A criação de guias de performance para obras violonísticas de Andrew York

Abstract

This thesis proposes the development of performance guides for selected works by Andrew York, grounded in the guitar pedagogies of Abel Carlevaro, Henrique Pinto, Frederick Noad, and Christopher Parkening. Motivated by the scarcity of studies on York’s oeuvre in Brazil, the study aims to contribute to guitar teaching and practice through technical and interpretative analyses of seven compositions: Muir Woods (1986), Reflections (1989), Watercolor (1994), Joyn (from the suite Five Glimmerings, 2004–2011), Woven World (from the suite Woven Harmony, 2004–2011), Centerpeace (2009), and Yamour (2011). The research is qualitative, exploratory, and applied, adopting a theoretical-practical approach that integrates document analysis and interpretative modeling as methodological tools. The first chapter discusses distinctions among pedagogy, didactics, and teaching, and the philosophical and methodological foundations of performance pedagogy, addressing the contributions of Carlevaro and Pinto as well as Noad’s and Parkening’s perspectives on technique and interpretation. The second chapter presents musical analyses of the selected works, considering fingering, hand positioning, phraseology, dynamics, articulation, and expressivity; selection criteria privileged distinct compositional periods, alternative tunings, and stylistic diversity, reflecting York’s hybrid language that blends classical technique with North American popular genres such as folk, jazz, rock, and minimalism. The performance guides are developed with an emphasis on technical efficiency and musical expressivity, aiming to produce strategies applicable to both teaching and performance practice. It is expected that these guides will contribute to the development of didactic-pedagogical approaches for guitar performance, broaden Andrew York’s repertoire in Brazil, and enhance the aesthetic understanding of emerging guitarists.