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Abstract
In this article, I explore ways of facilitating discourse about the timbral structures of musical pieces. I address three areas of timbral study: (1) dimensions, (2) auditory streaming and pitch, and (3) change rate and attentional focus. In (1) I draw upon psychoacoustical approaches to timbre, suggesting that dimensions may be divided into “analytical” and “holistic” types. In (2), I draw upon Parncutt'S pitch salience algorithm (1992) and Huron'S perceptual voice-leading Principles (2001) for stream salience estimations; and in (3), I offer notational and analytical preference rules for a theoretical model of timbral change.
In order to illustrate the usefulness of modes of inquiry (2) and (3), the article includes sample analyses, principally of bars 1–11 of Schoenberg'S Opus 16, No. 3 ( Farben). Although listeners generally have difficulty perceiving the canonic structure of Farben, application of Parncutt'S algorithm reveals that if Schoenberg had intended the moving canonic voices to be perceptually salient, his choice of pitches for the five-voice chords was well judged. I suggest that the divergence between listeners' perceptions and the Parncutt results may be attributed to various factors highlighted in Huron'S voice-leading Principles, and to the timbral change rate.
A theory of timbre must draw upon analytical techniques that are adaptable to many different contexts. The eclectic tool-set that I have offered here is based on perception. Application of the proposed perceptual tools provides insight into specific hearings and, perhaps more importantly, may enable listeners to hear in new ways.
... As an example of the way in which psychoacoustical principles can be empirically applied to the analysis of pitch and timbre, Tsang (2002) uses a number of perceptually based approaches to analyze the structure of Farben (Colors)-the third of Schoenberg' s Five Orchestral Pieces, Op. 16, which is celebrated for its innovative use of orchestral timbre. Taking principles developed by Parncutt (1989) for estimating the salience of individual pitches, and by Huron (2001) for explaining voice-leading in perceptual terms, Tsang discusses the perceptibility of the canonic structure of the opening section of Farben. ...
... As the example from Tsang (2002) has already made clear, the kind of approach discussed in this chapter is necessarily generic, and unable to explain individual listening experiences-even if it brings new tools with which to illustrate those experiences. It is, after all, based on a "culture-free" approach in which the salience and impact of events, for example, is based solely on their acoustical and perceptual properties and not on their cultural resonances or semiotic significance. ...
... As an example of the way in which psychoacoustical principles can be empirically applied to the analysis of pitch and timbre, Tsang (2002) uses a number of perceptually based approaches to analyze the structure of Farben (Colors)-the third of Schoenberg' s Five Orchestral Pieces, Op. 16, which is celebrated for its innovative use of orchestral timbre. Taking principles developed by Parncutt (1989) for estimating the salience of individual pitches, and by Huron (2001) for explaining voice-leading in perceptual terms, Tsang discusses the perceptibility of the canonic structure of the opening section of Farben. ...
... As the example from Tsang (2002) has already made clear, the kind of approach discussed in this chapter is necessarily generic, and unable to explain individual listening experiences-even if it brings new tools with which to illustrate those experiences. It is, after all, based on a "culture-free" approach in which the salience and impact of events, for example, is based solely on their acoustical and perceptual properties and not on their cultural resonances or semiotic significance. ...
This chapter considers some of the tools available for analyzing musical sound from acoustical and psychoacoustical perspectives. Spectrograms are shown of various different kinds of musical sound, to demonstrate the features and limitations of this type of representation. Different ways of representing the basic attributes of sound are illustrated and discussed, the advantages of temporal and spectral representations (involving Fourier analysis) considered, and examples of analytical applications of these ideas in music are provided. The second half of the chapter discusses the perceptual analysis of musical sounds, based on widely accepted psychoacoustical principles such as auditory stream segregation. The chapter concludes with two examples of ways in which perceptual principles have been used to tackle questions of music analysis and music theory.
