Abstract
The study of timbre by music researchers is seriously underdeveloped in both the humanities and human sciences. As applied to instrumental music, theories to explain instrumental combinations and timbral shaping through instrumentation and orchestration are rare. Analyses of orchestration treatises and musical scores reveal an implicit understanding of auditory grouping principles by which many orchestral techniques and their perceptual effects function. This chapter, with a primary focus on classical Western orchestral and electroacoustic music, discusses connections between orchestration practice and perceptual principles based on research in auditory scene analysis and timbre perception. The chapter explores: (1) listeners’ abilities to perceive relations among timbres; (2) how concurrent grouping cues result in blended or heterogeneous combinations of instruments; (3) how sequential groupings into segregated melodic streams and stratified foreground and background layers are influenced by timbral similarities and differences; and (4) how segmental grouping cues based on changes in instrument timbre and instrumental textures create musical units, formal boundaries, and expressive shaping of timbre melodies and larger-scale orchestral gestures.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Adler S (2002) The study of orchestration, 3rd edn. W. W. Norton and Company, New York
Berlioz H, Strauss R (1948) Treatise on instrumentation (trans: Front T from 1904 German edn.). Edwin F. Kalmus, New York
Bey C, McAdams S (2003) Postrecognition of interleaved melodies as an indirect measure of auditory stream formation. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 29(2):267–279. https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-1523.29.2.267
Bigand E, Parncutt R, Lerdahl F (1996) Perception of musical tension in short chord sequences: the influence of harmonic function, sensory dissonance, horizontal motion, and musical training. Percept Psychophys 58(1):124–141. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03205482
Bigand E, Perruchet P, Boyer M (1998) Implict learning of an artificial grammar of musical timbres. Curr Psychol Cogn 17(3):577–600
Bregman AS (1990) Auditory scene analysis: the perceptual organization of sound. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA
Bregman AS, Campbell J (1971) Primary auditory stream segregation and perception of order in rapid sequences of tones. J Exp Psychol 89(2):244–249. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0031163
Bregman AS, Pinker S (1978) Auditory streaming and the building of timbre. Can J Psychol Rev Can Psychol 32(1):19–31. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0081664
Cannon SC (2016) Altered dynamics and instrumentation at the onset of recapitulation in the nineteenth-century symphony. Analitica-Rivista online di studi musicali 8(1) http://www.gatm.it/analiticaojs/index.php/analitica/article/view/141
Culling JF, Darwin CJ (1993) The role of timbre in the segregation of simultaneous voices with intersecting Fo contours. Percept Psychophys 34(3):303–309. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03205265
Cusack R, Roberts B (2000) Effects of differences in timbre on sequential grouping. Percept Psychophys 62(5):1112–1120. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03212092
Daniel P, Weber R (1997) Psychoacoustical roughness: implementation of an optimized model. Acta Acustica united with Acustica 83(1):113–123
Deliège I (1987) Grouping conditions in listening to music: an approach to Lerdahl & Jackendoff’s grouping preference rules. Music Percept 4(4):325–360. https://doi.org/10.2307/40285378
Deliège I (1989) A perceptual approach to contemporary musical forms. Contemp Music Rev 4(1):213–230. https://doi.org/10.1080/07494468900640301
Dolan EI (2013) The orchestral revolution: Haydn and the technologies of timbre. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK
Ehresman D, Wessel D (1978) Perception of timbral analogies. Rapport IRCAM, vol 13. IRCAM-Centre Pompidou, Paris
Fales C, McAdams S (1994) The fusion and layering of noise and tone: implications for timbre in African instruments. Leonardo Music J 4:69–77. https://doi.org/10.2307/1513183
Goodchild M (2016) Orchestral gestures: music-theoretical perspectives and emotional responses. Thesis, McGill University, Montreal, QC. http://digitool.library.mcgill.ca/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=141286&custom_att_2=direct
Goodchild M, McAdams S (2018) Perceptual processes in orchestration. In: Dolan E, Rehding A (eds) The Oxford handbook of timbre. Oxford University Press, New York. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190637224.013.10
