The Cognition of Basic Musical Structures

by David Temperley

Overview

In this book, David Temperley addresses a fundamental question about music cognition: how do we extract basic kinds of musical information, such as meter, phrase structure, counterpoint, pitch spelling, harmony, and key from music as we hear it? Taking a computational approach, Temperley develops models for generating these aspects of musical structure. The models he proposes are based on preference rules, which are criteria for evaluating a possible structural analysis of a piece of music. A preference rule system evaluates many possible interpretations and chooses the one that best satisfies the rules.

After an introductory chapter, Temperley presents preference rule systems for generating six basic kinds of musical structure: meter, phrase structure, contrapuntal structure, harmony, and key, as well as pitch spelling (the labeling of pitch events with spellings such as A flat or G sharp). He suggests that preference rule systems not only show how musical structures are inferred, but also shed light on other aspects of music. He substantiates this claim with discussions of musical ambiguity, retrospective revision, expectation, and music outside the Western canon (rock and traditional African music). He proposes a framework for the description of musical styles based on preference rule systems and explores the relevance of preference rule systems to higher-level aspects of music, such as musical schemata, narrative and drama, and musical tension.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780262701051
Publisher:	MIT Press
Publication date:	08/20/2004
Series:	The MIT Press
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	422
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

David Temperley is Associate Professor of Music Theory at the Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester, and the author of The Cognition of Basic Musical Structures (MIT Press, 2001).

Table of Contents

	Preface	ix
	Acknowledgments	xiii
1	Introduction	1
1.1	An Unanswered Question	1
1.2	Goals and Methodology	4
1.3	Music Cognition and Music Theory	8
1.4	The Input Representation	9
1.5	The Preference Rule Approach	13
1.6	The Implementation Strategy	14
I	Six Preference Rule Systems	21
2	Metrical Structure	23
2.1	Meter	23
2.2	Previous Research on Metrical Analysis	27
2.3	A Preference Rule System for Meter	30
2.4	Implementation	39
2.5	Tests	42
2.6	Problems and Possible Improvements	44
2.7	Other Factors in Metrical Structure	48
2.8	Choosing the Right Tactus	52
3	Melodic Phrase Structure	55
3.1	Musical Grouping and Phrase Structure	55
3.2	Studies of Musical Grouping in Psychology	56
3.3	Models of Grouping Structure	60
3.4	A Preference Rule System for Melodic Phrase Structure	65
3.5	Implementation and Tests	71
3.6	Grouping in Polyphonic Music	76
4	Contrapuntal Structure	85
4.1	Counterpoint	85
4.2	Sequential Integration in Auditory Psychology	87
4.3	Computational Models of Contrapuntal Analysis	91
4.4	A Preference Rule System for Contrapuntal Analysis	96
4.5	Implementation	102
4.6	Tests	106
5	Pitch Spelling and the Tonal-Pitch-Class Representation	115
5.1	Pitch-Class, Harmony, and Key	115
5.2	Spatial Representations in Music Theory	116
5.3	Tonal-Pitch-Class Labeling	123
5.4	A Preference Rule System for Tonal-Pitch-Class Labeling	124
5.5	Implementation	132
5.6	Tests	134
6	Harmonic Structure	137
6.1	Harmony	137
6.2	Experimental and Computational Work on Harmonic Analysis	139
6.3	A Preference Rule System for Harmonic Analysis	147
6.4	Implementation	154
6.5	Some Subtle Features of the Model	159
6.6	Tests	162
6.7	Other Aspects of Harmonic Structure	164
7	Key Structure	167
7.1	Key	167
7.2	Psychological and Computational Work on Key	168
7.3	The Krumhansl-Schmuckler Key-Finding Algorithm	173
7.4	Improving the Algorithm's Performance	176
7.5	Modulation	187
7.6	Implementation	188
7.7	Tests	191
7.8	An Alternative Approach to Modulation	198
II	Extensions and Implications	203
8	Revision, Ambiguity, and Expectation	205
8.1	Diachronic Processing and Ambiguity	205
8.2	Modeling the Diachronic Processing of Music	206
8.3	Examples of Revision	210
8.4	Revision in Tonal Analysis	215
8.5	Synchronic Ambiguity	219
8.6	Ambiguity in Contrapuntal Structure	224
8.7	Ambiguity in Meter	228
8.8	Expectation	231
9	Meter, Harmony, and Tonality in Rock	237
9.1	Beyond Common-Practice Music	237
9.2	Syncopation in Rock	239
9.3	Applications and Extensions of the Syncopation Model	247
9.4	Harmony in Rock	253
9.5	Modality and Tonicization in Rock	258
10	Meter and Grouping in African Music	265
10.1	African Rhythm	265
10.2	Meter in African Music	268
10.3	How Is Meter Inferred?	272
10.4	Western and African Meter: A Comparison	276
10.5	Hemiolas and the "Standard Pattern"	279
10.6	"Syncopation Shift" in African Music	282
10.7	Grouping Structure in African Music	286
10.8	Conclusions	289
11	Style, Composition, and Performance	291
11.1	The Study of Generative Processes in Music	291
11.2	Describing Musical Styles and Compositional Practice	292
11.3	Further Implications: Is Some Music "Nonmetrical"?	299
11.4	Preference Rules as Compositional Constraints: Some Relevant Research	305
11.5	Preference Rule Scores and Musical Tension	307
11.6	Performance	317
12	Functions of the Infrastructure	325
12.1	Beyond the Infrastructure	325
12.2	Motivic Structure and Encoding	326
12.3	Musical Schemata	336
12.4	Tension and Energy	339
12.5	The Functions of Harmony and Tonality	340
12.6	Arbitrariness	345
12.7	Explaining Musical Details: An Exercise in Recomposition	349
12.8	The Power of Common-Practice Music	354
Appendix	List of Rules	357
	Notes	361
	References	381
	Author Index	393
	Subject Index	397

