Don't know if this has been discussed before but I was thinking of music as a simple way of demonstrating the lower levels of perceptual control.
Intensity - The volume at which notes are played
Sensations - The pitch of notes. Not sure about this one.
Transitions - Progression of one note to another. Also tempo.
Configurations - Chords; a set of notes played together.
Sequences - Melody; a set of notes played in a particular sequence
Would rhythm be a set of transitions? Would playing with someone else be a control of relationship; of synchronisation?
These are my initial thoughts. I'd be interested if anyone wants to expand on them.
0 frequency amplitude - any note played by an instrument is a spectrum of frequency amplitudes
1 timbre - Is it a piano or a guitar? Is one instrument playing louder than the other?
Playing with someone else means that you’re playing the same song and listening to what they’re playing, you know when the chord progressions change, you know where the solos are, you play in key, etc.
RY: Don't know if this has been discussed before but I was thinking of music as a simple way of demonstrating the lower levels of perceptual control.
RM: Actually, it's a fine way to demonstrate _all_ levels of perceptual control. See Table 2, p. 206 of LCS I. The column labeled "Music" shows how Powers thought different levels of perception mapped to aspects of the production of music. This is in a paper written in 1979 and by that time there were 10 levels of perception and the sequence level was called "Event". >
RY: Intensity - The volume at which notes are played
Sensations - The pitch of notes. Not sure about this one.
Transitions - Progression of one note to another. Also tempo.
Configurations - Chords; a set of notes played together.
Sequences - Melody; a set of notes played in a particular sequence
RM: This is pretty close to the way Bill had it. Take a look. It also shows that higher level perceptual aspects of music -- aspects of music that seem more "subjective", like the "interpretation" of a piece in performance -- are also perceptions that are controlled. >
RY: Would rhythm be a set of transitions? Would playing with someone else be a control of relationship; of synchronisation?
RY: These are my initial thoughts. I'd be interested if anyone wants to expand on them.
RM: I think the process of figuring out what kind of perceptions are being controlled in music is one part of the research program Powers was outlining in the chapter on "A Cybernetic Model for Research in Human Development" paper -- the one in which we find Table 2 that I mentioned above. Powers' description of the research program begins on p. 216 of LCS I. He gives a very general description of the program at the top of . 216: "We first gather basic data in a more or less naturalistic way...Then we try to classify this data into a taxonomy of levels". Observing what people control when they produce music is the first step -- using naturalistic observation to gather the basic data. Verbal descriptions of these variables will have to do. Next comes the classification process. How do we do that other than subjectively?
RM: I guess the way I would like to expand this conversation is to get people's ideas -- especially those of the researchers on this list -- about how to carry out the research program that Powers spelled out in rather general terms on pp.216-218 of LCS I.