Introduction to “Contributions toward a Quantitative Theory of Harmony”

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Tenney
Keyword(s):  
Auditory System ◽  
Pitch Perception ◽  
Harmonic Series ◽  
Quantitative Theory ◽  
History Of ◽  
Harmonic Distance ◽  
Fundamental Bass ◽  
Harmonic Density ◽  
Semantic Problem

James Tenney presents the introduction to his 1979 essay “Contributions toward a Quantitative Theory of Harmony.” In this introduction, Tenney discusses the history of consonance/dissonance, paying attention to the semantic problem, relations between pitches, qualities of simultaneous aggregates, and contextual as well as operational and functional senses of consonance/dissonance. He also explores the structure of harmonic series aggregates, focusing on harmonic intersection and disjunction, harmonic density, and harmonic distance and pitch mapping. Finally, he considers problems of tonality by analyzing harmonic-melodic roots and the “tonic effect,” along with harmonic (chordal) roots, the “fundamental bass,” and a model of pitch perception in the auditory system. In an epilogue, Tenney describes new harmonic resources as well as prospects and limitations of his contributions.

The perception of pitch

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Stainsby ◽  
Ian Cross
Keyword(s):  
Auditory System ◽  
Auditory Processing ◽  
Pitch Perception ◽  
Speech And Language ◽  
Frequency Information

This article discusses pitch perception, beginning with a brief introduction to the function of the auditory system. It considers what limitations there are on our ability to extract frequency information from the sounds reaching our ears, and provides an orientation for some of the mechanisms described in the later sections. The article then reviews relevant psychoacoustic research – how do we construct a sense of pitch from the physical acoustic input? This leads to a consideration of higher auditory-processing functions that include the mechanisms used to interpret the complicated mixture of sounds around us and the relationships between pitch as it applies to music and how it is manifested in speech and language.

The Structure of Harmonic Series Aggregates

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Tenney
Keyword(s):  
First Principles ◽  
Harmonic Series ◽  
Detailed Explanation ◽  
Harmonic Distance ◽  
Greatest Common Divisors ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Pitch Distance ◽  
The Way

James Tenney discusses the structure of harmonic series aggregates and provides a detailed explanation of the genesis of his HD function. He describes, through first principles (perception, simple mathematics), what happens when “two or more compound tones are sounded simultaneously.” Using simple properties of relatively prime (reduced) ratios, the harmonic series, and least common multiples and greatest common divisors, Tenney approaches harmony in the way he had suggested some thirty years earlier: “to start if possible at the very beginning, to clear the mind of loose ends whose origins are forgotten; loose ends and means become habits.” After exploring harmonic intersection and disjunction, Tenney concludes with an analysis of harmonic distance and pitch distance.

Audiological Findings in Patients with Vestibular Migraine and Migraine: History of Migraine May Be a Cause of Low-Tone Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 209-214
Author(s):  
Junfang Xue ◽  
Xin Ma ◽  
Yunjuan Lin ◽  
Haijun Shan ◽  
Lisheng Yu
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Sensorineural Hearing Loss ◽  
Auditory System ◽  
Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss ◽  
Sensorineural Hearing ◽  
Vestibular Migraine ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
History Of ◽  
Low Tone

Introduction: The aim of this study was to investigate and compare the auditory findings in migraine, vestibular migraine (VM), and healthy controls. Methods: Twenty-eight migraine patients (56 ears), 18 VM (36 ears), and 25 healthy controls (50 ears) were included. Audiometry, speech discrimination scores, distortion product optoacoustic emission (DPOAE), and auditory brainstem response were tested. Results: The pure tone in the VM group showed higher thresholds at lower frequencies (250, 500, 1,000, 2,000 Hz) than the control group, with statistical differences observed (P250 Hz = 0.001, P500 Hz = 0.003, P1,000 Hz = 0.016, P2,000 Hz = 0.002). Compared with the healthy controls, the patients with VM had significantly lower amplitudes of DPOAE at 1 kHz (p < 0.001) and 2 kHz (p = 0.020), and the patients with migraine had lower amplitudes at 2 kHz (p = 0.042). Compared with the control group, the patients with migraine reported prolonged latency of wave V (p = 0.016) and IPL I–V (p = 0.003). The patients with VM had significant prolongation of IPL I–V (p = 0.024). Conclusion: Not only the peripheral, but also the central auditory system was involved in patients with migraine and VM. In particular, lower frequencies of the auditory system were more likely to be involved in VM. The history of migraine may be a cause of low-tone sudden sensorineural hearing loss.

