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Perceiving musical tension in long chord sequences.
1LEAD-CNRS, Université de Bourgogne, Dijon, France. Bigand@satie.U-Bourgogne.fr
Psychological Research
|February 1, 2000
Summary
Perceived musical tension is primarily driven by local harmonic cadences, not global structure. Models best predicting tension focus on these local cues, reflecting a short perceptual window in music listening.
Area of Science:
- Music Cognition
- Psychoacoustics
- Computational Musicology
Background:
- Understanding musical tension perception is key to music cognition.
- Existing models often focus on hierarchical structures, but empirical validation is needed.
Purpose of the Study:
- To predict perceived musical tension in chord sequences using cognitive and psychoacoustical theories.
- To evaluate the influence of global versus local harmonic structures on tension ratings.
Main Methods:
- Testing hierarchical (Lerdahl & Jackendoff) and sequential models against empirical data.
- Collecting tension ratings from musicians and non-musicians on chord sequences from novel and existing musical pieces.
- Manipulating experimental conditions to emphasize global or local musical structure.
Main Results:
- Perceived musical tension was weakly influenced by global harmonic structure.
- Local harmonic cadences were the primary determinant of perceived tension.
- The hierarchical model best fit tension ratings due to its capture of local cadence effects.
Conclusions:
- Musical tension perception relies heavily on local structures, particularly cadences.
- A hierarchical model can effectively predict tension by accounting for local cues, despite limited sensitivity to global structure.
- Music perception may operate through a short perceptual window, processing sequences via cadences.