Perception of orchestral timbre when performing piano music. A symbiosis of idea and musical expression.

Katia Veekmans
Promotors: Peter Swinnen, M Van den Hoek

The research was into the perception of orchestral timbres applied to the piano repertoire to enrich tone and to intensify the multi-interpretable aspects of a composition. Experimental investigation into this, influenced by the imagination (of the performer), represents a unique approach and leads to a totally new perspective for the performer.

The entire procedure is based on a number of defining parameters, which lead to a coming together of idea and musical expression that offers new horizons for the performer.
It is not easy to evaluate the gradation of orchestral sound on the piano because it is difficult to measure the effect in definable criteria.

Moreover, some existing concepts, such as ‘symphonic’ and ‘orchestral’ are so universal that they are not sufficient to formulate adequately 'orchestral sound on piano'. Therefore, in the course of this investigation different terms are introduced, that shed more light on this problem.

Perception and interpretation of the textures of the repertoire are crucial in this research. A single-case test was developed to measure the effect of timbre by using EEG –measurements. In this way the influence of the imagination on the orchestral perception in the piano repertoire was traced.

This leads to a new sound image which is a sample of the unique vision of the performer.