Abstract
An empirical investigation of how local harmonic structures (e.g., chord progressions) contribute to the experience and enjoyment of uplifting trance (UT) music is presented. The connection between rhythmic and percussive elements and resulting trance-like states has been highlighted by musicologists, but no research, to our knowledge, has explored whether repeated harmonic elements influence affective responses in listeners of trance music. Two alternative hypotheses are discussed, the first highlighting the direct relationship between repetition/complexity and enjoyment, and the second based on the theoretical inverted-U relationship described by the Wundt curve. We investigate the connection between harmonic structure and subjective enjoyment through interdisciplinary behavioral and computational methods: First we discuss an experiment in which listeners provided enjoyment ratings for computer-generated UT anthems with varying levels of harmonic repetition and complexity. The anthems were generated using a statistical model trained on a corpus of 100 uplifting trance anthems created for this purpose, and harmonic structure was constrained by imposing particular repetition structures (semiotic patterns defining the order of chords in the sequence) on a professional UT music production template. Second, the relationship between harmonic structure and enjoyment is further explored using two computational approaches, one based on average Information Content, and another that measures average tonal tension between chords. The results of the listening experiment indicate that harmonic repetition does in fact contribute to the enjoyment of uplifting trance music. More compelling evidence was found for the second hypothesis discussed above, however some maximally repetitive structures were also preferred. Both computational models provide evidence for a Wundt-type relationship between complexity and enjoyment. By systematically manipulating the structure of chord progressions, we have discovered specific harmonic contexts in which repetitive or complex structure contribute to the enjoyment of uplifting trance music.
Highlights
The interplay between repetition and variation is a fundamental element of music
The highest enjoyment ratings are elicited when all of the same chords are present in the first and second halves of the stimulus (i.e., AABB-AABB and ABCD-ABCD), and when none of the same chords are present in the first and second half of the stimulus
The finding can be explained in part by the very low Enjoyment ratings elicited by stimuli of the form AABB-AAAA
Summary
The interplay between repetition and variation is a fundamental element of music. Music cognition researchers and musicologists alike have long cited the importance of patterns, implications, and expectations, as well as violations of all of these, in creating emotional responses during music listening (Meyer, 1957; Narmour, 1990; Huron, 2006). Researchers have used a diverse set of methods to capture how elements of musical structure impact emotion, many approaches focus on quantifying the complexity of the music. As discussed by Gaver and Mandler (1987), “the levels of structure involved [in the music] and the degree of change within and between levels, determine the complexity of the piece. This complexity can be described in terms of the information content of the music, using the term ‘information’ as it is used in information theory.”. A work with complicated changes... can be said to contain more information than a piece that is relatively repetitive...” To examine how the structure of music impacts listeners’ affective responses, researchers have assessed how repetitive or complex particular aspects of the music are, and test musical stimuli that vary from repetitive, on one end of the spectrum, to complex, on the other end of the spectrum
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