Goodchild M, Wild J, McAdams S (2019) Exploring emotional responses to orchestral gestures. Musicae Scientiae 23(1):25–49. https://doi.org/10.1177/1029864917704033
Goodwin AW (1980) An acoustical study of individual voices in choral blend. J Res Music Educ 28(2):119–128. https://doi.org/10.1177/002242948002800205
Gregory AH (1994) Timbre and auditory streaming. Music Percept 12(2):161–174. https://doi.org/10.2307/40285649
Guhn M, Hamm A, Zentner M (2007) Physiological and musico-acoustic correlates of chill response. Music Percept 24(5):473–484. https://doi.org/10.1525/MP.2007.24.5.473
Hartmann M, Lartillot O, Toiviainen P (2016) Interaction features for prediction of perceptual segmentation: effects of musicianship and experimental task. J New Music Res 46(2):1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/09298215.2016.1230137
Hartmann WM, Johnson D (1991) Stream segregation and peripheral channeling. Music Percept 9(2):155–183. https://doi.org/10.2307/40285527
Huang N, Elhilali M (2017) Auditory salience using natural soundscapes. J Acoust Soc Am 141(3):2163–2176. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.4979055
Huron D (2016) Voice leading: the science behind a musical art. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA
Iverson P (1995) Auditory stream segregation by musical timbre: effects of static and dynamic acoustic attributes. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 21(4):751–763. https://doi.org/10.1037//0096-1523.21.4.751
Iverson P, Krumhansl CL (1993) Isolating the dynamic attributes of musical timbre. J Acoust Soc Am 94(5):2595–2603. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.407371
Kendall R, Carterette EC (1993) Identification and blend of timbres as a basis for orchestration. Contemp Music Rev 9(1–2):51–67. https://doi.org/10.1080/07494469300640341
Krumhansl CL (1989) Why is musical timbre so hard to understand? In: Nielzén S, Olsson O (eds) Structure and perception of electroacoustic sound and music. Excerpta Medica, Amsterdam, pp 43–53
Krumhansl CL, Iverson P (1992) Perceptual interactions between musical pitch and timbre. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 18(3):739–751. https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-1523.18.3.739
Kurby CA, Zacks JM (2008) Segmentation in the perception and memory of events. Trends Cogn Sci 12(2):72–79. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2007.11.004
Lembke S, McAdams S (2015) The role of spectral-envelope characteristics in perceptual blending of wind-instrument sounds. Acta Acustica united with Acustica 101(5):1039–1051. https://doi.org/10.3813/AAA.918898
Lembke S-A, Levine S, McAdams S (2017) Blending between bassoon and horn players: an analysis of timbral adjustments during musical performance. Music Percept 35(2):144–164. https://doi.org/10.1525/mp.2017.35.2.144
Lerdahl F (1992) Cognitive constraints on compositional systems. Contemp Music Rev 6(2):97–121. https://doi.org/10.1080/07494469200640161
Lerdahl F, Jackendoff RS (1983) A generative theory of tonal music. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA
McAdams S (1984) The auditory image: a metaphor for musical and psychological research on auditory organization. In: Crozier WR, Chapman AJ (eds) Cognitive processes in the perception of art. North-Holland, Amsterdam, pp 289–323. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0166-4115(08)62356-0
McAdams S (1989) Psychological constraints on form-bearing dimensions in music. Contemp Music Rev 4(1):181–198. https://doi.org/10.1080/07494468900640281
McAdams S, Bregman AS (1979) Hearing musical streams. Comput Music J 3(4):26–43
McAdams S, Cunibile J-C (1992) Perception of timbral analogies. Philos T Roy Soc B 336(1278):383–389. https://doi.org/10.1098/Rstb.1992.0072
McAdams S, Winsberg S, Donnadieu S, De Soete G, Krimphoff J (1995) Perceptual scaling of synthesized musical timbres: common dimensions, specificities, and latent subject classes. Psychol Res-Psych Fo 58(3):177–192. https://doi.org/10.1007/Bf00419633
McDermott JH, Lehr AJ, Oxenham AJ (2008) Is relative pitch specific to pitch? Psychol Sci 19(12):1263–1271. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02235.x
Meyer LB (1989) Style and music: theory, history, and ideology. University of Chicago Press, Chicago
Moore BCJ, Gockel H (2002) Factors influencing sequential stream segregation. Acta Acustica united with Acustica 88(3):320–332
Nattiez J-J (2007) Le timbre est-il un paramètre secondaire? [Is timbre a secondary parameter?]. Les Cahiers de la Société Québécoise de Recherche en Musique 9(1–2):13–24
Oliver H (1967) Structural functions of musical material in Webern’s op. 6, no. 1. Perspectives of New Music 6(1):67–73. https://doi.org/10.2307/832407
