Performance Practice in a World Music Ensemble Essay -- Timbre Music E

Performance Practice in a World Music Ensemble INTRODUCTION One of the objectives of the Indiana University International Vocal Ensemble (IVE) is to sing music of non-western cultures in the native language, and to the degree possible, sing with integrity of vocal and musical style. A subsequent objective is to imitate music accurately when presented with an aural model. With these objectives in mind I am interested in semantic perception and computer analysis cues of vocal timbre and the degree, if any, to which vocal timbre can be imitated between cultures, and how this information can be added to a transcription to aid the singer. For this particular project I focused on the production of Ghanaian vocal timbre by three native Ghanaians, individuals in IVE, and non-IVE members of a Ghanaian children's song. This paper will focus on the data of one of the Ghanaian female informants (Gf1) and one American female IVE member (Af1). There is no conclusive theory of timbre perception. Part of the difficulty is that timbre is difficult to perceive as an isolated phenomenon since it is based on perception. Timbre is connected with the source as opposed to individual and measurable attributes such as frequency or amplitude. With regards to vocal timbre the vocal tract transforms the airflow spectrum into recognizable acoustical patterns which we know as vowels. Vowels are a musical element of singing aside from their information carrying function. (Benade, 1990) Three areas of vowel production that are typically studied in computer analysis when researching timbre are the harmonic spectra, formants, and attack and decay transients. Another approach to investigating timbre along with computer analysis is the investigation of... ...oice differs in choral singing and solo singing, and in Western trained singing a different timbre is desired for choral singing compared with solo singing. Another difference is that "...choral singers strive to tune their voice timbre in order to mesh with the timbre of the rest of the choir, while a solo singer would try to develop his or her own individual timbre." (Sundberg, 1987) How do people's perceptions of timbre translate from the individual to a group sound? What adjustments do one's ears make? These issues are open for further research on the timbre of singing. The song Kofi has since been performed at numerous concerts, and many people in the choir will continue humming the song when it pops into their head for one reason or another. Next semester there will be new pieces and new timbres to begin to model, with new research ready to be investigated. Performance Practice in a World Music Ensemble Essay -- Timbre Music E Performance Practice in a World Music Ensemble INTRODUCTION One of the objectives of the Indiana University International Vocal Ensemble (IVE) is to sing music of non-western cultures in the native language, and to the degree possible, sing with integrity of vocal and musical style. A subsequent objective is to imitate music accurately when presented with an aural model. With these objectives in mind I am interested in semantic perception and computer analysis cues of vocal timbre and the degree, if any, to which vocal timbre can be imitated between cultures, and how this information can be added to a transcription to aid the singer. For this particular project I focused on the production of Ghanaian vocal timbre by three native Ghanaians, individuals in IVE, and non-IVE members of a Ghanaian children's song. This paper will focus on the data of one of the Ghanaian female informants (Gf1) and one American female IVE member (Af1). There is no conclusive theory of timbre perception. Part of the difficulty is that timbre is difficult to perceive as an isolated phenomenon since it is based on perception. Timbre is connected with the source as opposed to individual and measurable attributes such as frequency or amplitude. With regards to vocal timbre the vocal tract transforms the airflow spectrum into recognizable acoustical patterns which we know as vowels. Vowels are a musical element of singing aside from their information carrying function. (Benade, 1990) Three areas of vowel production that are typically studied in computer analysis when researching timbre are the harmonic spectra, formants, and attack and decay transients. Another approach to investigating timbre along with computer analysis is the investigation of... ...oice differs in choral singing and solo singing, and in Western trained singing a different timbre is desired for choral singing compared with solo singing. Another difference is that "...choral singers strive to tune their voice timbre in order to mesh with the timbre of the rest of the choir, while a solo singer would try to develop his or her own individual timbre." (Sundberg, 1987) How do people's perceptions of timbre translate from the individual to a group sound? What adjustments do one's ears make? These issues are open for further research on the timbre of singing. The song Kofi has since been performed at numerous concerts, and many people in the choir will continue humming the song when it pops into their head for one reason or another. Next semester there will be new pieces and new timbres to begin to model, with new research ready to be investigated.