A History of the Spectrum

This chapter traces the history of spectral audio, from Ancient Greece to the 20th century. Looking first at the first studies of ratios and pitch and the establishment of the early musical scale systems, then through the development of musical instruments, the chapter discusses the most important achievements in musical acoustics that led to the modern concept of the spectrum. It discusses the ideas put forward by Classical Physics, which culminated in the work of Fourier. The seminal discoveries and ideas proposed by Helmholtz are covered in some detail and the chapter closes with an overview of acoustics and audio engineering in the 20th century, and the development of electronic and computer music.

The sound of teaching music: Expert pianists’ performance modulations for novices

Experts modulate their performance of actions for teaching purposes, performing slower and exaggerated movements when demonstrating novel actions to novices. The present study asked whether such modulations are also used to teach techniques of artistic expression. One domain where subtle movement modulations are crucial for achieving artistic expression is music. We investigated how skilled pianists modulate their playing to demonstrate to students the techniques required for conveying piece-related musical expressions, compared to performing the piece without didactic intentions. Expressions in the piece concerned either articulation (i.e., legato and staccato) or dynamics (i.e., forte and piano). The pianists played either with the goal to perform the piece to an audience or with the goal to teach the respective techniques to novices. When intending to teach articulation, skilled pianists produced more exaggerated staccato. When intending to teach dynamics, they created a larger contrast between forte and piano at structurally important points. We found consistent results with a simple musical scale (Experiment 1) and a more naturalistic piece of music (Experiment 2). These findings suggest that action modulations are performed not only to attract learners' attention but to highlight the most relevant aspects of the actions to be learnt.

PENINGKATKAN KEMAMPUAN MENULIS NOTASI BALOK MELALUI METODE SOLFEGIO PADA KELAS VIII-A DI SMP NEGERI 3 KEDIRI

: The goal of the research is to develop the quality students’ learning result in writing partitur / musical scale through solfegio method the students of VIII A at SMPN 3 Kediri. The kind of research is class action research which is done in two cycles. Collecting data is done by using observation technique, interviewing test, and documentation. The result of this assement in cycle is 70,5% students have got the minimum standard of assessment, while in cycle 2 there are 97,1% students have achieved the minimum standard of assessment. So, it can be concluded that. The learning result of students in writing musical scale is developed shrough solfeggio method. Key words : The enhancement, The ability of writing, solfegio music.

The Well-Tempered Spectrometer

Sir Isaac Newton is the source of our enumeration of the Colors of the Spectrum as seven. It seems that Isaac Newton used a musical scale as an analogy for the spectrum, and we have seven colors to correspond with the seven tones in the scale (exclusive of the final do). But which scale did he use to calculate the characteristic lengths associated with each color (which he would have called the “wavelengths,” had he believed in the wave theory of light)? Technically, there are several possibilities, but the biggest question is whether he opted for a Pythagorean scale, which has discrepancies if carried to several octaves, or a more modern “tempered” scale that is consistent across many octaves.

COMIC FOLK OPERA BY G.R. DERZHAVIN: GENESIS OF THE GENRE

The article analyzes Derzhavin’s play “A fool is smarter than the clever”. The study of the plot, the typology of characters, poetics, and the musical scale allows discovering an opera-buff and early Russian vaudeville of the early 19th century in the genesis of the play.

Intelligent Technique for Automating the Conversion between Major and Minor Melodies

Nowadays, computers are extremely beneficial to music composers. Computer music generation tools are developed for aiding composers in producing satisfying musical pieces. The automation of music composition tasks is a challenging research point, specially to the field of Artificial Intelligence. Converting melodies that are played on a major scale to minor (or vice versa) is interesting to both composers and music listeners. Newly converted melodies of famous songs, either from major to minor or the opposite, are becoming blockbusters on the social media. In this paper we propose an intelligent method for automating the conversion between major and minor melodies using Artificial Intelligence techniques. We run our experiments on melodies in the MIDI format which is a standard music format enabling the communication between computers and various musical devices. We also propose a smart method for musical scale detection for the input melodies. Scale detection is a critical step for correctly converting between major and minor melodies. Additionally, this step is also important as a pre-processing step in various other music retrieval or transformation applications.

Making the Unfamiliar Familiar: The Effect of Exposure on Ratings of Unfamiliar Musical Chords

Affective responses to music have been shown to be influenced by the psychoacoustic features of the acoustic signal, learned associations between musical features and emotions, and familiarity with a musical system through exposure. The present article reports two experiments investigating whether short-term exposure has an effect on valence and consonance ratings of unfamiliar musical chords from the Bohlen-Pierce system, which are not based on a traditional Western musical scale. In a pre- and post-test design, exposure to positive, negative and neutral chord types was manipulated to test for an effect of exposure on liking. In this paradigm, short-term (“mere”) exposure to unfamiliar chords produced an increase only in valence ratings for negative chords. In neither experiment did it produce an increase in valence or pleasantness ratings for other chord types. Contrast effects for some chord types were found in both experiments, suggesting that a chord’s affect (i.e., affective response to the chord) might be emphasised when the chord is preceded by a stimulus with a contrasting affect. The results confirmed those of a previous study showing that psychoacoustic features play an important role in the perception of music. The findings are discussed in light of their psychological and musical implications.

Kong Kai Bertangga Nada Selendro: Kajian Organologi Kong Kai Pada Masyarakat Helong Di Pulau Semau

The purpose of this study was to examine the structure of Kong Kai's music in the Helong community on Semau Island. This research focuses on Kong Kai sounds that have not been made in a particular musical scale. Kong Kai has a different sound than the others. The author intends to establish a standard for the uniform sound settings in all of Semau Island. The author intends to explore how to make and play kong kai. The research method used is descriptive qualitative. With the interview and observation approach, the writer seeks information about Kong Kai. Waditra Kong Kai can be measured with conventional western musical scales. Kong Kai has the same musical scales as Slendro. Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk mengkaji struktur musik Kong Kai pada masyarakat Helong di pulau Semau. Penelitian ini berpusat pada bunyi Kong kai yang belum dibuat dalam tangga nada tertentu. Kong kai mempunyai bunyi yang berbeda dari yang lainnya. Penulis bermaksud membuat standar penyeragaman setingan bunyi kong kai di seluruh Pulau Semau. Penulis bermaksud menelusuri cara membuat dan memainkan kong kai. Metode penelitian yang digunakan adalah deskriptif kualitatif. Dengan pendekatan wawancara dan observasi, penulis mencari informasi mengenai kong kai. Waditra Kong kai dapat diukur dengan tangga nada konvensional barat. Kong kai memiliki tangga nada yang sama dengan slendro.