Musical Tone Qualities as a Factor in Expressiveness

The adjective approach to tone quality has ever been a subject of interest to the musically minded person. One has but to review the great mass of musical criticisms and program notes to build up a meaningful vocabulary of expressive terminology. Although the average layman has been finely conditioned to the expressive values intended by the performers of music, it must be remembered that tone quality has taken on new meanings with the changing epochs of music history. This is clearly evidenced by the instruments in vogue during the development of the art of music. The technical advancement of the tonal synthesizers has made it possible to enter the psycho-physical laboratory for the study of hedonic responses to tone quality. The many variables involved can be held constant at will, thus obtaining objective measurement of the factors to be considered. Some of the findings thus far treated will be discussed and directions for continued research suggested.