Comparison of Word Intelligibility in Spoken and Sung Phrases

Twenty listeners were exposed to spoken and sung passages in English produced by three trained vocalists. Passages included representative words extracted from a large database of vocal lyrics, including both popular and classical repertoires. Target words were set within spoken or sung carrier phrases. Sung carrier phrases were selected from classical vocal melodies. Roughly a quarter of all words sung by an unaccompanied soloist were misheard. Sung passages showed a seven-fold decrease in intelligibility compared with their spoken counterparts. The perceptual mistakes occurring with vowels replicate previous studies showing the centralization of vowels. Significant confusions are also evident for consonants, especially voiced stops and nasals

On the Role of Embellishment Tones in the Perceptual Segregation of Concurrent Musical Parts

An analysis of 50 chorale harmonizations by J.S. Bach shows that the use of embellishment tones is consistent with several principles known to contribute to the perceptual segregation of auditory streams. The results imply that a major role of embellishment tones may be to enhance the perceptual independence of the individual parts or voices. In addition, it is shown that Bach tends to distribute embellishment tones in alternating voices. This “turn-taking” is consistent with a single-channel model of attention where asynchronous onset cues are used to refresh the presumed auditory image for each voice

A Comparison of Average Pitch Height and Interval Size in Major- and Minor-key Themes: Evidence Consistent with Affect-related Pitch Prosody

An analysis of 9,788 instrumental themes shows that minor-key themes are, on average, slightly lower in pitch than major-key themes. The lower pitch is not merely an artifact of structural differences in the scales. In addition, instrumental themes in minor keys show a weak though significant tendency to use smaller pitch intervals. Both results are consistent with observations in speech prosody, where sad speakers exhibit a lower F0 and narrower pitch fluctuation compared with normal or happy speakers

Le management public local au regard de la spécificité territoriale française

ISBN: 978-2-908-12166-0National audienceCulture and history are at the origin of French local situation's specificity. This particularity requires new answers and adapted measures from local actors. Systematic resort to partnership, reorganization of the decision making process, and role sharing between politicians and civil servants, seem emerging in the French local public management.L'histoire et la culture sont à l'origine de la singularité de la situation locale française. Ce particularisme exige des décideurs locaux des réponses et mesures adaptées. Le recours systématique au partenariat, la réorganisation de la prise de décision, et le partage des rôles entre élus et fonctionnaires semblent consacrer l'émergence du management public local français

Asynchronous Preparation of Tonally Fused Intervals in Polyphonic Music

An analysis of a sample of polyphonic keyboard works by J.S. Bach shows that synchronous note onsets are avoided for those harmonic intervals that most promote tonal fusion (such as unison, fifths and octaves). This pattern is consistent with perceptual research showing an interaction between onset synchrony and tonal fusion in the formation of auditory streams (e.g., Vos, 1995). The results provide further support for the notion that polyphonic music is organized so as to facilitate the perceptual independence of the concurrent parts

A Psychological Approach to Musical Form: The Habituation–Fluency Theory of Repetition

With the possible exception of dance and meditation, there appears to be nothing else in common human experience that is comparable to music in its repetitiveness (Kivy 1993; Ockelford 2005; Margulis 2013). Narrative artifacts like movies, novels, cartoon strips, stories, and speeches have much less internal repetition. Even poetry is less repetitive than music. Occasionally, architecture can approach music in repeating some elements, but only some- times. There appears to be no visual analog to the sort of trance–inducing music that can engage listeners for hours. Although dance and meditation may be more repetitive than music, dance is rarely performed in the absence of music, and meditation tellingly relies on imagining a repeated sound or mantra (Huron 2006: 267). Repetition can be observed in music from all over the world (Nettl 2005). In much music, a simple “strophic” pattern is evident in which a single phrase or passage is repeated over and over. When sung, it is common for successive repetitions to employ different words, as in the case of strophic verses. However, it is also common to hear the same words used with each repetition

Le management public local au regard de la spécificité territoriale française

ISBN: 978-2-908-12166-0National audienceCulture and history are at the origin of French local situation's specificity. This particularity requires new answers and adapted measures from local actors. Systematic resort to partnership, reorganization of the decision making process, and role sharing between politicians and civil servants, seem emerging in the French local public management.L'histoire et la culture sont à l'origine de la singularité de la situation locale française. Ce particularisme exige des décideurs locaux des réponses et mesures adaptées. Le recours systématique au partenariat, la réorganisation de la prise de décision, et le partage des rôles entre élus et fonctionnaires semblent consacrer l'émergence du management public local français

Les sites web des communes françaises: marketing, communication et démarche participative des habitants. Application aux communes du département de la Loire

Le réseau des réseaux est devenu un support marketing sur lequel les organisations se doivent d'être présentes. Les communes développent donc des sites sur internet qui ont des objectifs contextuels différents. L'étude de 15 sites de communes du département de la Loire montre en effet que les collectivités locales utilisent le web pour se positionner, voire se différencier.Marketing – Démarche participative – Communication - Managementpublic local - Positionnement

Le management public local au regard de la spécificité territoriale française

L'histoire et la culture sont à l'origine de la singularité de la situation locale française. Ce particularisme exige des décideurs locaux des réponses et mesures adaptées. Le recours systématique au partenariat, la réorganisation de la prise de décision, et le partage des rôles entre élus et fonctionnaires semblent consacrer l'émergence du management public local français.Management public, fonction publique territoriale, prise de décision