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Tone Apperception and Weber-Fechner’s Law
Thomas NollTechnical University of BerlinSeptember 12, 2002
Das Vorstellen der Tonbewegungen ist ein wirkliches Mitmachen der-selben mit dem Willen; die Seele, der lebendige Menschengeist, f¨ uhrt selbst diese Bewegungen aus und erfreut sich in ihnen seines Da-seins, seiner Wirkungskr¨ afte
. (Hugo Riemann [23], p.15).
Abstract
In extrapolation of Wilhelm Wundt’s suggestion to apply Weber-Fechner’slaw to apperception and in slight modification of Davis Lewin’s definitionof generalized interval systems we propose a four-dimensional space
A
asa model for an active tone system. This space
A
is also a group actingon itself. Its elements are interpreted in two ways, (1) as tone loci, i.e. asstates of apperceptive processes and (2) as apperceptive acts which canbe aquired by such processes as transitions between tone loci. The fourdimensions are constituted by semitone steps, semitone alterations, fifthsteps and fifth alterations. A fundamental ingredience to the model is thedistinction between actual and virtual apperception. The former is basedon the group operation of 
A
while the latter is based on the addition of tonevectors, i.e. elements of the tangent space
V
of 
A
at its identity element.Tone vectors, active tones and tone loci are connected by the apperceptionformula
App
(
X,v
) =
X
·
exp
(
v
) which adapts Wundt’s formula to the four-dimensional situation. The interpretation of this model includes generalaspects of apperception, namely a study of linear and circular appercep-tion as well as an economy principle of reason and decision. The specificmusic-theoretical interpretations focus on enharmonicity. As an alterna-tive to group factorisation as an algebraic means to describe enharmonicidentification we show that the discrete quintic group
G
⊂
A
alreadyyields enharmonic relations as a consequence of the apperception model.It is argued that the relations of hallucination and Escher-staircase pro-vide suitable explanations for synquintic and enharmonic identifications.As a more sophisticated case of enharmonicity we motivate the concept of synchromatic identification. Finally, attention is paid to the geometricalstudy of the active tone system. A pseudo-Riemannian
1
metrics supportsthe economy principle and offers relationsships to relativity.
1
We mention that mathematicians use the attribute
Riemannian 
in honor of BernhardRiemann (1826 - 1866), while music theorists use it in honor of Hugo Riemann (1849 - 1919).The present article intends to contribute with a pseudo-Riemannian apperception model tothe ongoing Neo-Riemannian discourse.
1
 
1 Introduction
The crux of investigations into tones and tone relations is that their experienceseems to be closely related to the perception of physical sound on the one handand to active experience on the other. The present article proposes a speculativetheoretical approach to the latter aspect. This first section aims at generallyclarifying what the article is about and what it is
not 
about.
