engleski

The Role of Scalar Assimilation and Texture in the Perception of Bitonality

Among the facets undermining tonality in the early 20th century, the combination of tonally resonant layers in a musical passage, commonly referred to as polytonality, gave rise to an interpretative debate regarding the term’s explanatory power. While in the last decades there has been an in increase in historically-based theoretical research in this topic (see for instance: Delaere 2012, Kaminsky 2004, Martins 2017, Médicis 2005, Pistone, D. and Fischer, M. 2005, Wheeldon 2012), the persistent lack of an appropriate definition or efficient analytical models bear witness to the still ongoing under-theorization of the phenomenon. Recently Martins (2019) proposed an original interpretative analytical model of “scalar dissonance, ” which aims at promoting a view of polytonality as interaction between scales or scale segments, encompassing both the compositional and the perceptional aspects of this conceptual problem. The two essential properties of the Martins’s scalar dissonance model are mismatch (abbr. MISM: “friction” or “roughness” between layers, measured by the number of tones intersecting conflicting scale steps in another layer, divided by the number of layers conceived) and porosity (abbr. PORO: the degree of porosity or permeability of the layers, measured by the number of their common tones). An exploratory experimental study (Kiš Žuvela & Martins 2019) among BA and MA students of music showed positive correlation between the perceived degree of bitonality with the degrees of MISM and PORO obtained using the scalar dissonance analytical model. However, the study did not cover other important aspects of the scalar dissonance model such as the scalar assimilation (the perceptual assimilation/integration of tones from a conflicting layer into the larger intervals of another layer) or the role of texture in perceiving the degree of the scalar interaction in bitonal environments. This paper will attempt to examine the effect of scalar assimilation on the perceived degree of bitonality and to explore the role of texture in integration and segregation of layers in polytonal music. A series of listening experiments will be conducted among cca 150 participants, students of music at BA and MA levels. The results of an analysis conducted using the scalar dissonance model (MISM, PORO and scalar assimilation) will be compared against the results of an aural test consisting of pairs of original and recomposed passages of piano pieces by Milhaud, Bartók and Casella. Furthermore, the role of texture in the perception of the degree of bitonality will be interpreted in relationship to the principles of auditory scene analysis (Bregman 1990, Huron 2016). Finally, the results will be compared with general variables (age, sex, major subject, duration of music education, year of study, the most recent grade achieved in Aural Training courses, handedness and the possession of absolute pitch) in order to design a statistical model describing the relationship between the performance in aural tests and these variables. The study will expectantly bring additional experimental insights in the nature of bitonality and open new avenues for future interdisciplinary research of polytonal/modal music.

polytonality ; scalar dissonance ; aural perception ; auditory scene analysis

nije evidentirano