About
59
Publications
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1,056
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Citations since 2017
Introduction
Sofia Dahl holds a PhD in Speech and Music communication from KTH, Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden. As associate professor at Aalborg University, campus Copenhagen, my primarily research field is embodied music cognition with work spanning disciplines such as psychology, neuroscience, music performance and music acoustics. Being a drummer, I have a special focus on rhythmic movements and their link to our perception and control of timing and tempo. This research includes studies of movements and timing in drumming, perception of timing and rhythm, and expressivity in players’ movements.
Additional affiliations
January 2012 - present
August 2008 - December 2011
January 2007 - August 2008
Hanover University of Music, Drama, and Media
Position
- Marie Curie Intra-European fellow
Publications
Publications (59)
Interactive sonification of biomechanical quantities is gaining relevance as a motor learning aid in movement rehabilitation, as well as a monitoring tool. However, existing gaps in sonification research (issues related to meaning, aesthetics, and clinical effects) have prevented its widespread recognition and adoption in such applications. The inc...
In this article, we present a technical framework aimed at facilitating musical biofeedback research in poststroke movement rehabilitation. The framework comprises wireless wearable inertial sensors and software built with inexpensive and open-source tools. The software enables layered and adjustable music synthesis and has a generic movement–music...
Musicians can place the time-position of events with high precision and according to personal preference, genre and tempo [1]. For instance, the swing ratio is not kept constant, but it is systematically adapted to a global tempo [2]. In contemporary music, drummers can achieve a specific feel by manipulating the timing of rhythms in different ways...
Interactive sonification has increasingly shown potential as a means of biofeedback to aid motor learning in movement rehabilitation. However, this application domain faces challenges related to the design of meaningful, task-relevant mappings as well as aesthetic qualities of the sonic feedback. A recent mapping design approach is that of using co...
This study investigates the relationship between auditory pulse clarity and sensorimotor synchronization performance, along with the influence of musical training. 29 participants walked in place to looped drum samples with varying degrees of pulse clarity, which were generated by adding artificial reverberation and measured through fluctuation spe...
We here present work a generalized low-level technical framework aimed to provide musical biofeedback in post-stroke balance and gait rehabilitation, built by an iterative user-centered process. The framework comprises wireless wearable inertial sensors and a software interface developed using inexpensive and open-source tools. The interface enable...
The focus of this paper is to investigate how the design of visual feedback on full body movement affects the quality of the movements. Informed by the theory of embodiment in interaction design and media technology, as well as by the Laban theory of effort, a computer application was implemented in which users are able to project their movements o...
This paper describes the design, implementation and eval-uation of a digital percussion instrument with multidimen-sional polyphonic control of a real-time physical modellingsystem. The system utilises modular parametric control ofdifferent physical models, excitations and couplings along-side continuous morphing and unique interaction capabil-itie...
Virtuosity in music performance is often associated with fast, precise, and efficient sound-producing movements. The generation of such highly skilled movements involves complex joint and muscle control by the central nervous system, and depends on the ability to anticipate, segment, and coarticulate motor elements, all within the biomechanical con...
Sound and music computing (SMC) is still an emerging field in many institutions, and the challenge is often to gain critical mass for developing study programs and undertake more ambitious research projects. We report on how a long-term collaboration between small and medium-sized SMC groups have led to an ambitious undertaking in the form of the N...
Head movements of groups of participants moving to music allowing for both duple and triple subdivisions were analysed using Recurrence Quantification Analysis. As expected the maximum recurrence rate varied between participant, position in the music, and between groups. The lags of maximum recurrence were only partly corresponding to the metrical...
Engagement with virtual reality (VR) through movement is becoming increasingly important. Therefore, the VR developers should improve their bodily skills and learn how to use the movement as design material. In addition, first person accounts of the development and experience are necessary. We explore the education space in VR with attention to the...
Percussion instruments vary a great deal in material properties and characteristics of the interaction. Most drums, however, produce sounds with well defined onsets and contact time between player and instrument can be very brief. Players of percussion need to have precise control of timing and striking force for sometimes very rapidly repeating, f...
Designing for and through movement is becoming increasingly important in human computer interaction, and it is widely accepted that the designers should develop their bodily skills and learn how to use the movement as design material. Yet, the reports on the education space around embodied interaction are scarce. We present an approach for teaching...
