Effect of Melodic Context, Tuning Behaviors, and Experience on the Intonation Accuracy of Wind Players

Abstract

In the first of two experiments, subjects ( N = 137) were band students with 1, 2, 3, or 4 years of formal instrumental performance experience. Subjects tuned to a single prerecorded tuning pitch and subsequently played along with a prerecorded four-measure melody. Direction and magnitude of pitch deviation were analyzed for the single tuning pitch and four selected target pitches within the melody. Responses to the tuning pitch were more accurate than for the melodic pitches. There was a high positive correlation among the four melodic pitches, but a low positive correlation between the melodic pitches and tuning pitch. In a second experiment, high school musicians ( N = 167) played along with the same prerecorded melody after either (a) tuning their instrument to a single pitch, (b) receiving verbal instructions to perform “in tune,” or (c) receiving no information. No differences were observed among the three conditions. Students who first tuned to a single pitch were more accurate at this task than at melodic performance. A high correlation was observed among melodic pitches but not between melodic and tuning pitches. Across both experiments, subjects erred most often in the sharp direction; a stronger tendency toward sharp errors was noted among more experienced students. Performance accuracy was observed to improve with experience.

Effects of Stimulus Octave and Timbre on the Tuning Accuracy of Secondary School Instrumentalists

“…There was no difference in the distribution of in-tune, sharp, and flat responses across tuning stimuli, a result that differs from the "preference for sharpness" effect in previous research (Geringer, 1978;Geringer & Witt, 1985, Madsen, Edmonson, & Geringer, 1969Morrison, 2000;Salzberg, 1980;Yarbrough et al, 1997). Comparisons of magnitude of pitch deviation revealed mostly small differences, perhaps without practical meaningfulness, except in two cases where participants were 6 and 9 cents more flat than sharp.…”

“…This was in fact the case in a study of elementary through high school instrumentalists' pitch accuracy in melodic contexts (Morrison, 2000). Intonation responses to a target pitch (G) were similar across ascending, sustained, descending, and repeated-note conditions and significantly less accurate than responses to a same-octave, isolated B-flat.…”

“…A general proclivity to play sharp is substantiated by much research-based evidence (e.g., Geringer, 1978;Geringer & Witt, 1985;Madsen, Edmonson, & Madsen, 1969 ;Morrison, 2000;Salzberg, 1980;Yarbrough, Morrison, & Karrick, 1997); by a tendency to discriminate flat pitch better than sharp pitch (Dunnigan & Geringer, 2002;Geringer & Witt, 1985;Wapnick & Freeman, 1980); and by octave stretch, a general tendency to hear a 2:1 ratio octave interval as too small (e.g., Burns, 1974;Demany & Semal, 1988;Hartmann, 1993). Notably, however, comparisons between perception and performance, that is, between judging intonation and "doing" it, have not shown significant relationships (in instrumental settings, see Ely, 1992;Geringer & Witt, 1985;Yarbrough, Karrick, & Morrison, 1995;Yarbrough et al, 1997).…”

The Effect of Grade, Experience, and Listening Condition on the Melodic Error Detection of Fifth- and Sixth-Grade Woodwind Students

“…Because previous research indicates that both age and experience can affect melodic perception and error detection (Lamont, 1998;Morrison, 2000), the present study began to examine if a combination of age and experience might reveal a consistent ability in melodic error detection during performance.…”

Consonance and prevalence of sonorities in Western polyphony: Roughness, harmonicity, familiarity, evenness, diatonicity

“…Since the Renaissance, ratio theorists and like-minded composers have tended to favour Just ratios over Pythagorean, perhaps because they involve smaller numbers and therefore seem more plausible (Barlow, 1987;Gilmore, 1995;Hasegawa, 2006) -in spite of the practical impossibility of justly tuning all intervals between all tones in a regular diatonic scale. But modern empirical research on intonation in music performance has repeatedly shown that in the performance of Western tonal music tuning tends to be closer on average to 12 equal subdivisions per octave (12-EDO) or Pythagorean than to Just (Devaney, Mandel, & Fujinaga, 2012;Duke, 1985;Greene, 1937;Karrick, 1998;Loosen, 1993;Mason, 1960;Morrison, 2000;Nickerson, 1949;O'Keefe, 1975;Rakowski, 1985;Sundberg, 1982).…”