AIRS 2nd Annual Conference: Seattle 2010
Title: Intonation in SATB vocal ensembles
Authors: Johanna Devaney, Jonathan Wild, Peter Schubert, & Ichiro Fujinaga (Schulich School of Music,
McGill University, Singing and Education)
Introduction
We are interested in exploring how consistent professional singers are in their intonation practices.
Specifically, we would like to explore how harmonic context impacts vertical and horizontal interval
tuning. This paper describes an experiment we are currently undertaking on SATB ensemble performance.
Method
The participants in the experiment are four professional singers from the Montreal-area who specialize in
early music and regularly sing together in an ensemble. The experiment consisted of two parts. In the first
part, each singer came in individually and sang a series of pitches against a recorded sequence of tones. The
recorded sequence was a random ordering of six tones; the six tones included three equal-tempered pitches
and three pitches detuned by a ¼ tone. The singers were asked to sing a range of intervals (including the
unison) both simultaneously and sequentially. In the second part, the singers came into the recording lab
together and sang a number of exercises under the direction of the ensemble’s conductor. The exercises
were designed to present the same semitones and whole tones in different harmonic contexts in different
voices.
Results
We are currently analyzing the results.
Discussion
We are planning to add a third part to the experiment, where the singers again come in individually and
sing against recordings of the other parts. The musical material would be the same as the second part of the
experiment and the recorded parts would be retuned to other tunings (Just, Meantone). This would allow us
to see the influence of the tuning of the other parts on the individual singer. This intermediary stage
between the single voice matching and the ensemble recording will be useful as it will allow us to control
the tuning reference point for each singer in the ensemble context.

Bios
Johanna Devaney is a Montreal-based researcher focused on studying and modeling performance practice.
She is currently working on her PhD in the Department of Music Research at the Schulich School of Music
of McGill University, where she works with Ichiro Fujinaga and Jonathan Wild. Johanna holds an MPhil
degree in Music Theory from Columbia University, where she worked with Fred Lerdahl and Dan Ellis, as
well a BFA in Music and an MA in Composition from York University in Toronto, where she taught for
several years in the areas of Digital Music and Music Theory. Johanna has published her research in the
Journal of Interdisciplinary Music Studies and Ex Tempore and presented her work at numerous
international and national conferences, including the International Conference on Music Perception and
Cognition (ICMPC), the International Computer Music Conference (ICMC), and the annual meeting of the
Society of Music Theory (SMT). She is a student member in both the Center for Research in Music Media
and Technology (CIRMMT) and the International Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound Research
(BRAMS). Website: http://music.mcgill.ca/~devaney

 Jonathan Wild is assistant professor at McGill University's Schulich School of Music, where he teaches
theory, analysis and composition, and currently chairs the Music Theory Area. He holds a Ph.D from
Harvard, and Bachelor's and Master's degrees from McGill. His publications and conference presentations
include work on mathematics and music, historical and speculative tuning systems, chromaticism in late
nineteenth-century music, post-tonal analysis, and computational music theory. He is also a sought-after
composer, especially of vocal music--the Hilliard Ensemble regularly perform several of his works.
Peter Schubert came to Montreal from New York City, where he founded and directed Opera Uptown and
The New Calliope Singers, a group renowned for its commitment to modern music during its fifteen-year
career. The group presented over fifty premieres and released a critically acclaimed CD entitled ""New
Cantatas and Madrigals."" Since 1991, he has conducted the highly respected Montreal-based group, The
Orpheus Singers. He founded VivaVoce, a professional ensemble, in 1998. That group won an Opus Prize
and released a CD on the Naxos label. Schubert holds a Ph.D. in musicology from Columbia University,
and is currently an Associate Professor at the McGill University Faculty of Music. Schubert is the author of
a groundbreaking and highly regarded textbook, Modal Counterpoint, Renaissance Style (Oxford
University Press, 1999, 2nd ed. 2008), and with colleague Christoph Neidhoefer he also co-authored
Baroque Counterpoint (Prentice-Hall, 2005).
Ichiro Fujinaga is an Associate Professor and the Chair of the Music Technology Area at the Schulich
School of Music at McGill University. He has a bachelor’s degrees in Music/Percussion and Mathematics
from University of Alberta, and a Master’s degree in Music Theory, and a PhD. In Music Technology from
McGill University. In 2003-4, he was the Acting Director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Research in
Music Media and Technology (CIRMMT) at McGill. In 2002^3, he was the Chair of the Music Technology
Area at the School of Music. Before that he was a faculty member of the Computer Music Department at
the Peabody Conservatory of Music of the Johns Hopkins University. Research interests include music
theory, machine learning, music perception, digital signal processing, genetic algorithms, and music
information acquisition, preservation, and retrieval.