Timbre

Orchestration is a problem that has been relatively unex- plored in computer music until recently. This is perhaps due to its com- plexity. This paper presents a survey of the field of computer-assisted orchestration. The span of such survey covers different orchestration sys- tems that were initiated by the spectral music movement and developed during the last 40 years in order to establish the current state-of-the-art. In this paper, we also introduce some of our current work-in-progress ideas, which work towards intelligent orchestration systems.

Este trabalho tem como objetivo destacar e apresentar de maneira sucinta os princípios acústicos básicos dos instrumentos de percussão. E também ressaltar a influência do gesto no resultado sonoro final, levando em consideração os variados pontos de toques nos principais instrumentos de percussão e a variação timbristica gerada em cada situação.
Palavras-chave: Performance, Gesto, Percussão, Timbre, Acústica, Som.

Many adjectives for musical timbre reflect cross-modal correspondence, particularly with vision and touch (e.g., "dark-bright," "smooth-rough"). Although multisensory integration between visual/tactile processing and hearing has been demonstrated for pitch and loudness, timbre is not well understood as a locus of cross-modal mappings. Are people consistent in these semantic associations? Do cross-modal terms reflect dimensional interactions in timbre processing? Here I designed two experiments to investigate crosstalk between timbre semantics and perception through the use of Stroop-type speeded classification. Experiment 1 found that incongruent pairings of instrument timbres and written names caused significant Stroop-type interference relative to congruent pairs, indicating bidirectional crosstalk between semantic and auditory modalities. Pre-Experiment 2 asked participants to rate natural and synthesized timbres on semantic differential scales capturing luminance (brightness) and texture (roughness) associations, finding substantial consistency for a number of timbres. Acoustic correlates of these associations were also assessed, indicating an important role for high-frequency energy in the intensity of cross-modal ratings. Experiment 2 used timbre adjectives and sound stimuli validated in the previous experiment in two variants of a semantic-auditory Stroop-type task. Results of linear mixed-effects modeling of reaction time and accuracy showed slight interference in semantic processing when adjectives were paired with cross-modally incongruent instrument timbres (e.g., the word "smooth" with a "rough" timbre). Taken together, I conclude by suggesting that semantic crosstalk in timbre processing may be partially automatic and could reflect weak synesthetic congruency between interconnected sensory domains.

Presented at the 2nd International Conference on Timbre 2020. Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (online), Greece, 2020

In his article ‘Tempus ex Machina…’, composer Gérard Grisey discusses a number of examples in classical music, where the traditional flow of time is interrupted to explore timbre. I present and analyze further examples, including cases which are not characterized by ‘temporal suspensions’, but other parameters relevant for generating timbre. Then, I introduce the notion Musical OOPArt in order to organize evidence that shows a progressive focalization on timbre during the romantic period and its impact in the development of future spectral and timbre-based musical styles. September, 2020. ISBN: 978-960-99845-7-7

Throughout his career, Carlos Santana has used music to express his idiosyncratic spiritual beliefs. Pursuing the guidance of guru Sri Chinmoy in the 1970s and subsequently seeking his own spiritual path, Santana sought to channel a higher power through his guitar technique and tone, describing the process of music making as a mystical endeavor. In order to attain these goals, Santana used amplifiers that prioritized depth of sound, feedback loops for his signature sustained tones, an avoidance of hypermasculine performance, and a peaceful stage presence.

August Rush (2007), directed by Kirsten Sheridan, tells the story of an orphaned musical prodigy, Evan Taylor, using his gift to find his parents. While the central message of August Rush is how music connects people, it interestingly reveals several complicated connections between music and images. First, the soundtrack of August Rush incorporates everyday “noises” as musical elements, with images addressing their sources. This challenges the audience to constantly relate timbre to its source images, and also induces satisfaction when the unrevealed source is later revealed. Second, music in August Rush tells the narrative before image does. For instance, the fusion of two musical styles in the “Louis/Lyla” scenes pre-establishes the bonding between the protagonist’s parents, while the image of them cuddling is shown afterwards. Imagery thus functions to provide additional information or clarification. Last but not least, music connects “past” and “present” imagery. The music performance of “August Rhapsody” in the final scene recalls previous events, which juxtaposes with the “present” images and hence implies multiple meanings.

