by Johannes Voit

Listening to a piece of contemporary music often demands a higher degree of concentration from an audience than does a traditionally structured piece.  This can be explained through different perception mechanisms described by Helga de la Motte-Haber in her essay “The prepared listener” (“Der einkomponierte Hörer”).  She distinguishes between automatically running reception processes and knowledge/context derived perception mechanisms.  The listener perceives musical structure in traditional pieces due to previous knowledge.  There seem to be direct correspondences between hearing and musical structure which, for example, take place with the “streaming effect”.  This describes the phenomenon whereby a listener regards tones of a similar frequency as belonging together.  Therefore when high and low tones alternate in succession the listener categorises them into two separate melodic streams: high and low.  In this way the streaming effect makes, among other things, the perception of polyphonic instrumental music easier.  This is an example of the complex mechanisms of automatic pattern forming which occur without conscious effort in the act of hearing (cf. la Motte-Haber, p. 37).  Music rich in contrast which doesn’t give any clues to systems of perception with regard to structuring – as is often the case with new music – considerably complicates the cognitive organisation of what is heard.  This possibly explains the meaning of repetition as a ‘structuring moment’ in music between 1600 and 1900 (cf. Kreutz, p. 127 ff.).  Helga de la Motte-Haber reports of an attempt by American scientists to derive a kind of normative listening grammar as more or less a guide for composers out of the phenomenon of automatic pattern forming (cf. la Motte-Haber, p. 38).  Naturally such a venture doesn’t maintain credibility particularly since automatic pattern forming doesn’t by any means constitute a seal of approval.  Perception processes running unconsciously just occur more quickly but for this reason are more superficial and less discriminating than knowledge/context derived mechanisms which demand greater powers of concentration.  Nevertheless it can be ascertained that “the fundamentally new in new music is the increased difficulty in its perception” (la Motte-Haber, p.40).  The increased difficulty in the perception of new music is not only related to the higher degree of concentration required but is also has a physiological background.  The often generous use of dissonance in new music makes a strenuous impact on untrained ears because sound frequencies lying closely to one another are processed through neighbouring areas of the cochlea.  Richard Pancutt, Professor for Systematic Musicology in Graz elaborates: “This leads to the disturbed interaction of sound processing hairs within a critical bandwidth” (quoted from Wolff, p. 52).  However, it isn’t possible to derive a “listening grammar” from these findings.  It is rather a question of habit: such interferences caused by purposively employed dissonance can also exert a particular fascination.  The increased difficulty in the perception of new music presents not only a problem but also an opportunity.  Music adhering to familiar structures is processed for the most part by automatically running reception processes and therefore barely perceived consciously.  The lower the demand on the listener’s concentration the greater the danger that the music will be registered as a musical backdrop but not actually comprehended.  In this way a simple musical form will possibly not be recognised as having form at all.  The composer Wolfgang Rihm comments: “That’s the reason, I think, it’s a mistake to assume that a narrowly conceived music lacking in associations is more easily able to be perceived.  In this case active musical perception is eliminated early on because immediately after becoming aware an identification process begins” (Rihm, p. 32 ff.).  Thus musical clichés can block the way to experiencing something new as the audience member is forced into a passive role which makes interaction with the artwork more difficult.

References

Kreutz, Gunter: Aspekte musikalischer Formwahrnehmung. In: Helga de la Motte-Haber / Reinhard Kopiez (Hrsg.): Der Hörer als Interpret. Frankfurt a. M. 1995, p. 125-147.

La Motte-Haber, Helga de: Der einkomponierte Hörer. In: Dies. / Reinhard Kopiez (Hrsg.): Der Hörer als Interpret. Frankfurt a. M. 1995, p. 35-41.

Rihm, Wolfgang: Der geschockte Komponist. In: Ders.: Offene Enden. Denkbewegungen um und durch Musik. Hrsg. v. Ulrich Mosch.  München / Wien 2002, p. 18-36.

Wolff, Philip: Die Essenz des Menschseins. In: SZ Wissen 07/2006, p. 44-59.

Last Update 2007-08-30 | Copyright© Johannes Voit 2006 | |