Absolute Pitch in Oral Transmission of Folk Tunes as Constrained Random Walks

In this commentary, I would like to add a few of our own, still unpublished, empirical observations concerning the possible role of absolute pitch memory (APM) in the oral transmission of folksongs. This empirical data poses some questions on the likelihood of the observed inter-recording tonic pitch consistency of Olthof, Janssen & Honing (2015) and how these could come about. Based on simulations of absolute pitch class of tonics during oral transmission of folk songs, I argue that the interplay of melodic range and vocal range might actually be the main reason for the observed non-uniformity, in contrast to the conclusions presented in Olthof et al. (2015). However, this does not invalidate the therein presented evidence, but makes the case more puzzling, consequently calling for more empirical research on the interaction of melodic and vocal range and latent APM as well as for more detailed modeling of oral transmission of folk songs

Musical development during adolescence: Perceptual skills, cognitive resources, and musical training

Longitudinal studies on musical development can provide very valuable insights and potentially evidence for causal mechanisms driving the development of musical skills and cognitive resources, such as working memory and intelligence. Nonetheless, quantitative longitudinal studies on musical and cognitive development are very rare in the published literature. Hence, the aim of this paper is to document available longitudinal evidence on musical development from three different sources. In part I, data from a systematic literature review are presented in a graphical format, making developmental trends from five previous longitudinal studies comparable. Part II presents a model of musical development derived from music-related variables that are part of the British Millennium Cohort Study. In part III, data from the ongoing LongGold project are analyzed answering five questions on the change of musical skills and cognitive resources across adolescence and on the role that musical training and activities might play in these developmental processes. Results provide evidence for substantial near transfer effects (from musical training to musical skills) and weaker evidence for far-transfer to cognitive variables. But results also show evidence of cognitive profiles of high intelligence and working memory capacity that are conducive to strong subsequent growth rates of musical development

Did Melody Become a Schrödinger Cat? Commentary on Clark & Arthur

I comment on Clark and Arthur's response to a YouTuber’s claim of the death of melody for which they used corpus analysis and statistical methods of computational musicology. While I basically appreciate the effort, I also will discuss three pertinent problems I see ingrained here: whether such claims can be substantiated in any form in the first place, and how to react to dubious claims disseminated from YouTube musicology, and I will also shortly discuss some methodological issues

Don't hide in the frames: Note- and pattern-based evaluation of automated melody extraction algorithms

