Melodic expectation
Encyclopedia
In music cognition
melodic expectation is the tendency for a person listening to a melody
to have a feeling or expectation
for what might come next in the melody. For example, if the ascending musical partial octave
"do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-..." is heard, listeners familiar with Western music will have a strong expectation to hear one more note, "ti", to complete the octave.
Meyer models listener expectation in two levels. On a perceptual level, Meyer draws on Gestalt psychology
to explain how listeners build mental representations of auditory phenomena. Above this raw perceptual level, Meyer argues that learning shapes (and re-shapes) one's expectations over time.
model includes two primary factors: proximity and direction. Lerdahl
(2001) extended the system by developing a tonal pitch space
and adding a stability factor (based on Lerdahl's prior work) and a mobility factor.
Margulis's 2005 model further extends the I-R model. First, Margulis added a melodic attraction factor, from some of Lerdahl's work. Second, while the I-R model relies on a single (local) interval to establish an implication (an expectation), Margulis attempts to model intervalic (local) expectation as well as more deeply schematic (global) expectation. For this, Margulis relies on Lerdahl's and Jackendoff's GTTM (1983) to provide a time-span reduction. At each hierarchical level (a different time scale) in the reduction, Margulis applies her model. These separate levels of analysis are combined through averaging, with each level weighted according to values derived from the time-span reduction. Finally, Margulis's model is explicit and realizable, and yields quantitative output. The output--melodic expectation at each time instant--is a single function of time.
Margulis's model describes three distinct types of listener reactions, each derived from listener-experienced tension:
Music cognition
Music cognition is an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the mental processes that support musical behaviors, including perception, comprehension, memory, attention, and performance...
melodic expectation is the tendency for a person listening to a melody
Melody
A melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity...
to have a feeling or expectation
Expectation
In the case of uncertainty, expectation is what is considered the most likely to happen. An expectation, which is a belief that is centered on the future, may or may not be realistic. A less advantageous result gives rise to the emotion of disappointment. If something happens that is not at all...
for what might come next in the melody. For example, if the ascending musical partial octave
Octave
In music, an octave is the interval between one musical pitch and another with half or double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been referred to as the "basic miracle of music", the use of which is "common in most musical systems"...
"do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-..." is heard, listeners familiar with Western music will have a strong expectation to hear one more note, "ti", to complete the octave.
Leonard Meyer
Leonard Meyer's Emotion and Meaning in Music (1956) is the classic text in music expectation. Meyer's starting point is the belief that the experience of music (as a listener) is derived from one's emotions and feelings about the music, which themselves are a function of relationships within the music itself. Meyer writes that listeners bring with them a vast body of musical experiences that, as one listens to a piece, conditions one's response to that piece as it unfolds. Meyer argued that music's evocative power derives from its capacity to generate, suspend, prolongate, or violate these expectations.Meyer models listener expectation in two levels. On a perceptual level, Meyer draws on Gestalt psychology
Gestalt psychology
Gestalt psychology or gestaltism is a theory of mind and brain of the Berlin School; the operational principle of gestalt psychology is that the brain is holistic, parallel, and analog, with self-organizing tendencies...
to explain how listeners build mental representations of auditory phenomena. Above this raw perceptual level, Meyer argues that learning shapes (and re-shapes) one's expectations over time.
Implication-Realization Model
Narmour's (1992) Implication-Realization (I-R) Model is a detailed formalization based on Meyer's work on expectation. The theory focuses on how implicative intervals set up expectations for certain realizations to follow.Extensions to the Implication-Realization Model
The I-RImplication-Realization
The Implication-Realization model of melodic expectation was developed by Eugene Narmour as an alternative to Schenkerian analysis centered less on music analysis and more on cognitive aspects of expectation...
model includes two primary factors: proximity and direction. Lerdahl
Fred Lerdahl
Alfred Whitford Lerdahl is the Fritz Reiner Professor of Musical Composition at Columbia University, and a composer and music theorist best known for his work on pitch space and cognitive constraints on compositional systems or "musical grammar[s]." He has written many orchestral and chamber...
(2001) extended the system by developing a tonal pitch space
Pitch space
In music theory, pitch spaces model relationships between pitches. These models typically use distance to model the degree of relatedness, with closely related pitches placed near one another, and less closely related pitches placed farther apart. Depending on the complexity of the relationships...
and adding a stability factor (based on Lerdahl's prior work) and a mobility factor.
Margulis's 2005 model further extends the I-R model. First, Margulis added a melodic attraction factor, from some of Lerdahl's work. Second, while the I-R model relies on a single (local) interval to establish an implication (an expectation), Margulis attempts to model intervalic (local) expectation as well as more deeply schematic (global) expectation. For this, Margulis relies on Lerdahl's and Jackendoff's GTTM (1983) to provide a time-span reduction. At each hierarchical level (a different time scale) in the reduction, Margulis applies her model. These separate levels of analysis are combined through averaging, with each level weighted according to values derived from the time-span reduction. Finally, Margulis's model is explicit and realizable, and yields quantitative output. The output--melodic expectation at each time instant--is a single function of time.
Margulis's model describes three distinct types of listener reactions, each derived from listener-experienced tension:
- Surprise-Tension - inversely proportional to degree of expectancy; results in intensity or dynamism
- Denial-Tension - proportional to the discrepancy between the expectancy of the most expected event and the expectancy of the actually perceived event; results in desire, drive, will
- Expectancy-Tension - proportional to the degree of expectancy of the most expected event (in other words, if the listener had no idea what to expect next, the expectancy-tension would be low); results in strain or yearning
See also
- Lerdahl, FredFred LerdahlAlfred Whitford Lerdahl is the Fritz Reiner Professor of Musical Composition at Columbia University, and a composer and music theorist best known for his work on pitch space and cognitive constraints on compositional systems or "musical grammar[s]." He has written many orchestral and chamber...
and Jackendoff, RayRay JackendoffRay Jackendoff is an American linguist. He is professor of philosophy, Seth Merrin Chair in the Humanities and, with Daniel Dennett, Co-director of the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University...
(1983). A Generative Theory of Tonal Music. MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-62107-X. - Lerdahl, FredFred LerdahlAlfred Whitford Lerdahl is the Fritz Reiner Professor of Musical Composition at Columbia University, and a composer and music theorist best known for his work on pitch space and cognitive constraints on compositional systems or "musical grammar[s]." He has written many orchestral and chamber...
(2001). Tonal Pitch Space. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-505834-8. - Margulis, E. H. (2005). A Model of Melodic Expectation. Music Perception, 22(4):663–714.
- Meyer, Leonard B. (1956). Emotion and Meaning in Music. Chicago: Chicago University Press. ISBN 978-0-226-52139-8.
- Narmour, E. (1992). The Analysis and Cognition of Melodic Complexity: The Implication-Realization Model. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-56842-3.