LEE- Müzik Lisansüstü Programı

Bu topluluk için Kalıcı Uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11527/19406

Gözat

Başlık ile LEE- Müzik Lisansüstü Programı'a göz atma
  • Öge
    A case study of aesthetics of imperfection: Creating and using impulse responses of unusual spaces in the field audio mixing
    (Graduate School, 2022-09-30) Erdem, Genco K. ; Özdemir, Taylan ; 409181012 ; Music
    Music as we experience it now moved further apart from the music that was first made in ways that the structures that once made it what it is are entangled with coincidences, different takes on the aesthetics and technological improvements on how we make it. There are now types of music that are less formal and less perfectionist . It is not only the harmony, melody, timbre or motive that make the music, but all that and more. With the additional equipment to make the music and available tools to alter the sound in order to attain a more ear-pleasing product; recorded music significantly changed in the 20th century. Most of the times, these changes created certain aesthetics that we all have become accustomed to and in some specific genres, these additions have become instrumental to define certain types of music. Whilst some of these changes were led by influential figures in the music production industry, the rest such as gated reverb in 80s music drum sound were discovered by happy accidents. Nearing today, there are more people who make and produce music in studios, on stages or at the comfort of their own homes. Digital audio workstations, digital signal processing tools, affordability of the recording gear are contributing factors of the growing numbers of music producers. Whilst the recorded music for so long tried to replicate the real world conditions, it is not so anymore. Instead of replicating the natural, people are now trying to lay out rules to make the musical product more compelling. This thesis focuses on the use of reverb through impulse responses, an effective tool that is widely used in music production in order make use of the spatial and spectral functions of spaces and objects, in a way that is is not entirely natural but may prove to be compelling enough to create a new understanding of the aesthetics of imperfection, by creating impulse responses of objects that are normally not designed for acoustic purposes through the use of sine-sweep method. Impulse responses obtained from these objects are investigated in detail for future reference to users who wish to pursue their own happy accidents and applied on a multitrack recording on a digital audio workstation for further understanding with the expert views of sound engineers.
  • Öge
    A phenomenological approach to sufi culture, ritual structure and its subjective experience in Kādirîhâne
    (Graduate School, 2022-06-22) Güner, Burçin Bahadır ; Tanır Özgün, Emine Şirin ; 409152001 ; Music
    Sufi rituals have been an important part of cultural and religious life in the Ottoman period. At the beginning of the 20th century, it is known that there were approximately 400 Sufi lodges (tekke) of various orders (tarikat) in İstanbul. In 1925, all Sufi lodges were closed and their activities were banned by the Turkish Republic. Even though they have disintegrated, some of them have been able to continue their traditions. Today, several tarikat perform their rituals and ceremonies. This study examines the Kadirî dhikr ritual in Istanbul. The Rûmî branch of the Kadirî order was established by pîr İsmail Rûmî in the early 17th century. The Kadirîhâne that he built in İstanbul, Tophane in 1631 was later considered as the center tekke (âsitâne) of the Kadirî order in Ottoman geography. Rûmî Kıyam Usûlü or Kıyam Zikri/Ayini is the name of the weekly public ritual among various other rituals and ceremonies. The purpose of this study is to understand the form and structure of the ritual in conjunction with the surrounding culture, and especially to describe the subjective experience of the participant. The study incorporates fieldwork, ethnography, transcription, translation, musical analysis and phenomenological description. In order to grasp the essence of the ritual, the study follows an outside-in path. First, it categorizes and explains the contents of the ritual in the context of the Sufi culture at the Kadirihane. Then, the author describes the ritual first from the third and then the first person's point of view in dedicated chapters. These methodological steps and their requirements are discussed in the first introductory chapter. Chapter 2, Ritual Content, presents the culture (lifeworld) around the ritual. With a phenomenological stance, it categorizes certain concepts from the ritual and explains them with reference to the culture and related literature. The first category, processual, explains the formal organization of the ritual; while the şeyh/postnişin conducts the ritual, participants establish an ostinato polyphony by providing rhythmical chants (dervişler) and songs/recitations (zakirler). The next category, procedural, focuses on what a regular participant performs and/or perceives in the ritual. In this way, certain concepts and behaviors are examined in and out of the ritual. The description in the next chapter builds on this ritual understanding. Chapter 3, Ritual Structure, is a musicological analysis and an objective description of the ritual. This Sufi ritual is a participatory performance and does not allow an outside observer. This means that the observer naturally becomes a part of the zikr circle. However, every detail of the âyin is described, transcribed and analyzed in depth from the perspective of a third person. The weekly ritual consists of Kuud (sit) and Kıyam (stand) sections. First section, Kuud, starts with the Evrâd-ı Şerif, a composed monophonic and axial group chanting that takes approximately 15 minutes. The text is known to be composed by the pîr Abdülkâdir Geylânî (d. 1165), the founder of the Kadirî order. It starts with some verses from the Quran and the rest consists of various salavats (divine blessings and salutations) upon the Prophet Muhammed. Then, participants start to chant La ilahe illallah (There is no god but Allah). While participants (dervişler) chant this phrase, musicians (zakirler) perform songs and recitations over the ostinato of the chant. Lastly, after the Kelime-i Tevhid, one zakir performs a durak ilahisi that allow participants to rest (durak) before standing up for Kıyam. As all participants stand up, they begin to perform a cumhur ilahi and then continue with another ilahi: kıyam durak. After this point, participants perform 5 divine phrases (esmâ) (Hayyul Kayyum Allah; Hay; Allah Allah Hay; Allah and Hu) in succession with metrical sways, while zakirler sing over them. The âyin is concluded with the Verse of Light (Nur 24/35) from the Quran. In Chapter 4, Ritual Experience, the author shares his subjective experience to show the dynamics of meaning and the sense of ritual. Therefore, the phenomenological description takes the form of an intimate narrative. This narrative description takes into account all multisensory details and their connotations. Also, all texts are interpreted from the inside of the ritual participation and performance. As a conclusion, chapter 5 summarizes all findings of the thesis. The concept of zikir, as being the main motivational concept for ritual, precedes both structure as well as the experience of it. The reciprocity between God and Human is symbolized with the rememberer and the remembered. The encounter with the being is presented as the ultimate goal of the zikir. Also, the processual form of the ritual symbolizes propriety (edep) and beauty (güzel) both of which lead one to the union (vahdet) with God.
