The Cycle-7 Complex: Relations of Diatonic Set Theory to the Evolution of Ancient Tonal Systems

Gauldin, Robert

doi:10.1525/mts.1983.5.1.02a00030

Cited by 7 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…Idiosyncratic intonation tendencies will result in tunings with more unique interval content. It is well-known that tonality perception and the historical development of musical scales have been guided by the (possibly implicit) identification of unique intervals and interval combinations (Browne, 1981;Butler, 1983;Gauldin, 1983;Huron, 1994); while this phenomenon has primarily been studied in the context of identifying modes and scale degrees within equal-tempered tuning systems, it is not impossible that subtle, yet stereotypic, deviations from equal temperament may aid in pitch identification for musicians who are especially familiar with these instruments. This would particularly be the case for certain string and wind instruments where the musician has greater control over sub-semitone intonation than in, for example, the case of the piano.…”

Section: Timbral Cuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Theory of Instrument-Specific Absolute Pitch

Reymore

2020

Front. Psychol.

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While absolute pitch (AP)-the ability to name musical pitches globally and without reference-is rare in expert musicians, anecdotal evidence suggests that some musicians may better identify pitches played on their primary instrument than pitches played on other instruments. We call this phenomenon "instrument-specific absolute pitch" (ISAP). In this paper we present a theory of ISAP. Specifically, we offer the hypothesis that some expert musicians without global AP may be able to more accurately identify pitches played on their primary instrument(s), and we propose timbral cues and articulatory motor imagery as two underlying mechanisms. Depending on whether informative timbral cues arise from performer-or instrument-specific idiosyncrasies or from timbre-facilitated tonotopic representations, we predict that performance may be enhanced for notes played by oneself, notes played on one's own personal instrument, and/or notes played on any exemplar of one's own instrument type. Sounds of one's primary instrument may moreover activate kinesthetic memory and motor imagery, aiding pitch identification. In order to demonstrate how our theory can be tested, we report the methodology and analysis of two exemplary experiments conducted on two case-study participants who are professional oboists. The aim of the first experiment was to determine whether the oboists demonstrated ISAP ability, while the purpose of the second experiment was to provide a preliminary investigation of the underlying mechanisms. The results of the first experiment revealed that only one of the two oboists showed an advantage for identifying oboe tones over piano tones. For this oboist demonstrating ISAP, the second experiment demonstrated that pitchnaming accuracy decreased and variance around the correct pitch value increased as an effect of transposition and motor interference, but not of instrument or performer. These preliminary data suggest that some musicians possess ISAP while others do not. Timbral cues and motor imagery may both play roles in the acquisition of this ability. Based on our case study findings, we provide methodological considerations and recommendations for future empirical testing of our theory of ISAP.

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Section: Timbral Cuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Theory of Instrument-Specific Absolute Pitch

Reymore

2020

Front. Psychol.

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“…This generic opposition has exceptions. In India, anhemitonic modes during the Vedic Age evolved in a hemitonic system (Gauldin, 1983 ), but during the Sangam period, pentatonic modes were rediscovered (Rowell, 2000 ). This integration possibly reflected greater importance given to meditation and harmony.…”

Section: Summary: Pitch Organization As a General Organizational Schementioning

confidence: 99%

Evolution of tonal organization in music mirrors symbolic representation of perceptual reality. Part-1: Prehistoric

Nikolsky¹

2015

Front. Psychol.

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This paper reveals the way in which musical pitch works as a peculiar form of cognition that reflects upon the organization of the surrounding world as perceived by majority of music users within a socio-cultural formation. The evidence from music theory, ethnography, archeology, organology, anthropology, psychoacoustics, and evolutionary biology is plotted against experimental evidence. Much of the methodology for this investigation comes from studies conducted within the territory of the former USSR. To date, this methodology has remained solely confined to Russian speaking scholars. A brief overview of pitch-set theory demonstrates the need to distinguish between vertical and horizontal harmony, laying out the framework for virtual music space that operates according to the perceptual laws of tonal gravity. Brought to life by bifurcation of music and speech, tonal gravity passed through eleven discrete stages of development until the onset of tonality in the seventeenth century. Each stage presents its own method of integration of separate musical tones into an auditory-cognitive unity. The theory of “melodic intonation” is set forth as a counterpart to harmonic theory of chords. Notions of tonality, modality, key, diatonicity, chromaticism, alteration, and modulation are defined in terms of their perception, and categorized according to the way in which they have developed historically. Tonal organization in music, and perspective organization in fine arts are explained as products of the same underlying mental process. Music seems to act as a unique medium of symbolic representation of reality through the concept of pitch. Tonal organization of pitch reflects the culture of thinking, adopted as a standard within a community of music users. Tonal organization might be a naturally formed system of optimizing individual perception of reality within a social group and its immediate environment, setting conventional standards of intellectual and emotional intelligence.

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“…These studies served as a background for our study. From a theoretical standpoint: the meaning of "pitch class" (e.g., Babbit 1987) and "interval class" (e.g., Brown 1981); the properties of interval coherence in various real and hypothetical systems (Agmon 1989;Balzano 1980;Cohen 1991;Gauldin 1983); timbre versus structure in the harmonic interval, and psychoacoustic dissonance as opposed to musical cognitive dissonance (Makeig 1982);…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Response to intervals as revealed by brainwave measurement and verbal means

Cohen¹,

Mendel²,

Prat³

et al. 1994

Journal of New Music Research

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The purpose of this study was to enhance understanding of the meaning of the interval as a musical parameter. This was done by examining both verbal reports and brainwave (Event-Related Potential, or ERP) responses to intervals. In an experiment with ERP (the oddball task), we examined the responses of listeners trained in Western music to isolated harmonic intervals. In the verbal experiment, we repeated the ERP experiment and added trials with the same harmonic intervals in different contexts (pairs of melodic intervals and intensities), and we added more categories of subjects.The results of the ERP experiment showed that the response to the intervals to which subjects attended was as follows: a distinct appearance of the ERP component P 300 , whose amplitude was greatest for the dissonant interval (the minor 2nd); smallest for the nonperfect consonance (the minor 3rd); and relatively large for the perfect consonance (the 5th). The opposite relationship was observed for P 300 latency -shortest for the 2nd and longest for the 3rd. The response over the left hemisphere was greater than over the right (this preference for the left was smallest with the 2nd). Moreover, the response to intervals to which subjects were not attending was influenced by the type of interval to which they were attending.The results of the verbal experiment partially supported the ERP findings and pointed to factors which compete with the contribution to the sense of salience (or excitement) of the interval; their influence varied with the subjects' musical awareness.Our results indicate that, although musical intervals may be comparable to phonemes in speech, in terms of the possibility of categorization, intervals are loaded with meaning even when presented by themselves without any immediate context.

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The Cycle-7 Complex: Relations of Diatonic Set Theory to the Evolution of Ancient Tonal Systems

Cited by 7 publications

References 0 publications

A Theory of Instrument-Specific Absolute Pitch

A Theory of Instrument-Specific Absolute Pitch

Evolution of tonal organization in music mirrors symbolic representation of perceptual reality. Part-1: Prehistoric

Response to intervals as revealed by brainwave measurement and verbal means

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