Timbre from Sound Synthesis and High-level Control Perspectives

International audienceExploring the many surprising facets of timbre through sound manipulations has been a common practice among composers and instrument makers of all times. The digital era radically changed the approach to sounds thanks to the unlimited possibilities offered by computers that made it possible to investigate sounds without physical constraints. In this chapter we describe investigations on timbre based on the analysis by synthesis approach that consists in using digital synthesis algorithms to reproduce sounds and further modify the parameters of the algorithms to investigate their perceptual relevance. In the first part of the chapter timbre is investigated in a musical context. An examination of the sound quality of different wood species for xylophone making is first presented. Then the influence of instrumental control on timbre is described in the case of clarinet and cello performances. In the second part of the chapter, we mainly focus on the identification of sound morphologies, so called invariant sound structures responsible for the evocations induced by environmental sounds by relating basic signal descriptors and timbre descriptors to evocations in the case of car door noises, motor noises, solid objects, and their interactions

Recurrence in acousmatic music

This doctoral research concerns recurrent phenomena in acousmatic works, investigating aspects of correspondence among the constituent sound materials, illuminating the temporal relationships existing among them, and providing concepts to help rationalise compositional structuring processes. While the main focus is on acousmatic music, many of the ideas developed in the research have broader scope and are relevant to other areas of music composition. The concept of recurrence is initially defined and considered, followed by the investigation of different aspects of sound identity. Significant factors that contribute to sound identities are proposed, and existing analytical approaches to identity classification are surveyed. A taxonomy of recurrent phenomena is then elaborated, presenting various aspects of sound identity correspondence and temporal relationships, illustrated with examples from acousmatic repertoire. Concepts described in the taxonomy are practically verified and explored in the accompanying portfolio of five acousmatic compositions, and the integration of the theory within practice is documented in the commentaries. The study identifies principles of recurrence that are unique to acousmatic music, providing concepts for creative exploration within and beyond this area of composition, but which are equally pertinent to analytical endeavours. This research is useful to both analysts and composers because it encourages a sensitivity to specific aspects of sound organisation, whilst providing terminology to describe the different relationships at play

Establishment of the Imitation Developmental Cusp via a Synchronous Mirror Protocol and the Role of Imitation as a Foundational Verbal Cusp

Across two experiments I sought to determine the relation between the Imitation developmental cusp and the emulative echoic cusp in preschoolers classified with a learning disability. In Experiment I, the participants were 36 preschoolers selected via a convenience sample, where the goal was to test for relations between the preverbal developmental cusp and foundational learning capability of Imitation, the preverbal and emulative verbal developmental cusps in the participant’s repertoire, and the reinforcement value of age-appropriate toys and activities. Results showed significant correlations between Imitation and conditioned reinforcement for observing adult faces and voices, parroting, echoics, and listener literacy, as well as significant relations between Imitation and conditioned reinforcement for playing with toys, puzzles, coloring materials, and Play-Doh. Findings show that Imitation is either a prerequisite or a corequisite to emulative verbal developmental cusps. Experiment II had two goals. The first was to determine whether educationally classified preschoolers with a disability can emit various imitative responses when the researcher presents instruction through a smart device using the mirror training protocol. The second was to determine whether the echoic behavior and observing responses of the participants would change as a result of undergoing the synchronous mirror training protocol. Results show a functional relation between the acquisition of the verbal foundational Imitation cusp and increases in emission of various imitative responses and emulative echoic responses, across both in-person and virtual conditions

Principles for designing an effective, post-compulsory music curriculum suitable for Western Australia

A new post-compulsory Music course known as the Western Australian Certificate of Education (WACE) Music course was recently introduced into Year 11 and 12 in Western Australian (WA) schools. Following a convoluted process of creation, its implementation into classrooms has been problematic. Given criticism levelled at its process of creation and implementation, the researcher questions whether the WACE Music course embodies effective, recognised principles to support the effective teaching and learning of music. This study investigates the principles which should form the basis of an effective, post-compulsory music curriculum, suitable for WA. It involved a literature review which sought to produce a set of principles for teaching and learning frameworks based upon international best practice in music education, and applicable in the unique geographical, historical and multicultural WA context. In addition, the study employed a researcher–designed survey instrument to examine whether Western Australian music teachers perceived these principles to be evident in their practical experiences of the new WACE music course. With the subsequent publishing of a draft Australian National Arts Curriculum, it is an appropriate time to review the principles which should underpin an effective Music curriculum for senior secondary students in the WA context because, without a clear set of guiding principles that are understood by curriculum writers, there is a possibility that following courses could be fundamentally flawed and not serve the best interests of students

