Production and perception of legato, portato, and staccato articulation in saxophone playing

Analysis of Tonguing and Blowing Actions During Clarinet Performance

Articulation on the clarinet is achieved by a combination of precise actions taking place inside the player's mouth. With the aim to analyse the effects of tonguing and blowing actions during playing, several physical variables are measured and parameters related to articulation are studied. Mouth pressure, mouthpiece pressure and reed displacement are recorded in an experiment with clarinet players to evaluate the influence of the player's actions on the selected parameters and on the sound. The results show that different combinations of tongue and blowing actions are used during performance. Portato and legato playing show constant blowing throughout the musical phrase, which varies according to the dynamic level. In portato, short tongue-reed interaction is used homogeneously among players and playing conditions. In staccato playing, where the tongue-reed contact is longer, the mouth pressure is reduced significantly between notes. Such a mouth-pressure decrease might be used to stop the note in slow staccato playing. It is hereby shown that when the note is stopped by the action of the tongue both the attack and release transients are shorter compared to the case where the vibration of the reed is stopped by a decrease of mouth pressure.

The Tight-interlocked Rhythm Section: Production and Perception of Synchronisation in Jazz Trio Performance

This study investigates the production and perception of timing, synchronisation and dynamics in jazz trio performances. In a production experiment, six trio combinations of one saxophonist, two bassists, and three drummers were recorded while they performed three popular jazz songs. Onset timing and dynamics of each performer were extracted and analysed. Results showed that the tempo was significantly influenced by the timing of the drummers and all performers showed higher temporal precision on the backbeats. The drummers demonstrated individual swing-ratios, accentuations of beats and intrapersonal asynchronies between simultaneous hi-hat and ride cymbal onsets, which resulted in a hi-hat played 2-26 ms ahead of the pulse of the music. In a subsequent perception test, participants ([Formula: see text]) rated 12 excerpts of the jazz recordings. They selected their preferred version from a pool of stimuli containing the original version, but also manipulations with artificially increased or reduced asynchronies. Stimuli with reduced asynchronies smaller than 19 ms were preferred by the listeners over the original or the fully quantised timing. This suggests that listeners endorse a 'tight-interlocked' jazz rhythm section, with asynchronies smaller than the perceptual threshold (temporal masking), but with natural timing variabilities that makes it distinguishable from a computer-generated playback.

Finger Forces in Clarinet Playing

Clarinettists close and open multiple tone holes to alter the pitch of the tones. Their fingering technique must be fast, precise, and coordinated with the tongue articulation. In this empirical study, finger force profiles and tongue techniques of clarinet students (N = 17) and professional clarinettists (N = 6) were investigated under controlled performance conditions. First, in an expressive-performance task, eight selected excerpts from the first Weber Concerto were performed. These excerpts were chosen to fit in a 2 × 2 × 2 design (register: low–high; tempo: slow–fast, dynamics: soft–loud). There was an additional condition controlled by the experimenter, which determined the expression levels (low–high) of the performers. Second, a technical-exercise task, an isochronous 23-tone melody was designed that required different effectors to produce the sequence (finger-only, tongue-only, combined tongue-finger actions). The melody was performed in three tempo conditions (slow, medium, fast) in a synchronization-continuation paradigm. Participants played on a sensor-equipped Viennese clarinet, which tracked finger forces and reed oscillations simultaneously. From the data, average finger force (F_mean) and peak force (F_max) were calculated. The overall finger forces were low (F_mean = 1.17 N, F_max = 3.05 N) compared to those on other musical instruments (e.g., guitar). Participants applied the largest finger forces during the high expression level performance conditions (F_mean = 1.21 N). For the technical exercise task, timing and articulation information were extracted from the reed signal. Here, the timing precision of the fingers deteriorated the timing precision of the tongue for combined tongue-finger actions, especially for faster tempi. Although individual finger force profiles were overlapping, the group of professional players applied less finger force overall (F_mean = 0.54 N). Such sensor instruments provide useful insights into player-instrument interactions and can also be used in the future to give feedback to students in various learning and practising situations.

