Melodic expectation

In music cognition and musical analysis, the study of melodic expectation considers the engagement of the brain's predictive mechanisms in response to music.[1] For example, if the ascending musical partial octave "do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-ti-..." is heard, listeners familiar with Western music will have a strong expectation to hear or provide one more note, "do", to complete the octave.

Melodic expectation can be considered at the esthesic level,[2] in which case the focus lies on the listener and its response to music.[1] It can be considered at the neutral level,[2] in which case the focus switches to the actual musical content, such as the "printed notes themselves".[3] At the neutral level, the observer may consider logical implications projected onto future elements by past elements[4][5] or derive statistical observations from information theory.[6]

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Margulis2007 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b Jean-Jacques Nattiez (1992). Music and Discourse: Toward a Semiology of Music (Musicologie générale et sémiologie), translated by Carolyn Abbate. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-02714-2.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference EN1992 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference EN1990 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference SC5 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Youngblood1958 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).