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Effects of Dark and Bright Timbral Instructions on the Production of Pitch and Timbre

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Title: Effects of Dark and Bright Timbral Instructions on the Production of Pitch and Timbre
Language: English
Authors: Springer, D. Gregory (ORCID 0000-0001-7923-726X), Schlegel, Amanda L., Lewis, Andrew J.
Source: Journal of Research in Music Education. Jan 2021 68(4):482-498.
Availability: SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: http://sagepub.com
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 17
Publication Date: 2021
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Research
Education Level: High Schools
Secondary Education
Higher Education
Postsecondary Education
Descriptors: Music Education, Intonation, Auditory Perception, Acoustics, Musicians, High School Students, College Students, Accuracy, Measurement, Music Techniques
DOI: 10.1177/0022429420944347
ISSN: 0022-4294
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of timbral instructions on pitch and timbre production. High school (n = 28) and collegiate (n = 28) trumpeters played sustained tones at two octave levels (written C4 and C5) following three types of timbral instructions (dark-timbre, bright-timbre, or neutral instructions). Presentation orders were randomly assigned. Dependent variables included one acoustical measure of pitch (absolute cent deviation) and one acoustical measure of timbre (spectral centroid). Participants also reported which type of instruction they perceived to result in their "best sound" and their "most in-tune performance." Results indicated a significant interaction between timbral instruction condition and octave. Post hoc testing revealed that timbral instructions affected participants' absolute cent deviation, but different effects were observed in each octave. The effect of timbral instructions on participants' spectral centroid was nonsignificant. Participants demonstrated a preference for the neutral instruction over the dark- and bright-timbre instructions, and their tuning accuracy varied by octave and instruction condition. These data suggest that music educators may need to use timbral instructions judiciously so that the instruction to play with a different timbre does not result in unintentional changes in pitch.
Abstractor: As Provided
Entry Date: 2021
Accession Number: EJ1280425
Database: ERIC
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  Value: <anid>AN0147842281;3ug01jan.21;2021Jan01.03:25;v2.2.500</anid> <title id="AN0147842281-1">Effects of Dark and Bright Timbral Instructions on the Production of Pitch and Timbre </title> <p>The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of timbral instructions on pitch and timbre production. High school (n = 28) and collegiate (n = 28) trumpeters played sustained tones at two octave levels (written C4 and C5) following three types of timbral instructions (dark-timbre, bright-timbre, or neutral instructions). Presentation orders were randomly assigned. Dependent variables included one acoustical measure of pitch (absolute cent deviation) and one acoustical measure of timbre (spectral centroid). Participants also reported which type of instruction they perceived to result in their "best sound" and their "most in-tune performance." Results indicated a significant interaction between timbral instruction condition and octave. Post hoc testing revealed that timbral instructions affected participants' absolute cent deviation, but different effects were observed in each octave. The effect of timbral instructions on participants' spectral centroid was nonsignificant. Participants demonstrated a preference for the neutral instruction over the dark- and bright-timbre instructions, and their tuning accuracy varied by octave and instruction condition. These data suggest that music educators may need to use timbral instructions judiciously so that the instruction to play with a different timbre does not result in unintentional changes in pitch.</p> <p>Keywords: pitch; timbre; perception; tone quality; tuning</p> <p>Teaching young musicians to perform with a characteristic tone quality and accurate pitch is of supreme importance to music educators in instrumental music classrooms. The pedagogy of teaching and refining these skills is complicated, however, because "music educators generally agree that good tone quality and good pitch are mutually inclusive, interconnected, and dependent on each other" ([<reflink idref="bib16" id="ref1">16</reflink>], p. 250). Finding ways to improve their students' performance in the areas of pitch and tone quality is a prime goal for school ensemble directors ([<reflink idref="bib14" id="ref2">14</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib16" id="ref3">16</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref4">18</reflink>]) because they are often considered to be the areas that are most in need of improvement among high school ensembles ([<reflink idref="bib32" id="ref5">32</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib46" id="ref6">46</reflink>]). By gaining a greater understanding of the relationships between pitch and tone quality, ensemble directors will be better equipped to address these concepts in their rehearsals.</p> <hd id="AN0147842281-2">Measurement of Pitch and Timbre</hd> <p>Pitch is the psychological correlate of frequency, which is often expressed as the number of periodic cycles per second (Hz) or by cent deviation from a reference tone ([<reflink idref="bib50" id="ref7">50</reflink>]). Timbre, on the contrary, is more difficult to measure because it encompasses a variety of auditory attributes, such as attack sharpness, brightness, and nasality ([<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref8">36</reflink>]). Most musical tones are complex because sound is composed of a fundamental frequency with a variety of upper harmonics, called <emph>overtones</emph> ([<reflink idref="bib50" id="ref9">50</reflink>]). Tones that have a greater dominance of upper harmonics are perceived as brighter in timbre by listeners, and tones with stronger lower harmonics are perceived as darker in timbre ([<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref10">20</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref11">27</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref12">36</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib52" id="ref13">52</reflink>]).</p> <p>One of the most common acoustical correlates of timbre is spectral centroid (or spectral center of gravity), which serves as a quantitative measure of timbral brightness ([<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref14">20</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref15">28</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib35" id="ref16">35</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref17">36</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib39" id="ref18">39</reflink>]). A tone's spectral centroid is calculated based on the average of all harmonic frequencies present in complex sound, weighted by their amplitude, and is expressed as a single value in frequency (Hz) units ([<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref19">28</reflink>]). Higher centroid values indicate brighter timbres, and lower centroid values indicate darker timbres. Common timbral differences between instruments can be attributed to differences in spectral centroid. For example, the spectral centroid of an oboe tone tends to be notably higher than that of a trombone because the spectrum of an oboe tone tends to have greater amplitudes present for upper harmonics ([<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref20">36</reflink>]). Researchers previously reported that accuracy on an interval discrimination task was influenced by timbre, which the authors attributed to spectral centroids unique to each instrumental stimulus ([<reflink idref="bib53" id="ref21">53</reflink>]).