Intonation Variants of Musical Intervals in Isolation and in Musical Contexts

Abstract

A group of experiments is described concerning production alnd tmc perception of melodic musical intervals by musicians. In some of tht experiments subjects tuned variable-tone oscillators to produce best soundino intervals without or within a tonal context. The presence of the context was effective both in changing the mean values of tuned intervals and in diminishing the dispersion of adjustments. The measure of dispersion in) tuning an isolated interval was correlated with the difficulty of recognising that interval by music students. In other experiments two experienced violinists playcd short ielo(iic sequences and the sizes of intervals were measured. The results arc In agreement with previous findings and allow us to draw turthet coniclusioens. A perspective on melodic intonation is suggested in which factors oP acoustic, psychological and musical origin are considered. Attentioni is drawn to the similarity between the production of intonaition variants of musical intervals and phonetic variants in natural language

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