Literature Quotes (Audio-Vision)

Audio-Vision by Michel Chion

1. "Sound does have a means to suggest stasis, but only in limited cases. One could say that 'fixed sound' is that which entails no variations whatever as it is heard".
2. "Sound perception and visual perception have their own average pace by their nature; basically, the ear analyses, processes, and synthesises faster than the eye. Take a rapid visual movement - a hand gesture - and compare it to an abrupt sound trajectory of the same duration. The fast visual movement will not form a distinct figure, its trajectory will not enter the memory in a precise picture. In the same length of time the sound trajectory will succeed in outlining a clear and definite form, individuated, recognisable, distinguishable from others".

Three aspects of Temporalization.

1. "The first is temporal animation of the image. To varying degrees, sound renders the perception of time in the image as exact, detailed, immediate, concrete- or vague, fluctuating, broad".
2. "Second, sound endows shots with temporal linearisation. In the silent cinema, shots do not always indicate temporal succession, wherein what happens in shot B would necessarily follow what is shown in shot A. But synchronous sound does impose a sense of succession".
3. "Third, Sound vectorises or dramatisises shots, orienting them toward a future, a goal, and creation of a feeling of imminence and expectation. The shot is going somewhere and it is oriented in time".   

Literature Quotes (Psychology of Music)

Psychology of Music by Carl E. Seashore.

Rhythm

1. "There are two fundamental factors in the perception of rhythm: an instinctive tendency to group impressions in hearing and a capacity for doing this with precision in time and stress". 
2. " The development of this ability results in power to handle vast numbers of sounds with ease, and this success is a source  of pleasure. And that is true, not only in poetry and in music, but in our natural hearing, even under primitive conditions. thus, Rhythm has become a biological principle of efficiency, a condition for advance and achievement and a perceptual source of satisfaction"
3. "Rhythm favours perception by grouping".
4. "Rhythm adjusts the strain of attention".
5. "Rhythm gives us a feeling of balance". 
6. "The sense of Rhythm gives us a feeling of freedom, luxury, and expanse. It gives us a feeling of achieving in moulding or creating".
7. "Rhythm gives us a feeling of power, it carries"
8. "It stimulates and lulls, contradictory as this may seem. Pronounced Rhythm brings on results in a mild form of ecstasy or absent mindedness, a loss of conciousness of the environment".
9. "Rhythmic Periodicity is instinctive". 
10. "Rhythm finds resonance in the whole organism. It is not a matter of the ear or the finger only; it is a matter of the two fundamental powers of life, namely, knowing and acting". 
11. "Rhythm arouses sustained and enriching associations".
12.  "Rhythm reaches out in extraordinary detail and complexity with progressive mastery".
13. "The instinctive craving for the experience of rhythm results in play, which is the free self-expression for the pleasure of expression". 

Loudness

1. "Volume as a musical characteristic of tone is a complex experience resting upon the frequency, the intensity , the duration, and the harmonic constitution of the physical stimulus, and largely influenced by associational affective, and motor factors in perception".

Pitch

1. "Pitch is the qualitative attribute of auditory sensation which denotes highness and lowness in the musical scale and is conditioned primarily on the frequency of sound waves".

Literature Quotes (Music and the Mind)

Music and the Mind  by Anthony Storr.

1. "Music has the effect of intensifying or underlining the emotions which a particular event calls fourth, by simultaneously coordinating the emotions of a group of people". 
2. " We are so used to hearing music throughout a film that a short period of silence has a shock effect; and movie-makers sometimes use silence as a precursor to some particularly horrific incident". 
3. " As Burrows points out, we are dependant on background sound of which we are hardly concious for our sense of life continuing. A silent world is a dead world". 
4. The Unmusical person, as one would expect, is less physiologically aroused than the musical person. Even in people to whom music means a great deal, responses vary with their mood".
5. " Rhythm is rooted in the body in a way which does not apply so strikingly to melody and harmony. Breathing, walking, the heartbeat, and sexual intercourse are all rhythmical aspects of our physical being".  

Literature Quotes (The Music Instinct)

The Music Instinct by Philip Ball.

1. " Before we can even start to ask how music creates emotion, we must wrestle with the conundrum of what 'musical emotion' means".
2. " Music can arouse all manner of passions, from anger to despair, even disgust, while remaining music to which we choose to listen".
3. "In contrast to moods, emotions are typically of shorter duration, often accompanied by distinct facial expressions, and most importantly, evoked by identifiable, specific stimuli rather than by a generalised ambience".
4. "When we see a sad film or read a sad book, we might be moved from empathy and identification by the experiences of the character. But if music can be said to be 'sad' (itself a simplistic description), in what does the sadness reside?".
5. " - in this respect, the brain might experience music as a kind of 'super-expressive voice'". 
6. "with anticipation comes tension - have we guessed right or not? - and that in turn carries an emotional charge". 
7. " 'Rhythm' . Certain purposeful violations of the beat are often exceptionally beautiful; wrote C.P.E Bach".  
8. "Musicians repeatedly use little signals to increase our confidence in our expectations and thus maximise the pleasure of their verification. This is why cadences are generally 'prepared' in classical music: their approach is clearly signalled. In rock music, drum fills and rolls serve this purpose in a rhythmic context as universally recognisable harbingers of change". 
9. "Another common trick for focusing harmonic expectation is the suspension. Here the movement from one chord to another is carried out in stages, as though one of the notes of the first chord has got 'snagged' while the others move".
10.  " Meyers himself was sceptical about formal, quantitative schemes for characterising the emotional structure of music, saying that ' what is profound about the experience of a listener is not the "deep structure" of a piece of music, but the power of the rich interaction of sound and silence to engage our minds and bodies, to give rise to feelings and to evoke associations".

