Abstract
In this chapter, we explore the use of the Spiral Array spatial visualization of tonal evolution through time for the visual analysis of P. D. Q. Bach’sThe Short-Tempered Clavier. In particular, we analyze situations in which we can see some of the humor devices abstracted in an earlier study by David Huron. We conclude that although we can see a good number of Schickele’s humour devices—such as incongruent styles, musically improbable tonality and harmony shifts, and excessive repetition—we do not yet have sufficient information to form a robust computer-based method for detecting musical humor. The reader can download the latest version of the MuSA.RT software, MuSA_RT, from the Mac App Store (http://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/musa-rt/id506866959?mt=12, cited 30 August 2013), follow the examples posted at http://musa-rt.blogspot.com, or try out new ones themselves.
This is an expanded version of the work, “Visible Humour—Seeing P. D. Q. Bach’s Musical Humour Devices in The Short-Tempered Clavier on the Spiral Array Space” by Elaine Chew and Alexandre R. J. François, published in Klouche, T., Noll, T. (eds.): Mathematics and Computation in Music, CCIS 37, pp.11-18, Springer (2009) http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-642-04579-0_2
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References
Chew, E.: Towards a mathematical model of tonality. Ph.D. thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge (2000)
Chew, E., François, A.R.J.: Interactive multi-scale visualizations of tonal evolution in MuSA.RT Opus 2. Comput. Entertain. 3(4), 1–16 (2005)
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François, A. R. J.: MuSA\_RT https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/musa-rt/id506866959?mt=12 (2012). Accessed 30 Aug 2013
Huron, D.: Music-engendered laughter: an analysis of humor devices in PDQ Bach. In: Proceedings of the International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition, pp. 93–95 (2004)
Schickele, P.: The Short-tempered Clavier (Preludes and Fugues in all the Major and Minor Keys Except for the Really Hard Ones), S. 3.14159, easy as edition, pp. 1807–1742?, Theodore Pressor Company, Bryn Mawr (1998)
Acknowledgments
This material is based upon work, and made use of Integrated Media Systems Center Shared Facilities, supported by the National Science Foundation under grant No. 0347988 and Cooperative Agreement No. EEC-9529152. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
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Chew, E. (2014). Visible Humor. In: Mathematical and Computational Modeling of Tonality. International Series in Operations Research & Management Science, vol 204. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9475-1_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9475-1_10
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