
Doctoral Colloquium (Music): Shanti Nachtergale
Friday, October 21, 2022 16:30to18:30
Strathcona Music Building
C-201, 555 rue Sherbrooke Ouest, Montreal, QC, H3A 1E3, CA
Price:
Free Admission
The Doctoral Colloquium is open to all.
Doctoral Colloquium: Shanti Nachtergale
Title:
The 19th-Century Double Bass: Intersections of Tuning, Timbre, and Technique
Abstract
The double bass remained less standardized than other Western string instruments in its construction, tuning, and performance conventions throughout the nineteenth century. Circa 1800, four primary tunings were in use across Europe––Viennese (F'-A'-D-F#-A), Italian (A'-D- G), French (G'-D-A), and German (E'-A'-D-G); a century later, the German tuning had become the international standard. Drawing on the theory of sociomateriality and approaches from behavioural archeology, I investigate the choices and compromises that led to German tuning eventually supplanting the other tunings.
For this purpose, I commissioned a double bass with interchangeable necks to allow me to compare performance characteristics of the four historical tunings. I explore the technical implications of each tuning, and bridge admittance measurements provide insight into the effect of different tuning setups on the instrument’s sound. The acoustic data and technical considerations are analyzed in a performance matrix, which informs a discussion of the suitability of each tuning in various musical contexts.
Biography
Biography
Shanti Nachtergaele is a PhD candidate in Musicology, writing her dissertation on the sociomaterial history of the professional double bassist in the period 1760–1890. She is co-supervised by Steven Huebner and Tom Beghin. Also active as a performer on historical double bass and violone, Shanti appears regularly with ensembles throughout Canada. She has published articles in Early Music and Music and the Moving Image, and contributed an essay to the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Arrangement Studies. She is the recipient of a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship (2018–’21) and the International Society of Bassists Special Recognition Award for Scholarship (2021).