Background to the Chopin Data

Data analysed in: Kroonenberg, P. M. (2008). Applied multiway data analysis. Hoboken NJ: Wiley.

Music appreciation and the evaluation of the characteristics of musical pieces have frequently been researched by means of semantic differential scales. In the present study, Chopin's Preludes were judged on semantic differential scales by 38 Japanese university students (21 males and 17 females). For students to be eligible for the study, they had to be already familiar with classical music so that they could be expected to provide appropriate judgments about the music. The concept mode consisted of the 24 short piano Preludes making up Op. 28 by Frédéric Chopin, played by Samson François on Angel, AA-8047. They were copied on a cassette tape and edited for the experiment. Eighteen pairs of adjectives were selected from previous research on semantic differential studies of music. It was expected that the students would judge rather objectively on all but two scales on the basis of key (mainly, major or minor) and tempo of each prelude. In contrast, it was expected that they would express subjective evaluations on the scales unattractive--attractive and uninteresting--interesting. Before the final analysis, the codings of some scales were reversed to induce as many positive correlations among the scales as possible. Details of the experimental procedure can be found in Murakami & Kroonenberg (2003)

References

• Murakami, T. & Kroonenberg, P. M. (2003). Individual differences in semantic differential studies and their analyses by three-mode models. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 38, 87-96.

Data description

The judges (subjects) were 38 Japanese university students (21 males and 17 females). The concepts were the 24 short piano solo pieces (or preludes) making up Op. 28 composed by Frédéric Chopin. They were copied on a cassette tape, and edited for the experiment. To avoid the experiment to be too long, of some longer preludes (No. 2, 4, 6, 8, 13, 15, 17, 21) only the first one minute and twenty seconds were presented.

Eighteen pairs of adjectives were selected from previous research on semantic differential studies of music. Also included were expressions often used to describe Chopin's music in the literature. These adjectives were arranged as bipolar scales with each member of the pair on the opposite end of the scale. These bipolar scales are always referred to in such a way that the low-end marker will be mentioned first and the high-end marker last. It was expected that the students would judge rather objectively on all but two scales on the basis of key (mainly, major or minor) and tempo of each prelude. In contrast, it was expected that they would express subjective evaluations on the scales, unattractive-attractive and uninteresting-interesting. The set of scales employed here is not necessarily a typical one used in semantic differential studies, where in general the scales can be divided into three categories, Evaluation, Activity, and Potency (Osgood, Suci, & Tannenbaum, 1957). Before the final analysis, the codings of some scales were reversed to induce as many positive correlations among them as possible.

The data set was arranged such that it formed a 24 x 20 x 38 block.

Rows (1st mode): Preludes

No.	Key	Tempo
1.	C major	Agitato
2.	a minor	Lento
3.	G major	Vivace
4.	e minor	Largo
5.	D major	Allegro molto
6.	b minor	Lento assai
7.	A major	Andantino
8.	f# minor	Molto agitato
9.	E major	Largo
10.	c# minor	Allegro molto
11.	B major	Vivace
12.	g# minor	Presto
13.	F# major	Lento
14.	eb minor	Allegro
15.	Db major	Sostenuto
16.	bb minor	Presto con fuoco
17.	Ab major	Allegretto
18.	f minor	Allegro molto
19.	Eb major	Vivace
20.	c minor	Largo
21.	Bb major	Cantabile
22.	g minor	Molto agitato
23.	F major	Moderato
24.	d minor	Allegro appasionato

Columns (2nd mode): Scales

Slices (3rd mode): Judges

Data arrangement

A three-way data array X = (x(i,j,k)) has the following form

                        |-----|i=1
                   |-----|    |i=2
              |-----|    |    |..
              |     |    |    |..
              |     |    |____|i=I=24    k=K=38
              |     |____|            k=2
              |_____|              k=1
            j=1,.,J=20
      

The actual data file has the following form:

          j=1,.,J=20
            |-----|i=1
            |     |i=2
            |     |..     k= 1
            |     |..
            |_____|i=I=24
            |-----|i=1
            |     |i=2
            |     |..     k= 2
            |     |..
            |_____|i=I=24
            |-----|i=1
            |     |i=2
            |     |..     k=38
            |     |..
            |_____|i=I=24
      

Thus the first mode (i) is nested in the third mode (k) and there are 24 (Preludes) times 38 (Judges) rows and 20 (Scales) columns.

Data handling

These type of three-way rating data can be processed in two ways, either double-centred for each student or column-centred for each scale-student combination, i.e. across preludes. For details see Kroonenberg (2008). Applied multiway data analysis. Hoboken NJ: Wiley (Chapters 6 and 8).

Permissions

[Download the zipped Chopin Data]

[Applications Guide for analysing the Chopin data with Tuckals3. (1.3MB PDF - Preliminary version)]