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Acoustic Analysis of Tanpura Signals

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Acoustical Analysis of the Tanpura

Part of the book series: Signals and Communication Technology ((SCT))

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Abstract

Four to six stringed plucked accompanying musical instrument, Tanpura, has been investigated in this chapter. The acoustical analysis and the spectral dynamics of the instrument has been studied. Though the strings are tuned to three fundamental frequencies, musicians get a cue of all the notes while performing. The uniqueness of this instrument lies in the periodic fluctuation of the frequency components and the multiple decays in its amplitude. The paper also presents Resonance Balance and the Energy Ratio of all the strings played individually by an expert musician. Four different Tanpuras of scales C, C-Sharp, G and B-Flat were taken for the study. It was shown in the paper that Resonance Balance and the Energy Ratio may be utilized for quality assessment. It also presents a critical analysis of the sound emanated by plucking the thick string (sa) of a male tanpura by an expert musician. Fast Fourier Transform was done in different time segments of the first 2.5 s of the signal. The result shows an abrupt change in the amplitude of the partials, in each time segments between 1000–2800 Hz. The overall amplitude spectrum shows multiple decays. Attempt has been made to explain the nature of vibrations of the string and its correlation with the musical quality. Differences in spectral quality are also investigated between Indian and German strings in Tanpura. The chapter also presents a comparative study on the spectral structures of a composite string sound prepared in the Laboratory by superimposing the sound after altering the pitch of the initial sound with a delay of 0.01 s., with the natural Tanpura sound (thick string). The result shows some similarities between these two sounds which might be helpful to establish a ‘two-string’ model for Tanpura.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sir C V Raman Centre for Physics and Music, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, West Bengal, India

    Asoke Kumar Datta, Ranjan Sengupta, Kaushik Banerjee & Dipak Ghosh

Authors
  1. Asoke Kumar Datta
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  2. Ranjan Sengupta
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  3. Kaushik Banerjee
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  4. Dipak Ghosh
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Correspondence to Asoke Kumar Datta .

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Datta, A.K., Sengupta, R., Banerjee, K., Ghosh, D. (2019). Acoustic Analysis of Tanpura Signals. In: Acoustical Analysis of the Tanpura. Signals and Communication Technology. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2610-3_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2610-3_6

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-13-2609-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-13-2610-3

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