Statistical Variance and Transpositional Analysis: A Commentary on Plazak (2016)

Authors

  • Kris Shaffer University of Colorado, Boulder

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18061/emr.v11i1.5299

Keywords:

YouTubeology, pitch alteration, popular music

Abstract

Joseph Plazak argues for a more nuanced representation of the environment in which listeners encounter music ― in particular, questioning the assumption that listeners who engage with music repeatedly do so at the same absolute pitch level. While I agree with Plazak's problematization of this assumption, as well as his advocacy of further investigation into it, Plazak's corpus study has two key methodological flaws. However, a follow-up study in line with Plazak's research could both address these flaws and the more general question that Plazak raises, to the benefit of our understanding of a number of foundational cognitive issues.

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Published

2016-07-08

How to Cite

Shaffer, K. (2016). Statistical Variance and Transpositional Analysis: A Commentary on Plazak (2016). Empirical Musicology Review, 11(1), 97–98. https://doi.org/10.18061/emr.v11i1.5299