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I'm surprised at the lack of understanding of the music phenomenon surfacing in this article. Is this the current state of cognitive psychology? Complex mathem

I'm surprised at the lack of understanding of the music phenomenon surfacing in this article. Is this the current state of cognitive psychology? Complex mathematical relations in harmonics induce more tension than simple ones. We've known this at least since Pythagoras. Schoenberg knew this perfectly well -- he published the bible for the theory of tonal harmony -- and never argued against it, as is claimed in this article. What he did claim was that our ears gradually grow used to the common dissonances which start to lose the tension potential and to be heard as "colors" [EDIT: hence one of his first atonal works, "Farben"]. This is what he calls the "emancipation of dissonance". Basically, we have to find the "edge" in more and more complex mathematical relations. [EDIT: further, he thought this race for complexity was doomed and exhausted and we should let fully emancipated dissonance live a life of its own, not trying to build up and release tension; this opened a wealth of musical possibilities while alienating a good part of the audience] Pure major chords sound more "pleasant" in a pepsi-challenge type of study. So does pure sugar in a taste study. That doesn't mean the perfect meal is a pile of sugar cubes.

backbonejstutes 14y ago
Great comment!
stephengillie 14y ago
This is a topic which should be covered by audiologists, not cognitive psychologists. In fact, I'm pretty sure there's some previous literature about this topic. Where is the discussion on the physics of audio, the chords harmonically generated by instruments, and their effects within the ear? These aren't just chords which "sound unpleasant", there's an actual physical way to describe this. Is this study just more scientific noise?
jberryman 14y ago
Just wanted to add: Schoenberg's historical view of western music was one of a sort of slow "climb" up the overtone series, from early music utilizing almost exclusively perfect harmonies, to modern (in the west) compositions that use quarter tones, etc. > Pure major chords sound more "pleasant" in a pepsi-challenge type of study. So does pure sugar in a taste study. That doesn't mean the perfect meal is a pile of sugar cubes. Love this.
- microtherion 14y ago
  One example of this "climb" is Wagner, who was found to be excessively dissonant by many contemporary listeners. Nowadays, I think even listeners with very conservative tastes in music don't consider Wagner all that dissonant.

backbonejstutes 14y ago

Great comment!

stephengillie 14y ago

This is a topic which should be covered by audiologists, not cognitive psychologists. In fact, I'm pretty sure there's some previous literature about this topic. Where is the discussion on the physics of audio, the chords harmonically generated by instruments, and their effects within the ear? These aren't just chords which "sound unpleasant", there's an actual physical way to describe this. Is this study just more scientific noise?

jberryman 14y ago

Just wanted to add: Schoenberg's historical view of western music was one of a sort of slow "climb" up the overtone series, from early music utilizing almost exclusively perfect harmonies, to modern (in the west) compositions that use quarter tones, etc. > Pure major chords sound more "pleasant" in a pepsi-challenge type of study. So does pure sugar in a taste study. That doesn't mean the perfect meal is a pile of sugar cubes. Love this.

microtherion 14y ago
One example of this "climb" is Wagner, who was found to be excessively dissonant by many contemporary listeners. Nowadays, I think even listeners with very conservative tastes in music don't consider Wagner all that dissonant.