The role of timbre in performer-instrument interactions

: auditory-motor perception, learning and the emergence of meaning for players of new digital musical instruments

Abstract

Whilst there is much interest within the field of New Instruments for Musical Expression (NIME) and related research areas around player-centered design, few have empirically addressed player experience and perception during performer-instrument interactions. This thesis takes an exploratory approach to understanding interaction with new Digital Musical Instruments (DMIs) for musicians of different levels of expertise, based on theories of perceptual learning founded in psychological approaches of sensory-motor perception, ecology and enactivism. It focuses specifically on auditory-motor perception, exploring the role of timbre in informing musical gestures, learning and meaningful player experience.

I conducted three studies using a percussive physical model DMI to obtain qualitative and quantitative assessments of the role of timbral feedback on playing accuracy, gestural choices and the emergence of “meaning” during musical interaction. I created lab-based experimental conditions to compare contrasting timbres, varying in levels of physicality and complexity whilst instrumental controls and mappings remained unchanged.

The first study of the thesis focused on timbral feedback for musical learning, here I used quantitative methods to assess the effects of timbral physicality on the percussive timing accuracy of beginner musicians. The second study involved quantitative and qualitative methods to observe the effects of timbre physicality and complexity on exploratory gestures, timing accuracy and player experience of beginner musicians. The final study used the same mixed methods to observe the influence of timbre physicality and complexity on exploratory gesture choices and player experience for expert musicians.

My findings suggest that the perceptual information carried in Timbre plays a role in shaping perception-action processes and is significantly involved in the formation of meaningful player experience, which in turn is modulated by individual cultural backgrounds and levels of musical expertise. I discuss these findings in terms of the empirical implications for embodied psychological and ecological theories of perceptual learning, and how they apply to player-oriented instrumental design for new DMIs.

Date of Award	Dec 2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Queen's University Belfast
Sponsors	Northern Ireland Department for the Economy
Supervisor	Maarten Van Walstijn (Supervisor) & Matthew Rodger (Supervisor)