“Like static noise in a beautiful landscape”: A mixed-methods approach to rationales and features of disliked voices in popular music.

Merrill, Julia; Ackermann, Taren-Ida

doi:10.1037/aca0000376

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…Disliked voices were described as "squeaky," "nasal," "pressed," "suffering from imprecise and ordinary articulation," and having an "uniform expression." 29 While these qualitative results cannot be compared meaningfully with our quantitative results, it seems reasonable to assume that the adjective "pressed" may correspond to the perceptual effect of a weakened fundamental, a characteristic that we found significantly related to less preferable Kulning tones. The highest-rated tones were all produced in Condition 3, in which the participants started at maximum lung volume.…”

Section: Tablementioning

confidence: 50%

Kulning: Acoustic and Perceptual Characteristics of a Calling Style Used Within the Scandinavian Herding Tradition

2024

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Kulning, a loud, high-pitched vocal calling technique pertaining to the Scandinavian herding system, has attracted several researchers' attention, mainly focusing on cultural, phonatory and musical aspects. Less attention has been paid to the spectral and physiological properties that characterize Kulning tones, and also if there is a physiologically optimum pitch range. We analyzed tones produced by ten participants with varying experience in Kulning. They performed a phrase, pitch range G5 to C6 (784 to 1046 Hz), in three different conditions: starting (1) on pitch A5, (2) on the participant's preferred pitch, and (3) after the deepest possible inhalation, also on the participant's preferred pitch subglottal pressure (P sub ) was measured as the oral pressure during /p/-occlusion. The quality of the Kulning was rated by a group of experts. The highest-rated tones all had a sound pressure level (SPL) at 0.3 m exceeding 115 dB and a pitch higher than 1010 Hz, while the SPL of the lowest rated tones was less than 108 dB at a pitch below 900 Hz. A multiple regression analysis was performed to evaluate the relationship between the ratings and P sub ), SPL, level of the fundamental and the frequency at which a spectrum envelope dip occurred. Highly rated tones were started at maximum lung volumes, and on participants' preferred pitches. They all shared a high frequency of the spectrum envelope dip and a high level of the fundamental. In decreasing order of ratings, Condition 3 showed the highest values followed by Condition 2 and Condition 1. Each singer seemed to perform best within an individual P sub and pitch range. The relevance of the results to voice pedagogy, artistic, and compositional work is discussed.

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Section: Tablementioning

confidence: 50%

Kulning: Acoustic and Perceptual Characteristics of a Calling Style Used Within the Scandinavian Herding Tradition

2024

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“…Missing variation in the lyrics was also mentioned, i.e., meaningless or aggressive (Greasley et al, 2013), overly simple (inane, stupid) and repetitive lyrics, overly sentimental or clichéd, misogynous sentiments and other biases, and contradictory or intelligible messages (Cunningham et al, 2005). The voice of the singer was also subject to critique, mainly the singing characterization (annoying, yowling, monotonous, whiny), overdramatic vocal effects (Cunningham et al, 2005), high-pitched voices, a nasal sound, or a death-growl (Merrill & Ackermann, 2020;Peltola & Vuoskoski, 2021). The inability to sing along and missing variety between artists were also criticized (Greasley et al, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rationales and Functions of Disliked Music: An In-Depth Interview Study