Literature Quotes (This Is Your Brain On Music)

This Is Your Brain On Music by Daniel Levitin.

1. "Pitch is a purely psychological construct, related both to the actual frequency of a particular tone and to its relative position in the musical scale".
2. "In the same way that a particular arrangement of pitches- the scale- can evoke music of a different culture, style, or idiom, so can a particular arrangement of rhythms". 
3. "When we organise rhythms into strings of notes, of varying lengths and emphases, we develop meter and establish tempo".
4. "The neural basis for this striking accuracy is probably in the cerebellum, which is believed to contain a system of timekeepers for our daily lives and to synchronise to the music we are hearing". 
5. " As with pitch, small-integer ratios of durations are the most common, and there is accumulating evidence that they are easier to process neurally".
6. "But as Eric Clarke notes, small-integer ratios are almost never found in samples of real music. This indicates that there is a quantization process - equalizing durations- occurring during our neural processing of music time"
7. "Tapping along with music, either actually or just in your mind, involves the cerebellums timing circuits. Performing music - regardless of what instruments you play, or whether you sing, or conduct involves the Frontal Lobes again for planning of your behaviour, as well as the motor cortex in the posterior part of the Frontal Lobe just underneath the top of your head, and sensory cortex, which provides the tactile feedback that you have pressed the right key on your instrument, or moved the baton where you thought you did".
8. "If the car horn has a pitch of A440, neurons that are set to fire when that frequency is encountered will most probably fire, and they'll fire again when an A440 occurs in Rachmaninoff. But my inner mental experience is likely to be different because of the different contexts involved and the different neural networks that are recruited in the two cases". 
9. "Abrupt, Short, Loud sounds tend to be interpreted by many animals as a n alert sound; we see this when comparing the alert calls of Birds, Rodents and Apes. Slow onset, long and quieter sounds tend to be interpreted as calming, or at least neutral. Think of the sharp sound of a dog's bark, versus the soft purring of a cat who sits peacefully on your lap. Composers know this, of course, and use hundreds of subtle shadings of timbre and note length to convey the many different emotional shadings of human experience".   
10. "Being an expert musician thus takes many forms: dexterity at playing an instrument, emotional communication, creativity, and special mental structures for remembering music". 
11. "Being an expert listener, which most of us are by the age of six, involves having incorporated the grammar of our musical culture into mental schemas that allow us to form musical expectations, the heart of the aesthetic experience in music". 

A Geometry Of Music (Overview)

'A Geometry Of Music' by Dmitri Tymoczko provides an in depth look at more complex issues present in music composition such as harmony and counterpoint. The book aims to utilise a new approach to composing which expands upon the normal common practices implied by music composer and should allow for a new perspective and approach to the music creating and structuring process.

The book looks at:

1. The five components of tonality.
2. Harmony and voice leading.
3. Chord geometry.
4. Scales.
5. Macroharmony and centricity. 
6. Extended common practice.
7. Functional harmony.
8. Chromaticism.
9. Scales in 20th century music.
10. Jazz.

The complex nature of the topics discussed in the literature would be difficult to understand without basic knowledge of music theory and an understanding of how to use an instrument etc. It would be more beneficial to use the book as a supplement to other music theory books such as 'Music theory: for dummies' and ' Music composition: for dummies' as these books look at these topics in a more simplistic and traditional manner.   

A Guide To Musical Analysis (Overview)

'A Guide To Musical Analysis' by Nicholas Cook, looks at multiple ways to analyse music such as 'Schenkerian Analysis', Psychological Approaches To Analysis', 'Comparative Analysis', Modern Approaches To Analysis and 'Formal' Approaches.

The literature details the aims and theories behind each analytical process and provides an in depth look at how to utilise each method.

The book will provide guidance when preparing an analytical framework for the 'Case Studies', (Music Analysis) required for the honours project. The framework will take aspects from multiple theories in order to obtain the specific information which is required and will be combined with my own knowledge and previous experiences to target specific point of interest when looking at film scores.  

Musicophilia (Overview)

'Musicophilia' by Oliver Sacks deals with similar topics that are present in other literature such as 'The Music Instinct' and 'This Is Your Brain On Music'. However the authors writing style makes things slightly easier to read. He places all the information required to understand how music effects us emotionally and psychologically into short stories of patients whom he tested over the years. This writing style prevents the reading of the topics from becoming a task and rather an entertaining and more natural way to process and learn (the short stories allow for the topics to have associations within your mind).

