Cross-cultural analysis of vibrato: A case study comparing erhu and violin playing styles

Transcription

1 Cross-cultural analysis of vibrato: A case study comparing erhu and violin playing styles, Elaine Chew and Khalid Z. Rajab l.yang@qmul.ac.uk Queen Mary University of London June 2014

2 Agenda 1. Introduction 2. Motivations 3. Dataset 4. Methodology 5. Results 6. Discussions 7. Conclusions

3 Introduction A cross-cultural comparative analysis of Chinese and Western musical performance style We focus on vibrato We choose erhu and violin as a case study

4 Motivations We expect the vibrato characteristics will help reveal the differences in musical genre and instrumental styles: What are the vibrato characteristics of erhu players? What are the characteristics of violin players performing Chinese music? Is there any difference between the ways erhu players and violinists play vibratos when performing the same piece of music? Is there any difference within each instrumental group?

5 Erhu vs. Violin Erhu Violin I Two strings I Four strings I Use both sides of bow hair I One bow with one side I Called Chinese Violin I King of the orchestra I Symbol of Chinese culture I Symbol of Western culture

6 Dataset-Performers We collected 12 performances for the Chinese piece The Moon Reflected on the Second Spring Erhu(6): all from CD recordings Violin(6): three from CD recordings, one from C4DM Western Violin player, two from violin player s website. Erhu Violin # Performer Nationality # Performer Nationality 1 Guotong Wang China 7 Laurel Pardue U.S.A 2 Jiangqin Huang China 8 Lina Yu China 3 Wei Zhou China 9 Baodi Tang China 4 Jiemin Yan China 10 Nishizaki Takako Japan 5 Huifen Min China 11 Yanling Zhang China 6 Changyao Zhu China 12 Yangkai Ou China

7 Dataset-Scores Figure: Chinese Notation Figure: Western Notation Play whole phrase: Erhu Violin Play Vibrato: Erhu Violin Both

8 Dataset-Notes Notes selection criteria: No open string note The note should be of relatively long duration The note should be of high amplitude Totally: We have 218 notes 204 notes have vibrato

9 Methodology Vibrato parameters Vibrato rate Vibrato extent Vibrato sinusoid similarity

10 Methodology Using Praat software to obtain fundamental frequency(f0)[boersma2001].

11 Methodology Get the vibrato rate and extent from f0

12 Methodology Vibrato sinusoid similarity

13 Results Erhu vs. Violin Vibrato Rate Violin has faster vibrato rate than erhu Violin vibratos also have wider range than erhu Violin performers demonstrate more variability in vibrato rate Erhu and Violin Mean Vibrato Rate 7.4 Erhu and Violin Min Vibrato Rate 6.8 Erhu and Violin Max Vibrato Rate Vibrato Rate(Hz) Vibrato Rate(Hz) Vibrato Rate(Hz) erhu violin erhu violin erhu violin

14 Results Erhu vs. Violin Vibrato Rate Mean Vibrato Rate 8 Vibrato Rate(Hz) Performer

15 Results Erhu vs. Violin Vibrato Extent Erhu performers tend to play vibratos with larger extents than violin peformers Erhu has wider vibrato extent ranges than violin for all extent values. The vibrato extent varies more widely among erhu performers. Erhu and Violin Mean Vibrato Extent Erhu and Violin Min Vibrato Extent Erhu and Violin Max Vibrato Extent 0.3 Vibrato Extent(Semitone) Vibrato Extent(Semitone) Vibrato Extent(Semitone) erhu violin erhu violin erhu violin

16 Results Erhu vs. Violin Vibrato Extent Mean Vibrato Extent 0.9 Vibrato Extent(Semitone) Performer

17 Results Erhu vs. Violin Vibrato Sinusoid Similarity The vibrato shape of erhu performers is much more similar to a sinusoid than that of violinists. No relationship between sinusoid similarity and other parameters has been found after doing the Pearson correlation analysis. Erhu and Violin Vibrato Sinusoid Similarity 0.9 Sinusoid Similarity erhu violin

18 Results Erhu vs. Violin Vibrato Sinusoid Similarity 1 Vibrato Sinusoid Similarity 0.9 Sinusoid Similarity Performer

19 Discussions Vibrato performance styles are more dependent on musical instrument than musical genre. The violin players vibrato rates and extents were consistent with these reported in the literature for Western music, although the music is traditional Chinese. i.e. Performers did not adapt to Chinese music style. The background of the violin players may not exert a larger influence on the vibrato style. The U.S. and Japanese violinists each showed the same vibrato characteristics as the Chinese violinists.

20 Discussions The significant differences in vibrato extent may result from the left hand movements. For violin, the lower left arm of the player angles up to the finger board and the vibrato movements are lateral along the horizontal finger board. For erhu, the lower left arm of the player is more or less horizontal, and the vibrato movements are up and down along the vertical strings. It may allow larger vibrato movements. Demo

21 Discussions The absence of a fingerboard may give erhu performers more flexibility to create wide vibratos. When a violin player presses the string, the string touches the fingerboard. However, when an erhu player presses the string, nothing else is touched.

22 Conclusions The most dominant factors affecting the differences in vibrato style in erhu and violin playing maybe: The physical form of the instrument. And how it is played. Within each instrument group, individual players also have individual characteristics.

23 Thank you, Elaine Chew and Khalid Z. Rajab,Cross-cultural comparisons of expressivity in recorded erhu and violin music: Performer vibrato styles, In proc. of the 3rd International Workshop on Folk Music Analysis(FMA), 2014., Elaine Chew and Khalid Z. Rajab,Vibrato performance style: A case study comparing erhu and violin, In Proc. of the 10th International Conference on Computer Music Multidisciplinary Research(CMMR), l.yang@qmul.ac.uk