The building blocks of sound symbolism

Languages contain thousands of words each and are made up by a seemingly endless collection of sound combinations. Yet a subsection of these show clear signs of corresponding word shapes for the same meanings which is generally known as vocal iconicity and sound symbolism. This dissertation explores the boundaries of sound symbolism in the lexicon from typological, functional and evolutionary perspectives in an attempt to provide a deeper understanding of the role sound symbolism plays in human language. In order to achieve this, the subject in question was triangulated by investigating different methodologies which included lexical data from a large number of language families, experiment participants and robust statistical tests.Study I investigates basic vocabulary items in a large number of language families in order to establish the extent of sound symbolic items in the core of the lexicon, as well as how the sound-meaning associations are mapped and interconnected. This study shows that by expanding the lexical dataset compared to previous studies and completely controlling for genetic bias, a larger number of sound-meaning associations can be established. In addition, by placing focus on the phonetic and semantic features of sounds and meanings, two new types of sounds symbolism could be established, along with 20 semantically and phonetically superordinate concepts which could be linked to the semantic development of the lexicon.Study II explores how sound symbolic associations emerge in arbitrary words through sequential transmission over language users. This study demonstrates that transmission of signals is sufficient for iconic effects to emerge and does not require interactional communication. Furthermore, it also shows that more semantically marked meanings produce stronger effects and that iconicity in the size and shape domains seems to be dictated by similarities between the internal semantic relationships of each oppositional word pair and its respective associated sounds.Studies III and IV use color words to investigate differences and similarities between low-level cross-modal associations and sound symbolism in lexemes. Study III explores the driving factors of cross-modal associations between colors and sounds by experimentally testing implicit preferences between several different acoustic and visual parameters. The most crucial finding was that neither specific hues nor specific vowels produced any notable effects and it is therefore possible that previously reported associations between vowels and colors are actually dependent on underlying visual and acoustic parameters.Study IV investigates sound symbolic associations in words for colors in a large number of language families by correlating acoustically described segments with luminance and saturation values obtained from cross-linguistic color-naming data. In accordance with Study III, this study showed that luminance produced the strongest results and was primarily associated with vowels, while saturation was primarily associated with consonants. This could then be linked to cross-linguistic lexicalization order of color words.To summarize, this dissertation shows the importance of studying the underlying parameters of sound symbolism semantically and phonetically in both language users and cross-linguistic language data. In addition, it also shows the applicability of non-arbitrary sound-meaning associations for gaining a deeper understanding of how linguistic categories have developed evolutionarily and historically

An investigation into the use of interaction strategies for children with profound and multiple learning difficulties

This study examined the premise that intensive social interaction facilitates a greater quality of responsiveness and the learning of social routines in children with profound and multiple learning difficulties (pmld). The significant behaviours that adults and normally developing infants use during social interaction and the suitability of their application to children with pmld was examined. Four children with chronological ages of five years, six years, eight years and nine years and designated as having pmld, were videotaped in a classroom setting, in a series of interaction sequences with a teacher. The manifestation of the features of attentiveness, imitation, vocalisation, posture changes, eye contact and facial expressions in children with pmld were considered in relation to adult interactive behaviours of touch, facial movements, vocalisations using infant register, play movements, en face positions with the child and imitation of child behaviours. Analysis of the videotaped data took the form of observation of five second sequences of interaction scored on a schedule indicating the adult and child interactive behaviours. A second observer viewed a number of Interactions in the videotaped data to confirm reliability. The indications were that children with pmld show a quality of responsiveness that has implications for the learning of social routines

Music and the word in the works of T.S. Eliot and James Joyce

This thesis describes primarily the influence of music on the works of T.S. Eliot and James Joyce. This is undertaken in four chapters, framed by an introduction and conclusion. The place that music had in the lives and artistic convictions of Eliot and Joyce is discussed initially, together with the aesthetic background to the period during which these authors worked, with reference to the ways it encouraged artists generally to think across disciplines. The changing beliefs and conventions of Modernism are particularly important in this respect. Selected works by Eliot and Joyce are then examined for the effect that musical sound and musical structures had on their composition. Following this, more specific analogies are drawn between particular composers and pieces of music, and significant texts by Eliot and Joyce. The extent to which analogy is possible, or even desirable, is also considered. Some assessment is made of the critical background to both the structural and analogical aspects of musical influence. Finally, a representative survey of some musical settings of work by Eliot and Joyce is offered in an attempt to show how the exchange of ideas between the two disciplines is bi-directional. An audio tape has been appended in order to further the reader's appreciation of particular examples under discussion