What People are Saying About This

Dirk-Jan Povel

This book definitively transforms music theory from a discipline yielding interesting and sophisticated, but mostly abstract, theories of music into a science that develops precise and testable models of music perception, thus providing genuine insights into the structures and mechanisms involved in the processing of music. In addition to its own substantial contribution to the field, this work sets the stage for future developments in both music theory and music psychology.

David Huron

Temperley's book is a landmark effort that integrates three strands of contemporary music theory: preference rule formalisms, music cognition, and computational modeling. Temperley wisely encourages music scholars to reconsider basic topics such as key, meter, and harmony. In addressing anew these concepts the books lays the most solid foundations yet described for the analysis of music. At the same time, the book provides lucid insights into such phenomena as rock music and African rhythms. A major contribution to music theory.

Fred Lerdahl

This book makes substantial progress in the computer modeling of basic aspects of musical cognition. The author's presentation of complex subject matter is as direct and straightforward as one could wish. His writing is natural, clear, and unfailingly logical.

Larry Polansky

Temperley's book is an interesting computational application of forward-looking ideas current in music cognition with regards to conventional, tonal music. Offering a diverse, wide-reaching discussion of 'common practice' music, it gives a strong nod towards the formality induced by necessity from computational models, and is very welcome in so doing.

Endorsement

Temperley's book is a landmark effort that integrates three strands of contemporary music theory: preference rule formalisms, music cognition, and computational modeling. Temperley wisely encourages music scholars to reconsider basic topics such as key, meter, and harmony. In addressing anew these concepts the books lays the most solid foundations yet described for the analysis of music. At the same time, the book provides lucid insights into such phenomena as rock music and African rhythms. A major contribution to music theory.

—David Huron, Professor of Music, Ohio State University, and author of Sweet Anticipation: Music and the Psychology of Expectation

From the Publisher

Temperley's book is an interesting computational application of forward-looking ideas current in music cognition with regards to conventional, tonal music. Offering a diverse, wide-reaching discussion of 'common practice' music, it gives a strong nod towards the formality induced by necessity from computational models, and is very welcome in so doing.

—Larry Polansky, Joseph Straus 1922 Professor of Music, Dartmouth College, co-author of the computer music language HMSL and co-director, Frog Peak Music

This book makes substantial progress in the computer modeling of basic aspects of musical cognition. The author's presentation of complex subject matter is as direct and straightforward as one could wish. His writing is natural, clear, and unfailingly logical.

—Fred Lerdahl, Fritz Reiner Professor of Music, Columbia University

This book definitively transforms music theory from a discipline yielding interesting and sophisticated, but mostly abstract, theories of music into a science that develops precise and testable models of music perception, thus providing genuine insights into the structures and mechanisms involved in the processing of music. In addition to its own substantial contribution to the field, this work sets the stage for future developments in both music theory and music psychology.

—Dirk-Jan Povel, Nijmegen Institute for Cognition and Information (NICI)

Temperley's book is a landmark effort that integrates three strands of contemporary music theory: preference rule formalisms, music cognition, and computational modeling. Temperley wisely encourages music scholars to reconsider basic topics such as key, meter, and harmony. In addressing anew these concepts the books lays the most solid foundations yet described for the analysis of music. At the same time, the book provides lucid insights into such phenomena as rock music and African rhythms. A major contribution to music theory.

—David Huron, Professor of Music, Ohio State University, and author of Sweet Anticipation: Music and the Psychology of Expectation