Paraskeva S, McAdams S (1997) Influence of timbre, presence/absence of tonal hierarchy and musical training on the perception of musical tension and relaxation schemas. In: Rikakis T (ed) Proceedings of the 1997 International Computer Music Conference. Aristotle University, Thessaloniki, Greece, [CD-ROM]
Parncutt R (1989) Harmony: a psychoacoustical approach. Springer, Berlin
Plomp R (1976) Aspects of tone sensation: a psychophysical study. Academic, London
Reuter C (2003) Stream segregation and formant areas. In: Kopiez R, Lehmann R, Wolther AC, Wolf C (eds) Proceedings of the 5th triennial ESCOM conference. epOs-music, Osnabrück, pp 329–331
Rimsky-Korsakov N (1964) Principles of orchestration: with musical examples drawn from his own works (trans: Agate E from 1912 Russian ed.). Dover, New York
Risset J-C (2004) Le timbre [Timbre]. In: Nattiez J-J (ed) Musiques, une encyclopédie pour le XXIe siècle. Tome 2: Les savoirs musicaux. Actes Sud/Cité de la Musique, Arles, pp 134–161
Roy S (2003) L’analyse des musiques électroacoustiques: modèles et propositions [Analysis of electroacoustic musics: models and proposals]. L’Harmattan, Paris
Saffran JR, Johnson EK, Aslin RN, Newport EL (1999) Statistical learning of tone sequences by human infants and adults. Cognition 70(1):27–52. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0010-0277(98)00075-4
Saffran JR, Newport EL, Aslin RN (1996) Word segmentation: the role of distributional cues. J Mem Lang 35(4):606–621. https://doi.org/10.1006/jmla.1996.0032
Sandell GJ (1995) Roles for spectral centroid and other factors in determining “blended” instrument pairing in orchestration. Music Percept 13(2):209–246. https://doi.org/10.2307/40285694
Schoenberg A (1978) Theory of harmony (trans: Carter RE from 1911 original German publication). University of California Press, Berkeley
Siedenburg K, McAdams S (2018) Short-term recognition of timbre sequences: effects of musical training, pitch variability, and timbral similarity. Music Percept 36(1):24–39. https://doi.org/10.1525/MP.2018.36.1.24
Singh PG, Bregman AS (1997) The influence of different timbre attributes on the perceptual segregation on complex-tone sequences. J Acoust Soc Am 102(4):1943–1952. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.419688
Slawson W (1985) Sound color. University of California Press, Berkeley
Snyder B (2000) Music and memory: an introduction. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA
Tardieu D, McAdams S (2012) Perception of dyads of impulsive and sustained instrument sounds. Music Percept 30(2):117–128. https://doi.org/10.1525/Mp.2012.30.2.117
Thoret E, Goodchild M, McAdams S (2018) Timbre 2018: timbre is a many-splendored thing. McGill University, Montreal. https://www.mcgill.ca/timbre2018/files/timbre2018/timbre2018_proceedings.pdf
Tillmann B, McAdams S (2004) Implicit learning of musical timbre sequences: statistical regularities confronted with acoustical (dis)similarities. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 30(5):1131–1142. https://doi.org/10.1037/0278-7393.30.5.1131
Tougas Y, Bregman AS (1985) Crossing of auditory streams. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 11(6):788–798. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03205976
Wessel DL (1979) Timbre space as a musical control structure. Comput Music J 3(2):45–52. https://doi.org/10.2307/3680283
Wolf EK (1966) The recapitulations in Haydn’s London symphonies. Music Q 52(1):71–79. https://doi.org/10.1093/mq/LII.1.71
Wright JK, Bregman AS (1987) Auditory stream segregation and the control of dissonance in polyphonic music. Contemp Music Rev 2(1):63–92. https://doi.org/10.1080/07494468708567054
Zahorik P, Brungart DS, Bronkhorst AW (2005) Auditory distance perception in humans: a summary of past and present research. Acta Acustica united with Acustica 91(3):409–420
Acknowledgements
The writing of this chapter was supported by grants from the Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (890-2014-0008), the Fonds de Recherche du Québec—Société et Culture (SE-171434), the Canada Research Chairs Program (#950-223484), and the Killam Research Fellow Program of the Canada Council for the Arts.
Compliance with Ethics Requirements
Stephen McAdams declares that he has no conflict of interest.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
McAdams, S. (2019). Timbre as a Structuring Force in Music. In: Siedenburg, K., Saitis, C., McAdams, S., Popper, A., Fay, R. (eds) Timbre: Acoustics, Perception, and Cognition. Springer Handbook of Auditory Research, vol 69. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14832-4_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14832-4_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-14831-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-14832-4
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)