Musical Expectations, Probability, and Aesthetics
Musical Expectations, Probability, and Aesthetics
This chapter examines the human problem of grappling with the unexpected while sustaining the familiar, a core feature that underlies human experience and inquiry in general, but which is also essential, in part, to musical sensibility. One neurochemical that is often linked to expectations and the organization of behavior, including that of music, is dopamine. The chapter explains how musical expectations permeate diverse forms of problem solving, such as coping with “the shocks and instabilities, the conflicts and resolution” that we experience every day. It also discusses music and musical expectations in relation to aesthetics and aesthetic judgment, learning, probabilities, discrepancy, uncertainty, change, brain activation, statistical inference, abduction, emotions, and numbers. Finally, it explores the concept of musical meaning, musical order, and musical syntax.
Keywords: musical sensibility, music, musical expectations, problem solving, aesthetics, probabilities, brain activation, emotions, meaning, syntax
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