Re:Repetition Makes Music Beautiful [video]
by thecupisblue on Monday November 25, 2019 @07:09AM
(#21627369)
> It's not repetition, it's the deliberate creation of a comprehensible perceptual model which lives in the sweet spot between trivial prediction and surprise
Exactly!
The sweet spot between repetition and non-repetition - I cal it evolving repetition (same base but minor different touches or changes that evolve the pattern over time) and having different layers doing it - keeps the listener intrigued instead of bored, still keeping the predictability but giving the element of surprise.
Re:Repetition Makes Music Beautiful [video]
by degski on Monday November 25, 2019 @08:50AM
(#21628067)
> I cal it evolving repetition ...
In EDM you would use the word 'progressive' [house|trance].
Re:Repetition Makes Music Beautiful [video]
by thecupisblue on Monday November 25, 2019 @09:56AM
(#21628604)
Well, the use of `progressive` depends on the surrounding context - is it progressive in terms of genre progress or progressive as in the track scope? But yeah, as I understand, you're aiming at the second context - which is pretty much to what I'm aiming at, but with less explicit emphasis on progression itself.
Re:Repetition Makes Music Beautiful [video]
by anotheryou on Monday November 25, 2019 @10:47AM
(#21629109)
Sadly "pleasant to listen to" and "interesting" can diverge if you become more of a music snob. That's something that really bothers me :)
Re:Repetition Makes Music Beautiful [video]
by chrisweekly on Monday November 25, 2019 @07:12AM
(#21627392)
Yes! "trivial prediction vs surprise" ... which relates closely to tension and release
Repetition is one way to enhance predictability. Stock musical transformations - modulation to a related key - are another.
This is a known thing in perceptual psychology, based on something called the Wundt Curve.
Too little novelty is boring. Too much novelty is incomprehensible and frustrating. Just the right amount is an enjoyable sweet spot.
Of course this varies for different listeners. If you're a fan of modern "squeaky door" contemporary classical music you're going to demand a very complex and unpredictable experience that pop fans find unbearably unmusical - and vice versa.