International audienc

The perception and recognition of Wagnerian leitmotifs in multimodal conditions

Introduction. The leitmotifs in Richard Wagner’s “Der Ring des Nibelungen” fulfil several musical, dramatic and semiotic functions. While many music-analytic and hermeneutic studies have investigated Richard Wagner’s use of leitmotifs as a compositional technique, the question as to the extent to which the recognition of leitmotifs is possible in the context of the overall net of leitmotifs, seems to be, as yet, largely unexplored.Aims. The present study investigates the influence of several factors on the recognition and understanding of leitmotifs: First, the effect of inherent musical features of the leitmotifs themselves; second, the influence of listeners’ musical background such as music theoretical knowledge, musical skills and specific Wagner-expertise; and third, the impact of presentation context, i.e., audio vs. audio-visual.Methods. Forty-five subjects (musicians and non-musicians) were required to recognize four distinct leitmotifs (“Ring-Motiv”, “Vertrags-Motiv”, “Grübel-Motiv”, “Nibelungen-Motiv”) in a ten minute excerpt from “Siegfried“, the so called “Wissenswette” in the second scene of the first act. According to the semiotic typologies of signs of the American philosopher Charles S. Peirce it was possible to differentiate between iconic (i.e. “Grübel-Motiv”) and symbolic (i.e. “Vertags-Motiv”) motifs.After providing socio-demographic and musical background information as well as reporting their knowledge of Wagner’s musical works and his compositional techniques, subjects had to memorize the four leitmotifs. The subjects could listen to the leitmotifs as many times as they wished.In order to analyse the influence of the leitmotifs’ characteristics on the listener, subjects were also asked to note down spontaneous associations while listening to the leitmotifs. Thus the semantic content of the leitmotifs and the correlation of the leitmotifs’ structure and their meaning could be assessed. Afterwards, a short memorisation test preceded the main recognition task. For this purpose 20 other leitmotifs, among them the four relevant leitmotifs, were randomly presented to the participants. The subjects had to give an agreed sign if they recognized the four leitmotifs.For the leitmotif recognition test, the subjects were divided into two groups: The first group listened to an audio excerpt of the Siegfried scene, whereas the second group was presented with the full audio- visual sequence.During the recognition task a MIDI-keyboard was installed in front of the participants; four of its keys were assigned to the four leitmotifs. With an additional (correction) key the subjects were able to correct possibly wrong identifications. The subjects were asked to press the respective key as long as they could hear the specific leitmotif and release the key not before the leitmotif had faded away.The MIDI-signal of the keyboard was recorded with “Cubase”. The audio sequence of the excerpt from “Siegfried” was as well imported in “Cubase”, so that the two tracks could be easily synchronized and recognitions matched. Due to Wagner’s elaborate system of leitmotifs, the motifs in the chosen sequence were not necessarily identic to the ones presented for memorization. They could differ in length, shape, tempo, instrumentation and timbre. Moreover they could appear as short fragments of the whole motifs.Results. On average, 47. 2 % of all possible occurrences of Leitmotifs could be recognized. While the “Vertrags-Motiv” (72.2 %) and the “Grübel-Motiv” (62.7 %) were recognized by the majority of subjects, the “Nibelungen-Motiv” (34.3 %) and the “Ring-Motiv” (22.6 %) were less frequently identified. Expertise in Wagner’s music was a significant predictor for the overall as well as for specific leitmotif recognition rates, while musical skills were had only a small influence. No significant differences in leitmotif recognition rates between presentation modes (audio vs. audio-visual) across all motifs could be observed. There was only a small influence on the “Nibelungen-Motiv” recognition, probably due to the evident connection between the musical motif and the corresponding visual presented protagonist. Significantly higher recognition rates were found for the most salient (concise) motif (“Vertrags-Motiv”), and for the most clearly iconic motif (“Grübel-Motiv”). With regard to semantic content, the “Grübel-Motiv” and the “Vertrags-Motiv” were more likely to be associated with their standard meaning than the “Ring-Motiv” and the “Nibelungen-Motiv”. At least in our sample, the semiotic nature and salience of leitmotifs seem to be independent dimensions. Consequences for the communication process will be discussed.Keywords: leitmotiv; recognition; semiotic; Richard Wagne

Perception of Chord Sequences Modeled with Prediction by Partial Matching, Voice-Leading Distance, and Spectral Pitch-Class Similarity: A New Approach for Testing Individual Differences in Harmony Perception

The perception of harmony has been the subject of many studies in the research literature, though little is known regarding how individuals vary in their ability to discriminate between different chord sequences. The aim of the current study was to construct an individual-differences test for the processing of harmonic information. A stimulus database of 5076 harmonic sequences was constructed and several harmonic features were computed from these stimulus items. Participants were tasked with selecting which chord differed between two similar four-chord sequences, and their response data were modeled with explanatory item response models using the computational harmonic features as predictors. The final model suggests that participants’ responses can be modeled using transitional probabilities between chords, voice-leading distance, and spectral pitch-class distance cues, with participant ability correlated to three subscales from Goldsmiths Musical Sophistication Index. The item response model was used to create an adaptive test of harmonic progression discrimination ability (HPT) and validated in a second study showing substantial correlations with other tests of musical perception ability, self-reported musical abilities, and a working memory task. The HPT is a new free and open-source tool for assessing individual differences in harmonic sequence discrimination. Initial data suggest this harmonic discrimination ability relies heavily on transitional probabilities within harmonic progressions

Intonation in unaccompanied singing: Accuracy, drift, and a model of reference pitch memory

Copyright 2014 Acoustical Society of America. This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the Acoustical Society of America. The following article appeared in J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 136, 401 (2014) and may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1121/1.4881915

The Jack and Jill Adaptive Working Memory Task: Construction, Calibration and Validation

