Musical Features That Facilitate Melody Identification: How Do You Know It's “Your” Song When They Finally Play It?

Abstract

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.. University of California Press Duke UniversityWhat information do listeners use to "Name that Tune"? This question was investigated in a two-phase experiment. In Phase 1, the participants heard familiar melodies that were played on a note-by-note basis until they were identified. In Phase 2, each note of the melody was analyzed along a variety of musical dimensions. Multiple regression analyses determined which musical characteristics predicted identification performance. Identification was most strongly associated with notes located at phrase boundaries, notes that completed alternating sequences of rising and falling pitches, and metrically accented notes. As well, identification peaked after listeners heard moderate amounts of information (i.e., 5-7 notes). The data suggest that melody identification is a holistic, all-ornone process and that parallels can be drawn between melody and spoken word identification. Implications for current theories, future research, and the relationship between music perception and melody identification are discussed.

Dynamic melody recognition: Distinctiveness and the role of musical expertise

“…Experienced listeners are often able to recognize a melody within just a few notes (Dalla Bella, Peretz, & Aronoff, 2003;Schellenberg, Iversen, & McKinnon, 1999;Schulkind, Posner, & Rubin, 2003). The present study provides an examination of how this is accomplished.…”

“…Studies of melody identification (Hébert & Peretz, 1997;White, 1960), recall, and expectancy (Carlsen, 1981) have posited a contribution of musical distinctiveness without directly testing it. Schulkind et al (2003) examined the musical features that facilitate melody identification and, so, questioned what type of information (e.g., phrase boundaries, melodic interval, musical ornaments) contributes to melody recognition. In their study, 28 participants, who were not selected for musical training, identified 34 songs presented note by note.…”

“…Evidence has been found in favor of roles for pitch, pitch interval (Carlsen, 1981;Dowling & Bartlett, 1981;White, 1960), scale degree (Pearce & Wiggins, 2006), melodic contour (Davies & Yelland, 1977;Dowling & Bartlett, 1981;Dowling & Fujitani, 1971;Idson & Massaro, 1978;Schulkind et al, 2003), duration, and phrasing or grouping (Dalla Bella et al, 2003;Schulkind et al, 2003). Cuddy, Cohen, and Miller (1979) wrote that the ability to apply a tonal framework to a sequence is a critical determinant to recognition (see also Krumhansl & Kessler, 1982;Schulkind et al, 2003).…”

“…Although it is generally acknowledged that a combination of pitch and rhythm leads to optimal melody recognition (Hébert & Peretz, 1997;Pearce & Wiggins, 2006;Schulkind et al, 2003), a handful of experiments suggest that pitch may be more important than rhythm in melody recognition (e.g., Dalla Bella et al, 2003;Dem orest & Kim, 2004;Hébert & Peretz, 1997). Interestingly, in relation to the present study, an explanation might stem from what Hébert and Peretz describe as the lesser encoding disward a direct analysis of the way in which typical versus atypical musical properties facilitate melody recognition.…”

Audio Cover Song Identification and Similarity: Background, Approaches, Evaluation, and Beyond

“…Tonality is ubiquitous in Western music, and most listeners, either musically trained or not, can identify the most stable pitch while listening to tonal music [11]. Furthermore, this process is continuous and remains active throughout the sequential listening experience [72].…”