Repetition in Music

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Repetition in Music

Postby Malcolm Boyce » Tue Mar 18, 2014 12:52 am

http://aeon.co/magazine/altered-states/ ... -in-music/

The perception examples are pretty cool. I wonder if everyone's experience is similar.
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Re: Repetition in Music

Postby Christian LeBlanc » Tue Mar 18, 2014 1:38 pm

Yeah, sample #2 stood out a lot after hearing sample #1. I expected it to stand out a little, but the extent to which it actually did - even when I was expecting it - was surprising.

It's a weird subject to talk about, because it all seems so *obvious,* right? Music generally has a rhythm, and it's neat to think about the different levels of things that can be repeated: cycles of sound waves presenting a sound in the first place, drum patterns, sections of song, the song itself, and the song as part of an album cycle. 'Anticipation' plays a huge role in this discussion, ultimately leading into 'participation,' depending on how much you're willing to immerse yourself in the experience.

It gets to be depressing when you apply all this to the concept of going out to see a band you've never heard before - unless they play easy, predictable music, it implies they'll have a harder time picking up new listeners the more they stand out from traditional expectations.

It begs the question of why we prefer certain forms of repetition over others, and how much we're willing to overlook in the name of repetition. I can still remember the first few times I heard Joy Division's "Atmosphere" - that first word "Walk" sounded so warbled, off-tune and out-of-place to me. It sounds perfect now, and I can't hear it as 'wrong' today even if I try.
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Re: Repetition in Music

Postby macrae11 » Wed Mar 19, 2014 5:57 pm

I'm always fascinated by brain stuff like this. She has a rather sing song-y voice though, like many professional narrators. I wonder how drastic the effect would be if read by Ben Stein.
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Re: Repetition in Music

Postby Scott DeVarenne » Thu Mar 20, 2014 1:18 pm

I highly recommend not reading any of these posts until you listen for yourself. You don't even need to read the article, just listen to the first clip once then the second clip. Pay attention, don't try to multitask. The whole thing takes less than two minutes.
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Re: Repetition in Music

Postby macrae11 » Fri Mar 21, 2014 10:34 am

You make it quite difficult to follow your own advice.
:-P
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