Roger A. Kendall

The effect of melodic and temporal contour on recognition memory for pitch change

This study was designed to explore the kinds of temporal patterning that foster pitch-difference discrimination. Musicians and nonmusicians rated the similarity of pairs of 9-note melodies that could differ in the pitch chroma of a single note at any of five serial positions. In a complete factorial design, there were 84 standard melodies (4 pitch patterns × 21 rhythms), each of which was paired with 10 octave-raised comparisons; 5 comparisons were identical to the standard in chroma and 5 had a single changed chroma. A literature review suggested that temporal accent occurs for tones initiating a lengthened temporal interval and for tones initiating a group of three or more intervals; pitch-level accent is a product of pitch skips on the order of 4 semitones or of the change of direction of the pitch contour. In this study there were three classes of temporal patterns.Rhythmically, consonant patterns had temporal accenting that was always metrically in phase with pitch-level accenting and promoted the best performance.Rhythmically out-of-phase consonant patterns had temporal accenting and pitch-level accenting that occurred regularly at the same metrical rate, but the two were never in phase. Rhythmically dissonant patterns had temporal accenting and pitch-level accenting at different metrical rates. Patterns in the latter two classes sound syncopated, and they generally resulted in poorer pitch-discrimination performance. Musicians performed better than non musicians on all patterns; however, an account of performance in terms of “rhythmic noncousonance” generated by the above three categories predicted 63% and 42% of the variance in musicians’ and nonmusicians’ performance, respectively. Performance at all serial positions was generally best for tones initiating long sound-filled intervals and was also better at a particular serial position when pitch-level accenting took the form of a pitch contour inflection instead of a unidirectional pitch skip. There was some evidence that rhythmic consonance early in a pattern improved muicians’ performance at a later serial position.

18 – Comparative Music Perception and Cognition

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the comparative music perception and cognition. The study of non-Western music perception had relatively little attention, although there are indications of increasing interest among scholars of diverse disciplines. In general, musicologists tend to focus on the “document” frame of reference, wherein generalizations about musical practice and development are made from cultural artifacts or on-site interviews. Musical anthropologists, as well as some ethnomusicologists, seem overly concerned with extra musical, contextual features. Psychologists, on the other hand, are interested in the perceptual and cognitive functions of music, often ignoring the subtleties of the musical frame. In the case or animals or birds, the sounds are classified as “musical” by humans for the purpose of investigation. The chapter concludes that it is clear that in order to have an integrative approach to understanding musical behavior, prejudices and biases attached to different domains of research must overcome.

Verbal Attributes of Simultaneous Wind Instrument Timbres: I. von Bismarck's Adjectives

A study on the verbal attributes of timbre was conducted in an effort to interpret the dimensional configuration of the similarity spaces of simultaneously sounding wind instrument timbres. In the first experiment, subjects rated 10 wind instrument dyads on eight factorially pure semantic differentials from von Bismarck9s (1974a) experiments. Results showed that the semantic differentials failed to differentiate among the 10 timbres. The semantic differential methodology was changed to verbal attribute magnitude estimation (VAME), in which a timbre is assigned an amount of a given attribute. This procedure resulted in better differentiation among the 10 timbres, the first factor including attributes such as heavy, hard, and loud, the second factor involving sharp and complex, a contrast with von Bismarck9s results. Results of the VAME analysis separated alto saxophone dyads from all others, but mapped only moderately well onto the perceptual similarity spaces. It was suggested that many of the von Bismarck adjectives lacked ecological validity.

Perceptual and Acoustical Features of Natural and Synthetic Orchestral Instrument Tones

Four experiments were conducted to explore the timbres of natural, continuant orchestral instruments with emulation based on sampling, frequency modulation ( FM) synthesis, and a hybrid consisting of sampling and synthesis techniques combined. Identification of instruments using verbal labels was significantly better for the natural and sampling- based signals than for either FM synthesis or the hybrid technique, a result also found for aural categorization. Perceptual scaling of timbral similarities demonstrated great consistency across a series of independent variables, including musical training, monophonic and stereo presentation, and long versus short signal durations. The first dimension of the classical multidimensional scaling (CMDS) solutions mapped onto long- time- average spectral centroid. The second dimension mapped onto a measure of spectral variability. Little evidence was found for the mapping of attack time or signal duration onto either dimension. A third dimension separated most natural instruments from their emulated counterparts. Experiments using verbal attribute ratings confirmed the correlation of spectral centroid, the first dimension of the perceptual space, and ratings of nasality; the second dimension correlated with spectral variability and modestly correlated with ratings of rich, brilliant, and tremulous. Mismatches of spectral distribution and variability resulted in poor emulations of the natural instruments. Results suggest that further study of centroid and time-variant psychophysical properties is warranted.

