A Comparison of the Emotional Characteristics of the Violin and Erhu on the Butterfly Lovers Concerto

MPhil Thesis Defence


Title: "A Comparison of the Emotional Characteristics of the Violin and
Erhu on the Butterfly Lovers Concerto"

By

Mr. Dustin LEE


Abstract:

Recent research has shown how different instruments have different 
emotional characteristics and how these emotional characteristics change 
with pitch and dynamics on instruments such as the piano and Western bowed 
strings with isolated notes. This thesis investigates the difference in 
emotional characteristics of the Chinese erhu and violin using musical 
excerpts from the Butterfly Lovers Concerto. We conducted two listening 
tests. The first listening test was an absolute test, where subjects rated 
Arousal, Valence, and emotional intensity of four emotional 
characteristics: Romantic, Joyful, Agitated, and Bittersweet. It was found 
that the violin had higher overall Valence and Arousal scores than the 
erhu. The violin also had higher emotional intensity for Romantic, Joyful, 
and Agitated excerpts, while the erhu had higher emotional intensity for 
Bittersweet excerpts, though the differences were not statistically 
significant. The second listening test considers the violin and erhu using 
relative comparisons and the same musical excerpts. The results show that 
the violin was statistically stronger in emotional intensity for all four 
emotional categories. The erhu performed was relatively stronger on 
Bittersweet excerpts. The results suggest that the violin has a wider 
range and dramatic expression than the erhu, at least for this piece.


Date:                   Thursday, 21 May 2020

Time:                   4:30pm - 6:30pm

Zoom meeting:           https://hkust.zoom.us/j/99448748028

Committee Members:      Prof. Andrew Horner (Supervisor)
                        Dr. Raymond Wong (Chairperson)
                        Dr. Desmond Tsoi


**** ALL are Welcome ****