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Interdisciplinary research on musical timbre

Interdisciplinary research on musical timbre. Bringing together sciences, humanities and musical practice Richard Parncutt University of Graz. Invited presentation at the Conference on Interdisciplinary Musicology, Montreal, Canada, March 2005. Objectives of presentation.

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Interdisciplinary research on musical timbre

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  1. Interdisciplinary research on musical timbre Bringing together sciences, humanities and musical practice Richard Parncutt University of Graz Invited presentation at the Conference on Interdisciplinary Musicology, Montreal, Canada, March 2005

  2. Objectives of presentation • examine research frameworks • apply CIM concept to timbre • guide future research • questions not answers

  3. Structure of presentation • Definition of “musicology” • Structure of musicology • Interdisciplinarity • Timbre • Relevance • CIM05

  4. Part 1 Definition of “musicology”

  5. “Musicology” in theory • (all) scholarship about (all) music • cf. Grove, MGG

  6. “Musicology” in practice • music history of western cultural elites • sources: historical documents • associated methods and techniques • tradition since 19th century

  7. “Musicology” journals • Acta musicologica • Archiv für Musikwissenschaft • Current Musicology • Journal of the American Musicological Society • Journal of Musicological Research • Journal of Musicology • Musikforschung • Revue de Musicologie • Studien zur Musikwissenschaft ... plus many musicology journals of smaller countries

  8. Tacit assumptions of “musicology” (Obviously) (more) important: • history • western culture and music • music of cultural elites Eurocentricity? 19th-century colonialism?

  9. Solutions: Journals • Acknowledge problem in preface • Change name, e.g. Western Music Western Artificial Music History of Notated Western Music • Change scope of journal

  10. Part 2 Structure of musicology

  11. Repertoire-based musicologies: Trends Source: Jonathan Stock , Current Musicology, 1998

  12. Tripartite model: USA “musicology” / theory / ethnomusicology Problems: • “musical sciences” are not “musicology” • too little communication between musicology/theory and ethnomusicology

  13. Tripartite model: Germany

  14. (German) Tripartite model: Problems

  15. A personal apology • I love the “western bourgeous canon” • History is not less important • Aim: new balance

  16. Evolution of disciplinary structures • top-down attempts to categorize • bottom-up quasi-random expansion

  17. Musicology: Alternative structure A

  18. Musicology: Alternative structure B

  19. Part 3 Interdisciplinarity

  20. Interdisciplinarity • boundaries of disciplines are fuzzy • disciplines are more or less established • disciplines are more or less distant • not whether ID, but how much • degree of ID is a matter of opinion • role of collaboration • motivation, flexibility, curiosity, daring

  21. Interdisciplinarity within musicology Interdisciplinary challenges: • content and method boundaries • content-method combinations

  22. Part 4 Timbre

  23. Philosophy of reality • physical, experiential, abstract (Popper) • equally valid • exist in parallel • clearly distinguish

  24. Description • in humanities and sciences • in music, art, literature • role of language and linguistics • sciences: same semantic differential can describe completely unrelated multidimensional objects • psychology: description of other sensations

  25. Structure of timbre research

  26. Specific issues in timbre research • brainstorming • questions not answers

  27. Phylogenetic: prehuman hominids Ontogenetic: everyday modern life Nature and origins of timbre Function: source recognition • Evolution and ecology • interaction between organisms • and sound sources: • perceptible sound structures • affordances of sound sources

  28. Aural sensitivity • Useful sound parameters carry reliable information about the source. • Phase information is lost when direct and reflected sound are superposed • So ear is insensitive to phase except in attack portion

  29. Other senses and blending • sight (colour), smell, taste, (tactile) feel • what “goes together” or blends? • analogies and differences between blended timbres, colors, smells etc?

  30. Synaesthesia and timbre • interactions between senses • investigate with Stroop paradigm • nature-nurture question

  31. Categorical perception Two aspects: • mapping of continuum to labels • better discriminability at boundaries Interdisciplinary question: • cultural functions and implications?

  32. Timbre and harmony What is timbre of a fused chord? • timbral similarity of chords • similarity of pitch-class sets

  33. Visual vs. auditory aesthetics Commonalities • scene, gestalt • holistic vs analytic • foreground vs background Why so little interaction between… • IAEA vs ICMPC? • schools of art and music?

  34. Timbre and the body • physiology: skin and basilar membrane • ethnomusicology: ritual • culture: gender, sexuality, class, race • hedonism and quality of life

  35. Music as a virtual person • social functions of music • philosophy: persona theory • music as virtual discourse or theatre • human qualities of music (Watt & Ash) • strong experiences; loneliness • prenatal cog. representation of mother • infant timbral acquisition via body

  36. Timbral aesthetics • evolutionary psychology: attractiveness = ability to reproduce • Is there an absolute timbral aesthetic? • Is “attractive” timbre smooth, voice-like, energetic, original?

  37. History of timbral fashion • typical timbres of styles and periods • sociology of musical preference • timbre and rapid music recognition • survival value: language, dialect, group • timbre and personal musical identity

  38. Audiation of timbre • empirical exploration? • accuracy, stability? • behavioral, experiential, neurological... • relation to culture and repertoire

  39. Piano “touch” and “tone” • mechanics of action • physical descriptions of real tones • timbre perception • physiology, cognition, motor control • gestural and timbral ideals

  40. Part 5 Relevance

  41. Practical relevance • help performers understand communication • give composers theories and tools • audiology: timbre of phonemes • room acoustics: timbre of performance space • artificial speech and robotics • recording • commercial, e.g. corporate identity

  42. Social relevance • public interest • understanding art and culture • market value

  43. Political relevance • Do world events have timbre? Example: Penderecki's Threnody for the victims of Hiroshima • Can public awareness of political issues by raised by means of timbre? Example: multimedia advertising logos

  44. Part 6 CIM05

  45. Timbre of CIM05 • diverse, open • explorative, creative • risky, radical • constructive, critical

  46. Success of CIM05 BALANCE: • two main disciplines of presentation • sciences, humanities, practice • history vs. other disciplines • western vs. non-western music • elite music vs. pop/folk

  47. Contribution to musicology • unity, identity • academic quality • relevance

  48. Last CIM order abstract book at reception • Tallin, Estonia 2007: Singing • ??? Next CIM(s)

  49. Thanks to: • Caroline Traube • Serge Lacasse • Michel Duchesneau ...for promoting the concept of interdisciplinary musicology

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