Sounding Imperial

Spoken words come alive in written verse.In Sounding Imperial, James Mulholland offers a new assessment of the origins, evolution, and importance of poetic voice in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. By examining a series of literary experiments in which authors imitated oral voices and impersonated foreign speakers, Mulholland uncovers an innovative global aesthetics of poetic voice that arose as authors invented new ways of crafting textual voices and appealing to readers. As poets drew on cultural forms from around Great Britain and across the globe, impersonating “primitive” speakers and reviving ancient oral performances (or fictionalizing them in verse), they invigorated English poetry.Mulholland situates these experiments with oral voices and foreign speakers within the wider context of British nationalism at home and colonial expansion overseas. Sounding Imperial traces this global aesthetic by reading texts from canonical authors like Thomas Gray, James Macpherson, and Felicia Hemans together with lesser-known writers, like Welsh antiquarians, Anglo-Indian poets of colonialism, and impersonators of Pacific islanders. The frenetic borrowing, movement, and adaptation of verse of this time offers a powerful analytic by which scholars can understand anew poetry’s role in the formation of national culture and the exercise of colonial power. Sounding Imperial offers a more nuanced sense of poetry’s unseen role in larger historical processes, emphasizing not just appropriation or collusion but the murky middle range in which most British authors operated during their colonial encounters and the voices that they used to make those cross-cultural encounters seem vivid and alive

