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2nd UNTREF International Congress on Acoustics September 2010, Argentina

Dedicated for Pierre Boulez

The Fundamental Difference between Singing and Speech ---Schnberg-Boulez Puzzle and its Spatio-Temporal Solution

based on Brain-Cognition of Sound---

KEN ITO 1 YOSHIHARU SOETA 2 RYOTA SHIMOKURA 2 TOMOHIRO OHSAWA 1 SHIN-ICHI SATO 3 YOICHI ANDO 4 AND TOMOYOSHI TAKATSUJI 1

1 Department of Composition-Conducting / Epistemologic Poetics

The Univerisity of Tokyo, JAPAN itosec@iii.u-tokyo.ac.jp 2 National Institute of Advanced Technology, JAPAN

South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, CHINA, Kobe University, JAPAN

Abstract The What is the fundamental difference between speech and singing ? For this profound question of music, proposed by A. Schnberg and developed mostly by P. Boulez, answer from three different backgrounds are given. Those three are 1. non-linear dynamics 2. broken symmetry in the sound field and 3. emergence of brain speech or non-speech modes in listeners brain and consciousness. Auto-correlation function analysis strongly supports the non-linear dynamical understanding of the problem. Possibilities in broken symmetry and brain cognition are investigated by Inter-Aural Cross-Correlation Function analysis. All these are able to utilized in realistic music making; especially composition and conducting and would make new progress in the course of music creation. Historical examples are explained both from Japanese traditional Buddhist temple and R. Wangers music drama, for the latter we have just started Ein Speer, Ein Gral project with Bayreuth Festspielhaus. 1. INTRODUCTION :

What is fundamental difference between singing and speech? This profound question had asked for many years by great pioneers. One of those is Arnold Schnberg(1873-1951),Austrian-American composer who had also proposed important concepts including Dodecaphony, Serial Composition and Klangfarbenmelodie. SPRECHGESANG was the key concept-technique here and he had composed his memorial Pierrot lunaire(1912). The SPRECHGESANG technique was pursued intensively by following composers including his student Alban Berg(1885-1935), especially in his two operas Wozzeck and Lulu.During the second world war, acoustics had made much progress with electric equipments for the weapon technology. So was also the computer. Doors to electric and electronic music were opened for musicians in post-war generation. Focusing on the problem between speech and singing, Pierre BOULEZ had made the most fundamental contribution both to theoretical / technological background and composition / performance. His work Le marteau sans matre(1953-55) and Pli selon pli(1957-62~) could be appreciated as artistic offspring of such background.

After 1980s, with thanks to Boulezs fundamental contribution to Digital technology for sound information, auditory science had accomplished extreme development, especially with the understanding of the brain cognition mechanism. With this basis we can answer the classical question. One of the authors named this as Schnberg~Boulez Puzzle between speech and singing. during 1990s. This paper would give the latest answer to this puzzle at most practical standpoint of composition and conducting, focusing on auditory spaces, brain cognition and binaural listening.

2 BROKEN SYMMETRY; FUNDAMENTALCHARACTERISTICS IN VERBAL LISTENING

S Schnberg had tried to note his Sprechgesang within stub notation and understand its characteristic, of course besides the difference of timbre in speaking and singing, as motion of pitch. He describes the difference between a singing tone and a speaking tone as securely maintain the pitch without waving(singing) and abandon pitch by falling or rising(speaking)[1].

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Besides his own speculations Schnbergs thoughts seems to base on the physiological acoustics by Herman Helmholtz. The next fundamental contribution was given by Pierre Boulez, characterizing voice and sylabelles as changes in spectra; with this unification musicians can approach to singing on the same ground to timbre. Although Schnberg used wide variety of vocal technique including wispering, the composer could not syetematize them in a integrated way.

Boulez had unified all the spectra of voice to musical timbres, based on serial ways of music thinking.[2] Thereafnter, with the development of computer processing human voice and instrumental timbre became disposable on the same platform. Still there remains significant difference between speech and singing. One of the authors had given an answer based on the difference between linearity - non linearity and reversibility irreversibility. Here the stability and reversibility in frequency and its distribution i.e. spectra was discussed. Broken symmetry in time-reversal at the Fourier Transformation Space was pointed out as an origin of the fundamental difference[3].In this paper we would like to focus our discussion on human brain cognition to speech in relation to space. Now we would like to see another fundamental broken symmetry in verbal listening.

Music Listening / Verbal Comprehensionfor TWO EARS of a listener

TONE TONE

Fig1. Human binaural listening

Usually normal human beings listen to sound with two ears (binaural hearling). But for inteligble verbal listening we use vocal sound stimuli (information) only from one ear.

