scholarly journals The effect of piano accompaniment type and harmonic context on the tuning performance of college-level choral musicians

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Tristan Frampton
Keyword(s):  
Just Intonation ◽  
College Level ◽  
Equal Temperament ◽  
Harmonic Context ◽  
Tuning Systems

This study was designed to evaluate the effect of piano accompaniment style on the intonation performance of college-level choral musicians. It was hypothesized that using a piano accompaniment comprised solely of referential tones (RT), as opposed to having all voice parts doubled by the piano (PD), would encourage more desirable intonation performance. Participants (N = 34) sang a researcher-composed melody harmonized with traditional Western functional harmony under both accompaniment conditions. Accompaniment type was not found to have a significant effect on the tuning performance of target intervals, but harmonic context did significantly affect the singers' intonation. Most notably, intonation of major 3rds in the I and IV chords closely approximated just intonation, regardless of accompaniment type. In the context of the V chord, performances more closely approximated the high Pythagorean 3rd, which was attributed to a tendency to heighten the leading tone. When comparing intonation performance to the just intonation, equal temperament, and Pythagorean tuning systems, results indicated that performances did not conform perfectly to any one tuning system, supporting the conclusion that the singers' intonation performance was dependent on harmonic context.

Intonation of Harmonic Intervals: Adaptability of Expert Musicians to Equal Temperament and Just Intonation

2003 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 383-410 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reinhard Kopiez
Keyword(s):  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Theoretical Model ◽  
Musical Instrument ◽  
Just Intonation ◽  
Experimental Paradigm ◽  
Professional Musicians ◽  
Average Deviation ◽  
Equal Temperament ◽  
Nonsignificant Difference ◽  
Tuning Systems

This study examines the deviation in the intonation of simultaneously sounding tones under the condition of an embedded melody task. Two professional musicians (trumpet players) were chosen as subjects to play the missing upper voice of a four-part audio example, while listening via headphones to the remaining three parts in adaptive five-limit just intonation and equal temperament. The experimental paradigm was that of a controlled varied condition with a 2 (tuning systems) ×× 5 (interval categories) ×× 5 (renditions) ×× 2 (players) factorial design. An analysis of variance showed a nonsignificant difference between the average deviation of harmonic intonation in the two systems used. Mean deviations of 4.9 cents (SD = 6.5 cents) in the equal-temperament condition and of 6.7 cents (SD = 8.1 cents) in the just-intonation condition were found. Thus, we assume that the musicians employed the same intonation for equaltemperament and just-intonation versions (an unconscious "always the same" strategy) and could not successfully adapt their performances to the just-intonation tuning system. Fewer deviations could be observed in the equal-temperament condition. This overall tendency can be interpreted as a "burn in" effect and is probably the consequence of longterm intonation practice with equal-temperament. Finally, a theoretical model of intonation is developed by use of factor analysis. Four factors that determine intonation patterns were revealed: the "major third factor," the "minor third and partials factor," the "instrumental tuning factor," and the "octave-minor seventh factor." To summarize, even in expert musicians, intonation is not determined by abstract tuning systems but is the result of an interaction among compositional features, the acoustics of the particular musical instrument, and deviation patterns in specific intervals.

A Computer-Based Training Program for Developing Harmonic Intonation Discrimination Skill

1992 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce F. Dalby
Keyword(s):  
Training Program ◽  
Matched Control ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Music Majors ◽  
Just Intonation ◽  
Computer Based Training ◽  
Equal Temperament ◽  
Computer Based ◽  
Experimental Subjects ◽  
Experimental Group

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a computer-based training program for improving students' ability to make judgments of harmonic intonation. Twenty members of two undergraduate conducting classes participated in the Harmonic Intonation Training Program (HITP). An equivalent matched control group was selected from 156 other undergraduate music majors who had also taken the investigator-developed Harmonic Intonation Discrimination Test (HIDT). The HITP consisted of a body of drill-and-prac-tice exercises using intervals, triads, and brief three- and four-part musical passages. The exercises were played in both equal temperament and just intonation by a 16-voice digital synthesizer. After a 9-week treatment period, a two-way ANOVA on posttest HIDT scores revealed a difference (p= .005) in favor of the experimental group. Results of a questionnaire administered after the training to the experimental subjects indicated that attitudes toward the training program were mostly positive.

