Theories of Musical Structure as a Source for Problems in Psychoacoustical Research
James K. Randall · The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · 1966
Electronic media have opened two paths that research into the perception of musical sound is now following: the first is a path toward answers to traditional psychoacoustical questions, and the second is a path toward exposing more fully the musical misconceptions that may lie at the root of these questions. The purpose of this paper is to explore the second of these paths. In order to cast doubt on the idea that psychoacoustical research is, in fact, independent of any theory of musical structure, the argument proceeds from an elaboration of the familiar premise that the “perceived characteristics” of a musical sound are enmeshed in and partly determined by a perceived or imagined musical context to the suggestion that such research is on occasion handicapped by the parochial nature of those particular theories of musical structure upon which it knowingly or unknowingly tends to rely. Tapes produced at Princeton's Music IV facility are offered in evidence.