CCRMA

Qualitative and Quantitative assesments of the Playability of a Virtual Bowed String Instrument.}

M.Sile O'Modhrain, Stefania Serafin, Chris Chafe and Julius O. Smith III

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we test the hypothesis proposed by Serafin and Smith (ICMC 2000), namely that the playability of a bow stroke can be fully described by three parameters - bow velocity, bow position and bow force. Moreover, the envelope of these parameters influences the quality of the attack. In this paper, we present a novel technique for measuring parameters of bowing. By coupling a haptic display to a computational model of a bowed string, we simulate the normal and frictional forces present during bow-string interaction. We then measure force and velocity of the virtual bow over the duration of a bow stroke and determine what preportion of the bow stroke lies within the region of playability.
©2000 Sile O'Modhrain. All Rights Reserved.
sile@ccrma.stanford.edu