Motor control in drumming: Influence of movement pattern on contact force and sound characteristics
Sofia Dahl, ECKART O. ALTENMÜLLER · The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · 2008
Whereas wind instrumentalists and string players have a continuous control of the acoustic sound parameters during playing, a percussionists' direct contact with the instrument is limited to a few milliseconds. The player has no possibilities to adjust grip or dampening during the actual contact. Whatever timbre and sound level the player is aiming for therefore has to be integrated in the entire striking gesture. How can the player control the complex interaction between drumstick and drumhead? In order to investigate how the players' grip and striking gestures influence the sound characteristics of drum strokes we recorded movements, audio, contact time and contact force during drumming. Different instructions were given with the intention to influence how the player's grip controlling the drumstick. "Normal" strokes were allowed to freely rebound from the drumhead. For "controlled" strokes the player was asked to control the ending position of the drumstick, stopping it as close as possible to the drumhead after the stroke. Preliminary analysis showed that the instructions influenced contact force, contact time, and perceptual ratings of the strokes. Further results and implications will be discussed.