Implicit Learning As a Means of Tonal Jazz Pitch- Listening Skills Acquisition David Mosher
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University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Doctoral Dissertations Dissertations and Theses 2019 Implicit Learning As A Means Of Tonal Jazz Pitch- Listening Skills Acquisition David Mosher Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2 Part of the Music Pedagogy Commons, and the Music Theory Commons Recommended Citation Mosher, David, "Implicit Learning As A Means Of Tonal Jazz Pitch-Listening Skills Acquisition" (2019). Doctoral Dissertations. 1497. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2/1497 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Dissertations and Theses at ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. IMPLICIT LEARNING AS A MEANS OF TONAL JAZZ PITCH-LISTENING SKILLS ACQUISITION A Dissertation Presented by DAVID MOSHER Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY February 2019 Music Music Theory © Copyright by David Mosher 2019 All Rights Reserved Implicit Learning As A Means Of Tonal Jazz Pitch-Listening Skills Acquisition A Dissertation Presented By DAVID MOSHER Approved as to style and content by: ____________________________________________________ Gary S. Karpinski, chair ____________________________________________________ Stefan Love, member ____________________________________________________ Felipe Salles, member ____________________________________________________ Lisa Sanders, member ____________________________________________________ Roberta M. Marvin, Department Head Department of Music and Dance DEDICATION To Reneé, Zachary, and Jace. You light my world. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The creation of this document did not happen in a vacuum. Throughout the process, I have been fortunate to have as my advisor, Dr. Gary S. Karpinski, who provided much in the way of thought-provoking conversations and insightful feedback coming from a wealth of knowledge regarding aural skills training from a cognitive- perceptual frame of reference. I am also most certainly indebted to Dr. Stefan Love, who graciously extended to me many knowledgeable suggestions and helpful commentary springing both from a deep knowledge of music theory and of jazz theory in particular. I further extend my sincere gratefulness to Dr. Felipe Salles for imparting to me his incredible experience and firm grasp of jazz musical thought and performance. Foundational to the project was the commentary of Dr. Lisa Sanders, providing me incredible expert advice from the fields of cognition and perception. To my entire committee, I offer my deep appreciation for all of your support. In addition to my committee, I would like to express my thankfulness to friends and family who have encouraged and stuck with me through the ups and downs inevitable in any project of this size and depth. Lastly, and with the most heartfelt and undying affection, I thank my wife, Reneé Kathleen Gonzales Mosher, who has been my enabler. She has been an ever-present source of strength and support without which this project would never have come to completion. v ABSTRACT IMPLICIT LEARNING AS A MEANS OF TONAL JAZZ PITCH-LISTENING SKILLS ACQUISITION FEBRUARY 2019 DAVID MOSHER, B.M., HOWARD PAYNE UNIVERSITY M.M., UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Professor Gary S. Karpinski In this dissertation, I present a method for developing tonal jazz pitch-listening skills (PLS) which is rooted in scientific experimental findings from the fields of music cognition and perception. Converging experimental evidence supports the notion that humans develop listening skills through implicit learning via immersive, statistically rich exposure to real music from a particular musical idiom, such as tonal jazz. Therefore, I recommend that to acquire tonal jazz pitch-listening skills, learners should (1) immerse themselves in the real music of that idiom, (2) remediate their listening skills, where necessary, by listening to slowed-down versions with exaggerated features, and (3) organize their listening experiences with explicit theoretical labels for particular pitch structures, if they want to communicate about those pitch structures in speech or writing. In order to aid in the practical application of this process, I offer a four-semester learning sequence for the development of tonal jazz pitch-listening skills as well as a variety of formal assessment methods. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .............................................................................................. v ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................... vi LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................... xi CHAPTER 1. THE FRAMING AND SCOPE OF THE TOPIC ................................................. 1 1.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Statement of the Problem .................................................................................... 1 1.3 Research Questions ............................................................................................. 2 1.4 Significance of the Study .................................................................................... 2 1.5 Methodology ....................................................................................................... 3 1.6 Principles Underlying My Recommendations .................................................... 4 1.7 Organization of the Study ................................................................................... 5 1.8 Limitations .......................................................................................................... 5 2. SUMMARY OF MUSIC COGNITION AND PERCEPTION LITERATURE ON PITCH PROCESSING.............................................................................................. 7 2.1 Preliminaries ....................................................................................................... 7 2.1.1 The Relevance of Pitch-Listening Skill Development to Jazz Musicians . 7 2.1.2 Pitch: Definition and Scope of Engagement .............................................. 8 2.1.3 The Rate of PLS Development .................................................................. 9 2.1.4 Tonality .................................................................................................... 10 2.1.5 The Problem of Function: Anatomy and Physiology of Pitch Entities .... 11 2.1.6 Implicit Learning Explained .................................................................... 13 2.2 A List of Some Important PLS ......................................................................... 16 2.3 Expectations ...................................................................................................... 17 2.3.1 Memory and Expectation ......................................................................... 18 2.3.2 Creating a Set of Expectations ................................................................. 20 2.3.3 Melodic Structure Across Stylistic Boundaries ....................................... 21 2.3.4 Melodic Expectations Across Stylistic Boundaries ................................. 23 2.3.5 Dynamically Unfolding Melodic Expectations ....................................... 26 2.3.6 Musical Statistical Regularities................................................................ 28 2.3.7 General Musical Expectations ................................................................. 29 vii 2.3.8 Shared Canon, Shared Expectations, Room for Evolution ...................... 31 2.3.9 Style-Specific Expectations ..................................................................... 32 2.3.10 Style-Specific Melodic Expectations ..................................................... 34 2.4 The Effects of Context on PLS ......................................................................... 35 2.5 The Effects of Musical Training on PLS .......................................................... 37 2.5.1 Musicians and Nonmusicians .................................................................. 38 2.5.2 Playing an Instrument and PLS Development ......................................... 38 2.6 Factors Influencing the Rate and Quality of PLS Development....................... 40 2.6.1 Creating an Attitude of Addiction as a Means to PLS Development ...... 40 2.6.2 Creating an Environment Conducive to Music Learning and PLS Development ............................................................................................ 40 2.6.3 The Critical Period, Brain Plasticity and PLS Development ................... 42 2.6.4 Individuated Instruction, The Zone of Proximal Development, and Targeted Remediation .............................................................................. 43 2.6.5 Explicit Learning Enhances Implicit Learning ........................................ 45 2.6.5.1 The Role of Mental Representations in Pitch Processing ............... 46 2.6.5.2 Gestalt Recognition ......................................................................... 47 2.6.5.3 Chunking and Operations on Alphabets ........................................