Researcher

My research focuses on meaning in contemporary music. Many claims about meaning in contemporary music by theorists, musicologists, and composers have yet to be corroborated empirically. As a practicing musician, this concerns me: it is one thing for a composer to have a certain meaning in mind while composing, or for a highly educated analyst to arrive at a particular interpretation after careful study; but if we want our music to have cultural relevance outside of a small group of specialists, we must also be concerned with the immediate responses of general listeners, with their various cultural backgrounds and perspectives. At a time when many composers and contemporary musicians struggle to connect with the public, the questions assume a certain urgency. How can contemporary music become meaningful to general listeners? What can contemporary music offer that deserves the already-overtaxed attention of media-saturated audiences? What can composers do to connect with the public without compromising the progressive nature of their work? What lessons can contemporary music learn from other genres that have been more successful in connecting with audiences?

Journal articles:

Reymore, L., Noble, J., Saitis, C., Traube, C., & Wallmark, Z. (2023). Timbre Semantic Associations Vary Both Between and Within Instruments: An Empirical Study Incorporating Register and Pitch Height. Music Perception: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 40(3), 253-274. https://doi.org/10.1525/mp.2023.40.3.253

Noble, J. (2022). The career of metaphor hypothesis and vocality in contemporary music. Interdisciplinary Science Reviews, 47(2), 259-278. https://doi.org/10.1080/03080188.2022.2035108

Noble, J., Thoret, É., Henry, M., and McAdams, S. (2020). “Semantic Dimensions of Sound Mass Music: Mappings between Perceptual and Acoustic Domains.” Music Perception 38(2). https://doi.org/10.1525/mp.2020.38.2.214

Noble, J., Bonin, T., and McAdams, S. (2020). “Experiences of Time and Timelessness in Electroacoustic Music.” Organised Sound 25(2).
https://doi.org/10.1017/S135577182000014X

Noble, J. and McAdams, S. (2020). “Sound Mass, Auditory Perception, and ‘Post-Tone’ Music.” Journal of New Music Research 49(3).
https://doi.org/10.1080/09298215.2020.1749673 

Noble, J. and Cowan, S. (2020). “A Non-guitarist’s Approach to Timbre-Based Composition for the Guitar, Addressing Issues of Notation and Mapping.” Soundboard Scholar. https://www.guitarfoundation.org/page/SbS06-Noble-Cowan 

Noble, J. (2018). “What can the Temporal Structure of Auditory Perception Tell Us About Musical ‘Timelessness’?” Music Theory Online, 24(3).  http://mtosmt.org/issues/mto.18.24.3/mto.18.24.3.noble.html 

Douglas, C., Noble, J., and McAdams, S. (2016). “Auditory Scene Analysis and the Perception of Sound Mass in Ligeti’s Continuum.” Music Perception 33(3).
http://mp.ucpress.edu/content/33/3/287

Book chapters:

Noble, J. (2020). “Directions of Choral Research at the Beginning of the 21st Century.” In Godmundsdottir, H., Beynon, C., Ludke, K., and Cohen, A., eds. The Routledge Companion to Interdisciplinary Research in Singing, Volume II: Education.
https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315162607

Conference proceedings:

Noble, J. (2021). “Challenges and advantages of homogeneous orchestration: fantaisie harmonique” (video). Proc. of IRCAM hors les murs workshop: Spatialization, Orchestration, Perception.
https://youtu.be/Ss1af17r0fc 

Noble, J. (2021). “A case study of perceptual challenges and advantages of homogeneous orchestration: fantaisie harmonique (2019) for guitar double-orchestra” (video; paper version forthcoming). Proc. of The 21st Century Guitar (2nd edition) 
https://youtu.be/qDhatDWPW7I (beginning 2:32:30)

Noble, J., Wallmark, Z., and Soden, K. (2020). “The Semantics of Orchestration: A Corpus Analysis.” In proc. of The 2nd International Conference on Timbre. 
http://timbre2020.mus.auth.gr/assets/papers/Timbre2020_proceedings.pdf https://youtu.be/YYqyPQ2rQSQ 

Noble, J. (2018). “Meaning Beyond Content: Extramusical Associations are Plural but not Arbitrary.” Proceedings of the International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition 15, Montréal QC.
https://static.uni-graz.at/fileadmin/veranstaltungen/music-psychology-conference2018/documents/ICMPC15_ESCOM10%20Proceedings.pdf 

Noble, J. (2018). “Removing the Imaginary Boundary Between Score and Work.” Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Technologies of Notation and Representation, Montréal QC.
http://tenor-conference.org/proceedings/2018/22_Noble_tenor18.pdfhttps://vimeo.com/289095623

Other Academic Online Publications:

ACTOR Research-Creation Series: Timbre and Orchestration Writings

Reviews and responses:

Noble, J. (2019). “Review of Being Time: Case Studies in Musical Temporality.” Music and Letters 100(4). 
https://doi.org/10.1093/ml/gcz084 

Noble, J. (2018). “Response to Thomas Yee, ‘The Psychodynamics of Chronic Depression in Music.” American Society for Aesthetics Graduate E-Journal. https://asageorg.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/jason-noble-meaning-beyond-content-a-reply-to-yee.pdf

Noble, J. (2018). “Review of The Dawn of Music Semiology: Essays in Honor of Jean-Jacques Nattiez.” Canadian Association of Music Libraries Review. https://caml.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/caml/article/view/40316/36491

Dissertation:

Noble, J. (2018). Perceptual and Semantic Dimensions of Sound Mass. PhD Dissertation. McGill University.
http://digitool.library.mcgill.ca/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=154508

Online publications:

ACTOR Timbre and Orchestration Resource

Amazing Moments in Timbre series (highlighting great examples of timbre and orchestration in music)

Timbre Lingo series (explaining timbre terminology for non-specialist audiences)

Postdoc Blog series (blog about experiences as an ACTOR postdoc)

  • https://www.actorproject.org/project-blog/2019/10/7/opdb-4

  • https://www.actorproject.org/project-blog/2019/3/1/opdb-3

  • https://www.actorproject.org/project-blog/2018/11/22/opdb-1

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