May 21
10AM-12:30 presentations and discussions - CCRMA, Stage
2:00-4:30 presentations and discussions - CCRMA, Stage
12:30-2PM Virtual poster session
8PM Concert - Stanford Chamber Chorale (Stephen M. Sano, conductor) and Robert Huw Morgan, organ Memorial Church
May 22
10AM-1PM, presentations and discussions - CCRMA, Stage
1-3PM Virtual poster session
3-4PM, presentations and discussions - CCRMA, Stage
Presenters
Jonathan S. Abel, Stanford University
Julio Bermudez, The Catholic University of America
Braxton Boren, American University
Eoin Callery, University of Limerick
Elliot Kermit Canfield-Dafilou, Sorbonne University
Zühre Sü Gül, Bilkent University
Miriam Kolar, Stanford University
David Kirsh, University of California. San Diego
Licia Mari, Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore
Stella Nair, University of California, Los Angeles
Jonathan Ritter, University of California, Riverside
Shea Trahan, Louisiana State University
Cobi Van Tonder, University of York
Tobias Weissmann, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
Wieslaw Woszczyk, McGill University
Paper titles and abstracts: (date and order TBD)
Jonathan S. Abel and Wieslaw Woszczyk: On synthesizing
room impulse response copies at and away from measurement locations
Room impulse responses often exhibit a spatial bloom,
being focused about the source during the impulse response onset, and
enveloping the listener as the room mixes and its response decays. In addition, as the source and listener move
about a space, the character of the room impulse response changes with
different room modes being driven and observed. These effects may be simulated in an
auralization system by panning sound sources among convolutions with statistically
independent room impulse responses associated with different listener arrival
directions. In this work, we consider
the problem of synthesizing such statistically independent impulse responses,
and describe methods for producing perceptual "copies" of a given
measured impulse response, and for estimating impulse responses at locations
away from those measured. The methods flow from the idea that the perception of a
room impulse response may be characterized by its normalized echo density
profile and its response energy profile in a set of frequency bands. In particular, to create a statistically
independent copy of a room impulse response, a set of echo times and amplitudes
is randomly generated according to the measured normalized echo density profile,
and then processed to reproduce the measured band response energy
profiles. To synthesize an impulse
response away from those measured, the same process is used, with the
generating normalized echo density profile and response energy profiles formed
by interpolating those measured. In an
example, a set of statistically independent copies of an impulse response
measured at Stanford's Memorial Church are synthesized, and found to be
perceptually similar to and effectively uncorrelated with each other. In another example, a set of impulse response
measurements made in the church nave along a line between two endpoints were
found to be perceptually similar to ones synthesized using only the endpoint
measurements.
Julio Bermudez: Neurophenomenology &
Sacred Architecture. First Steps
Since
time immemorial, sacred buildings have operated as pedagogic instruments offering
religious information and environments that facilitate the experience of
spiritual reality. Beauty has been invariably recruited as builders of holy
places almost universally figured that aesthetically pleasing experiences open
minds and hearts. Disciplines such as theological aesthetics and material
anthropology have provided explanations for such practices and successes but
since their arguments are not based on hard empirical evidence, they have no
scientific standing at the time of elucidating how religious architectures
actually accomplish such feat. This project seeks to address this lack of
understanding by deploying neuroscience to investigate architecture’s aesthetic
power to elicit spiritual cognitive responses. To date, neuroscientific research
of ‘spiritual’ states has mainly focused on self-regulated (i.e., internally
initiated, subjective) experiences whereas the very few investigations of the
effect of sensory stimulation in enabling such states (e.g., iconography) have
largely ignored architecture. We address this void by studying brain and
physiological correlates of internal states elicited by religious architecture.
Ambulatory EEG and bio-sensors are employed to measure the differential
responses of 30+ individuals of faith experiencing two aesthetic situations (one
religious: the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, and one secular: Union
Station – both in Washington DC) along with their first-person phenomenological
reactions. This presentation will share the theoretical, methodological, and
technical framework supporting this interdisciplinary effort as well as offer an
in-progress report of the insights being gained.