</p> <hd id="AN0147842281-3">Pitch–Timbre Interactions</hd> <p>Researchers have indicated that wind instrument pitch and timbre are not independent of each other ([<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref22">27</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib39" id="ref23">39</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib52" id="ref24">52</reflink>]); perceptual interactions between these variables have been found in a number of studies ([<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref25">4</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib33" id="ref26">33</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib35" id="ref27">35</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib37" id="ref28">37</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib49" id="ref29">49</reflink>]). For instance, musically trained listeners were less accurate and demonstrated slower response times when identifying melodic intervals in timbre-changing conditions compared to a timbre-neutral condition ([<reflink idref="bib19" id="ref30">19</reflink>]). [<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref31">36</reflink>] attributed these pitch-timbre interactions to the fact that many spectral properties of sound tend to covary with pitch, but a definitive explanation for these interactions remains elusive.</p> <p>A number of studies have been conducted to investigate how the interactions between pitch and timbre are observed in music perception and performance tasks. Some researchers found that listeners' tolerance for tuning deviations differed on the basis of the timbre (i.e., violin, trumpet, or voice) of a stimulus. In those studies, Geringer and colleagues ([<reflink idref="bib22" id="ref32">22</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib23" id="ref33">23</reflink>]) speculated that these different standards for pitch performance across instrumental timbres could be related to various acoustical factors of the instruments themselves, top-down cognitive processing factors, and differences in audio presentations (e.g., harmonic/vertical listening vs. melodic/horizontal listening). Similarly, [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref34">13</reflink>] indicated that timbre affected participants' judgments of tone pairs even though timbre did not influence their tuning accuracy on a performance task. Not surprisingly, weak relationships were found between perceived intonation accuracy and actual intonation accuracy in previous studies ([<reflink idref="bib42" id="ref35">42</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib44" id="ref36">44</reflink>]).</p> <p>Previous findings also suggest that the timbre of a stimulus tone can influence tuning accuracy. [<reflink idref="bib30" id="ref37">30</reflink>] found that university instrumentalists played with less accurate intonation in response to an electronically generated sound source (Peterson electronic tuner) compared to acoustic sound sources (oboe and tuba stimulus tone). [<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref38">7</reflink>] reported that high school instrumentalists' tuning was significantly less accurate in response to a tuba stimulus compared to a flute, oboe, or clarinet stimulus, implying that the timbre and/or octave of the tuba stimulus influenced tuning accuracy. Those effects of stimulus octave and timbre were not found among a sample of advanced college instrumentalists, however ([<reflink idref="bib6" id="ref39">6</reflink>]).</p> <p>Although pitch and timbre appear to interact at a perceptual level, researchers have found that listeners were able to discriminate between good and bad tone quality but appeared to be more sensitive to intonation than tone quality ([<reflink idref="bib24" id="ref40">24</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib34" id="ref41">34</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib45" id="ref42">45</reflink>]). [<reflink idref="bib26" id="ref43">26</reflink>] also reported that listeners were able to successfully discriminate between good and bad trumpet tone quality, yet they rated slightly sharp and in-tune performances higher than very sharp and flat performances. Taken together, results of these studies underscore the complicated relationships between pitch and timbre and suggest that listeners' aural discriminations may be affected more by pitch than timbre.</p> <p>A number of studies have examined various aspects of the nature of timbre. For example, fine timbre discriminations may be difficult even among trained musicians given that collegiate musicians demonstrated the ability to correctly identify a flugelhorn timbre, yet their identification of similar instruments (B-flat, E-flat, and C piccolo trumpets) was less successful ([<reflink idref="bib25" id="ref44">25</reflink>]). [<reflink idref="bib11" id="ref45">11</reflink>] similarly found that listeners were less accurate with the identification of trumpet versus cornet timbres but also reported that brass players were more accurate at the task than nonbrass musicians. Additionally, researchers have reported that listeners were more accurate on timbre identification tasks when the attack was present and of good quality ([<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref46">8</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref47">12</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib41" id="ref48">41</reflink>]). Adding to the complexity of pitch/timbre perception, [<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref49">29</reflink>] explained that timbre judgments such as these become more complicated as the distance between pitches increases. In fact, previous literature suggests a perceptual threshold of one octave for successful timbre judgments ([<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref50">5</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref51">29</reflink>]).</p> <p>Another prominent finding in timbre research is that listeners often confuse timbre changes with pitch changes. In a paired-comparison task, listeners judged dark tones as flat in pitch and bright tones as sharp in pitch ([<reflink idref="bib51" id="ref52">51</reflink>]). [<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref53">27</reflink>] found similar results but reported that the timbre - pitch confusion was more obvious among listeners with less musical experience. Listeners also demonstrated timbral preferences for instrumental stimuli; they preferred bright timbres for trumpet and trombone stimuli and dark timbres for clarinet stimuli. [<reflink idref="bib52" id="ref54">52</reflink>] extended these findings and found that not only did participants perceive changes in timbre to be changes in pitch but that these perceptual tendencies were also displayed in their performance. Participants played sharp in response to bright stimuli and flat in response to dark stimuli.</p> <hd id="AN0147842281-4">Need for the Study</hd> <p>As described previously, research findings have provided evidence of perceptual interactions between pitch and timbre ([<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref55">4</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib33" id="ref56">33</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib49" id="ref57">49</reflink>]). [<reflink idref="bib52" id="ref58">52</reflink>] found that these perceptual interactions occurred when musicians played their instruments. A common form of tone quality pedagogy is to use descriptive terms that suggest color/shade like <emph>dark</emph> and <emph>bright</emph> to encourage students to play with a specific timbral quality ([<reflink idref="bib9" id="ref59">9</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib17" id="ref60">17</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref61">20</reflink>]). The acoustical and perceptual outcomes of these verbal cues have not been investigated empirically, however. Therefore, the practice of using timbral instructions (e.g., "play with a dark sound") seems to be a common rehearsal strategy that lacks empirical support—perhaps one that is passed on through conventional wisdom or authority alone.