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Music is based on various regularities, ranging from the repetition of physical sounds to theoretically organized harmony and counterpoint. How are multidimensional regularities processed when we listen to music? The present study focuses on the redundant signals effect (RSE) as a novel approach to untangling the relationship between these regularities in music. The RSE refers to the occurrence of a shorter reaction time (RT) when two or three signals are presented simultaneously than when only one of these signals is presented, and provides evidence that these signals are processed concurrently. In two experiments, chords that deviated from tonal (harmonic) and acoustic (intensity and timbre) regularities were presented occasionally in the final position of short chord sequences. The participants were asked to detect all deviant chords while withholding their responses to non-deviant chords (i.e., the Go/NoGo task). RSEs were observed in all double- and triple-deviant combinations, reflecting processing of multidimensional regularities. Further analyses suggested evidence of coactivation by separate perceptual modules in the combination of tonal and acoustic deviants, but not in the combination of two acoustic deviants. These results imply that tonal and acoustic regularities are different enough to be processed as two discrete pieces of information. Examining the underlying process of RSE may elucidate the relationship between multidimensional regularity processing in music. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Different theories have been proposed to explain the perception of a root in a pitch set, with Terhardt's (1984) virtual pitch theory being the one generally considered most plausible, despite none of them having been confirmed empirically. Understanding the perceived root phenomenon is an essential component in explaining the origin of the major and minor triads as the most fundamental chords in twelve-tone equal temperament or 5-limit just intonation, as well as in proposing new chords for new tunings. This music perception study, in which 42 participants rated chords in 10 different tunings, empirically establishes harmonic dualism, negative harmony, and Barlow's harmonicity as the key factors for the perception of the harmonic root and the origin of the major and minor triads, and proposes a model as a basis for a tuning-agnostic—trans-spatial—music theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We give a definition of a what we call a “tonnetz” on a triangulated surface, generalizing the famous Tonnetz of Euler (Euler, Leonhard. 1739. Tentamen novae theoriae musicae ex certissismis harmoniae principiis dilucide expositae. Saint Petersburg Academy, 147). In the modern interpretation of Euler’s Tonnetz, the vertices of a regular “ $ {A_2} $ A2 triangulation” of the plane are labelled with notes, or pitch-classes. In our generalization, we allow much more general labellings of triangulated surfaces. In particular, edge labellings turn out to lead to a rich set of examples. We construct natural examples that are related to crystallographic reflection groups and live on triangulations of tori. Underlying these, we observe a curious relationship between the mathematical Langlands duality and major/minor duality. We also construct “exotic” type- $ {A_2} $ A2 examples (different from Euler’s Tonnetz), and a tonnetz on a sphere that encodes all major ninth chords. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In major‐minor tonality, V implies I, and rising fourths, falling thirds and rising seconds between successive chord roots are more common than falling fourths, rising thirds and falling seconds respectively. Possible explanations involve history (in two‐part medieval counterpoint, harmonic major sixths resolved to octaves – maintained in V–I); the rising leading note (V–I includes it, IV–I does not); acoustic speculation (in V–I, the third harmonic of 1̂$\hat 1$ resolves to the second); voice leading (in V7–I, a tritone resolves to a third by contrary step); melodic closure (a rising melodic leap implies subsequent falling steps, and melodies often end with 2̂$\hat 2$–1̂$\hat 1$, harmonised V–I); root newness (chords 'progress' if the second chord's root is not part of the first); and tonal stability (V is less stable than IV, giving it a stronger 'urge' to resolve). An additional possibility combines the 'virtual‐pitch' theory of Ernst Terhardt with the 'implication‐realisation' theory of Leonard B. Meyer and Eugene Narmour. Major and minor triads imply subsidiary virtual pitches (missing fundamentals; see Rameau's 'fundamental bass') at third and fifth intervals below the root. These weakly perceived pitches are realised in the next chord if the root falls by a third or rises a fourth or major second, creating a feeling of forward progression – while also facilitating intonation for singers and melodic instrumentalists. The theory correctly predicts that successive harmonic complex (but not pure) tones an octave apart sound more similar if rising, and rising octaves are more common than falling in melody. It also explains why Classical modulations are asymmetrical in the opposite direction, major keys tending to modulate to V (not IV) and minor to III (not VI): accidental flats tend to be more perceptually salient or stable than sharps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parsimony is a broad concept with applications in music theory and composition. Two sets A and B of finite cardinality n (n-sets) are in parsimonious relation if there exists a (n–1)-set C that is included in both A and B. A sequence of n-sets is parsimonious if any two successive sets in the sequence are in parsimonious relation. This work demonstrates that for any set of finite cardinality p, there exist sequences of its