Abstract
This paper presents part of an artistic research where the focus is on elaboration of guitar arrangements. In the scope of the study here, my aim was to understand the implications of an ecological approach to music making based on the identification and use of guitar affordances. In particular, the elaboration of an arrangement of the song Manhã de Carnaval, by the Brazilian composer Luiz Bonfá (1922-2001). The process was informed by existing perspectives on arrangement (Sadie & Tirell, 2001), affordances (Gibson, 1977), tacit knowledge (Polanyi, 1966) and embodied meaning (Merleau-Ponty, 1968). Throughout the arrangement, excerpts of the music of Villa-Lobos as well as brief citations from Bach and Jimmy Page's music were also used. The treatment given to the Bonfá's song in this creative process resulted in a multitextural and polythematic arrangement for guitar. This approach seeks to highlight some sound possibilities of the instrument, as the emergence of resonances favored through the affordances adopted in this process.
Recommended Citation
dos Santos, J. D. (2023). When Bonfá meets Villa: Creative processes in the elaboration of a guitar arrangement to Manhã de Carnaval by Luiz Bonfá (1922-2001). In R. Torres, A. Brandon, & J. Noble (Eds.), Proceedings of The 21st Century Guitar Conference 2019 & 2021 (pp. 313-332). https://digitalcommons.du.edu/twentyfirst-century-guitar/vol1/iss1/19