Cognitive Foundations of Musical Pitch: (17 Oxford Psychology Series)

This book addresses the central problem of music cognition: how listeners' responses move beyond mere registration of auditory events to include the organization, interpretation, and remembrance of these events in terms of their function in a musical context of pitch and rhythm. Equally important, the work offers an analysis of the relationship between the psychological organization of music and its internal structure. Combining over a decade of original research on music cognition with an overview of the available literature, the work will be of interest to cognitive and physiological psychologists, psychobiologists, musicians, music researchers, and music educators. The author provides the necessary background in experimental methodology and music theory so that no specialized knowledge is required for following her major arguments.

Table of Contents:
1: Objectives and Methods 2: Quantifying Tonal Hierarchies and Key Distances 3: Musical Correlates of Perceived Tonal Hierarchies 4: A Key-Finding Algorithm Based on Tonal Hierarchies 5: Perceived Relations Between Musical Tones 6: Perceptual Organization and Pitch Memory 7: Quantifying Harmonic Hierarchies and Key Distances 8: Perceived Harmonic Relations 9: Perceiving Multiple Keys: Modulation and Polytonality 10: Tonal Hierarchies in Atonal and Non-Western Tonal Music 11: Music Cognition: Theoretical and Empirical Generalizations References Author Index Subject Index

Review :
"A remarkable collection of results achieved through more than a decade by [Krumhansl] and colleagues. . . .The book's printing, layout, and technical features are excellent. . . .Includes in a well-organized manner a wealth of important data, notions, and references; and it is an appreciable document of what can be accomplished by the cognitive approach. Everyone seriously concerned with the perception of music should carefully study this book." --ACUSTICA "A remarkable collection of results achieved through more than a decade by [Krumhansl] and colleagues. . . .The book's printing, layout, and technical features are excellent. . . .Includes in a well-organized manner a wealth of important data, notions, and references; and it is an appreciable document of what can be accomplished by the cognitive approach. Everyone seriously concerned with the perception of music should carefully study this book." --ACUSTICA "A critical mass of psychological data organized in a tight conceptual framework. This publication is a landmark event. . . .The reader. . .is led through the complex issues by lucid explanations and discussions. The clear organization and sense of direction make reading the book an aesthetic as well as an intellectual pleasure." --American Journal of Psychology "We have before us a summary of some 12 years of assiduous and intelligent work by one of the very best minds in cognitive science. I have followed Carol Krumhansl's research for years with enthusiasm; it is a joy to see it reported so well. . . .Go read this excellent book!" --American Scientist "Vital for anyone interested in music perception." --Leonardo "In a step toward unveiling culture-free aspects of musical pitch, she includes a section on non-Western music, some of which uses microtonal tunings. Krumhansl's detailed descriptions of the theoretical foundations of the traditional music of northern India and Bali are fascinating. I recommend them . . . to anyone who has wondered why the musician choose to play what they do. Of course music theorists who recognize the need for objective measurement will want to read this book closely. But in addition, psychoacoustics, speech scientists, and sonar specialists who study pattern perception or who analyze perceived features might benefit from reviewing some of the cognitive methods thet Krumhansl applies to her work and dissects in her book." --Journal of the Acoustical Society of America