</p> <p>We designed the present study to examine the pitch and timbre of sustained tones produced as a function of different types of timbral instructions. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the potential effects of timbral instructions (dark-timbre, bright-timbre, or neutral instruction) on pitch and timbre production. As a secondary purpose, we investigated whether the effects of timbral instructions were consistent across two experience levels (high school vs. college) and two octave levels (written C4 vs. C5) because previous research has identified experience ([<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref62">27</reflink>]) and octave ([<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref63">5</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref64">29</reflink>]) as influential factors in timbre perception. The following research questions guided the inquiry: (<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref65">1</reflink>) What are the effects of timbral instruction, experience level, and octave on participants' absolute cent deviation (i.e., avoiding flat/sharp directionality) and spectral centroid? (<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref66">2</reflink>) What tuning responses (flat, sharp, or in tune) occur as a function of timbral instructions? and (<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref67">3</reflink>) What type of timbral instructions do participants believe resulted in their best tone quality and most "in-tune" performance?</p> <hd id="AN0147842281-5">Method</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0147842281-6">Research Design and Participants</hd> <p>We constructed this study as a within-subjects design in which participants (high school and college trumpeters) served as their own controls. We limited this study to musicians who played a single instrument—the trumpet—for two reasons. First, because each instrument has unique spectral characteristics, it would not have been possible to control for the variance in spectral centroids across different instruments even if they were playing the same note in the same octave ([<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref68">36</reflink>]). Second, because different instruments have unique pitch tendencies ([<reflink idref="bib14" id="ref69">14</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref70">18</reflink>]), any observed differences in pitch could be attributed to differences in instruments themselves. Therefore, we sampled from a single instrument to control for the measurement noise that these confounding variables would have provided.</p> <p>Before recruiting participants, we conducted a power analysis using G*Power software ([<reflink idref="bib15" id="ref71">15</reflink>]) to determine a sufficient sample size for a multivariate analysis of variance with repeated measures (within-between interaction). Results suggested a minimum sample size of 54 (input parameters included Pillai's criterion =.6, an alpha level of.05, and a power level [1 – β] of.8). We selected these input parameters based on a review of [<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref72">10</reflink>] power guidelines as well as effect sizes reported in previous research focused on pitch and timbre performance (e.g., [<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref73">7</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib42" id="ref74">42</reflink>]). Participants (<emph>N</emph> = 56) were high school trumpeters from three successful high school band programs in the southeastern United States (as evidenced by their regular superior ratings at adjudicated performance assessments and the number of students who participated in honor bands) and collegiate trumpeters from two large schools of music in the southeastern United States accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music.</p> <p>High school participants included freshman (<emph>n</emph> = 8), sophomores (<emph>n</emph> = 6), juniors (<emph>n</emph> = 8), and seniors (<emph>n</emph> = 6), and the average age was 15.82 years (<emph>SD</emph> = 1.39). High school participants reported a mean of 5.93 years (<emph>SD</emph> = 1.63) of experience playing the trumpet. Collegiate participants included freshmen (<emph>n</emph> = 8), sophomores (<emph>n</emph> = 2), juniors (<emph>n</emph> = 6), seniors (<emph>n</emph> = 7), and graduate students (<emph>n</emph> = 4), and all were music majors. Average age of collegiate participants was 20.67 years (<emph>SD</emph> = 2.40), and they reported a mean of 10.59 years (<emph>SD</emph> = 2.55) of experience playing the trumpet. (One participant did not provide student classification, so the total does not match the sample size.)</p> <hd id="AN0147842281-7">Procedures</hd> <p>Prior to experiencing any experimental procedures, all participants provided informed consent (and assent, where applicable) on forms approved by the institutional review board. We then collected demographic data from all participants, including their age, major (collegiate participants only), year in school, and number of years they had played trumpet. Participants were then given time to warm up and tune their instrument by adjusting it to an optimum length. We provided participants a Korg CA-1 chromatic tuner to assist them with this tuning process, and we allowed them as much time as they needed until they indicated that they were ready to proceed. After this warm-up/tuning period, we removed the tuner from their view and turned it off before commencing with the remainder of the experiment.</p> <p>For the primary experimental task, participants played multiple iterations of written C4 (concert B-flat 3, equal-tempered standard = 233.08 Hz) and C5 (concert B-flat 4, equal-tempered standard = 466.16 Hz) pitches. We chose these two pitches because they are in an easily playable range for high school and collegiate trumpeters and because these "open fingering" pitches lack the out-of-tune pitch tendencies associated with problematic valve combinations and partials on the trumpet ([<reflink idref="bib14" id="ref75">14</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref76">18</reflink>]). Additionally, these notes are separated by an octave, which previous studies have indicated as a perceptual threshold for timbre discrimination ([<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref77">5</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref78">29</reflink>]). To isolate the primary independent variable of interest (i.e., timbral instructions), participants completed the experimental tasks individually in a quiet room with one of the researchers.</p> <p>Participants played each C4 and C5 pitch under each of the following timbral instruction conditions: neutral ("perform this note for approximately five seconds"), dark-timbre ("perform this note <emph>with a dark sound</emph> for approximately five seconds"), and bright-timbre ("perform this note <emph>with a bright sound</emph> for approximately five seconds"). This procedure resulted in six trials (two octaves, three timbral instruction conditions) for each participant. Instruction sheets for each trial were available on a music stand in front of participants. Each instruction sheet provided the written tone to be played (C4 or C5, notated as whole notes) and the appropriate instruction (neutral, dark-timbre, or bright-timbre instruction). We also read the timbral instructions aloud to participants before they began each trial. Participants played these tones in one of four orders, which we counterbalanced using a 4 × 4 Latin square design. Orders were randomly assigned and were balanced across high school and collegiate participants evenly. We used a Zoom H2n Handy recorder to capture participants' performances, which we recorded as.wav files (44100 Hz sampling rate, 16-bit stereo). Following the six trials, participants identified which timbral instruction (dark, bright, or neutral) they believed resulted in their "best sound" and "most in-tune performance."