In this article, I first illustrate the aforementioned connections in the opening scene, the “City Symphony” scene and the “Louis/Lyla” scenes etc. Then I provide a detailed analysis of “August’s Rhapsody,” particularly on its relation to other scenes to further demonstrate the connections in macroscopic view. I conclude that imagery in August Rush unusually becomes the supporting element and only with music can it be connected, transcending time and space.

Nothing but Noise: Timbre and Musical Meaning at the Edge explores how timbre shapes musical affect and meaning. Integrating perspectives from musicology with the cognitive sciences, author Zachary Wallmark advances a novel model of timbre interpretation that takes into account the bodily, sensorimotor dynamics of sound production and perception. The contribution of timbre to musical experience is clearest in drastic situations where meaning is itself contested; that is, in polarizing contexts of reception where evaluation of "musical" timbre by some listeners collides headlong against a competing claim-that it is just "noise." Taking this ubiquitous moment as a starting point, the book explores affect, reception, and timbre semantics through diverse cultural-historical case studies that frustrate the acoustic and perceptual boundary between musical sound and noise.

Nothing but Noise includes chapters on the racial and gender politics in the reception of free jazz saxophone "screaming" in the late 1960s; an analysis of contested timbral ideals in the performance practices of the Japanese shakuhachi flute; and an historical examination of the overlooked role of "brutal" timbres in the moral panic over heavy metal in the eighties and nineties. The book closes with a discussion of the slippery social fault lines separating perceptions of musical sound from noise and the ethical stakes of encountering another's "aural face."

Dans quelle mesure et par quels moyens le timbre entre-t-il en jeu dans le traitement des formes musicales brèves ?  Cette  question  sert de  fil  conducteur  à  une  étude de  cas  centrée  sur  le Carnaval op.9  de Schumann, un ensemble de petites pièces dont les singularités timbriques transparaissent  sur  le  plan  de  l’écriture  musicale  au  travers  de  facteurs timbriques tels que la pédale, l’articulation, la dynamique, le nombre de parties,  les  registres,  les  doublures  et  l’ambitus.  Un  examen  détaillé  des pièces  « Eusebius »,  « Pantalon  et  Colombine »  et  « Paganini »  permet de  mettre  en  regard  des  analyses  formelles  centrées  sur  les  dimensions mélodique  et  harmonique  avec  des  analyses  formelles  au  prisme  du timbre.  Ces  analyses  timbriques  apportent  un  éclairage nouveau sur le traitement des formes brèves schumanniennes, mettant en évidence le rôle du timbre en tant que principe unificateur de la forme, le détachement de ces formes brèves par rapport aux modèles formels classiques – visible notamment dans l’accélération et l’imprévisibilité formelles induites par les unités timbriques finales –, mais également la densité et la complexité du  discours résultant du timbre et de ses  interactions avec les autres dimensions musicales.

Au cours des dernières années, l'apprentissage profond s'est établi comme la nouvelle méthode de référence pour les problèmes de classification audio et notamment la reconnaissance d'instruments. Cependant, ces modèles ne traitent généralement pas la classification de modes de jeux avancés, question pourtant centrale dans la composition contemporaine. Les quelques études réalisées se cantonnent à une évaluation sur une seule banque de sons, dont rien n'assure la généralisation sur des données réelles. Dans cet article, nous étendons les méthodes de l'état de l'art à la classification de modes de jeu instrumentaux en temps réel à partir d'enregistrements de solistes. Nous montrons qu'une combinaison de réseaux convolutionnels (CNN) et récurrents (RNN) permet d'obtenir d'excellents résultats sur un corpus homogène provenant de 5 banques de sons. Toutefois, leur performance s'affaiblit sensiblement sur un corpus hétérogène, ce qui pourrait indiquer une faible capacité à généraliser à des données réelles. Nous proposons des pistes pour résoudre ce problème. Enfin, nous détaillons plusieurs utilisations possibles de nos modèles dans le cadre de systèmes interactifs.