We present approaches for teaching and designing embodied interaction in collaboration with a contemporary dance choreographer. Our approaches are based on the felt qualities of movement, providing a shared experience, vocabulary for self-expression, and appreciation for movement as a design material for interaction design practitioners. In paralle...
We present an approach for teaching and designing embodied interaction based on interactive sketches. We have combined the mover perspective and felt experiences of movement with advanced technologies (multi-agents, physical simulations) in a generative design session. We report our activities and provide a simple example as a design outcome. The v...
In two experiments participants tuned a drum machine to their preferred dance tempo. Measurements of height, shoulder width, leg length, and weight were taken for each participant, and their sex recorded. Using a multiple regression analysis, height and leg length combined was found to be the best predictors of preferred dance tempo in Experiment 1...
Like all music performance, percussion playing requires high control over timing and sound properties. Specific to percussionists, however, is the need to adjust the movement to different instruments with varying physical properties and tactile feedback to the player. Furthermore, the well defined note onsets and short interaction times between pla...
Four professional percussionists were recorded when playing single strokes at different tempi (50, 120, 300 beats per minute [bpm]) and dy-namic levels (p, mf, f). All players were right handed, but two of the play-ers had their left arm affected by focal dystonia. Audio, contact time, as well as players' arm, hand, and stick movements were recorde...
Four professional percussionists played single strokes on a single headed drum (rototom) at different tempi and dynamic levels. The movements of the stick and players' arm were recorded using an optical motion capture system. The players used a drumstick equipped with strain gauges, and the bending deformation of the stick provided an estimate of t...
Single cell data from macaque suggest special processing of the sights and sounds of biological actions (Kohler, Keysers, et al, Science 2002). Recently Arrighi, Alais & Burr (JOV, 2006) have examined this hypothesis using judgments of perceptual synchrony of audio and visual streams of conga drumming as well as with synthetic audio and visual stre...
Forty-four participants were asked to sing moderate, high, and low
pitches while their faces were photographed. In a two-alternative forced choice task,
independent judges selected the high-pitch faces as more friendly than the low-pitch
faces. When photographs were cropped to show only the eye region, judges still rated
the high-pitch faces fr...
We investigated the effect of musical expertise on sensitivity to asynchrony for drumming point-light displays, which varied in their physical characteristics (Experiment 1) or in their degree of audiovisual congruency (Experiment 2). In Experiment 1, 21 repetitions of three tempos x three accents x nine audiovisual delays were presented to four ja...
cote interne IRCAM: Dahl09a
Whereas wind instrumentalists and string players have a continuous control of the acoustic sound parameters during playing, a percussionists' direct contact with the instrument is limited to a few milliseconds. The player has no possibilities to adjust grip or dampening during the actual contact. Whatever timbre and sound level the player is aiming...
Musicians often make gestures and move their bodies expressing a musical intention. In order to explore to what extent emotional intentions can be conveyed through musicians' move-ments, participants watched and rated silent video clips of musicians performing the emotional intentions Happy, Sad, Angry, and Fearful. In the first experiment particip...
When multiple sources of sensory information about a single environmental property are available, more precise estimates of that property can be formed by combining the different sources. To maximize the precision of the combined estimate each cue must be weighted in proportion to its reliability. For physical dimensions such as object size (Ernst...
This chapter analyses the movement strategies used in drumming. These movement strategies can be described as whiplash-like and aim at achieving high stick velocities on impact. Skilled playing of percussion instruments involves adjusting to and utilising the kinesthetic feedback from the instrument in question. The overall patterns of the movement...
Four percussion players' strategies for performing an accented stroke were studied by capturing movement trajectories. The players played on a force plate with markers on the drumstick, hand, and lower and upper arm. The rhythmic pattern – an ostinato with interleaved accents every fourth stroke – was performed at different dynamic levels, tempi an...
To explore to what extent emotional intentions can be conveyed through musicians’ movements, video recordings were made of
a marimba player performing the same piece with the intentions Happy, Sad, Angry and Fearful. 20 subjects were presented video
clips, without sound, and asked to rate both the perceived emotional content as well as the movement...
The interactive game environment, Ghost in the Cave, presented in this short paper, is a work still in progress. The game involves participants in an activity using non-verbal
emotional expressions. Two teams use expressive gestures in either voice or body movements to compete. Each team has an avatar
controlled either by singing into a microphone...
Is there such a thing as an internal representation of a "steady tempo" and is this representation itself free from tempo drift? To investigate this question, we propose a new method for studying detection of continuous tempo drift.