n-subsets (n ≤ p) that are circular, non-redundant, exhaustive and parsimonious, and it describes the corresponding algorithm. The image of such a sequence by a bijection and the retrograde sequence keep the same four properties. The consequences of these results for the pitch class (pc) subsets of cardinality n (or n-chords) of a pc set of finite cardinality p (p-tonic scale) are derived and discussed in the context of music harmony, microtonality and composition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI), music generation has gained widespread attention. Long short-term memory (LSTM) has advantages in handling time series data and has achieved success in the field of music generation. This neural network is capable of capturing the long-term dependencies in music, thus generating chord music that is coherent and innovative. Therefore, to develop a creative and artistic music generation model, this study initially establishes a hidden Markov model (HMM) for chord recognition in music. Subsequently, the algorithm, leveraging the multi-style chord music generation (MSCMG) network, is proposed and applied for chord music generation. Furthermore, an evaluation of the chord music generation algorithm is conducted, utilizing LSTM neural networks within the context of AI. The findings indicate that the HMM, devised in this study, attains an impressive 81.8% chord recognition rate for piano compositions. Additionally, the algorithm, based on the MSCMG network, achieves a notable similarity score of 82.1% for generating classical-style music, with corresponding scores of 3.45, 3.42, and 3.44 for folk-style, classical-style, and pop-style music, respectively. This investigation lays the groundwork for the fusion of AI technology and music composition, exploring novel avenues for music generation and providing novel tools and insights for creative and theoretical exploration within the realm of music. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A general approach for the design of mild chord progressions from the n-chords (unordered pitch-class sets of cardinal n) of a p-tonic scale was developed. Four relations between n-chords were considered: equivalence through transformation (transposition or inversion), parsimony (quasi-identity), mildness (equivalence or parsimony) and fuzziness (quasi-equivalence). The results showed that these relations are symmetrical and compatible with any transformation. Therefore, a parsimonious, mild or fuzzy progression of n-chords exists in 48 forms that keep its properties: direct, retrograde, inverted, retrograde inverted and their transpositions. Circular non-redundant exhaustive parsimonious progressions of the n-chords from a p-tonic scale were established for n = 2–5 and p = 2–9. The n-chords and their progressions can be represented in a two-dimensional table of the (n – 1)-chords of the p-tonic scale versus the set classes of its n-chords. Harmony and structural form can thus be deduced from the intrinsic properties of a scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the préludes non mesurés composed for the guitar in the second half of the 17th century. From François Martin's collection of suites in 1663 to Robert de Visée's second book of guitar music in 1686, guitarists published nearly 50 preludes, several of which are rhythmically free or entirely unmeasured. Indebted to the lute and harpsichord repertories, the guitar prelude was nevertheless shaped by the notational and performance practices of the instrument. A review of the printed sources reveals four types of guitar prelude current in the second half of the century: the fully measured prelude; the precisely notated but rhythmically free prelude; the unmeasured prelude; and the strummed, unmeasured prelude with variable rhythm. This last type, which instructs the performer to strum each chord an indeterminate number of times, has no exact analogue in the other instrumental repertories of the era. Comparisons are also made to unmeasured or rhythmically free preludes in manuscript sources including the 'Gallot' manuscript. Together, these pieces attest to a brief but avid interest in unmeasured music on the Baroque guitar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chinese Folk Drum music is an excellent traditional cultural resource, it has brilliant historical and cultural heritage and excellent traditional cultural connotation. However, the survey found that the social and cultural values, tourism economic values, and national self-confidence embodied in folk drum music, such as Xi'an drum music, are far from being released, and even its own inheritance and development are facing difficulties. The research focuses on the automatic generation of Xi'an drum music, with the aim of further inheriting, developing, and utilizing this exceptional traditional cultural resource. While Artificial Intelligence (AI) music generation has gained popularity in recent years, most platforms primarily focus on modern music rather than Chinese folk music. To address these issues and the unique challenges faced by Xi'an drum music, this paper proposes a Bi-LSTM network-based deep reinforcement learning model. The model incorporates the distinctive characteristics of ancient Chinese music, such as pitch, chord, and mode, and utilizes the Actor-Critic algorithm in reinforcement learning. During the simulation generation stage, an improved method of generating strategies through reward and punishment scores is introduced. Additionally, the model takes into account abstract concept constraints, such as chord progression and music theory rules, which are translated into computer language. By constructing a chord reward mechanism and a music principle reward mechanism, the model achieves harmony constraints and enables the systematic generation of drum music. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed model, based on Bi-LSTM deep reinforcement learning, can generate Xi'an drum music with high quality and artistic aesthetics. This research contributes to the preservation, development, and utilization of Xi'an drum music, leveraging advancements in AI music generation technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A previous study explored the potential to influence the perception of consonance by controlling the spectral components of simultaneous pitches within a chord in sound synthesis using the additive method. This approach involves considering spectral components across in all simultaneously sounding pitches constituting a chord. Components within the range of beatings and roughness are adjusted to gradually enhance or weaken both phenomena. So far, the idea and method were implemented in a basic additive synthesizer, producing simple, abstract, time-invariant timbres. The current study extends this research and addresses challenges associated with implementing the aforementioned consonance-altering mechanism in a more advanced additive synthesizer, applied to the task of resynthesizing the sound of selected acoustic instruments. This study deals with natural, independent evolution of spectral components, wherein consonance undergoes gradual variations over time. Additionally, it presents a solution to mitigate the impact of the mechanism on the overall signal level, arising from the attenuation of selected spectral components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes an intermedial reading of Toni Morrison's Love (2003) and applies the concepts of intermediality theory to discuss the jazz narrative strategies used in the novel. In this article, intermediality is on the one hand associated with the musicalization of fiction; on the other hand, it is viewed from the perspective of expanding the representational modes of a given medium. The article explores the links between jazz music and literature, and argues that the structure of Morrison's Love has a certain similarity to a jazz music composition. We identify in the structure of the novel a number of solos and the polyphonic overlapping of the voices, and we show that the interaction of voices gives the narrative a dialogic character, which results in multiple interpretations of the complex characters and ambiguous situations. Juxtapositions, temporal shifts, syncopation, rhythmically arranged sequences, meaningful chords, improvisation, repetition and variations are explored and interpreted as jazz narrative strategies. The article identifies a double riff based on counterpoint, and its role in harmonizing the sounds of the voices at the end of the novel. The rich imagery contributing to the performative character of the narrative is analysed. We argue that Morrison's Love serves as a vivid example of the musicalization of fiction, which results in expanding the representational modes of literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to reveal normative prototypes undergirding various formal sections, this article introduces the 'Anchoring vi Schema': a medium length major-mode passage (typically eight or 16 bars) that initiates on an unambiguous hypermetric downbeat (for example, the beginning of a verse or chorus). The Anchoring vi Schema must begin with tonic harmony and deploy submediant harmony at its midpoint – the second most hypermetrically strong beat. The identification of the Anchoring vi Schema enables closer readings of phrase expansion and deletion in popular music. A comparison of the common harmonies used in eight- and 16-measure passages reveals some striking similarities, particularly in terms of where tonic and subdominant chords are likely to occur. Although the endings of formal sections can take a variety of paths – including arriving at various tonal goals within a range of possible times – hypermetrically accented beginnings and midpoints show greater consistency in their organisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study is devoted to the search for technological solutions to improve and modernize music education aimed at developing fundamental skills of vocal mastery. Optimum technological solutions were identified in order to improve and modernize music education, the functional features of which provide students with the opportunity to master auditory skills by playing musical games by ear, sing to recordings in real-time, listen to and identifying chords, intervals, progressions, genres, etc. Mobile apps such as VoCo Vocal Coach, Vocalist Lite, Vox Tools: Learn to Sing, Swiftscales Vocal Trainer, Learn to Sing, Singing Lessons, Pocket Pitch, Sound Cloud, Sing True, Voice Training, VocaLive CS can transform vocal training in accordance with modern digital trends. The study substantiates the need for synergy of technological solutions and modern pedagogical styles in the development of vocal mastery. Technology can become an effective tool to improve learning by providing students with more constructive feedback and personalized learning. The model of the introduction of mobile applications and support in vocal training in accordance with the educational needs of the digital generation combines technological and pedagogical methods of training vocal masters and opens up opportunities for the development of digital music education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article suggests strategies to help choral directors demystify vocal improvisation in the jazz choir setting. These include making students sing variation on the melody and encouraging them to stretch by adding ornaments or melodic modifications, having students sing the bass roots of every chord to make them comfortable with harmony, having students sing based on the tonic scale associated with the key signature, and encouraging students to listen to vocal improvisers.