The psychology of music in multimedia

PART I. MODELS AND MULTIDISCIPLINARY PERSPECTIVES PART II. CROSS-MODAL RELATIONS IN MULTIMEDIA PART III. INTERPRETATION AND MEANING PART IV. APPLICATIONS: MUSIC AND SOUND IN MULTIMEDIA PART V. FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS

Identification and blend of timbres as a basis for orchestration

We report on a series of experiments directed toward questions concerning the timbres of simultaneous orchestral wind instruments. Following a background exposition on instrumentation and orchestration, we discuss previous experimental research on the properties of multiple timbres. To augment and explicate previous findings, we conducted two experiments: Experiment 1 was directed at subject ratings of the blend of oboe, trumpet, clarinet, alto saxophone, and flute dyads. Experiment 2 required subjects to identify the constituent instruments of a pair. Results demonstrated that increasing blend correlated with decreasing identification, and was related to the distribution of time-variant spectral energy. Oboe dyads, which were rated in other experiments as highly “nasal,” produced the lowest blend values and the highest identification. The findings are discussed in terms of a theoretical model of timbral combination and the possibilities for composition and musicological analysis.

Convergent methods in psychomusical research based on integrated, interactive computer control

Much of what we learn from an experiment depends on what we ask of the subjects and how we ask it. Most music perception and cognition research is implemented using a single methodology. Recently, questions have been raised about the validity and generalizability of such a limited approach, particularly regarding such complicated theoretical constructs as musical tonality. We propose that a useful technique is to converge on the answer to experimental questions by applying multiple methods, in essence, simultaneously investigating the central research question as well as ancillary questions of method. Such an approach is facilitated by a computer hardware and software system that integrates experimental design, data collection, data analysis, and data dissemination, linking off-the-shelf components through standard file formats and data-exchange protocols. The list-based system, using an IBM-type PC running Windows 3.0, handles real-time natural sound sampling and playback, signal synthesis and analysis, MIDI input and output, digitized picture display, and various subject-response mechanisms. On the basis of graphical icons, the integrated system can be used to build custom experimental designs. Examples of convergent psychomusical experiments that were designed, implemented, and analyzed using the system are discussed.

On the Tuning and Stretched Octave of Javanese Gamelans

The authors fit five theoretical models to the frequency-scale (Hz) data reported by Surjodiningrat, Sudarjana and Susanto on individual instruments from their extensive measurements of the tunings of 76 Javanese gamelans. The exponential models fit best and perfectly in the case of either nearly equal-interval pentatonic (sléndro) scales or unequal-interval heptatonic (pélog) scales. Further, relative to the (presumed) mild stretching of Western scales, both Javanese scales are considerably stretched. The exponential model may be useful in comparing the highly variable tunings of gamelans, in studying defunct or incomplete ensembles, for generating variable stretchings for use in perceptual and cognitive studies on the aesthetics of gamelans, or for computer modeling of gamelan instruments.

A sample-to-disk system for psychomusical research

A hardware-and-software system is described that permits musical-bandwidth signal quantization, monophonic or stereophonic, direct to/from hard disk. The system, which uses an IBM AT or compatible, is cost effective and device independent. Software functions allow for automated aural and graphical signal analyses. Perceptual experiments that use contextual, natural-instrument stimuli, and that take advantage of the immediate and random access provided by this system, are described.

Dynamics of musical expression

Various aspects of the dynamics of musical expression in terms of both acoustic and perceptual parameters were studied. In one study, duets of soprano orchestral winds performed brief musical passages in unison and in simple diatonic harmony. Perceptual spaces, obtained by scaling, were compared with acoustical analyses. Orderings of instrument pairs in three‐dimensional space were influenced by context (unison versus harmonized single notes and melodic fragments) and by such acoustic factors as combinations of excitation mechanisms and tone‐hole lattice cutoff frequencies. In a study of musical expression, single instruments, which differed in performer degrees of freedom (piano, violin, trumpet, clarinet, and oboe), were played at three levels of expressiveness. The aim was to explicate the variables used by the performer in successfully communicating expressive intent. Acoustical analyses were compared by means of a theoretical model based on the interactions of pitch, time, and dynamic contour strata.