Playing with the Edge: Tipping Points and the Role of Tonality

TY - JOUR

T1 - Playing with the Edge: Tipping Points and the Role of Tonality

AU - Chew, Elaine

PY - 2016/2/1

Y1 - 2016/2/1

N2 - This article centers on the phenomenon of tipping points—a case of extreme pulse elasticity—in music performance, and the dynamic interplay between tonal structure and musical timing. The article presents the idea and principles of tipping points. Examples illus- trate three types of global and local tipping points: melodic, boundary, and cadential. Focusing on cadential tipping points, the article considers the role of tonality in a number of examples, thus bridging the subject of tipping points and prior work on the modeling of tonal- ity. The spiral array model for tonality is described, including how the model traces the dynamics of tonal perception. A real-time implementation of the model is applied to cadential tipping point examples to visualize the effect of tipping points on tonal perception. The analyses show how tipping points influence tonal per- ception—clarifying, focusing, and exploiting harmonic function, in the case of cadential tipping points, to evoke tension and shape narrative structure.

AB - This article centers on the phenomenon of tipping points—a case of extreme pulse elasticity—in music performance, and the dynamic interplay between tonal structure and musical timing. The article presents the idea and principles of tipping points. Examples illus- trate three types of global and local tipping points: melodic, boundary, and cadential. Focusing on cadential tipping points, the article considers the role of tonality in a number of examples, thus bridging the subject of tipping points and prior work on the modeling of tonal- ity. The spiral array model for tonality is described, including how the model traces the dynamics of tonal perception. A real-time implementation of the model is applied to cadential tipping point examples to visualize the effect of tipping points on tonal perception. The analyses show how tipping points influence tonal per- ception—clarifying, focusing, and exploiting harmonic function, in the case of cadential tipping points, to evoke tension and shape narrative structure.

KW - thresholds

KW - expressive timing

KW - tonality

KW - music performance

KW - visualisation

UR - https://vimeo.com/109972282

UR - https://vimeo.com/112980119

UR - https://vimeo.com/127997185

UR - https://vimeo.com/127499857

UR - https://vimeo.com/127507105

UR - https://vimeo.com/127997355

U2 - 10.1525/mp.2016.33.3.344

DO - 10.1525/mp.2016.33.3.344

M3 - Article

SN - 0730-7829

VL - 33

SP - 344

EP - 366

JO - MUSIC PERCEPTION

JF - MUSIC PERCEPTION

IS - 3

ER -