How do you know how fast or slow to play the final rit in a piece of music?
Here is a piece of research by Friberg and Sundberg (1999) widely cited by subsequent researchers, which offers an interesting insight into how to approach the playing of a final ritardando. It has certainly sensitised me to factors that make some rits work and others not.
To put this in context, researchers have found that when it comes to timing variations in music, expert performers observe a range of unwritten but commonly accepted conventions. Repp (1992), for example, showed that musicians employ an ebb and flow in tempo that follows the contours of phrases, accelerating at the start of a phrase and slowing toward the end (1992). He also found that the degree of ebb and flow reflected the phrase’s importance within the musical structure: a phrase at a cadential point being played with a more pronounced ritardando than a less pivotal phrase.
Building on this type of research, Friberg and Sundberg focused their attention on the ending of a piece of music—the final ritardando—exploring existing assumptions that music and motion are closely related, and that a piece of music coming to an end can be equated to a runner stopping.
Their study measured actual body velocity, step frequency, and step length of runners stopping, and used the data to build a mathematical model – a curve, as it turned out -which described the runners’ deceleration and stopping. They then had musicians play the final ritardandi of two Bach compositions and a third musical segment, again measuring the slowing of tempo. Finally, they compared the mathematical model derived from runners stopping with the data from musicians’ playing of final ritardandi. The result was a striking similarity between the way a runner comes to a halt and the final ritardandi in music.
For the curious, the story stands a little more telling – especially given that some some runners halting might be described as ungainly, and that some ritardandi simply don’t work and we wouldn’t want to emulate them anyway. In the process of measuring and building a mathematical model of runners stopping, the researchers applied a filter. They asked independent assessors (choreographers and Eurythmics experts) to view videos of the runners and rate them for form and balance. Only data from the ‘aesthetically pleasing’ runners stopping was included in the analysis used for building a model. Likewise, independent assessors listened to the musician’s performances of final rits, and rated them on an ‘aesthetically pleasing’ scale. Again, performances that rated low on the scale were not included in the analysis.
Have you guessed the result?
When aesthetically pleasing runners were compared with aesthetically pleasing musicians, a strong correlation was found!
Other interesting observations by the researchers included the following.
- When watching a balanced runner stopping, a spectator can predict the point of final stop.
- Dynamics affect perception of ritardandi.
- The length of a ritardandi is influenced by the instrument being played.
- When informally listening to the examples timing of the penultimate note is important to the perceived magnitude of the ritardando.
- Ritardandi were rated low by the independent listener when the tempo decreased evenly i.e. almost linearly with score position.
So how might we use this information?
The gift from this research, I think, is the image or metaphor of the runner stopping as a way of exploring shape for a final ritardando.
This metaphor enables:
- play with images of different types of runners stopping – sprinters, joggers, marathon runners, and seeing how those images relate to different types of music.
- transfer of predictability in a runner’s final steps to predictability in the fall of the music’s last note.
- use of the image of a runner stopping to consolidate the musical imperative of gradually and continuously slowing down. (The image of a runner slowing, speeding for two steps, and slowing again is humorously unlikely.)
- use the image of a runner smoothly transitioning into halting to reinforce the need for a smooth onset into a ritardando.
Even the idea that the runners slowed mainly by decreasing step length, rather than step frequency, suggests how power is transferred from one note to the next.
I remember the very lesson where my violin teacher taught me that ritardandi, accelerandi and dynamics are implemented in curves rather than linearly. I was fascinated by the idea. The image of a runner stopping now helps me, as I play, to direct the power contained in those curves.
Do you think this comparison is useful or interesting? Please share your ideas!
References:
Friberg, A., Sundberg, J. (1999). Does music performance allude to locomotion? A model of final ritardandi derived from measurements of stopping runners. Journal of Acoustical Society of America, 105(3), 1469—1484.
Repp, B.H. (1992). Diversity and commonality in music performance: An analysis of timing microstructures in Schumann’s “Traumerei.” Journal of Acoustical Society of America, 92(5), 2546—2568.
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The idea for this blog is born out of my love for music, my burning desire to constantly improve and expand my musical experience, and a deep and enduring desire to play beautifully and from the heart.
How do I reach my goal? How do I increase the effectiveness of my practice? How do I overcome what’s holding me back?
How do I learn faster?
Enter a second element: my lifetime fascination with cutting-edge science—startling, paradigm-shifting advances in medicine, physics, psychology, sports excellence, and more, that change our perception of reality and possibility.
And the inevitable question (for someone like me) is how do I apply these developments to my music playing and learning?
What can I learn about music sight-reading, or memory, or practice routines, or learning strategies that will fast-track my efforts?
Alas, the research is not always accessible. It’s obscure, written in arcane language, expensive and time consuming—which may explain why information is NOT filtering down to the general music playing population. And we are not combining the best of traditional methods and intuitive thinking with innovations in learning.
What a loss!
So this blog is about bridging the gap and bringing science to musicians.
Music Research Unpacked will do the legwork, researching, reading, and presenting material in an easily accessible form with reference and links for those readers who want to follow up on the sources. And most posts will include some practical solutions for music performers to try.
Your feedback is important and will determine the direction of future posts, so please, feel free to comment, ask questions, and suggest topics.
Kathryn
Music Research Unpacked
Tags: As I sat in the audience of the over-amplified musical Mary Poppins—covering my ears during the loud bits, wincing at unexpected bursts, by the end my ears protesting even the person beside me loudly clapping—I wished I had my recently ordered, but not yet picked up, earplugs.
