title: Effects of instructed timing and tempo on snare drum sound in drum kit performance.
abstract: This paper reports on an experiment investigating the expressive means with which performers of groove-based musics signal the intended timing of a rhythmic event. Ten expert drummers were instructed to perform a rock pattern in three different tempi and three different timing styles: "laid-back," "on-the-beat," and "pushed." The results show that there were systematic differences in the intensity and timbre (i.e., sound-pressure level, temporal centroid, and spectral centroid) of series of snare strokes played with these different timing styles at the individual level. A common pattern was found across subjects concerning the effect of instructed timing on sound-pressure level: a majority of the drummers played laid-back strokes louder than on-the-beat strokes. Furthermore, when the tempo increased, there was a general increase in sound-pressure level and a decrease in spectral centroid across subjects. The results show that both temporal and sound-related features are important in order to indicate that a rhythmic event has been played intentionally early, late, or on-the-beat, and provide insight into the ways in which musicians communicate at the microrhythmic level in groove-based musics.
authors.affiliation: Department of Musicology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Danielsen
authors.affiliation: Department of Music, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway.
authors.forename: Carl Haakon
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Waadeland
authors.affiliation: Norwegian Network for Technology, Acoustics and Music (NOTAM), Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Henrik G
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Sundt
authors.affiliation: Center for Music in the Brain, Aarhus University and Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus/Aalborg, Denmark.
authors.forename: Maria A G
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Witek
mesh_terms: D000162:Acoustics; D000328:Adult; D001307:Auditory Perception; D004864:Equipment and Supplies; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009146:Music; D010507:Periodicity; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D013995:Time; D013998:Time Perception; D000066477:Work Performance; D055815:Young Adult