Journal article
The tonal-metric hierarchy: A corpus analysis
Music Perception: An Interdisciplinary Journal, Vol.31(3), pp.254-270
2014
Abstract
Despite the plethora of research on the role of tonality and meter in music perception, there is little work on how these fundamental properties function together. The most basic question is whether the two hierarchical structures are correlated – that is, do metrically stable positions in the measure preferentially feature tonally stable pitches, and do tonally stable pitches occur more often than not at metrically stable locations? To answer this question, we analyzed a corpus of compositions by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, and Chopin, tabulating the frequency of occurrence of each of the 12 pitch classes at all possible temporal positions in the bar. There was a reliable relation between the tonal and metric hierarchies, such that tonally stable pitch classes and metrically stable temporal positions co-occurred beyond their simple joint probability. Further, the pitch class distribution at stable metric temporal positions agreed more with the tonal hierarchy than at less metrically stable locations. This tonal-metric hierarchy was largely consistent across composers, time signatures, and modes. The existence, profile, and constancy of the tonal-metric hierarchy is relevant to several areas of music cognition research, including pitch-time integration, statistical learning, and global effects of tonality.
Details
- Title
- The tonal-metric hierarchy: A corpus analysis
- Authors/Creators
- J.B. Prince (Author/Creator)M.A. Schmuckler (Author/Creator)
- Publication Details
- Music Perception: An Interdisciplinary Journal, Vol.31(3), pp.254-270
- Publisher
- University of California Press
- Identifiers
- 991005541603407891
- Copyright
- © 2011 University of California Press
- Murdoch Affiliation
- School of Psychology and Exercise Science
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Note
- "Published as Prince, J.B. and Schmuckler, M.A. (2014) The tonal-metric hierarchy: A corpus analysis. Music Perception: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 31 (3). pp. 254-270. © 2011 by the Regents of the University of California/Sponsoring Society or Association. Copying and permissions notice: Authorization to copy this content beyond fair use (as specified in Sections 107 and 108 of the U. S. Copyright Law) for internal or personal use, or the internal or personal use of specific clients, is granted by [the Regents of the University of California/on behalf of the Sponsoring Society] for libraries and other users, provided that they are registered with and pay the specified fee via Rightslink® on [Caliber (http://legacy.ucpress.net/)] or directly with the Copyright Clearance Center, http://www.copyright.com."
Metrics
726 File views/ downloads
66 Record Views
InCites Highlights
These are selected metrics from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool, related to this output
- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- International collaboration
- Citation topics
- 10 Arts & Humanities
- 10.240 Music
- 10.240.657 Music Cognition
- Web Of Science research areas
- Music
- Psychology, Experimental
- ESI research areas
- Psychiatry/Psychology