  • Öge
    A practice-based research on musical improvisation: Collaborative improvisation as a play
    (Graduate School, 2022-07-08) Hatipoğlu, Zeynep Ayşe ; Öztürk Özgen, Yelda ; 409162007 ; Music
    This study seeks to connect play and collective improvisation, and propose play as a creative tool for improvisation to contribute to the field. The thesis offers newly designed improvisatory collaborative plays and provides a methodology to create improvisatory plays, workshop techniques, and a tool-box for collective practices. For the purpose of this thesis, several plays that focus on different sensorial effects were developed, applied and documented. Emotion Play, collaborated with an industrial designer, Gülen Mine Demiralp, aimed to increase emotional awareness and practice it with tactile, auditory and visual components. In Re-Thinking Objects, collaborated with play expert and futurist Yeşim Kunter, transforming everyday objects into sound sources were used to create improvisation. The Listen Before Play focuses mainly on the importance of supporting the listening acts during improvisation. As many extensive listening exercises focus on, this play is an attempt to focus on listening to the sound which the performer produces, as well as listening to the collaborators. In Graphic Notation, group members' creative interpretation processes aimed to be increased and the practice offers visual and auditory projection. For the workshop, a specific type of notation was offered to observe different interpretations of a single script. The play Maintain Balance focuses on body movements, and by making body movements active within a group dynamic, it aims to investigate an embodied practice, which was developed in collaboration with martial arts expert Çağlayan Ceylan. The last two plays, namely Voicing A Letter and Upside-Down, experiment with the idea of exploring new approaches and performance techniques. These two plays aimed to increase awareness of the members by using their own voices, and by rethinking and experimenting with their instruments, it aimed to explore new performance capabilities. Musical analysis of the improvisation sessions are left outside the scope of this work as the main focus is on developing group dynamics and improving improvisation. To investigate the musical and intellectual preferences of selected Turkish improvising musicians, oral interviews were conducted and transcribed in the appendix section that contains various insights and personal views on improvisation and the concept of play. Finally, a set of play instructions as a toolbox has been provided to would present guidance and help in creative works and education scenarios have been proposed as the main outcome of the work.
  • Öge
    A reconstructivist account of the new music scene in Türkiye
    (Graduate School, 2024-02-08) Turan, Dilara ; Oğul, Belma ; 409172003 ; Music
    This study offers a multi-layered inquiry into the yeni müzik scene, exploring the localized discourse and practices of new music in Türkiye. It adopts a relational perspective, encompassing both micro and macro-level relationships to provide a comprehensive understanding of this 21st-century urban cultural phenomenon. The methodological approach employed in this study aligns with John Dewey's inquiry, emphasizing a dynamic and collaborative approach to knowledge generation. It involves the flexible utilization of multiple research methods, often simultaneously and in a non-linear fashion, tailored to the specific research needs. Drawing from the social study of music, ethnography, the historical method, and critical theory, this inquiry incorporates a diverse set of tools and ideas to address different research questions and problems. The first perspective (Chapter 2) is methodologically grounded in critical readings in 20th-century Eurogenetic Art Music, primarily sourced from the extensive body of new musicological literature. This approach enables a comprehensive examination of the concept of new music within global contexts, with a specific focus on its resonance within local settings. The concept of new music, when considered on a global scale, emerges from a historical trajectory rooted in 20th-century Eurogenetic Art Music. It has since evolved into a pervasive international field of musical expression, driven by processes of institutionalization, globalization, and digital interconnectedness throughout the 21st century. By closely scrutinizing this musical landscape, the chapter concerns how related notions, including contemporary music, various facets of musical modernism, Neue Musik, and vernacular avant-garde practices, have intersected and coalesced, giving rise to a broader, more flexible conception of new music in contemporary discourse. The second perspective (Chapter 3) delves into the intricate socio-cultural history of yeni müzik as a localized concept within the broader context of contemporary music in Türkiye. The chapter serves as a historical account, combining sources of historiography and ethnography to provide a chronological exploration of events, ideas, actors, and musics. This account considers yeni müzik as an alternative and counteractive force in relation to the prior institutionalization of the Eurogenetic Art Music tradition in Türkiye and the national school of composition known as Turkish Contemporary Music. The reading reveals that early 20th-century synthesis discourse, rooted in a fusion of Common Era Practices of art music with reimagined local elements, initially propagated pre-modern aesthetic values, while politically, it was grounded on nation-state ideology. These values underwent aesthetic challenges in the 1950s through the endeavors of pioneering modernist composers, while only later facing institutional negations starting with the yeni müzik discourse in the late 20th century. Yeni müzik's emergence introduced an alternative paradigm within Contemporary Turkish Music, informed by a distinct episteme that drew from the critical tradition of Neue Musik, American vernacular avant-garde practices, and globalization. This transition resulted in the alternative formation of a compositional scene of yeni müzik, as evidenced by institutional developments. However, the study also highlights the limitations of the institutional and social artistic environment, which has provided shared ground for yeni müzik and the national school of Turkish Contemporary Music, having a continuous relationship, facilitating collaborations and intersections among institutions and musicians. The final perspective (Chapter 4) concerns the current state of yeni müzik after two decades of localization and institutionalization, exploring its meanings and conditions from both local and global perspectives. Drawing on the insights of composers and a critical examination of prevalent thought patterns, this collective inquiry seeks to reveal the social and aesthetic challenges facing yeni müzik. The chapter first dissects the socio-economic challenges yeni müzik faces, emphasizing its isolation due to constraints in financial resources, performance opportunities, audience engagement, and mechanisms of documentation. Within this isolation, yeni müzik emerges as a composer-oriented realm, strongly defined by the professional identity of its creators and the act of composition. The subsequent section investigates the 'post-everything' condition of yeni müzik, underlining its pluralism and value-free conceptualizations. It argues that the 'post-everything' condition allows it to be a fluid and inclusive discourse in transcending cultural and stylistic boundaries, yet also a polysemic and sometimes functional concept that may lack in-depth considerations. As the chapter reveals, yeni müzik also remains rooted in the critical tradition of Neue Musik, shifting from socially constructed value to a well-designed sound object and a subject of research. The chapter ends with composers' reflections on the dominant saturated aesthetics rooted in both continental modernisms and the American vernacular avantgarde tradition, encompassing a wide array of contemporary international trends and well-worn ideas. Drawing inspiration from Adorno's influential essay, this subchapter ultimately poses critical inquiries regarding the 'aging of yeni müzik' and its artistic significance.