Visuospatial working memory (VSWM) is essential to human cognitive abilities and is associated with important life outcomes such as academic performance. Recently, a number of reliable measures of VSWM have been developed to help understand psychological processes and for practical use in education. We sought to extend this work using Item Response Theory (IRT) and Computerised Adaptive Testing (CAT) frameworks to construct, calibrate and validate a new adaptive, computerised, and open-source VSWM test. We aimed to overcome the limitations of previous instruments and provide researchers with a valid and freely available VSWM measurement tool. The Jack and Jill (JaJ) VSWM task was constructed using explanatory item response modelling of data from a sample of the general adult population (Study 1, N = 244) in the UK and US. Subsequently, a static version of the task was tested for validity and reliability using a sample of adults from the UK and Australia (Study 2, N = 148) and a sample of Russian adolescents (Study 3, N = 263). Finally, the adaptive version of the JaJ task was implemented on the basis of the underlying IRT model and evaluated with another sample of Russian adolescents (Study 4, N = 239). JaJ showed sufficient internal consistency and concurrent validity as indicated by significant and substantial correlations with established measures of working memory, spatial ability, non-verbal intelligence, and academic achievement. The findings suggest that JaJ is an efficient and reliable measure of VSWM from adolescent to adult age

Learning to play a musical instrument in the middle school is associated with superior audiovisual working memory and fluid intelligence: A cross-sectional behavioral study

Music training, in all its forms, is known to have an impact on behavior both in childhood and even in aging. In the delicate life period of transition from childhood to adulthood, music training might have a special role for behavioral and cognitive maturation. Among the several kinds of music training programs implemented in the educational communities, we focused on instrumental training incorporated in the public middle school curriculum in Italy that includes both individual, group and collective (orchestral) lessons several times a week. At three middle schools, we tested 285 preadolescent children (aged 10–14 years) with a test and questionnaire battery including adaptive tests for visuo-spatial working memory skills (with the Jack and Jill test), fluid intelligence (with a matrix reasoning test) and music-related perceptual and memory abilities (with listening tests). Of these children, 163 belonged to a music curriculum within the school and 122 to a standard curriculum. Significant differences between students of the music and standard curricula were found in both perceptual and cognitive domains, even when controlling for pre-existing individual differences in musical sophistication. The music children attending the third and last grade of middle school had better performance and showed the largest advantage compared to the control group on both audiovisual working memory and fluid intelligence. Furthermore, some gender differences were found for several tests and across groups in favor of females. The present results indicate that learning to play a musical instrument as part of the middle school curriculum represents a resource for preadolescent education. Even though the current evidence is not sufficient to establish the causality of the found effects, it can still guide future research evaluation with longitudinal data

Experiencing musical beauty: emotional subtypes and their physiological and musico-acoustic correlates

A listener’s aesthetic engagement with a musical piece often reaches peaks in response to passages experienced as especially beautiful. The present study examined the extent to which responses to such self-identified beautiful passages (BPs), in self-selected music, may be distinguishable in terms of their affective qualities. In an online survey, participants indicated pieces in which they considered specific passages to be outstandingly beautiful. In the lab, they listened to these pieces while physiological recordings were taken. Afterwards, they provided ratings on their experience of the BPs, where items targeted emotion response, underlying engagement mechanisms, and aesthetic evaluation. Cluster-analyses based on emotion ratings suggested three BP subtypes that we labelled low-Tension-low-Energy (LTLE), low-Tension-high-Energy (LTHE) and high-Tension-high-Energy (HTHE) BPs. LTHE and HTHE BPs induced greater interest and were more liked than LTLE BPs. Further, LTHE and HTHE clusters were associated with increases in skin-conductance, in accordance with the higher arousal reported for these BPs, while LTLE BPs resulted in the increases in smiling and respiration-rate previously associated with processing fluency and positive valence. LTLE BPs were also shown to be lower in tempo and polyphony than the other BP types. Finally, while both HTHE and LTHE BPs were associated with changes in dynamics, they nevertheless also showed distinct patterns whereby HTHE BPs were associated with increases in pitch register and LTHE BPs, with reductions in harmonic ambiguity. Thus, in line with our assumption that there is more than one kind of experience of musical beauty, our study reveals three distinct subtypes, distinguishable on a range of facets