Because I’d just written the post on noise-induced hearing loss, I was aware that my sensitivity to sound (hyperacusis) stemmed from previous over-exposure to sound, and that the current sound level was probably causing more damage. For over 2 hours, in this environment over which I had no control, I veered between philosophical patience (just enjoy the show!), and a kind of growing horror as my ears became more and more painful. What was I doing here?
Never again!
I now carry my musician’s earplugs everywhere with me—In the course of writing this article I had to take a flight on a small-ish plane. I was using my earplugs but out of curiosity checked the decibel level inside the plane using an iphone application. A constant 90 dB for one hour. It was loud and long, but my ears were protected in a way they hadn’t been just 6 weeks earlier.
My earplugs are life-changers; effective, versatile and reassuring:).
Choosing earplugs
Earplug “solutions” range from rather primitively (foolishly??) stuffing your ears with cotton wool; to disposable solid foam earplugs, off-the-shelf universal-fit earplugs; and custom-fitted moulded earplugs. Technology has solved many of the old negatives about wearing earplugs, and some designs are better than others, but you need to know what you are looking for.
Factors to consider in choosing earplugs are:
- Attenuation level (level of decibel reduction)
- Minimum loss of timbre (hi fidelity)
- Instrument-specific considerations (especially brass, wind, and voice)
- Earplug design
- Comfort
- Ease of care.
- Longevity
- Cost
In reality these factors overlap, but I will discuss each of them separately first.
Attenuation refers to decibel reduction.
Commonly available earplug attenuation levels are 9dB, 15dB, 20db, and 25db.
How do you know which attenuation level to choose? It’s not so much the health of your hearing that determines the attenuation level that’s best for you, but how much noise your instrument and the environment you rehearse in engender.
Reading the literature, there seems to be some generally accepted standards:
- 15dB reduction is beneficial for most musicians (and allows for easy speech);
- Strings and vocalists could drop to 9dB if preferred;
- Drummers, brass, and amplified instruments, require more—25dB.
Beware advice that suggests that the greater the attenuation, the better. This is not true: it’s more complicated than that for at least two reasons: Research has found that too much attenuation can result in a musician overcompensating by overplaying and causing themself injury (e.g. a drummer’s wrists); or can destroy the sound discrimination needed to play well.
Remembering that noise-induced hearing loss is caused by of sound level times length of exposure, 15dB attenuation, for example, means that you can tolerate an environment 32 times longer without risking damage.
Timbre
Earplugs can be designed so that attenuation is applied equally across the bass, mid-range, and treble/high frequencies—or attenuation can be deliberately varied across frequencies.
While attenuation is varied across frequencies as part of the hearing protection regime, this attenuation also affects how the earplugs deliver timbre.
For example, treble attenuation affects harmonics—which are so important to texture and ‘loudness perception’. Depending on the level of attenuation, this may simply offer welcome relief from white noise, or piercing sounds. But too much can suppress the harmonics to the point where richness of timbre is severely reduced, music sounds ‘flat’ and enjoyment is affected.
It’s a balance
As a practical example, one manufacturer attenuates equally across the bass, mid-range, and high frequencies of its 15db earplug—but that same manufacturer produces a 9dB earplug in which the low and middle frequencies are reduced by 9dB, but the high frequencies are reduced by 15dB—apparently in response to musician’s preferences.
Note also that harmonics contribute to loudness perception, so that too much treble attenuation can result in music and voices not just sounding flat but also muffled.
Occlusion
If you are a vocalist, wind or brass player you need to be aware of the occlusion effect and choose your earplugs accordingly.
The occlusion effect occurs when an object such as the earplug completely fills the outer portion of the ear canal and traps the bone-conducted sound vibrations of a vocalist, wind or brass player in the space between the tip of the earplug and the eardrum. This results in elevated sound pressure behind the earplug, increasing the risk of noise induced hearing loss, and causing discomfort, and distortion of sound especially in the low frequencies.
Sometimes vocalists welcome a small amount of occlusion to aid self-monitoring.
To prevent occlusion, ear moulds are recommended which extend long into the ear canal preventing the sound vibrations from developing; or a vent is built into the earplug which allows the bone-conduction sound to escape rather than being reflected back towards the eardrum.
These are factors to discuss with your audiologist.
It is important for a performing musician to understand the extra-musical factors that shape the performer/audience experience. We humans are not entirely rational so simply playing the best music you can is not always enough: there needs to be a pragmatic nod to the other forces at work.
Research has uncovered many of the biases and unwritten expectations that audiences, competition judges, and fellow musicians bring to the listening table.
For example, there is research on how visual aspects of a performance: stage behaviour, performance dress, body movement, and attractiveness add to or take away from a performance.
Two studies help to highlight the significance of visual factors in performance. Elsewhere I will describe these particular studies in more detail, but for now it is their research design that rather nicely captures the conundrum. Read the rest of this entry »
I remember, when seeking treatment for some tingling in my fingers, remarking to the physiotherapist that I must be doing something wrong because I didn’t know any other musicians who had this same problem. The physio’s face took on a veiled expression: but when I probed (too interesting to ignore) he ‘shared’ that he treated a lot of musicians who swore him to secrecy because, for career purposes, they did not want it widely known that they were experiencing problems.
I’m very willing to bet the same applies to hearing. It’s not exactly in a musician’s professional interest to advertise the fact that his or her hearing has been compromised.
So, take possible isolation, add an abundance of research literature that indicates that musicians often practice and perform outside acceptable industrial noise standards, and throw into the pot the insidious nature of noise-induced hearing loss–gradual and unperceived until the damage is done–and the need for musicians to take preventative measures is self-evident.
Following on from a previous post, here is a range of actions that musicians can take to reduce music-related hearing loss. Each of these will be fleshed out in upcoming posts.