  • Öge
    Aesthetic strategies in horror film sound design: Case studies from Japanese horror cinema
    (Graduate School, 2023-01-17) Akdeniz, Tolga ; Özdemir, Taylan ; 409191110 ; Music
    Horror films have a unique place in cinema with their imagery and sonic qualities. While the experience of watching a horror film evolved throughout the years, the fundamental goal of the horror genre is to horrify the viewer in various ways, and it is named after this particular effect it aims to elicit. Sound design plays a major role in creating the horror film experience. In this study the contribution of sound design to aesthetic strategies employed in horror films will be investigated based on case studies from the prolific and influential contemporary horror cinema of Japan. In order to have a better perspective on the conventions of the genre and understand how the selected films converge or diverge from them, the study will be introduced with a theoretical investigation of the horror genre and a historical investigation of Japanese cinema. After the introduction, the properties of film sound in horror films will be examined individually. The analysis method of this study relies both on measurable data with objective observations and also subjective observations based on the phenomenological experience of horror films. The introduction of the analysis is by examining the atmosphere of horror films, although a vague and an intangible phenomenon, it is a crucial quality that affects the perception and it relies heavily on music and sound design. The framework of the analysis consists of 3 major components based on the theories of Michel Chion (1994), the functional properties of film sound: Anticipation, punctuation, unification and separation. The analysis methodology developed by Taylan Özdemir (2015) based on the physical, spatial and temporal properties of film sound will be utilized to gather and interpret measurable data within these functional properties of film sound. The anticipation function of film sound investigates how sound is employed in order to create and build tension, to create suspense. The punctuation function of film sound is investigated under four categories, these are cinematic shock, sonic emphasis for narrative cueing, silence for emphasis and somatic empathy. While cinematic shock focuses on the abrupt startling moments of horror films, somatic empathy explores how horror films affect the body of the viewer. In the last part of the individual analysis, how film sound contributes to achieving spatial, temporal or atmospheric unification and separation is investigated. In the final section of the study, the developed analysis methodology will be utilized to examine the selected scenes in detail. In conclusion, in this study the previously developed analysis methodologies will be further expanded to horror cinema; and the sonic aesthetic strategies employed for the intended horror film experience and how these emerge in Japanese horror cinema will be investigated.
  • Öge
    An evaluation of the art songs for soprano voice by Turkish composers of the Early Republican period in a vocal technique perspective
    (Graduate School, 2024-01-15) Yağcıoğlu, Alin ; Öztürk Özgen, Yelda ; 409072011 ; Music
    The presence of Western art song in Turkey can be traced back to the Ottoman State before the establishment of the Turkish Republic in 1923. There was an intense attempt to integrate the genres and norms of Western classical music into the musical culture of the country after the establishment of the republic. This era includes the period when Atatürk's principles were set and applied in all fields and marks a profound time in music revolution. One of the aims of this revolution was to raise composers so that they would produce works in the form of Western classical music blending with the cultural and folkloric characteristics of the country. Since there was very limited opportunity to receive music education in the 1920s, the Ministry of Education organized auditions to choose talented students and give them scholarship so that they could study at European conservatories. Consequently, many musicians were given governmental scholarships to study in European music schools. On their return, they started composing for the purpose of forming the national repertory of works in different forms of Western classical music. Besides grand forms such as symphonies, concertos, operas and oratorios, small-scale works were also composed. Turkish art song, which had its structural basis on the Western art song, is one of these small-scale musical forms. These composers most of whom were given grants to study music abroad arranged Turkish folk songs for voice and piano; besides, they composed art songs in Turkish based on the poems of contemporary poets of their time as well. Among several poets whose works were used as lyrics of these art songs, Faruk Nafız Çamlıbel, Ahmet Haşim, Cahit Külebi, Melih Cevdet Anday, Orhan Veli Kanık, Necip Fazıl Kısakürek and Necdet Evliyagil come to the fore as the outstanding poets in the history of Turkish literature. Besides Ahmed Adnan Saygun, Cemal Reşid Rey and Necil Kazım Akses, who are considered as belonging to the Turkish Five, Ahmed Samim Bilgen, Faik Canselen, and Ferit Hilmi Atrek also composed Turkish art songs. As all other voice registers, soprano register has certain features which may hinder or enhance the quality of singing in vocal compositions, depending on the treatment of the vocal line and vowel/consonant properties of the lyrics. In this study, the art songs of early republican Turkish composers are analyzed in terms of vocal performability for the first time in order to invite composers to consider vocal features of the soprano register in addition to informing singers with this voice range for a more aware interpretation. Regarding this analysis, musical excerpts from the songs are categorised as either vocally friendly or vocally challenging. It is hoped that these findings will shed light on composing for the soprano voice and the works of early republican Turkish composers will find a solid place both in recital repertoire and the curricula of the music institutions in Turkey.
