Piano Tones Research Articles

Acoustic cues of keyboard mechanics enable auditory localization of upright piano tones.

Piano tone localization at the performer's listening point is a multisensory process involving audition, vision, and upper limb proprioception. The consequent representation of the auditory scene, especially in experienced pianists, is likely also influenced by their memory about the instrument keyboard. Disambiguating such components is not obvious, and first requires an analysis of the acoustic tone localization process to assess the role of auditory feedback in forming this scene. This analysis is complicated by the acoustic behavior of the piano, which does not guarantee the activation of the auditory precedence effect during a tone attack, nor can it provide robust interaural differences during the subsequent free evolution of the sound. In a tone localization task using a Disklavier upright piano (which can be operated remotely and configured to have its hammers hit a damper instead of producing a tone), twenty-three expert musicians, including pianists, successfully recognized the angular position of seven evenly distributed notes across the keyboard. The experiment involved listening to either full piano tones or just the key mechanical noise, with no additional feedback from other senses. This result suggests that the key mechanical noise alone activated the localization process without support from vision and/or limb proprioception. Since the same noise is present in the onset of the full tones, the key mechanics of our piano created a touch precursor in such tones that may be responsible of their correct angular localization by means of the auditory precedence effect. However, the significance of pitch cues arriving at a listener after the touch precursor was not measured when full tones were presented. As these cues characterize a note and, hence, the corresponding key position comprehensively, an open question remains regarding the contribution of pianists' spatial memory of the instrument keyboard to tone localization.

Research on strong noise environment and piano teaching application based on virtual data space system

Music is the art of both sound and hearing. Among many musical instruments, the piano has the title of "king of instruments". Unlike the violin, which is delicate and soft, the piano's tone is noble and graceful. The pianist Nergoz once said that the purpose of all piano playing is to make sound and to create sound. So, how to use the piano to create a beautiful sound? This is an essential concern for all piano players. Therefore, it is important to practice tone, both in practice and in playing music, and only when the fingers touch the keys can a beautiful tone be produced. Tone is important in the whole process of piano playing. Both the expressiveness of the piano and its appeal to the listener are closely related to the quality of the tone. The part of the key that is touched, the intensity and the technique all have an important influence on the tone. The scientific approach to finger touch is a particularly important skill and technical criterion, both in the process of learning the piano and when performing it.

Machine Learning in Teaching Piano Touch Technique and Tonal Expression

Music is the art of both sound and hearing. Among many musical instruments, the piano has the title of "king of instruments". Unlike the violin, which is delicate and soft, the piano's tone is noble and graceful. The pianist Nergoz once said that the purpose of all piano playing is to make sound and to create sound. So, how to use the piano to create a beautiful sound? This is an essential concern for all piano players. Therefore, it is important to practice tone, both in practice and in playing music, and only when the fingers touch the keys can a beautiful tone be produced. Tone is important in the whole process of piano playing. Both the expressiveness of the piano and its appeal to the listener are closely related to the quality of the tone. The part of the key that is touched, the intensity and the technique all have an important influence on the tone. The scientific approach to finger touch is a particularly important skill and technical criterion, both in the process of learning the piano and when performing it.

Auditory-motor synchronization and perception suggest partially distinct time scales in speech and music

Speech and music might involve specific cognitive rhythmic timing mechanisms related to differences in the dominant rhythmic structure. We investigate the influence of different motor effectors on rate-specific processing in both domains. A perception and a synchronization task involving syllable and piano tone sequences and motor effectors typically associated with speech (whispering) and music (finger-tapping) were tested at slow (~2 Hz) and fast rates (~4.5 Hz). Although synchronization performance was generally better at slow rates, the motor effectors exhibited specific rate preferences. Finger-tapping was advantaged compared to whispering at slow but not at faster rates, with synchronization being effector-dependent at slow, but highly correlated at faster rates. Perception of speech and music was better at different rates and predicted by a fast general and a slow finger-tapping synchronization component. Our data suggests partially independent rhythmic timing mechanisms for speech and music, possibly related to a differential recruitment of cortical motor circuitry.

Timbral cues underlie instrument-specific absolute pitch in expert oboists.