Ce chapitre montre que le concept de timbre a émergé d'une pensée théorique et musicale de la seconde moitié du vingtième siècle, et examine également sa pertinence dans les répertoires historiques et ceux relevant d'autres sphères culturelles. Des exemples de Risset, Grisey, Beethoven, Purcell, du répertoire religieux tibétain et du groupe My Bloody Valentine illustrent le propos.

Timbre is doubtlessly one of the main paradigms of Debussy’s music. It is thus obvious to consider timbre research as a promising tool for the analysis of Debussy’s works. Within the scope of this text, this process is exemplified by an analysis of Nuages, the first movement of Debussy’s Nocturnes for orchestra (1897–99). Timbre constellations are investigated by close listening and by implementation of the MIRtoolbox software (developed by Olivier Lartillot and Petri Toi-viainen in 2007). By comparing four different recordings, a close relationship between bars 5–8 and 80–82 of Nuages is revealed. In respect to their properties of sound and harmony, these passages are ambiguous. This might tempt us to call Debussy’s treatment of sound ‘mysterious’ or ‘inscrutable’. It should always be kept in mind, however, that these ambiguities are composed out with the utmost precision. This insight leads to a reflection on questions of form. If we locate and describe specific constellations of timbre and their precisely defined properties, we are able to compare different areas of form that feature similar properties of sound. As a result, we realise that musical elements are not merely juxtaposed in Debussy’s music, but interwoven in a complex fashion. By re-evaluating formal aspects in their relation to timbre, we approach a new perspective of form that is informed by current timbre research.

De l'ensemble des paramètres musicaux, le timbre est certainement un de ceux dont les enjeux liés à la perception sont parmi les plus complexes à cerner. Certaines recherches analytiques récentes, de plus ou plus préoccupées par la musique dans son actualisation sonore, ont progressivement intégré - de manière plus ou moins explicite - l'analyse du timbre dans leur démarche, non sans se trouver confrontées à des difficultés liées notamment à sa modélisation musicale.
L'objet de ce travail est de questionner l'analyse du timbre par le biais des objets qu'elle soumet à l'analyse - partitions, enregistrements -, des méthodes qu'elle utilise - qui font généralement appel aux sciences de la perception - et des représentations qui en résultent - notamment les représentations hiérarchiques. Illustrée par des exemples musicaux tirés de différents répertoires instrumentaux, cette réflexion permet d'évaluer les apports respectifs de différents outils d'analyse du timbre.

The metal scene has undergone an evolution in sonic characteristics that is partially rooted in music technology developments and associated production techniques that have given rise to a set of identifiably distinct ‘metal’ timbres. The science of psychoacoustics provides a measurable way of assessing these perceptual changes. This article proposes a methodology for psychoacoustic analysis in order to track the evolution of metal-specific timbres, and to speculate on the development of, and applications for, timbral metering in metal production. Sampling, synthesis and digital editing techniques have given rise to entirely new genres of music, yet metal as a genre has remained ostensibly with much the same musical format. Nevertheless, the sonic fingerprint of modern metal production often bears the hallmark of these computer-aided developments. In particular, the metal audience is now, consciously or not, used to the sound of triggered drum samples and sound replacement, ‘re-amping’ guitar and bass signals, and the restricted dynamic range of the ‘loudness war’. As a genre that is known for taking joy in all things loud, both anecdotally and in academic research, the issue of manipulating dynamic range compression in order to increase perceptual loudness in modern music production is perhaps even more pertinent to the metal genre than in other popular music forms.

