Perception of music and sound

International Conference
Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, 24–27 May 2017

Organized by
Ca’ Foscari University of Venice
(Department of Philosophy and Cultural Heritage)

in collaboration with
Basilica Cattedrale di San Marco, Venezia
Archivio Storico del Patriarcato di Venezia
Swiss National Science Foundation
Spazio Svizzero (Palazzo Trevisan degli Ulivi, Venice)
Fondazione Svizzera Pro Venezia


On the basis of new perspectives offered by urban history, humanistic geography and historical anthropology, the conference aims to bring together inter- and multidisciplinary approaches to the significance of soundscape in the context of the rich and complex urban system of early modern Venice. As a supreme example of “ceremonial city”, Venice is particularly suitable for investigating how soundscape interacts with urban space in the creation of an elaborate social and cultural identity.

The international conference forms part of The Sound of Eternity. A Digital Platform for the Polyphonic Choir-Books of the Ducal Chapel of St Mark’s, Venice, a research project funded by the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice (in continuation of The Sound of Eternity. Investigating the Choir-Books of the Ducal Chapel of St Mark’s, Venice, funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation).

The official languages of the conference are English and Italian.

Organizing Committee:
David Bryant, Augusto Celentano, Luigi Collarile, Renzo Orsini
Ca’ Foscari University of Venice

Previous research on harmony perception has mainly been concerned with horizontal aspects of harmony, turning less attention to how listeners perceive psychoacoustic qualities and emotions in single isolated chords. A recent study found mild dissonances to be more preferred than consonances in single chord perception, although the authors did not systematically vary register and consonance in their study; these omissions were explored here. An online empirical experiment was conducted where participants (N = 410) evaluated chords on the dimensions of Valence, Tension, Energy, Consonance, and Preference; 15 different chords were played with piano timbre across two octaves. The results suggest significant differences on all dimensions across chord types, and a strong correlation between perceived dissonance and tension. The register and inversions contributed to the evaluations significantly, nonmusicians distinguishing between triadic inversions similarly to musicians. The mildly dissonant minor ninth, major ninth, and minor seventh chords were rated highest for preference, regardless of musical sophistication. The role of theoretical explanations such as aggregate dyadic consonance, the inverted-U hypothesis, and psychoacoustic roughness, harmonicity, and sharpness will be discussed to account for the preference of mild dissonance over consonance in single chord perception.

A listening experiment was conducted to examine whether untrained listeners can discriminate up to 12dB of compression limiting above chance levels. Forty-nine participants completed an ABX listening experiment and a musical engagement questionnaire. The experimental results demonstrate that untrained listeners cannot discriminate up to 12dB of compression limiting above chance levels. The effects of musical engagement indicate that participants more likely to use music to alter their emotional state or relieve boredom performed significantly worse than those less likely to use music for these purposes. It is concluded that, in general, hyper-compression may not be significantly audible to untrained listeners and previous inconclusive results on preference tests are related to this finding.

On the basis of the data about the Federal Republic of Germany the article examines the measures taken by theater ad concert organizations with the aim of expanding the contingent of audiences by means of reclaiming virtual space. It is known that from the moment of the formation of the performing musician critics pay attention to many things, including the artist’s outward appearance. The authenticity of the musician’s image is one of the most important constituent parts of the concert ritual. Proposals of the leading music ensembles, such as the Berlin Philharmonic or the Viennese State Opera, regarding dissemination of production within the framework of online broadcasts are perceived by the author in the vein of preservation of the “concert-like” atmosphere. In such a case “visitation of the listener in his or her home” is not only the attempt to go along with time. In light if research works about the multimodality of perception the availability of visual irritants leads to the rise of its quality and, consequently, the ratings of classical academic music in the eyes of the listener.
The text of the article consists of four parts. After the enumeration of examples of visualization in the sphere of the art of music there is a description of scenarios offered by well-known concert ensembles and theater groups. A comparative overview of the research products which are the most interesting from the point of view of the author, devoted to the spectacular component of perception of music, presents the article’s central element. The conclusions draw upon the theme of new challenges appearing before traditional musicology, including, within the framework of research of the art of performance. In the latter it is, obviously, not sufficient to rely on the material contained on physical carriers, i.e. it becomes necessary to master new means of recording.

На основе данных по Федеративной Республике Германии в статье рассматриваются меры, предпринимаемые театральными и концертными организациями с целью расширения контингента зрителей за счет освоения виртуального пространства. Известно, что с момента формирования профессии музыканта-исполнителя критики уделяют внимание, в том числе, внешнему виду артиста. Аутентичность облика музыканта является одной из важнейших составляющих концертного ритуала. Предложения ведущих коллективов, таких как Берлинская филармония или Венская государственная опера, по распространению продукции в рамках онлайн-трансляций видятся автору в ключе сохранения «концертности». В таком случае «посещение слушателя на дому» — это не только попытка идти в ногу со временем. В свете исследований мультимодальности восприятия наличие визуальных раздражителей ведет к повышению его качества, а следовательно, и рейтинга академической музыки в глазах слушателя.
Текст статьи состоит из четырех разделов. За перечислением примеров виртуализации в сфере музыкального искусства следует описание сценариев, предлагаемых известными концертными и театральными коллективами. Сравнительный обзор наиболее интересных с точки зрения автора исследовательских проектов, посвященных зрелищной составляющей восприятия музыки, является центральным элементом статьи. В выводах затронута тема новых задач, возникающих перед традиционным музыкознанием, в том числе, в рамках исследований исполнительского искусства. В последних явно уже недостаточно опираться на материал, находящийся на физических носителях, т.е. необходимо осваивать новые методы учета.

We tried to dig deeper in this interweave of relations between composition, sound landscape, environmental sounds, photosouds and emotional relations of listening with Matteo Pennese, composer and performer focused on developing systems for live-electronic, especially with Max Msp, and most of all on new ways of interacting with the environment through new hardware and software devices, such as Arduino.

When a two-tone pattern in which the tones are related by a half-octave interval (tritone) is played in any key, listeners hear it as descending or ascending, on the basis of an individual pitch class template (Deutsch, 1986). Perception of this pattern has been reported to vary with the geographical region in which the listener grew up, and it has been suggested (Deutsch, 1994; Ragozzine and Deutsch, 1994) that the characteristics of ones pitch class template may vary among speakers of different dialects and languages. This hypothesis was tested by asking how bilingualism may influence the perception of the tritone pairs. Spanish/English bilinguals were tested and their performance was compared with that of a group of English speakers. All listeners were from Texas. The results indicate that bilinguals perceive the patterns differently than the monolinguals. Envelope influences will also be discussed.