Evolving music theory for emerging musical languages

TL;DR

This paper challenges traditional views of pitch in popular electronic music, proposing a perceptual, constructivist model that accounts for variability and multistability in pitch perception, influencing emerging musical languages.

Contribution

It introduces a new perceptual framework for understanding pitch, emphasizing listener-dependent and context-sensitive aspects in contemporary music theory.

Findings

Pitch is a perceptual construct, not an objective property.

A single tone can convey multiple pitches, leading to tonal fission.

Pitch perception can be multistable and vary over time for the same listener.

Abstract

This chapter reconsiders the concept of pitch in contemporary popular music (CPM), particularly in electronic contexts where traditional assumptions may fail. Drawing on phenomenological and inductive methods, it argues that pitch is not an ontologically objective property but a perceptual construct shaped by listeners and conditions. Analyses of quasi-harmonic tones reveal that a single tone can convey multiple pitches, giving rise to tonal fission. The perception of pitch may also be multistable, varying for the same listener over time. In this framework, the tuning system may emerge from a tone's internal structure. A parallel with the coastline paradox supports a model of pitch grounded in perceptual variability, challenging inherited theoretical norms.