Irène Deliège

Musical Schemata in Real-Time Listening to a Piece of Music

A series of experiments investigated cognitive processes involved in listening to a piece of music, focusing in particular on the abstraction of surface features (here referred to as cues). Subjects listened to an unfamiliar piece in a familiar musical idiom, and their sensitivities to aspects of the just-heard piece were used to elucidate the nature of their representations of the piece in recent memory. The study also sought to assess the capacities of subjects to use any declarative knowledge of aspects of tonal structure that they possessed in organizing musical material. Three experiments made use of different procedures to address these issues, using either a single short tonal piece—Schubert9s Valse sentimentale, D. 779, op. 50, no. 6—or a variant of this. The first two experiments used nonmusician subjects and examined (1) the cues abstracted in listening to the piece and (2) subjects9 ability to identify the temporal location of segments of the piece after listening. The third experiment explored the constructional abilities of musician and nonmusician subjects, requiring them to create a coherent piece by ordering the segments that made up the original piece. The results of these experiments indicated that although the abilities of musicians differed from those of nonmusicians, both groups of subjects exhibited a weaker sensitivity to features of musical structure than to cues abstracted from the musical surface.

A perceptual approach to contemporary musical forms

This paper presents the following subject matter: First, a brief explanation is given of how “perceptual approach to musical form” is to be understood. Then hypotheses relating to the psychological mechanisms involved are proposed, along with predicted results and experimental methods employed (choice of works, subjects, and procedures). The results of three experiments, accompanied by a brief description of the musical passages as compared to these results, lead finally to a discussion of the hypotheses put forward. Musical works used in the experiment were: Sequenza VI (for solo viola) by Luciano Berio, performed by Walter Trampler (RCA SB 6846, 1971) and Eclat by Pierre Boulez, performed by the Ensemble Intercontemporain conducted by the composer (Le Temps Musical 1, a Radio France/IRCAM cassette).

Similarity relations in listening to music: How do they come into play?

In this essay, similarity relations in the perception of music are studied on the basis of two different standpoints. The first is said to be external and studies comparisons between distinct and autonomous musical entities, i.e. different works or different interpretations. The second is internal and looks at similarity relations, which the listener identifies in the same work or part of a work, and in the same interpretation. This last procedure is developed in different directions. We show the importance of the similarity factor: (i) in the actual composition process as the composer seeks unity and coherence in his or her piece; (ii) in folk music; (iii) as an essential element for the listener who strives to understand the piece as he listens to it in real time. This last point is of fundamental importance for the study of cognition in general i.e. the implicit or explicit role of similarity in perception processes. Concrete examples of the main theoretical points described here can be identified in the course of the different phases of the cue extraction model that I developed recently, i.e. segmentation, categorization, schematization, imprint formation (Deliège, 1989, 1991). The SIMILARITY/DIFFERENCE axis is a central element in the structure of the model. The empirical approaches used in experimenting with the different phases of the model are analyzed in this two-fold perspective. From the very beginning, this was the aim of a series of procedures that aimed at showing the implicit or explicit aspects of the processes that musician and non-musician participants use during the experimental listening process. An overall view of the results obtained confirms that the assumptions were correct.

Mechanisms of cue extraction in memory for musical time

Starting from the hypothesis explored in previous research, that there exists a mechanism for cue extraction in the organisation of listening to a musical work, the incidence of the mechanism in memory for temporal form will be studied. The experiment, conducted using a contemporary work — Eclat — by Pierre Boulez — consisted of the localisation of extracts after three hearings of the work during which subjects carried out grouping tasks made necessary by a previous study. In the comparison of the results of professional musicians and non-musicians, we observe that the latter retain a smaller number of cues whilst listening, and are less sensitive to their tonal qualities. Moreover, whilst the realisation of the “temporal line” (ligne temporelle) of the work by musicians corresponds to its actual duration, it is noticeably more “centred” by non-experts.

ESCOM as the Life Work of Irène Deliège: Irène Deliège in Conversation with Jukka Louhivuori

ESCOM has established itself as an influential actor in the field of cognitive sciences of music. The journal, Musicae Scientiae, including its special issues, discussions forums, the ESCOM conferences and smaller symposia, have all contributed significantly to the field. Although many people have contributed to ESCOMs activities in important ways, the society is very much the life work of Irène Deliège. She is the founding editor of Musicæ Scientiæ and the founding Permanent Secretary of ESCOM. The aim of publishing the following interview is to ensure that interesting and important details about ESCOMs background will be on record for future use. The conversation took place in Brussels in June 2009. It began with biographical memories of her Irènes childhood, her studies, and other important events in her life. The main focus of the discussion was the history of when and why the society was established, who was involved in this process and what role ESCOM has played in the various sub-disciplines involved with the study of music. This article is no memorial, nor merely an expression of gratitude for nearly two decades of dedicated effort but reflects the important need for any society to draw on the wisdom those people who have the greatest knowledge of, experience in and history with that society. Irène Deliège is certainly one of those people. She continues her active work in the society as a member of the executive committee.

Publications and Events Organised

A. ARTICLES 1985. Perception des formations élémentaires de la Musique. Voies de recherche de la psychologie cognitive. Analyse Musicale 1, Paris, 20-28. 1987. Le Parallélisme, support d’une analyse auditive de la musique : vers un modèle des parcours cognitifs de l’information musicale. Analyse Musicale 6, Paris, 73-79. 1987. La Création d’une Unité de Recherche en Psychologie de la Musique à l’Université de Liège. Marsyas 1, Paris, Institut de Pédagogie Musicale. 1987. Grouping conditions in Listening to Music. An approach to Lerdahl and Jackendoff ’s grouping preference rules. Music Perception 4, vol. 4, University of California, 325-359. 1989. Mécanismes d’extraction d’indices dans le groupement. Une étude de perception sur la Sequenza VI pour alto solo de Luciano Berio. In Actes du symposium « Composition et Perception musicales », 1987. Université de Genève, Contrechamps 10, 85-104. (Co-auteur A. El Ahmadi.) 1989. Approche perceptive d’œuvres musicales contemporaines. In « La Musique et les Sciences cognitives », (co-edited with S. McAdams). Bruxelles, Pierre Mardaga, coll. Psychologie et Sciences humaines, 305-326. 1989. Perceptive approach of contemporary musical forms. In «Music and Cognitive Sciences», (co-edited with S. McAdams). London, Gordon & Breach, Contemporary Music Review, 4, 213-230. 1990. Mechanisms of cue extraction in musical groupings. A study of perception on Berio’s Sequenza VI for viola solo. Psychology of Music, 18, 1, 18-44. London, (co-auteur : A. El Ahmadi) 1991. DICTIONNAIRE DE PSYCHOLOGIE, articles : Psychologie de la musique, Tonie, Ton, Timbre, Tonalité, Tempo Paris, Presses Universitaires de France. 1991. Indices et empreintes dans l’écoute de la musique. In Actes du 1er Congrès Européen d’Analyse Musicale, Colmar (France), Analyse Musicale, numéro spécial, 135-139. 1991. La perception de l’opposition Invariant / Variant. Etude expérimentale à partir de l’œuvre de Steve REICH, Four Organs, pour quatre orgues électriques et maracas. Psychologica Belgica, 31, n° 2, 239-263.