Music Composition: for dummies (Overview)

'Music Composition: for dummies' is useful for providing guidance throughout the creative process of the honours project. It looks into various compositional forms, techniques, structures and ideas to aid the creativity of the reader. The book utilises a concise and easy to read format, that breaks down each component of the composing process to allow for an easy to understand method of music writing for multiple forms of media.

The information within the book is provided by Scott Jarrett ( Music Director and Instructor) and Holly Day (Award-winning music journalist).

Music Theory: for dummies (Overview)

'Music Theory: for dummies' is an extremely useful book regarding the honours project. It provides almost every possible piece of information required to understand and develop skills relating to composing and playing music. The books simple layout and highlighted important Tips and Quotes allow for a simple and entertaining read. The information provided is backed up by images of musical scores and diagrams to further increase simplicity and understanding.

The information within the book is provided by Michael Pilhofer, MM (Music Director) and Holly Day (Music Writer).

A History of Film Music (Overview)

'A History of Film Music' by Mervyn Cooke discusses topics relating to the evolution of the film soundtrack. the book provides many sources of inspirational composers and pioneers of film, which prove to be useful when investigating composers and their work. The author discusses the evolution of equipment over the years, detailing how it has changed the way film soundtracks are made (changing the standards of the industry) and also looks into 'silent film' similar to Michel Chion in his book 'Audio-Vision'detailing how it has influenced and changed the film soundtracks of today.

Audio-Vision (Overview)

'Audio-Vision' by Michel Chion, investigates the way audio is perceived alongside moving images, with regards to 'Silent' films all the way up to the modern 'Hollywood Blockbusters' of today.  He utilises various theories which detail the way the human mind alters between different mindsets, altering the perception of sounds depending on the factors of analysis.
The most important of which is his devised theory of the 'Three Listening Modes' which he describes throughout the literature.

1. Causal Listening
2. Semantic Listening
3. Reduced Listening

He also discusses the effects of sound on the perception of movement and speed, visual cues and spotting techniques, the influence of sound on the perception of time and sound 'temporalisation'. 

These are some of the most important topics discussed within the literature relating to the honours project aim. 

Music and the Mind (Overview)

'Music and the Mind' by Anthony Storr, shows the powerful effects of music on the human perception, detailing key aspects of human nature which have led to music becoming one of the most manipulative experiences.

The book details how human experience can change the way we perceive a piece of music and documents basic structural features which the mind recognises as patterns that influence the way we react to music. The book discusses many philosophers outlook and understanding of music and how it effects our ways of thinking. Philosophers of influence such as Friedrich Nietzsche and Plato as well as modern researchers such as Oliver Sacks and John A. Sloboda are mentioned referring to other pieces of literature which expand on the topics discussed.

Psychology of Music (Overview)

'Psychology of Music' by Carl E. Seashore looks at music from a more in depth scientific viewpoint than books such as Philip Ball's 'The Music Instinct' and Daniel Levitin's 'This Is Your Brain On Music'. Therefore some of the contents can be quite daunting, requiring prior knowledge of acoustics theory and music theory.

The literature provides depth greater than most books of a similar nature but at times can be quite difficult to comprehend , not due to the authors structuring of the literature or his writing style, rather because of the complex matters discussed.

The literature content presented is quite dated and further studies have been conducted in some areas discussed, however the book lays a foundation which is essential when considering new theories and scientific test results relating to the psychological effects of music.

This Is Your Brain On Music (Overview)

'This Is Your Brain On Music' by Daniel Levitin discusses how the human brain perceives music,  showing how varying musical elements can singly or collectively produce emotional responses within the listener. The book utilises a similar method to Philip Balls 'The Music Instinct', showcasing theories and points of psychology through the use of music theory. This allows for a wider target audience whilst maintaining depth and reason to his points stated.

The Book has its main focus on elements such as:-

1. Pitch and Timbre
2. Rhythm, Loudness, and Harmony
3. Human Expectation
4. Music and emotion with regards to the brain 

The above points are discussed in depth throughout the literature and all interlink. The structure of the book allows for each element to be easily understood and digested with each topic seamlessly interchanging with the next. 

The Music Instinct (Overview)

'The Music Instinct' by Philip Ball, details recent findings in music psychology and brain science to inform the reader of how music and mind relate and why it is we respond to music with regards to emotion. The book looks closely at fundamental aspects of music theory and culture, showcasing how music has evolved or been established in various different ways across the world.

Although the book provides explanations regarding music theory, it can become fairly difficult to grasp without approaching it with a basic understanding of the topic, this is due to the context in which the author applies the use of music theory. He utilises examples of music and combines them with scientific facts and theories to provide the reader with an in depth understanding of how the individual components of music composition produce and induce emotional responses within the listeners. However, it is not required to have an in depth knowledge of psychology or neuroscience as the author explains each point clearly and concisely targeting a broader audience.