THESIS
2020
ix, 17 pages : illustrations ; 30 cm
Abstract
Recent research has shown how different instruments have different emotional characteristics
and how these emotional characteristics change with pitch and dynamics on instruments such
as the piano and Western bowed strings with isolated notes. This thesis investigates the
difference in emotional characteristics of the Chinese erhu and violin using musical excerpts
from the Butterfly Lovers Concerto. We conducted two listening tests. The first listening test
was an absolute test, where subjects rated Arousal, Valence, and emotional intensity of four
emotional characteristics: Romantic, Joyful, Agitated, and Bittersweet. It was found that the
violin had higher overall Valence and Arousal scores than the erhu. The violin also had higher
emotional intensity for Romantic, Joyful, and...[
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Recent research has shown how different instruments have different emotional characteristics
and how these emotional characteristics change with pitch and dynamics on instruments such
as the piano and Western bowed strings with isolated notes. This thesis investigates the
difference in emotional characteristics of the Chinese erhu and violin using musical excerpts
from the Butterfly Lovers Concerto. We conducted two listening tests. The first listening test
was an absolute test, where subjects rated Arousal, Valence, and emotional intensity of four
emotional characteristics: Romantic, Joyful, Agitated, and Bittersweet. It was found that the
violin had higher overall Valence and Arousal scores than the erhu. The violin also had higher
emotional intensity for Romantic, Joyful, and Agitated excerpts, while the erhu had higher
emotional intensity for Bittersweet excerpts, though the differences were not statistically
significant. The second listening test considers the violin and erhu using relative comparisons
and the same musical excerpts. The results show that the violin was statistically stronger in
emotional intensity for all four emotional categories. The erhu performed was relatively
stronger on Bittersweet excerpts. The results suggest that the violin has a wider range and
dramatic expression than the erhu, at least for this piece.
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