  • Öge
    Computational harmonic analysis with rhythmical weights
    (Graduate School, 2022-08-16) İkeda, Ayşe Ruhan ; Karadoğan, Can ; Mazzola, Guerino ; 409132003 ; Music
    Analysis of harmony is the first step in the analysis of common practice (Baroque, Classical and Romantic) period of Western music because in these genres musical structure is aligned with tonal motion and organicity is created primarily by harmony. The analysis includes finding regions of tonality/key, labeling chords and cadences, assigning functions to chords, finding prolonged harmonic functions and consequently forming a tree-like hierarchy. The result of this effort is the discovery of the harmonic motion and how musical entities function within this motion. This is how a music theorist analyses harmony based polyphonic music, i.e., music of the common practice period. A chord's function in its tonal context has an emotional projection that is perceived by the listeners: a harmonic tension that rises or falls, held in a suspension or resolved. A rise in harmonic tension raises an expectation for resolution and its resolution is an emotional relief. The fine balance between increase and decrease in harmonic tension through time is perceived by the emotionally sensitive listener. This ebb and flow in tension is a critical determinant of the aesthetics of harmonic language. In this thesis, we describe an algorithm for harmonic analysis of polyphonic music and demonstrate its implementation on the RUBATO Composer music composition and analysis environment. Our harmonic analysis model completes Riemann's unfinished program by assigning a function to any chord –not only triads and sevenths– based on the pitch content of the chord and the harmonic tension created between consecutive chords. As a background of music modeling, we overview mathematical approaches to music analysis at the symbolic level (i.e., note level and above) and then we examine how computational power can be used for modeling and analysis of music and musical processes. Then, we review similarities as well as differences between music and language and also musical structure analysis methodologies borrowed from linguistics research such as grammars and parsers. In Chapter 3, we give an overview of RUBATO Composer music composition and analysis environment including its historical line of development. We summarize its mathematical pillars and the software architecture. We also describe a number of rubettes that we designed and programmed on RUBATO for computational analysis purposes: a rubette that enables mixing of weights, and another rubette to translate a MIDI file into a MIDI denotator, and another one to be able to trim MIDI files. We also explain a rubette that translates harmonic analysis output to Lilypond, a music typesetting format. In Chapter 4, we give our motivation for computational harmonic analysis by reviewing related concepts such as tonality, harmony and tonal tension as well as a review of computational models for analysis of tonal tension and harmony. In Chapter 5, we describe our mathematical and computational models and their software implementation for analysis of harmony. During this thesis, we added some components to the Computational Harmonic Analysis Network –a suite of rubettes to analyze harmony. The additions are implementation of Viterbi algorithm for optimum path computation and direct-thirds method for Riemann Matrix computation.s The core of the thesis is however is being able to analyze harmony using also metric/rhythmic information of musical events. Our harmonic analysis model had previously assumed that chords have the same metric importance. However as musicians we know that meter in music imposes a hierarchy in perception of musical events in time, i.e., not every instant, and not every beat is equally important during perception. Thus, we extended our model to include metric importance of musical events. In Chapter 6, we give a review of recent research on perception of time and periodicity based on recent neuroscience research. Then, we focus on temporality in perception of music. We consider meter and rhythm as the skeleton system that span time, whereas melody and harmony are the flesh over the bones. This ontological order of where meter and rhythm is primordial is relevant for a vast majority of genres in music including music of the common practice period. Then, we overview metrical analysis algorithm based on Mazzola's metric analytics which reveals local (inner) meters in music and its implementation as the new MetroRubette. Finally, in Chapter 7, we describe a computational model for harmonic analysis of music where, next to pitch content and temporal position of neighboring chords, metric position of chords is also considered. Music is given to the analysis algorithm at a symbolic level as a MIDI file. We explain the new algorithm in detail and also give sample analyses with the algorithm's implementation as software on the RUBATO Composer. We compare harmonic analyses with and without metrical proximity, examine their differences and discuss results.
  • Öge
    Constructing terminology for musical timbre: A semantic mapping of acoustic features in Turkish language
    (Graduate School, 2023) Örün, Ezgi Su ; Özdemir, Taylan ; 786568 ; Music Programme
    Timbre is a multidimensional sensory attribute of sounds, directly linked to the perception of the identity of sound sources. Recognition and categorization of sound sources and events occur largely by detection of spectro-temporal acoustic cues attributed to timbre. Furthermore, quality judgements of musical tones are largely made on the basis of timbre. Thus, exploring its perceptual representations to better exploit its allowances is important for communication-based practices in music and sound fields. Timbre perception has been studied through perceptual multi-dimensional spaces (MDS) which demonstrate dissimilarity-based relationships between sounds. Furthermore, various semantic tasks such as semantic differential (SD) and verbal attribute magnitude estimation (VAME) aimed to find perceptual relationships between timbres through their verbal descriptions. Because verbal labels reflect conceptual projections of sounds, exploring linguistic descriptions of sensory qualities brings about its various advantages to sound practice, especially in composition, instrumentation, sound art and design areas. However, due to the multi-dimensional and perceptually subjective quality of the concept, arriving at definitive measures is notoriously problematic. In this study, perception of timbral qualities of musical instruments were investigated through their verbal descriptions. Because there has not been a previous study concerning timbre semantics in the Turkish language, the test was designed in the form of a checklist procedure for observing preference data of descriptions in an unbiased manner. The preparation step of the experiment consisted of collecting adjectives from previous semantic studies of timbre and providing them with Turkish translations. 84 adjectives were chosen from a larger pool by academics/professionals in the sound engineering and design field. Test participants consisting mostly of music students, chose adjectives from a list of 83 adjectives as they listened to 24 instrument samples consisting mostly of orchestral instruments in equalized pitch and loudness. From the analysis, frequency data gave 27 adjectives which showed correlations most strongly with the acoustic parameters of pitch strength, harmonic energy distribution, signal bandwidth, noisiness, attack centroid and spectral flux.
  • Öge
    Contributions of archery to violin performance through biokinetic approach
    (Graduate School, 2022-02-07) Işıksoy, Seçil ; Öztürk Özgen, Yelda ; 409181104 ; Music
    Each musical instrument requires holding it in a certain position suitable for its own structure. Violin position has an unnatural lateral position by holding the violin facing left between the shoulder and chin. Understanding the bow arm is fundamental for violinists to generate a personal expression and impressive sound. Since the violin is caused by repetitive movements specific to its practice, it subsequently leads to nerve entrapment syndromes and muscular injuries. Today, violinists are asked to produce a wider variety of tones and dynamics than ever before. Modification and progress of bows and strings, the demands of composers, and the dynamic capacity of today's concert halls make difficulties and high pressure for modern violin techniques. Consequently, a greater ingenuity of music and body is required more than ever before. In addition, a change in the repertoire is also a risk factor. The repertoire is considered a critical parameter concerning the levels of force and pressure generated during the performance, interacting with the accessories added to the instrument, such as the chin rest. However, the most effective risk factor is related to increased instrument use times and rehearsal times. For this reason, especially the part related to the movement system 'functional anatomy', kinesiology, biomechanics issues need to be addressed and instructed. In order not to cause functional deficiencies frequently and to make music more efficient, the importance given to various physical methods performed without instruments should be equalized with exercises on the instrument in education and career. In this sense, there are some accepted methods and sports in musicians' lives such as; cardio method, post-isometric relaxation techniques, swimming, jogging, yoga, Tai Chi, pilates-reformer, martial arts, Mitchell method, Feldenkrais technique, Alexander technique, endurance exercises, PNF. Instrumentalists rarely describe what they do using movement and the definition of movement means that generally only for enhancing stage attendance and reducing pain. Violinists' warm-up usually consists of scales, double-stop exercises, and bow exercises. One of the major shortcomings in the instrument training process is that the player practices without fully knowing, paying attention to, and developing the physiological functioning and capacity of the performance. Movement and coordination are largely ignored until an injury occurs. For this reason, professional violinists should be trained with awareness to consider participating in sports or an activity that improves their alertness, agility, and coordination, and generally increases muscle tone. Compared to the physical activity of violinists, archery is one the most suitable sports for violinists. Both archers and violinists use the tonic reflex. The tonic reflex is about making the body's extension and retraction movements when the head is turned to one side of the body. The greater the upper body force, the easier it will be to turn the head in the direction of the shifter. Archery is a sport that uses a very similar movement and general coordination, closely set up, and many of the same muscle groups that violinists use. In addition, both archery and violin performance are art that demands patience, balance, physical, mental health, and discipline. Yet another benefit is that archers use a complementary set of muscles to those used in string playing. Archery, which is one of the non-musical techniques to improve freedom, posture, and balance also holds additional advantages for violinists such as it broadens the shoulders, is a stress-relieving activity, and the method of preparing for a concert or an archery competition is similar. In this thesis, the technical characteristics of archery were studied and examined only mentioning anatomical points. It has been investigated how archery techniques can contribute to violin performance.