</p> <hd id="AN0147842281-8">Dependent Measures</hd> <p>From each of the six tones, we analyzed two acoustical/physical measures: (a) cent deviation from equal-tempered standard (expressed in absolute value so that it could be used as a measure of "out-of-tuneness," with higher values signifying more out of tune playing) and (b) spectral centroid. We examined the directionality (flat, sharp, or in tune) of their performances categorically in a separate analysis (Research Question 2). We determined the cent deviation values using Praat software ([<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref79">2</reflink>]) by calculating the mean frequency of each tone at a sampling rate of 100 Hz. (Praat is open-source software that can be used to measure various aspects of pitch and other spectral elements of sound; technical details of the software and spectral analysis details were summarized by [<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref80">3</reflink>] and [<reflink idref="bib47" id="ref81">47</reflink>].) Due to the pitch variation and noise that occurs at the attack and release, we analyzed only the middle 2 seconds of each tone to determine mean frequency, similar to protocols used in previous studies ([<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref82">1</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib6" id="ref83">6</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib21" id="ref84">21</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib42" id="ref85">42</reflink>]). Once we determined the mean frequency, we compared that value to the equal-tempered standard in each octave to determine the cent deviation, which we expressed in absolute value. The cent deviation value was determined using a "cent value-determination of an interval" calculator ([<reflink idref="bib43" id="ref86">43</reflink>]). We also used Praat ([<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref87">2</reflink>]) to analyze each tone's spectral centroid. Unlike our cent deviation analyses, we analyzed the entire tone when calculating spectral centroid because attacks and releases are influential aspects of timbre perception ([<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref88">8</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref89">12</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref90">36</reflink>]).</p> <p>We also asked a panel of three expert trumpeters (two trumpet professors and one doctoral student, all of whom had completed graduate degrees in trumpet performance) to rate the timbre of each recorded tone on a scale of 1 (<emph>very dark</emph>) to 10 (<emph>very bright</emph>). These individuals were blind to experimental condition when rating the tones. Although listeners' dark-bright judgments were positively related to spectral centroid in [<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref91">20</reflink>] study, we incorporated this expert panel as an additional validity check to determine whether spectral centroid values functioned as a valid measure of timbral brightness in this study. As anticipated, mean ratings of the expert panel positively predicted spectral centroid values (β = 87.009, <emph>R</emph><sups>2</sups> =.188, <emph>p</emph> <.001), indicating that higher expert ratings (signifying brighter timbres) were linearly related to higher spectral centroids (also signifying brighter timbres).</p> <hd id="AN0147842281-9">Results</hd> <p>We conducted preliminary analyses to test for order effects. There were no significant main effects due to presentation order, and order did not interact with any other variables in the model (<emph>p</emph> >.05). Therefore, we conducted data analyses without including order as an independent variable. We also screened the data to determine whether they met the assumptions necessary to conduct a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). We found violations of normality, which we corrected by removing two outliers (participants whose responses in one or more conditions deviated from the equal-tempered standard by more than 100 cents) from the data set. (Because we initially recruited 58 participants, this practice resulted in a final sample size of 56.) We also found evidence of multicollinearity because some correlations among the levels of the dependent variables (which ranged from.022 to.868) exceeded the benchmark of.70 suggested by [<reflink idref="bib48" id="ref92">48</reflink>]. Given this presence of multicollinearity, we conducted a separate univariate analysis of variance (ANOVA) on each dependent variable (absolute cent deviation and spectral centroid) instead of a MANOVA. To control for the risk of "probability pyramiding" due to inflated Type I error, we used a more stringent alpha level of.025 (.05/2) when conducting these ANOVAs ([<reflink idref="bib31" id="ref93">31</reflink>], p. 306).</p> <p>To answer Research Question 1, we conducted a split-plot ANOVA using absolute cent deviation as the dependent variable. For this analysis, experience level (high school vs. college) was a between-subjects factor, and timbral instructions (dark, neutral, or bright) and octave (C4 or C5) were within-subjects factors. Results indicated a significant interaction between timbre instruction condition and octave, <emph>F</emph>(<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref94">2</reflink>, 108) = 4.920, <emph>p</emph> =.009, η<sups>2</sups><subs><emph>p</emph></subs> =.083. Bonferroni-adjusted pairwise comparisons indicated significant differences between the bright- and dark-timbre instructions (<emph>p</emph> =.034) and between the bright- and neutral-timbre instructions (<emph>p</emph> <.001) in the C5 octave, with no significant differences in the C4 octave. No other main effects or interactions were observed on participants' absolute cent deviation.</p> <p>We also conducted a split-plot ANOVA using spectral centroid as the dependent variable. As in the previous analysis, we included experience level as a between-subjects factor and timbral instruction and octave as within-subjects factors. Results indicated no significant main effects or interactions on participants' spectral centroid. Descriptive statistics for participants' absolute cent deviation and spectral centroid are provided in Table 1. The descriptive statistics for spectral centroid values revealed the expected trend across the instructional conditions overall; participants played with more amplitude in upper harmonics (timbral brightness) in the bright instruction condition and played with more amplitude in lower harmonics (timbral darkness) in the dark instruction condition. Descriptively, this result was consistent across both octaves, but the differences were not statistically significant. Given the high standard deviations, these descriptive differences may be due to the amount of variability.</p> <p>Graph</p> <p>Table 1. Descriptive Statistics in All Timbral Instruction and Octave Conditions.