Absolute Judgment of Musical Interval Width

Aruffo, Christopher; Goldstone, Robert L.; Earn, David J. D.

doi:10.1525/mp.2014.32.2.186

Cited by 9 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 58 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…As a result there is a a lower limit to the size of discrete interval that people can produce, and larger intervals are more difficult to sing as they require a greater change in subglottal pressure (33,34). The vocal mistuning theory considers that singing is prone to errors (17,20,35), as is interval perception (36)(37)(38)(39). We perceive intervals as discrete categories on a logarithmic scale (octave: 1200 cents; fifth: ln 3 2 / ln 2 • 1200 = 702 cents) and errors of as much as 20 cents may not affect category judgments (40)(41)(42)(43).…”

Section: B Transmittabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Cross-cultural data shows musical scales evolved to maximise imperfect fifths

McBride¹,

Tlusty²

2019

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Musical scales are used in cultures throughout the world, but the question as to how they evolved remains open. Some suggest that scales based on the harmonic series are inherently pleasant, while others propose that scales are chosen that are easy to sing, hear and reproduce accurately. However, testing these theories has been hindered by the sparseness of empirical evidence. Here, to enable such examination, we assimilate data from diverse ethnomusicological sources into a cross-cultural database of scales. We generate populations of scales based on proposed and alternative theories and assess their similarity to empirical distributions from the database. Most scales can be explained as tending to include intervals roughly corresponding to perfect fifths ("imperfect fifths"), and packing arguments explain the salient features of the distributions. Scales are also preferred if their intervals are compressible, which could facilitate efficient communication and memory of melodies. While no single theory can explain all scales, which appear to evolve according to different selection pressures, the simplest harmonicity-based, imperfect-fifths packing model best fits the empirical data.

show abstract

Section: B Transmittabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Cross-cultural data shows musical scales evolved to maximise imperfect fifths

McBride¹,

Tlusty²

2019

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…According to Wikipedia, the traditional musical theory has defined basic musical intervals, but the influence by semitone and enharmonic notes should also be considered. The use of a semitone may form an additional musical interval [29]; on the other hand, enharmonic notes may conduct an equivalent interval. For instance, the interval from C to D is an augmented second (A2), while that from C to E is a minor third (m3).…”

Section: Musical Content Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

A Two-Step Approach for Classifying Music Genre on the Strength of AHP Weighted Musical Features

Chen

et al. 2018

Mathematics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Music is a series of harmonious sounds well arranged by musical elements including rhythm, melody, and harmony (RMH). Since music digitalization has resulted in a wide variety of new musical applications used in daily life, the use of music genre classification (MGC), especially MGC automation, is increasingly playing a key role in the development of novel musical services. However, achieving satisfactory performance of MGC automation is a practical challenge. This paper proposes a two-step approach for music genre classification (called TSMGC) on the strength of analytic hierarchy process (AHP) weighted musical features. Compared with other MGC approaches, the TSMGC has three strong points for better performance: (1) various musical features extracted from the RMH and the calculated entropy are comprehensively considered, (2) the weight of features and their impact values determined by AHP are applied on the basis of the Exponential Distribution function, (3) music can be accurately categorized into a main-class and further sub-classes through a two-step classification process. According to the conducted experiment, the result exhibits an accuracy rate of 87%, which demonstrates the potential for the proposed TSMGC method to meet the emerging needs of MGC automation.

show abstract

“…Auditory information is then stored in echoic memory as a very brief sensory image, lasting only a few seconds (Darwin et al, 1972;Snyder, 2009). At this stage, features occurring simultaneously or close together are extracted from the incoming information stream by higher level neurons and bound into units so that they may be perceived categorically as separate pitches, and interval relationships between pitches (Aruffo, Goldstone, & Earn, 2014;Snyder, 2000). Categorical perception of pitch, interval distances, and basic rhythmic features is a bottom-up process in which the information stream is grouped by the nervous system and perceived as events (Dowling, 1982;Snyder, 2000).…”

Section: Understanding and Measuring Memory For Musical Stimulimentioning

confidence: 99%

The MUSOS (MUsic SOftware System) Toolkit: A computer-based, open source application for testing memory for melodies

2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Despite numerous innovative studies, rates of replication in the field of music psychology are extremely low (Frieler et al., 2013). Two key methodological challenges affecting researchers wishing to administer and reproduce studies in music cognition are the difficulty of measuring musical responses, particularly when conducting free-recall studies, and access to a reliable set of novel stimuli unrestricted by copyright or licensing issues. In this article, we propose a solution for these challenges in computer-based administration. We present a computer-based application for testing memory for melodies. Created using the software Max/MSP (Cycling '74, 2014a), the MUSOS (Music Software System) Toolkit uses a simple modular framework configurable for testing common paradigms such as recall, old-new recognition, and stem completion. The program is accompanied by a stimulus set of 156 novel, copyright-free melodies, in audio and Max/MSP file formats. Two pilot tests were conducted to establish the properties of the accompanying stimulus set that are relevant to music cognition and general memory research. By using this software, a researcher without specialist musical training may administer and accurately measure responses from common paradigms used in the study of memory for music.

show abstract

Absolute Judgment of Musical Interval Width

Cited by 9 publications

References 58 publications

Cross-cultural data shows musical scales evolved to maximise imperfect fifths

Cross-cultural data shows musical scales evolved to maximise imperfect fifths

A Two-Step Approach for Classifying Music Genre on the Strength of AHP Weighted Musical Features

The MUSOS (MUsic SOftware System) Toolkit: A computer-based, open source application for testing memory for melodies

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About