... As an example of the way in which psychoacoustical principles can be empirically applied to the analysis of pitch and timbre, Tsang (2002) uses a number of perceptually based approaches to analyze the structure of Farben (Colors)-the third of Schoenberg' s Five Orchestral Pieces, Op. 16, which is celebrated for its innovative use of orchestral timbre. Taking principles developed by Parncutt (1989) for estimating the salience of individual pitches, and by Huron (2001) for explaining voice-leading in perceptual terms, Tsang discusses the perceptibility of the canonic structure of the opening section of Farben. ...
... As the example from Tsang (2002) has already made clear, the kind of approach discussed in this chapter is necessarily generic, and unable to explain individual listening experiences-even if it brings new tools with which to illustrate those experiences. It is, after all, based on a "culture-free" approach in which the salience and impact of events, for example, is based solely on their acoustical and perceptual properties and not on their cultural resonances or semiotic significance. ...
cote interne IRCAM: McAdams03b
... Return to text Return to text 21. For discussions of timbre's potential contributions to tension and relaxation see McAdams 2013McAdams , 2019bMcAdams and Saariaho 1985;Paraskeva 1997;and Tsang 2002. Return to text 22. Lee Tsang (2002, 36-38) also suggests the notion of timbral rhythm but frames it through a discussion of "timbral meter." ...
Arnold Schoenberg’s concept of Klangfarbenmelodie (melody of timbres) is one of the most important yet least understood compositional innovations of the twentieth century. By examining significant factors in Klangfarbenmelodie ’s theoretical formulation, proposing functional roles that timbre can fulfill, and locating examples of timbre realizing those musical functions in “Farben,” the third of Schoenberg’s Five Orchestral Pieces , Op. 16, this article demonstrates some of the ways timbre can shape music and our musical experience. While musical logic based on timbre operates according to laws of its own, not those of pitch, parallels can nonetheless be drawn between harmonic functions and timbral functions. Timbral developments are shown to articulate the formal process in “Farben” and create coherent progressions, modulations, and cadences that illustrate some possibilities of how timbre can function in music.
... In the literature, a 'performance analysis' is undertaken by analysts and often use sound recordings to extract data and make analytical observations in relation to the goal of the analysis (see Bowen, 1999;Cook, 2007c;Clarke, 2004;Repp, 1992;Rink, 2002b, Tsang, 2002. Examples of what may be included in a performance analysis are: the graphing of tempi or dynamics of a work's duration; or a comparison of multiple performers on the one piece. ...
This research inquiry is firmly situated within the field of artistic research, where new knowledge about and within practice is gained. There are two equally weighted submission components: one being a series of sound files containing recordings of four recent Australian works for solo viola and related sonic data; the other this exegesis, which provides a context for understanding and unpacking the interpretive decisions housed in the recordings. The four works included in the research are: Liza Lim Amulet (1992), James Rushford Untitled (2012), Helen Gifford Desperation (2014) and Lisa Illean Cranes (2016, revised 2017). With each work, a particular experience stood out: learning, commissioning, performing, and recording a work. These became sites for investigation; problems to solve, choices to decipher, and musical decisions to consider. Analysis from the performer’s perspective became the potential medium through which the research could be expressed. Recent musical analysis literature that attempts to express elements of the score in the context of performance are limited in their ability to capture certain aspects of the performance by their abstract relationship to the site for analysis. In response to this gap in the literature, a goal of this research is to facilitate discourse on performance analysis and present a model of analysis that speaks to processes of the performer. This research argues that performance analysis is to be enacted by the performer, expressing their knowledge and experience of the score in the performance context. Specifically, a performance analysis of Lisa Illean’s Cranes (2016-17) in this exegesis is an embodied analysis that examines knowledge of the score that can only be to known to the performer through performing the score in real time. Examining creative processes undertaken by the performer as they work towards an interpretation reveals the ways in which the performer controls, manipulates and theorises elements of the score towards a performance. Further to this, the performer is in constant negotiation through their relationship with their instrument, the score, the composer, and the performance context. This can often lead to questions on how to navigate issues of authority and authenticity in a performance practice, as the performer determines what gives their practice meaning. When these experiences are contextualised and enter a reflective space, hierarchies are observed, strategies are developed, and greater understanding is gained.