  • Öge
    Designing digital interfaces for enhanced musical interaction and digital instrument mapping strategies to improvise alongside acoustic instruments
    (Graduate School, 2022-05-24) Dağdeviren, Onur ; Deneç, Gökhan ; Vasilakos, Konstantinos ; 409191106 ; Music
    Today, with the increased accessibility of powerful processors and the development of sophisticated musical software, digital musical instruments, and interactive music systems have become quite common. It is now possible for sound artists to develop their customized musical instruments or interactive music systems to realize musical ideas that they have in their minds. Various commercialized digital control interfaces like Leap Motion Tracker or Playtronica's Playtron, which developed in the last two decades, offered great potential in musical applications. The advancements in human-computer interaction fashion led to much more expressive and engaging designs. This thesis is written from a unified perspective of a designer/composer/performer and proposes two newly developed interactive music systems: 'Lemohaxis' and 'Guru'. This study examines Lemohaxis and Guru as the main outputs of the study with focusing on their design processes and discusses their place in the literature. Additionally, in order to understand the effects of design decisions on the systems, these two systems are compared in detail. A limited number of performances were evaluated through various data collecting methods including questionnaires and unstructured interviews with the performers and the audience. The results of this research show that gestural controls with a Leap motion tracker can be much more expressive when compared to an Xbox controller. Also, simple one-to-one mappings for gestural controls allow a high level of performability for novice users without lowering the expressivity as long as it is possible to perform theatrics intuitively, yet it limits the complexity of musical controls. Comparison between two example systems show that there is a tradeoff between sonic expressivity and performability. In addition, the unique perspective in exemplary design of 'Lemohaxis', emphasizes that it is possible to achieve the targeted learning curve with unconventional approaches. Another innovative approach that is suggested by 'Guru' system is, using objects that are related to sonic outcome for switching between mapping presets of the leap motion to let the audience to relate the performers actions and the resulting sound for improving transparency. The concepts that are vital to an interactive music system design are introduced through a review of the literature. Similar systems and digital instruments are examined in terms of aesthetics and structural design. Structures of systems, mapping strategies, aesthetic needs, and decision-making on control interfaces are discussed in detail. Structural design, musical output, and the artistic needs that the systems must meet, are compared with similar digital instruments and interactive systems in the field.
  • Öge
    Effect of sound design on players choices in videogames: A case study on valorant gun sounds
    (Graduate School, 2023-01-18) Ilkıç, Mustafa Berk ; Özdemir, Taylan ; 409191116 ; Music
    The video game industry is expanding rapidly due to the digital world's ongoing technological advancement. New ideas, projects, and inventive developers or companies that potentially advance the state of the art are supported by the industry itself. It has become one of the largest industries in entertainment and sports. In terms of boosting gameplay or user satisfaction, sound design plays a crucial part in the development of video games. In video games, auditory features can provide information about the surroundings where the player is placed inside the game scene. FPS (first-person shooter) is one of numerous game genres. In this thesis, the sound design of firearms in first-person shooter video games and its effect on players' weapons preferences are investigated and analyzed. The sound created by firearms can generate the perception of tremendous damage, bulkiness, improved aim, a rapid fire rate, a futuristic aura, etc. This assertion is tested in the reality by Valorant, a competitive first-person shooter game in which two teams compete to kill each other with firearms. In addition, Valorant allows the employment of the same weapon with multiple sounds. I conducted a study of casual players utilizing the feature game that allows a player to employ. In addition, interviews with E-sports professionals were conducted to investigate the rationale behind their decisions. Due to these characteristics, this game is regarded the ideal candidate for testing this topic. Results are associated from the sound engineering perspective such as frequency content, dynamic range, and sustain of a signal with the support of the Perspective of the Emotions. This Perspective of Emotions content is taken from a related research called "Causing fear, suspense, and anxiety using sound design in computer games" by Toprac & Abdel-Meguid in 2010 and there are 4 types of Perspectives to base on the results of this research.
  • Öge
    Efficiency in rehearsal: A study on choral conducting methodology
    (Lisansüstü Eğitim Enstitüsü, 2020) Erdem, Burak Onur ; Özgen Öztürk, Yelda ; 657631 ; Müzik Ana Bilim Dalı
    The course of a rehearsal is part of the performance of a conductor. Considering that choral conductors have to plan a lot in advance to prepare a season and make sure that this plan functions well, it becomes evident that the efficiency level of a rehearsal is extremely important for an ensemble. Many factors have an impact on the efficiency of the rehearsal. The rehearsal methodology of the conductor, the planning of the schedule and its execution, the design of the rehearsal period itself, the conducting technique and the utilisation of the warm-up are prominent topics that should be discussed. On top of that, human factors like communication, motivation and discipline should be taken into consideration. All the literature considered, these elements all affect the rehearsal efficiency and function in combination. Logistics such as location, timing, transportation and subsistance are not to be neglected and they can be powerful in boosting performance, as well as decreasing rehearsal productivity when they are not taken care of. The allocation of the resources like the score library or the archive have strong effects on the outcomes of a rehearsal. Last but not least, the organisation within the choir, the self-governance structures, and the very existence of a board, extended representation tools, working groups, and general assembly are crucial for a healthy functioning of a choir, thus its efficiency in the rehearsals. Looking at the case study of the Wiener Singverein, a world-class choir with a rooted history and tradition, one can see how a season full of professional engagements can be managed with a membership of amateur singers. The case study primarily teaches the reader that the rehearsal is not a result of an improvised performance, but each and every aspect of it is carefully planned and crafted by the conductor and the driving forces of the choir. As a conclusion, this dissertation claims that five fundamental points can summarise the road to a more efficient rehearsal. These are the following points: Planning for different scenarios, preparing musically in great detail, communicating towards a positive environment, building a strong and sustainable team, and supporting the choir outside the rehearsal room.