While absolute pitch (AP)-the ability to identify musical pitches without external reference-is rare even in professional musicians, anecdotal evidence and case-report data suggest that some musicians without traditional AP can nonetheless better name notes played on their musical instrument of expertise than notes played on instruments less familiar to them. We have called this gain in AP ability "instrument-specific absolute pitch" (ISAP). Here, we report the results of the first two experiments designed to investigate ISAP in professional oboists. In Experiment 1 (n = 40), superiority for identifying the pitch of oboe over piano tones varied along a continuum, with 37.5% of oboists demonstrating significant ISAP. Variance in accuracy across pitches was higher among ISAP-possessors than ISAP-non-possessors, suggestive of internalized timbral idiosyncrasies, and the use of timbral cues was the second-most commonly reported task strategy. For both timbres, both groups performed more accurately for pitches associated with white than black piano keys. In Experiment 2 (n = 12), oboists with ISAP were less accurate in pitch identification when oboe tones were artificially pitch-shifted. The use of timbral idiosyncrasies thus may constitute a widespread mechanism of ISAP. Motor interference, conversely, did not significantly reduce accuracy. This study offers the first evidence of ISAP among highly trained musicians and that reliance on subtle timbral (or intonational) idiosyncrasies may constitute an underlying mechanism of this ability in expert oboists. This provides a path forward for future studies extending the scientific understanding of ISAP to other instrument types, expertise levels, and musical contexts. More generally, this may deepen knowledge of specialized expertise, representing a range of implicit abilities that are not addressed directly in training, but which may develop through practice of a related skill set.

Computer Simulation of Piano Tones and Design of Virtual Piano System

Abstract With the advancement of contemporary technology, there is an increasing demand for sophisticated tone libraries in intelligent and digital pianos. This paper introduces a virtual piano system based on timbre simulation. Drawing upon the articulation principles of the piano, a mathematical model is formulated to derive the equation governing string vibrations. This equation facilitates a comprehensive analysis of the components constituting piano timbre and establishes a model for synthesizing these timbres using a frequency envelope algorithm. The short-time Fourier transform (STFT) is utilized to extract features from the synthesized timbre and to accomplish its digital simulation. Subsequently, the integration of the piano’s timbre features with computer programming facilitates the comprehensive design of the virtual piano system. Performance testing and evaluation of the system reveal promising results: the detection rate for each musical piece exceeds 90%, with an average detection rate of 94.81% across ten pieces and an average deviation (Mean-D) of 3.35 in the scoring of 100 music samples. This research contributes to the flexibility in timbre editing, enhances the expressiveness of intelligent and digital pianos, and aims to elevate the music industry to new heights.

The impact of pianist-controlled engaged mass on piano keystroke dynamics

The conventional methods used to measure and model the dynamics of a piano keystroke typically involve applying force at the key front using mechanical excitation. However, the influence of the actuator mass on the resulting motion and force profile has never been addressed. Conversely, within the realm of piano technique, mechanical excitation occurs through engagement with parts of the pianist’s body, whose mass can vary significantly. Pianists claim to have the ability to adjust the mass they engage at will. We propose a new approach that integrates the pianists’ bodily presence into the mechanical system under examination. By doing so, we aim to reformulate the control parameters associated with piano keystrokes, as typically discussed in scientific literature. This approach yields a simplified model of a pressed keystroke that incorporates the presence of an actuator mass. Through minimally invasive experiments, we observe the relationship between tone volume and driving force, considering levels of inertia comparable to those engaged by pianists through their bodies, with excitation starting at the surface of the key. The results are consistent with our proposed model, highlighting the antagonistic role of total inertia in piano tone production. This approach broadens our understanding of pianists’ control strategies and sheds light on its complex interplay with musical needs in piano performance.

