The Harmonic Minor Scale Provides an Optimum Way of Reducing Average Melodic Interval Size, Consistent with Sad Affect Cues
Small pitch movement is known to characterize sadness in speech prosody. Small melodic interval sizes have also been observed in nominally sad music—at least in the case of Western music. Starting with melodies in the major mode, a study is reported which examines the effect of different scale modif...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
The Ohio State University Libraries
2013-08-01
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| Series: | Empirical Musicology Review |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.18061/emr.v7i3-4.3732 |
| _version_ | 1818538346627989504 |
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| author | David Huron Matthew J. Davis |
| author_facet | David Huron Matthew J. Davis |
| author_sort | David Huron |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Small pitch movement is known to characterize sadness in speech prosody. Small melodic interval sizes have also been observed in nominally sad music—at least in the case of Western music. Starting with melodies in the major mode, a study is reported which examines the effect of different scale modifications on the average interval size. Compared with all other possible scale modifications, lowering the third and sixth scale tones from the major scale is shown to provide an optimum or near optimum way of reducing the average melodic interval size for a large diverse sample of major-mode melodies. The results are consistent with the view that Western melodic organization and the major-minor polarity are co-adapted, and that the structure of the minor mode contributes to the evoking, expressing or representation of sadness for listeners enculturated to the major scale. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-11T21:27:50Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-883aa3cfe4524a1b87cabda789a53a5e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1559-5749 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-11T21:27:50Z |
| publishDate | 2013-08-01 |
| publisher | The Ohio State University Libraries |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Empirical Musicology Review |
| spelling | doaj.art-883aa3cfe4524a1b87cabda789a53a5e2022-12-22T00:50:17ZengThe Ohio State University LibrariesEmpirical Musicology Review1559-57492013-08-0173-410311710.18061/emr.v7i3-4.3732The Harmonic Minor Scale Provides an Optimum Way of Reducing Average Melodic Interval Size, Consistent with Sad Affect CuesDavid Huron0Matthew J. Davis1Ohio State UniversityOhio State UniversitySmall pitch movement is known to characterize sadness in speech prosody. Small melodic interval sizes have also been observed in nominally sad music—at least in the case of Western music. Starting with melodies in the major mode, a study is reported which examines the effect of different scale modifications on the average interval size. Compared with all other possible scale modifications, lowering the third and sixth scale tones from the major scale is shown to provide an optimum or near optimum way of reducing the average melodic interval size for a large diverse sample of major-mode melodies. The results are consistent with the view that Western melodic organization and the major-minor polarity are co-adapted, and that the structure of the minor mode contributes to the evoking, expressing or representation of sadness for listeners enculturated to the major scale.https://doi.org/10.18061/emr.v7i3-4.3732minor modesadnessmelodic intervalscales |
| spellingShingle | David Huron Matthew J. Davis The Harmonic Minor Scale Provides an Optimum Way of Reducing Average Melodic Interval Size, Consistent with Sad Affect Cues Empirical Musicology Review minor mode sadness melodic interval scales |
| title | The Harmonic Minor Scale Provides an Optimum Way of Reducing Average Melodic Interval Size, Consistent with Sad Affect Cues |
| title_full | The Harmonic Minor Scale Provides an Optimum Way of Reducing Average Melodic Interval Size, Consistent with Sad Affect Cues |
| title_fullStr | The Harmonic Minor Scale Provides an Optimum Way of Reducing Average Melodic Interval Size, Consistent with Sad Affect Cues |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Harmonic Minor Scale Provides an Optimum Way of Reducing Average Melodic Interval Size, Consistent with Sad Affect Cues |
| title_short | The Harmonic Minor Scale Provides an Optimum Way of Reducing Average Melodic Interval Size, Consistent with Sad Affect Cues |
| title_sort | harmonic minor scale provides an optimum way of reducing average melodic interval size consistent with sad affect cues |
| topic | minor mode sadness melodic interval scales |
| url | https://doi.org/10.18061/emr.v7i3-4.3732 |
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