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a common musical syntax of all styles of western tonal music is not at all a broadly accepted concept in music theory |
→MMN and ERANKoelsch, S. (2009). "Music-syntactic Processing and Auditory Memory – Similarities and Differences between ERAN and MMN". Psychophysiology, 46(1): 179-190.: move ref out of heading |
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When analysing the regularities and structure of [[music]] as well as the processing of music in the [[brain]], certain findings lead to the question
▲When analysing the regularities and structure of [[music]] as well as the processing of music in the [[brain]], certain findings lead to the question, if music is based on a [[syntax]] which could be compared with [[linguistic syntax]]. To get closer to this question it is necessary to have a look at the basic aspects of syntax in [[language]], as language unquestionably presents a complex syntactical system. If music has a matchable syntax, noteworthy equivalents to basic aspects of linguistic syntax have to be found in musical structure. Claiming that syntax is a fundamental element of music, it is interesting to know, if there are also similarities in processing linguistic and '''musical syntax''' in the brain. By implication the processing of music in comparison to language could also give information about the structure of music.
==Comparison to linguistic syntax==
Syntax in general can be referred to as a study of the principles and rules needed for the construction of a language or as a term in particular describing these principles and rules for a special language.
===Linguistic syntax – three principles
Linguistic syntax is especially marked by its structural richness, which becomes apparent in its multi layered organization as well as in the strong relationship between syntax and meaning. That is that there are special linguistic syntactic principles
===Musical syntax
Concerning musical syntax these three aspects of richness in linguistic syntax as well as the abstractness should be found in music too, if one wants to claim that music has a comparable syntax. An annotation that has to be made concerns the fact that most of the studies dealing with musical syntax are confined to the consideration of Western European tonal music. Thus this article can also only focus on [[tonality|Western tonal music]].<ref name=Patel2008/>
====Multilayered organization====
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=====Scale degrees=====
The lowest level are [[musical scales]], which consist of seven tones or "scale degrees" per [[octave]] and have an asymmetric pattern of [[interval (music)|intervals]] between them (for example the C-major scale). They are built up out of the 12 possible [[pitch class]]es per octave (A, A{{music|#}},B, C, C{{music|#}}, D, D{{music|#}}, E, F, F{{music|#}}, G, G{{music|#}}) and the different scale tones are not equal in their structural stability. Empirical evidence indicates that there is a hierarchy concerning the stability of the single tones. The most stable one is called the "[[tonic (music)|tonic]]" and embodies the tonal centre of the scale. The most unstable tones were the ones closest to the tonic (scale degrees 2 and 7), which are called the "[[supertonic]]" and the "[[leading tone]]". In studies scale degrees 1, 3 and 5 have been judged as closely related. It was also shown that an implicit knowledge of scale structure has to be learned and developed in childhood and is not inborn.
=====Chord structure=====
The next superordinate level of pitch organization is the [[chord (music)|chord]] structure, which means that three scale tones with a distance of two scale steps each are played simultaneously and are therefore combined into chords. When building up chords on the basis of a musical scale there are three different kinds of chords resulting, namely "major"(e.g. C-E-G), "minor" (e.g. D-F-A) and "diminished" (e.g. B-D-F) triads. This is due to the asymmetric intervals between the scale tones. These asymmetric intervals effect, that a distance of two scale steps can comprise either three or four semitones and therefore be an interval of a minor (with three semitones) or a major (with four semitones) third. A [[major triad]] consists of a major third followed by a minor third and is built on scale degrees 1, 3 and 5 (or 4, 6 and 1, for the subdominant, and 5, 7 and 2, for the dominant, the other two major triads that can be formed from the major scale). A [[minor triad]] consists of a minor third followed by a major third and is built on scale degrees 2, 4 and 6 (or 3, 5 and 7, for the mediant, and 6, 1 and 4, for the submediant). Only on scale degree 7 the triad consists of two minor thirds and is therefore defined as a [[diminished triad]].