Consonance and Dissonance of Simultaneous Trichords in Western Music

Previous empirical studies have suggested that the perceived consonance/dissonance (C/D) of a musical chord depends on its psychoacoustic smoothness (lack of roughness), spectral harmonicity (perceptual fusion), and/or musical familiarity. We tested the dependence of C/D on smoothness and harmonicity in a hearing experiment that included all 19 possible trichords in musical pitch-class set theory. In each trial, a listener heard a chord (duration: 300 or 500 ms) and rated its C/D on an 11-point scale. Each trichord was presented 10 times: 4 times constructed from octave-complex tones (OCTs, sounding like an electronic organ) and 6 times from natural piano tones. Each OCT chord was presented in 4 different transpositions. The piano chords were in close or open position, and root position or 1st/2nd inversion (2 levels of spacing x 3 levels of inversion = 6 levels of voicing). We found no main effect of timbre (OCT versus piano) and no interaction between trichord and timbre. Results correlated closely with predictions of simple models of roughness and harmonicity. The roughness model performed better, and the predictions correlated with each other. A combined model was not superior to roughness alone. The results were consistent with a multifactorial model of the C/D of a musical chord, the main factors being roughness, harmonicity, and familiarity.

Just noticeable differences in sound intensity of piano tones in non-musicians and experienced pianists

Changes in sound intensity are important components of piano performance. Previous research in this area has largely focused on perception of changes in pitch and timing, with little investigation of sound intensity. The present study used Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) technology to algorithmically control the key velocity, and thereby sound intensity, of consecutive piano tones. Non-musicians ( n = 20) and experienced pianists ( n = 30) played pairs of consecutive piano tones with 0–15 arbitrary units (a.u.) of change in key velocity, indicating whether they perceived the first, second, or neither tone as louder. All participants completed the test with C4, and a subset ( n = 24) with pitches C2 and C6 also. The mean just noticeable difference (JND) ranged from 2.71 to 4.48 a.u., corresponding to 0.68–1.22 dBC on the Yamaha Disklavier used to produce the stimuli. Experienced pianists demonstrated lower JND, which the authors theorize may be linked to listener motivation. When two tones were played with the same key velocity, participants tended to perceive the first tone as louder. The authors discuss a number of factors that may be relevant considerations for application of the findings in music and psychoacoustics research. These findings hold insight for music performance researchers, psychoacoustics researchers, and pedagogues.

Music and Visual Art Training Increase Auditory-Evoked Theta Oscillations in Older Adults.

Music training was shown to induce changes in auditory processing in older adults. However, most findings stem from correlational studies and fewer examine long-term sustainable benefits. Moreover, research shows small and variable changes in auditory event-related potential (ERP) amplitudes and/or latencies in older adults. Conventional time domain analysis methods, however, are susceptible to latency jitter in evoked responses and may miss important information of brain processing. Here, we used time-frequency analyses to examine training-related changes in auditory-evoked oscillatory activity in healthy older adults (N = 50) assigned to a music training (n = 16), visual art training (n = 17), or a no-treatment control (n = 17) group. All three groups were presented with oddball auditory paradigms with synthesized piano tones or vowels during the acquisition of high-density EEG. Neurophysiological measures were collected at three-time points: pre-training, post-training, and at a three-month follow-up. Training programs were administered for 12-weeks. Increased theta power was found pre and post- training for the music (p = 0.010) and visual art group (p = 0.010) as compared to controls (p = 0.776) and maintained at the three-month follow-up. Results showed training-related plasticity on auditory processing in aging adults. Neuroplastic changes were maintained three months post-training, suggesting music and visual art programs yield lasting benefits that might facilitate encoding, retention, and memory retrieval.

Effect of inharmonicity on pitch perception and subjective tuning of piano tones

The consensus in piano tuning philosophy explains the stretched tuning scale by the inharmonicity of piano strings. This study aimed to examine how variable inharmonicity influences the result of the piano tuning process, compare the tuning curves of aurally tuned pianos with the curves derived from subjective octave enlargement experiments, and evaluate whether the pitches of inharmonic or harmonic versions of the same tone are perceived differently. In addition, the influence of strings of other piano keys on the measured inharmonicity of a single piano string was investigated. The inharmonicity of all individual strings was measured on a Steinway D grand piano. Variable inharmonicity was implemented by additive synthesis with frequency-adjusted sinusoidal partials. Fifteen piano tuners and 18 orchestra musicians participated in the experiments. The results indicate that the inharmonic piano tones produced a keyboard tuning curve similar to the Railsback curve and differed significantly from the harmonic counterpart. The inharmonic tuning curve was reminiscent of the subjective octave enlargement curve. Inharmonic tone pitches were perceived to be higher than harmonic tones up to C ♯ 7. The covibrating strings of the other keys did not exhibit any meaningful effect on the measured inharmonicity of a single string of the played key.

