Influence of timbre, presence/absence of tonal hierarchy and musical training on the perception of musical tension and relaxation schemas

The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of timbre, the presence or absence of tonal hierarchy, and the influence of musical training on the perception of "tension-relaxation schemas" in musical phrases. Two musical excerpts taken from the Baroque 'tonal/metric' and contemporary 'nontonal/nonmetric' repertoires constituted the stimuli of the experiment. Two versions of each excerpt were recorded: one 'piano version', in which the piece was recorded with only one timbre, and one 'orchestral version' in which the piece was played by several instruments. In order to avoid the intervention of the parameters of dynamics, interpretation, and conducting and performance of the piece, the same MIDI score was used for both versions. The experiment consisted of a presentation of successive segments of the musical pieces with different lengths to two different populations: 40 musicians and 40 nonmusicians. Listeners were asked to rate the degree of completeness perceived at the end of each segment, giving a completeness or tension profile. Our results showed that the timbre and the presence or absence of tonal hierarchy directly influenced the perception of musical tension-relaxation schemas, while musical training played only a minor role and only in the tonal/metric context.