<p>Historically, music theorists have claimed that the major triad
functions as a strong instantiator of key, and that each of its inversions are
harmonically equivalent. To examine these assumptions, subjects were tested
with the Method of Paired Comparisons, and asked to judge the similarity of
root, first inversion, and second inversion major triads drawn from keys of
different degrees of musical relatedness. In Experiment 1, where triads were
built on the tonics of two maximally-related keys (A and E major), only
professional musicians demonstrated a separation of the triads on the basis of
key, indicating that inversions of triads built on the same root-note were
perceived as sounding similar to one another. The majority of moderately trained
and inexperienced subjects tended to use a pitch-height strategy, in
which triads containing upper notes that were close in absolute frequency were
judged as sounding similar to one another. In Experiment 2, where triads were
also included from a distantly related key (Bb major), the majority of
professional musicians continued to group all triads on the basis of key, while
some moderately-trained subjects confused the maximally-related keys, but
perceived them as distinct from the more distant key. Other moderately-trained
and musically-inexperienced subjects used a pitch·height strategy for judging similarity. In Experiments 3 and 4, chords were built on seven different rootnotes
moving counterclockwise and clockwise, respectively, from a constant
standard chord on the Circle of Fifths. The professional and moderately trained
subjects tested did not show an especially strong tendency to judge
chord similarity on the basis of musical key in either experiment. Inversion
equivalence was demonstrated in each of these four experiments by subjects
who judged triads built on the same root-note as sounding similar to one
another. In Experiment 5, where seven Shepard chords (chords built to obscure
pitch-height and inversion cues) were presented to only moderately-trained
subjects, similarity judgements now appeared to be based on key. Conclusions
are made regarding musical representation in a form described by the theoretic
Circle of Fifths in musically-trained individuals.</p> / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:mcmaster.ca/oai:macsphere.mcmaster.ca:11375/16009 |
| Date | 10 1900 |
| Creators | Stark, Marianna E. |
| Contributors | Platt, John R., Racine, Ronald J., Psychology |
| Source Sets | McMaster University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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