Research Potentials in Auditory Characteristics of Violin Tone

Abstract

The science of musical sounds arose from development of methods of measuring regularities in the physical stimulus. The ear was regarded as a passive transducer, but the ear is not a passive transducer. It is a system that actively processes stimuli and gains information from irregularities, producing the acoustic effects that we call “richness” and “quality,” and like names. To move forward in understanding the violin, we must turn from analysis of its steady states to examination of changes taking place in real time. The violin is noteworthy in that the slip-stick action of the bowed string combined with bowing techniques not only produce irregularities but place their control in the right hand of the player as violin fingering produces irregularities controlled by the left hand. It may well be that the difference between a good violin and a great one cannot be found in any steady-state quality but in its responsiveness to change willed by a great player who exploits that responsiveness to add additional and meaningful irregularities and relationships to the broad pattern of a musical composition.