Appreciation of Form in Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier

Abstract

While previous research has raised doubts about the ability of listeners to perceive large-scale musical form, we hypothesize that untrained and unfamiliar listeners can, indeed, recognize structure when cognitive form judgments (coherence and predictability) are differentiated from enjoyment ratings (pleasantness, interest, and desire to hear again). In a between-groups experiment, listeners (n = 125) were randomly assigned to hear one of four versions of Bach’s Prelude in C minor from Book I of The Well-Tempered Clavier: 1) the original; 2) a mildly scrambled one in which two larger sections were switched; 3) a highly scrambled one; and 4) a randomized one. Significant differences were observed between versions in ratings of coherence and predictability, but not in ratings of pleasantness, interest, or desire to hear again. Individuals who had played the piece before could also explicitly identify structural intervention. It was assumed that relative incoherence would result in higher complexity and, thus, be reflected in longer retrospective duration estimates; however, estimates did not differ between stimuli. These results suggest that untrained listeners can evaluate global form, independently of their level of familiarity with a musical piece, while also suggesting that awareness of incoherence does not always correspond with decreased enjoyment.

Full text

APPRECIATION OF FORM IN BACH’SWELL-TEMPERED CLAVIER:
EFFECTS OF STRUCTURAL INTERVENTIONS ON PERCEIVED COHERENCE,
PLEASANTNESS,AND RETROSPECTIVE DURATION ESTIMATES
GEOFFREY MCDONALD &CLEMENS WO
¨LLNER
University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
W
HILE PREVIOUS RESEARCH HAS RAISED DOUBTS
about the ability of listeners to perceive large-scale
musical form, we hypothesize that untrained and
unfamiliar listeners can, indeed, recognize structure
when cognitive form judgments (coherence and pre-
dictability) are differentiated from enjoyment ratings
(pleasantness, interest, and desire to hear again). In
a between-groups experiment, listeners (n= 125) were
randomly assigned to hear one of four versions of
Bach’s Prelude in C minor from Book I of The Well-
Tempered Clavier: 1) the original; 2) a mildly scrambled
one in which two larger sections were switched; 3)
a highly scrambled one; and 4) a randomized one. Sig-
nificant differences were observed between versions in
ratings of coherence and predictability, but not in rat-
ings of pleasantness, interest, or desire to hear again.
Individuals who had played the piece before could also
explicitly identify structural intervention. It was
assumed that relative incoherence would result in
higher complexity and, thus, be reflected in longer ret-
rospective duration estimates; however, estimates did
not differ between stimuli. These results suggest that
untrained listeners can evaluate global form, indepen-
dently of their level of familiarity with a musical piece,
while also suggesting that awareness of incoherence
does not always correspond with decreased enjoyment.
Received: December 17, 2021, accepted August 2, 2022.
Key words: form perception, structure, coherence,
music theory, baroque music
W
HAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF LARGE
-
SCALE
structure to musical perception? The answer
depends on whom is asked. While music
theorists and composers have traditionally assumed the
salience of global musical structure as an article of faith,
empirical research has proffered scant evidence that
listeners recognize such structures (Karno & Konec
ˇni,
1992; Gotlieb & Konec
ˇni, 1985; Konec
ˇni, 1984; Till-
mann & Bigand, 2004; Eitan & Granot, 2008), resulting
in questions about the relevance of form to musical
appreciation. Given the inconclusive nature of null
effects, along with divergent findings when using differ-
ent repertoires (Lalitte & Bigand, 2006) and experimen-
tal paradigms (Granot & Jacoby, 2012), we decided to
revisit and refine questions surrounding the recognition
of form (explicit and implicit) by a variety of listeners
(trained and untrained, familiar and unfamiliar).
Formal analysis of Western tonal music typically
tracks ‘‘expressive/dramatic trajectories toward generi-
cally obligatory cadences’’ (Hepokoski & Darcy, 2006,
p. 13); and, despite a diversity of methodologies, there is
a shared conviction among music theorists that well-
composed musical form represents what Wallace Berry
called the composer’s ‘‘intellectual control over the
musical ideas which bring a composition into existence’’
(1986, p. xiii). Composers, too, seem to agree that the
assembly of musical components (‘‘building blocks,’’ as
Mahler called them; see Bauer-Lechner, 1923, p. 120)
into a unified whole is both aesthetically important and
creatively demanding. Copland described composi-
tional ‘‘continuity and flow’’ as the ‘‘be-all and end-all
of every composer’s existence’’ (1939/2002, p. 25). He
further held that form implicates not just the compo-
ser’s creative process but the listener’s cognitive one:
What to Listen for in Music is, after all, a didactic book
written for a lay audience. A similar view on the per-
ceptual relevance of large-scale structure was espoused
by Schoenberg: ‘‘The relaxation which a satisfied listener
experiences when he can follow an idea, its develop-
ment, and the reasons for such development is closely
related, psychologically, to a feeling of beauty’’ (1950/
1984, p. 215).
The psychological perspective on musical form
Schoenberg alluded to does not necessarily refer to
clearly defined forms like those found in music theory
texts, but rather deals with more general principles of
organization. It is this expanded conception of ‘‘form’’
as overall musical Gestalt that we mostly concern our-
selves with below (see Ashley, 2017, for a review of
cognitive approaches to form). Here, a motivating
Music Perception,VOLUME 40, ISSUE 2, PP. 150–167, ISSN 0730-7829, ELECTRONIC ISSN 1533-8312. ©2022 BY THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA ALL
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REPRINTS AND PERMISSIONS WEB PAGE,HTTPS://WWW.UCPRESS.EDU/JOURNALS/REPRINTS-PERMISSIONS. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/MP.2022.40.2.150
150 Geoffrey McDonald & Clemens Wo¨llner