Intensity changes and perceived similarity

Inter-parametric analogies

Bibliographic Data

ID20407476
AuthorsZohar Eitan (Tel Aviv University), Roni Granot (0000-0002-0711-8322, Hebrew University of Jerusalem), Roni Y Granot (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
Year2007
Volume11
Issue1_suppl
Pages39-75
Publication date2007-03-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueMusicae Scientiae (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1029-8649 • E-ISSN: 2045-4147
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/1029864907011001031
OpenAlexW2317232806
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited61

Music theorists and psychologists have described diverse musical processes in terms of changes (increase or decrease) in “intensity”. This paper examines the hypothesis that analogous intensity changes in different musical parameters can be perceived as similar, and discusses implications of such perception for music analysis. In the experiment reported, participants rated the degree to which members of pairs of musical stimuli were similar in character to a “standard” — a crescendo on a repeated tone. One member of each pair presented an “increase” in a specific musical parameter, while the other presented a “decrease” (e.g., pitch ascent vs. descent). Parameters investigated included melodic direction and attack rate and their combinations, pitch interval size, motivic pace, and harmonic tension. For most parameters, the intensifying figure was rated as closer to the standard (itself intensifying) than its abating counterpart. Perceived similarity was strongest between figures presenting intensification in dynamics (crescendo) and pitch direction (ascent), while similarity between intensification in dynamics and tempo (accelerando) was weaker, and perceived mainly by musically-trained subjects. Similarity between dynamic change and harmonic progression was perceived only when the latter involved manipulation of dissonance, and dynamic intensification and increase in pitch interval size were perceived as similar only for ascending intervals. Importantly, the combined effect of melodic direction and attack rate on similarity perception was additive, rather than interactive, though the effect of melodic direction was significantly stronger. This result supports models of “integrated intensity contours” (Berry, 1976; Todd, 1994), but suggests different weighting for different musical parameters. In sum, results indicate that listeners can perceive intensity contours in different parameters as analogous, and thus suggest that intensity contours may serve as musical “gestures”, regardless of the specific parameters depicting them. The implications of these results to music analysis are discussed with regard to motivic structure, thematic prototypicality, and structural functions of intensity contours

Art · Cognitive psychology · Combinatorics · Melody · Musical · Perception · Relative pitch · Speech recognition · Computer Science · Mathematics · Multisensory perception and integration · Music and Audio Processing · Neuroscience and Music Perception · Psychology · Social Psychology · Artificial Intelligence

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