Ackermann¹,

Merrill²

2021

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Music serves to satisfy emotional and social needs. In its individual quality as liked or disliked music, it can also be used to create and affirm one’s own identity. While studies on musical preferences are abundant, dislikes have rarely been considered in musical taste research. The current study is centered on the rationales and functions of musical dislikes using semi-structured interviews with participants from different age groups (N = 21). The observed rationales for disliked music followed three main themes of (1) object-related reasons such as the composition, the lyrics, and aesthetic dichotomies, (2) subject-related reasons such as emotions evoked – or not evoked – in the listener, physical reactions, self-related and normative reasons such as a mismatch with the self-image, and (3) social reasons which reflect a rejection of the values presented by the music and its fans and therefore underlining the importance of social distinction as a function of musical dislikes. Other functions include identity expression, the avoidance of negative emotional and physical states, and the implicitly expressed demonstration of musical competence. The explanations for disliked music are based on both an excess or lack of certain qualities of the music or emotional reaction to the music, pointing to the idea of a missing ideal mean of music. Quantitatively, the rationales found relate to a combination of reference points which is mainly the music, but often in combination with the lyrics, the performance, the artist, and the fans. Further, the degree of dislike ranged from a slight dislike to strong hatred. To conclude, musical dislikes are a complex, multidimensional component of musical taste. Taking musical dislikes into account, the diversity and complexity of an everyday aesthetics of music can be captured, extending our understanding of attitudes toward music and the functions of music.

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“…Listeners are thus highly familiar with different kinds of musical styles and voices of different expressions. Furthermore, voices are able to express emotions (see Scherer, 1995, on vocal emotion expression in the context of music) and have an impact on the aesthetic judgments of music (see Ackermann, 2019;Ackermann & Merrill, 2021;Greasley et al, 2013;Merrill & Ackermann, 2020, in the context of disliked music). Nevertheless, the evaluation and description of voices has been restricted to trained listeners and to specific contexts.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This notion is of particular interest for research into the psychology of speech, where the focus is on relations between voice perception and evaluations and judgments, e.g., of which vocal features relate (acoustically and perceptually) to emotions (Banse & Scherer, 1996;Scherer, 1995), intentions (Hellbernd & Sammler, 2016), and aesthetic judgments, such as the ideal voice (Hollien, 2000) attractive voice (Babel et al, 2014;Zuckerman & Miyake, 1993), or (dis)liked voice in the context of music (Ackermann & Merrill, 2021;Greasley et al, 2013;Merrill & Ackermann, 2020). Here, judgments by untrained listeners can be helpful for extending research to a larger group of participants, but untrained listeners can use only a few of the existing assessments.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Auditory perceptual assessment of voices: Examining perceptual ratings as a function of voice experience

Merrill

2022

Curr Psychol

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Understanding voice usage is vital to our understanding of human interaction. What is known about the auditory perceptual evaluation of voices comes mainly from studies of voice professionals, who evaluate operatic/lyrical singing in specific contexts. This is surprising as recordings of singing voices from different musical styles are an omnipresent phenomenon, evoking reactions in listeners with various levels of expertise. Understanding how untrained listeners perceive and describe voices will open up new research possibilities and enhance vocal communication between listeners. Here three studies with a mixed-methods approach aimed at: (1) evaluating the ability of untrained listeners to describe voices, and (2) determining what auditory features were most salient in participants’ discrimination of voices. In an interview (N = 20) and a questionnaire study (N = 48), free voice descriptions by untrained listeners of 23 singing voices primarily from popular music were compared with terms used by voice professionals, revealing that participants were able to describe voices using vocal characteristics from essential categories indicating sound quality, pitch changes, articulation, and variability in expression. Nine items were derived and used in an online survey for the evaluation of six voices by trained and untrained listeners in a German (N = 216) and an English (N = 50) sample, revealing that neither language nor expertise affected the assessment of the singers. A discriminant analysis showed that roughness and tension were important features for voice discrimination. The measurement of vocal expression created in the current study will be informative for studying voice perception and evaluation more generally.

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“Like static noise in a beautiful landscape”: A mixed-methods approach to rationales and features of disliked voices in popular music.

Cited by 4 publications

References 59 publications

Kulning: Acoustic and Perceptual Characteristics of a Calling Style Used Within the Scandinavian Herding Tradition

Kulning: Acoustic and Perceptual Characteristics of a Calling Style Used Within the Scandinavian Herding Tradition

Rationales and Functions of Disliked Music: An In-Depth Interview Study

Auditory perceptual assessment of voices: Examining perceptual ratings as a function of voice experience

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