[attenuated 3db]

I stole this thread title directly from the headline to an interactive online  test on The New York Times website described thus: "Scientists have been trying to unravel what specific components of music make it emotionally expressive. The following quiz is based on research by Daniel Levitin, director of the laboratory for music perception, cognition and expertise at McGill University."
 
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/04/18/science/20110419-music-expression.html
 
Head-Fi folks spend so much time doing A-B or "ABX" comparisons of equipment, I thought this might interest folks, and I didn't see an existing thread that it would fit neatly into.

 

[Sordel]

Funny thing about that is that I got the first three "correct" (i.e. favoured the human interpretation) with no problem at all; I didn't even listen to the samples through. Then I came to the last and picked the one that sounded like Glenn Gould ... big mistake ...

 

[ArrigoShred]

For me is definitely the synergy between a vocalists voice, technique and the notes. - if its for vocal music

Instrumental pieces, I tend to like them when they just have that magic vibrato and feeling to like

 

[Spyro]

"choice of notes".  When you hear an excerpt that just blows you away and you wonder, "how did the artist dream that up?"

 

[rroseperry]

I got all but the last one right two. The combination of rhythm and volume really determine expressiveness. I really didn't care for the more than human one.

 

[attenuated 3db]

The New York Times just had a follow-up story on this in their science section, featuring one of my favorites, guitarist Pat Metheny:
 
 
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/06/science/06wsfmusic.html?src=rechp&pagewanted=all