Tone painting and painting tones: A follow-up study of listeners’ audiovisual responses to Beethoven’s Thunder Storm

Abstract

This follow-up pilot study investigates the effect of a six-month analysis course, during which college music majors learned to see the meaning of music as being essentially intra-musical. The study aims to explore relationships between intra- and extra-musical perceptions among subjects (N = 33) while listening to Beethoven’s Thunder Storm (Pastoral Symphony, 4th movement). During pre- and post-intervention sessions, listeners represented the music via self-invented audiovisual products (AVPs) and related notes. Four systems of conceptualization emerged: Random responses (category-R), reflecting no reference to the music; Associative contents (category-A), suggesting extra-musical interpretations; Compound responses (category-C), combining extra- and intra-musical contents; Intra-musical contents (category-I), referring to purely musical properties. A scale of 4-6-8-10 grades for the respective categories R-A-C-I was established, with the highest score for category-I which reflects fulfilment of the course objective. By comparing between pre- and post-intervention AVPs, results show an insignificant increase in I-responses (zero to 9.5%) and 52.6% of no conceptual change through phases. The most prominent response is the extra-musical (68%) often at both pre- and post- phases (47%). The study empowers the position that classical music evokes referential contents, which should be given as much attention in teaching and learning music as ‘analytical’ properties of sound.