This chapter offers a critique of traditional Western accounts of timbre to propose that, instead of a secondary parameter subordinated to pitch and rhythm, timbre is a general category-a condition of possibility for listening-that depends on embodied perception and makes difference audible. The chapter draws from phenomenology as well as psychoacoustic and ethnographic research, focusing on case studies ranging from Fatima Al Qadiri to Julius Eastman, alongside ethnographic analyses of Barundi Whispered Inanga, sonic encounters in nineteenth-century Colombia, and readings of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Eduard Hanslick, and Guido Adler, to provide a broader account of timbre that encompasses the imbrication of acoustic components with memory, affect, and language. In this respect, timbre emerges as an important critical and musicological category that helps us address issues of embodied difference and culturally dependent forms of listening, while reassessing the prominence of Eurocentric conceptions of musical values. The sound component of Josh Kline's 2015 installation Freedom is a cover version of "The Star-Spangled Banner" made by Fatima Al Qadiri, a Senegal-born producer who divides her time between Kuwait and Brooklyn. Kline's multimedia installation explores the gap between the ideological elevation of freedom and the pervasive militarization of the police in today's United States-a tension embodied in four iconic riot-gear-clad Teletubbies with video screens embedded in their bellies. These dystopian "Po-po" guard three metallic palm trees that sprout credit cards and zip-tie handcuffs from their branches, in a setting that evokes the 2011 Zuccotti Park Occupy camp. Al Qadiri's melody, shrouded in delay and reverb, resonates across the space, filling it with the palpable anxiety of police violence and hypermodern alienation.

In the last 20 year there has been an increasing need for an objective method for eval- uating audio from a perceptual point of view. Perceptual encoding and its prevalence in popular audio distribution models highlights the demand for software that is able to estimate the quality without having to organize costly and time-consuming listening experiments which have been the main means of evaluating perceptual audio quality so far. In addition to this timbre has been the subject of many publications recently that have contributed to understanding the connection between di↵erent metrics to quantify it and their perceptual analog. MFCCs have recently been shown to have a close rela- tion with perception of sound and the Echonest Analyzer API has been proven to be particularly successful at measuring timbre in MIR (Music Information Retrieval) tasks and it efficacy and ease of use make it a perfect candidate for exploring timbre.
The project proposes a new approach to objective audio quality evaluation in which, in order to find computationally the perceptual di↵erences between two tracks, timbre features are retrieved using the Echonest Analyzer, a perceptually based audio analysis service, and MFCC, a perceptually relevant feature set used in speech recognition. A distance measure derived from speech recognition research, Dynamic Time Warping, is used in conjunction with the Euclidean distance of two vectors representing the first four statistical moments of the features derived, are used to acquire a 6-dimensional feature set detailing dissimilarity between two tracks. These are then used with labels obtained in listening tests in the training of a system that uses K-Nearest Neighbour regression to predict quality. An experiment is designed to gather data for the train- ing and validation of the system. The quality prediction are found to correlate with subjective ratings and compared with the PEAQ standard, which is found to perform better. Finally considerations are made about the verification process and about how this research can be taken forward.

Abstract
Title: Orchestrating Timbre – Unfolding Processes of Timbre and Memory in Improvisational Piano Performance
Author: Magda Mayas
Language: English with a Swedish summary
Keywords: extended timbre, improvisation, composition, inside piano, prepared piano, listening, timbral memory, spatialization, gesture, choreography, musical perception, embodied musical performance, artistic research.
ISBN: 978-91-7833-722-4 (printed version) ISBN: 978-91-7833-723-1 (digital edition) URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2077/62283
Abstract
Title: Orchestrating Timbre – Unfolding Processes of Timbre and Memory in Improvisational Piano Performance
Author: Magda Mayas
Language: English with a Swedish summary
Keywords: extended timbre, improvisation, composition, inside piano, prepared piano, listening, timbral memory, spatialization, gesture, choreography, musical perception, embodied musical performance, artistic research.
ISBN: 978-91-7833-722-4 (printed version) ISBN: 978-91-7833-723-1 (digital edition) URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2077/62283

