At York we are currently focusing on a number of research projects on the issue of tuning in the performance practice of choral singers. Some of the main research questions include:
Exercises have been specially written to exploit and explore the theories and practice of tuning in choirs and analysis of items from the a cappella choral repertoire demonstrates that pitch drift is a natural consequence of harmonic series tuning. The electrolaryngograph is used to analyse the fundamental frequency of a quartet of singers because it is immune to acoustic noise (i.e. it does not pick up any output from other singers) and it provides the most accurate method for pitch analysis.
- Do professional ensembles have a tendency towards just tuning rather than equal temperament when performing a cappella
- Does the tuning accuracy in just temperament improve with training
- To what extent does the pitch centre of a piece drift if performed in just tuning
Exercises have been specially written to exploit and explore the theories and practice of tuning in choirs and analysis of items from the a cappella choral repertoire demonstrates that pitch drift is a natural consequence of harmonic series tuning. The electrolaryngograph is used to analyse the fundamental frequency of a quartet of singers because it is immune to acoustic noise (i.e. it does not pick up any output from other singers) and it provides the most accurate method for pitch analysis.