Leonard B. Meyer
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Leonard B. Meyer (b. 1918) is a composer, author, and philosopher. He contributed major works in the fields of aesthetic theory in Music, and compositional analysis.
Born in 1918, Meyer studied at Columbia University, where he received both a B.A. in Philosophy, and an M.A. in Music. He continued on to study at University of Chicago, where he was awarded a [Ph.D.] in History of Culture. As a composer, he studied under Stefan Wolpe, Otto Luening, and Aaron Copland. In 1946, he took a professorship at the University of Chicago. His major written works include Emotion and Meaning in Music (1957), The Rhythmic Structure of Music (1960), and Some Remarks on Value and Greatness in Music (1961).
Meyer was one of the first to explore the relationship between Game theory and musical composition. Specifically, he postulated that the audience was engaging in a continuous relationship of probability and expectation to the musical piece being performed, and that the value of a piece was in direct relationship with how well the complexity of the musical piece engaged this aspect of listening. A simple piece where the audience's expectation for each musical statement was met provided no interest, and no real information to engage the listener. However, a piece where the expectations of the audience were never met voided the probability aspect of the listening experience, and so disengaged the audience.