1.1 Disciplinary and Ontological Preliminaries
In this paper we argue in favour of a concept of 
tone apperception 
as an indis-pensable ingredient of the investigations into musical tones and their relations.The phenomenon of music is accessible through several levels of description:physical, psychological, cognitive, cultural, and not to forget, music theoretical.There are two ways of distinguishing different ontological levels, namely (a) toattribute a specialized ontology to each of the disciplines in accordance withtheir denotation systems or (b) to consider
general ontology 
on its own as an-other level of description among the others. Both choices are problematic andrefer to deeper epistemological problems that cannot be dealt with in this paper.The subject domain must be entered with caution but without prejudice to thedisciplinary competences. Physics, physiology, psychology, semiotics and phi-losophy are relevant foundational sciences or disciplines for music studies, butone cannot be sure that their contemporary foundations are already capable of  jointly supporting a satisfying conceptual framework for the study of 
musical tones
.From the disciplinary point of view the present approach to
tone appercep-tion 
is basically intended to be a contribution to a music-theoretical level of description. This means the main line of argument in this paper intends to con-tribute to the solution of inner music-theoretical problems. However, from theontological point of view the main focus of this study is on active musical experi-ence and therefore involves issues of musical mental activity. We therefore haveto admit that the present approach is not embedded in current psychologicalresearch nor is it adapted to the accepted methodology of this discipline. Never-theless we hope that our reformulation and interpretation of Wilhelm Wundt’sproposal to derive a law of apperception from Weber-Fechner’s law will eventu-ally stimulate further cognitive studies. It seems that Wundt’s speculative ideahas more or less abandoned by contemporary psychology rather than falsified.There are two other rather formal disciplinary aspects to be mentioned.The formulation of the present approach includes the step by step constructionand investigation of a mathematical model. To a certain degree, mathemati-cal competence is required in order to judge the correctness of mathematicalpropositions. But there is no mathematical novelty involved. The model isan application of standard knowledge onto linear groups and their geometricalaspects. The other point is to notify that some ideas behind the present ap-proach are loosely inspired by ideas from theoretical physics. But a transfer of such ideas has neither immediate disciplinary nor ontological implications nor2
 
is it neccessary to be familiar with these ideas in order to follow the lines of argument. The paper is a selfcontained proposal for a mathematical theory of specific musical mental acts, namely tone apperceptions.
1.2 Intonation-Apperception Analogy
Music is mediated primarily through physical sound. For occidental music it isfurthermore characteristic that the frequency parameter occupies a prominentrole. This is paralleled in music theory through a prominent interest in musicalintervals, scales, harmony, etc. Hence, at first sight, musical tones appear to bemental counterparts of physical sounds and manifold attempts to descriptivelyor normatively systematize frequency ratios have influenced both domains, mu-sical accoustics and music theory. But closer investigations lead to various ob- jections against a simple analogy between the two domains. Music-theoreticalinvestigations of tone systems must primarily be evaluated with regard to theirexplanatory power within music theory. A crux for the whole discussion - anda likely source of confusion - is therefore the existence of at least two music-theoretically interesting models, which have parallel acoustic interpretations:
•
Riemann-Tone-Net 
and
Just Intonation.
A two-dimensional scheme iscommonly used to denote relative frequencies in so-called ’just intona-tion’.
2
The primarily accoustic systematisation became merged with music-theoretic issues through the denotative usage of note names. Hugo Rie-mann later turned the scheme into a proper music-theoretical one by con-sidering it as an apperceptive configuration space. This idea still playsa role in Neo-Riemannian approaches and leaves open interesting prob-lems. We mention that Riemann himself did not insist on a parallelism of apperception and intonation. To him equal temperament was a practicalsolution on the physical level and not a tone system. To avoid confusionwe use the label
Euler-Net 
for the physical Log-Frequency interpretationand
Riemann-Tone-Net 
for the apperceptive interpretation.
•
Abstract 12-Tone System and Equal Temperament.
The speculative con-sideration of an abstract 12-tone system on a theoretical level becamemanifest when atonal musical styles emerged. But there are historical andnumerous contemporary attempts to study music of various styles withrespect to an abstract 12-tone-system. As in the case of Riemann’s onto-logical shift towards apperception one must carefully distinguish betweenthe description of equal temperament on the one hand and investigationof a 12-tone-system on the other. This becomes evident when sophisti-cated structural properties of 
Z
12
are interpreted music-theoretically. Werecall Guerino Mazzola’s mathematical models for modulation and coun-terpoint, Eytan Agmon’s study of diatonism with respect to the direct
2
This scheme goes back to Leonhard Euler and has been favorized again in the second half of the 19th century. The frequencies differ by rational factors 2
a
3
b
5
c
with
a,b,c
∈
Z
. Theirlogarithms
log
(2
a
3
b
5
c
) =
a
·
log
(2)+
b
·
log
(2)+
c
·
log
(5) form a three-dimensional lattice. Atwo-dimensional scheme is obtained according to octave identification.
3
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