Contribution
“The Olde Ghost” - Acoustic Correlates of Historic Perception of “Eerie” Music
* Presenting author
Abstract:
Previously, we proposed that written accounts of 19th-century listeners provide ecologically valid data on historic music perception, by analyzing 381 written accounts of musical passages described using the expressive qualities (codes) “uncanny” or “eerie” (Hentschel & Cui, 2022). Here we explore the acoustic manifestation of the codes in these descriptions by analyzing audio-feature correlations of the associated 112 musical passages with semantic dimensions, obtained from a multiple correspondence analysis based on 220 codes. Codes were active or passive, if the expressive qualities were used in reference to at least 5% or 1% of the music passages respectively. The analysis suggested a two-dimensional solution with dimension 1 spanning from sinister (“düster”) to eerie (“gespenstisch”) and dimension 2 spanning from threatening (“drohend”) to horrible (“schauerlich”). The first dimension correlated with the spectral bandwidth and mean loudness of, and the usage of certain instruments in the musical passages, ps < .05. The second dimension correlated with variability of inter-onset intervals, p < .05. These results support, for example, the idea that eerie music, in contrast to sinister music, as perceived by 19th-century listeners, is characterized by greater spectral bandwidth, softer dynamics, and the use of flutes, harps, and violins, instead of piano.