The gesture's narrative : contemporary music for percussion

Musical performance gestures are recognized by the majority of theoreticians as a critical factor of a musical performance. The aim of the musical performance may consist in not only communicating the musical signs that form a musical piece, but conveying the meaningful succession of gestures, facial expressions and body movements. This meaningful succession, or otherwise the “gesture´s narrative” is assumed to be quite important for the process of directing the audience towards the intended interpretation. Recording music allowed audiences to listen to music without having to go to a musical event for this purpose. On the one hand, this made the listening experience more intense, allowing to concentrate on the aural information exclusively, but, on the other hand, it also imposed restrictions on people’s perception, as the syncretic listening and seeing experience became separated into constituents. Gestures can be considered as operating features of a person’s perception-action system. It presupposes significance of a meaning that involves more than just a physical movement. Movements can be subdivided into specific patterns and conceptualized. Conceptualized gestures are kept in people’s minds as single units, and the subdivision operations are carried out both by performers and the audience. Musical communication through gestures is therefore not about movement only, it should be viewed as structured interactions. For this research, solo percussion contemporary music performance will be analyzed. Overall, percussive music performance is extremely wide, and is accompanied by bright visual images provided by musicians themselves. From this perspective, observation over percussionists’ playing manner and it´s audience provides the researcher an opportunity to understand a narrative ability of music through musicians’ gestures. The quantitative research design divided in three experiments was chosen for the purpose of this study, which can be referred to as the description of the objective reality by using numbers in order to construct meaningful models reflecting various relationships between objects or phenomena. These numerical entities are not the reality itself, but a way of representing it. Moreover, the chosen experimental design gives an opportunity to not only establish the existence of certain effects of one variable on the other one, but also study the magnitude of these effects, considering the major two research questions: Is it possible to detect a percussive gesture’s narrative ? How does the percussive gesture influences the perception of musical narrative?Os gestos que produzem o som são reconhecidos pela maioria dos teóricos como um factor determinante da performance musical e da sua percepção. A conexão entre os gestos, sons e percepção de determinado discurso musical foi já abordada por um amplo número de cientistas, ainda que não haja um claro consenso quanto à medida em que essa conexão é fundamental ou quanto às operações cognitivas subjacentes à percepção de uma peça musical. O objetivo da interpretação em música consistirá não apenas em comunicar os sinais musicais que formam uma obra, mas também em transmitir a sucessão significativa de gestos, expressões e movimentos do corpo. Esta sucessão significativa, ou de outra forma exposto, a “narrativa do gesto” é considerada muito importante para o processo de condução de um público para a interpretação pretendida. O avanço da tecnologia neste estádio de desenvolvimento da sociedade, criou excelentes oportunidades para permitir a separação de atividades auditivas e visuais da música. A gravação e posterior difusão musical, permitiu que o público consumisse música sem ter que, para essa finalidade, presenciar um evento musical. Por um lado, esse fenómeno tornou a experiência de escuta mais frequente e porventura mais focada, permitindo ao ouvinte concentrar-se na informação auditiva exclusivamente. Mas, por outro lado, também impôs restrições a uma experiência musical sincrética com o ouvir e ouvir e ver, a separaram-se em constituintes dentro do fenómeno musical. Os gestos podem ser considerados características de funcionamento do sistema de percepção/ acção de um ser humano. Pressupõe isso a atribuição de expressão a um significado que envolve mais do que apenas um movimento físico. Os movimentos podem ser subdivididos em padrões específicos e conceptualizados. Estes gestos conceptualizados são mantidos como unidades singulares, e as operações de subdivisão significantes são levadas a cabo tanto pelos performers como pelo seu público. A comunicação musical através de gestos, não deve, portanto, ser olhada apenas sobre os aspectos do movimento, mas sim como uma interação estruturada e musicalmente contextualizada. Os processos descritos acima resultam em grande parte do ambiente de envolvimento do individuo ouvinte e dependem fortemente da sua singularidade e contexto cultural. Nem todos os movimentos poderão ser chamados gestos performativos para além daqueles aqueles cuja acção é de natureza intencionalmente expressiva ou inerente à produção de som. Nesta pesquisa, a performance de música contemporânea para percussão solo será analisada. De uma maneira geral, o desempenho dos percussionistas é, do ponto de vista visual, extremamente rico na formação de gestos. Nessa perspectiva, a observação de uma audiência sujeita à sua presença, com e sem contacto visual com a sua acção, fornece uma oportunidade de aproximação ao estudo do gesto e da sua narrativa, do ponto de vista da percepção do discurso musical. Um desenho de pesquisa quantitativa dividida em três experiências, foi o caminho escolhido para o presente estudo. Produziu-se uma descrição da realidade objectiva usando números, de modo a construir modelos significativos que pudessem reflectir as várias relações entre objectos ou fenómenos . Estas entidades numéricas não serão assim uma realidade em si, mas uma maneira possível de a representar . O processo de experimentação, dividido em três partes, dá-nos a oportunidade para perceber não só a existência dos efeitos de uma variável sobre a outra (visual e auditiva), mas também permite uma reflexão sobre a magnitude desses efeitos, tentando assim responder ás questões que levam a esta investigação: É possivel detectar uma narrativa no gesto percussivo? Como é que o gesto percussivo influencia a percepção do discurso musical

Effort in gestural interactions with imaginary objects in Hindustani Dhrupad vocal music

Physical effort has often been regarded as a key factor of expressivity in music performance. Nevertheless, systematic experimental approaches to the subject have been rare. In North Indian classical (Hindustani) vocal music, singers often engage with melodic ideas during improvisation by manipulating intangible, imaginary objects with their hands, such as through stretching, pulling, pushing, throwing etc. The above observation suggests that some patterns of change in acoustic features allude to interactions that real objects through their physical properties can afford. The present study reports on the exploration of the relationships between movement and sound by accounting for the physical effort that such interactions require in the Dhrupad genre of Hindustani vocal improvisation. The work follows a mixed methodological approach, combining qualitative and quantitative methods to analyse interviews, audio-visual material and movement data. Findings indicate that despite the flexibility in the way a Dhrupad vocalist might use his/her hands while singing, there is a certain degree of consistency by which performers associate effort levels with melody and types of gestural interactions with imaginary objects. However, different schemes of cross-modal associations are revealed for the vocalists analysed, that depend on the pitch space organisation of each particular melodic mode (rāga), the mechanical requirements of voice production, the macro-structure of the ālāp improvisation and morphological cross-domain analogies. Results further suggest that a good part of the variance in both physical effort and gesture type can be explained through a small set of sound and movement features. Based on the findings, I argue that gesturing in Dhrupad singing is guided by: the know-how of humans in interacting with and exerting effort on real objects of the environment, the movement–sound relationships transmitted from teacher to student in the oral music training context and the mechanical demands of vocalisation