This doctoral thesis presents how the orchestration of timbre is investigated from a performer’s perspective as means to “unfold” improvisational processes. It is grounded in my practice as a pianist in the realm of improvised music, in which I often use preparations and objects as extensions of the instrument.
As practice-based research, I explore multiple, combined, artistic, and analytical approaches to timbre, anchored in four of my own works. The process has also involved dialogues and experimental collaborations with other performers, engineers, an instrument builder and a choreographer. It opposes the notion of generalizable, reproducible, and transferrable techniques and instead offers detailed approaches to technique and material, describing object timbre, action timbre, and gesture timbre as active agents in sound-making processes.
Whilst timbre is often understood as a purely sonic perceptual phenomenon, this view does not accord with contemporary site-specific improvisational practice; hence, the need to explore and renew the potentiality of timbre. I introduce and argue for an extended understanding of timbre in relation to material, space, and body that embraces timbre’s complexity and potential to contribute to an ethical engagement with the situated context. I understand material, spatial, and embodied relations to be non-hierarchical, inseparable, and in constant  flux, requiring continuous reconfiguration without being reduced or simplified. From a performer’s perspective, I define “orchestrating” timbre as the attentive re-organization of these active agents and the creation of musical structures on micro and macro levels through the sculpting and transitioning of timbre—spatially, temporally, physically, and mentally—within a variety of compositional frameworks.
This requires recognizing the multiple and complex roles that memory plays in contemporary improvisational practice. I therefore introduce the term timbral memory as a strategic structural, reflective, and performative tool in the creation of performing and listening modes, as integrated parts of timbre orchestration.
Reaching beyond the sonic, my research contributes to the  field of critical improvisation studies. It addresses practitioners and audiences in music and sound art, attempting to also constitute a bridge from artistic research in music—often viewed as a self-contained discipline—into multiple artistic  fields, to inspire discussions, creation and education.

This article discusses orchestration in relation to its aesthetic qualities and how orchestration interacts with other musical parameters or compositional processes. The different craft- and art-like qualities of orchestration are reflected in the two-fold nature of a musical composition as both a pitch structure and a structure of sound colors. Some terms are suggested for addressing the different issues brought up in this discussion.

The focus of this dissertation is to investigate the perception of single chords, both in terms of perceived emotions and psychoacoustic qualities. Previous empirical research on harmony perception has mainly been concerned with horizontal aspects of harmony: studies focusing on vertical harmony perception have been rare. The current work aims to fill some of the still evident gaps between musicology, music psychology, and psychoacoustics with regard to single chord perception by combining both empirical and theoretical approaches. The work comprises three publications, based on two large-scale empirical experiments conducted with the aim of drawing the attention of both expert and inexpert listeners to have a substantial, heterogeneous, and international participant pool. The applied chord stimuli spanned common triads and tetrads with inversions, and also more rare chord sonorities in the form of pentads and hexachords. Altogether two distinct timbres were used, piano and strings. The stimuli were analyzed in terms of psychoacoustic properties, including e.g., roughness, harmonicity, and sharpness to further account for the obtained results. The results suggest significant differences in emotion perception across different chord types. The inversions and register contributed to the evaluations significantly, non-musicians distinguishing between triadic inversions similarly to musicians. Mildly dissonant chords were more preferred than consonant chords, regardless of musical sophistication or music preferences. Certain chords, especially the major seventh chord played on the strings, conveyed the emotion of nostalgia/longing effectively. New theoretical models are suggested based on the results and psychoacoustic data to explain the capacity of certain chords to convey complex emotions, and the perception of consonance/dissonance in single chords.

Cette thèse examine le rôle structurant du timbre à partir du répertoire pianistique de la première moitié du dix-neuvième siècle, période exploratoire où le timbre, composé multidimensionnel, occupe une place centrale. Fondée sur une conception architectonique et organique de la forme, elle convoque l’acoustique et la psychologie, dans une perspective transdisciplinaire. Le rapport entre timbre et langage se fonde sur les ressources timbriques de l’écriture. Ce matériau aux fortes potentialités structurales est modélisé par des facteurs pianistiques et texturaux en interaction. Les unités timbriques de niveau inférieur, délimitées par différents types d’articulations, trouvent leur cohésion dans des groupements timbriques aux propriétés émergentes. Les structures orientées résultantes convergent ou divergent avec les autres dimensions musicales. Le déploiement formel du timbre met en jeu des associations timbriques, donnant lieu à des espaces orientés et polarisés et à des structures en réseaux. Les prolongations timbriques, impliquant l’extension temporelle, la générativité et la récursivité de la forme, concernent les dimensions spectrale et temporelle du timbre et interrogent la notion de structure fondamentale. Les hiérarchies timbriques, envisagées sous l’angle de la subordination et de la réduction, mettent en jeu des structures fractales et arborescentes. Le rapport entre timbre et plan formel global implique l’examen des unités timbriques de niveau supérieur, résultant de groupements statistiques et syntaxiques, et dont les articulations présentent maintes similarités avec le niveau inférieur. La typologie des formes rend compte de la diversité des structures résultantes et met en évidence les notions de point culminant, symétrie, progression, anticipation et retour. Le timbre, structuré en niveaux interreliés, constitue ainsi une dimension essentielle à la compréhension de la nature et de l’évolution des formes pianistiques.

