Agres Kat, Herremans Dorien, Bigo Louis, Conklin Darrell
Centre for Digital Music, Electronic Engineering and Computer Science, Queen Mary University of London London, UK.
Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique Paris, France.
Front Psychol. 2017 Jan 10;7:1999. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01999. eCollection 2016.
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.
本文呈现了一项关于局部和声结构（如和弦进行）如何影响振奋人心的出神音乐（UT）体验与欣赏的实证研究。音乐学家强调了节奏和打击元素与由此产生的出神状态之间的联系，但据我们所知，尚无研究探讨重复的和声元素是否会影响出神音乐听众的情感反应。文中讨论了两种替代性假设，第一种强调重复/复杂性与欣赏之间的直接关系，第二种基于冯特曲线所描述的理论倒U型关系。我们通过跨学科的行为和计算方法研究和声结构与主观欣赏之间的联系：首先，我们讨论了一项实验，在该实验中，听众对计算机生成的具有不同和声重复和复杂程度的UT圣歌给出欣赏评分。这些圣歌是使用一个统计模型生成的，该模型是在为此目的创作的100首振奋人心的出神圣歌语料库上进行训练的，并且通过在专业的UT音乐制作模板上施加特定的重复结构（定义序列中和弦顺序的符号模式）来限制和声结构。其次，使用两种计算方法进一步探索和声结构与欣赏之间的关系，一种基于平均信息内容，另一种测量和弦之间的平均音调张力。听力实验结果表明，和声重复实际上有助于提升对振奋人心的出神音乐的欣赏。然而，我们为上述第二种假设找到了更有说服力的证据，不过一些最大程度重复的结构也受到青睐。两种计算模型都为复杂性与欣赏之间的冯特型关系提供了证据。通过系统地操纵和弦进行的结构，我们发现了特定的和声背景，在这些背景中，重复或复杂的结构有助于提升对振奋人心的出神音乐的欣赏。
