Intensity changes and perceived similarity: Inter-parametric analogies

Abstract

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. 39

Musical Tension and the Interaction of Dynamic Auditory Parameters

“…Correspondingly, Eitan and Granot (2007) have demonstrated that changes in different musical parameters, including loudness, pitch direction, and tempo (though only when coupled with ascending pitch) can be perceived as comparable intensity changes. We assume that such intensity changes will affect tension ratings: crescendo, accelerando, and pitch rise (increases in intensity) will all be associated with higher tension ratings, while diminuendo, ritardando, and pitch fall will be associated with lower tension ratings.…”

“…Another relevant study employing systematic manipulation of musical parameters is Eitan and Granot (2007), examining whether changes in musical parameters, including "increase" or "decrease" in loudness, pitch, and tempo, are perceived as analogous. Parameters investigated included pitch direction (up or down) and attack rate (accelerando vs. ritardando) and all their combinations, pitch interval size (increasing vs. decreasing), and two measures of harmonic stability.…”

Musical Parameters and Children's Images of motion

“…Both kindergarten children (Van Zee, 1976) and fourth graders (Andrews & Deihl, 1970) tended to use terms such as high/low, large/small fast/slow and loud/soft interchangeably for different musical dimensions. This "confusion" may reflect sensitivity to amodal features such as intensity, that associate states of higher (high pitch, loud volume, fast pace) and lower intensity in different musical dimensions (Eitan, 2007;Eitan & Granot, 2007).…”

“…The relationships of ascending pitch with increasing distance and speed, or of pitch descent with leftward motion, found for adults in Eitan & Granot (2006), cannot be easily derived from direct experience with sound. Rather, they may be related to an abstract scheme, mapping different parameters onto a quantitative scale (Eitan & Granot, 2007;Eitan, 2007). Even the entrenched verticality metaphor was used by children more consistently for loudness than for pitch, perhaps due to the concrete relationships of loudness with larger physical dimensions.…”

Growing Oranges on Mozart's Apple Tree: "Inner Form" and Aesthetic Judgment

“…As Levinson or Gurney would suggest, the participants' sense of incoherence may be primarily based on the presence of local contrasts between adjacent events, rather than on global or remote relationships. Moreover, as several empirical studies have indicated, listeners' judgments of thematic similarity often rely on musical dimensions such as dynamics, pitch register, and texture, rather than on the dimensions that most music theorists view as the bases of musical unity, such as tonal relationships and pitch intervals (Eitan & Granot, 2007;Lamont & Dibben, 2001;Ziv & Eitan, 2007). Simple auditory cues, not specific to music, thus play a central role in similarity perception and categorization in music, even in those musical styles (such as the Classical style) where, according to established music theories, they are supposed to be almost irrelevant to such tasks.…”