The effect of blowing pressure, lip force and tonguing on transients: A study using a clarinet-playing machine

Wind instrument players control the initial and final transients of notes using breath, lips, and tonguing. This paper uses a clarinet-playing machine and high-speed camera to investigate how blowing pressure, lip force, and tonguing parameters affect transients. After tongue release, the reed quickly comes to rest, losing its mechanical energy. However, the changing aperture past the reed rapidly changes the airflow. For pressure above the oscillation threshold, successive interactions between reflections of this pulse of airflow and the reed produce an exponential increase in the sound. The rates r of exponential increase in the fundamental of the sound range from several tens to several hundreds of dB s(-1), as functions of blowing pressure and lip force. Because the reed's initial mechanical energy is lost, tongue force and acceleration have little effect on r. However, larger tongue force and acceleration produce more rapid changes in flow, which start notes sooner after tongue release. Further, large tongue force increases the third harmonic during the transient. There is a hysteresis region on the (pressure, lip force) plane where regenerative oscillation is not produced spontaneously by increasing blowing pressure only. Here, tongue action can initiate sustained notes at low pressure.

When they listen and when they watch: Pianists' use of nonverbal audio and visual cues during duet performance

Nonverbal auditory and visual communication helps ensemble musicians predict each other's intentions and coordinate their actions. When structural characteristics of the music make predicting co-performers' intentions difficult (e.g., following long pauses or during ritardandi), reliance on incoming auditory and visual signals may change. This study tested whether attention to visual cues during piano-piano and piano-violin duet performance increases in such situations. Pianists performed the secondo part to three duets, synchronizing with recordings of violinists or pianists playing the primo parts. Secondos' access to incoming audio and visual signals and to their own auditory feedback was manipulated. Synchronization was most successful when primo audio was available, deteriorating when primo audio was removed and only cues from primo visual signals were available. Visual cues were used effectively following long pauses in the music, however, even in the absence of primo audio. Synchronization was unaffected by the removal of secondos' own auditory feedback. Differences were observed in how successfully piano-piano and piano-violin duos synchronized, but these effects of instrument pairing were not consistent across pieces. Pianists' success at synchronizing with violinists and other pianists is likely moderated by piece characteristics and individual differences in the clarity of cueing gestures used.

Context-specific effects of musical expertise on audiovisual integration

Ensemble musicians exchange auditory and visual signals that can facilitate interpersonal synchronization. Musical expertise improves how precisely auditory and visual signals are perceptually integrated and increases sensitivity to asynchrony between them. Whether expertise improves sensitivity to audiovisual asynchrony in all instrumental contexts or only in those using sound-producing gestures that are within an observer's own motor repertoire is unclear. This study tested the hypothesis that musicians are more sensitive to audiovisual asynchrony in performances featuring their own instrument than in performances featuring other instruments. Short clips were extracted from audio-video recordings of clarinet, piano, and violin performances and presented to highly-skilled clarinetists, pianists, and violinists. Clips either maintained the audiovisual synchrony present in the original recording or were modified so that the video led or lagged behind the audio. Participants indicated whether the audio and video channels in each clip were synchronized. The range of asynchronies most often endorsed as synchronized was assessed as a measure of participants' sensitivities to audiovisual asynchrony. A positive relationship was observed between musical training and sensitivity, with data pooled across stimuli. While participants across expertise groups detected asynchronies most readily in piano stimuli and least readily in violin stimuli, pianists showed significantly better performance for piano stimuli than for either clarinet or violin. These findings suggest that, to an extent, the effects of expertise on audiovisual integration can be instrument-specific; however, the nature of the sound-producing gestures that are observed has a substantial effect on how readily asynchrony is detected as well.