Evaluating rules for the synthetic performance of melodies

Starting from a text-to-speech conversion program (Carlson & Granstrom, 1975), a note-to-tone conversion program has been developed (!Xmdberg & ~rydh, 1985). It works with a set of ordered rules af fe&- ing the performance of melodies written into the computer. Depending on the musical context, each of these rules manipulates various tone parameters, such as sound level, fundamental frequency, duration, etc. In the present study the effect of some of the rules developed so far on the musical quality of the performance is tested; various musical excerpts perbrmed according to different combinations an5 versions of nine performance rules were played to musically trained listeners who rated the musical quality. The results support the assumption that the musical quality of the performance is improved by applying the rules. QC 20180914