Music Listening / Verbal Comprehensionfor TWO EARS of a listener

SOUND SOUND

Stereophonic listening of musical sound and

surroundings

WORD WORD

WORD WORD

Monaural listening of speech and songs

Fig.2 Symmetry-breaking in verbal cognition

Because of the Binaural masking effect within human auditory cognition, we discard the sound from another ear. Speech has fundamental MONOAURAL nature and even in STEREOPHONIC sound field our ears and brain function in single-channeled signal processing. This is also a physiological reason why, besides any technological progress in multi-channel audio, all telephones and AM radios remain monoaural; stereophonic sound often disturbs verbal listening. This simple fact also explains the old wisdom within churches and opera houses to transmit verbal meaning precisely to the audience.

Fig3. Central Aisle and Pulpit of St. Thomas Church, Leipzig,

In every Christian church, PULPITS are alwais located in OFF-CENTERED position. Especially in Protestant churches, where the Sermon by cleargy is regarded most important, pulpits are located in right or left side, in near-middle of the central aisle of off-centered position, so that for most audience in the church the voice of sermon would be heard in L-R-symmetry-breaking condition which is suitable for verbal cognition. Up to the end of the second world war, symmetry-breaking singing techniques were well-known by opera composers, conductors and singers. So-called Scuola Italiana tradition, with which the name of Enrico Caruso is the most famous, a singer on stage should AIM certain off-cemtered wall or ceiling to get better resonance whole within the theater. Sometimes such spatial wisdom was designated within the full score as seating-arrangement, stage-direction or even as libretto. Richard Wagners music dramas are the most eroquent examples of such space-time technique to transmit musical-verbal meaning to the audience. At the very beginning of Tristan and Isolde first akt, the text of the sailors solo sings about the points of compass; the first two lines are just like as follows. Westward wonders the glance,eastward slides the ship (Westwrts schweift der Blick, Ostwrts streicht das Schiff), here the first line is sung in g-minor/c-minor and the second line in E-flat major. Inbetween is a modulation where singer and conductor must be careful about the residue of preceeding sound. With a quite natural change in direction of singing, which is

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closely connected to the lylics west and east, the singer and the conductor can change and control the tonal resonance in the whole opera house, just like the sustain pedals technique in piano playing.

Ausder

Hhe,wie

vom Masteher,

vernehmbar

Westwrts s

chweift der

Blick

Ostwrts streicht das Schiff !

VOCAL SPE

AR 1

RESONANCE SPHERE (=KLANGGRAL 1)

RESONANCE SPHERE (=KLANGGRAL 2)

VOCAK SPEAR 2

Fig.4 Spear and Holy Grail acoustic in Bayreuth Festspielhaus

Within Wagners music dramas we can find many examples of such symmetry-breaking situation. For the stage set in the first akt of Meistersinger the composer specified angled view of St. Catharine Church so that most of the singing on stage have also some angle to the audience. In Parsifal we can see the extreme cases of various broken symmetry of vocal sound in space and time. Especially with in the Bayreuth Festspielhaus, for this specific theater Parsifal was composed, voices should be throun just like SPEARS so that the reverberation localize like HOLY GRAIL, both are important element in the piece. With the finest re-interpretating of the score, we can approach ANOTHER ORIGINAL of Wagners music drama as SPACE-TIME-INTEGRATED ART-WORK on this Spear-Grail model. With Bayreuth University we have just begun new project on the Bayreuth Festspielhaus, based on this EIN SPEER- EIN GRAL theory.

2. CLARITY AND SPATIAL AUDITORY

COGNITION; INTER-AURAL CROSS

CORRELATION (IACC) ANALYSIS

Discussion about the speech clarity above immediately shows another aspect of preceeding research. Besides few exception[4], most discussion over the evaluation of articuration in auditory technology mainly deal with 1. monoaural and 2 in many cases without consideration to space. For telephone equipments or boadband internet communication, skype for exmple, transmission itself is focused and there be thought little about the space-time outside of laudspeakers or headsets. Although Articulation Index(AI), Speech Transmission Index(STI) or Room Acoustical Speech Transmission Index (RASTI) are widely used, as they are proposed on the basis of OPTICS, modulation transfer function MTF etc, and mainly deal with frequency band and

power, they are eliminated fundamentaly within spectra, or in other word Fourier transformation spaces. Simultaneously we would like to point out thatin most of opera hause acoustics, qualification index mostly concerns about SOUND-side of music and little about Verbal articulation of Songs as transfer of meaning. From musicians standpoint the authors would like to propose different aspect which had for long mostly thought as most important aspect in opera; MUSICAL-VERBAL TRANSMISSION and its possible indexes. With consideration to the fundamental characteristics of monoaurality in verbal listening, interaural crosscorrelation function(IACC) and the analysis based on it would play important role on the REAL-SPACE-SPEECH TRANSMISSION. Remembering the fact of binaural masking of verbal comprehension, LOW values in IACC is important condition for the HIGH speech transmission[5]. Another important message from musical side to engineers is that for musicians the conditions in concert hall and opera house are not FIXED but they should be MODIFIED, just like tuning of an instrument. With the change of standing position, singing direction, techniques in utterance and every other interpretation, we musicians LET the very hall or house he or she performs VIBRATE or BE LISTEND IN GOOD RESONANCE. Although indexes for industory or technology have the liking to evaluate in fixed number, for us musicians what is important is to make music good as possible within the given condition, i.e. the concert hall or opera house. From this musical stand point, most indexes including ISO3382 are still before the starting point of really meaningful discussion. his EIN SPEER- EIN GRAL theory.

