Alexander Galembo - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Alexander Galembo

Oxford Music Online, May 25, 2016

Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, Dec 1, 1995

IEEE Transactions on Speech and Audio Processing, Mar 1, 1999

Professionals consider the differences in the timbre of bass tones between large grand pianos and... more Professionals consider the differences in the timbre of bass tones between large grand pianos and small uprights as significant. By tradition this difference has been attributed mainly to lower inharmonicity in grand pianos, due to longer bass strings. In this study, the importance of the spectral envelope, representing the dynamic balance between high-frequency and low-frequency energy in the spectrum, is contrasted against the importance of the level of inharmonicity. Results from two listening tests indicate that the inharmonicity is less important than the spectrum bandwidth in determining the timbre of piano bass tones.

S OF The International Symposium on Musical Acoustics 1998 Saturday Morning, 27 June 1998 1A. Ope... more S OF The International Symposium on Musical Acoustics 1998 Saturday Morning, 27 June 1998 1A. Opening Session Thomas Rossing (Chair), Chapel Theater 8:35 AM Alpenhorn Fanfare 8:45 AM Announcements and Introductions

Archives of Acoustics, 2007

The influences of inharmonicity and bandwidth on sensitivity to tonality in the low-frequency ran... more The influences of inharmonicity and bandwidth on sensitivity to tonality in the low-frequency range (A0 to G#1) were tested in a listening experiment. Participants were presented a key-defining context (do-mi-do-so) and were asked to rate the goodness of fit of probe tones to the context. Probe tones were the 12 tones of the chromatic scale beginning on do. The set of 12 ratings, called the probe-tone profile, was compared to an established standardized profile for the Western tonal hierarchy. Prior research employing this method with real (sampled) piano tones has suggested that sensitivity to tonality is influenced by inharmonicity, particularly in the lowest octaves of the piano where inharmonicity levels are substantially above the detection threshold. In the present experiment, sensitivity to tonality was tested using synthesized piano-like tones that were either harmonic or inharmonic. Participants were tested in either a broadband (no filtering) or low-pass (low-pass filtered...

Perception, 2007

Striking changes in sensitivity to tonality across the pitch range are reported. Participants wer... more Striking changes in sensitivity to tonality across the pitch range are reported. Participants were presented a key-defining context (do-mi-do-sol) followed by one of the 12 chromatic tones of the octave, and rated the goodness of fit of the probe tone to the context. The set of ratings, called the probe-tone profile, was compared to an established standardised profile for the Western tonal hierarchy. The presentation of context and probe tones at low and high pitch registers resulted in significantly reduced sensitivity to tonality. Sensitivity was especially poor for presentations in the lowest octaves where inharmonicity levels were substantially above the threshold for detection. We propose that sensitivity to tonality may be influenced by pitch salience (or a co-varying factor such as exposure to pitch distributional information) as well as suprathreshold inharmonicity.

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 1995

The former isolation of Russia has made many scientific works and results unknown to researchers ... more The former isolation of Russia has made many scientific works and results unknown to researchers in the Western countries. This is unfortunate, as the history of musical acoustics in Russia shows many interesting ideas and pioneer results reached by highly talented and enthusiastic scientists. Best known is probably Lev Termen with his ‘‘theremin’’—the first application of electronic technology to musical art. A. V. Rimski-Korsakov, one of the most distinguished Russian acousticians, started his scientific career with investigations of stringed instruments. This paper presents a bibliography of Russian-Soviet publications on musical acoustics (in English translation), covering the period 1885–1994.

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 1998

By way of ‘‘the touch,’’ a pianist is able to achieve two degrees of freedom in the control of th... more By way of ‘‘the touch,’’ a pianist is able to achieve two degrees of freedom in the control of the key motion. Besides the final hammer velocity, the pianist can control, to some extent independently, the force history between the key and finger. By controlling the acceleration history of the key, while keeping the final hammer velocity constant, the pianist can vary the duration of the key and hammer motion and the forces between the interacting parts of the action. This will influence the intensity of vibrations in the hammer shank and of a noise precursor in the radiated sound. This report addresses the pianist’s ability to change the touch parameters and to control them (at will) for musical purposes. The traditional controversy between physicists and some pianists raises a psychological question: ‘‘Why do some pianists think they are able to control a timbre of the individual tone by touch?’’ One hypothesis is that variations in touch change the perception of a tone for the pia...

