[Smt-talk] Classical Form and Recursion

[Martin Braun]

Fred Lerdahl wrote:

"A steady-state auditory signal is often represented with frequency on
the x-axis and amplitude on the y-axis. As the signal changes, the
frequency columns bob up and down in accordance with the energy of the
spectral pitches. Similarly, the heights of the columns of pitch
classes in varying states of the basic space increase or decrease in
response to progressions in a phrase."

The term "columns of pitch classes" seems to imply the idea that the 
auditory brain collapses octave-wide bands of the sound spectrum into one 
band of a general octave, which could then be called "pitch-class band" or 
"chroma band". While this concept is strongly supported by musical practice 
worldwide and also by the phenomenon of absolute pitch, which is a purely 
chroma-related ability, it may not yet be generally known that the octave 
collapsing unit in the mammalian auditory brain has recently been 
identified.

http://web.telia.com/~u57011259/eng7.htm


Martin

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Martin Braun
Neuroscience of Music
S-671 95 Klässbol
Sweden
web site: http://w1.570.telia.com/~u57011259/index.htm





----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Fred Lerdahl" <awl1 at columbia.edu>
To: "smt-talk Talk" <smt-talk at societymusictheory.org>
Sent: Wednesday, April 22, 2009 5:22 AM
Subject: Re: [Smt-talk] Classical Form and Recursion