  • Öge
    Evaluating audience perception of iconic sound design elements: A Case study on the lightsaber sound from star wars
    (Graduate School, 2023-01-18) Barış, Orhun ; Özdemir, Taylan ; 409191111 ; Music
    Star Wars is considered to be one of the biggest if not the biggest fantasy franchise in pop culture. The franchise has been mesmerizing the world with its vast universe and its unique atmosphere ever since the release of its first movie Star Wars: A New Hope. Because of that, Star Wars embellished many teenage childhoods such as mine. This appreciation expanded when I grow an interest in sound design since one of the most striking aspects of the movies that helped with the success of the franchise was the exceptional sound design. From the clash of lightsabers to Darth Vader's iconic breathing, many sounds from the original trilogy have become classics starting from 1977 and reaching today. The event that inspired the idea at the core of this research, was born as a result of my personal experience with one of the legendary sounds from Star Wars in an episode of The Mandalorian (2019-), a series show which tells a side story of a bounty hunter. Although it is a side story, it contained most of the iconic sounds and their source objects in the story. It was the sound of a lightsaber in one of the episodes that caught my ear. It felt and sounded different from what I knew as the sound of a lightsaber since my childhood. Then I began to question if other listeners, whether they are die-hard Star Wars fans or not, would react the same way I did. This was the question that inspired the core idea behind the listening experiment which was done in this research that is evaluating the perception of the audience concerning an iconic sound design element. The sound of a lightsaber was selected to examine. It was decided that 2 versions of the sound would be obtained and presented to the audience. For that, the iconic version of the lightsaber sound was extracted from the original trilogy, and the version of the weapons sound from The Mandalorian was selected to compare. The extracted files had to be from scenes that are as synchronous as possible for comparison since the sound of the lightsaber is highly tied to its movement or the action that is being done with the weapon for that matter. At this point, a frequency analysis had to be done to confirm that the versions were in fact different but more importantly, a frequency spectrum analysis had to be done to translate the audible differences between the 2 versions to actual numbers, and findings concerning frequency range and volume. To present the 2 versions to the audience as they are, would be too obvious for a comparison that seeks the perception of an iconic sound. Hence, it was decided a swap of audio between the original and the recent scenes would serve the aim of this research better. Three pairs of videos were created and each video had its audio exchanged with its conjugate with the exception of one pair. The medium for the listening experiment which would present these videos to the audience was chosen to be an online survey because of the ease of sharing it provides and the data representation and analysis tools that the online survey platforms offer. An online survey was constructed in Survey Monkey, and scenes with exchanged audio were presented to the audience together with questions that would help classify the overall participants. The first 4 questions aimed to classify the audience concerning their familiarity and the rest of the survey included 3 comparison question pairs. The pairs are meant to be 2-step comparison phases in which the first question would ask a pure immediate reaction without any guidance or hint concerning the lightsaber, and the second question would ask the participant to specifically comment about the differences that might have heard concerning the sounds of the lightsabers in the presented scenes. The hypothesis going to the establishment and the execution of the survey was, the part of the participants who stated that they are highly familiar with the Star Wars universe was expected to majorly spot the audio swap or comment that what they heard does not feel like it belongs to the image whereas, the participants who think their familiarity was average and below was majorly not expected to spot the audio swap or type a comment which would resemble the notification of the audio exchange. 123 results were gathered between the 6th of November and the 15th of December. The results were as expected for the group which stated average and below familiarity. However, the group which stated high familiarity did not behave as the hypothesis expected. The number of participants from this group that notice the audio exchange was lower than expected, and the number of responses that stated that they did not notice anything at all or the number of responses that commented about the visual components of the scene rather than the audible component, was higher than expected. For this, this research suggested 2 arguments to discuss the unexpected results. The first one suggests the iconic lightsaber sound that one would store in their memory was altered through time and what remains is an imprint that is altered through time and the various Star Wars productions that were made since the original trilogy. The second one was inspired by Michel Chion's (1994) concept of added value and suggested that the togetherness of audio and synchronized video, created a mode of perception that results in the lowered noticeability of the audio swap.
  • Öge
    Evaluating the functionality of attributes in 3d sound with semantic differential scale on three dimensions:Importance, comprehensibility and noticeability
    (Graduate School, 2024-08-01) Şahin, Laçin ; Karadoğan, Can ; 409152009 ; Music
    This dissertation proposes a methodology for selecting and ranking sound attributes for 3D sound according to their functionality. Functionality is operationalized as a semantic differential scale with three dimensions such as importance, comprehensibility, and noticeability. A group of 20 expert assessors is presented with 51 attributes. They grade these attributes while listening to some 3D sound excerpts according to the provided scale. The dimensions have weights assigned to them by the results of a prior experiment. By using these weights, the weighted average scores of the attributes are calculated. This weighted average score is labeled as the functionality score, and attributes are ranked from 1 to 51 according to their functionality scores. In the end, top 20 most functional attributes are discussed in more detail.
  • Öge
    Exploring the interpretive potential of Soundpainting: An experiment in musical indeterminacy
    (Graduate School, 2024-01-30) Göknel, Gökçe ; Aji, Jerfi ; 409191105 ; Music
    Soundpainting is a sign language for improvisation developed by Walter Thompson. It involves a Soundpainter who uses a vocabulary of gestures to guide performers through many musical and sonic parameters. Each gesture represents an instruction or musical idea, ranging from indicating changes in dynamics or tempo to suggesting particular playing techniques or even asking for improvised solos. The Soundpainter interacts with the performers in real time, shaping the music as it unfolds. The performers, in turn, respond in real time to these cues, exploring different sonic possibilities and contributing their own unique interpretations. On the other hand, various composers and musicians have explored the concept of indeterminacy in music throughout its history. It challenges traditional notions of composition and performance by introducing elements such as chance and performer's initiative. Composers either use chance or similar methods while creating their compositions or provide performers with vague or open-ended instructions, thus inviting them to actively participate in shaping the musical outcome. Thus, indeterminate music challenges conventional interpretation due to its inherent flexibility and variability in composition and performance. This study proposes Soundpainting as a dynamic tool for interpreting such works that resist traditional analysis. It looks closely at how effectively Soundpainting works as a way to understand indeterminate compositions. It focuses on the works of Christian Wolff, Pauline Oliveros, and Tom Philips. The goal is to evaluate how Soundpainting communicates the nuances contained within non-traditional scores characteristic of indeterminate music. The study also pays attention to how this method can be both faithful to composers' intentions and innovative for performers' expression. The study takes two consecutive routes. Firstly, it experiments with a Soundpainting ensemble to interpret selected indeterminate scores using the vocabulary of Soundpainting. Secondly, the study examines these practical interpretations with existing theories: the concepts of indeterminacy, Benjamin Brinner's theory of musical interaction, and Nattiez's tripartition model, which divides musical events into poietic (creative), esthesic (receptive), and neutral (objective) levels. The concept of indeterminate processes aligns with Soundpainting's spontaneous nature. Similarly, Christian Wolff's open-form compositions fit with Soundpainting's performer-driven musical content. Moreover, Tom Philips' graphic scores present a good opportunity to bridge visual art with sonic realization, which is already inherent in Soundpainting. Benjamin Brinner's musical interaction theory underlines the highly interactive aspects of Soundpainting. Such dynamics become crucial when interpreting scores that necessitate collective decision-making. Jean-Jacques Nattiez's semiotic approach provides a framework to dissect how meaning is constructed in Soundpainting performances. By exploring the theories mentioned, this research gives a more in-depth understanding of Soundpainting. Furthermore, the study looks at the potential for expanding the scope of Soundpainting by performing indeterminate pieces. The study involves qualitative analysis through experiments that illustrate effective uses of Soundpainting in interpreting indeterminate music.
