We examine how individuals who are congenitally or early blind (CEB), as compared with sighted individuals, associate musical parameters with nonauditory domains. Expl (modeled after Eitan & Granot, 2006) investigated how participants associate pitch direction, loudness change and tempo change with motion features. In Exp2 (modeled after Eitan & Timmere, 2010), participants rated appropriateness of 10 antonyms as metaphors for two musical segments contrasting in pitch height. Most CEB's mappings of auditory parameters did not differ from those of the sighted. Notably, this included even the mapping of pitch onto visually based dimensions (e.g., lightness). This notwithstanding, CEB's mappings of musical parameters onto motion (Expl) were distinct in several ways. First, distance change (particularly approach) was associated by CEB with tempo and pitch change, in addition to loudness. Second, and most surprisingly, the prevalent mapping of pitch direction and vertical motion was lacking among CEB (Expl). The latter finding suggests that the elevation mapping for auditory pitch may be inherently associated with sight, perhaps stemming from early learning of spectral pinna-based elevation cues using audiovisual information.We can hardly refer to musical sound-indeed, to any soundwithout using terms derived from nonauditory domains. In a variety of languages, even the most basic terms for auditory dimensions use cross-domain mappings. We speak of pitch in terms of spatial height ("high" and "low," or "rising" and "falhng" melody), of sound quality in visual (bright/dark) or tactile (rough/
Performance studies relying on sound recordings as evidence have often focused on establishing trends and conventions in various periods and repertoires. There is a growing consensus that the pre-1940s was an era of diversity while the second half of the twentieth century witnessed increasing homogeneity. 1 This tendency is usually explained to be the result cultural differences, such as national or regional violin schools or the influence of a particular teacher. 2 So far little attention has been paid to individual difference, whether in the early or the later half of the century or to differences in performance trends specific to particular repertoires. 3 Yet without a close scrutiny of artistic profiles it is difficult to move beyond the broad categories distinction is essential if musicologists of European concert music wish to argue, in the wake of the
Most cross-cultural research on music and emotions is targeted at examining participants’ ability to perceive the emotional intent of the music or the musician. Fewer studies, however, have investigated participants’ affective responses to the music being played. This study seeks to explore the influence of ethno-cultural differences on both quality and quantity of emotions induced by the music, by examining whether individuals in two discrete ethnic groups who share similar musical backgrounds differ in their categorical judgments and the intensity of ratings representing their felt emotions while listening to familiar and unfamiliar music. Participants ( N=236) were Israeli Arabs (IA) and Israeli Jews (IJ) who either lacked previous music education or who attended a music-appreciation course focused on ten excerpts from well-known European art music. Having listened to each excerpt, participants were instructed to make a categorical judgment by selecting the one of nine descriptors that best reflected the emotion they felt in response to the music, and to rate its overall intensity. Relatively small differences between the two ethnic groups were identified with regard to the categorical judgments, supporting previous cross-cultural research on perceived emotions in music. IA reported higher levels of intensity than IJ, however—particularly (in two cases) if they were familiar with the music, perhaps because of cultural characteristics and group-specific attributes.
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