The interactive game environment EPS (expressive performance space), presented in this short paper, is a work still in progress. EPS involves participants in an activity using non-verbal emotional expressions. Two teams use expressive gestures in either voice or body movements to compete. Each team has an avatar controlled either by singing into a...
Music has an intimate relationship with motion in several aspects. Obviously, movements are required to play an instrument but mu- sicians move also their bodies in a way not directly related to note production. In order to explore to what extent emotional inten- tions can be conveyed through musicians' movements only, video recordings of a marimba...
What sensory feedback, tactile or auditory, is the more important for a musician when playing? In an attempt to answer this question, subjects were asked to play along with a metronome while the auditory feedback from their playing was manipulated. The preliminary results showed a tendency for matching sound with sound, i.e. players initiated strok...
The control of sound synthesis is a well-known problem. This is particularly true if the sounds are generated with physical modeling techniques that typically need specification of numerous control parameters. In the present work outcomes from studies on automatic music performance are used for tackling this problem.
This study has investigated the question how the radiated spectra of a tom-tom changes with striking force. Five tom-toms of different size were recorded at four dynamic levels (pp, mp, mf and ff) and their averaged spectra analysed. It was observed that the number of modes excited increase with playing strength, seen in the radiated spectra as a c...
The motion of the hand and the tip of the drumstick in a simple repeated drumming pattern with interleaved accented blows have been studied using standard video equipment. The vertical positions of the tip of the drumstick and a reference point on the hand were measured. Typical timing relations and velocities are reported. A characteristic prepara...
The movements and timing when playing an interleaved accent in drumming were studied for three professionals and one amateur. The movement analysis showed that the subjects prepared for the accented stroke by raising the drumstick up to a greater height. The movement strategies used, however, differed widely in appearance. The timing analysis showe...
How does the percussionist’s playing technique and feedback from the instrument influence the performance with respect to timing and striking force? In an attempt to answer this question the motion of the right arm and drumstick, and the timing and striking force in a simple repeated drumming task were measured for three professional percussionists...
This s tudy has investigated the question ho w the radiated spectra o f a tom-tom changes with striking force. Five tom-toms of different size were recorded a t f our dynamic levels (pp, mp, mf and ff) and their averaged spectra ana lysed. It was observed that the number of modes excited increase with playing strength, seen in the radiated spectra...
The Max Mathews' Radio Baton (RB) has usually been applied as an orchestra conducting system, as interactive music composition controller using typical percussionist gestures, and as a controller for sound synthesis models. In the framework of the Sounding Object EU founded project, the RB has found new applications scenarios. Three applications we...
In order to have a successful interface it is preferred to employ a metaphor that the end user of the artefact is familiar with. The ap- plication described in this paper aims to provide users with an ex- pressive virtual musical instrument, based on the traditional Bodhran. This is not designed entirely to simulate the Bodhran, but to pro- vide an...
Abstract This thesis addresses three aspects of movement, performance and perception in music performance. First, the playing of an accent, a simple but much used and practiced element in drumming is studied, second, the perception of gradually changing tempo, and third, the perception,and,communication,of specific emotional,intentions through,move...
The motion of the hand and the tip of the drumstick in a simple repeated drumming pattern with interleaved accented blows have been studied using standard video equipment. The vertical positions of the tip of the drumstick and a reference point on the hand were measured. Typical timing relations and velocities are reported. A characteristic prepara...
Projects
Projects (3)
The Nordic Sound and Music Computing Network (NordicSMC) brings together a group of internationally leading sound and music computing researchers from all five Nordic countries, from Aalborg University (AAU), Aalto University (AALTO), KTH Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), University of Iceland (UoI), and University of Oslo (UiO).
The constellation is unique in that the network covers the field of sound and music from the soft to the hard, including the arts and humanities, the social and natural sciences, and engineering, all with a high level of technological competency.
Sound and music computing (SMC) is a research field that studies the whole sound and music communication chain from a multidisciplinary point of view. By combining scientific, technological and artistic methodologies it aims at understanding, modeling and generating sound and music through computational approaches.
Embodied interaction is a new way of developing and designing interactive products, where the quality of movement is of paramount importance. The way the mobile applications, Kinect-based games, next smart watches, and intelligent home appliances are developed is expected to change through EIM. By employing Research Through Design (RtD) methodology, where design work drives the exploration of both problem and solutions, i.e., we gain new knowledge via the act of making.
