The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceived pitch of string vibrato tones. The authors used recordings of acoustic instruments (cello and violin) to provide both vibrato stimulus tones and the nonvibrato tones that listeners adjusted to match the perceived pitch of the vibrato stimuli. We were interested especially in whether there were differences in pitch perception of vibrato tones between string performers (n = 36) and music majors without string performance experience (n = 36). Both groups of music major listeners perceived the pitch of vibrato tones very near the mean frequency of the vibrato for cello and violin tones. Although means were similar, string players exhibited significantly less deviation in tuning judgments than non-string players for both violin and cello tones. Results appear consistent with earlier perceptual research as well as performance research indicating that string performers vibrate both above and below the intended pitch.
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