... Although expectancies regarding other parameters (timbre, dynamics, etc.) probably apply, the model is limited in scope and does not address them formally. For an account that may provide a starting point for an investigation of timbre and expectation, see Tsang (2002). According to this hypothesis, similarity implies more similarity, and differentiation implies further differentiation. ...
A model of melodic expectation is proposed. The model assigns ratings to the expectedness of melodic events. The ratings depend on the hierarchic implementation of three primary factors - stability, proximity, and direction - and one secondary factor-mobility. The model explicitly links expectancy ratings to aspects of listeners' experiences of tension in melody. An approach to temporal expectations is discussed but not quantified. The model is situated within a framework for thinking about a type of schematic melodic expectations. This article assesses the position of these expectations within the broader cognitive processes invoked in listening to music. It suggests methods for investigating the expectations empirically. Additionally, it outlines connections between the theorized expectations and the dynamic, affective contours of musical experience. © 2005 by the Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
... Once the timbre descriptors have been calculated using the processed signal data and the resulting time-dependent timbral representations have been time integrated, they proceed to the final stage of the analysis, the extraction of points of timbral change at certain values of t in the melody with the aim of investigating the interaction between timbre and significant elements of melodic structure. Tsang (2002) and Malloch (2004) both tackled this question in the context of 20 th century compositions. Their analysis techniques, while different from that described here, offer very useful insights into issues that need to be taken into account when analysing the role of timbre in a musical context. ...
A method of analysing timbre in melody that takes account of its multidimensional characteristic is described. The aim of this analysis technique is to uncover the role of timbre as a structural element in melody. Gaining an understanding of how an abstract, multidimensional sound phenomenon such as timbre is used in a structured manner can lead to important insights into potential cognitive abilities; our ability to form mental representations of abstract phenomena so that they can be conserved and, subsequently, used in an organised or structured manner. This method of analysis comprises two main components, a first which carries out a time-frequency analysis of the melodic signal and processes the signal data using DSP techniques that model aspects of auditory processing before calculating the timbre descriptors, and a second that represents the melody in terms of its timbral changes rather than its absolute timbral values. A self-organising feature map is used to reduce the timbral detail and the dimensionality of the timbral representation, and to contrast-enhance the timbral changes. An example of the implementation of this analysis technique is presented using an extract from a Japanese shakuhachi honkyoku melody, chosen because of its accepted exploitation of timbre.
This study explores the sound world of the performer, building on increasing evidence that timbre is the most salient variable performance parameter and can also be the primary source of inspiration and structure in composition. Psychological, psychoacoustic, musicological and aesthetic literature is reviewed, to establish the connection between existing (listener focused) research and potential performer motivation and affect. An interview study with one elite performer/composer (classical guitar) was undertaken to investigate timbre in live performance, specifically as part of the communication process. Results show that timbre salience varies according to style: in Baroque music it mainly enhances other performance parameters and in ‘contemporary’ music it is integral to composition and interpretation. Emotional affect in the performer appears to be related to inner drive towards optimal representation of musical understanding, which then generates the evolution of extended instrumental techniques, allowing ever more imaginative use of timbre. Parallels with aesthetic and philosophical theory are offered as explanation for some of the more intangible elements of performance, particularly in relation to the main priorities and motivations of the performer. Further research might synthesize psychological and philosophical reasoning in this respect and establish whether these findings are common to other instruments, performers and cultures.
The analysis of timbre in musical structure is often left to subjective descriptive terms, while the analysis of pitch and form has a precise methodology and vocabulary at its disposal. Where changes in timbre appear to play an important role in a work, an analysis solely of the piece's pitch and thematic structures may fail to account for vital elements in the composition's structure. This paper presents an analysis of the first movement of Lutoslawski's Jeux vinitiens using techniques of timbre analysis based on psychoacoustic research. Following a traditional analysis of pitch and form, two different performances of Jeux vinitiens are analysed using psychoacoustic timbre measures of width, sharpness and roughness. The results from these two performances are compared and the score is examined for reasons for the changes in timbre. Musical structures based on both pitch and timbre analyses are proposed. The paper is both a case study of how timbre analysis can be done, and an invitation to others to embark on analysis of timbre in musical structures.