3 MEASUREMENTS IN JAPANESE TRADITIONAL BUDDHIST TEMPLE

By use of a theater in multi-directional, symmetry-breaking manners, listeners can appreciate articulations of speech clearly. On the other hand, from the standpoint of music, SURROUNDING sound is also very important. In order to compose a music, or conduct it in real space-time, these two aspects, wealth of sound in surrounding condition and popping out of articulations in broken-symmetry, and the balance between those two, are most important. These principles would also be applied to instrumental music as relationship between independent voices and accompanying chord, or in general FIGURE(S) and GROUND. Popping out of figure, expecially with inteligible cognition has much to do with symmetry-breaking. In visual recognition we use mainly only one eye for the lexical reading.

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Symmetry-breaking use of space is widely seen in Japanese tradition, especially in Buddhist temples and Noh-theater. Below are the inside of a Japanese Buddhist temple. Monks sing their traditional chanting in specific seating position and direction so that in most sitting position of audience the IACC value, especially in higher frequencies, which transmit most of the articulation with consonants, decays rapidly and verbal understanding is quite clear.[6]

ALTER

(NAIJIN)

SIDE CHAPEL

right

(migi YOMA)

SIDE CHAPEL

left

(hidari YOMA)

PULPIT(KOUZA)

Fig.5-1 Alter, side chapels and pulpit of JYOSHINJI temple

NAVE

CENTRAL AISLE

(GEJIN)

SIDE AISLE

(GEJIN)PULPIT

(KOUZA)

Fig.5-2 Central and side aisles of JYOSHINJI temple

Fig 5-3 Location of the sound sources and sound receiving points

Fig.5-4 IACC in Jyoshinji Temple with the sound source position

S1, S2, S3, S4 and S4

We did measured the same within Catholic churches in Japan which were built after the modinization of Meiji Reformation in 19th century, and could not find

such clear decay in IACC in most cases; exceptions are the oldest ones constructed on the temple building tradition. Such facts suggest strongly the fact that through the hundred years continuous tries and errors best way for chanting had been established. In most modern Churches and temples built after electricity where microphones and laudspeakers are installed, such splendid characteristics are rarely seen. EIN GRAL theory.

4 SHORT CONCLUDING REMARKS By use oGoing back to the initial question of

SchnbergBoulez Puzzle we can point out AT LEAST 3 different layers for the solution. No.1 Durational Stability and Instable motion in pitch and spectra No.2 Directional Spacing in consideration to binaural human listening No.3 Cognitive modes in listeners brain. Foregoers Achievements consciously deals with No.1 above mainly, but we can point out subconscious cases in pioneers work, just shown in Wagners case. From composers and conductors point of view those No.2 and No.3 above could be organized for musical expression. About No.3 the beginning Alban Bergs second Opera Lulu shows the best example; listeners verbal-listening modes are opened quite naturally in the course of this opera. With appreciation to such we can make further progress both in music composition and performance, especially interpretation and conducting.

The authors would like to dedicate this work for the very pioneer Pierre BOULEZ. After his choral work e.e.Cummings ist der Dichter(1970), although completed Rpons for two pianos, harp, vibraphone, glockenspiel, cimbalom, orchestra and electronics for multi-directional sound projection, 1980-84) the great composer-conductor had not created next piece for voice in real space. We would like to point out a wealth of possibility here, which we ourselves also would like to go further. on should be requested by musicians strongly. 3. REFERENCES

[1]Schnberg, A.Preface to Pierrot lunaire, Universal Edition (1914/41) [2]Boulez, P."Penser la musique aujourdhui" Gallimard (1987) [3] Ito, K Fundamentals of Music as a dynamical systemDoctorial thesis, The University of Tokyo(1998) [4] Nakajima,T. and Ando, Y.(1991) Effect of a single reflection with varied horizontal angle and time decay on speech intelligibility J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 90(6) pp.3173-3179 [5] Ito, K. Soeta. Y. Shimokura, R. Ohsawa, T. Sato, S. and Ando, Y.(2009) Broken Symmetry of Spatial and Temporal Design in Japanese Temple. Proc. 4th ITSD Conference.

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[6] Ohsawa, T.Shimokura, R.Sato, S.Soeta, Y. Ito, K.and Ando, Y ACF Analysis on Japanese Buddhist Chant. Proc. 4th ITSD Conference.