The talk was titled The Perception and Apperception of Musical Structure.
Three of the students in the MMB programme—Lena Esther Ptasczynski, Fran Board, and Paul Bejjani—were assigned to write a blogpost on the presentation, and the result of their hard work can be found on the Music, Mind & Brain @ Goldsmiths blog.
The blogpost opens with the following text:
| “The seductiveness of music lies in its ability to titillate the senses”: Elaine Chew on musical structure Posted on April 10, 2018 by music-mind-brain Think about the last time a piece of music took you by surprise… What triggered it? How did you feel? Did others react the same way? You might become aware of musical structure through an established rhythmic pattern or a subverted harmonic expectation. It exists at various levels within a piece of music, from short motifs, through to longer patterns. Structure is an integral music component and indeed, music is often described as “organised sound” (Varèse, cited in Goldman, 1961). Composers conceive and organise structure, performers express it, and listeners decipher it. Differences in our perception of these structures will dictate our expectation of the forthcoming music and alter our individual experiences of music. So how can we make sense of our musical experiences by analysing and quantifying structure? Elaine Chew is a self-described “mathemusical scientist” (Chew, 2016, p. 37). Her research on musical structure spans conceptual art through to mathematical modelling and gives new insights into music perception. She spoke to Goldsmiths’ Music, Mind, and Brain MSc students about the perception and apperception of musical structure. |
And concludes with the paragraph:
| These projects emphasise the creative nature of listening, the breadth of Chew’s work, and the important role that structure plays in our understanding of music perception and cognition in general. Next time you’re listening to that exciting piece of music, take a minute to remember how complex and unique your experience may be. |
To read what transpired in between, visit musicmindandbrain.wordpress.com/2018/04/10/elaine-chew-on-musical-structure.