Measurement and analysis of finger forces in clarinet playing
| Project number: | P23248-N22 |
| Project leader: | Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Walter Smetana |
| Research facility: | Institute of Sensor and Actuator Systems Vienna University of Technology |
| Cooperation partner: | Institute of Music Acoustics (IWK) University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna |
| Date of approval: | 29.11.2010 |
| Project start: | 01.03.2011 |
| Project end: | 31.10.2014 |
| Scientific areas: | 2546, Sensors (40 %) 6810, Music (30 %) 2533, Signal processing analog/digital (20 %) 1140, Software-Engineering (10 %) |
| Keywords: | Clarinet, Music performance, Finger force dynamics, LTCC technology, Force sensors |
Abstract
When playing the clarinet, the musician has to press down and release multiple tone-holes and keys with the ?ngers in order to allow or prevent air from streaming out and thus change the pitch of the tone. While the other expressive parameters such as dynamics, articulation, or ?ne intonation are controlled by the air stream and tongue of the musician, the ?ngers only control pitch. However, clarinetists might not always use minimal forces in ? ngering the clarinet; particularly novice clarinetists often press the keys way more than required which results in quite tense movements that might lead on the long-run to overuse syndromes and even pain. In this project, we aim to measure and study the ?nger forces during clarinet playing with an instrument specially equipped with newly developed force sensors at all keys and tone-holes. The prototype sensor clarinet is designed to allow completely "natural" performances like playing on a normal, unequipped clarinet. Novice, student-level and professional clarinetists are invited to perform on this sensor clarinet in both controlled experimental and concert-like situations while their ?nger force pro?les are recorded together with the sound of the clarinet. The force sensors are developed, built, and tested during this project to exactly ?t the geometry of the clarinet key- work. For the set-up of the sensors, Low Temperature Co-?red Ceramic (LTCC) technology is used. LTCC technology shows excellent prerequisites to fabricate the sensor element together with its packaging in a customized way. This is especially important for the different dimensions and shapes of the tone-holes and keys of the clarinet. Research questions addressed in the experiments aim toward the skill of the musician (Do novice clarinetists press unnecessarily harder than professionals?), the musical material (Do clarinetists press more in expressive movements than while playing scales?), or the performance tempo (Do clarinetists press more when the speed up?). The very nature of the ?nger force pro?les will be studied in detail and analyzed with state-of-the-art quantitative methods and computational approaches. A ?nger force capturing system that allows non-invasive data acquisition in real concert situations is a unique source to study ?ne motor control of highly skilled musicians who practice for years to achieve acute control over every nuance of their instrument. The sensor system developed here can be adapted in the future to be built into other instruments, such as the bassoon, the oboe, or even the piano. The methodological foundations for capturing and analyzing ?nger force pro?les laid within this project may be expanded to intelligent real-time feedback systems applied in music education.
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