Empirical Musicology Review: Volume 2, Number 1 (2007)

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https://kb.osu.edu/handle/1811/24472

Empirical Musicology Review Vol. 2, No. 1, 2007

Issue DOI: https://doi.org/10.18061/1811/24472

The Contribution of Anthropometric Factors to Individual Differences in the Perception of Rhythm
Todd, Neil P. McAngus; Cousins, Rosanna; Lee, Christopher S. pp. 1-13
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Embodied Rhythm: Commentary on "The Contribution of Anthropometric Factors to Individual Differences in the Perception of Rhythm" by Neil P. McAngus Todd, Rosanna Cousins, and Christopher S. Lee
Repp, Bruno H. pp. 14-16
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Do Preferred Beat Rate and Entrainment to the Beat Have a Common Origin in Movement?
Trainor, Laurel J. pp. 17-20
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Timbre as an Elusive Component of Imagery for Music
Bailes, Freya pp. 21-34
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Commentary on "Timbre as an Elusive Component of Imagery for Music," by Freya Bailes
Halpern, Andrea pp. 35-37
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Why Not Study Polytonal Psychophysics?
Cook, Norman D.; Fujisawa, Takashi X.; Konaka, Hiroo pp. 38-44
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Announcements
Butler, David pp. 45-46
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Journal home page: http://emusicology.org

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Announcements
(Empirical Musicology Review, 2007-01) Butler, David
Do Preferred Beat Rate and Entrainment to the Beat Have a Common Origin in Movement?
(Empirical Musicology Review, 2007-01) Trainor, Laurel J.
The idea that beat induction derives from body movement is attractive, but until recently unequivocal empirical evidence of such a linkage has been elusive. Todd et al. (2007) provide evidence that individual differences in locomotion affect preferred beat rate, and Phillips-Silver & Trainor (2005, 2007, under review) show that metrical interpretation is affected by movement. These studies examine different aspects of rhythm processing, but together provide converging evidence for pervasive movement/auditory interactions.
Embodied Rhythm: Commentary on "The Contribution of Anthropometric Factors to Individual Differences in the Perception of Rhythm" by Neil P. McAngus Todd, Rosanna Cousins, and Christopher S. Lee
(Empirical Musicology Review, 2007-01) Repp, Bruno H.
Todd, Cousins, and Lee (2007) have presented some intriguing data suggesting that body size, as measured by standard anthropometric indices, is related to the preferred beat period in a perceptual task. Curiously, however, they did not find a significant sex difference, even though the women in their sample were clearly smaller than the men. Another recent study of preferred spontaneous tempo (McAuley et al., 2006) likewise failed to find a sex difference in a large sample of young adults. It is unclear why body size should have an effect only within each sex group.
The Contribution of Anthropometric Factors to Individual Differences in the Perception of Rhythm
(Empirical Musicology Review, 2007-01) Todd, Neil P. McAngus; Cousins, Rosanna; Lee, Christopher S.
In a sample of 44 human subjects, aged between 18 and 38 years, two distinct measurement procedures were carried out: (1) a psychophysical procedure to determine ‘preferred beat rate’ and (2) standard anthropometry to determine mass and 6 skeletal dimensions. Additionally the factors of sex, age and musicianship were also assessed. ANOVAs were carried out with preferred beat rate as the dependent variable and each of the anthropometric variables as between-subjects factors, partitioned into two levels, defined by the 50th percentile. Significant effects were obtained for age, anthropometric factors and the interaction between age and sex, totalling about 40% of the explainable variance. No significant main effects of sex or musicianship were obtained.
Commentary on "Timbre as an Elusive Component of Imagery for Music," by Freya Bailes
(Empirical Musicology Review, 2007-01) Halpern, Andrea
The study of musical timbre by Bailes (2007) raises important questions concerning the relative ease of imaging complex perceptual attributes such as timbre, compared to more unidimensional attributes. I also raise the issue of individual differences in auditory imagery ability, especially for timbre.
Timbre as an Elusive Component of Imagery for Music
(Empirical Musicology Review, 2007-01) Bailes, Freya
Evidence of the ability to imagine timbre is either anecdotal, or applies to isolated instrument tones rather than timbre in real music. Experiments were conducted to infer the vividness of timbre in imagery for music. Music students were asked to judge whether the timbre of a sounded target note was the same or different from the original following a heard, imagined, or control musical context. A pilot experiment manipulated instrumentation, while the main experiment manipulated sound filters. The hypothesis that participants are able to internalise timbral aspects of music was supported by an ability to perform the timbre discrimination task, and by facilitated response when imaging the timbre context compared with non-imaging. However, while participants were able to mentally represent timbre, this was not always reported as being a conscious dimension of their musical image. This finding is discussed in relation to previous research suggesting that timbre may be a sound characteristic that is optionally present in imagery for music.
Why Not Study Polytonal Psychophysics?
(Empirical Musicology Review, 2007-01) Cook, Norman D.; Fujisawa, Takashi X.; Konaka, Hiroo
The relative consonance/dissonance of 2-tone intervals is well understood both experimentally and theoretically and provides a strong foundation for explaining why diatonic scales or their subsets are used in most musical cultures. Frequent textbook assertions notwithstanding, however, the consonance of intervals fails to account for the basic facts of harmony (3 or more tone combinations). We have recently shown (Cook & Fujisawa, 2006) how consideration of 3-tone psychophysics can explain the fundamental regularities of diatonic harmony. Distinct from the dissonance of 2-tone intervals, 3-tone combinations introduce an effect described by Leonard Meyer (1956) as harmonic “tension”: when a third tone is located midway between an upper and a lower tone, the chord takes on an unresolved, unstable, tense character – a psychoacoustical property inherent to the diminished and augmented chords. If the effects of the upper partials are included in a formal model that includes both 2-tone and 3-tone effects, the perceived sonority of the triads (major>minor> diminished>augmented) is easily explained.

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