This thesis examines the structuring role of timbre through the pianistic repertory of the first half of the nineteenth century, an exploratory period in which timbre, as multidimensional compound, occupies a central place. Based on an architectonic and organic conception of form, it conveys acoustics and psychology, in a transdisciplinary perspective. Relationship between timbre and language is based on the timbral resources of writing. This material, provided with strong structural potentialities, is modelled by pianistic and textural factors in interaction. Low-level timbral units, delimited by different types of articulations, find their cohesion in timbral groupings provided with emerging properties. The resulting orientated structures converge or diverge with the other musical dimensions. Formal deployment of timbre involves timbral associations, giving rise to orientated and polarized spaces and to network structures. Timbral prolongations, implying temporal extension, generativity and recursion of form, concern the spectral and temporal dimensions of timbre and question the notion of fundamental structure. Timbral hierarchies, considered in terms of subordination and reduction, involve fractal and treelike structures. Relationship between timbre and overall formal plan implies the examination of high-level timbral units, resulting from statistical and syntactic groupings, and whose articulations present many similarities with low level. The typology of forms renders the resulting structures’ diversity and brings to light the notions of climax, symmetry, progression, anticipation and return. Timbre, structured in interrelated levels, thus constitutes a dimension essential to the comprehension of nature and evolution of pianistic forms.

Early comparative musicology habitually ignored, even extinguished, timbre in its single-minded focus on pitch. This chapter traces the broader social, cultural, and political consequences of this framework. It surveys how, at the turn of the twentieth century, John Comfort Fillmore and Benjamin Ives Gilman followed the lead of Alice Fletcher and Alexander Ellis in deploying a broad range of technologies—phonograph, Helmholtz resonator, keyboard, and musical notation—to develop frameworks for analyzing essential similarities and differences between Native American and Western musics. It argues that such scholarship, while ostensibly aimed at salvaging Native American music, also served American efforts to reform and silence indigenous voices. The postscript examines the resonances between their theories and modern frameworks of parametric analysis that construe pitch and timbre as autonomous, and proposes that there may be unrecognized perils in overly articulating the boundaries between pitch and timbre to focus analytical attention exclusively on the measurable quantities of musical sound.

In many of his texts and interviews Gérard Grisey emphasized that spectral music draws its properties out of the nature of sound itself. This implies a tendency towards purism and a rigorous criticism of any reference to levels of signification and meaning. A closer scrutiny of Grisey’s music shows, however, that this apparent opposition can be questioned in several ways. Grisey’s musical thinking can be localized on the threshold between sound and meaning – it is a »liminal« music (musique liminale). Analytical comments on Grisey’s L’icône paradoxale for two female voices and orchestra (1992–94) exemplify this.

