Claudia Fritz

Player preferences among new and old violins

Most violinists believe that instruments by Stradivari and Guarneri “del Gesu” are tonally superior to other violins—and to new violins in particular. Many mechanical and acoustical factors have been proposed to account for this superiority; however, the fundamental premise of tonal superiority has not yet been properly investigated. Players judgments about a Stradivaris sound may be biased by the violins extraordinary monetary value and historical importance, but no studies designed to preclude such biasing factors have yet been published. We asked 21 experienced violinists to compare violins by Stradivari and Guarneri del Gesu with high-quality new instruments. The resulting preferences were based on the violinists’ individual experiences of playing the instruments under double-blind conditions in a room with relatively dry acoustics. We found that (i) the most-preferred violin was new; (ii) the least-preferred was by Stradivari; (iii) there was scant correlation between an instruments age and monetary value and its perceived quality; and (iv) most players seemed unable to tell whether their most-preferred instrument was new or old. These results present a striking challenge to conventional wisdom. Differences in taste among individual players, along with differences in playing qualities among individual instruments, appear more important than any general differences between new and old violins. Rather than searching for the “secret” of Stradivari, future research might best focused on how violinists evaluate instruments, on which specific playing qualities are most important to them, and on how these qualities relate to measurable attributes of the instruments, whether old or new.

Exploring violin sound quality: Investigating English timbre descriptors and correlating resynthesized acoustical modifications with perceptual properties

Performers often discuss the sound quality of a violin or the sound obtained by particular playing techniques, calling upon a diverse vocabulary. This study explores the verbal descriptions, made by performers, of the distinctive timbres of different violins. Sixty-one common descriptors were collected and then arranged by violinists on a map, so that words with similar meanings lay close together, and those with different meanings lay far apart. The results of multidimensional scaling demonstrated consistent use among violinists of many words, and highlighted which words are used for similar purposes. These terms and their relations were then used to investigate the perceptual effect of acoustical modifications of violin sounds produced by roving of the levels in five one-octave wide bands, 190-380, 380-760, 760-1520, 1520-3040, and 3040-6080 Hz. Pairs of sounds were presented, and each participant was asked to indicate which of the sounds was more bright, clear, harsh, nasal, or good (in separate runs for each descriptor). Increased brightness and clarity were associated with moderately increased levels in bands 4 and 5, whereas increased harshness was associated with a strongly increased level in band 4. Judgments differed across participants for the qualities nasal and good.

Perceptual thresholds for acoustical guitar models

Synthesised acoustic guitar sounds based on a detailed physical model are used to provide input for psychoacoustical testing. Thresholds of perception are found for changes in the main parameters of the model. Using a three-alternative forced-choice procedure, just-noticeable differences are presented for changes in frequency and damping of the modes of the guitar body, and also for changes in the tension, bending stiffness and damping parameters of the strings. These are compared with measured data on the range of variation of these parameters in a selection of guitars.

Investigating the role of auditory and tactile modalities in violin quality evaluation.

The role of auditory and tactile modalities involved in violin playing and evaluation was investigated in an experiment employing a blind violin evaluation task under different conditions: i) normal playing conditions, ii) playing with auditory masking, and iii) playing with vibrotactile masking. Under each condition, 20 violinists evaluated five violins according to criteria related to violin playing and sound characteristics and rated their overall quality and relative preference. Results show that both auditory and vibrotactile feedback are important in the violinists’ evaluations but that their relative importance depends on the violinist, the violin and the type of evaluation (different criteria ratings or preference). In this way, the overall quality ratings were found to be accurately predicted by the rating criteria, which also proved to be perceptually relevant to violinists, but were poorly correlated with the preference ratings; this suggests that the two types of ratings (overall quality vs preference) may stem from different decision-making strategies. Furthermore, the experimental design confirmed that violinists agree more on the importance of criteria in their overall evaluation than on their actual ratings for different violins. In particular, greater agreement was found on the importance of criteria related to the sound of the violin. Nevertheless, this study reveals that there are fundamental differences in the way players interpret and evaluate each criterion, which may explain why correlating physical properties with perceptual properties has been challenging so far in the field of musical acoustics.

Listener evaluations of new and Old Italian violins

Significance Old Italian violins are widely believed to have playing qualities unobtainable in new violins, including the ability to project their sound more effectively in a hall. Because Old Italian instruments are now priced beyond the reach of the vast majority of players, it seems important to test the fundamental assumption of their tonal superiority. A recent study found that, under blind conditions, violin soloists generally prefer new violins and are unable to distinguish between new and old at better than chance levels. This paper extends the results to listeners in a hall. We find that they generally prefer new violins over Stradivaris, consider them better-projecting, and are no better than players at telling new and old apart. Old Italian violins are routinely credited with playing qualities supposedly unobtainable in new instruments. These qualities include the ability to project their sound more effectively in a concert hall—despite seeming relatively quiet under the ear of the player—compared with new violins. Although researchers have long tried to explain the “mystery” of Stradivari’s sound, it is only recently that studies have addressed the fundamental assumption of tonal superiority. Results from two studies show that, under blind conditions, experienced violinists tend to prefer playing new violins over Old Italians. Moreover, they are unable to tell new from old at better than chance levels. This study explores the relative merits of Stradivari and new violins from the perspective of listeners in a hall. Projection and preference are taken as the two broadest criteria by which listeners might meaningfully compare violins. Which violins are heard better, and which are preferred? In two separate experiments, three new violins were compared with three by Stradivari. Projection was tested both with and without orchestral accompaniment. Projection and preference were judged simultaneously by dividing listeners into two groups. Results are unambiguous. The new violins projected better than the Stradivaris whether tested with orchestra or without, the new violins were generally preferred by the listeners, and the listeners could not reliably distinguish new from old. The single best-projecting violin was considered the loudest under the ear by players, and on average, violins that were quieter under the ear were found to project less well.