Chordal syntax touches mainly four basic aspects. The first is, that the lowest [[Musical note|note]] in each triad functions as a fundament of the chord and therefore as the structural most important pitch. The chord is named after this note as well as the chord's harmonic label is grounded on it. The second aspect is, that chord syntax provides norms for altering chords by additional tones. One example is the addition of a fourth tone to a triad, which is the seventh tone of the scale (e.g. in a C-major scale the addition of F to the triad G-B-D would lead to a so-called "[[dominant seventh chord]]"). Concerning norms for the progression of chords in time the third aspect focuses on the relationship between chords. The patterning of chords in a [[cadence (music)|cadence]] for example indicates a movement from a V chord to a I chord. The fact that the I chord is perceived as a resting point in a musical phrase implicates, that the single chords built up on notes of a scale are not equal in there stability but show the same differences in stability as the notes of the scale do. This describes the fourth basic aspect of chordal syntax. The tonic chord (the one built on the tonic, C-E-G in C-major, for example) is the most stable and central chord, followed by the dominant chord (built on the 5th scale degree) and the subdominant chord (built on the 4th scale degree).
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=====Ornamentation=====
One aspect of hierarchical structure of music is the [[Ornament (music)|ornamentation]]. The meaning of the word "ornamentation" points to the fact that there are events in a musical context
=====Tension and resolution=====
Searching for other aspects of hierarchical structure of music there is a controversial discussion, if the organization of [[Tension (music)|tension]] and [[Resolution (music)|resolution]] in music can be described as hierarchical structure or only as a purely sequential structure. According to
The question concerning the kind of structure
====Abstractness====
The last aspect to examine is the [[abstraction|abstractness]] of linguistic syntax and its correlate in music. There are two contradicting
All in all the consideration of syntax in music and language shows, that music has a syntax comparable to the linguistic syntax especially concerning a great complexity and a hierarchical organization. Nevertheless, it has to be emphasized, that musical syntax is not a simple variant of linguistic syntax, but a similar complex system with its own substance. That means that it would be the wrong way just to search for musical analogies of linguistic syntactic entities such as nouns or verbs.
==Neuronal processing of musical and linguistic syntax==
Investigating the neuronal processing of musical syntax can serve two proposed aspects.'''<ref>Patel, A.D. (2003). Language, music, syntax and the brain]. Nature Neuroscience. 6(7):674-681</ref>'''
===Processing of music and musical syntax===
====Requirements====
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(1)Primarily, a tonal centre has to be detected out of the first chords of a sequence. Often the first chord is interpreted as the tonal centre of a sequence and a reevaluation is necessary, if the first chord has another harmonic function.
(2)Successive chords are related to this tonal centre concerning their [[harmonic distance]] from the tonal centre.
(3)As described above (Does music have a syntax?), music has a hierarchical structure in terms of pitch organization and organization of tensioning and releasing in music. Pitch organization concerning chords means, that in a musical phrase the tonic is the most stable chord and experienced as the resting point. The dominant and subdominant anon are more stable than the submediant and the supertonic. The progression of chords in time forms a tonal structure based on pitch organization, in which moving away from the tonic is perceived as tensioning and moving towards the tonic is experienced as releasing. Therefore, hierarchical relations may convey organized patterns of meaning.
(4)Concerning harmonic aspects of major-minor tonal music, Musical syntax can be characterized by statistical regularities in the succession of chord functions in time, that is probabilities of chord transitions. As these regularities are stored in a [[long-term memory]], predictions about following chords are made automatically, when listening to a musical phrase.