Braxton
Boren : Contextualization in Worship Space Acoustics
Though the physics of reverberant sound fields in enclosed spaces
is (as best we can tell) universal and independent of human cultural
interpretation, the specific numerical parameters used in acoustical analysis
are not. The field of quantitative architectural acoustics as we know it arose
within the particular culture of late 19th-century New England, one
which was highly influenced by mainline Protestantism and Modernism. As a
result, some of its fundamental assumptions – the intelligibility of the spoken
word or the instrumental ensemble used during a worship service – were also
shaped by the worldview of that culture. Other religious traditions, however,
may hold different fundamental values or worldviews within which these
assumptions are less appropriate. Some examples include acoustic differences
between Catholic and Protestant churches, low-church a cappella denominations, Hindu temples, and online worship “spaces.” It is argued that
each of these faith’s values may require not only different application of the
same “universal” acoustic parameters, but in many cases new contextualized
parameters may be necessary to understand the sound field within each
tradition’s understanding of itself.
Eoin Callery Virtual Acoustics - Thoughts on Late 20th and Early 21st Century Ears
Through the use of real-time virtual acoustic systems, the reverberant conditions of any performance or rehearsal space have the potential to be altered. When using these systems, the audience and performers have the sense that they are hearing sounds in a space other than the actual or expected acoustic of the physical space they occupy. Virtual acoustic systems employing loudspeakers (rather than headphones) have the potential to provide audiences and performers with a full sense of acoustic agency within virtual audio environments - any sound made within the virtual environment, intentional or not, will be reverberated by the virtual environment as it would be in a real space. While this has profound implications for many disciplines, including all disciplines that intersect with the performing arts, how we become aware of and use this acoustic agency raises some very interesting questions and considerations about the nature of virtual acoustic technologies. In particular, these new technologies have perhaps only emerged due to quality of our 20th and 21st Century ears - and not just because of our technological abilities. How might this be influencing and illuminating, or even obscuring and distorting, the research projects that can now utilize virtual acoustic technologies?
Timothy
Weaver: Ecoacoustics of Gathering
The surface and geometric qualities of natural space provide ground
for acoustically-driven ecological interactions. This presentation will compare a range of
western hemisphere ecological soundscapes and the influence of ecoacoustic
factors on territoriality and the gathering of species. These factors will then
be re-mapped onto select open-air, anciently inhabited Southwestern (US)
heritage sites as points of dialogue for contrasting eco- and human sound
spaces.
Zühre Sü Gül: The dome effect and the acoustics of historical
masterpieces
The dome as a pure geometrical form,
generated by the rotation of an arch around a central vertical axis, shelters a
semispherical volume beneath. This is the most sophisticated, yet simple way of
spanning the largest area, without any obstruction, and with minimum material
use. Since its primitive origins as a hut in Neolithic times, the dome element
has gone through progressive changes. The structural stability with the
evolving use of core materials enabled larger domes to be constructed in Roman,
Byzantine and Ottoman eras. This archetypal form has symbolized the celestial
sphere and has become the universal expression of heaven in certain religions.
The dome has signified unity and congregation in mosques, which have a more
compact plan in comparison to churches.
The reflections from the dome are
frequently accused for causing particular acoustical effects or defects such as
echo, flutter echo etc. depending upon the its size, height from the ground and
the position of the sources and the receivers on the floor surface. Some
architectural elements, such as clay pots (Sebu) applied by Sinan in his
mosques and tombs, embedded within the dome and facing out to the interior
space with an opening are considered to provide acoustical diffusion helping to
cure sound foci, while increasing the low frequency absorption. On the other
hand, some recent studies highlighted that the dome geometry coupled to a
prismatic base, and multiples of them connected to each other can cause
multiple-slope sound energy decay formation.
Such an architectural configuration is mostly observed in historical and
monumental sacred structures.
