Gestalt concepts and music: Limitations and possibilities

Abstract

This paper is concerned with possible applications of Gestalt concepts in relation to music. The concepts are examined as to their limitations and possibilities. We propose a reappraisal of some older insights and an enlargement of the Gestalt concepts from a rather intuitive to an operational approach, arguing strongly for using the methodology of interdisciplinary research, and stressing the importance of the cognitive view of elaboration and processing of musical structure by the listener’s mind. This involves a shift from structural description to a functional approach, with special emphasis on musical information processing. Furthermore attention is directed to the specificity of music as a temporal and sounding art, stressing the role of memory and imagination, and the tension between actuality and virtuality in the construction of musical Gestalts.