====MMN and ERAN====
Source:<ref>Koelsch, S. (2009). "[http://www.stefan-koelsch.de/papers/Koelsch_2009_Psychophys_ERAN_MMN_Review.pdf Music-syntactic Processing and Auditory Memory – Similarities and Differences between ERAN and MMN]". Psychophysiology, 46(1): 179-190.</ref> The violation of these automatically made predictions lead to the observation of so-called [[Event-related potential|ERPs]] (event related potential, a stereotyped electrophysiological response to an internal or external stimulus). Two forms of ERPs can be detected in the context of processing music. One is the [[Mismatch negativity|MMN]] (mismatch negativity), which has first been investigated only with physical deviants like [[frequency]], [[sound intensity]], [[timbre]] deviants (referred to as [[phMMN]]) and could now also be shown for changes of abstract auditory features like tone pitches (referred to as [[afMMN]]). The other one is the so-called [[Electroencephalography|ERAN]] (early right anterior negativity), which can be elicited by syntactic irregularities in music. Both the ERAN and the MMN are ERPs indicating a mismatch between predictions based on regularities and actually experienced acoustic information. As for a long time it seemed to be, that the ERAN is a special variant of the MMN, the question arises, why they are told apart today. There are several differences between the MMN and the ERAN found in the last years:
=====Differences – occurrence=====
Even though music syntactic regularities are often simultaneously acoustical similar and music syntactic irregularities are often simultaneously acoustical different, an ERAN but not an MMN can be elicit, when a chord does not represent a physical but a syntactic deviance. To demonstrate this, so-called "Neapolitan sixth chords" are used. These are consonant chords when played solitary, but which are added into a musical phrase of in which they are only distantly related to the harmonic context. Added into a chord sequence of five chords, the addition of a [[Neapolitan sixth chord]] at the third or at the fifth position evokes different amplitudes of ERANs in the [[EEG]] with a higher [[amplitude]] at the fifth position. Nevertheless, when creating a chord sequence in which the [[Neapolitan chord]] at the fifth position is music-syntactically less irregular than a Neapolitan chord at the third position, the amplitude is higher at the third position (see figure 4...). In opposition to the MMN, a clear ERAN is also elicited by using syntactically irregular chords, which are acoustically more similar to a proceeding harmonic context than syntactically regular chords. Therefore, the MMN seems to be based on an on-line establishment of regularities. That means, that the regularities are extracted on-line from the acoustic environment. In opposition, the ERAN rests upon representations of music-syntactic regularities which exist in a [[long-term memory]] format and which are learned during early childhood.
=====Differences – development=====
This is represented in the development of the ERAN and MMN. The ERAN cannot be verified in newborn babies, whereas the MMN can actually be demonstrated in [[fetus]]. In two
=====Differences – neural sources=====
Differences between the ERAN and the MMN also exist in the [[neural sources]] for the main contributions to the ERPs. The sources for the ERAN are located in the [[pars opercularis]] of the [[inferior fronto-lateral cortex]] (inferior [[Brodmann's area]] with contributions from the ventrolateral [[premotor cortex]] and the [[anterior superior temporal gyrus]], whereas the MMN receives its main contributions from and within the vicinity of the [[primary auditory cortex]] with additional sources in the [[frontal cortex|frontal cortical areas]]. Therefore, the sources for the ERAN basically lie in the frontal cortex whereas the sources for the MMN are located in the [[temporal lobe]]. Other hints for this thesis emerge from the fact that under a [[propofol]] sedation which mainly
=====Processes to elicit the MMN or ERAN=====
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(1)First, a separation of sound sources, an extraction of sound features and the establishment of representations of auditory objects of the incoming acoustic input have to be made. The same processes are required for the MMN and ERAN.
(2)For the MMN regularities are filtered on-line out of the input to create a model of the acoustic environment. At this point, there is a difference to the ERAN as for the ERAN representations of regularities already exist in a long-term memory format and the incoming sound is integrated into a pre existent model of [[musical form|musical structure]].
(3)According to the model of musical structure, predictions concerning forthcoming auditory events are formed. This process is similar for the ERAN and for the MMN.
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(4)At least a comparison between the actually incoming sound and the predictions based on the model is made. This process is partly the same for the MMN and the ERAN as well.
=== Comparison of the processing of musical and linguistic syntax===
Source:<ref name=Patel2008/> As the ERAN is similar to an ERP called [[Early Left Anterior Negativity|ELAN]] which can be elicited by violation of linguistic syntax it seems to be obvious that the ERAN really represents syntactic processing. Deduced from this thought an interaction between music-syntactic and language-syntactic processing would be very likely.There are different possibilities in [[neuroscience]] to approach to an answer to the question of an overlap between the neuronal processing of linguistic and musical syntax.
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Strong evidence for the existence of this overlap comes from studies, in which music-syntactic and a linguistic-syntactic irregularities were presented simultaneously. They showed an interaction between the ERAN and the [[LAN]] (left anterior negativity;ERP which is elicited by linguistic-syntactic irregularities). The LAN elicited was reduced when an irregular word was presented simultaneously with an irregular chord compared to the condition when an irregular word was presented with a regular chord. Contrary to this finding the phMMN elicited by frequency deviants did not interact with the LAN.
From this facts it can be reasoned that the ERAN relies on neural resources related to syntactic processing (Koelsch 2008). Furthermore, they give strong evidence for the thesis, that there is an overlap between the processing of musical and linguistic syntax and therefore that syntactic operations (musical as well as linguistic) are modular.
==References==
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