Ongoing Projects
Ethnogenesis of the Seto People and Their Cultural Relations with Eastern Finno-Ugrians in the Light of Ethnomusicological Data (PRG2600), 01.01.2025-31.12.2029, principal investigator senior researcher Žanna Pärtlas. Archaeologists, linguists and anthropologists generally agree that the ancestors of the Baltic Finns, including the Seto, migrated to the present territories from the Volga-Oka-Kama river area. However, ethnomusicological research on this topic is scarce. Since ritual song genres are very conservative and may carry traces of ancient styles, musical data are of great value for the study of ethnogenesis. The project aims to complement the study of cultural contacts between the Seto and the eastern Finno-Ugric peoples with data on traditional songs and their cultural context, focusing, besides the Seto, on the vocal practices of Erzya and Moksha Mordvins, Udmurts and Besermyans. The study focuses on three ethnic-specific phenomena: polyphonic singing, ancient improvisational genres, and peculiarities of pitch systems and intonation. The methodological approach is complex and mainly consists of a search for basic structures in tunes, texts and rituals and their typological comparison. Read more HERE.
Arvo Pärt: Finding his own voice (1958–1979) (KUM-TA83),01.01.2025-31.12.2025, principal investigator prof Toomas Siitan. The project aims to compile the first part of a comprehensive monograph analysing Arvo Pärt’s creative career up to his emigration in 1980. Several foreign authors have worked on this topic, but the proposed study would be the first to be sensitively grounded in the local context and based on extensive archival work. The aim is to analyse the development of Pärt’s creative style, place it in the wider context of Estonian cultural life and politics, and relate it to the trends of the time in the USSR and the West. The work is based on the archives of the Arvo Pärt Centre, which contain background information on Pärt’s oeuvre and the composer’s reflections on the creation and reception of his works in the form of recorded interviews. The extensive collection of the composer’s diaries is also invaluable. Only a very small part of this material has so far been used in research. The first part of a comprehensive monograph will be completed by the end of 2025.
Data analysis and creation of methodological basis for the thematic-bibliographical catalogue of Heino Eller ́s works (KUM-TA85), 01.01.2025-31.12.2025, principal investigator senior lecturer Sten Lassmann. The state of research on Estonian national art music is not to be commended: currently, both the scientific monographs and catalogues of works are missing. This widening gap in source studies is a major problem in the development of national musical culture and threatens the vitality of Estonian culture as a whole. The lack of structured and up-to-date research prevents the foundational cultural texts from relating to contemporary living culture: the absence of studies and editions makes it difficult to create new interpretations and promote the national culture in Estonia and internationally. This project aims to create a modern scientific database and a specific methodological framework for producing a thematic-bibliographic catalogue of Heino Eller’s oeuvre. In the following stages, the results of this project can be applied in three domains: a) the creation of a thematic-bibliographical catalogue, b) writing of a monograph on Eller, and c) publishing the composer’s collected works.
How to share the ardor? Conveying complex musical structures to unprepared listener through the animated score on the example of Eduard Tubin´s first symphony (KUM_LU6), 01.11.2024–31.12.2025, principal investigator visiting researcher Mihhail Gerts. The study is based on the desire to offer the untrained listener an in-depth understanding of the structure of a symphonic composition. To this end, an animated score of the first movement of Eduard Tubin’s Symphony No. 1 will be created, in which the musical elements underlying the composition will be presented as an animation to support structural understanding. From the search for visual correspondences for the animation, it is hoped to derive more general principles formulating the conductor’s figurative thinking, which could be applied in the rehearsal process with the orchestra. The performance of the symphony, combined with the animation of the form construction in real time, will give rise to a new concert format to be presented at the TubIN festival in October 2025. The presentation will be followed by an empirical study to determine the target audience for the animation. The animated score will be a pilot project with a high potential for music education and general culture, and will serve as a model for the future presentation of the works of various composers. Read more here.
Modernised Salon: Broadening Performers’ Perspectives on Public Presentation (KUM-LU14), 01.11.2024–31.10.2025, principal investigator senior lecturer Kristi Kapten. The project focuses on the development of a new type of performance format, centred on chamber music performed live and introducing a different kind of interactive interaction between audience and performer, inspired by historical salon culture. The project combines autoethnography with the “Actual, Active, Associative” model developed by Tansy Spinks for the analysis of spaces. The research will find answers to questions such as: what are the potential opportunities for a new way of presenting creative work for a performer who finds himself in a modernised salon situation and what preparation for this requires of the performer or changes his creative practice; what tools and components can be used to share the performer’s work process with the audience in an engaging and meaningful way; what tools are most effective for creating a salon-style social music event? A prototype will be developed to serve as a model for future events in a modernised salon format. Read more here.
Typology of the Seto Song Tunes: Development of an Electronic Resource for Academic and Applied Use (KUM-TA32), 01.01.2024-31.03.2025, principal investigator senior researcher Žanna Pärtlas. The goals of the joint project by EAMT and the Estonian Literary Museum are both scientific and applied – to identify, systematise, describe analytically and publish as an electronic resource all the types of leelo tunes using archival materials. The compilation of a tune typology is an important form of research in ethnomusicology; the publication of the research results in a handy digital format can also have an enriching effect on contemporary performance practice. Read more here.
Improving the intelligibility of sung text: the problems and the scientific basis (PRG1552), 01.01.2022–31.12.2026, principal investigator prof Allan Vurma. We expect vocalists to sing with intelligible text, but singers also have to obey the constraints which are dictated by the music. Thus, the methods which are used to enhance diction in speaking may not necessarily be fully applicable to singing. The standpoiherents of singers regarding how to achieve clear pronunciation are controversial, and investigations on the subject are scarce. Read more here.
Impact of subcultural (pop) music on the ideologization of 21st-century Estonian youth and on youth mental health (PSG838), 01.01.2023–31.12.2027, principal investigator Brigitta Davidjants. Music creates a sense of belonging and supports mental health among people who have the same values. The focus of the project is on the subcultural ideologization of Estonian youth in the 21st century. While the youth of the 1990s were relatively weakly ideologized, the 21st century saw the re-emergence of subcultural political identities. See further here.
E4TLI: Education For Technological Literacy And Inclusion
(KA220-HED-000087144), 01.09.2022-31.08.2025, investigators Annukka Jyrämä and Kaari Kiitsak-Prikk. The aims of E4TLI are three-fold: to improve technological literacy among non-technologically savvy faculty members, students, mentors, university managers; to collate practical recommendations from the implementation of the outlined projects for policy makers and companies to implement in their own professional spaces; to disseminate knowledge on Technologies 4.0 for non-tech educational/training stakeholders. See more here.
Composition and Improvisation in the 21st Century (LUP1), 1.01.2014−…, principal investigator prof Kristel Pappel. This project combines research papers, that examine the interrelation between composition and improvisation in the 21st century and analyze or create new compositional frameworks. Read more here.
Please find detailed information on finished and current research projects in Estonian Research Portal (choose “Advanced Search” and type “Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre” in the field “Institution”).