Musical Forces: Motion, Metaphor, and Meaning in Music (Musical Meaning and Interpretation)

Steve Larson drew on his 20 years of research in music theory, cognitive linguistics, experimental psychology, and artificial intelligence—as well as his skill as a jazz pianist—to show how the experience of physical motion can shape one's musical experience. Clarifying the roles of analogy, metaphor, grouping, pattern, hierarchy, and emergence in the explanation of musical meaning, Larson explained how listeners hear tonal music through the analogues of physical gravity, magnetism, and inertia. His theory of melodic expectation goes beyond prior theories in predicting complete melodic patterns. Larson elegantly demonstrated how rhythm and meter arise from, and are given meaning by, these same musical forces. Introduction -- A Theory Of Musical Forces. Thinking About Music And Thinking In Music : Pattern, Meaning, Analogy, Metaphor And Hierarchies ; Something In The Way She Moves : The Metaphor Of Musical Motion ; Melodic Forces : Gravity, Magnetism, And Inertia ; A Theory Of Melodic Expectation ; Rhythm, Meter, And Musical Forces ; Analyses -- Evidence For Musical Forces. Converging Evidence : An Introduction To Part 2 ; Evidence From Experiments In Visual Perception And Neuroscience ; Evidence From Compositions And Improvisations ; Evidence From Music-theoretical Misunderstandings ; Evidence From A Listener-judgment Experiment ; Evidence From Comparing Computer Models With Production-experiment Results -- Conclusion. Summary And Prospects. Steve Larson ; Foreword By Robert S. Hatten. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 347-364) And Index. Details how and why music moves us