Linking melodic expectation to expressive performance timing and perceived musical tension.

Abstract

This research explored the relations between the predictability of musical structure, expressive timing in performance, and listeners' perceived musical tension. Studies analyzing the influence of expressive timing on listeners' affective responses have been constrained by the fact that, in most pieces, the notated durations limit performers' interpretive freedom. To circumvent this issue, we focused on the unmeasured prelude, a semi-improvisatory genre without notated durations. In Experiment 1, 12 professional harpsichordists recorded an unmeasured prelude on a harpsichord equipped with a MIDI console. Melodic expectation was assessed using a probabilistic model (IDyOM [Information Dynamics of Music]) whose expectations have been previously shown to match closely those of human listeners. Performance timing information was extracted from the MIDI data using a score-performance matching algorithm. Time-series analyses showed that, in a piece with unspecified note durations, the predictability of melodic structure measurably influenced tempo fluctuations in performance. In Experiment 2, another 10 harpsichordists, 20 nonharpsichordist musicians, and 20 nonmusicians listened to the recordings from Experiment 1 and rated the perceived tension continuously. Granger causality analyses were conducted to investigate predictive relations among melodic expectation, expressive timing, and perceived tension. Although melodic expectation, as modeled by IDyOM, modestly predicted perceived tension for all participant groups, neither of its components, information content or entropy, was Granger causal. In contrast, expressive timing was a strong predictor and was Granger causal. However, because melodic expectation was also predictive of expressive timing, our results outline a complete chain of influence from predictability of melodic structure via expressive performance timing to perceived musical tension. (PsycINFO Database Record

A Probabilistic Model of Meter Perception: Simulating Enculturation

“…Furthermore, influential proposals have postulated close ties between expectation and both emotional responses to music (Huron, 2006) and musical meaning (Meyer, 1957). Regarding tension, melodic expectation has recently been linked to expressive performance, which in turn was linked to perceived tension (Gingras et al, 2015). …”

“…It was designed for modeling dynamically changing auditory expectations, based on long-term and short-term statistical learning, which evolve as a piece of music unfolds. Empirical research has demonstrated that IDyOM accurately simulates listeners' predictive processing of melody in many perceptual tasks involving pitch expectation (Pearce, 2005; Pearce et al, 2010; Omigie et al, 2012, 2013), uncertainty (Hansen and Pearce, 2014), segmentation (Pearce et al, 2010) and emotional response (Egermann et al, 2013; Gingras et al, 2015). …”

Statistical learning and probabilistic prediction in music cognition: mechanisms of stylistic enculturation

“…Gingras et al . report a study that examines the relationship between compositional structure, expressive performance timing, and perceived tension in this communicative process . IDyOM was used to characterize, in terms of IC and entropy, the compositional structure of the Prélude non mesuré No.…”

“…This enables successful communication of musical meaning between composers and performers and between performers and listeners. 2,[5][6][7][8] Unlike many other general theories of music cognition, [9][10][11][12] this approach elegantly encompasses the idea that listeners exposed to different musical styles will differ in their psychological processing of music. It provides naturally for musical enculturation, the process by which listeners internalize the regularities and constraints defining and distinguishing musical styles and cultures.…”

What Constitutes a Phrase in Sound-Based Music? A Mixed-Methods Investigation of Perception and Acoustics

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