Cogprints

The perception of melodic consonance: an acoustical and neurophysiological explanation based on the overtone series

Anderson, Jared E. (2004) The perception of melodic consonance: an acoustical and neurophysiological explanation based on the overtone series. [Preprint] (Unpublished)

Full text available as:

[img]
Preview
 PDF
243Kb
[img]
Preview
 Postscript
569Kb

Abstract

The melodic consonance of a sequence of tones is explained using the overtone series: the overtones form "flow lines" that link the tones melodically; the strength of these flow lines determines the melodic consonance. This hypothesis admits of psychoacoustical and neurophysiological interpretations that fit well with the place theory of pitch perception. The hypothesis is used to create a model for how the auditory system judges melodic consonance, which is used to algorithmically construct melodic sequences of tones.

Item Type:Preprint
Keywords:auditory cortex, auditory system, algorithmic composition, automated composition, consonance, dissonance, harmonics, Helmholtz, melodic consonance, melody, musical acoustics, neuroacoustics, neurophysiology, overtones, pitch perception, psychoacoustics, tonotopy
Subjects:Psychology > Psychophysics
Neuroscience > Neurophysiology
Psychology > Perceptual Cognitive Psychology
ID Code:3513
Deposited By: Anderson, Jared
Deposited On:23 Mar 2004
Last Modified:11 Mar 2011 08:55

References in Article

Select the SEEK icon to attempt to find the referenced article. If it does not appear to be in cogprints you will be forwarded to the paracite service. Poorly formated references will probably not work.

A. S. Bregman. Auditory Scene Analysis. MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1990.

Y. I. Fishman, D. H. Reser, J. C. Arezzo, M. Steinschneider. Pitch vs. spectral encoding of harmonic complex tones in primary auditory cortex of awake monkey.

Brain Research 786 (1998), 18-30.

H. v. Helmholtz. On the Sensations of Tone as a Physiological Basis for the Theory of Music. 1859. Second English edition; Translated by A. J. Ellis 1885. Reprinted by Dover Publications, New York, 1954.

P. Hindemith. The Craft of Musical Composition. Schott, London, 1968.

J. H. Kaas, T. A. Hackett, M. J. Tramo. Auditory processing in primate cerebral cortex. Current Opinion in Neurobiology 9 (1999), 164-170.

C. L. Krumhansl. Cognitive Foundations of Musical Pitch.

Oxford University Press, 1990.

J. R. Pierce. Periodicity and pitch perception. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 90(4) (1991), 1889-1893.

W. Piston. Harmony. W.W. Norton & Company, New York, 1948.

A. Reicha. Treatise on Melody. 1814. Translated by P. M. Landey. Harmonologia Series No. 10, Pendragon Press, Hillsdale, New York, 2000.

F. de Ribaupierre. "Acoustical information processing in the auditory thalamus and cerebral cortex." In: The Central Auditory System, edited by G. Ehret and R. Romand. Oxford University Press, 1997, 317-397.

W. A. Sethares. Tuning, Timbre, Spectrum, Scale. Springer-Verlag, London, 1998.

W. A. Sethares and B. McLaren. Memory and context in the calculation of sensory dissonance. Preprint, 1998.

R. N. Shepard. Circularity in judgments of relative pitch. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 36(12) (1964), 2346-2353.

J. Tenney. A History of `Consonance' and `Dissonance'.}

Excelsior Music Publishing Company, New York, 1988.

E. Terhardt. Pitch, consonance, and harmony. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 55(5) (1974), 1061-1069.

D. F. Tovey. "Melody." In: Musical Articles from the Encyclopedia Britannica. Oxford University Press, 1944.

R. J. Zatorre, A. C. Evans, E. Meyer. Neural mechanisms underlying melodic perception and memory for pitch. Journal of Neuroscience 14(4) (1994), 1908-1919.

Metadata

Repository Staff Only: item control page

Cogprints is powered by EPrints 3 which is developed by the School of Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton. More information and software credits.