Musicians' Ratings of Good versus Bad Vocal and String Performances

Abstract

This study continues a line of research attempting to ascertain the focus of musicians' attention when listening to music. It is the fifth study in a series structured to determine whether musicians demonstrate consistent listening patterns across excerpts intentionally designed to be perceived as good and bad performances. Soprano, tenor, violin, and cello excerpts varied considerably in intonation and tone quality and, to a lesser extent, in other performance aspects. In this study, 48 music students were asked to rate excerpts on traditional performance evaluation rating scales (phrasing/expression, intonation, rhythm, dynamics, tone quality) and give an overall rating. Results indicated that musician listeners consistently discriminated between the good and bad performances across all rating scales. Intonation was identified as the element most in need of improvement in performances. Significant differences were found also between the four timbres and the accompaniment conditions. Results of acoustical analyses that portray a variety of differences in the performances are discussed in relation to listener ratings.

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