A need was determined for a computer program which could evaluate sight singing performance with melodies of four or more measures and tempi established by the student. The present study was undertaken to provide algorithms for such a computer program, and to compare those algorithms to human evaluation. / A computer program to record pitch and rhythmic errors in sight singing examples was written for use with the Roland VP-70 Voice Processor, a hardware device which converts real-time audio input to MIDI information. Forty-six subjects sang a total of 249 test melody samples. Cassette recordings of 51 of these examples were evaluated by the researcher and two other college sight singing instructors. MIDI recordings of the same samples were processed through the computer evaluation program. Reliability coefficients were calculated for the instructors with each other and the computer. Comparisons of the human and computer evaluations were made for discrepancies which were studied in detail, and incorporated into the program so as to effectively simulate human evaluation. / It was noted that instructors did not categorize as incorrect, intervals performed less than 60 cents sharp or flat; subsequently, the allowable cent deviation was increased from 50 cents to 59 cents. Durations of the last note performed as short as 20% and as long as 180% of the correct value were evaluated as correct by the instructors. The computer program was revised to reflect that judgment. The original fifteen percent deviation allowance for judgment of rhythm was increased to twenty percent for half notes, upon discovery that these notes were performed consistently short and not marked incorrect by the judges. / Of 45 internal (excluding first and last) half notes sung, 32 (71%) were performed short when measured against surrounding quarter notes. In addition, of 110 groups of two eighths, 79 second notes (72%) were performed longer than first notes. These differences were not perceived by the human judges, but study of these phenomena might reveal some valuable insight into rhythmic performance. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 51-07, Section: A, page: 2307. / Major Professor: Peter Spencer. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1990.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_78268 |
| Contributors | Lorek, Mary Jo., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 156 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
Page generated in 0.0094 seconds