</p> <p> <ephtml> <table><colgroup><col align="left" /><col align="char" char="." /><col align="char" char="." /><col align="char" char="." /><col align="char" char="." /><col align="char" char="." /><col align="char" char="." /><col align="char" char="." /><col align="char" char="." /><col align="char" char="." /><col align="char" char="." /><col align="char" char="." /><col align="char" char="." /><col align="char" char="." /></colgroup><thead><tr><th align="left" rowspan="3">Octave</th><th align="center" rowspan="3">Instruction</th><th align="center" colspan="6">Absolute Cent Deviation</th><th align="center" colspan="6">Spectral Centroid (Hz)</th></tr><tr><th align="center" colspan="2">High School</th><th align="center" colspan="2">College</th><th align="center" colspan="2">Overall</th><th align="center" colspan="2">High School</th><th align="center" colspan="2">College</th><th align="center" colspan="2">Overall</th></tr><tr><th align="center"><italic>M</italic></th><th align="center"><italic>SD</italic></th><th align="center"><italic>M</italic></th><th align="center"><italic>SD</italic></th><th align="center"><italic>M</italic></th><th align="center"><italic>SD</italic></th><th align="center"><italic>M</italic></th><th align="center"><italic>SD</italic></th><th align="center"><italic>M</italic></th><th align="center"><italic>SD</italic></th><th align="center"><italic>M</italic></th><th align="center"><italic>SD</italic></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td rowspan="3">C4</td><td>Dark</td><td>13.73</td><td>14.34</td><td>12.57</td><td>11.60</td><td>13.17</td><td>12.99</td><td>819.99</td><td>231.84</td><td>909.13</td><td>189.51</td><td>862.97</td><td>215.32</td></tr><tr><td>Neutral</td><td>11.78</td><td>9.47</td><td>11.23</td><td>8.97</td><td>11.52</td><td>9.15</td><td>832.16</td><td>221.14</td><td>904.28</td><td>211.73</td><td>866.93</td><td>217.74</td></tr><tr><td>Bright</td><td>10.02</td><td>9.62</td><td>12.76</td><td>8.69</td><td>11.34</td><td>9.21</td><td>850.92</td><td>244.47</td><td>967.01</td><td>241.93</td><td>906.89</td><td>248.03</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="3">C5</td><td>Dark</td><td>9.90</td><td>9.91</td><td>10.08</td><td>9.29</td><td>9.98</td><td>9.53</td><td>867.09</td><td>224.11</td><td>909.89</td><td>226.15</td><td>887.73</td><td>224.08</td></tr><tr><td>Neutral</td><td>8.23</td><td>8.18</td><td>8.19</td><td>6.95</td><td>8.21</td><td>7.54</td><td>867.97</td><td>244.02</td><td>912.03</td><td>240.99</td><td>889.21</td><td>241.38</td></tr><tr><td>Bright</td><td>13.35</td><td>11.31</td><td>14.23</td><td>11.77</td><td>13.78</td><td>11.44</td><td>870.03</td><td>213.20</td><td>950.70</td><td>236.72</td><td>908.92</td><td>226.46</td></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <p>For Research Question 2, we were interested in examining what tuning responses (flat, sharp, or in tune) would occur as a function of timbral instructions. Each of the participants' six tuning attempts were coded as either sharp, flat, or in tune based on the cent deviation value in each condition. Attempts were coded as in tune if the cent deviation was no more than 5 cents above or below the equal-tempered standard. Sharp responses were more than 5 cents above the equal-tempered standard; flat responses were more than 5 cents below the equal-tempered standard. We used these categorical boundaries because they are consistent with previous instrumental tuning studies (e.g., [<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref95">7</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref96">13</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib42" id="ref97">42</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib44" id="ref98">44</reflink>]). These tuning results are displayed in Figure 1 for both octaves across instructional conditions. Out of the 336 tuning attempts—six attempts for each of the 56 participants—the number of sharp responses (<emph>n</emph> = 160) was more than double the number of flat responses (<emph>n</emph> = 66). The largest number of sharp responses occurred in the bright instruction condition (<emph>n</emph> = 36) when participants played C5, but as displayed in Figure 1, different trends were observed for the other octave (C4). More participants played the C4 pitch in the sharp direction in the neutral instruction condition (<emph>n</emph> = 31) than in the bright instruction condition (<emph>n</emph> = 29). It was only the C4 pitch in the dark instruction condition in which more participants played flat (<emph>n</emph> = 22) than sharp (<emph>n</emph> = 19) or in tune (<emph>n</emph> = 15). The mean cent deviation values of sharp and flat tuning results are displayed in Table 2. When playing C4, the magnitude of cent deviation values was higher for flat performances than sharp performances (i.e., more out of tune in the flat direction than sharp). The opposite trend occurred in participants' C5 responses.</p> <p>Graph: Figure 1. Number of participants who played flat, sharp, and in tune for each octave across timbre instruction conditions.</p> <p>Graph</p> <p>Table 2. Magnitude of Flat and Sharp Tuning Results by Timbral Instruction Condition.</p> <p> <ephtml> <table><colgroup><col align="left" /><col align="char" char="." /><col align="char" char="." /><col align="char" char="." /><col align="char" char="." /><col align="char" char="." /><col align="char" char="." /><col align="char" char="." /></colgroup><thead><tr><th align="left" rowspan="2">Octave</th><th align="center" rowspan="2">Instruction</th><th align="center" colspan="3">Flat Results</th><th align="center" colspan="3">Sharp Results</th></tr><tr><th align="center"><italic>n</italic></th><th align="center"><italic>M</italic></th><th align="center"><italic>SD</italic></th><th align="center"><italic>n</italic></th><th align="center"><italic>M</italic></th><th align="center"><italic>SD</italic></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td rowspan="3">C4</td><td>Dark</td><td>22</td><td>19.63</td><td>14.33</td><td>19</td><td>13.95</td><td>11.48</td></tr><tr><td>Neutral</td><td>8</td><td>17.73</td><td>9.20</td><td>31</td><td>14.63</td><td>8.66</td></tr><tr><td>Bright</td><td>10</td><td>15.64</td><td>10.74</td><td>29</td><td>15.41</td><td>7.04</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="3">C5</td><td>Dark</td><td>15</td><td>10.46</td><td>4.94</td><td>20</td><td>17.40</td><td>11.16</td></tr><tr><td>Neutral</td><td>6</td><td>11.37</td><td>4.93</td><td>25</td><td>13.23</td><td>7.73</td></tr><tr><td>Bright</td><td>5</td><td>11.40</td><td>3.55</td><td>36</td><td>18.92</td><td>10.87</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="3">Overall</td><td>Dark</td><td>37</td><td>15.91</td><td>12.25</td><td>39</td><td>15.72</td><td>11.30</td></tr><tr><td>Neutral</td><td>14</td><td>15.00</td><td>8.10</td><td>56</td><td>13.91</td><td>8.21</td></tr><tr><td>Bright</td><td>15</td><td>14.23</td><td>9.06</td><td>65</td><td>17.35</td><td>9.45</td></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <p>1 <emph>Note</emph>. Means and standard deviations are expressed in cent deviation values.</p> <p>At the conclusion of six tuning attempts, participants indicated which condition they believed resulted in their best sound and most in tune performance (Research Question 3). As displayed in Table S1 in the online version of the article, participants demonstrated a preference for the neutral - timbre instruction condition in that more participants perceived it to be the condition that resulted in their most in-tune performance (<emph>n</emph> = 34) and their best sound (<emph>n</emph> = 26). Fewer participants believed the bright - or dark - timbral instructions resulted in their most in-tune performance (bright, <emph>n</emph> = 7; dark, <emph>n</emph> = 15) and their best sound (bright, <emph>n</emph> = 8; dark, <emph>n</emph> = 22). The largest number of participants (<emph>n</emph> = 21) played most in tune in response to the neutral instruction, but that was closely followed by the bright (<emph>n</emph> = 20) and dark (<emph>n</emph> = 15) instructions. More participants played most out of tune in the bright condition (<emph>n</emph> = 23) compared to the dark (<emph>n</emph> = 19) and neutral conditions (<emph>n</emph> = 12).</p> <hd id="AN0147842281-10">Discussion</hd> <p>The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of timbral instructions on the production of pitch and timbre. Participants' pitch (measured as absolute cent deviation) varied as a function of timbral instructions, but that effect interacted with which octave was played. As displayed in Table 1, participants played most out of tune in the dark instruction condition for the C4 octave and most out of tune in the bright instruction condition for the C5 octave. We were surprised to find that timbral instructions resulted in no significant effects on their timbre production (measured as spectral centroid). Although the observed spectral centroids showed the expected differences descriptively (i.e., highest spectral centroids resulting from bright-timbre instruction and lowest spectral centroids resulting from dark-timbre instruction), those differences were not statistically significant. The instructions to play with a dark or bright sound did not result in the production of significantly darker or brighter timbres, respectively. Based on these findings, music educators may consider that the use of timbral instructions (e.g., "Play with a dark sound") could have unintended consequences on their students' pitch production and that they may affect students differently at various octave/register levels on their instruments.