University of Tsukuba, Japan
Abstract :
In the production of musical instruments, prototypes are evaluated
by professional performers.
It is empirically known that evaluation of musical instruments differs
depending on the evaluator.
However, the mechanism how human evaluates a musical instrument
is not revealed.
In this research, we newly proposed a human-instrument interaction
model when a person evaluates a musical instrument to reveal its
mechanism.
For a basic study of the model, we measured human muscle activity
and verified its trend when controlling the plucking parameters for
the guitar.
In the experiment, 5 subjects were asked to play a simple task with a
plectrum under control the plucking position and dynamics. Subjects
consist 4 experienced amateurs and 1 beginner.
EMG of four muscles considered to be involved in the plucking motion
using a plectrum and audio from the front magnetic pickup were
measured simultaneously.
As a result, the muscle activity due to the difference in the position
has a large difference for each subject, and no specific trend was
observed.
The muscle activity due to the difference in the dynamics was found
to have a certain tendency among subjects, such as muscle activity
also increases and decreases with the increase and decrease of
plucking dynamics.