Doctoral dissertation, University of Pittsburgh, 2005

In exploring the semiotics of vocal timbre as a general phenomenon within music, theoretical engagement of the history of timbre and of musical meaning bolsters my illustrative analyses of Laurie Anderson and Louis Armstrong. I outline first its reliance on subtractive filtering imparted physically by the performer’s vocal tract, demonstrating that its signification is itself a subtractive process where meaning lies in the silent space between spectral formants. Citing Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology and placing the body’s perceptual experience as the basis of existential reality, I then argue that the human voice offers self actualization in a way that other sensory categories cannot, because the voice gives us control over what and how we hear in a way that we cannot control, through our own bodies alone, our sight, touch, taste, and smell. This idea combines with a listener’s imagined performance of vocal music, in which I propose that because of our familiarity with the articulations of human sound, as we hear a voice we are able to imagine and mimic the choreography of the vocal tract, engaging a physical and bodily listening, thereby making not only performance but also listening a self- affirming bodily reflection on being. Finally I consider vocal timbre as internally lexical and externally bound by a linguistic context. Citing Peirce and Derrida, and incorporating previous points, I show vocal timbre as a canvas on which a linguistic and musical foreground is painted, all interpreted by the body. Accompanying theoretical discussions is a concerto addressing relevant compositional issues.

A very popular, yet barely researched, musical instrument is the Jew's Harp (aka Jaw Harp, JH). Its earliest archaeological occurrences date back to the early Bronze Age, but its simplest constructions, made of tree twigs and bark, along with its cross-cultural connection to shamanic beliefs, suggest its prehistoric use. Archaeological evidence points to Northeast China and the Amur basin as the source of the JH early dissemination (B.C.E.) over a vast area, from the Volga steppes to Japan, as being an important musical instrument in the traditional musical culture. For some indigenous ethnicities such as the Yakuts, this is the only non-percussive musical instrument. Its uniqueness is manifested in the peculiar tradition of articulating speech-like sounds. The importance of this tradition is evident by its enormous geographic span from Western Europe to Melanesia. Its use to camouflage romantic communication between a young male and a young female is especially common. Little known is the similarity between the vocal system of articulations in the "talking JH" tradition and vowel harmony found in most languages of the Turkic, Mongolic, and Tungusic families of the Transeurasian (aka "Altaic") family, as well as in many Uralic languages-all of which are spoken by peoples that regularly use the JH. This paper outlines a possible scenario in which the spread of the cult of ancestral plants across this vast region, from Altai to Sakhalin, and the cult of the "singing mask" of the Tuva-Amur area may have given special importance to musicking on the JH, initiating its spread along pastoralism to the neighboring regions. Once established, the JH tradition may have bifurcated into two types: the framed idioglot, usually made of organic materials, that was sustained in north and northeast, and the bow-shaped heteroglot metallic type that spread to west and southwest. The ethnicities that preferred the framed JH construction retained the JH as their sole (or one of the very few) musical instruments within their timbre-oriented music culture. The ethnicities that adopted forms of frequency-oriented music developed a rich assortment of musical instruments which transformed their JH traditions and reduced the importance of the JH in their music cultures. It is JH's unique status as a primary traditional instrument that may have granted it formative influence over the existing languages of the Transeurasian family and the neighboring Uralic family.

