smart psychology, dolný kubín, 13-20 july 20081 music and speech as the two possibilities of...

smART psychology, Dolný Kubín, 13-20 July 2008 1

Music and speech as the two possibilities of self-expression with the human

voice Jaan RossEstonian Academy of Music and TheatreUniversity of [email protected]


Where is Estonia? In North-Eastern Europe, on the coast of the Baltic Sea, south of Finland, west of Russia, and north of Latvia. It belongs to the three Baltic countries, the other two of which are Latvia and Lithuania.


Estonia has

a territory of 45.2 km2

a population of about 1.4 million people a capital called Tallinn (about 0.4 million people) an official language – Estonian, which is close to

Finnish a significant Russian-speaking minority a rich medieval architectural heritage from the

Hanseatic times in the historical center of Tallinn


Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre has about 600 students has the academic staff of about 250 teachers was founded in 1919 has originally been designed much after the

pattern of the conservatory in St. Petersburg hosts the Department of Musicology


Outline of the lecture

Properties of sound Quantity in the Estonian language Interplay between meter, rhythm and

language prosody in folksongs Veljo Tormis, folksongs and the new

simplicity Pairwise variability index in speech and

music


Properties of sound

http://www.dsptutor.freeuk.com/analyser/SA102.html PHYSICS MUSIC AND SPEECH

property unit property character unit

frequency Hz pitch, fundamental

frequency (F0)

logarithmic, relative

semitone

sound pressure level (SPL)

dB (logarithmic,

relative)

dynamics, loudness

ranking scale absent:pp, p, mp, mf, f, ff

duration (milli)second rhythm, quantity linear, relative quarter note, eighth note etc.

the rest, i.e. spectral dynamics (cf. with the ASI

definition)

absent timbre, (phoneme) quality

complex absent


Primary and secondary properties of sound Primary properties in speech: segmental, i.e.

timbral or spectral Secondary properties in speech: tone (pitch),

quantity (duration), intensity; called prosodic features or suprasegmentals

Primary properties in music: pitch and rhythm (duration)

Secondary properties in music: timbre and dynamics (intensity changes)


Some languages explore secondary properties as primary In Chinese languages, different tone contour

patterns are used similarly to the segmental properties, i.e. for distinguishing lexical and/or grammatical meaning http://www.wku.edu/~shizhen.gao/Chinese101/pinyin/tones.htm

In Baltic-Finnic languages (e.g., Estonian or Finnish), different quantity patterns are used similarly to the segmental properties, i.e. for distinguishing lexical and/or grammatical meaningTahad saada, saada sada If you want to get [it], you should send 100 [€, $, etc.]


In the overtone singing of South Siberia and Mongolia, spectral properties of sound are explored for creation of the musical structure the fundamental and the upper partials disintegrate,

so that an audible polyphony emerges on the basis of a single sound source

in order to achieve this, partials from 6 to 12 are made audible one by one, using a special configuration of the vocal tract

usually a four-note scale is used in the upper voice (G-C-D-E-G)

there is a sharp timbral contrast between the two voices


http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=000C5ABE-B135-1CBC-B4A8809EC588EEDF

the harmonic row consists of the fundamental (F0) with upper partials


Quantity in Estonian

ternary opositions (short, long, overlong), which is unusual

contrast of short and long is not the same as contrast of long and overlong

productive trochaic pattern vas-tas-ti-kus-ta-ta-ma-tu-ma-te-le-gi sa-lon-ki-kel-poi-nen


Possibilities of V1 and C2 variation in two-syllable Estonian CVCV words

sagi [saki] (to hustle 2 sg imper) - saagi [sa:ki] (harvest gen sg) - saagi [sa::ki] (saw part & ill sg)

sagi [saki] - saki [sak:i] (notch gen sg) - sakki [sak::i] (notch part & ill sg)

sagi [saki] - [sa:k:i] Ø - saaki [sa::k::i] (harvest part & ill sg)


Observations in connection with V1 and C2 variation a phonetically complete paradigm is based on 4

semantically different words (sagima, saak, saag, sakk)

distinction of g and k in spelling is not based on their different sound quality

one possibility in the paradigm remains unused (V1 and C2 both long)

V1C2 combinations long-overlong and overlong-long are excluded

spelling of C2 is phonetically inconsistent, which justifies spelling errors (minu tupa, lähen köökki)


Baltic-Finnic old folksongs (runic songs, runo songs, Kalevala songs) a few thousand years old start to disappear since the end of 18th

century main characteristics: alliteration and

assonance, parallelism of verse lines, and trochaic 4-feet meter

texts and tunes may be independent from each other


“There is no doubt that since the 2nd half of the 18th century, the old runic folksongs which were strongly disapproved by local pastors as well as leaders of the Moravian brothers, gradually started to be replaced by a new musical idiom among the Estonian-speaking serfdom. This has created the basis for future development of the polyphonic choral singing tradition. Learning Protestant hymns in schools and their congregational singing in churches hardly has had too much influence upon this change. Rather, it were the ‘harmonic’, i.e. multi-voiced, and emotional songs of the Moravian brothers, as it has been pointed out in 1791.”