Eight Artist-Level Violinists Performing Unaccompanied Bach: Are There Consistent Tuning Patterns?

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
John M. Geringer
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Equal Temperament ◽  
Tuning Systems

This study was designed to explore the intonation performances of highly regarded concert violinists in an unaccompanied context. I chose eight solo artists representing different generations of performers (Heifetz, Grumiaux, Milstein, Perlman, Hahn, Midori, Barton Pine, and Shaham). Pitch performances were analyzed in commercial recordings spanning 65 years of two unaccompanied pieces composed by Bach, one in d minor and one in E major. I investigated whether similarities in intonation tendencies would occur among these respected artists, and whether the displayed patterns would approximate the theoretical tuning systems that have been studied previously: Just, Pythagorean, or equal temperament. The artists appear to have their own individual tendencies, and none of them conformed consistently to any theoretical tuning system. Although there are average tendencies on isolated intervals that approximate one tuning or the other, multiple repetitions show a wide range both between and within individual performers. However, performances of the thirds and sixths in the major key and less so in the minor key (intervals that illustrate the largest differences in tuning between systems) did display a propensity toward Pythagorean tuning of these scale degrees. Deviations away from all three tuning systems are common, and these artists never play exactly in one tuning or another.

scholarly journals The theory of the division of the octave, and the practic treatment of the musical systems thus obtained. Revise version of a paper entitled 'on just intonation in music with a description of a new instrument for the easy control systems of tuning other than the equal temperament of 1 divisions in the octave

1875 ◽  
Vol 23 (156-163) ◽  
pp. 390-408
Keyword(s):  
Control Systems ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Just Intonation ◽  
New Instrument ◽  
Equal Temperament ◽  
Musical Systems ◽  
Revise Version

The mode of expressing Intervals . In the original paper presented by the writer to the Royal Society logarithms were employed as the measure of intervals, as they have been commonly employed by others. Great advantages have been found, however, to result from the adoption of the equal temperament (E. T.) mitone, which is 1/12 of an octave, as the unit of interval. It is the unit most familiar to musicians, and has been found to admit of the expression of the theory of cyclical systems by means of formulæ of the simplest character. The writer therefore devised the following rules for the transformation of ratios into E. T. semitones and vice versâ , and subsequently found that De Morgan had given rules for the same purpose which are substantially the same (Camb. Phil. Trans, vol. x. p. 129). The rules obviously depend on the form of log 2. The form of the first e affords a little more accuracy than De Morgan’s.

Comma 32 805/32 768

1998 ◽  
Vol 06 (03) ◽  
pp. 295-305 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ján Haluška
Keyword(s):  
Just Intonation ◽  
Equal Temperament ◽  
The One

We find a fifth approximation of the Just Intonation which generalizes Equal Temperament. The intervals causing a dilemma are the second and the minor seventh and the tritone because they are unambiguous in Just Intonation (the relative frequencies 10/9, 9/8, 8/7 and 7/4, 16/9, 18/10 and 45/32, 64/45, respectively). If we do not consider the second and seventh with the relative frequencies 8/7 and 7/4, respectively, all the music intervals in this approximation either coincide with he Just Intonation interval values (the octave, fifth, fourth, second (9/8) and the minor seventh (16/9)) or are exactly the one comma distant from the corresponding Just Intonation intervals. This comma is 32 805/32 768 ≈ 1.00112915, which is less than the ratio of frequencies of the perfect and the equal tempered fifths (≈ 1.00112989).

scholarly journals The Effect of the Tuning System and Instrument Variables on Modal Dictation Performance

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 124
Author(s):  
Rasim Erol Demirbatır ◽  
Hatice Çeliktaş ◽  
Doruk Engür
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Music Teacher ◽  
Difficulty Level ◽  
Sight Reading ◽  
Music Teacher Education ◽  
Ear Training ◽  
Important Place ◽  
Bachelor Degree ◽  
Equal Temperament ◽  
Tuning Systems

