Classification of perceived musical intervals

Abstract

Tests were devised in which subjects were asked to judge the size of musical intervals in a musical context of pairs of successive intervals and chords performed by either harpsichord or violins. The judgements focused on the pitch intonation of one of the notes. Since subjects cannot base their judgements on beats since they are inaudible, results thus differ for one and the same interval depending on the musical context. Discrimination tools were applied in order to ascertain the significance of these differences. Furthermore, the fact that there is a region with a certain extent on the frequency continuum for 'in tune' intonation and that there is a region with constant interval perception (the latter can be interpreted as a phenomenon of categorical perception)-both contradict current consonant theories based on beats and roughness. © Springer-Verlag Berlin, Heidelberg 2005.