Karl Leichter, “Keset muusikat”, 1997 (orig 1956), p 464


The Baltic-Finnic nations (ethnic groups): Finns, Estonians, Karelians, Vepsians, Votes, Izhorians, and Livs


August Wilhelm Hupel (1777), Topographische Nachrichten von Lief- und Ehstland (Topographical Communications from Livonia and Estonia) II, Appendix


[Chr. Schlegel] (1830), Reisen in mehrere russische Gouvernements, 5. Bändchen. Meiningen: Keyssner


There is no correlation between word stress and syllable duration: short syllables may be stressed and long syllables unstressed. Metrical oppositions may be accomplished using both stress and duration.

ha- ned hal- jas- ta hõ- be- dat

position 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

meter + - + - + - + -

word stress

+ - + - - + - -

syllable duration

- + + - - +


Distribution of syllables/notes in a Karelian lament. Left: all syllables/notes, right: short (CV) and long (CVV) syllables/notes separated. Jaan Ross ja Ilse Lehiste (1996), "Silpnootide pikkusest ühes karjala itkus," rmt Congressus Octavus Internationalis Fenno-Ugristarum 10.-15. 8. 1995, pars III (red H. Leskinen, S. Maticsák & T. Seilenthal), Jyväskylä: Moderatores, lk 45-48


Syllable/tone durations in folksongs

0

200

400

600

0 100 200 300 400 500

predicted (ms)

me

as

ure

d (

ms

)

Syllable durations predicted according to: M. Mihkla, A. Eek and E. Meister (1999), “Text-to-speech synthesis of Estonian,” in Eurospeech ‘99: Proceedings of the European Speech Communication Association. Budapest, pp 2095-2098


S1/S2 in speech (left, 2 dictors) and in singing (right, 3 singers). Vertical bars correspond to standard deviation. In speech, short, long and overlong words can be distinguished well on the basis of S1/S2. In singing, statistically significant differences between short, long and overlong words are mostly absent.Jaan Ross and Ilse Lehiste (1994), "Lost prosodic oppositions: A study of contrastive duration in Estonian funeral laments," Language and Speech 37, 407‑424


Average durations of sound events (ms) at ictus (rise) and off-ictus (fall) positions in a folksong melody

Broken lines are those where the word stress pattern does not coincide with the metrical accent pattern.

The performer is LK from Haljala.

The data are averages from four recorded songs, the total number of measured verse lines being 152 and that of sound events > 1200.

240250260270280290300310320330

Ris

e

Fall

NormalBroken


Veljo Tormis (s 1930)

“I do not use folksongs. The folksongs use me.”

Minimalism and the new simplicity in connection with Tormis’ works

“The Lost Geese” from a set “Two Estonian runo songs” (1973-74). Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, conductor Tõnu Kaljuste


How are the sounds used in the Baltic-Finnic runic songs?

modus vivendi between speech, music and meter text semantics dominates over the musical

expressivity musical isochrony tends to level off linguistically

relevant quantity oppositions Ictus positions are systematically longer than off-

ictus positions, which provides support for the duration-based meter theory


The Pairwise Variability Index: Background in Linguistics The Pairwise Variability Index (PVI) is a metric

used for quantifying speech rhythm. It was originally devised for the calculation of

rhythmic differences between varieties of English (Low et al. 2000)

It provides an alternative to the traditional view of rhythm isochrony (‘syllable timing’ vs. ‘stress timing’)

The PVI captures the difference between adjacent linguistic units (syllables or feet) E.g. the more syllable timed the language is, the

lower its PVI.


Grabe, E., & Low, E. L. (2002). Durational variability in speech and the rhythm class hypothesis. In C. Gussenhoven & N. Warner (Eds.), Laboratory Phonology, 7, 515-546.


Pairwise Variability IndexPairwise Variability Index

PVI100dk d

k 1

(dk d

k 1) /2k2

n

/(n 1)

subtract the value (e.g. duration) of previous unit from the present value

normalise by expressing difference as a fraction of the mean of the two units

sum absolute values of all successive pairwise differences

divide by the number of pairs

multiply by 100 to get a whole number PVI


Background in Music Theory

Musical nPVI values, while potentially influenced by language rhythm, are sensitive to the genre and style.

This is tested on the basis of Estonian vocal music because vocal music is more likely to reflect prosodic features of the language than instrumental music (Ross and Lehiste 2001), and should, at least in theory, show an nPVI more similar to speech rhythm.


HypothesisHypothesis






Composers (1)Composers (1)Mart Saar (1882-1963)

composed his songs in the 1920s and 30s influenced by the impressionism and expressionism of the early 20th century. One of the founders of the Estonian national style.