In this study, the sound field of
multiple sound energy decays indicating multiple reverberation times, are
discussed regarding two sites; Hagia Sophia (6th century) and
Süleymaniye Mosque (16th century). Both structures are multi-volume
spaces with many smaller sub-volumes coupled to each other by coupling
apertures in form of arches. The methodology of investigation for coupling
effects starts with the acoustical field tests carried in different times
within the two structures. The analysis of real data indicated multi-slope
energy decays in certain positions in both structures. In order to further
understand the mechanism behind, energy flow decays are examined by applying
diffusion equation model (DEM) in a finite-element scheme for sound energy flow
analysis. Energy flow decays, energy flow dips, and spatial flow vectors are
compared also for different states of the monuments that have gone through
various renovations, material alterations and even functional changes in time. In order to support DEM findings,
ray-tracing simulations are also utilized, the data of which are subjected to
Bayesian analysis to identify the decay parameters and the degree of acoustical
coupling. Among the many variables, the dome form, material distribution, the
source-receiver distance and positioning within different sub-spaces appear to
be the underlying determinant of multi-slope sound decay pattern. Lastly,
multi-slope sound energy decays are discussed in light of acoustical needs and
spiritual expectations from such monumental sacred spaces.
Elliot Kermit Canfield-Dafilou: Reconstructing the acoustics of
Notre Dame
A description of ongoing
interdisciplinary acoustics work on the musical acoustic of Notre Dame, Paris,
with topics including: the acoustics of the space, the damage done by the fire,
showing geometric models of ND throughout its history, discussing the organs,
chant and polyphony, and the children's choir.
Miriam Kolar : Sounding the Scale of Humans: Proxemics and Acoustical
Space in Archaeological Research
Proxemics, contextualized understandings of distance relationships, are
fundamental to human social interactions. Archaeology, the study of human life
from its material remains, documents and reconstructs physical features
of places and objects in order to infer their use potentials. Contextualized
archaeological knowledge — what I call "archaeological possibility
space" — offers clues to past experiences and events whose sonic communication
substrate can be estimated and virtually simulated. My
"human-centered" archaeoacoustics research puts into conversation
knowledge from psychoacoustics and perceptual psychology with performance
studies to explore the human-environmental relationships, interaction
affordances, and action potentialities expressed in archaeological materials.
Human-sonic interactivity defines human-spatial relationships in specific ways,
providing perceptual cues that influence humans' sense of scale and proxemical
understandings within an environment. Here, I share case-study examples from
fifteen years of Andean archaeoacoustics and music archaeology research, and I
report on new collaborative research about human-sonic interactions in
Paleolithic decorated caves.
Licia Mari: Music and ceremonies
in the sacred space of the palatine basilica of S. Barbara in Mantua
The palatine basilica of
S. Barbara is located within the architectonic complex of the Ducal Palace. Built between 1562 and 1572, it was designed
by the architect Giovan Battista Bertani (one of Giulio Romano’s apprentices),
who followed personally the construction and the styling of the interiors,
ensuring everything went accordingly to duke Guglielmo’s project, according to
which architecture, painting, music, liturgy and sacred furnishings are closely
linked in a unitary vision. A famous organ builder from Brescia, Graziadio
Antegnati, was hired to craft the precious church organ. During church
services, the organ was employed in polyphonic works, probably performed with
only a few singers and, eventually, instruments such as cornets and trombones.
The church offered various possibilities for musical performances: the choir,
located in the apse, was used for plainsong chanted by the clerics; opposite to
the organ, lies a similar gallery used by soloists and instrumentalists;
another larger gallery was placed above the entrance of the church and there a
group of singers was positioned to perform a tailored polyphonic vocal
repertoire.
The
basilica was not conceived as a place for few, illustrious guests, but as a
tangible sign of the relationship between the duke and his entire community,
who participated enthusiastically to important feasts, such as that of Santa
Barbara, on the 4th of December.
The
paper intends to present and examine XVI-XVII century ceremonies, looking at
how the spaces were managed and what kind of music was performed, taking
advantage of the features of the church.
Stella Nair (UCLA) and
Jonathan Ritter (UC Riverside) :Voicing Inca History: Gender, Space. and Music Education in Imperial Schools.
In
this paper, an architectural historian (Stella Nair) and an ethnomusicologist
(Jonathan Ritter) explore the intricate relationship between Inca spaces and
musical performances, particularly the role of song in elite musical education.
The authors explore the ways in which the Inca created and modified the built
environment in order to best suit their dynamic acoustical events, especially
in the training and performance of boys and girls. Drawing from a
diversity of sources, including colonial text and images, Inca architectural
remains, and ethnographic studies of Andean vocal performance past and present,
the authors explore how the Inca used sounds, especially vocal genres, in their
imperial theatrics and the ways in which architectural spaces, interior and
exterior, were designed to amplify and celebrate these novice sonic events.
