Section 4: Interpreting the Data
Contents
Section 4: Interpreting the Data¶
You should now have generated three values: a fundamental frequency and a lower and upper bound for the average vibrato depth. We now need to convert these values into something that makes sense musically to us.
Convert the values into pitches¶
Browse over to the online frequency-pitch lookup table here and try and find the notes closest to your three values. They won’t correspond exactly, but choose the note closest to them.
Expected result:
Lower bound of vibrato = 626.04 Hz = Eb5
Fundamental frequency = 670.67 Hz = E5
Upper bound of vibrato = 715.30 Hz = F5 (sharp!)
We can see from this process that the average depth of our example singer’s vibrato is just slightly over a perfect second, or about a semitone away from the fundamental frequency either side. This is pretty wide!
Compare our singer’s vibrato to Freddie Mercury.¶
Recall that, in the analysis conducted by Herbst et al., the average vibrato extent of Mercury’s voice was calculated to be about 55 cents or half a semitone. How does our singer compare?
Warning
There are several problematic assumptions involved in making such a comparison that may be especially obvious if you have previously studied the science or psychology of musical pitch. What are they, and how could we improve our methodology to make a comparison more robust?
Tip
Look closely at how Herbst et al. measure their average vibrato extent (esp. page 3).
Finally, after you’ve made your comparison, have a think about what this might tell us about the different expressive or aesthetic goals of pop and non-pop singing. What can our analysis tell us here?
Try and think about these issues when answering the questions on the following page!