The perceptual evaluations of piano tone made by the pianists and audiences include psychophysical influences that are not exclusively determined by the quantifiable sonic proportions and combinations of sounds. How the sounds resonate in the particular acoustic environment, the position in the space of the evaluator, how the pianists respond to the sound each piano makes in that space, how the pianists interpret the music repertoire, how the musicians accompany, and how the audience participant evaluates the sound, have an integral influence on the subjective evaluation documented as the participant’s response.
The timbre sensation is a multidimensional psychological magnitude related not to one but to a whole set of physical parametres of the original acoustic stimulus.261
The many variables which influence the audience’s subjective evaluations are listed-
i) The pianos.
ii) The acoustical position of each piano, differing angles of sound radiation.
iii) Each pianistic style.
iv) Each piece of music.
v) The position of the seated participant, in the audience.
vi) The preferences or bias of the audience member for piano sound
vii) The preferences or bias of the audience member for styles and practices of piano music performance and musical style.
The music performed in the duo piano concerts was a mixture of classical and jazz styles by a team of pianists well known to audiences for their performances and recordings. For the trio concert, Kevin Hunt performed with his group, the Kevin Hunt trio, a group of musicians very familiar and experienced in jazz performance styles, a trio formed for this research project. The repertoire performed at each concert was a mixture of classical, jazz, and popular music that mixes both genres, for example West Side Story, or Rhapsody In Blue. The jazz trio played ‘jazz’ styled arrangements of classical pieces, Ravel’s 1st movement of Nobles et Sentimentales, for example.
Perceptions of Pianistic Style and Music Style, associated with piano sound.
Two survey questions were presented to participants to examine how musical style and the pianistic style influenced the evaluations of the audiences, and if a particular piano tone quality may suit a style of pianism, and a style of music. The perceptual results to these questions revealed probable psychophysical influences imposed by the contrasting pianistic approaches, as well as the survey participants’ histories and tastes of musical listening. Although an interesting differential was achieved by these questions, it is apparent that follow up surveys could identify more closely the backgrounds and musical tastes of the participants, to see if a particular type of participant is more susceptible to associating a particular piano sound to a playing style or style of music.
261 13 Roederer, 155-56.
