Tendency Towards the Average? The Aesthetic Evaluation of a Quantitatively Average Music Performance

Abstract

The present study has investigated the minimal-distance hypothesis in music (Langlois & Roggman, 1990; Repp, 1997) by replicating Repp's original study (1997) on the aesthetic quality of an averaged performance—compared to individual interpretations—of Robert Schumann's Träumerei (Op. 15, No. 7). Participants (N = 205) came from Germany and Taiwan and made up a convenience sample representing different degrees of musical sophistication. We used a 2 × 4 mixed methods design that compared the country of data collection (between factor) and the four selected interpretations (within factor). The dependent variable was a unidimensional construct describing the musical quality, which was developed with an exploratory factor analysis followed by a probabilistic item analysis. It was found that the evaluation of Taiwanese and German participants did not differ, but the ratings for the various interpretations successfully replicated Repp's results: The average performance was rated better than the individual performances, and the lowest rated performance from the original study was rated lowest in this replication as well (large effect size). The confirmation of this central effect in music perception research might be an incentive for further replication studies in music psychology.

The Chinese version of the Gold-MSI: Adaptation and validation of an inventory for the measurement of musical sophistication in a Taiwanese sample

“…Since its publication in 2014, the Gold-MSI has gained popularity in the field of music psychology and music education. For example, researchers used the Gold-MSI inventory to classify participants as musically trained or untrained (Bauer, Kreutz, & Herrmann, 2015; Farrugia, Jakubowski, Rhordi, & Stewart, 2015), to identify the possible influence of musical sophistication on research results (Kopiez, Wolf, Platz, & Mons, 2016; Wolf, Kopiez, Platz, Lin, & Mütze, 2018), and to keep track of the musical development trajectories of students in a school setting (Fiedler & Müllensiefen, 2017). Due to the applicability of the Gold-MSI inventory in various research settings, we are convinced that the adaptation of the Gold-MSI into Traditional Chinese for the Taiwanese population will make an essential contribution to the research literature and future cross-cultural research.…”

Negotiating a Shared Interpretation During Piano Duo Performance

“…Some categories of listeners, furthermore, tend to prefer more prototypical performances (Repp, 1997a; A. Wolf, Kopiez, Platz, Lin, & Mütze, 2018). Thus, our pianists may not have been driven to create particularly idiosyncratic interpretations.…”

“…Research by Repp (1997b) showed that early-career musicians tend to play more prototypically than do established musicians. Some categories of listeners, furthermore, tend to prefer more prototypical performances (Repp, 1997a;A. Wolf, Kopiez, Platz, Lin, & Mu ¨tze, 2018).…”

An Interdisciplinary Review of Music Performance Analysis

“…The performance parameters on which these assessments are based are not only subjective but also ill-defined, leading to large differences in subjective opinion among music educators (Thompson and Williamon, 2003;Wesolowski et al, 2016). However, other studies have shown that humans tend to rate prototypical (average) performances higher than individual performances (Repp, 1997a;Wolf et al, 2018). This might indicate that performances are rated based on some form of perceived distance from an 'ideal' per-formance.…”