Pensar en formas sonoro-simbólicas Desarrollo de un concepto para el estudio semiológico del timbre. Introducción En este artículo nos proponemos investigar el problema del timbre a partir de la utilización crítica de la metodología semiológica tripartita concebida por Jean Molino y Jean-Jacques Nattiez. Sea que consideremos al timbre un concepto comodín (fourretout) como coinciden en describirlo personalidades con tan diferentes perspectivas teóricas como la de Michel Chion (Chion, 1986 p.7) 1 o René Caussé (Caussé, 1991, p. 216), o bien , lo consideremos como Nattiez un elemento musical secundario, incapaz de producir eventos implicativos para los oyentes competentes en el estilo de la música clásica y romántica (Nattiez, 2005) , el problema del reconocimiento de las significaciones inmanentes de la materia sonora no deja de existir negándolo. Para Philipp Tagg "El timbre es probablemente el parámetro de expresión musical más frecuentemente señalado por los estudiosos de la música popular , así como el punto ciego más serio de la teoría de la música convencional" (Tagg, 2015 : 11) La enorme cantidad de definiciones contradictorias o complementarias del concepto que es posible reconocer en un texto ya clásico comöLe timbre métaphore pour la composition¨(composition¨(Barrière, 1991) demuestran que, como lo sostiene Claude Cadoz, ¨la cuestión del timbre no se reduce a su definición: el debate que suscita es un debate sobre el total de la música misma". (Cadoz ,1991 p. 17). 1. Metodología De acuerdo a la definición dada por Jean Molino, quien sostiene que todo producto del hacer humano es una forma simbólica (Molino, 1975), resulta posible inferir que, tanto los sonidos producidos o escuchados intencionalmente, como los instrumentos y sistemas utilizados para 2 3 realizarlos son parte de este grupo y por lo tanto ameritan la posibilidad de una interrogación semiológica que permita dar cuenta de las significaciones que éstos suscitan en tanto objetos concebidos e imaginados, en tanto objetos materiales y en tanto objetos percibidos. todas las traducciones son del autor 1 Es importante subrayar la distinción entre emitir y producir un sonido : todos los sonidos emitidos por los seres humanos no son 2 consecuencias de un¨hacer¨,un¨hacer¨, la mayoría de los sonidos que emitimos cotidianamente son consecuencias no intencionales de otras acciones como caminar, respirar, tipear, toser, etc. El acto de escucha es un acto intencional. Todos los sonidos y mismo los silencios reconocidos en un acto de 3 escucha puede ser consideradas también formas simbólicas , mismo si no fueron producidos intencionalmente. Es posible pensar entonces que el acto de escucha es un¨hacer¨cuyoun¨hacer¨un¨hacer¨cuyo producto es la forma sonora. La transformación de un fenómeno audible en forma sonora es sin duda la consecuencia de una poiesis.. ! 1

What does the common descriptive lexicon for instrumental sound tell us about how we conceptualize musical timbre? Perceptual studies have revealed a number of verbal attributes that reliably map onto timbral qualities, but the conventions of timbre description in spoken and written discourse remain poorly understood. Books on orchestration provide a valuable source of natural language about instrumental timbre. This article uses methods from corpus linguistics to explore the semantic features of timbre through a quantitative analysis of 11 orchestration treatises and manuals. Findings reveal a relatively constrained vocabulary for timbre: about 50 adjectives account for half of all descriptions in the corpus. The timbre lexicon can be categorized according to affect, matter, metaphor, mimesis, action, acoustics, and onomatopoeia, and further reduced to three latent conceptual dimensions, which are labeled and discussed. Descriptive patterns vary systematically by instrument and instrument family, suggesting certain regularities and consistencies to timbre description in the orchestral tradition. This study helps test the long-held assumption that conventions of timbre description are vague and unsystematic, and offers a cognitive linguistic account of the timbre-language connection.

Morris's Arc (1988) for String Quartet flows; it flows with substance, and with purpose. By flowing, I don’t just mean in the trivial sense that all music flows because it is unfolding in time and time flows. Rather I mean that there is continuity to its various surges of eventfulness; these surges are not disjunct or sudden. And by substance I mean both that its sound is as a sensuous fluid material and that the unfolding of its constituent events presents a coherent organization, thus binding together into a statement that seems meaningful in retrospect. By purpose I mean not only that there is a local logic to the consequence of one note following another, but also that the flow of events enables the material to organize into processes that forge a trajectory toward a goal.
    The analysis first focuses on local details considered in terms of pitch and pitch-class formations as arising from twelve-tone rows; then it delves into aspects of form, process, and texture. These are considered in terms of emergent properties in flux. The modeling of these properties and their flux employs some mathematical formalisms, but the reader can rely on the fact that every mathematical definition and formula is described carefully in prose as well.
    In Arc, the twelve-tone pitch class details and the surging emergent qualities projecting form are not completely separate from each other. Rather, all these features interact. Thus not only does the article weave together connections between such facets as form, process, and texture, but it also connects these to the twelve-tone rows and pitch-class configurations that are more straightforwardly part of the compositional plan (and more usual in analyses) of Morris’s music.

[Download the pdf below, or contact the author jmailman@alumni.uchicago.edu, for a digital offprint. It can also accessed through JSTOR: www.jstor.org/stable/10.7757/persnewmusi.52.2.0249 ]