Inharmonic sounds of bowed strings in Western music and Beijing opera ChenGia Tsai

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Inharmonic sounds of bowed strings in Western
music and Beijing opera Chen-Gia Tsai(???)
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Talk outline

• Chinese fiddle family
• phylogeny
• bow hair tension
• The jinghu (??)
• Inharmonic sound
• musical uses
• experiment on finger-string interaction
• Discussion
• Conclusions

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The origin of Chinese fiddles

• The xiqin (??)
• mid-8th century
• Subsequently introduced to both Korea and Japan

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Divergent evolution
Erxian??
Xiqin??
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Innovation higher bow hair tension

• Low bow hair tension
• Early instruments
• Erxian(??)
• Very soft, long notes
• High bow hair tension
• Modern instruments
• Loud, rapid, staccato notes

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Bow hair tension Western music

• The Italian bow
• slim and light
• a high hair tension
• The German bow
• highly arched
• a low hair tension

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German bow chord playing

• The player could tighten or relax the bow hair
  tension at will
• high tension playing on a single string
• low tension playing on two or more strings
  simultaneously

www.baroquemusic.org/barvlnbo.html
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Talk outline

• Chinese fiddle family
• phylogeny
• bow hair tension
• The jinghu (??)
• Inharmonic sound
• musical uses
• experiment on finger-string interaction
• Discussion
• Conclusions

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History

• Low bow hair tension(??)
• High bow hair tension(??)
• Since 19th century

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Timbre playing

• Loud, sharp and piercing
• Large-amplitude vibration of snakeskin
• Mobility of snakeskin
• Heavy use of rosin
• Forceful bowing
• Large-amplitude vibration of strings
• Production of noise-rich sound

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Talk outline

• Chinese fiddle family
• phylogeny
• bow hair tension
• The jinghu (??)
• Inharmonic sound
• musical uses
• experiment on finger-string interaction
• Discussion
• Conclusions

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Digitally bowed cello string
Muller Lauterborn. Acustica 82 (4) 657-664,
1996.
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Inharmonic sound bow speed

• D 2.4, 2.0, 2.0, 1.2
• Torus-like attractor
• The bow speed is at the upper limit of bow speeds
  used for most musical purposes and beyond.
• High bow speeds
• staccato or sforzando

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Jinghus inharmonic sound

• Descriptions
• blossoming tone, tiger tone, overtone, artificial
  noise...
• High-pass noise
• fcutoff 1.6 kHz.

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Spectrum of a blossoming tone
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Finger-string collision

• Touch technique of the left hand
• Nonlinear boundary condition with unilateral
  constraints
• Sitar, tanpura biwa

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Timbre decoration of a long tone
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Experiment on finger-string interaction

• Aims
• How frequently do they contact?
• Method
• Electrical circuit
• Sampling rate 100 kHz

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Experiment on finger-string interaction

• Materials
• Finger
• Wire
• Aim
• How the finger curvature affects noise production

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Talk outline

• Chinese fiddle family
• phylogeny
• bow hair tension
• The jinghu (??)
• Inharmonic sound
• musical uses
• experiment on finger-string interaction
• Discussion
• Conclusions

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Noise control or well-controlled noise?

• Blossoming tones of the jinhu
• Electrical guitar (distortion)
• Dry Gabrielsson (1997) Emotional expression in
  guitar band performance.
• Growl singing
• Rock music
• Psychological effect aggression

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Why is a loud, noise-rich sound aggressive?

• Growl voice as a by-product of spine
  stabilization
• A raise in intra-abdominal pressure enhances
  spine stability in preparation for suddenly
  applied loads (weight lifting, attack...)
• Because of this association of sound with action,
  the aggressive meaning of growling voices and
  loud, noisy sounds is universally recognized (the
  electrical guitar, the jinghu...)
• Cholewicki et al. (1999) Lumbar spine stability
  can be augmented with an abdominal belt and/or
  increased intra-abdominal pressure.

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Future direction

• To measure and to model the collision between the
  string and the curved wall
• Jinghu
• Indian Japanese plucked strings