Albrecht Schneider - Böcker

Since musical acoustics imply subjects playing instruments or singing in order to produce sound according to musical structures, this area is also covered including a study that presents an artificial intelligent agent capable to interact with a real ('analog') player in musical genres such as traditional and free jazz.

Since musical acoustics imply subjects playing instruments or singing in order to produce sound according to musical structures, this area is also covered including a study that presents an artificial intelligent agent capable to interact with a real ('analog') player in musical genres such as traditional and free jazz.

This volume presents essays on the theory, methodology, and disciplinary history of Systematic and Comparative Musicology as well as on concepts of current empirical research. Part 1 is devoted to Systematic Musicology which is viewed as a transdisciplinary approach to fundamental music research, on the one hand, and as a field of learning which is offered as an academic subject in universities, on the other. Part 1 also includes articles which illustrate modern research concepts many of which are based on experimental and other empirical methods as well as on computational and modelling approaches. The articles concern problems which range from acoustics and psychoacoustics to neuromusicology and music cognition. Part 2 addresses issues in Comparative Musicology and Ethnomusicology, for instance the relevance of comparative methods as applied to the study of non-western musical phenomena. Further, sound analysis combined with fieldwork as well as modelling based on ethnomathematical considerations are given special notice. Aspects of theory and disciplinary history are also covered in this section which moreover includes findings obtained from actual fieldwork.

This volume contains articles most of which present empirical studies in the field of systematic musicology. Contributions in particular deal with aspects of melody including modeling and computer-assisted analysis as well as with various issues in sound and music perception, musical acoustics and psychoacoustics. Topics range from loudness perception in ‘Techno’ music to sound radiation in classical singing styles, and from timbre research to wave field synthesis and room acoustics. One focus of this volume is on pop and rock music, another is on ethno and folk music. In addition to empirical investigations, theoretical and methodological issues are addressed including some fundamental concepts in ethnomusicology and folk music scholarship.