Enhanced mismatch negativity in harmonic compared with inharmonic sounds.

Many natural sounds have frequency spectra composed of integer multiples of a fundamental frequency. This property, known as harmonicity, plays an important role in auditory information processing. However, the extent to which harmonicity influences the processing of sound features beyond pitch is still unclear. This is interesting because harmonic sounds have lower information entropy than inharmonic sounds. According to predictive processing accounts of perception, this property could produce more salient neural responses due to the brain's weighting of sensory signals according to their uncertainty. In the present study, we used electroencephalography to investigate brain responses to harmonic and inharmonic sounds commonly occurring in music: Piano tones and hi‐hat cymbal sounds. In a multifeature oddball paradigm, we measured mismatch negativity (MMN) and P3a responses to timbre, intensity, and location deviants in listeners with and without congenital amusia—an impairment of pitch processing. As hypothesized, we observed larger amplitudes and earlier latencies (for both MMN and P3a) in harmonic compared with inharmonic sounds. These harmonicity effects were modulated by sound feature. Moreover, the difference in P3a latency between harmonic and inharmonic sounds was larger for controls than amusics. We propose an explanation of these results based on predictive coding and discuss the relationship between harmonicity, information entropy, and precision weighting of prediction errors.

The Stability Model of Piano Tone Tuning Based on Ordinary Differential Equations

Abstract Based on the theory of ordinary differential equations, this paper proposes a stable and discriminative method for piano tone tuning. We perform discriminative training on the hidden Markov tone model according to ordinary differential equations’ feature extraction parameters and model parameters. The model can improve the recognition rate of piano tones. This paper trains and tests the MAPS universal dataset for musical transcription of automatic piano tones. The model is uniformly trained on the synthetic part and tested on the real recording part. The experimental study found that the proposed model has high recognition stability and accuracy in piano tone recognition.

Perception and identification of tones in different timbres: Using pupil diameter to investigate absolute pitch ability

Absolute pitch (AP) is the ability to effortlessly identify or produce pitches without reference. However, behavioral research has shown that pitch perception and identification in certain timbres are more difficult for AP possessors. In this study, we investigate whether pitch identification and labeling in different timbres (piano and voice) would require different amounts of cognitive resource allocation. We measured accuracy, response time, and pupillary responses of 18 musicians with varying degrees of AP while performing a pitch identification test. We also examined whether behavioral and psychophysiological responses were related to aspects of musical experience, such as the age of onset of musical training, daily hours of practice, and years of musical training. Behavioral results revealed significantly longer response time for vocal tones compared to piano tones. However, there was no difference in accuracy when comparing pitch labeling in piano and vocal tones. On the psychophysiological level, pupillary responses were significantly different across timbre conditions, with larger pupil dilation for vocal tones than piano tones. We also observed an effect of key color (whether the tones corresponded to diatonic or chromatic tones in a C major scale) on pupil dilation, with greater dilation for pitches corresponding to black keys compared to white keys. These findings expand the current knowledge regarding how pitches in different timbres are processed by musicians with varying degrees of AP and open new avenues for the investigation of potentially different cognitive mechanisms involved in the processing of the human voice and musical timbres by AP possessors.

Multitone Piano Transcription Analysis and Evaluation Relying on Hierarchical Analysis High-Performance Computing Algorithms

