Minoru TSUZAKI
Effects of preceding Scale on Melodic Interval
Judgment in Terms of Equality and Size
Abstract:In an investigation of interactions between scales intervals
in music cognition, melodic intervals were judged in three
preceding scale contexts: (a) diatonic, (b) chromatic, and (c) no
scale. Musically less trained and highly trained subjects compared
standard and comparison intervals using three response
categories, "smaller," "equal," and "larger". Standard intervals
began with notes B or C and ascended by 100, 150, or 200 cents.
A discriminal dispersion was estimated for each combination of
standard and comparison intervals, which assumed that the
bandwidth of subjective equality was constant. The dispersion
width and the modal dispersion corresponded to the equality-related
and size-related aspects of interval judgments,
respectively. The size-related aspect was strongly influenced by
the size of standard intervals. The point of balance, which
corresponds to the traditional point of subjective equality (PSE),
tended to be smaller as the standard interval became larger. It
was, however, anchored to the point of musical equality when the
standard interval began with the tonic. The equality-related
aspect was influenced by the relationship between the preceding
scale and the intervals to be judged. The diatonic preceding scale
differentiated the intervals by their positions along the scale, that
is, a sharp discriminal dispersion was estimated when the judged
intervals were congruent with the diatonic scale. Such
differentiation was not clearly observed in the chromatic
condition. The relationship between these two aspects of interval
judgment and the subject's musical ability is discussed.