The Sounds of Music

The Sounds of Music The Musical Sound The Sounded Music Sound concepts parameters: duration amplitude frequency harmonics phase direction Analog representations Digital representations ADC-DAC sampling quantization format The Sounded Music music as performance live vs. recorded expression tempo dynamics vibrato timbre Instruments and Technique The Sight of Music the performer the environment

Olivier Messiaen (1908–92) Quatre études de rythme, 1949–50 2: Mode de valeurs et d'intensités, 1949

Pierre Boulez (1925–) Structures, book 1, for 2 pianos, 1951–2 premiered by Messiaen & Boulez in, Paris, 1952

The Musical Sound Hearing: changes in pressure

frequency=~20Hz–20kHz intensity ratio=~20–100dB [Heinrich Hertz 1857–94 (telegraph)] intensity ratio=~20–100dB [Alexander Graham Bell, 1847–1922 (telephone)]

ffff fff ff f mf mp p pp ppp pppp

Sound Concepts A=amplitude λ=wavelength f=frequency=1/λ max. elongation λ=wavelength distance between two points of the same phase f=frequency=1/λ cycles per second (Hz)

overtones-harmonics-partials

tone sound noise

Phase phase shifted by 180º phase distortion, audio image out of focus

Analog air pressure analogous to electrical voltage continuous-time signals problem: mechanical noise, multiplies in copying

Digital air pressure-electrical voltage-binary digits (bit) discrete-time signals ADC DAC

Analog Digital encoding Analog decoding

Binary vs. Decimal base two (0–1) base ten (0–9) 16 bit 1001 9 1010 10 1001 9 1010 10 1011 11 1100 12 1101 13 1110 14 1111 15 16 bit

Sampling distortion caused by too low a sampling rate original reconstructed

Foldover sampling: 8x 2x <2x reconstruction: good min. highlow (lowpass filter!)

Quantization 1-bit vs. 4-bit 1-bit=2 amplitude levels

Quantization 4-bit vs. 8-bit the higher the bit-rate, the greater the dynamic range (from loud to soft) 1-bit=6 bB, 16-bit=96 dB

Quantization and Sampling Rates CD: 16 bit/44.1 kHz/stereo, 12 cm Disc: 650–700 MB Red Book standard 1980 DVD: 24 bit/96 kHz, 4.7 GB 1998 SACD: 2.8 MHz, 4.7 GB 1999

MD, mp3, DAT… compressed format, not recommended for research DAT: good but magnetic…

Graphical Representations of Sound temporal representation amplitude vs. time spectral representation amplitude vs. frequency frequency/intensity vs. time (spectrogram) 2-D 3-D

Flute

Singing

Speaking Voice

Bird

Bat

Timbre as Expression bel canto vs. pop musician vs. singer traditional vs. authentic counterpoint vs. Klangmotiv

Sound of Music “sol do la fa mi do re, sol do la ti do re do” “But it doesn’t mean anything!” “So we put in words, one word for every note, like this…” (Sound of Music) “Thus, music no longer in need of words now seems more than ever in need of words.” (Scott Burnham) 侯珅譯: 現在不需要文字的音樂似乎比有文字的音樂還要多)!? “A picture is worth a thousand words.”

Literature Clarke, Eric F., and Nicholas Cook, eds. Empirical Musicology: Aims, Methods, Prospects. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. Parncutt, Richard, and Gary McPherson, eds. The Science & Psychology of Music Performance: Creative Strategies for Teaching and Learning. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. Rink, John, ed. Musical Performance: A Guide to Understanding. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002. Day, Timothy. A Century of Recorded Music: Listening to Musical History. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000. Rink, John, ed. The Practice of Performance: Studies in Musical Interpretation. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995.