A study was proposed to determine to what extent a hierarchical structure exists in music and in tests used to measure music ability. The first research question was whether items in the Watkins-Farnum Performance Scale (J. Watkins and S. Farnum, 1954) (WFPS) form a hierarchy, so that early exercises (bars played) are generally easier than later ones. Another question was whether the items in t...

Skilled musicians are capable of fast, fluent performance of complex musical sequences whose motor demands can shape sequential aspects of performance, similar to principles of coarticulation in speech. We address how performers’ motor systems can influence the ways in which melodies are performed, both in motion and sound. In contrast to energy conservation models that favor small movements at...

This paper presents a real-time algorithm for the synthesis of reed instruments, taking into account nonlinear losses at the first open tonehole. The physical model on which the synthesis model relies on is based on the experimental works of Dalmont et al. who have shown that for high pressure levels within the bore, an air jet obeying the Bernoulli flow model, hence acting as a nonlinear resis...

Ensemble musicians exchange auditory and visual signals that can facilitate interpersonal synchronization. Musical expertise improves how precisely auditory and visual signals are perceptually integrated and increases sensitivity to asynchrony between them. Whether expertise improves sensitivity to audiovisual asynchrony in all instrumental contexts or only in those using sound-producing gestur...

BACKGROUND Contemporary speech processing strategies in cochlear implants (CIs) such as the Advanced Combination Encoder (ACE) use a standard Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) filterbank to extract envelopes. The assignment of the FFT bins to approximate the frequency resolution of the basilar membrane is only partly based on physiology, especially since the bins are distributed linearly below 1000H...

Oscillations generated by flow of magmatic or hyrothermal fluids through tabular channels in elastic rocks are a possible source of low-frequency seismicity. We assess the conditions required to generate oscillations of ∼1Hz via hydrodynamic flow instabilities (roll waves), flow-destabilized standing waves set up on the elastic channel walls (wall modes), and unstable normal modes ringing in an...

This paper explores the dimensions of emotion conveyed by music. Participants rated emotion terms after seeing and/or hearing recordings of clarinet performances that varied in expressive content. A factor analysis revealed four independent dimensions of emotion. Changes to the clarinetists' expressive intentions did not significantly affect emotions conveyed by sound. It was largely through th...