Discussion Questions

Suppose you hypothesize that musical harmony is a culturally determined construct. How would you design a study to test this research question?
What are some possible confounds with such a research design, and how could you eliminate as many confounds as possible given the design of your experiment?

Briefly explain how a microphone works.
What is the term for the way in which energy moves between different media?
What were the two signal domains discussed?
What is the name of the process by which a signal is converted from one of these domains to the other?
Describe how time, frequency, and magnitude (amplitude) are represented in a sonogram.

Lay out the anatomy of the auditory pathway, from the cochlea to the primary auditory cortex.
How does the structure of the basilar membrane reinforce its function?
Which of the following is most heavily implicated in being able to perceive location of sound sources?

Which of the following methods of hearing protection is the most efficient at attenuating sound?
earmuffs
cotton earplugs
plastic inserts

What is the McGurk Effect and what does it show about multisensory interaction?
In this unit we emphasized that top-down processing may influence bottom-up - perspectives in important ways. List three ways in which information from the top down may interact with bottom-up processing, and give an example for each.
What does the decibel measure, and how is it calculated from the intensity of a sound in a silent background?
Which tone sounds louder? A 50dB tone at 200 Hz, or a 50dB tone at 2000 Hz? How do we know?
Why might it be evolutionarily advantageous for the auditory system to show the Precedence Effect?
How does the Clifton Effect differ from the Precedence Effect?
How is loudness calculated for a complex tone with a rich harmonic spectrum?
A guitarist plucks a string in a concert hall 30ft in depth. How long does it take for the earliest reflection from the furthest wall to reach her ears? Please refer to the diagram below. guitarreverb.jpg Guitar Reverb

Define the auditory filter. What is the relationship between critical band and the Gammatone filter?
Which of the following sounds most dissonant?
C4 and B4 played on pure tones
C4 and B4 played on two clarinets on the opposite sides of a stage
C4 and B4 played on two trumpets on the same side of a stage
C4 and E4 played on two clarinets on the same side of a stage
Under what conditions are binaural beats most likely to be perceived?
Calculate the beat frequency of the second partials $(F_2)$ of complex tones with fundamentals at 440Hz and 441Hz respectively.
How does the Inferior Colliculus differentially encode pure tones and complex tones presented at a tritone apart?
According to the Wright-Bregman hypothesis, what factors may influence the perception of dissonance?

Calculate the sizes of following intervals. Pythagorean major third (81/64), septimal minor seventh (7/4) and undecimal augmented fourth (11/8). Determine how much they deviate from their equal-tempered counterparts.
The calculation of virtual pitch was attributed to cubic difference tones in past which, strikingly, yield similar results. Explain why the brain will most likely still use a different method and give an example where difference tones and virtual pitch differ.
Discuss to what extent the tonality profiles derived by the probe tone method point to universal musical principles or whether it’s rather cultural influences that determine the perception of tonal hierachies.

Define timbre.
What measurement does our perception of sonic “brightness” correlate to? How?
What are formants? How do they contribute to speech?
Describe the difference between the “temporal envelope” and the “spectral envelope”.

What are the important features of sound that enable the perception of rhythmic beats?
What is the optimal range of rhythmic function? How do we know?
What are the axes of a rhythmogram?
What is microtiming?
What are the relative advantages and disadvantages of the interval timing model and the coupled oscillator model?

What are the Gestalt processes of visual perception? How do they relate to melody?
What are the relative advantages of generating melodies as a matrix of conditional probabilities?
To what extent is melodic contour important to our musical experience?
What are the axes of a musical texture space? How does it categorize different musical genres?

In what way does quarter-comma meantone temperament relate to 31TET?
How does temperament affect harmony and harmonic progression?
Describe the differences and similarities between harmony and timbre.
What are some ways in which recent composers have sought to create tension and release in music without going back to the tonal system of the past?
Why is the context in which a sonority appears important?

Why might it be evolutionarily advantageous for our brains to form expectations? Give a real-life example. Are there any circumstances under which it can be a disadvantage to form expectations? If so, what are these circumstances?
What is the gap fill principle? Give an example of gap fill in a melody.
Describe the probe tone paradigm. What do probe tone profiles look like?
What are event-related potentials and what do they show for unexpected musical chords?
What kinds of statistics are used in musical compositions?

Describe the N400 effect, and what it reveals about the relationship between music and language.
What does the nPVI measure, and how has it been used to draw comparisons between music and speech?

Musician move their body more than would be necessary for producing the sounds on their instruments. Why is this so?
Are there any commonalities in musicians’ body movements across different instruments?
What does “mapping” mean in the context of electronic music? And what are the challenges involved?
How could body movement be used in artistic performances (e.g. creating sound/music)?
Does the “rock and roll threshold” only work for rock and roll music?
Why could it be easier to capture certain instruments using optical motion capture than others?
What could be advantages and challenges when trying to track/record movement data outside the lab environment (e.g., during concerts or artistic performances)?