Ear training and musical literacy (ETML) education is one of the main dimensions of the bachelor degree program of music teacher education departments, which provides professional music education. In ETML education, hearing, sight-reading and dictation studies for Turkish music makams have an important place. In this study, it was aimed to investigate the effects of different instrument sources and tuning systems; namely, equal tempered or traditionally tempered, on the modal dictation performances of students in dictation exercises in the scope of ETML education. This research was conducted with 56 bachelor degree music education students who were taking ETML course. While equal tempered and traditional instruments (piano and kanun) were used as the sound source in the research, examples of equal difficulty level in Huseyni makam scale, which is one of the main makams of Turkish music, were used as dictation material. Both instruments were tuned in accordance with both the equal temperament and the traditional makam system so that four different dictation types were created. As a result of the research, it has been determined that the students are more successful when piano is used in dictation than kanun-dictated trials and in terms of tuning system, the students are found to be more successful with equal tempered system when compared with traditional tuning system. The instrument and tuning interaction was not statistically significant.

Just Intonation

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Hasegawa
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Music Theory ◽  
Musical Instruments ◽  
Just Intonation ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Interval Size ◽  
Tuning Systems ◽  
Simultaneous Sounds

Just intonation is a system of tuning musical intervals based on simple ratios between the frequencies of their constituent pitches. For voices and most musical instruments, just intonation minimizes the acoustical interference between simultaneous sounds and leads to the highest degree of blending and consonance. Though its roots are ancient, twentieth-century composers revived just intonation towards new esthetic ends. The idea of using ratios to quantify interval size originated in ancient Greek music theory: In Pythagorean intonation, all intervals are measured with ratios made solely of multiples of the integers 2 and 3. In response to the growing use of thirds and sixths in the fifteenth century, Renaissance theorists expanded Pythagorean intonation to include multiples of 5, replacing the tense Pythagorean major third, 81/64, with the mellifluous just major third, 5/4—in all ratio-based tunings, simpler ratios produce smoother, more consonant intervals. Musicologists typically reserve the term ‘‘just intonation’’ for this Renaissance system, though it is also used metonymically to refer to all ratio-based tuning systems.

From Scratch

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Tenney
Keyword(s):  
Information Theory ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Music Theory ◽  
Computer Music ◽  
The Self ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Harmonic Space ◽  
Just Intonation ◽  
Tuning Systems

One of the twentieth century's most important musical thinkers, the author did pioneering work in multiple fields, including computer music, tuning theory, and algorithmic and computer-assisted compositions. This book is a collection of the author's hard-to-find writings arranged, edited, and revised by the self-described “composer/theorist.” Tenney argued that “a new kind of music theory is needed which deals with the question of what we actually hear when we listen to a piece of music, as well as how or why we hear as we do.” His collection, which spans the years from 1955 to 2006, constitutes one of the most important bodies of music-theoretical thought of the twentieth century. Each article in this volume asks how new and radical musical ideas might emerge from how we hear. Selections focus on his fundamental concerns—“what the ear hears”—and include thoughts and ideas on perception and form, tuning systems and especially just intonation, information theory, theories of harmonic space, and stochastic (chance) procedures of composition.

scholarly journals Understanding expressive intonation

2021 ◽  
pp. 159-203
Author(s):  
Ana Llorens
Keyword(s):  
Performance Analysis ◽  
Music Perception ◽  
Reference Points ◽  
Structural Function ◽  
Music Psychology ◽  
Equal Temperament ◽  
Tuning Systems ◽  
Expressive Intonation ◽  
Do So

Research on intonation has mainly sought for classifying and/or expressive explanations for performers’ strategies. In the field of music psychology and music perception, such explanations have been explored in terms of interval direction, size, or type; in the field of performance analysis, to which this article belongs, investigation on intonation has been not only scarce but also limited to short excerpts. In this context, this article explores Pau Casals’ intonational practice specific to his recording of Bach’s E flat major prelude for solo cello. To do so, on the basis of exact empirical measurements, it places such practice alongside the cellist’s conscious, theoretical recommendations apropos what he called “expressive” string intonation, showing that the interpretation of the latter should is not straightforward. It also proposes several reference points and tuning systems which could serve as models for Casals’ practice and looks for explanations beyond simple interval classification. In this manner, it ultimately proposes a structural function for intonation, in partnership with tempo and dynamics. Similarly, it understands Casals’ intonational practice not as a choice between but as a compromise for multiple options in tuning systems (mostly equal temperament and Pythagorean tuning), reference points (the fundamental note of the chord and the immediately preceding tone), the nature of the compositional materials (harmonic and melodic), and, most importantly, structure and expression.

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