Dissertation Index
Author: Casti, Laura Title: Of Silences and Streams: An Analytical Model for Metric Perception in Arvo Pärt Institution: Northwestern University Begun: September 2021 Completed: September 2026 Abstract: In recent decades, influential scholarship (Hasty 1997; London 2004; Mirka 2009; Sullivan 2023) has significantly advanced our understanding of real-time metric perception. However, two key perceptual puzzles remain unexplored: (1) the varying salience and resilience of implied pulses during “perceived silences” (Margulis 2007c) and (2) the emergence of a composite meter from multiple “auditory streams” (Bregman 1990). In my dissertation, I address these theoretical lacunae by proposing two “plug-ins” for Mirka’s Parallel Multiple-Analysis Processor (PMAP): the Implied Pulse Detector (IPD) and Streaming Preference Rules (SPRs). I illustrate both through analyses of Arvo Pärt’s music, which features recurrent silences and streamed textures and is thus ideally suited to explore their metric effects. By reviewing approaches from music theory, psychology, psychoacoustics, and neuroscience (Chapters 1–2), I identify the concepts and frameworks informing my plug-ins, as detailed in the dissertation’s methodological core (Chapters 3–4). Chapter 3 presents my preference-rule approach for streaming, including three types of SPRs, the psychological factors underlying them, and the Method to Find the Composite Meter, which predicts the streaming hierarchy and holistic meter perceived by real-time listeners. Chapter 4 elucidates how the IPD works, discusses the objective and subjective factors affecting the resilience and salience of implied pulses, and the metric effects they generate. In the dissertation’s analytical trilogy (Chapters 5–7), I demonstrate my plug-ins by analyzing Pärt’s works for different instrumentations: solo piano, choral ensembles, and orchestral groups. This progressive strategy enables me to disentangle the metric effects of silences and streams from simpler to increasingly complex scenarios. I conclude by proposing (1) future directions for the empirical testing of SPRs and IPD and (2) their analytical application beyond Pärt’s oeuvre, illuminating metric perception in pre-tonal, tonal, and post-tonal styles that are similarly “marked” (Hatten 1994) by silences and streams. Keywords: Rhythm and Meter, Post-Tonal Music, Silences, Streams, Parallel Multiple-Analysis Processor, Preference Rules, Auditory Scene Analysis, Danuta Mirka, James Sullivan, Arvo Pärt TOC: Chapter 1: Theories of Metric Perception in (Post)Tonal Music Chapter 2: Psychological Approaches to Silences and Streams Chapter 3: Two Plug-Ins for the PMAP: I. Streaming Preference Rules (SPRs) Chapter 4: Two Plug-Ins for the PMAP: II. Implied Pulse Detector (IPD) Chapter 5: Analyzing Pärt's Piano Pieces Chapter 6: Analyzing Pärt's Choral Works Chapter 7: Analyzing Pärt's Orchestral Works Beyond Pärt's Music: Conclusions and Future Directions Contact: laurakale89@gmail.com |