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 2005

This study investigated the temporal behavior of grand piano actions from different manufacturers... more This study investigated the temporal behavior of grand piano actions from different manufacturers under different touch conditions and dynamic levels. An experimental setup consisting of accelerometers and a calibrated microphone was used to capture key and hammer movements, as well as the sound signal. Five selected keys were played by pianists with two types of touch (“pressed touch” versus “struck touch”) over the entire dynamic range. Discrete measurements were extracted from the accelerometer data for each of the over 2300 recorded tones (e.g., finger-key, hammer-string, and key bottom contact times, maximum hammer velocity). Travel times of the hammer (from finger-key to hammer-string) as a function of maximum hammer velocity varied clearly between the two types of touch, but only slightly between pianos. A travel time approximation used in earlier work [Goebl W., (2001). J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 110, 563–572] derived from a computer-controlled piano was verified. Constant temporal...

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 2001

Piano bass tones raise questions related to the perception of multicomponent, inharmonic tones. I... more Piano bass tones raise questions related to the perception of multicomponent, inharmonic tones. In this study, the influence of the relative phases among partials on pitch and timbre was investigated for synthesized bass tones with piano-like inharmonicity. Three sets of bass tones (A0=27.5 Hz, 100 partials, flat spectral envelope) were generated; harmonic, low inharmonic, and high inharmonic. For each set, five starting phase relations among partials were applied; sine phases, alternate (sine/cosine) phases, random phases, Schroeder phases, and negative Schroeder phases. The pitch and timbre of the tones were influenced markedly by the starting phases. Listening tests showed that listeners are able to discriminate between tones having different starting phase relations, and also that the pitch could be changed by manipulating the relative phases (octave, fifth, major third). A piano-like inharmonicity gives a characteristic randomizing effect of the phase relations over time in ton...

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 1997

The difference in timbre, especially in the bass range, is one of the important reasons why piani... more The difference in timbre, especially in the bass range, is one of the important reasons why pianists prefer large grand pianos to small uprights. The work discussed in this presentation addresses acoustical and design factors responsible for this difference. [Work supported by NATO and NSERC.]

IEEE Transactions on Speech and Audio Processing, 1999

Proceedings of the Stockholm Music Acoustics Conference (SMAC’03), August 6–9, 2003, Aug 1, 2003

A concert pianist is able to produce a wide range of imaginable nuances of musical expression by ... more A concert pianist is able to produce a wide range of imaginable nuances of musical expression by actuating the 88 keys on a piano, none of which travel through a distance greater than one centimeter. In this study, we investigated the temporal behaviour of grand piano actions from different manufacturers using different types of touch ('legato'versus 'staccato'). An experimental setup consisting of accelerometers and a calibrated microphone was used to capture key and hammer movements, as well as the ...

Proceedings of the International Symposium on Musical Acoustics, 2004

This study addresses the old question of whether the timbre of isolated piano tones can be audibl... more This study addresses the old question of whether the timbre of isolated piano tones can be audibly varied independently of their hammer velocities—only through the type of touch. A large amount of single piano tones were played with two prototypical types of touch: depressing the keys with the finger initially resting on the key surface (pressed), and hitting the keys from a certain distance above (struck). Musicians were asked to identify the type of touch of the recorded samples, in a first block with all attack noises before the tone onsets ...

Perception, 2009

Abali, Mustafa 1721 Abdi, Herve�� 292 Adams, Reginald B Jr 1688 Adelstein, Bernard D 1560 Agostin... more Abali, Mustafa 1721 Abdi, Herve�� 292 Adams, Reginald B Jr 1688 Adelstein, Bernard D 1560 Agostini, Tiziano 164 Alais, David 966 Alexander, Tim 1536 Aliyeva, Gyulten Z 1721 Allen, Hannah 1821 Allik, Ju��ri 1649 Almeida, Vasco MN de 1109 Altschuler, Eric Lewin 1728 Ambady, Nalini 1688 Anderson, Barton L 869 Anderson, David J 988 Anes, Michael D 333 Anstis, Stuart 321, 923, 1405 Arendt-Nielsen, Lars 763 Ash, April 442 Atkinson, Janette 1575 Bailes, Freya 1386 Bar-Haim, Yair 145 Barlasov-Ioffe, Anna 1118 Barlow, Horace B 795, 804 ...