Hierarchical analysis refers to the method of dividing the elements related to the result into different levels such as goals, methods, and processes and then performing quantitative and qualitative analysis according to different levels. It can hierarchize complex methods and make the solution process more scientific and reasonable. High-performance computing refers to computing systems and environments that usually use many processors or several computers organized in a cluster. In fact, there are many different types of high-performance computing systems on the market, most of which are used in conjunction with the network. For example, Ford built an online market with high-performance computers and connected to its more than 30,000 suppliers through the network. This kind of online procurement can not only lower prices and reduce procurement costs, but also shorten the procurement time. Ford estimates that this can save approximately $8 billion in procurement costs. In addition, fields such as manufacturing, logistics, and market research are also areas where high-performance computers show their talents. This article aims to study the analysis and evaluation of multitone piano transcription that rely on hierarchical analysis high-performance computing algorithms and hopes to use high-performance computing algorithms to make piano recordings more harmonious. This paper proposes a differential variable-multivariate curve resolution for accurate analysis of GC-MS overlapping peaks, mainly to solve the problem of inaccurate results caused by the difficulty in determining the components during the analysis of overlapping peaks; carrying out matrix calculation on the piano tone characteristic matrix, it realizes the electronic synthesis of the 25th harmonic of the piano tone. The experimental results in this paper show that when the number of Gaussians in the recording process becomes 5, the gap between the sound pressure amplitude and the sound pressure phase is significantly reduced; when the number of Gaussians is 10, the value of the sound pressure phase has an overshoot phenomenon; when the number of Gaussians is 15, the difference between the sound pressure amplitude and the sound pressure phase is the smallest, indicating that the error at this time is the smallest, and it is the most ideal recording environment.

On the Roles of Complexity and Symmetry in Cued Tapping of Well-formed Complex Rhythms

Production of relatively few rhythms with non-isochronous beats has been studied. So we assess reproduction of most well-formed looped rhythms comprising K=2-11 cues (a uniform piano tone, indicating where participants should tap) and N=3-13 isochronous pulses (a uniform cymbal). Each rhythm had two different cue interonset intervals. We expected that many of the rhythms would be difficult to tap, because of ambiguous non-isochronous beats and syncopations, and that complexity and asymmetry would predict performance. 111 participants tapped 91 rhythms each heard over 129 pulses, starting as soon as they could. Whereas tap-cue concordance in prior studies was generally >> 90%, here only 52.2% of cues received a temporally congruent tap, and only 63% of taps coincided with a cue. Only −2 ms mean tap asynchrony was observed (whereas for non-musicians this value is usually c. −50 ms). Performances improved as rhythms progressed and were repeated, but precision varied substantially between participants and rhythms. Performances were autoregressive and mixed effects cross-sectional time series analyses retaining the integrity of all the individual time series revealed that performance worsened as complexity features K, N, and cue inter-onset interval entropy increased. Performance worsened with increasing R, the Long: short (L: s) cue interval ratio of each rhythm (indexing both complexity and asymmetry). Rhythm evenness and balance, and whether N was divisible by 2 or 3, were not useful predictors. Tap velocities positively predicted cue fulfilment. Our data indicate that study of a greater diversity of rhythms can broaden our impression of rhythm cognition.

Individual differences in human frequency-following response predict pitch labeling ability

The frequency-following response (FFR) provides a measure of phase-locked auditory encoding in humans and has been used to study subcortical processing in the auditory system. While effects of experience on the FFR have been reported, few studies have examined whether individual differences in early sensory encoding have measurable effects on human performance. Absolute pitch (AP), the rare ability to label musical notes without reference notes, provides an excellent model system for testing how early neural encoding supports specialized auditory skills. Results show that the FFR predicts pitch labelling performance better than traditional measures related to AP (age of music onset, tonal language experience, pitch adjustment and just-noticeable-difference scores). Moreover, the stimulus type used to elicit the FFR (tones or speech) impacts predictive performance in a manner that is consistent with prior research. Additionally, the FFR predicts labelling performance for piano tones better than unfamiliar sine tones. Taken together, the FFR reliably distinguishes individuals based on their explicit pitch labeling abilities, which highlights the complex dynamics between sensory processing and cognition.

A Theory of Instrument-Specific Absolute Pitch.

