This translation of this classic text contains a balance of cultural and biological considerations. While arguing for the strong influence of exposure and of formal training on the way that music is perceived, Frances draws on the literature concerning the amusias to illustrate his points about the types of cognitive abstraction that are performed by the listener.

Robert Frances, W. Jay Dowling

Contents: Part I:Syntax.Sound and Music. The Material. Syntax. Psychological Origins and Development of the Sense of Tonality. Part II:Rhetoric.Musical Discourse. Perception and Linear Organization. Perception and Simultaneous Organization. Part III:Expression and Meaning.The Problem of Meaning. Consistency and Coherence of Semantic Judgments. Themes of Signification: Symbolic Elements. Themes of Signification: Aspects and Degrees of Convention. Conclusion.