RESEARCH & ARTISTIC DEVELOPMENT
Artistic research exploring Brazilian music, orchestral collaboration, improvisation, composition, arrangement, and contemporary musical creation.
Rafael Piccolotto de Lima’s artistic research develops through a continuous dialogue between creative practice and investigation. Rather than separating composition, performance, teaching, and research into independent activities, his work approaches them as interconnected dimensions of the same process.
Many of the questions explored throughout his compositions, arrangements, artistic projects, and collaborations emerged through years of study, experimentation, rehearsal, performance, and academic research focused on Brazilian music, orchestral writing, improvisation, ensemble interaction, and contemporary musical creation.
This ongoing investigation continues to inform his work as a composer, arranger, conductor, music director, educator, and artistic producer.
ACADEMIC BACKGROUND
My academic training reflects a long-standing interest in understanding how different musical traditions interact, evolve, and generate new artistic possibilities.
My formal academic background includes:
-
Bachelor of Music in Classical Composition - UNICAMP (Brazil)
-
Bachelor of Music in Brazilian Jazz Studies - UNICAMP (Brazil)
-
Master of Music in Studio Jazz Writing - Frost School of Music, University of Miami
-
Doctor of Musical Arts in Jazz Composition - Frost School of Music, University of Miami
During my graduate studies, I was also selected as a Composer Fellow of the Henry Mancini Institute, where I remained active throughout both my master’s and doctoral studies. There, I worked alongside internationally recognized composers, arrangers, conductors, and performers connected to orchestral jazz, film music, large ensemble writing, and contemporary musical creation.
A particularly important influence during this period was composer, arranger, conductor, and educator Gary Lindsay, who served as my primary mentor throughout my graduate studies. These experiences also provided direct contact with artists including Maria Schneider, Vince Mendoza, Terence Blanchard, James Newton Howard, Chick Corea, and many others whose work helped shape contemporary approaches to orchestral collaboration, film music, improvisation, and large ensemble composition.
BRAZILIAN BIG BAND RESEARCH
One of my earliest formal research projects focused on the development of the Brazilian big band tradition.
Supported by a FAPESP scholarship at UNICAMP, the project investigated the compositional and arranging language of Nailor Azevedo “Proveta” and Banda Mantiqueira, one of the most influential ensembles in Brazilian large ensemble music.
Combining musical analysis, transcription, interviews, historical research, orchestration studies, and stylistic investigation, the project examined how Brazilian rhythmic language could be adapted and transformed within large ensemble settings.
This research became an important foundation for my continuing interest in Brazilian orchestral writing, jazz orchestra practices, rhythmic orchestration, and contemporary large ensemble music.
SCIENTIFIC INITIATION RESEARCH
(FAPESP Scholarship - Brazil, 2010-2011)
The Brazilian Big Band - Samba Compositions and Arrangements by Nailor Azevedo (Proveta) for Banda Mantiqueira
This research investigated the compositional procedures used in selected works by Nailor Azevedo for Banda Mantiqueira, examining how Brazilian rhythmic language, orchestration, and large ensemble writing contribute to the development of a distinctly Brazilian big band sound.
The study was supervised by Professor Rafael dos Santos at the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP).
MASTER OF MUSIC RESEARCH
Master of Music in Studio Jazz Writing
Frost School of Music - University of Miami (2011-2013)
During my master’s studies, I deepened my work in studio jazz writing, large ensemble composition, orchestral production, recording practices, and contemporary arranging under the mentorship of composer and arranger Gary Lindsay.
This period provided extensive experience in recording sessions, large ensemble production, orchestration, score preparation, and collaborative artistic environments involving composers, performers, producers, and recording engineers.
The combination of composition, orchestration, recording production, and large ensemble performance continues to influence my work today.
HYBRID MUSICAL LANGUAGES
A central question throughout my artistic and research work concerns the interaction between musical traditions that are often treated as separate categories.
Rather than approaching Brazilian music, jazz, improvisation, chamber music, and concert music as isolated worlds, I am interested in the creative possibilities that emerge when these traditions interact naturally within the same artistic environment.
This exploration includes questions such as:
-
How can improvisation function inside highly structured ensemble writing?
-
How can Brazilian rhythmic language influence orchestral composition beyond stylistic quotation?
-
How can chamber music interaction coexist with large ensemble thinking?
-
How can written and spontaneous musical processes complement one another?
