Several studies have demonstrated that melody recognition is reduced when the timbre (instrument) changes between exposure and test, but no study has evaluated the possibility that different timbres have differential effects on melody recognition. The current study evaluated adults’ recognition and liking of unfamiliar Irish melodies presented in four timbres: two familiar (voice, piano) and two less familiar (banjo, marimba). After exposure to a set of melodies, participants judged whether each melody from a larger set (original and novel) was old or new. Melodies presented vocally were remembered significantly better than those presented instrumentally even though they were liked less. The findings confirm that surface features of music and abstract, relational features are processed jointly as well as separately.

Undergraduate honors paper--Mount Holyoke College, 2008. Dept. of Physics. / CD contains 49 oboe tracts. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 80-81).

Cēgə Trouhèst is a three-movement work of about thirteen minutes duration. The text by the composer provides a vehicle for aural stimulation only. Cēgə Trouhèst is a continuum of resonances embellished by melodic and rhythmic passages. These embellishments along with other devices and the choice of instrumentation all contribute to the development of the varied timbres. The first two movements introduce the material to be employed in the third, which continues the idea of change exhibited in the text by modification and extraction. Timbre is the most important aspect of this work. It is exploited homophonically, contrapuntally, and through instrumental/vocal interchange and timbre modification of a single tone.

This thesis describes the ideal properties of an adaptable music classification system based on unsupervised machine learning, and argues that such a system should be based on the fundamental musical properties of timbre, rhythm, melody and harmony. The first two properties and the signal features associated with them are then explored in more depth. In the area of timbre, the relationship between musical style and commonly-extracted signal features within a broad range of piano music is explored, in an effort to identify features which are consistent among all piano music but different for other instruments. The effect of lossy compression on these same timbre features is also investigated. In the area of rhythm, a new tempo tracking tool is provided which produces a series of histograms containing beat and sub-beat information throughout the course of a musical recording. These histograms are then shown to be useful in the analysis of synthesized rhythms and real music. Additionally, a novel method based on the Expectation-Maximization algorithm is used to extract features for classification from the histograms. / Master of Science

Classical music performers use instruments to transform the symbolic notationof the score into sound which is ultimately perceived by a listener. For acoustic instruments, the timbre of the resulting sound is assumed to be strongly linked to the physical and acoustical properties of the instrument itself. However, rather little is known about how much influence the player has over the timbre of the sound - is it possible to discriminate music performers by timbre? This thesis explores player-dependent aspects of timbre, serving as an individual means of musical expression. With a research scope narrowed to analysis of solo cello recordings, the differences in tone quality of six performers who played the same musical excerpts on the same cello are investigated from three different perspectives: perceptual, acoustical and gestural. In order to understand how the physical actions that a performer exerts on an instrument affect spectro-temporal features of the sound produced, which then can be perceived as the player's unique tone quality, a series of experiments are conducted, starting with the creation of dedicated multi-modal cello recordings extended by performance gesture information (bowing control parameters). In the first study, selected tone samples of six cellists are perceptually evaluated across various musical contexts via timbre dissimilarity and verbal attribute ratings. The spectro-temporal analysis follows in the second experiment, with the aim to identify acoustic features which best describe varying timbral characteristics of the players. Finally, in the third study, individual combinationsof bowing controls are examined in search for bowing patterns which might characterise each cellist regardless of the music being performed. The results show that the different players can be discriminated perceptually, by timbre, and that this perceptual discrimination can be projected back through the acoustical and gestural domains. By extending current understanding of human-instrument dependencies for qualitative tone production, this research may have further applications in computer-aided musical training and performer-informed instrumental sound synthesis.