Actes du Colloque interdisciplinaire de musicologie (CIM05) Montréal (Québec) Canada, Abstract Elliott Carter is a twentieth-century American composer who has received considerable attention from analysts. Early Carter scholarship focused on his treatment of musical time, suggesting that his approach to musical space was of less interest. However, Carter has written music in which timbre is exploited for its own sake, such as the "study on one note," Etude VII of Eight Etudes and a Fantasy for Woodwind Quartet (1950). Carter considers this an important early work, in which he "attempted to find the elements of music thought, to discover basically what it is to make musical statements." It is beneficial to discover how Carter creates musical form in an environment where the rhythmic techniques of his mature music are missing, and the question of pitch is moot. Unfortunately, the task is difficult because the tools of traditional music theory are best suited to analyze pitch, and to a lesser extent, rhythm. In order to explore this piece, either the traditional tools need to be tweaked, or new tools need to be sought. The methodology in this paper employs tools from acoustics (including spectrograms) and psychoacoustics — incorporating Bregman's concepts of streaming, integration, and emergent properties — to develop a formal analysis of the work.
The traditional rules of voice-leading in Western music are explicated using experimentally established perceptual principles. Six core principles are shown to account for the majority of voice-leading rules given in historical and contemporary music theory tracts. These principles are treated in a manner akin to axioms in a formal system from which the traditional rules of voice-leading are derived. Nontraditional rules arising from the derivation are shown to predict formerly unnoticed aspects of voice-leading practice. In addition to the core perceptual principles, several auxiliary principles are described. These auxiliary principles are occasionally linked to voice-leading practice and may be regarded as compositional "options" that shape the music-making in perceptually unique ways. It is suggested that these auxiliary principles distinguish different types of part writing, such as polyphony, homophony, and close harmony. A theory is proposed to account for the aesthetic origin of voice-leading practices.
To study the perceptual structure of musical timbre and the effects of musical training, timbral dissimilarities of synthesized instrument sounds were rated by professional musicians, amateur musicians, and nonmusicians. The data were analyzed with an extended version of the multidimensional scaling algorithm CLASCAL (Winsberg & De Soete, 1993), which estimates the number of latent classes of subjects, the coordinates of each timbre on common Euclidean dimensions, a specificity value of unique attributes for each timbre, and a separate weight for each latent class on each of the common dimensions and the set of specificities. Five latent classes were found for a three-dimensional spatial model with specificities. Common dimensions were quantified psychophysically in terms of log-rise time, spectral centroid, and degree of spectral variation. The results further suggest that musical timbres possess specific attributes not accounted for by these shared perceptual dimensions. Weight patterns indicate that perceptual salience of dimensions and specificities varied across classes. A comparison of class structure with biographical factors associated with degree of musical training and activity was not clearly related to the class structure, though musicians gave more precise and coherent judgments than did non-musicians or amateurs. The model with latent classes and specificities gave a better fit to the data and made the acoustic correlates of the common dimensions more interpretable.
Auditory Scene Analysis addresses the problem of hearing complex auditory environments, using a series of creative analogies to describe the process required of the human auditory system as it analyzes mixtures of sounds to recover descriptions of individual sounds. In a unified and comprehensive way, Bregman establishes a theoretical framework that integrates his findings with an unusually wide range of previous research in psychoacoustics, speech perception, music theory and composition, and computer modeling.
Bradford Books imprint
In the last 30 yrs, technological advances in digital sound processing and nonparametric statistical methods have helped to spur a number of important studies related to timbre. The purpose of this chapter is to bring to light some of the most crucial empirical, methodological and statistical issues which have been often de-emphasized and sometimes flouted by researchers in the field. This will be done through an overview of research literature which has focused on the contribution of musical tone constituents.
Topics discussed are: the perceptual nature of timbre, timbre as an experimental variable, common methods for measuring musical timbre, the perceptual and physical correlates of musical timbre, and the comparative influence of spectral and temporal characteristics on timbre. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
It is a common experience that words are inadequate for music; there seems always to be a disparity between how music is experienced, and how it is described or rationalized. This book is a study of musical imagination. Different musical cultures embody different ways of imagining sound as music, and thus every culture creates its own distinctive pattern of discrepancies between image and experience - discrepancies which are reflected in theoretical thinking about music. Drawing on psychological and philosophical materials as well as the analysis of specific musical examples, Nicholas Cook makes a clear distinction between the province of music theory and that of aesthetic criticism. In doing so he affirms the importance of the `ordinary listener' in musical culture, and the validity of his or her experience.
