Scalable analytical approaches and performative affordance

 

Collaborative research with Fernando Gualda (Queen's University, Belfast) and Atte Tenakanen (University of Turku, Finland).

Project abstract:

BACKGROUND & AIMS
Music Analysis, be it thorough or immediate, intentional or unconscious, may well be the most important step in interpreting and understanding a musical work. Systematic approaches to music analysis have greatly profited from computational paradigms. Within studies in music performance and interpretation, however, computers can be obtrusive. Thus, it is essential to design interactive interfaces within an ecological research paradigm in order to study music interpretation.

MAIN CONTRIBUTION
This symposium combines three complementary approaches to computational music analysis. All approaches focus on particular analytical problems arising from the ambiguous nature of music cognition and Gestalt principles. It follows that this ambiguity, rather than being detrimental, allows distinct interpretations or understandings of a musical score. Based on Gibson’s concept of perceptual affordance, performative affordance is inherently defined from this ambiguity and offers a rich collection of possible interpretations of the musical score. The artistic decision about whether distinct interpretations are similarly tasteful or at least acceptable is left to performers and analysts.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PERFORMERS, STUDENTS, SCHOLARS & RESEARCHERS
The computational methods presented here are interactive, guaranteeing human participation in the analytical process. Results reflect measurable information intrinsically represented by the score. The three methods are scalable in the sense that they can be used in combination, from the smallest portion of the music up to a general overview of the piece.

METHODS
The first approach offers an adaptable perspective to motivic analysis, allowing multiple interpretations of a piece. The second approach allows the exploration of distinct rhythmic, tonal, and textural contexts in which motives appear. The final approach investigates the quality of musical information contained in a sequence of motives in a specific order.

RESULTS
A single musical work, J. S. Bach’s BWV 1030b, has been chosen to be both analyzed and performed. Due to its large number of distinct motives and their intricate combinations, this piece offers possibilities for innumerous interpretations. During the performance [either live or recorded, depending on instrument availability], all analyses are intended to be concurrently projected [or available as hand-out].

FORMAT
The symposium consists of three spoken paper presentations, an illustrative live-performance, and discussion.

KEYWORDS
music performance, music analysis, ecological research, computational musicology, performative affordance

REFERENCES

  • Deliège, I. & G. A. Wiggins. (2006) Musical Creativity: Multidisciplinary Research Theory and Practice. New York: Psychology Press.
  • Clarke, E. (2005) Ways of Listening: An Ecological Approach to the Perception of Musical Meaning. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Williamon, A. (2004) Musical Excellence – Strategies and techniques to enhance performance. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Rink, J. (2002) Musical Performance – A Guide to Understanding. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Rink, J. (1995) The practice of performance – studies in musical interpretation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Gibson, J.J. (1979). The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
  • Gibson, J.J. (1977) The Theory of Affordances. In Perceiving, Acting, and Knowing. Eds. R. Shaw & J. Bransford. Hillsdale, N.J.: Erlbaum.

Abstract for my thread: Information representation for analysis and interpretation of motivic order

BACKGROUND & AIMS
The analysis is concerned with the relationship between the motivic parameter in BVW 1030b and order.

METHOD
Comparing the system’s predictions of an event based on its predecessors and what actually happens generates measures of ‘information’. Motifs (the ‘events’ here) are categorized independently of the system to produce identity streams. Additional indices, ‘articulation’ and ‘hierarchy’, are generated from secondary analyses of information data. Graphs are produced plotting these three measures over a certain number of events. The graphs are representations of an order of events (in time), specific to the categorization of events by a non-objective person. The event that decreases information by the largest amount has the highest hierarchy measure and, theoretically, represents a moment of decreased disorder. Graphs produced from various identity streams represent a relationship between the performer/analyst and the score. Uses for these representations in performance and pedagogy are then developed.

RESULTS
Streams of identities are generated symbolizing the motifs of BVW 1030b. These streams are categorizations by a number of people: my symposium colleagues and myself; our discussant; and other performers of the piece with varying familiarity with it. These streams are then used as the data for the method described above. The graphs produced are compared and the implications for performance examined. For example, an analysis of one stream of the first 20 bars of the first movement of BVW 1030b shows a high hierarchy measure for the motif ‘A’ (the first and third motif of the section) at the third event. In the last 20 bars of the movement, section, ‘A’ appears as part of the stream consisting of many of the same motifs, but in a different order. This time, the highest hierarchy belongs to a different motif at the 5th event. A comparison is made with conceptual distances between motifs in an order-independent context and the hierarchy measure of the same motif. Motifs based on invertible counterpoint are shown to have privileged standing in terms of higher than average hierarchy measures.

IMPLICATIONS
Theoretically, emphasizing the importance of specific motifs in performance (through changes in dynamics, articulation or gesture, for example) allow listeners to more easily perceive the performer’s understanding of them. This has implications for teaching and the methods by which a student engages with a teacher’s understanding of a score. Awareness of this kind of analysis could increase a teacher’s awareness of a student’s understanding.

KEYWORDS
Performance; information; perception; order; affordance

Link to information analysis application (SD XL) coming soon.