While absolute pitch (AP)—the ability to name musical pitches globally and without reference—is rare in expert musicians, anecdotal evidence suggests that some musicians may better identify pitches played on their primary instrument than pitches played on other instruments. We call this phenomenon “instrument-specific absolute pitch” (ISAP). In this paper we present a theory of ISAP. Specifically, we offer the hypothesis that some expert musicians without global AP may be able to more accurately identify pitches played on their primary instrument(s), and we propose timbral cues and articulatory motor imagery as two underlying mechanisms. Depending on whether informative timbral cues arise from performer- or instrument-specific idiosyncrasies or from timbre-facilitated tonotopic representations, we predict that performance may be enhanced for notes played by oneself, notes played on one’s own personal instrument, and/or notes played on any exemplar of one’s own instrument type. Sounds of one’s primary instrument may moreover activate kinesthetic memory and motor imagery, aiding pitch identification. In order to demonstrate how our theory can be tested, we report the methodology and analysis of two exemplary experiments conducted on two case-study participants who are professional oboists. The aim of the first experiment was to determine whether the oboists demonstrated ISAP ability, while the purpose of the second experiment was to provide a preliminary investigation of the underlying mechanisms. The results of the first experiment revealed that only one of the two oboists showed an advantage for identifying oboe tones over piano tones. For this oboist demonstrating ISAP, the second experiment demonstrated that pitch-naming accuracy decreased and variance around the correct pitch value increased as an effect of transposition and motor interference, but not of instrument or performer. These preliminary data suggest that some musicians possess ISAP while others do not. Timbral cues and motor imagery may both play roles in the acquisition of this ability. Based on our case study findings, we provide methodological considerations and recommendations for future empirical testing of our theory of ISAP.

Effects of Trunk Motion, Touch, and Articulation on Upper-Limb Velocities and on Joint Contribution to Endpoint Velocities During the Production of Loud Piano Tones.

Piano performance involves several levels of motor abundancy. Identification of kinematic strategies that enhance performance and reduce risks of practice-related musculoskeletal disorders (PRMD) represents an important research topic since more than half of professional pianists might suffer from PRMD during their career. Studies in biomechanics have highlighted the benefits of using proximal upper-limb joints to reduce the load on distal segments by effectively creating velocity and force at the finger–key interaction. If scientific research has documented postural and expressive features of pianists’ trunk motion, there is currently a lack of scientific evidence assessing the role of trunk motion in sound production and in injury prevention. We address this gap by integrating motion of the pelvis and thorax in the analysis of both upper-limb linear velocities and joint angular contribution to endpoint velocities. Specifically, this study aims to assess kinematic features of different types of touch and articulation and the impact of trunk motion on these features. Twelve pianists performed repetitive loud and slow-paced keystrokes. They were asked to vary (i) body implication (use of trunk and upper-limb motion or use of only upper-limb motion), (ii) touch (struck touch, initiating the attack with the fingertip at a certain distance from the key surface, or pressed touch, initiating the attack with the fingertip in contact with the key surface), and (iii) articulation (staccato, short finger–key contact time, or tenuto, sustained finger–key contact time). Data were collected using a 3D motion capture system and a sound recording device. Results show that body implication, touch, and articulation modified kinematic features of loud keystrokes, which exhibited not only downward but also important forward segmental velocities (particularly in pressed touch and staccato articulation). Pelvic anterior rotation had a prominent role in the production of loud tones as it effectively contributed to creating forward linear velocities at the upper limb. The reported findings have implications for the performance, teaching, and research domains since they provide evidence of how pianists’ trunk motion can actively contribute to the sound production and might not only be associated with either postural or expressive features.

Automatic Tuning of High Piano Tones

Piano tuning is known to be difficult because the stiffness of piano strings causes the tones produced to be inharmonic. Aural tuning is time consuming and requires the help of a professional. This motivates the question of whether this process can be automated. Attempts at automatic tuning are usually assessed by comparing the Railsback curve of the results with the curve of a professional tuner. In this paper we determine a simple and reliable rule for tuning the high tones of a piano with the help of a listening test. This rule consists of matching the two tones in an octave interval so that the first partial frequency of the upper tone becomes exactly the same as the second partial frequency of the lower tone. This rule was rated best among four tuning rules that were compared in the test. The results found are explained using a beat-based analysis, and are consistent with some previous studies. They are also tested against the existing method of using Railsback curves, and it is shown that comparison using Railsback curves is an unreliable method of assessing different tunings. The findings from this paper can be used to create a complete automatic tuner that could make the process of piano tuning quick and inexpensive.