This study was designed to evaluate the relative importance of transients, harmonic structure, and vibrato as timbrecues in the absolute judgment of musical tones. Tape recordings were made of tones played on ten different instruments at C4, F4, and A4 of the equally tempered scale. Appropriate splicing and retaping procedures provided a test tape with 300 randomly ordered tonal stimuli (10 instruments × 3 frequencies × 2 playing styles × 5 types of tones). Twenty trained musicians were tested and retested on the final tape in two experimental sessions. S's were provided with a reminder list of 39 instruments (grouped into classes) and were required to identify the particular instrument for each tonal stimulus. The results of this study indicate that (1) some instruments (e.g., clarinet,oboe, and flute) are identified more easily than others (e.g., violin,cello, and bassoon); (2) more correct identifications are made at F4 than C4 or A4; (3) the best identification is made for stimuli consisting of initial transients and a short steady state; (4) a vibratotone is better identified than a nonvibrato tone; and (5) identification is improved significantly with practice. Suggestions are offered for further research.
An experiment was performed to evaluate the effects of spectral modifications on the similarity structure for a set of musical timbres. The stimuli were 16 music instrument tones, 8 of which were modified in pairs. This modification consisted of exchanging the shape of the spectral energy distribution between the two tones within each pair. The three‐dimensional spatial representation of similarities among the 16 tones was obtained by multidimensional scaling techniques and compared to a previous scaling of the original 16 unmodified tones [J. M. Grey, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 61, 1270–1277 (1977)]. The pairs of tones which had exchanged spectral shapes in fact exchanged orders on the spatial axis which had been previously interpreted as relating to spectral shape, thereby supporting the earlier interpretation. The two remaining axes of the spatial solution also retained their original interpretations, relating to various temporal details of the tones. A set of formal quantitative models for the spectral dimension was constructed and tested, and the results further supported the interpretation of this perceptual axis.
This paper presents the following subject matter: First, a brief explanation is given of how “perceptual approach to musical form” is to be understood. Then hypotheses relating to the psychological mechanisms involved are proposed, along with predicted results and experimental methods employed (choice of works, subjects, and procedures). The results of three experiments, accompanied by a brief description of the musical passages as compared to these results, lead finally to a discussion of the hypotheses put forward. Musical works used in the experiment were: Sequenza VI (for solo viola) by Luciano Berio, performed by Walter Trampler (RCA SB 6846, 1971) and Eclat by Pierre Boulez, performed by the Ensemble Intercontemporain conducted by the composer (Le Temps Musical 1, a Radio France/IRCAM cassette).
"Harmony: A Psychoacoustical Approach" explains aspects of the conventional theory of harmony in Western music in terms of psychoacoustics—experimentally-established, quantitative relationships between sound (acoustics) and sensation (psychology). The pitch properties of tones, chords, and chord sequences are calculated on the assumption that the human auditory system is familiar with the pitch pattern of the audible harmonics of complex tones such as speech vowels and musical tones. The model is tested experimentally, and subsequently applied in music theory, analysis and composition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Cognitive constraints on compositional systems
- F Lerdahl
Webem's Verwandlung: Organicism and Anacrusis in Opus
- L Tsang
Berg: Wozzeck. Chor der Hamburgischen Staatsoper
- I Metzmacher
Alban Berg: Wozzeck. Chor der Deutschen Staatsoper Berlin, Staatskapelle Berlin (Daniel Barenboim)
- D Barenboim
Psychology of Music: Timbre
- S Mcadams
Pitch model in CX-complex
- R Parncutt
Analysis: History, 1910-1945
- I Bent
- A Pople
Schoenberg, 5 Orchesterstücke, Op. 16; Webern, 6 Orchesterstücke
- S Rattle