  • Öge
    Force transducer piano keys as an innovative approach for piano pedagogy
    (Graduate School, 2022-06-01) Eren, Asaf Çetin ; Sünbüloğlu, Emin ; Buyruklar, Ahmet Tunç ; 409132005 ; Music
    This study aims to reveal the necessity of new approaches in piano education and to present an innovative technology that can be applied in this direction. According to Newton's impulse-reaction principle, everything that the pianist feels in her/his fingertip while playing the piano is reflected on the piano key side in the same way. Although pianists and piano educators find it difficult to put these feelings into words, piano keys can transform these reflected feelings into data through the right sensor design. Measuring the forces applied to the piano keys can objectively examine many arguments for better piano playing. Within the scope of this thesis, piano keys are converted into force transducers. The method behind transforming a piano key into a force transducer is that attaching sensors called strain-gauges to the points of the piano key determined as a result of calculations, with specified angles. Strain-gauges are extremely sensitive to changes in length on the surface to which they are attached. They create circuits that produces voltage changes. Via these voltage change values, the amount of straining (mainly due to bending) at certain points of the piano key can be observed and recorded. This way, the forces applied to piano key can be evaluated. Due to the data gathered from the tests with the force transducer piano key, temporal variations of keys's displacements and strain values on keys with various types of playings such as forte staccato, forte legato and piano legato are obtained. It is observed that the force is applied for a shorter time in staccato and longer in legato. In piano and forte playing, the difference in the slope of the time-displacement curve is detected. In piano playing, less strain on the tip of the key is detected. With the data collected from a trill (a musical ornament consisting of a rapid alternation between two adjacent notes) played with different techniques, the change in technique is reflected in the recorded data. Successive transients in the piano key and the mechanism when the key is pressed and the different stages of the mechanism's operation can be observed in the graphics. This system, which is created within the scope of this thesis, can be applied to adjacent keys, succeeds in providing an process that is not different from an ordinary piano experience visually or tactilely to the pianist and is able to produce sensitive and reliable data. With further improvements to be implemented on this new, patent-pending system, the proposed methodology can play an important role in re-defining piano pedagogy.
  • Öge
    Gunther Schuller's third stream: Story of an invented music style
    (Graduate School, 2024-05-02) Bonfil, Cenk ; Altınbüken, Eray ; 409201127 ; Music
    Since its emergence in the United States in the early 20th century, coming mainly from the African-American community in New Orleans, jazz music has always been inherently a fusion, the most prominent inputs that shaped its characteristics being, broadly put, the African rhythmic structures and European harmony. New Orleans jazz, for one, featured elements from many musics, including minstrels, French marching bands and blues. Jazz, at least in its earlier times, has been seldomly defined in relation to its individual influences and came to be an established branch of musical tradition in its own right early on in its development. Yet, adopting new stylistic elements became a characteristic feature of the tradition throughout its later advancements, which functioned to drive it forward and led to the emergence of a distinctive style almost every decade throughout the first half of the 20th century. Classical music, however, despite that its earlier forms were very much influenced by a variety of European folk musical styles, by the late 19th century and early 20th century, was rather a fixed entity, being defined largely as "art music" belonging mostly to the elite. With the fast-paced advancements in virtually all artistic and scientific areas that came in the 20th century, classical music would also be carried away by the strong currents of change and innovation. It would develop non-tonal practices, be influenced by folk music more than at least the past century, utilize complex rhythmic textures other than the most common ones such as 4/4, 3/4 and 6/8 and develop many unconventional performance practices merely in a few decades of the century. While contemporary practices and techniques were opening up to outer influences more than ever, jazz has constituted a prime attraction for many composers like Stravinsky, Ravel, Debussy and Bartók. In short, the trade between classical music and jazz was never a new notion. Third Stream, a term coined by the composer Gunther Schuller in a lecture he gave at Brandeis University in 1957, stands out among earlier confluences as being a conscious attempt at bringing the two traditions of music together to shape a third one, drawing elements from both but distinctive from either in its own right. He attempted to fuse compositional tools of contemporary classical practices, which is the first stream, with the improvisational nature and rhythmic subtleties of jazz, being the second stream, and produce a "third stream" that was neither one or the other but one that was in the midway. This thesis aims to examine the ways in which Third Stream combined certain elements from both kinds of music. It will look into the compositional tools Schuller used to achieve his musical objective, define the technical hardships faced while doing this and investigate how the composer attempted to solve these. To do this, musical pieces written by Schuller that make use of mixed instrumentation consisting of jazz and classical instruments and musicians, will be formally and harmonically analyzed, by utilizing several analytical tools. These analyses will be supported first by research regarding the historical development of both jazz and classical music, a short survey of the hybridization of the two that took place before Third Stream and a look at the biography of Gunther Schuller himself, to understand personal aspirations, musical, social and personal background that led to his coining the concept. The main discussion, however, will be a comparative one about the definition of the Third Stream and its development in the following decades in reference to several statements by Schuller and his close circle of colleagues who adopted the concept in their music, followed by discussion on several criticisms it received by other scholars. The thesis will be concluded with a brief discussion that will relate the previous material to the musical analysis of the three selective pieces, by pointing out the aspects that the criticisms remain strong and those that they lack. Lastly, several suggestions for future academic and artistic research will be shared.