Thèse doctorat : Acoustique : Villeurbanne, INSA : 2005. / Titre provenant de l'écran-titre. Bibliogr. p. 145-153.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-14T12:52:33Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 7923107 bytes, checksum: bde4204dd3d768dc6537b4104666ebd6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-03-27 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / The present research aims to insert sound objects, independent musical entities, in the context of a complex compositional system, here called Object-Timbre System. This system was divided in three different components, sonorous unit, syntagm and envelop, in which the sound object concept elapses. The sintagm and the envelope form the two levels of contextual connection. Although focusing each component as an autonomous mean, this autonomy is not an absolute one, because in order to form syntagm and envelop it is necessary the amalgamation of the sonorous units and the syntagm. Therefore the connection is an important transport of the Object-Timbre System, and will be focus from the perspective of the Gestalt psychology, specifically from the Gestalt laws. The major or minor presence of the Gestalt laws in the construction of the component forms what we call vector of contextual connection. This vector was divided in high, average and low degree. Timbre was the musical agent from which these connections have been establisched. In this way the model constructed here inserts between the atomistic thinking, as it deals with the sonorous object, and the holistic or ecological thinking, due to the necessary connections to create components in a superior hierarchic level. For such reason we used the concept of near-decomposability created by Herbert Simon in a complex systems context. Five pieces was composed for strings: Tractus Mobilis I.a/b (for solo violin), Ideoplastie II (for violin and violoncello), Vortex Diagonal (for violin, viola and violoncello), Interceptação (string quartet) and Araneae (string quintet). / A presente pesquisa buscou inserir objetos sonoros, entidades musicais autônomas, no contexto de um sistema composicional complexo, denominado Sistema Objeto-Timbre (SOT). Esse sistema é dividido em três componentes, nos quais perpassa o conceito de objeto sonoro, que são: a unidade sonora, o sintagma e o envelope. O sintagma e o envelope formam os dois graus de conexão contextual. Apesar de enfocar cada componente como autônomo, essa autonomia é relativa, pois, para formar o sintagma e o envelope, é necessário que haja a união das unidades sonoras e sintagmas, respectivamente. As conexões são partes importantes do SOT, e são abordadas a partir da psicologia da Gestalt, em particular a partir das leis da Gestalt. O timbre foi o agente musical a partir do qual se buscou estabelecer essas conexões. Dessa forma, a abordagem aqui utilizada se insere num meio-termo entre o pensamento atomístico, pois parte do objeto sonoro, e a abordagem holística ou ecológica, pelas conexões necessárias à criação de componentes de nível hierárquico superior. Por tal motivo, utilizou-se o conceito de quase decomponibilidade, criado por Herbert Simon e aplicado a sistemas complexos. Como resultado, foram compostas cinco peças para cordas, a saber: Tractus Mobilis I.a/b (para violino solo e viola solo), Ideoplastie II (para violino e violoncelo), Diagonal Vortex (para violino, viola e violoncelo), Interceptação (quarteto de cordas) e Araneae (quinteto de cordas).

This thesis is comprised of a portfolio of musical compositions with accompanying media and a written commentary. In each of the seven compositions, the timbral palettes of musical instruments have been expanded through unconventional physical manipulation. The written commentary presents, in detail, specific examples of how this has been achieved. Alongside descriptions of the work in question, select aspects of other composers' music that approach a similar aesthetic are also referred to. In addition, the fundamental role technology has played in the creation or realisation of certain pieces is addressed. Also included are descriptions of the various customised notational systems used throughout the portfolio. It is outlined how each of these systems has been constructed in a clear and practical manner and, where possible, has incorporated elements derived from the lingua franca in order to communicate the required information as efficiently as possible to the performers.

This study first traces the evolution of a new musical design, one which emphasizes textual elements in the structural foundation. It follows with an account of the life and musical style of Olivier Messian, a contemporary composer who has emphasized timbre as a structural parameter in his music - most notably in several works of the sixties. An analysis of his Couleurs de la Cité Céleste (1963) is offered in the final chapter, indicating in particular the important role that timbre, as well as other textual elements, plays on forming the large-scale design.

The purpose of this study was to determine if a preference exists for recorded acoustic music or music using sound sampled timbre, and if that preference is influenced by age or gender. Participants were divided into two groups, 10 to 15 year olds (n=97), and 50-91 year olds (n=99). Each participant listened to a CD which presented 17 pairs of excerpts from classical music. Each pair contained both a recorded acoustic and sound sampled example of the following timbres: trumpet, flute, trombone, oboe, and tuba. A survey form was used to record the participants’ preferences. Results indicated that preference exists for both music using recorded acoustic timbre and music using sound sampled timbre, with youths preferring recorded acoustic and adults preferring sound sampled. A 2x2 factorial design disclosed that there was a significant difference between the age groups. Gender demonstrated no significant effect nor was there significant interaction between age and gender. Conclusions pointed to the influence of music heard in the public school environment. With increased availability and exposure to sound sampling, consumption of music using this timbre will increase. Music educators need to recognize that the presentation of timbre used in the classroom may reinforce preferences for acoustic music. / Master of Arts