Effect of task constraints on the perceptual evaluation of violins

Results from two previous studies that involved free-playing evaluative tasks showed that players are selfconsistent in their preference for violins and tend to agree of what particular qualities they look for in an instrument (in this case, “richness” and “dynamic range”). However, a significant lack of agreement between violinists was observed, likely because diff erent players evaluate the same perceptual attributes in diff erent ways. The present study thus investigated whether there will be more inter-player agreement if musicians evaluate violin richness and dynamic range by playing only certain notes in certain registers. Results showed that the more focused the task, the more self-consistent violinists are and the more they agree with each other. We further examined the evaluation of richness from playing versus listening tasks and observed that players were better able to discriminate between violins in the former than in the latter. Finally, the potential correlation of spectral centroid and tristimulus with violin richness were examined. Results showed that the perception of richness is likely associated with the relative amount of low- and mid-frequency partials in a given sound (i.e., low spectral centroid and high tristimulus 1 and 2), though more exploration would be necessary before drawing any conclusions.

Evaluating violin quality: How consistent are skilled players?

A perceptual experiment was designed to investigate how consistent violinists are at evaluating violin quality. The objective was to examine both intra‐ and inter‐subject consistency across a certain range of violins. Skilled classical violinists were asked to play a set of different violins, evaluate their quality, and order them by preference. Violins of different periods were used, varying from student to performance level. Low light conditions and dark sunglasses were used to hide the identity of the instruments as much as possible. Considering the bow as an extension of the player, violinists carried out the task using their own bow. Upon completing the task, participants had to comment on the ranking process and provide rationale for their choices. Preliminary results from a pilot study indicate that both intra‐ and inter‐subject consistency are high when violinists are presented a small group of instruments that are fairly distinct from one another. Results of a more in‐depth study (with more instruments, some very similar to one another) will be presented at the conference.

On the Perception of Audified Seismograms

ABSTRACT Recordings of the Earth’s oscillations made by seismometers, following earthquakes or other geophysical phenomena, can be made audible by simply accelerating and playing them through an audio reproduction system. We evaluate quantitatively the possibility of using such an acoustic display of seismic data for practical applications. We first present to listeners examples of two categories of data, based on geophysical parameters that are not revealed to them. In the first test, the control parameter is the terrain, either oceanic or continental, sampled by the propagating seismic wave. In the second test, it is the geometry of the seismic fault, which can be either thrust or strike slip. The listeners are asked to associate each of a set of audified seismograms, that are presented to them binaurally, to either one of the two categories. At the end of the test, they are asked to define the features of audified signals that helped them in completing their task. The third and final test consists of repeating the fault‐geometry categorization exercise after a brief training session. About 35, 27, and 17 listeners participate in the first, second, and third tests, respectively. Both sexes, a wide range of ages, and three different backgrounds (acousticians, geoscientists, and physicists) are represented. Although the number of listeners is too small for a definitive statistical analysis, our results suggest that listeners are able, at least in some cases, to categorize signals according to all the geophysical parameters we had chosen. Importantly, we clearly observe that listeners’ performance can be improved by training. Our work opens the way to a number of potentially fruitful applications of auditory display to seismology.

Psychoacoustic experiments with virtual violins

This study is the first step in the psychoacoustic exploration of why some violins sound better than others. A method was used that enabled the same performance to be replayed on different ‘‘virtual violins,’’ so that the relationships between acoustical characteristics of violins and perceived qualities could be explored. Recordings of real performances were made using a bridge‐mounted force transducer, giving an accurate representation of the signal from the violin string. These were then played through filters corresponding to the admittance curves of different violins. Initially, the limits of performance in detecting changes in acoustical characteristics have been characterized. Thresholds were measured for the detection of different modifications of a violins acoustical response, such as a shift in frequency or an increase in amplitude of one or several modes, using a three‐interval forced‐choice discrimination task. Thresholds were higher for an input of a musical phrase than for a single note, but depended strongly on the choice of the note. The lowest threshold corresponded to a simultaneous shift in frequency of 1.5%, or an increase in level of 3 dB, of several modes, but thresholds appear to be dependent on the musical training of the listeners.

The Role of Haptic Cues in Musical Instrument Quality Perception

We draw from recent research in violin quality evaluation and piano performance to examine whether the vibrotactile sensation felt when playing a musical instrument can have a perceptual effect on its judged quality from the perspective of the musician. Because of their respective sound production mechanisms, the violin and the piano offer unique example cases and diverse scenarios to study tactile aspects of musical interaction. Both violinists and pianists experience rich haptic feedback, but the former experience vibrations at more bodily parts than the latter. We observe that the vibrotactile component of the haptic feedback during playing, both for the violin and the piano, provides an important part of the integrated sensory information that the musician experiences when interacting with the instrument. In particular, the most recent studies illustrate that vibrations felt at the fingertips (left hand only for the violinist) can lead to an increase in perceived sound loudness and richness, suggesting the potential for more research in this direction.