-
How do musicians from different artistic traditions collaborate inside the same creative environment?
These questions continue to shape my work across compositions, arrangements, artistic projects, recordings, educational activities, and collaborative productions.
DOCTORAL RESEARCH
These investigations reached their most extensive academic form through my doctoral dissertation at the University of Miami:
Blurred Distinctions; Beyond Third Stream - A Study in Composition of Confluent Hybrid Musical Styles: The Amalgam of Jazz and Classical Concert Music
The research examined the relationship between jazz and concert music through the work of composers whose music operates beyond traditional stylistic boundaries, including:
-
Maria Schneider
-
Vince Mendoza
-
John Psathas
Rather than focusing on stylistic classification, the dissertation explored how contemporary musical languages emerge through processes of interaction, hybridization, orchestration, improvisation, texture, and ensemble collaboration.
The project also benefited from direct contact with some of the composers and artistic environments examined throughout the research. During my doctoral studies, I conducted interviews, attended workshops, participated in performances and educational activities, and engaged directly with artists such as Maria Schneider and Terence Blanchard, creating a dialogue between academic research and practical artistic experience.
As part of the research, I composed the orchestral suite Seven Masks, a large-scale original work that functioned simultaneously as an artistic project and a practical investigation into hybrid compositional processes.
Many of the ideas developed during this research continue to influence my work as a composer, arranger, conductor, and music director.
DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS RESEARCH
(University of Miami, full scholarship - 2013-2016)
BLURRED DISTINCTIONS; BEYOND THIRD STREAM – A STUDY IN COMPOSITION OF CONFLUENT HYBRID MUSICAL STYLES: THE AMALGAM OF JAZZ AND CLASSICAL CONCERT MUSIC
Abstract of a doctoral essay at the University of Miami: Categorizations are very necessary as shortcuts to facilitate teaching, academic discourse, and for publicizing, but they are also very dangerous in the attempt to put absolute values on unquantifiable concepts, such as styles, ideas, or eras. This essay presents dividing lines of musical genres as they are: blurred and open to crossovers. The discussion focuses on both musical and historical elements of jazz and classical music, particularly from the perspective of their mutual influence during the twentieth century and beginning of the twenty-first century. Departing from the Third Stream concept, the purpose of this research is to discuss the importance of the hybridization processes in music evolution through the examination of the blurred lines that separate styles of music. Three distinct contemporary composers recognized by their hybrid work were used as a case of study – Maria Schneider, Vince Mendoza, and John Psathas. An original confluent suite – Seven Masks – was created as a result of the research. Three movements of this new composition were analyzed with a focus on the hybridization processes used in its fabric.
Doctoral essay supervised by professor Gary Lindsay.
RESEARCH THROUGH ARTISTIC PROJECTS
A significant part of my artistic investigation takes place outside formal academic settings.
Projects such as Orquestra Urbana, the Rafael Piccolotto de Lima Chamber Project, and Forró Sem Palavras function not only as performance ensembles, but also as long-term laboratories for artistic experimentation.
These projects provide opportunities to explore questions involving:
-
orchestration and improvisation
-
Brazilian music in orchestral contexts
-
chamber interaction inside larger ensembles
-
rhythm section integration
-
collaborative rehearsal processes
-
contemporary ensemble organization
-
relationships between written and spontaneous musical materials
Through performances, recordings, commissions, and long-term collaborations, these projects continue to generate new artistic questions and creative directions.
CREATIVE PROCESS & ARTISTIC DEVELOPMENT
Another important dimension of my research involves the study of creative process itself.
Alongside questions of orchestration, composition, and musical language, I am interested in how artistic ideas develop over time through practice, collaboration, discipline, experimentation, and reflection.
This includes ongoing exploration of topics such as:
-
compositional process
-
artistic identity
-
improvisation
-
collaborative creativity
-
rehearsal methodology
-
creative limitations
-
long-term project development
-
artistic sustainability
These reflections frequently inform both my artistic projects and my educational work.
WRITING, EDUCATIONAL CONTENT & PUBLIC REFLECTIONS
Part of this research also appears through writing, lectures, educational content, workshops, mentorship activities, and public reflections on music and creativity.
Through articles, essays, videos, courses, and presentations, I share ideas related to composition, arrangement, orchestration, improvisation, creative process, Brazilian music, large ensemble practices, and contemporary musical creation.
These activities function as an extension of the same questions explored through my compositions, artistic projects, and collaborative work.