Decoding Speech Prosody: Do Music Lessons Help?

Three experiments revealed that music lessons promote sensitivity to emotions conveyed by speech prosody. After hearing semantically neutral utterances spoken with emotional (i.e., happy, sad, fearful, or angry) prosody, or tone sequences that mimicked the utterances' prosody, participants identified the emotion conveyed. In Experiment 1 (n=20), musically trained adults performed better than untrained adults. In Experiment 2 (n=56), musically trained adults outperformed untrained adults at identifying sadness, fear, or neutral emotion. In Experiment 3 (n=43), 6-year-olds were tested after being randomly assigned to 1 year of keyboard, vocal, drama, or no lessons. The keyboard group performed equivalently to the drama group and better than the no-lessons group at identifying anger or fear. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Role of Melodic and Temporal Cues in Perceiving Musical Meter.

A number of different cues allow listeners to perceive musical meter. Three experiments examined effects of melodic and temporal accents on perceived meter in excerpts from folk songs scored in 6/8 or 3/4 meter. Participants matched excerpts with 1 of 2 metrical drum accompaniments. Melodic accents included contour change, melodic leaps, registral extreme, melodic repetition, and harmonic rhythm. Two experiments with isochronous melodies showed that contour change and melodic repetition predicted judgments. For longer melodies in the 2nd experiment, variables predicted judgments best at the beginning of excerpts. The final experiment, with rhythmically varied melodies, showed that temporal accents, tempo, and contour change were the strongest predictors of meter. The authors' findings suggest that listeners combine multiple melodic and temporal features to perceive musical meter. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Does music induce emotion? A theoretical and methodological analysis.

Is music ubiquitous in part because it is causally linked to emotion? In this article, a comprehensive theoretical and methodological reevaluation is presented of a classical problem: The direct induction of emotion by music (M→E). The author's Prototypical Emotion-Episode Model (PEEM) is used in the conceptual critique. A close scrutiny of the major published studies, and the author's new data regarding some substantive and methodological issues in several of these, reveal weak support for the M→E model. The conclusion seems justified that music may induce low-grade basic emotions through mediators, such as dance and cognitive associations to real-world events. However, it is suggested--on the basis of the recently developed Aesthetic Trinity Theory (ATT; Kone?ni, 2005) and its further development in the present article--that being moved and aesthetic awe, often accompanied by thrills, may be the most genuine and profound music-related emotional states. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

一种基于多路径搜索的音乐节奏检测算法

乐曲节奏检测和跟踪是音乐理解系统以及可视化系统的一个重要组成部分.本文提出了一种基于多路径搜索和聚类分析的节奏检测算法.本算法能够成功地检测出节奏感较强乐曲的节奏,并能跟踪出节奏点的具体位置.     

Measurement of music achievement at college entrance.

The development of the Aliferis Music Achievement Test, which in its final edition consists of 26 melodic items, 18 harmonic items, and 20 rhythmic items, is described. Distributions of test mean scores for a national sample of college music students are given by geographic region and type of institution. For a sample of 177 Ss, correlations between freshman honor-point ratios in music courses and test scores were .54 (melodic), .41 (harmonic), .46 (rhythmic), and .61 (total score). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

轻音乐对驾驶疲劳的双向影响

目的本实验探索驾驶负荷累积与轻音乐对驾驶疲劳的影响。方法采用2(驾驶负荷累积)×2(音乐条件)×3(模拟驾驶阶段)混合设计,对32名驾驶员被试进行模拟驾驶实验,采集驾驶员驾驶速度和他们的垂直搜索广度与瞳孔直径。结果第45-60 min时,对于无驾驶负荷累积的被试,轻音乐组车速显著快于无音乐组,轻音乐组垂直搜索广度显著大于无音乐组;对于有驾驶负荷累积的被试,轻音乐组的瞳孔直径小于无音乐组(边缘显著),轻音乐组的车速慢于无音乐组。结论轻音乐对无累积疲劳的驾驶员具有唤醒作用,加快他们的车速,扩大垂直搜索广度,对驾驶绩效具有积极的影响;轻音乐对有累积疲劳的驾驶员会产生催眠作用,缩小瞳孔直径,车速减慢,对驾驶绩效具有消极的影响。     

中国碟片包装设计探讨

探讨了我国碟片包装中存在于题材、内涵、碟片内外包装等方面的问题,通过拓宽设计范围,更加注重封套设计表现音乐内涵及艺术感受,统一封套、内页、盘面及外盒包装,展现出唱片包装的独特性,达到碟片包装的艺术性与功能性的高度统一效果.     

On the combinatorial complexity of fuzzy pattern matching in music analysis

In music analysis it is a common requirement to search a musical score for occurrences of a particular musical motif and its variants. This tedious and time-consuming task can be carried out by computer, using one of several models to specify which variants are to be included in the search. The question arises: just how many variants must be explicitly considered? The answer has a profound effect on the computer time needed. In this paper, recurrence relations and closed form analytic expressions are derived for the run time complexity of two models of fuzzy pattern matching for use in music analysis; each model assumes the existence of an atomic exact pattern matching operation. The formulae so obtained are evaluated and tabulated as a function of their independent parameters. These results enable a priori estimates to be made of the relative run times of different music searches performed using either model. This is illustrated by applying the results to an actual musical example.Richard E. Overill, BSc, PhD, C.Math, FIMA, C.Eng, MBCS, MIEE, is Lecturer in Computer Science at King's College London. His research includes the design, analysis, and practical implementation of algorithms on supercomputers. He has also given lecture-recitals on the keyboard music of the Tudor composers Thomas Tallis (1985), John Blitheman (1991), and William Byrd (1993).     

民歌自动记谱系统的研究

一首民歌的音高、时值及调性的辨识,是通常自动记谱系统设计中必须面临的基本问题,针对我国民歌的特点,本文提出一种动态的音高及时值的分析法,以及基于统计的调式分析法,实验结果表明,这些方法是成功的。     

Where does the end begin? Problems in musico-cognitive modeling

Research with computer systems and musical grammars into improvisation as found in the tabla drumming system of North India has indicated that certain musical sentences comprise (a) variable prefixes, and (b) fixed suffixes (or cadences) identical with those of their original rhythmic themes. It was assumed that the cadence functioned as a kind of target in linear musical space, and yet experiments showed that defining what exactly constituted the cadence was problematic. This paper addresses the problem of the status of cadential patterns, and demonstrates the need for a better understanding and formalization of ambiguity in musico-cognitive processing. It would appear from the discussion that the cadence is not a discrete unit in itself, but just part of an ever-present underlying framework comprising the entire original rhythmic theme. Improvisations (variations), it is suggested, merely break away from and rejoin this framework at important structural points. This endorses the theory of simultaneity. However, the general cognitive implications are still unclear, and further research is required to explore musical ambiguity and the interaction of musical, linguistic, and spatio-motor grammars.