Aspects Of Music

Question 1

What does most music research focus on?

Answer 1

Music as a listening experience

Question 2

What are basic elements of musical appeal?

Answer 2

Rhythm

Variations in pitch

Timbre

Question 3

What are higher-level elements of musical appeal?

Answer 3

Organisation

Meaning

Expectancies

Memory

Question 4

Does whether you play music or not influence whether you enjoy listening to music?

Answer 4

No. Some people enjoy playing and listening. Some people can’t play but this doesn’t stop them enjoying listening to music.

Question 5

What is the preferred rhythm, according to biology?

Answer 5

Comfortable rhythm that matches walking pace rather than heartbeat

2/4 or 4/4. Even.

Question 6

What has motoric evidence found in terms of the biology of rhythm?

Answer 6

People match long/short beats to a 2:1 ratio

Question 7

What are doctors who play music better at spotting?

Answer 7

Irregularities of the heart

Question 8

Do just humans synchronise to musical rhythm?

Answer 8

No, birds can too. Cockatoo.

Question 9

What beat is most Western popular music based around?

Answer 9

4 beats in a bar

Question 10

Why does Twinkle Twinkle appear to children?

Answer 10

Appeals to young children because it is easy, simple structure. Can master the piece.

Boring for older children though. People get fed up of this basic, predictable music.

Question 11

What makes boring songs such as Twinkle Twinkle and Baa Baa more interesting?

Answer 11

If elements are disturbed. E.g., play around with the rhythm etc., emphasise unexpected moments in the piece.

Question 12

What does aesthetic judgement depend on? (Berlyne, 1971)

Answer 12

Depends on relationship between novelty and complexity

Question 13

What is important to optimise in music?

Answer 13

Psychobiological arousal

Question 14

Do we like complex music or basic music?

Answer 14

In-between. We don’t want simple, unoriginal music. But we don’t want music that is so complex that we can’t perceive the structure of it/become stressed or anxious.

Question 15

What shape curve do we prefer in terms of complex music?

Answer 15

Inverted U

Yerkes-Dodson law (1908)

Question 16

What does repeated exposure to music result in?

Answer 16

Familiarity and reduced perceived complexity

Question 17

What did North & Hargreaves (1995) find about factors that predicted liking of pop songs?

Answer 17

Optimal complexity and familiarity predicted liking of pop songs

Question 18

If we have low arousal whilst listening to music how might we feel?

Answer 18

Fatigue

Sleepy

Question 19

If we have high arousal whilst listening to music how might we feel?

Answer 19

Stressed

Anxious

Impaired performance

Question 20

What music do we prefer in terms of complexity?

Answer 20

Something that is new with a few surprises but not too complex.

We want something in the middle in terms of complexity.

Question 21

What might happen if you listen to a song too much?

Answer 21

Lower arousal

Get fed up with hearing it

Question 22

Can the appeal of a piece of music on the arousal curve vary over time?

Answer 22

Yes

E.g., if you listen to a song too much.

Question 23

What did Dobson (2016) find regarding classical music and complexity preference?

Answer 23

Audiences preferred music when they were not given CDs before the concert. Listening to CDs beforehand did not enhance their enjoyment of the concert.

Suggests counter-evidence to the previous idea surrounding complexity.

Question 24

What are problems with Dobson (2016) research on classical music?

Answer 24

No control over what people were listening to/what part of the symphony they were listening to. Lack of control.

Audience may not have listened properly, or may not have listened to the same parts, at least.

Question 25

What could be a possible explanation for Dobson's (2016) findings regarding classical music and CDs?

Answer 25

The music may have been too complex for them to completely understand through listening to the CDs.

Question 26

What did Dobson (2010) find in a different study involving a pre-concert talk?

Answer 26

A pre-concert talk about the background of the work, the composer's life, what to listen out for in terms of structural elements of the music etc. seemed to increase the audience's appreciation and enjoyment of the music compared to people who didn't get a pre-concert talk.

Question 27

What did Silva & Silva (2009) find about the enjoyment of pop music?

Answer 27

Artist information enhanced the enjoyment of pop music

Question 28

What do findings regarding the enhancement of enjoyment of music suggest?

Answer 28

When people are given information regarding the background of the music and information about the artist they enjoy the music more. Perhaps this is because they are able to understand the music in some sort of context (e.g., historical period, genre). Can relate the music to things that may be unconnected to the actual piece of music itself.

Question 29

How does expectancy play a role in terms of musical appreciation?

Answer 29

Expectancy violations keep us interested and allow us to anticipate.

Question 30

Who proposed the gap-fill principle?

Answer 30

Rosner & Meyer (1982)

Question 31

What is the gap-fill principle?

Answer 31

The idea that we predict music according to what we think we perceive the structure or pattern of music to be. A perceived structure or pattern allows us to anticipate.

Question 32

What is an example in music where we can predict what note will come next?

Answer 32

Scale of small intervals

Question 33

What do small intervals of musical notes allow us to anticipate?

Answer 33

Allow us to anticipate movement in the same direction

Question 34

What evidence is there regarding the role of expectancies and the gap-fill principle in music?

Answer 34

O Come All Ye Faithful - 'Born the king of angels' line People sing this line wrong because they perceive the rhythm of the next notes to be different to what they actually are. People often put an extra note in and make 'angels' 3 syllables rather than 2 syllables. People feel inclined to fill the gap with an extra note because of the pattern in the previous line 'Bethlehem'. An example of rhythmic anticipation and the gap-fill principle in action.

Question 35

What happens with bigger intervals in music in terms of expectations?

Answer 35

Set up more expectations of changes (e.g., Somewhere over the rainbow makes use of octaves and big note changes)

Question 36

What type of music typically has big pitch leaps and different expectations?

Answer 36

Sami Yoik music (Tan et al., 2009)