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In Music and Probability, David Temperley explores issues in music perception and
cognition from a probabilistic perspective. The application of probabilistic ideas to
music has been pursued only sporadically over the past four decades, but the time is
ripe, Temperley argues, for a reconsideration of how probabilities shape music perception
and even music itself. Recent advances in the application of probability theory to other
domains of cognitive modeling, coupled with new evidence and theoretical insights about
the working of the musical mind, have laid the groundwork for more fruitful investigations.
Temperley proposes computational models for two basic cognitive processes, the perception
of key and the perception of meter, using techniques of Bayesian probabilistic modeling.
Drawing on his own research and surveying recent work by others, Temperley explores a range
of further issues in music and probability, including transcription, phrase perception,
pattern perception, harmony, improvisation, and musical styles.
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