Cross-cultural analysis of vibrato: A case study comparing...

Cross-cultural analysis of vibrato:A case study comparing erhu and violin playing

styles

Luwei Yang, Elaine Chew and Khalid Z. [email protected]

Centre for Digital MusicQueen Mary University of London

June 2014

Luwei Yang Centre for Digital Music

Agenda

1. Introduction

2. Motivations

3. Dataset

4. Methodology

5. Results

6. Discussions

7. Conclusions


Introduction

I A cross-cultural comparative analysis of Chinese and Westernmusical performance style

I We focus on vibrato

I We choose erhu and violin as a case study


Motivations

We expect the vibrato characteristics will help reveal thedifferences in musical genre and instrumental styles:

I What are the vibrato characteristics of erhu players?

I What are the characteristics of violin players performingChinese music?

I Is there any difference between the ways erhu players andviolinists play vibratos when performing the same piece ofmusic?

I Is there any difference within each instrumental group?


Erhu vs. Violin

Erhu

I Two strings

I Use both sides of bow hair

I Called ”Chinese Violin”

I Symbol of Chinese culture

Violin

I Four strings

I One bow with one side

I King of the orchestra

I Symbol of Western culture


Dataset-Performers

We collected 12 performances for the Chinese pieceThe Moon Reflected on the Second Spring

I Erhu(6): all from CD recordings

I Violin(6): three from CD recordings, one from C4DM WesternViolin player, two from violin player’s website.

Erhu Violin

# Performer Nationality # Performer Nationality

1 Guotong Wang China 7 Laurel Pardue U.S.A

2 Jiangqin Huang China 8 Lina Yu China

3 Wei Zhou China 9 Baodi Tang China

4 Jiemin Yan China 10 Nishizaki Takako Japan

5 Huifen Min China 11 Yanling Zhang China

6 Changyao Zhu China 12 Yangkai Ou China


Dataset-Scores

Figure: Chinese Notation

Figure: Western Notation

Play whole phrase: Erhu ViolinPlay Vibrato: Erhu Violin Both


Dataset-Notes

Notes selection criteria:

I No open string note

I The note should be of relatively long duration

I The note should be of high amplitude

Totally:

I We have 218 notes

I 204 notes have vibrato


Methodology

Vibrato parameters

I Vibrato rate

I Vibrato extent

I Vibrato sinusoid similarity


Methodology

Using Praat software to obtain fundamentalfrequency(f0)[Boersma2001].


Methodology

Get the vibrato rate and extent from f0


MethodologyVibrato sinusoid similarity


ResultsErhu vs. ViolinVibrato Rate

I Violin has faster vibrato rate than erhu

I Violin vibratos also have wider range than erhu

I Violin performers demonstrate more variability in vibrato rate

5.8

6

6.2

6.4

6.6

6.8

7

7.2

7.4

erhu violin

Erhu and Violin Mean Vibrato Rate

Vib

rato

Rat

e(H

z)

5.2

5.4

5.6

5.8

6

6.2

6.4

6.6

6.8

erhu violin

Erhu and Violin Min Vibrato Rate

Vib

rato

Rat

e(H

z)

6.6

6.8

7

7.2

7.4

7.6

7.8

8

8.2

erhu violin

Erhu and Violin Max Vibrato Rate

Vib

rato

Rat

e(H

z)


Results

Erhu vs. ViolinVibrato Rate

5

5.5

6

6.5

7

7.5

8

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12Performer

Mean Vibrato Rate

Vib

rato

Rat

e(H

z)


ResultsErhu vs. ViolinVibrato Extent

I Erhu performers tend to play vibratos with larger extents thanviolin peformers

I Erhu has wider vibrato extent ranges than violin for all extentvalues.

I The vibrato extent varies more widely among erhu performers.

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

erhu violin

Erhu and Violin Mean Vibrato Extent

Vib

rato

Ext

ent(

Sem

ito

ne)

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

0.25

0.3

0.35

0.4

erhu violin

Erhu and Violin Min Vibrato Extent

Vib

rato

Ext

ent(

Sem

ito

ne)

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

erhu violin

Erhu and Violin Max Vibrato Extent

Vib

rato

Ext

ent(

Sem

ito

ne)


Results

Erhu vs. ViolinVibrato Extent

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12Performer

Mean Vibrato Extent

Vib

rato

Ext

ent(

Sem

ito

ne)


ResultsErhu vs. ViolinVibrato Sinusoid Similarity

I The vibrato shape of erhu performers is much more similar toa sinusoid than that of violinists.

I No relationship between sinusoid similarity and otherparameters has been found after doing the Pearson correlationanalysis.

0.7

0.75

0.8

0.85

0.9

erhu violin

Erhu and Violin Vibrato Sinusoid Similarity

Sin

uso

id S

imila

rity


Results

Erhu vs. ViolinVibrato Sinusoid Similarity

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12Performer

Vibrato Sinusoid Similarity

Sin

uso

id S

imila

rity


Discussions

I Vibrato performance styles are more dependent on musicalinstrument than musical genre.

I The violin players’ vibrato rates and extents were consistentwith these reported in the literature for Western music,although the music is traditional Chinese.

I i.e. Performers did not adapt to Chinese music style.

I The background of the violin players may not exert a largerinfluence on the vibrato style.

I The U.S. and Japanese violinists each showed the same vibratocharacteristics as the Chinese violinists.


Discussions

I The significant differences in vibrato extent may result fromthe left hand movements.

I For violin, the lower left arm of the player angles up to thefinger board and the vibrato movements are lateral along thehorizontal finger board.

I For erhu, the lower left arm of the player is more or lesshorizontal , and the vibrato movements are up and down alongthe vertical strings. It may allow larger vibrato movements.

I Demo


Discussions

I The absence of a fingerboard may give erhu performers moreflexibility to create wide vibratos.

I When a violin player presses the string, the string touches thefingerboard.

I However, when an erhu player presses the string, nothing elseis touched.


Conclusions

I The most dominant factors affecting the differences in vibratostyle in erhu and violin playing maybe:

I The physical form of the instrument.I And how it is played.

I Within each instrument group, individual players also haveindividual characteristics.


Thank you

I Luwei Yang, Elaine Chew and Khalid Z. Rajab,Cross-culturalcomparisons of expressivity in recorded erhu and violin music:Performer vibrato styles, In proc. of the 3rd InternationalWorkshop on Folk Music Analysis(FMA), 2014.

I Luwei Yang, Elaine Chew and Khalid Z. Rajab,Vibratoperformance style: A case study comparing erhu and violin, InProc. of the 10th International Conference on ComputerMusic Multidisciplinary Research(CMMR), 2013.

[email protected]


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