REFORMING DISCOURSES AND POLITICAL PRACTICE IN BRITAIN, 1760–1872 History of suffrage, 1760–1867. Edited by Anna Clark and Sarah Richardson. London: Pickering and Chatto, 2000. 6 vols. Pp. xxi+351, 320, 348, 396, 341, 346. ISBN 1-85196-706-0. £495.00. Language, print and electoral politics, 1790–1832: Newcastle-under-Lyme broadsides. Edited by Hannah Barker and David Vincent. Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2001. ISBN 0-85115-810-2. £45.00. The diaries of Samuel Bamford. Edited by Martin Hewitt and Robert Poole. Thrupp, Stroud: Sutton Publishing, 2000. Pp. xxxi+383. ISBN 0-7509-1735-0. £55.00.

2004 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 491-499
Author(s):  
KATHRYN GLEADLE
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Electoral Politics ◽  
The Other ◽  
Political Practice ◽  
Early Nineteenth Century ◽  
Parliamentary Reform ◽  
History Of ◽  
Semantic Problem

‘The word [reform] is a singularly vague one; it means every thing, and any thing; it conveys no positive idea whatever; but seems to have a different acceptation in each different mouth.’ So declared John Walsh, an opponent of parliamentary reform in his 1831 pamphlet, Popular opinions on parliamentary reform. Walsh's observation, which shrewdly identifies a recurring semantic problem for historians of the early nineteenth century, is but one of many illuminating texts to be reprinted in the History of suffrage, 1760–1867, edited by Anna Clark and Sarah Richardson. This publication, when read alongside the other two volumes under consideration, Hannah Barker and David Vincent's Language, print and electoral politics, 1790–1832, which reprints a plethora of electoral ephemera from pre-reform Newcastle-under-Lyme; and Martin Hewitt and Robert Poole's The diaries of Samuel Bamford provides fascinating insights into the constellation of vocabularies, strategies, and concerns that comprised the reforming project.

Spectrum Analysis, Aliasing, and the Perception of Musical Tones

Perception ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 25 (5) ◽  
pp. 609-617 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald M Adelson ◽  
Adrian C Turner
Keyword(s):  
Computer Simulation ◽  
Signal Processing ◽  
Spectrum Analysis ◽  
Empirical Data ◽  
Pitch Perception ◽  
Harmonic Series ◽  
Satisfactory Explanation ◽  
Preliminary Results ◽  
Tone Perception ◽  
Virtual Pitch

A signal-processing model is proposed in which the phenomenon of ‘aliasing’ is invoked to explain certain phenomena in the perception of musical tones, for which a really satisfactory explanation has not hitherto been available. It is shown that this model offers a reason why the harmonic series appears to play such a central role in tone and pitch perception, and can throw light on ‘virtual pitch’, ‘harmonic beats’, etc. Some preliminary results from a computer simulation of the model are described which are consistent with empirical data on tone perception.

Letters to the Editor

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1979 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 126-126
Author(s):  
James M. Horner ◽  
Arni V. Thorsson ◽  
Raymond L. Hintz
Keyword(s):  
Family History ◽  
Short Stature ◽  
Skeletal Maturation ◽  
Letters To The Editor ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Semantic Problem

Dr. Schmitt makes some interesting points in his comments about our article. First of all, he finds it remarkable that our clinic has had experiences with 149 children with constitutional short stature (CSS) and none with familial short stature (FSS). If that were true, it would indeed be remarkable. There seems to be a semantic problem arising over our definitions of CSS and FSS. We defined our children as having CSS if they had heights greater than 2 SD below the mean, any retardation in skeletal maturation, no family history of abnormal short stature, and no pathologic etiology for the short stature.

How the brain learns to listen: deafness and the bionic ear

e-Neuroforum ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Kral ◽  
Thomas Lenarz
Keyword(s):  
Synaptic Plasticity ◽  
Animal Models ◽  
Cochlear Implant ◽  
Auditory System ◽  
Clinical Success ◽  
Auditory Neuroscience ◽  
Neuronal Mechanisms ◽  
History Of ◽  
First Time ◽  
The Brain

AbstractFor the first time in the history of neuroscience, hearing allows to systematically investigate brain development with and without sensory experience in humans. This is given by the clinical success of the cochlear implant, a neuroprosthesis that can replace the non-functional inner ear. In recent years, auditory neuroscience investigated the neuronal mechanisms of learning, sensitive developmental periods and cross-modal reorganization in parallel in humans and animal models, with highly consistent outcomes. We learned that the brain undergoes a complex adaptation to deafness, both within and outside the auditory system. These adaptations reorganize the brain optimally to cope with deafness, but they negatively interfere with a later prosthetic therapy of hearing. They eventually close the sensitive developmental periods. The critical nature of sensitive periods is not only a consequence of a developmentally reduced synaptic plasticity but also the consequence of changes in central integrative functions and cognitive adaptations to deafness.

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