The melodic structures of music and speech: Applications and dimensions of the implication—realization model

Review: Sweet Anticipation: Music and the Psychology of Expectation, by David Huron

“…With regard to melody, Huron sketches several examples of statistically common tendencies from the well studied field of melodic expectation (e.g., Margulis, 2005;Meyer, 1956;Narmour, 1991;Schellenberg, 1996), such as pitch proximity (the tendency for notes in a melody to be close to each other), step declination (the tendency for notes in a melody to fall), step inertia (the tendency for notes to keep moving in the same direction), melodic regression (the tendency for notes farthest from the mean note of the melody to be followed by notes that are closer to the mean note of the melody), and melodic arches (the tendency for melodic phrases to rise at the beginning and fall at the end of a phrase). Compelling experimental evidence is provided in support of the assumption that people more or less expect to hear these statistically common melodic tendencies.…”

Toward a Unified Theory of the I-R Model (Part 1)

“…From Figure 5 we see that small intervals tend to imply continuity (Meyer, 1973;Narmour, 1974Narmour, , 1989Narmour, , 1990Narmour, , 1991aNarmour, , 1992, which is now backed by empirical data, and that large ones tend to imply reversal (Meyer, 1973;Narmour, 1974Narmour, , 1989Narmour, , 1990Narmour, , 1991aNarmour, , 1992. Rising and falling melodic intervals are categorical, and as such they are so perceived by both trained (anchor prone) and untrained (magnet prone) listeners (Aruffo, Goldstone, & Earn, 2014), whether they have perfect or relative pitch (intervals can be significantly out of tune and still be recognized as belonging to a category; see Vurma & Ross, 2005).…”

“…Formulating a unified theory of scaled, analogical, isomorphic structures to explain the dimensions of music (Narmour, 1989(Narmour, , 1990(Narmour, , 1991a has been a goal of the I-R model since its inception (Narmour 1977(Narmour , 1984. Those familiar with the I-R model will recognize below numerous and extensive changes to the analytical symbols.…”

Prominence and Expectation in Speech and Music Through the Lens of Pitch Processing

“…The I-R model also has the potential to explain the intonation patterns in speech, as once tentatively outlined in Narmour (1991). This is because the I-R model is built on the idea that human's expectation patterns are governed by principles that can be applied universally (Narmour, 1990).…”

“…This is because the I-R model is built on the idea that human’s expectation patterns are governed by principles that can be applied universally ( Narmour, 1990 ). The principles of the model, therefore, are relevant to all types of melody/prosody (e.g., music or speech; Narmour, 1991 ). Indeed, the above review on the pitch patterns of surprise in speech and music suggests that in both domains, small intervals (i.e., small pitch excursions) are generally less likely to trigger surprise than large intervals.…”