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- Jullander, Sverker, 1951-, et al.
(författare)
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Room for Interpretation
- 2017
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- I projektet Tolkningsrum undersöks relationen mellan akustik och musikalisk interpretation genom inspelade framföranden. Inspelningssessioner har genomförts i konserthuset Studio Acusticum, Piteå, som har variabel akustik genom höj- och sänkbart innertak. Inspelningssessioner har gjorts med ensembler och solister i åtta olika instrument(sammansättningar). För var och en av dessa har tre inspelningar i olika takhöjdslägen gjorts under samma dag och med samma repertoar. De medverkande musikerna och forskargruppens medlemmar (delvis samma personer) har enskilt skrivit ner sina intryck, dels omedelbart efter varje inspelningssession, dels vid lyssning till inspelningarna. Inspelningarna har gjorts med mikrofonerna relativt nära musikerna, så att den jämförande lyssningens fokus blir själva gestaltningen snarare än skillnaderna i akustik. Ytterligare inspelningar har gjorts i vad som utifrån de skriftliga utvärderingarna bedömts vara en för det konstnärliga resultatet optimal akustik. Eftersom forskningen är bunden till en specifik lokal, lämpar den sig mindre väl för redovisning i konsertform. Uppspelning av inspelat material blir därmed central i presentationen av forskningsresultaten.
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- Jullander, Sverker, 1951-, et al.
(författare)
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Room for Interpretation : Musical Performance Interacting with Room Acoustics
- 2015
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The research project ‘Room for Interpretation: Musical Performance Interacting with Room Acoustics’, funded by the Swedish Research Council, is conducted at the Piteå School of Music, Luleå University of Technology. The project engages researchers within musical performance, musicology and audio technology, most of them professionally active as performers. The objective is to investigate how musical interpretation is influenced by and can interact with room acoustics. Important goals are to develop new ways for musicians to work consciously with room acoustics, using acoustic properties for artistic purposes, to facilitate a more profound exchange of ideas on artistic aspects of room acoustics between musicians, and to increase the possibilities for taking into account the musician’s perspective in the planning of concert rooms. The core of the project is a series of performances in the concert hall Studio Acusticum, Piteå, whose ceiling can be raised and lowered, enabling variable acoustic conditions. Performances within the project include solo instruments, chamber ensembles, and a choir. Each constellation performs in different acoustics but otherwise under identical conditions. The result is evaluated individually by each member of the research team, in addition to measurements of dynamics and tempo. Questions dealt with include how acoustic-related interpretive strategies can be formulated, and how acoustics can be tailored to a particular interpretative idea. Preliminary results show significant differences between the performer’s immediate post-performance evaluation and after listening to a recording of the same performance. Possibly acoustic-related discrepancies between experienced and measured tempi have been found among both performers and listeners.
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- Jullander, Sverker, 1951-, et al.
(författare)
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Room for Interpretation : Musical Tempo amd Room Acoustics
- 2017
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper discusses the influence of acoustics on temporal aspects of performance for different instrument constellations. In a concert hall with mechanically variable acoustics, professional soloists and ensembles each performed a programme of 3– 4 pieces at three trials throughout the same day in the presence of a small audience of experienced musicians-researchers, most of whom also participated in the project as performers. The instrument settings included solo instruments, chamber ensembles and a chamber choir, with a repertoire ranging from the 17th to the 21st century. The trials were recorded for later analysis. The microphones were placed so as to minimize audible differences in acoustics between the recordings.For the solo instruments musicians tended to use slower tempi and to allow themselves more agogic freedom in larger acoustics. A somewhat similar tendency was observed in conducted ensembles. For ensembles without conductor, the influence of acoustics on the chosen tempi was less marked.In larger acoustics, performers tended to feel more at ease, which was often reflected in slower tempi as well as in more tempo fluctuation. The listeners in the hall, on the other hand, did not always share the performers’ preferences. A different picture emerged in the evaluations of the recordings: here musicians viewed recordings made in drier acoustics, often using faster tempi with less fluctuation, in a more positive light. For some pieces in slow tempi, however, performances in larger acoustics were preferred. Generally, the preferences of musicians and listeners were more in agreement for the recordings than for the live performances.The results show that acoustics in many cases does seem to influence tempo and agogics, but also that this influence varies considerably between different instrument settings (especially solo vs. ensemble) as well as between individual pieces in different tempi and styles. The difference in performers’ preferences between live situations and listening to recordings raises the question of what is to be regarded as ‘good’ acoustics: that which is spontaneously experienced as such by the performer, or that which stimulates performances that are judged as ‘good’ when listened to by the performers themselves?The experimental performance sessions described above took place in the new concert hall Studio Acusticum, Piteå, Sweden, which, with its variable acoustics (enabled through lowering and raising the ceiling), was designed to serve simultaneously as a public ‘stage’ and as a laboratory for artistic research in music. The variable acoustics is a precondition for this project, in which research activities not only relate to but are inseparable from artistic production, in this case performative interpretations. The results highlight the different experiences of performers in onstage and audience situations, as well as of performers and audience live in the hall and when listening to recordings, and they suggest that artistic criteria do change in the context of experimental artistic research. The project involves, besides musicians, researchers in audio engineering, and its results are relevant for the future design and use of concert halls, as well as the design of recording sessions.