</p> <p>That timbral instructions influenced participants' pitch production and not timbre illustrates that pitch and timbre may have interacted within the context of this task. [<reflink idref="bib52" id="ref99">52</reflink>] found that instrumentalists played sharper and flatter in response to bright and dark auditory stimuli, respectively, and our participants responded in similar ways to verbal stimuli (i.e., instructions to play with a bright or dark sound). As summarized in Figure 1 and Table 2, far more participants played sharp in the bright instruction condition compared to the dark instruction condition. In the neutral condition, participants' out-of-tune responses were strikingly similar to those of the bright timbre condition.</p> <p>Perhaps the timbral instructions had more of an effect on pitch than on timbre because there are specific "standards" for pitch that musicians are accustomed to matching. The effect could also be due to the fact that instrumentalists are much more well practiced in making physical adjustments related to pitch. Timbre is more elusive, subjective, and personal, and as such, it may require frequent exposure to aural models that illustrate desired timbral nuances. It could be that participants adjusted their pitch as a consequence of having no specific standard of "bright" or "dark" or because it was a sound parameter that they physically knew how to manipulate. It could also be reflective of the timbre - pitch confusion that [<reflink idref="bib52" id="ref100">52</reflink>] participants demonstrated. Considering the findings of the present study and those of Worthy, we find it ironic that one of the synonyms for timbre is <emph>tone color</emph>.</p> <p>We found no significant differences in pitch or timbre production based on the experience level of the participants (high school vs. college), a finding that is inconsistent with previous research indicating superior tuning accuracy among college instrumentalists over high school instrumentalists ([<reflink idref="bib6" id="ref101">6</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib21" id="ref102">21</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib42" id="ref103">42</reflink>]). It is unclear why participants in this study demonstrated no significant differences on the basis of experience level. Furthermore, it is somewhat perplexing that high school and collegiate trumpeters played such common notes (written C4 and C5 "concert B-flat" notes) out of tune even after being given time to warm up and tune their instrument. As seen in Figure 1, many responses were classified as flat or sharp because they exceeded the cent deviation threshold of ±5 cents. One explanation could be that most participants were still developing their understanding of how to successfully manipulate their timbre without disrupting intonation. This out-of-tuneness may also be a manifestation of a preference for sharpness among wind musicians that has been reported in previous research (e.g., [<reflink idref="bib6" id="ref104">6</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib34" id="ref105">34</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib38" id="ref106">38</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib42" id="ref107">42</reflink>]), which may have been exaggerated by timbral instructions—especially the instructions to play with a bright sound given that researchers previously found that listeners confused sharp intonation with bright timbres ([<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref108">27</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib51" id="ref109">51</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib52" id="ref110">52</reflink>]). Anecdotally, we have observed a preference for dark timbres among many band directors in the United States, so it is possible that participants performed more out of tune in the bright instruction conditions because they may have heard those instructions less frequently. Likewise, as shown in Table 1, the mean spectral centroid values for college participants were nearly identical in the dark and neutral instructional conditions, which may suggest that there may have been an automatic tendency to "play dark" among these collegiate trumpeters.</p> <p>Participants demonstrated a preference for the neutral timbral instruction; the largest portion reported that they believed it resulted in their most in-tune performance (<emph>n</emph> = 34) and best sound (<emph>n</emph> = 26). Interestingly, 21 participants (37.5%) played most in tune in the neutral instruction condition, but the other 35 (62.5%) participants actually played more in tune in other conditions. Consistent with previous research indicating weak relationships between musicians' pitch perception and production ([<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref111">13</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib38" id="ref112">38</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib42" id="ref113">42</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib44" id="ref114">44</reflink>]), it seems that our participants' perceived most accurate performance did not match their actual most accurate performance. It is also possible that our participants believed that they <emph>should</emph> play with their best tone in the neutral condition, which could suggest that their default behavior is their best sound. It is important to acknowledge, however, that participants' self-assessments were based on their ability to recall and reflect on the previous performance trials in the presence of an unfamiliar researcher, so this inconsistency between their perception and actual performance could be influenced by this aspect of the protocol.</p> <p>Certain limitations to this study should be considered. In this study, participants produced sustained tones in a quiet room individually with one of the researchers present. We made the decision to record participants in this type of environment intentionally because it would allow us to record their performances without other interfering sound sources. Furthermore, by asking participants to play with dark and bright timbres in the absence of timbral models, we would be able to observe any changes in behavior that occurred in response to the instructions themselves rather than any changes resulting from their efforts to match or blend with an aural model. Because participants played single notes in a solo setting, it is possible that they may have played differently in more complex melodic/harmonic contexts when performing with other musicians because external pitch and timbre references could serve as perceptual boundaries. Additionally, it was not feasible to record in the same acoustic environment for each group because we recorded participants at various sites. Differences in acoustical environments may have influenced participants' responses, but to reduce these confounding influences, we used the same recording device at all sites, maintained consistent settings on the recording device, and read instructions from the same procedural script.