Timbre has been identified by music perception scholars as an important component in the communication of affect in music. While its function as a carrier of perceptually useful information about sound source mechanics has been established, studies of whether and how it functions as a carrier of information for communicating affect in music are still in their infancy.

Lena Heng is currently a PhD student in the interdisciplinary stream, and their research addresses how people perceive and make sense of music. Lena’s research interests include music perception and cognition, timbral functions in musical communication, and musical semiology and hermeneutics. Originally from Singapore, Heng plays erhu with the Ding Yi Music Company in Singapore. Lena will illustrate their research to the audience during this presentation with a live performance on the Chinese erhu.