  • Öge
    Increasing interactivity in video game music
    (Graduate School, 2023-08-01) Kuru, Aydın İbrahim ; Sarıer, Ozan ; Vasilakos, Konstantinos ; 409201130 ; Music
    This thesis studies the historical and current conventions, outlooks, applications and research in the field of game music systems and proposes its novel dynamic music strategy based on the musical and narrative principle of tension. The introduction section aims to illustrate the context and background for the research in addition to introducing the related terminology. The development of video game music systems is described in the first part, in which notable examples that are influential to this thesis are put forward together with a brief history of the medium. In the second section, the practice and theory of composing for video games is questioned. The process of composing for games, in addition the conventional models of synchronizing music to the narrative structure of games are analyzed. The second part of the thesis consists of the primary contribution of the paper and aims to put the background research into theoretical practice. It puts forward the novel dynamic music strategy of dynamic tension model which essentially proposes mapping game data, user output and game states and musical parameters in a way that facilitates dramatically conflicting structures of suspense and repose. First, the priorities and the approach of the proposed model are put forward. Afterwards, the related narrative and musical concepts are identified and explained. Then, a demo composition is realized for a specific video game. To conclude, the resulting score is evaluated and further discussed. The final part of the thesis consists of a conclusion which shows the effort of systemizing the findings of the novel compositions and the theoretical review. It discusses further application areas and elaborations of the dynamic music strategy as well as its advantages and disadvantages in the video game music paradigm.
  • Öge
    Integrating blockchain technology with user-centric payment system to form an alternative royalty distribution model for reducing royalty inequity
    (Graduate School, 2022-06-21) Günay, Bilge ; Öztürk Özgen, Yelda ; 409191120 ; Music
    Over the past few decades, digitalization plays a key role in shaping the music industry. By forcing radical changes, digitalization fundamentally disrupts the recorded music industry by changing how music is made, distributed, and consumed. Within years it becomes impossible to overlook the emergence and the impact of streaming services. The growing demand for accessing music through subscription- based streaming services transforms how the recorded music industry generates revenues. Even though streaming music is much more preferred and more accessible than buying physical copies, it becomes harder for musicians to collect their revenue share from streaming. Therefore, streaming services faces growing pressure and challenges to be more transparent with royalty management and faster with their payouts. This research discusses the current state of the recorded music industry by leading factors that led to the streaming services' lack of transparency and inequality in royalty payouts. This research summarizes copyright and royalties involved in music, and the complex structure of the recorded music industry by discussing the absence of standards for handling metadata and the lack of remuneration from music streaming. How royalties are allocated according to the current payment system, Pro Rata - Market Centric Payment System, is explained in this research. In return, an alternative royalty distribution model, User-Centric Payment System, has been described as reducing inequality in royalty payouts and compared with the current distribution model Pro Rata. Due to rapidly emerging technological developments, there are new opportunities for reevaluating the current royalty distribution model. Blockchain technology is being recognized as having the potential to change the music industry's ecosystem from its foundations. Further integration of blockchain technology with a User-Centric Payment System has been proposed to form an alternative royalty distribution model by providing insight into how blockchain may address these challenges by offering more transparent and almost instant royalty payouts. Finally, this research outlines further research and development on blockchain-based solutions for royalty distribution.
  • Öge
    Left-leaning protest music tradition in Turkey (1960s-1990s) and the case of Ahmet Kaya
    (Graduate School, 2023-10-05) Özer, Diler ; Oğul, Belma F ; 409092003 ; Music
    This thesis is a discussion of the left-leaning protest music tradition in Turkey discussed with regard to the key references, approaches and musical sources, and focuses on the case of a protest singer-song writer, Ahmet Kaya (1957-2000) as both a re-connection with and a rupture from that tradition. The thesis is constructed around two axes: Within the scope of the first axis, the study focuses on describing and interpreting the tradition of musical protest in any way related with the Leftist/Socialist thought and movement in Turkey from 1960s to 1990s. As the second axis, the study focuses on examining the case of Ahmet Kaya as both a 're-connection with' and a 'rupture from' the left-leaning protest music tradition in Turkey as well as analyzing his musical accumulation in personal, socio-political and musical terms. Hence, by using Ahmet Kaya example as a key, the study aims to make a critical reading of the 'protest' character of the mentioned musical field in terms of what was included and excluded by the said tradition. Ahmet Kaya is a singer-songwriter; he composed and performed his own songs. Nearly half of the songs are with his own lyrics and he also composed the poems of various poets from first generation socialists to the younger poets of his period. While producing his songs, he was influenced by the social-political conditions of the period and reflected these through his music. He made music not only to establish bonds with the oppressed victims of the society, to be their voice and give them morale and strength, but also to mark history and create documents. In this sense, Kaya's music has a truth-bearing and protest character. At the same time, music is for him a form of self-expression, a means of establishing his own identity and empowering himself. He also challenged the dominant music making styles of his time. For example, he incorporated arabesk and Turkish classical music elements to his music, which were considered inferior in left culture then. That distinguishes him from many other protest musicians of the period. Because of all this, he was exposed to many criticisms throughout his life -from his music to his lifestyle- and even his music was called as arabesk. These criticisms also affected the way he defined and produced his own music; sometimes it took the form of rejection, rebellion and defiance, and sometimes acceptance. On the other hand, Kaya produced and presented his music in the field of popular music and intertwined with market conditions. In addition to traditional styles from folk to Turkish classical music, he incorporated elements from local popular forms such as arabesk and global popular genres such as rock and pop. It is possible to see various musical influences in his music. This led to his mixed musical style which also helped his audience from various sections of the society to be connected with his music. On the other hand, due to the political conditions of the period and the fact that the market was so involved in his music making, he could not make radical exit as he wished; for example, he could not include a Kurdish song in his repertoire until his last album. This decision started the lynching campaign against him that led to his death in exile. Nevertheless, Ahmet Kaya became an icon in the eyes of the revolutionary youth of the period and especially Kurdish people together with the 90s. It is possible to say that the freedom struggle of the Kurdish people has been symbolized through Ahmet Kaya. In this thesis it was argued that due to the above-mentioned elements in personal, musical and political terms, Ahmet Kaya should be evaluated as a popular and distinctive figure and a divergent example of the mentioned left-leaning protest music tradition in Turkey.