Mart Saar (1882-1963) composed his songs in the 1920s and 30s influenced by the impressionism and expressionism of the early 20th century. One of the founders of the Estonian national style.

From: Soololaulud 3 [Solo songs 3]. Tallinn, 1984.


Composers (2)Composers (2)Eduard Tubin (1905-1982)

wrote his solo songs during the pre-war period representing the late romantic style of the 1930s and influenced by Estonian folk music.

Eduard Tubin (1905-1982) wrote his solo songs during the pre-war period representing the late romantic style of the 1930s and influenced by Estonian folk music.

From: Soololaule [Solo songs]. Tallinn and Stockholm, 1988.


Composers (3)Composers (3)Veljo Tormis (1930)

created his folk-music-based song in the 1960s and 1970s.

Veljo Tormis (1930)created his folk-music-based song in the 1960s and 1970s.

From: Neli eesti jutustavat rahvalaulu [Four Estonian narrative folksongs] and Kuus eesti jutustavat rahvalaulu [Six Estonian narrative folksongs]. Tallinn, 1972.


MethodMethod

A comparable number of solo songs was chosen for each composer: Saar (16), Tubin (15), Tormis (10).

The total number of analysed melodic segments was 220: Saar (54), Tubin (83), Tormis (83).

The calculation of nPVIs was carried out using the printed scores by counting the rhythm based on the vocal line. Adjacent note durations were compared to each other.

A comparable number of solo songs was chosen for each composer: Saar (16), Tubin (15), Tormis (10).

The total number of analysed melodic segments was 220: Saar (54), Tubin (83), Tormis (83).

The calculation of nPVIs was carried out using the printed scores by counting the rhythm based on the vocal line. Adjacent note durations were compared to each other.


MethodMethod

nPVIs were calculated for each melodic segment (phrase) which was defined as a succession of notes not interrupted by any pause.

Segments shorter than 12 notes were excluded from the analysis, and segments longer than 125 notes were cut into pieces, i.e. the 126th note in a succession of notes was

considered to start a new segment. Consequently, the length of a melodic segment

could vary between 12 and 125 notes.

nPVIs were calculated for each melodic segment (phrase) which was defined as a succession of notes not interrupted by any pause.

Segments shorter than 12 notes were excluded from the analysis, and segments longer than 125 notes were cut into pieces, i.e. the 126th note in a succession of notes was

considered to start a new segment. Consequently, the length of a melodic segment

could vary between 12 and 125 notes.


ResultsResults

The average nPVI values for the solo songs by Saar and Tubin are significantly higher than those for Tormis: 47.0 and 42.1 vs. 22.2 (p<.0001).

There is no significant difference between the nPVI values of Saar and Tubin’s songs.

A comparison of the nPVI values for music with Estonian speech shows that the average syllable nPVI (5 speakers) of Estonian speech - 44.0 (Asu and Nolan 2006) - is very similar to and falls between the nPVI values of the songs by Saar and Tubin.

The average nPVI values for the solo songs by Saar and Tubin are significantly higher than those for Tormis: 47.0 and 42.1 vs. 22.2 (p<.0001).

There is no significant difference between the nPVI values of Saar and Tubin’s songs.

A comparison of the nPVI values for music with Estonian speech shows that the average syllable nPVI (5 speakers) of Estonian speech - 44.0 (Asu and Nolan 2006) - is very similar to and falls between the nPVI values of the songs by Saar and Tubin.


Average nPVI values for the three Estonian composers and Estonian speech (Syllable nPVI)


ConclusionsConclusions

Although there is a striking correspondence between Estonian speech rhythm and that of the music of Saar and Tubin, the music of Tormis is rhythmically distinct.

This supports our hypothesis that style- and genre-conditioned characteristics of music can override linguistically conditioned characteristics.

The prediction of the rhythm of music on the basis of speech rhythm may be an oversimplification. Similar nPVI values of Saar and Tubin’s solo songs reflect similar aesthetic principles of the two composers.

Although there is a striking correspondence between Estonian speech rhythm and that of the music of Saar and Tubin, the music of Tormis is rhythmically distinct.

This supports our hypothesis that style- and genre-conditioned characteristics of music can override linguistically conditioned characteristics.

The prediction of the rhythm of music on the basis of speech rhythm may be an oversimplification. Similar nPVI values of Saar and Tubin’s solo songs reflect similar aesthetic principles of the two composers.


Overall conclusion

I have discussed how music and speech explore their common domain of sounds in a mostly separate but sometimes overlapping manner. Further, I have discussed the so-called hybrid form of different types of singing which combine both the music and the language, and demonstrate how occasional conflicts which occur between music and speech in singing as an example of modus vivendi, can reasonably been solved in the musical practice.


Thanks to my colleagues who have contributed to those studies Eva Liina Asu-Garcia (University of Tartu) Ilse Lehiste (Ohio State University) Meelis Mihkla, Institute of Estonian Language Allan Vurma (Estonian Academy of Music

and Theatre)

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