Evolving music theory for emerging musical languages

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Author: Deruty, Emmanuel
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Deruty, Emmanuel
author_facet Deruty, Emmanuel
contents This chapter reconsiders the concept of pitch in contemporary popular music (CPM), particularly in electronic contexts where traditional assumptions may fail. Drawing on phenomenological and inductive methods, it argues that pitch is not an ontologically objective property but a perceptual construct shaped by listeners and conditions. Analyses of quasi-harmonic tones reveal that a single tone can convey multiple pitches, giving rise to tonal fission. The perception of pitch may also be multistable, varying for the same listener over time. In this framework, the tuning system may emerge from a tone's internal structure. A parallel with the coastline paradox supports a model of pitch grounded in perceptual variability, challenging inherited theoretical norms.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_14504
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Evolving music theory for emerging musical languages
Deruty, Emmanuel
Sound
00A65
J.5
This chapter reconsiders the concept of pitch in contemporary popular music (CPM), particularly in electronic contexts where traditional assumptions may fail. Drawing on phenomenological and inductive methods, it argues that pitch is not an ontologically objective property but a perceptual construct shaped by listeners and conditions. Analyses of quasi-harmonic tones reveal that a single tone can convey multiple pitches, giving rise to tonal fission. The perception of pitch may also be multistable, varying for the same listener over time. In this framework, the tuning system may emerge from a tone's internal structure. A parallel with the coastline paradox supports a model of pitch grounded in perceptual variability, challenging inherited theoretical norms.
title Evolving music theory for emerging musical languages
topic Sound
00A65
J.5
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.14504