Some students at MIT are doing a cross-cultural study of whether our perceptions of music depend on culture and experience. You can participate by completing a website's 15-minute test, which asks you to rate the pleasantness of sounds, indicate whether they evoke happiness or sadness, and determine whether the tension in particular passages rises or falls. To participate, go to http://music.media.mit.edu After completing the test enter here any comments you have about it, if you wish to. (Though you might hold off a bit so as not to prejudice the responses of others taking the test - and then comment on whether you think such prejudicing is possible.)10 responses total.
This must be a follow up on some earlier research, because previous studies have already answered yes. Music in England and America has been accurately described as rhythmically simplistic compared to the folk music of Eastern Europe and Asia. Those cultures also have many more odd-metered times signatures. Harmonically, Middle Eastern and some Asian music rely on micro-tones that are not present in the "well-tempered" scale used by Western music. The result is that what is perceived as normal to those culturally attuned to hear micro-tones sounds out of tune to those who did not grow up with such music.
This test does not seem nearly as sophisticated as what you describe for previous studies.
Perhaps its to increase public awareness of music science. I, for one, didn't know that people actually studied stuff like this.
That sounds like a reasonable explanation. As a musician I find it fascinating, so I'm glad to see anything that increases awareness of the broad range of what is considered "music" throughout the world.
I took the "test". At the end I commented that I expected there to be music / sounds from around the world, but testing was almost entirely based on western music / sounds.
I started the test but abandoned it after about 15 or so questions -- I found it tiresome and the sounds were unpleasant to listen to.
Boy, your definition of unpleasant radically differs from mine. I was expecting some really "nasty", clashy whatever sounds. All I got was run of the mill dissonance, a necessary part of music re: tension and release.
Perhaps I was just in a bad mood at the time, but I seem to recall considerably disliking the synthesized tones. They weren't awful, but the irksome nature of the web interface, combined with the fact that I wasn't enjoying the test, led me to give up on the whole thing after waiting for the tenth or fifteenth page to load.
I had no trouble getting through it all, but found the selections not long enough to decide upon patterns of "tension".. So my perceptions came out mostly "flat". I have no problem with dissonances themselves.
will try it .. gotta wait till the blues recording are done .. <g>. .
You have several choices: