Objective Assessment of Ornamentation in Indian Classical Singing

Abstract

Important aspects of singing ability include musical accuracy and voice quality. In the context of Indian classical music, not only is the correct sequence of notes important to musical accuracy but also the nature of pitch transitions between notes. These transitions are essentially related to gamakas (ornaments) that are important to the aesthetics of the genre. Thus a higher level of singing skill involves achieving the necessary expressiveness via correct rendering of ornamentation, and this ability can serve to distinguish a well-trained singer from an amateur. We explore objective methods to assess the quality of ornamentation rendered by a singer with reference to a model rendition of the same song. Methods are proposed for the perceptually relevant comparison of complex pitch movements based on cognitively salient features of the pitch contour shape. The objective measurements are validated via their observed correlation with subjective ratings by human experts. Such an objective assessment system can serve as a useful feedback tool in the training of amateur singers.