Timbral cues underlie instrument-specific absolute pitch in expert oboists
Abstract
While absolute pitch (AP)—the ability to identify musical pitches without external reference—is rare even in professional musicians, anecdotal evidence and case-report data suggest that some musicians without traditional AP can nonetheless better name notes played on their musical instrument of expertise than notes played on instruments less familiar to them. We have called this gain in AP ability “instrument-specific absolute pitch” (ISAP). Here, we report the results of the first two experiments designed to investigate ISAP in professional oboists. In Experiment 1 (n = 40), superiority for identifying the pitch of oboe over piano tones varied along a continuum, with 37.5% of oboists demonstrating significant ISAP. Variance in accuracy across pitches was higher among ISAP-possessors than ISAP-non-possessors, suggestive of internalized timbral idiosyncrasies, and the use of timbral cues was the second-most commonly reported task strategy. For both timbres, both groups performed more accurately for pitches associated with white than black piano keys. In Experiment 2 (n = 12), oboists with ISAP were less accurate in pitch identification when oboe tones were artificially pitch-shifted. The use of timbral idiosyncrasies thus may constitute a widespread mechanism of ISAP. Motor interference, conversely, did not significantly reduce accuracy. This study offers the first evidence of ISAP among highly trained musicians and that reliance on subtle timbral (or intonational) idiosyncrasies may constitute an underlying mechanism of this ability in expert oboists. This provides a path forward for future studies extending the scientific understanding of ISAP to other instrument types, expertise levels, and musical contexts. More generally, this may deepen knowledge of specialized expertise, representing a range of implicit abilities that are not addressed directly in training, but which may develop through practice of a related skill set.
Main Authors
Format
Articles
Research article
Published
2024
Series
Subjects
Publication in research information system
Publisher
Public Library of Science
The permanent address of the publication
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:jyu-202410166328Use this for linking
Review status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
1932-6203
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306974
Language
English
Published in
PLoS ONE
Citation
- Hansen, N. C., & Reymore, L. (2024). Timbral cues underlie instrument-specific absolute pitch in expert oboists. PLoS ONE, 19(10), Article e0306974. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306974
Funder(s)
Research Council of Finland
European Commission
Funding program(s)
Centre of Excellence, AoF
ERC Consolidator Grant, HE
Huippuyksikkörahoitus, SA
ERC Consolidator Grant, HE
![Research Council of Finland Research Council of Finland](/jyx/themes/jyx/images/funders/sa_logo.jpg?_=1739278984)
![European Commission European Commission](/jyx/themes/jyx/images/funders/eu_logo.jpg?_=1739278984)
![European research council European research council](/jyx/themes/jyx/images/funders/erc_logo_thumb.jpg?_=1739278984)
Additional information about funding
While conducting this work, NCH received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 754513, the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme grant agreement No 101045747, and The Aarhus University Research Foundation. At the start of the project, LR was a postdoctoral fellow with the ACTOR Project (Analysis, Creation, and Teaching of ORchestration), funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and McGill University. The ACTOR Project also provided funding for this study.
Copyright© 2024 Hansen, Reymore.