Thesis (Ph. D.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Department of Psychology, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Temple University, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 89-96). Also available online (PDF file) by a subscription to the set or by purchasing the individual file.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Temple University, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references.

This study investigated relationships between 36 predictor variables and ensemble pitch and rhythm error discrimination ability. Precollege musical background and other demographic data were collected by means of the Musical Background Questionnaire. Musical achievement was measured by the Aliferis-Stecklein Music Achievement Test, College Midpoint Level. Undergraduate musical coursework data were obtained from transcripts. The criterion variables were measured by the Ramsey-Vincent Test of Instrumental Error Detection; a test of aural-visual pitch and rhythm error discrimination for full-score band music of medium difficulty. All three instruments were administered to 82 undergraduate music students. Subjects represented three Canadian universities and two community colleges. Pearson product-moment correlation tests were used to identify variables significantly related to musical ensemble error discrimination at the .10 level of significance. Eighteen variables were found to be significantly related to ensemble pitch error discrimination. Fourteen variables were found to be significantly related to ensemble rhythm error discrimination. Regression procedures were performed for each of the significant variables. These variables were then organized into blocks representing precollege musical background, other demographic variables, musical achievement, and undergraduate coursework. Regressions were performed for each of the blocks. Musical achievement, precollege musical background, demographic, and undergraduate coursework blocks of variables accounted for 5, 15, 35, and 21 percent of the variance in ensemble pitch error discrimination scores respectively. Musical achievement, precollege musical background, demographic, and undergraduate coursework blocks of variables accounted for 21, 16, 19, and 12 percent of the variance in ensemble rhythm error discrimination scores respectively. Combinations of variables from these blocks produced a linear model comprised of five demographic variables plus precollege choral experience that accounted for 42 percent of the variance in ensemble pitch error discrimination scores. Combinations of variables from the four blocks produced a linear model of ensemble rhythm error discrimination comprised of rhythmic discrimination, choice of a band instrument as one's major performance medium, composition as one's program major, and precollege band or orchestral experience. These four variables accounted for 32 percent of the variance in ensemble rhythm error discrimination scores. The variables selected for use in this study accounted for a substantial portion of the variance in error discrimination scores. To improve the predictive power of future studies, other variables need to be identified and included in the model. Ten conclusions were made regarding the prediction of ensemble error prediction ability. Three recommendations were made for improving error discrimination training and seven recommendations were made for future research in ensemble error discrimination. / Education, Faculty of / Graduate

The present study is limited to Bach's Orgelbüchlein. The OB has been chosen because it represents a "closed" group of works which are in the same general style.

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In the vast majority of popular music, the tactus—the periodicity that we move to, also known as the beat or the pulse—does not change within a single song. Not so in metal, a genre in which bands will change the rate of this tactus on a dime, reset its phase, or do away with it altogether. This dissertation collects these moments of disruption under the umbrella term “tactus transformation.” Tactus transformations are multifaceted: they are theoretically complex, challenging for composers and performers, kinetic for headbangers, and meaningful for fans. As such, I take a methodologically parallactic approach to studying them, drawing in each chapter on a different perspective and a different way of knowing. In Chapter One I use a traditional music theory lens to build a taxonomy of these moments, drawing attention to the ways they challenge standard notation and lead to multiple perceptual possibilities. In Chapter Two I present a survey of the conceptual strategies, digital tools, and embodied techniques that metal musicians employ to compose and perform tactus transformations, tracing a throughline of mimetic motor learning and framing metal as an aural musical tradition. In Chapter Three I outline a novel empirical, quantitative method for analyzing headbanging motion from a video of a metal show to trace how fans navigate stasis and synchronization through tactus transformations. In Chapter Four, I analyze discourse about tactus transformations to show that they contribute to meaning for metalheads via complexity, community, and metaphor. Across the dissertation, I foreground the voices of metal musicians and fans to an unprecedented degree, drawing largely from the dozens of interviews I conducted as part of this project. Implicit in the chapters, and made explicit in the Conclusion, is the argument that music theory benefits from considering the musical knowledge of these “non-theorists.”