</p> <p>Based on the results of this study, we propose several recommendations related to wind instrument pedagogy and instructional strategies. First, because our participants' pitch varied as a function of timbral instructions, music educators should be aware of this potential tendency and provide additional pitch instructions when providing timbral instructions (e.g., "Play this with a dark sound, but make sure your pitch remains consistent"). It may be even more beneficial to supplement timbral instructions with a stable reference pitch, such as one produced from a tuner. This practice may result in more accurate/consistent pitch while musicians attempt to modify their timbre. With musicians who do not yet have well-developed schemas for complex musical concepts like timbre, perhaps instructions that are more physical in nature (e.g., "drop your jaw" or "use warm air") may generate more successful changes to timbral production than adjectives like <emph>dark</emph> or <emph>bright</emph>. More advanced musicians may be able to successfully achieve these outcomes with verbal instructions alone.</p> <p>Aside from the instructions provided to instrumentalists, giving aural models of desired timbre may be more effective than verbal instructions alone for developing instrumentalists. Doing so would provide a sound ideal that would likely function as a more concrete timbral goal. The use of adjectives <emph>dark</emph> and <emph>bright</emph> to describe sound in timbral instructions—a common pedagogical practice in instrumental music settings ([<reflink idref="bib9" id="ref115">9</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib17" id="ref116">17</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref117">20</reflink>])—seemed to function in a problematic way among our participants. [<reflink idref="bib40" id="ref118">40</reflink>] summarized the troublesome nature of using adjectives to describe timbre when stating that adjectives "cannot do more than direct the student's attention to certain admittedly general and vague attributes. There is no way other than actual hearing to store up the memory impressions that make possible the mental hearing ability" (pp. 67–68).Therefore, we recommend that music educators provide aural models of desired timbre whenever possible either by modeling on an instrument or by playing a model recording. Abstract descriptors and adjectives should be applied after students have had repeated experiences with specific musical concepts. [<reflink idref="bib9" id="ref119">9</reflink>] previously reported that various adjectives are used to describe timbre among instrumentalists (e.g., "full," "centered," and "warm," p. 16). Researchers in the future might consider using multiple adjectives to describe each condition in the current study because previous exposure to certain adjectives may influence a performer's perception of timbre.</p> <p>Other future research directions are needed to understand the relationships between pitch and timbre in instrumental music. For example, researchers could examine instructional modeling strategies used by applied wind teachers for teaching sound concepts related to timbre manipulation. [<reflink idref="bib6" id="ref120">6</reflink>] suggested a descriptive examination of applied teachers' approaches for addressing pitch with students. Because pitch and timbre seem to interact, as evidenced by previous studies of instrumentalists (e.g., [<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref121">27</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib51" id="ref122">51</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib52" id="ref123">52</reflink>]), such a study of applied teachers' approaches to tuning would likely elicit implications related to timbral instruction. In addition, future research should include continued use of spectral centroid as a measure of timbre, especially to determine just noticeable differences (JND) of timbre in paired-comparison tasks. [<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref124">20</reflink>] found that musicians could differentiate between stimuli of varying spectral centroid values, yet the JND related to spectral centroid values has yet to be determined empirically. In other words, what differences in spectral centroid are required for listeners to notice a change in timbral brightness? Future research is needed to establish these JND benchmarks for spectral centroid. Because these JND benchmarks have not been determined, it is not known whether listeners would be able to perceive the observed differences in spectral centroid that are reported in this study.</p> <p>Because we observed a notable difference in spectral centroid values between high school and collegiate participants (see Table 1), it would also be useful for researchers to examine how flexible instrumentalists are in tasks where they are asked to change their timbre from neutral to dark and from neutral to bright. In particular, it would be helpful for researchers to identify whether musicians at various skill levels are able to change timbre while keeping pitch constant because this may be a developmental indicator of musical skill. Teaching students to listen and strive for subtle and nuanced variations in their performance is an important task for wind teachers. Therefore, ongoing research on the nature of pitch and timbre production will provide additional data to support "best practices" in wind pedagogy.</p> <hd id="AN0147842281-11">Supplemental Material</hd> <p>Springer_et_al_Supplemental_table_FINAL.docx</p> <p>Springer_et_al_Supplemental_table_FINAL – Supplemental material for Effects of Dark and Bright Timbral Instructions on the Production of Pitch and Timbre</p> <p></p> <p>Supplemental material, Springer_et_al_Supplemental_table_FINAL for Effects of Dark and Bright Timbral Instructions on the Production of Pitch and Timbre by D. Gregory Springer, Amanda L. Schlegel and Andrew J. Lewis in Journal of Research in Music Education</p> <p></p> <hd id="AN0147842281-12">Author Biographies</hd> <p> <bold>D. Gregory Springer</bold> is an assistant professor of music education at Florida State University. His research interests include music perception, music performance evaluation, and music teacher education.</p> <p> <bold>Amanda L. 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Gregory Springer; Amanda L. Schlegel and Andrew J. Lewis</p> <p>Reported by Author; Author; Author</p> <p></p> <p>D. Gregory Springer is an assistant professor of music education at Florida State University. His research interests include music perception, music performance evaluation, and music teacher education.</p> <p>Amanda L. Schlegel is an assistant professor of instrumental music education at the University of South Carolina. Her research interests include music perception and cognition as a function of teacher/conductor effectiveness, focus of attention, music teacher education, and affective and emotional responses to music.</p> <p>Andrew J. Lewis is a PhD student in music education at the University of Southern Mississippi and instructor of music at Hinds Community College. His research interests include digital pedagogy, audio content analysis, and the web audio API.</p> </aug> <nolink nlid="nl1" bibid="bib16" firstref="ref1"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl2" bibid="bib14" firstref="ref2"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl3" bibid="bib18" firstref="ref4"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl4" bibid="bib32" firstref="ref5"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl5" bibid="bib46" firstref="ref6"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl6" bibid="bib50" firstref="ref7"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl7" bibid="bib36" firstref="ref8"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl8" bibid="bib20" firstref="ref10"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl9" bibid="bib27" firstref="ref11"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl10" bibid="bib52" firstref="ref13"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl11" bibid="bib28" firstref="ref15"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl12" bibid="bib35" firstref="ref16"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl13" bibid="bib39" firstref="ref18"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl14" bibid="bib53" firstref="ref21"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl15" bibid="bib33" firstref="ref26"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl16" bibid="bib37" firstref="ref28"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl17" bibid="bib49" firstref="ref29"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl18" bibid="bib19" firstref="ref30"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl19" bibid="bib22" firstref="ref32"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl20" bibid="bib23" firstref="ref33"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl21" bibid="bib13" firstref="ref34"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl22" bibid="bib42" firstref="ref35"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl23" bibid="bib44" firstref="ref36"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl24" bibid="bib30" firstref="ref37"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl25" bibid="bib24" firstref="ref40"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl26" bibid="bib34" firstref="ref41"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl27" bibid="bib45" firstref="ref42"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl28" bibid="bib26" firstref="ref43"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl29" bibid="bib25" firstref="ref44"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl30" bibid="bib11" firstref="ref45"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl31" bibid="bib12" firstref="ref47"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl32" bibid="bib41" firstref="ref48"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl33" bibid="bib29" firstref="ref49"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl34" bibid="bib51" firstref="ref52"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl35" bibid="bib17" firstref="ref60"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl36" bibid="bib15" firstref="ref71"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl37" bibid="bib10" firstref="ref72"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl38" bibid="bib47" firstref="ref81"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl39" bibid="bib21" firstref="ref84"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl40" bibid="bib43" firstref="ref86"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl41" bibid="bib48" firstref="ref92"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl42" bibid="bib31" firstref="ref93"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl43" bibid="bib38" firstref="ref106"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl44" bibid="bib40" firstref="ref118"></nolink>
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  Data: Effects of Dark and Bright Timbral Instructions on the Production of Pitch and Timbre
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Springer%2C+D%2E+Gregory%22">Springer, D. Gregory</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7923-726X">0000-0001-7923-726X</externalLink>)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Schlegel%2C+Amanda+L%2E%22">Schlegel, Amanda L.</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Lewis%2C+Andrew+J%2E%22">Lewis, Andrew J.</searchLink>
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="SO" term="%22Journal+of+Research+in+Music+Education%22"><i>Journal of Research in Music Education</i></searchLink>. Jan 2021 68(4):482-498.
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  Data: SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: http://sagepub.com
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  Data: Y
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  Data: 17
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  Label: Publication Date
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  Data: 2021
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  Data: Journal Articles<br />Reports - Research
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  Label: Education Level
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22High+Schools%22">High Schools</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22Secondary+Education%22">Secondary Education</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22Higher+Education%22">Higher Education</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22Postsecondary+Education%22">Postsecondary Education</searchLink>
– Name: Subject
  Label: Descriptors
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Music+Education%22">Music Education</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Intonation%22">Intonation</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Auditory+Perception%22">Auditory Perception</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Acoustics%22">Acoustics</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Musicians%22">Musicians</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22High+School+Students%22">High School Students</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22College+Students%22">College Students</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Accuracy%22">Accuracy</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Measurement%22">Measurement</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Music+Techniques%22">Music Techniques</searchLink>
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  Label: DOI
  Group: ID
  Data: 10.1177/0022429420944347
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  Data: 0022-4294
– Name: Abstract
  Label: Abstract
  Group: Ab
  Data: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of timbral instructions on pitch and timbre production. High school (n = 28) and collegiate (n = 28) trumpeters played sustained tones at two octave levels (written C4 and C5) following three types of timbral instructions (dark-timbre, bright-timbre, or neutral instructions). Presentation orders were randomly assigned. Dependent variables included one acoustical measure of pitch (absolute cent deviation) and one acoustical measure of timbre (spectral centroid). Participants also reported which type of instruction they perceived to result in their "best sound" and their "most in-tune performance." Results indicated a significant interaction between timbral instruction condition and octave. Post hoc testing revealed that timbral instructions affected participants' absolute cent deviation, but different effects were observed in each octave. The effect of timbral instructions on participants' spectral centroid was nonsignificant. Participants demonstrated a preference for the neutral instruction over the dark- and bright-timbre instructions, and their tuning accuracy varied by octave and instruction condition. These data suggest that music educators may need to use timbral instructions judiciously so that the instruction to play with a different timbre does not result in unintentional changes in pitch.
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  Data: 2021
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  Data: EJ1280425
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        Value: 10.1177/0022429420944347
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      – Text: English
    PhysicalDescription:
      Pagination:
        PageCount: 17
        StartPage: 482
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Music Education
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Intonation
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Auditory Perception
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Acoustics
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Musicians
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      – SubjectFull: High School Students
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: College Students
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Accuracy
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Measurement
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      – SubjectFull: Music Techniques
        Type: general
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      – TitleFull: Effects of Dark and Bright Timbral Instructions on the Production of Pitch and Timbre
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