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- Jullander, Sverker, 1951-, et al.
(författare)
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Room for Interpretation : Musical Tempo in Variable Acoustics
- 2016
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The acoustical properties of a concert room tend to affect performers’ decisions, especially regarding tempo and agogics. Consequently, the study of the relationship between concert hall acoustics and the musical performance is of great interest to musical performers, and potentially to architects and acousticians as well. A pilot study was devised, enabled by a unique concert hall with mechanically variable acoustics. A concert pianist performed an identical program of two pieces at four trials throughout the same day in the presence of an audience of experienced musicians-researchers, each trial conducted under a distinctive acoustic condition. The trials were recorded for later analysis. The live performances as well as the recordings were assessed individually by the pianist himself and the members of the expert audience. The results showed clear as well as subtle differences between the different performances. The pilot study was followed by a two-year, still ongoing, research project, in which further experimental series of performances have taken place or are underway, using various chamber music constellations, as well as solo flute, organ and choir. In this project, the music performed has included 3–4 pieces from different periods and in different styles. The impression of the live performances from the performer’s own perspective, and also the professional listeners’, has often differed from the experience in listening to the recordings: what was felt during the performance as an ideal live acoustic was often not judged as optimal in the later analysis, especially in terms of agogics and tempo. The preliminary results raise fundamental questions about tempo treatment and artistic/interpretive decisions and promise to give new insights concerning what actually constitutes ‘good’ acoustics and optimal recording conditions from a musician’s professional perspective.
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- Jullander, Sverker, 1951-, et al.
(författare)
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Time and Space : Musical Tempo and Room Acoustics
- 2017
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this presentation we discuss the influence of acoustics on temporal aspects of performance for different instrument constellations. In a concert hall with mechanically variable acoustics, professional soloists and ensembles each performed a programme of 3–4 pieces at three trials throughout the same day in the presence of an audience of experienced musicians–researchers. The instrument settings included solo instruments, chamber ensembles and a chamber choir. The trials were recorded for later analysis. The microphones were placed so as to minimize audible differences in acoustics between the recordings.For the solo instruments musicians tended to use slower tempi and allow themselves more agogic freedom in larger acoustics. A similar tendency, though less marked, was observed in conducted ensembles. For ensembles without conductor, the acoustics did not seem to influence the chosen tempi.When playing in larger acoustics, performers tended to feel more comfortable and relaxed – and more satisfied – which was often reflected in the choice of slower tempo as well as in a greater degree of tempo fluctuation. The listeners in the hall, on the other hand, did not always share the performers’ preferences. A different picture emerged in the evaluations of the recordings: here musicians viewed recordings made in drier acoustics, often using faster tempi with less fluctuation, in a more positive light. For some pieces in slow tempi, however, performances in larger acoustics were preferred. Generally, the preferences of musicians and listeners were more in agreement for the recordings than for the live performances.The results show that the room acoustic in many cases does seem to influence tempo and agogics, but also that this influence varies considerably between different instrument settings (especially solo vs. ensemble) as well as between individual pieces in different tempi and styles. Performers’ preferences may vary considerably between the live situations and listening to recordings.
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