Empirical Musicology Review: Volume 6, Number 1 (2011)

Permanent URI for this collection

Empirical Musicology Review Vol. 6, No. 1, 2011

Issue DOI: https://doi.org/10.18061/1811/49757

Editor's Note
Keller, Peter E. p. 1
Description | Full Text PDF

The Standard, Power, and Color Model of Instrument Combination in Romantic-Era Symphonic Works
Johnson, Randolph pp. 2-19
Description | Full Text PDF

Variety in Performance: A comparative Analysis of Recorded Performances of Bach's Sixth Suite for Solo Cello from 1961 to 1998
Sung, Alistair; Fabian, Dorottya pp. 20-42
Description | Full Text PDF

Tactus ≠ Tempo: Some Dissociations Between Attentional Focus, Motor Behavior, and Tempo Judgment
London, Justin pp. 43-55
Description | Full Text PDF

Comments on "Tactus ≠ Tempo: Some Dissociations Between Attentional Focus, Motor Behavior, and Tempo Judgment" by Justin London
Repp, Bruno H. pp. 56-61
Description | Full Text PDF

Announcements
Keller, Peter E. pp. 62-66
Description | Full Text PDF

Journal home page: http://emusicology.org


Browse

Recent Submissions

Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
  • Item
    Announcements
    (Empirical Musicology Review, 2011-01) Keller, Peter E.
  • Item
    Comments on "Tactus ≠ Tempo: Some Dissociations Between Attentional Focus, Motor Behavior, and Tempo Judgment" by Justin London
    (Empirical Musicology Review, 2011-01) Repp, Bruno H.
    Objective measures of musical tempo are linked to a particular metrical pulse, and this is most likely true for subjective tempo as well. Therefore, tapping along with a rhythm should be predictive of relative tempo judgments. The difficulty of such judgments may lie in the choice of a particular metrical level as the referent. Multiple levels may compete and create ambiguity. Analogies are drawn with pitch perception from certain types of complex tones.
  • Item
    Tactus ≠ Tempo: Some Dissociations Between Attentional Focus, Motor Behavior, and Tempo Judgment
    (Empirical Musicology Review, 2011-01) London, Justin
    Three experiments explored the relationships between surface rhythmic activity, tactus or beat rate, attentional focus, sensorimotor synchronization (tapping), and tempo perception. All involved a rhythmic standard followed by a comparison; the experimental task was a judgment of “slower, same, or faster.” In Experiment 1 participants simply judged relative speed; they focused on the beat level in Experiment 2, and they tapped along as they made their judgments in Experiment 3. In all three experiments judgments were highly accurate (89-97% correct, relative to beat-level inter-onset interval) when the standard-comparison involved the same pattern/same tempo, and performed similarly for the same pattern at different tempos (80-83% correct). Performance degraded significantly in other contexts, especially for different patterns at the same tempo. A main effect for pattern (two levels: same vs. different) and a pattern x tempo interaction were observed in all three experiments; a main effect for tempo (collapsed to two levels: same vs. different) occurred only in Experiment 1. Analysis of a subset of the experimental conditions indicated that surface activity was of greater salience than the beat level in some contexts. Tapping along (Experiment 3) did not improve overall performance any more than simply focusing on the tactus level (Experiment 2), and a possible biasing effect of tapping rate on tempo judgment was observed. Thus there is an apparent dissociation between tactus rate, attentional focus, tapping behavior and tempo judgment. This suggests that our perception of musical speed or tempo is more than simple apprehension of the tactus rate.
  • Item
    Variety in Performance: A comparative Analysis of Recorded Performances of Bach's Sixth Suite for Solo Cello from 1961 to 1998
    (Empirical Musicology Review, 2011-01) Sung, Alistair; Fabian, Dorottya
    There exists a commonly held belief amongst musicologists that there has been a ―general globalisation of styles‖ within recorded performances of the latter half of the twentieth century. For many, this is evidenced by an increased interaction between mainstream (MS) and historically informed performance (HIP) practices as well as a general decrease in the diversity of performances. Through a comparative aural and software-assisted analysis and measurement of performance features such as tempo, rhythmic flexibility, vibrato, portamento, bowing, and articulation in key interpretations of Bach‘s Suite No. 6 for Solo Cello recorded in between 1961 and 1998, this study investigates the relationship between MS and HIP performances in the latter half of the 20th century. By limiting analyses to those performers who have made two recordings during the designated period (Tortelier, Starker, Bylsma, Ma, Wispelwey), it has been possible to identify overarching trends and individual differences. These have been examined with reference to their broader social and cultural context in order to test commonly held musicological assumptions about the modernist and postmodernist foundations of performances from this era. The results indicate that by the 1990s increased interaction between MS and HIP practices has resulted in a wider variety of differing performances and that this can be seen to be symptomatic of the postmodern condition that has become prevalent since the last decade of the 20th century.
  • Item
    The Standard, Power, and Color Model of Instrument Combination in Romantic-Era Symphonic Works
    (Empirical Musicology Review, 2011-01) Johnson, Randolph
    The Standard, Power, and Color (SPC) model describes the nexus between musical instrument combination patterns and expressive goals in music. Instruments within each SPC group tend to attract each other and work as a functional unit to create orchestral gestures. Standard instruments establish a timbral groundwork; Power instruments create contrast through loud dynamic climaxes; and Color instruments catch listeners’ attention by means of their sparing use. Examples within these three groups include violin (Standard), piccolo (Power), and harp (Color). The SPC theory emerges from analyses of nineteenth-century symphonic works. Multidimensional scaling analysis of instrument combination frequencies maps instrument relationships; hierarchical clustering analysis indicates three SPC groups within the map. The SPC characterization is found to be moderately robust through the results of hypothesis testing: (1) Color instruments are included less often in symphonic works; (2) when Color instruments are included, they perform less often than the average instrument; and (3) Color and non-Color instruments have equal numbers of solo occurrences. Additionally, (4) Power instruments are positively associated with louder dynamic levels; and (5) when Power instruments are present in the musical texture, the pitch range spanned by the entire orchestra does not become more extreme.
  • Item
    Editor's Note
    (Empirical Musicology Review, 2011-01) Keller, Peter E.