Perception of ragas is influenced by enculturation and musical training - a pilot study

Vidya Rangasayee (Stanford University)*, Prahlad Saravanapriyan (Washington High School), Takako Fujioka (Department of Music, Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA)

This paper will be presented both in person and virtually at the 12:15 PM - 12:45 PM PST session

Abstract:

Music perception is shaped by both enculturation and musical training. This pilot study explores how musicians from different cultural and training backgrounds perceive music. Participants rated the perceived "Westernness" of raga samples in an online survey. Our analysis revealed significant differences in ratings between Western and Indian musicians, with a strong correlation between the perceived Westernness of the raga samples and their pitch class distributions. These findings suggest that musical training and cultural background influence familiarity with specific pitch class structures, leading to variations in music perception. Ongoing research will investigate the neural correlates of music perception across diverse musical cultures.