Details of Research Outputs

This treatise examines the effect of pop music on its listeners and develops a system-theoretic account of the way in which music functions in general. It discusses the time structure of musical events and compares this with the time structure of human experiences. The production of musical meaning is explained on the basis of the differences produced by musical events in proceeding from one event to the next. By its mere occurrence each event makes a difference which results in some information that gives rise to the occurrence of the next event, which itself results in some further information that gives rise to the occurrence of some further event, and so on. The time structure of this process turns out to be homological with the time structure of human experiences and is therefore capable of influencing the listener's chain of mental events. On this basis, the treatise explains the specific impact which melodies, harmonies, and rhythms have on the human mind. The structural coupling of musical and mental events allows the listeners to out-source their internal events. Pop music, in particular, lets them take a holiday from their own selves.