Cobi Van Tonder: Acoustic
Atlas – Cultivating the Capacity to Listen
“Nothing is real, nothing is certain.” (Werner Herzog, ‘Cave of
Forgotten Dreams’)
Acoustic Atlas provides a platform
for sharing and experiencing auralisations of cultural and natural sites,
whilst also exploring their interconnection to field recordings and potential
as compositional material. This presentation will introduce the browser-based
Web Audio application, via examples of fieldwork done in two UK caves as well
as via sites contributed by its growing community. It will next explore ideas around echoes as
shadows, acoustics as mirrors, caves (and heritage acoustic listening experiences)
and how they “cultivate our capacity to respond” (D. Haraway) by cultivating
our capacity to listen. (https://acousticatlas.de)
Tobias Weissmann: On the Interrelation of Sacred Architecture and Music in Pre-Modern Italy
In medieval and early modern Italy, the religious practice and the perception of the divine have been determined by the intersection of sacred space, rite and music. With their form and specific acoustics, church buildings influenced the musical compositions and the performance practice. Vice verse, architecture reacted to ritual and compositional developments by modifying venerable sanctuaries or designing and constructing new buildings. The most distinctive impact of this progress is epitomised by the installation of separate singer balconies in the course of the 16th and 17th century to serve the polychoral musical performance practice. The permanent display of music advanced to become a core element of sacred architecture while the potential of these spaces to promote identification becomes evident in numerous graffiti.
Based on selected case studies such as the Cappella Palatina in Palermo, the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican and San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome, this paper will present the work of the research project “CANTORIA – Music and Sacred Architecture” (Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz), which explores the interdependencies between architecture, musical performance practice and liturgy in the interdisciplinary discourse between musicology, art and architecture history.
Wieslaw Woszczyk and Jonathan S. Abel: Room
impulse response estimation from recordings: Recovering the impulse response of
Columbia Records' 30th Street Studio from a documentary recording of Glenn
Gould in the studio
Room impulse responses are typically measured using high-quality broadband loudspeaker sources and an array of microphone receivers able to register directional properties of ambient sound within an existing physical structure. A recording of a long exponential sinusoidal sweep signal is deconvolved to render a room impulse response with a high dynamic range. A gun shot or balloon pop can instead deliver an acoustic impulse to initiate the room response, and the recording requires post processing to improve spectral, temporal, and dynamic characteristics needed to form an impulse response for auralization.
For a physical structure that no longer exists, or exists only virtually as a model, impulse responses can be synthesized based on spatial/geometrical characteristics and boundary surface conditions assumed in the model (e.g. via Odeon or CATT). The accuracy of numerical descriptions of acoustic phenomena are being steadily improved while computer processing speed and better perceptual validation make rendering of modelled spaces attractive.
This work reports on early results in room impulse response estimation achieved using acoustic signals embedded in recordings made in historical venues as these still existed, in this case, the famed Columbia Records' 30th Street Studio in NYC. To facilitate the RIR estimation, ambient impulsive sounds recorded during the filming of Glenn Gould recording sessions in 1959 were isolated to provide source/receiver signals for analyses. The larger question is: can we recreate for a performer today the acoustic space Glenn Gould encountered in that studio in 1959?
The process involves first estimating the echo density and frequency band energies in running windows over the room response following an impulsive sound (footstep, click, door slam), then synthesizing a pattern of full bandwidth echoes matching the measured echo density profile, and finally imprinting the measured band energy profiles. This method is based on the approach used by Abel, et al., to reconstruct an impulse response of Hagia Sophia by recording a single balloon pop.
By generating statistically independent echo patterns, multiple mutually decorrelated impulse responses can be created which perceptually mimick the reference response derived from the recording. Such impulse responses can be used in auralization via low-latency convolutions once their dynamic range, frequency spectrum, and temporal profile are sufficiently corrected towards an idealized short duration impulse. The challenges encountered in this estimation will be described and the aural result will be presented.
Concert: May 21, Memorial Church 8PM: Stanford Chamber Chorale