Musical Forces

Steve Larson drew on his 20 years of research in music theory, cognitive linguistics, experimental psychology, and artificial intelligenceas well as his skill as a jazz pianistto 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.

Steve Larson (1955-2011) was the Robert M. Trotter Professor of Music at the University of Oregon and a member of its Institute of Cognitive and Decision Sciences. He was author of Analyzing Jazz: A Schenkerian Approach.

Acknowledgments
Preface
1. Introduction
I. A Theory of Musical Forces
2. Thinking about Music and Thinking in MusicPattern, Meaning, Analogy, Metaphor, and Hierarchies
3. Something in the Way She MovesThe Metaphor of Musical Motion
4. Melodic ForcesGravity, Magnetism, and Inertia
5. A Theory of Melodic Expectation
6. Rhythm, Meter, and Musical Forces
7. Analyses
II. Evidence for Musical Forces
8. Converging EvidenceAn Introduction to Part Two
9. Evidence from Experiments in Visual-Perception and Neuroscience
10. Evidence from Compositions and Improvisations
11. Evidence from Music-Theoretical Misunderstandings
12. Evidence from a Listener-Judgment Experiment
13. Evidence from Comparing Computer Models With Production-Experiment Results
III. Conclusion
14. Summary and Prospects
Glossary
Notes
Bibliography
Index