In music cognition, melodic fission (also known as melodic or auditory streaming, or stream segregation), is a phenomenon in which one line of pitches (an auditory stream) is heard as two or more separate melodic lines. This occurs when a phrase contains groups of pitches at two or more distinct registers or with two or more distinct timbres.
The term appears to stem from a 1973 paper by W. J. Dowling.[2] In music analysis and, more specifically, in Schenkerian analysis, the phenomenon is often termed compound melody.[3]
In psychophysics, auditory scene analysis is the process by which the brain separates and organizes sounds into perceptually distinct groups, known as auditory streams.
The counterpart to melodic fission is melodic fusion.[4]
- ^ Davis, Stacey "Implied Polyphony in the Solo String Works of J. S. Bach: A Case for the Perceptual Relevance of Structural Expression". Music Perception, 2006, Vol. 23, 429.
- ^ W. J. Dowling (1973), "The perception of interleaved melodies", Cognitive Psychology 5, pp. 322-337. A. S. Bregman & J. Campbell (1971), "Primary auditory stream segregation and perception of order in rapid sequences of tones", Journal of Experimental Psychology 89, pp. 244-249, had spoken of "auditory stream segregation".
- ^ The term appears to have been coined by Walter Piston (1947), Counterpoint, New York, Norton, under the form "compound melodic line" (London edition, 1947, p. 23). In the context of Schenkerian analysis, see for instance Forte & Gilbert (1982), Introduction to Schenkerian Analysis, Chapter 3, pp. 67-80. See also Schenkerian analysis. Manfred Bukofzer (1947), Music in the Baroque Era, New York, Norton, had spoken of "implied polyphony".
- ^ Saighoe, Francis. "Resultant Melodies: A Psycho-Structural Analysis". Journal of the Ghana Teacher's Association, 1991, Vol. 1, pp. 30-39.