Surfaces

Surfaces is a work for two percussionists in four movements. It uses a variety of small percussion instruments, keyboard percussion, and two specially built kalimbas. This document contains both the score and an analysis of the piece that covers instrument choice, performance practice, form and compositional techniques employe

Performance Practice and Compositional Structure in Relation to Recital Preparation

Master's Project (M.Mu.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2017This paper examines the author's graduate percussion recital program; ?Corporel(1985) by Vinko Globokar (b. 1934), Child of Tree (1975) by John Cage (1912-1992) Rebonds b. (1989) by Iannis Xenakis (1992-2001) Ilijas (1996) by Nebojša Jovan Živković (b. 1962), Mourning Dove Sonnet (1983) by Christopher Deane (b. 1957) and e-home (2015/2017) by Elisabet Curbelo (b. 1984). The author offers an examination of performance practice and compositional structure as it relates to the author's performance of the material.Chapter One: ?Corporel (1985) -- Chapter Two: Child of Tree (1975) -- Chapter Three: Rebonds b. (1989) -- Chapter Four: Ilijas (1996) -- Chapter Five: Mourning Dove Sonnet (1983) -- Chapter Six: e-home (2015/2017) -- Work Cited

Some considerations on pitch

Pitch is an audible quality of sound which can be explained not only in terms of strong correlation with sound waves’ properties, but also by a neat correlation to the properties of the sounding object. This seems to be in favour of the theory of sound labelled “distal view”, according to which sound is the vibration of the sounding object

Understanding concurrent earcons: applying auditory scene analysis principles to concurrent earcon recognition

Two investigations into the identification of concurrently presented, structured sounds, called earcons were carried out. One of the experiments investigated how varying the number of concurrently presented earcons affected their identification. It was found that varying the number had a significant effect on the proportion of earcons identified. Reducing the number of concurrently presented earcons lead to a general increase in the proportion of presented earcons successfully identified. The second experiment investigated how modifying the earcons and their presentation, using techniques influenced by auditory scene analysis, affected earcon identification. It was found that both modifying the earcons such that each was presented with a unique timbre, and altering their presentation such that there was a 300 ms onset-to-onset time delay between each earcon were found to significantly increase identification. Guidelines were drawn from this work to assist future interface designers when incorporating concurrently presented earcons

On The Presence of Christ

On the Presence of Christ is a musical work for septet (three strings, three winds, percussion) exploring Christ’s presence throughout all time as described in Scripture, wherein the individual movements are thematically grounded and arranged from ancient past to coming future. “In the Beginning” is based on Genesis 1:1-2 and John 1:1-5; “At the Throne” is based on Revelation 4:2-11; and “With His Saints Forever” is based in Revelation 21:1-5a and 22-23. I use these chosen Scriptures to guide my musical exploration, allowing my reflections and perspectives on them to give this music its substance and form My hope is that this works points beyond my limited perspective concerning these Scriptures, and even the Scriptures themselves, to their divine source, and the goodness, beauty, and truth therein

A Comparison of Saxophone Mouthpieces Using Fourier Analysis to Quantify Perceived Timbre

The saxophone mouthpiece significantly contributes to the overall timbre of the instrument. Specialized mouthpiece designs employ combinations of chamber shape, facing dimensions, and material to create a potential sound and response for the performer. Also, manufacturers claim that ligatures affect tonal brightness. However, there is a lack of scientific data reflecting the impact of the claimed tonal characteristics of the specified designs on timbre. With the advent of the smartphone application, the spectrum analysis (also known as impedance spectra) resulting from a Fourier Transform has recently become available to a mass audience. This technology is being investigated to quantify timbre color. Thus, the primary focus of this thesis was to investigate the use of acoustic measurement technology available on a smartphone to benefit the performance of the musician. Frequency spectra of 12 different alto saxophone mouthpieces with six different ligature combinations and three tenor mouthpiece clones made of different materials were recorded. Four notes were recorded from each mouthpiece based on the fundamentals of the saxophone. The timbres were compared for brightness by measuring the spectral centroid (SC) and normalized spectral centroid (NSC). Specific mouthpiece characteristics were explained and characterized for their contribution to timbre brightness. This explanation was compared against past research. The physical characteristics of several mouthpieces were measured using X-ray tomography, and the frequency spectra of each were recorded. Resulting spectra were analyzed, compared, and charted to isolate and evaluate the influence of mouthpiece characteristics and ligature characteristics on timbre

Hydraulophone design considerations : absement, displacement, and velocity-sensitive music keyboard in which each key is a water jet

We present a musical keyboard that is not only velocity-sensitive, but in fact responds to absement (presement), displacement (placement), velocity, acceleration, jerk, jounce, etc. (i.e. to all the derivatives, as well as the integral, of displacement). Moreover, unlike a piano keyboard in which the keys reach a point of maximal displacement, our keys are essentially infinite in length, and thus never reach an end to their key travel. Our infinite length keys are achieved by using water jet streams that continue to flow past the fingers of a person playing the instrument. The instrument takes the form of a pipe with a row of holes, in which water flows out of each hole, while a user is invited to play the instrument by interfering with the flow of water coming out of the holes. The instrument resembles a large flute, but, unlike a flute, there is no complicated fingering pattern. Instead, each hole (each water jet) corresponds to one note (as with a piano or pipe organ). Therefore, unlike a flute, chords can be played by blocking more than one water jet hole at the same time. Because each note corresponds to only one hole, different fingers of the musician can be inserted into, onto, around, or near several of the instrument’s many water jet holes, in a variety of different ways, resulting in an ability to independently control the way in which each note in a chord sounds. Thus the hydraulophone combines the intricate embouchure control of woodwind instruments with the polyphony of keyboard instruments. Various forms of our instrument include totally acoustic, totally electronic, as well as hybrid instruments that are acoustic but also include an interface to a multimedia computer to produce a mixture of sounds that are produced by the acoustic properties of water screeching through orific plates, as well as synthesized sounds

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