Social Psychology
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Digitized by the Internet Archive
in
2011 with funding from
Boston Library Consortium IVIember Libraries
http://www.archive.org/details/socialpsychologyOOfarn
The Dryden
Press
Publications in Psychology
GENERAL EDITOR
THEODORE
M.
NEWCOMB
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
THE
SOCIAL
PSYCHOLOGY
OF
MUSIC
Paul R. Farnsworth
PROFESSOR OF PSYCHOLOGY
STANFORD UNIVERSITY
THE DRYDEN PRESS NEW YORK
•
316131
Copyright
©
igs^>fy ^^^ Dry den
All rights reserved.
The Drjden
Press, Inc.,
Press, Inc.
For information address
110 West 5yth
Street,
Library of Congress Catalogue Card
New
York ig, N.Y.
Number ^7—11^72
TO
Max
F.
Meyer
n'^ l/iW;^
Printed in the United States oj America
Preface
While
all
the arts have, from time to time, been subjected to
scientific scrutiny,
scientists.
music particularly has attracted the attention of
Musical instruments and their tonal potentialities have
traditionally
been the concern of the
physicists, but a
number of
Physiologists and physiological
psychologists share this interest.
psychologists have studied the auditory sense organs to learn the nature
of the neurological processes by means of vs^hich tones are perceived.
Laboratory psychologists have attempted to establish just what the
musician does
when he performs and
he possesses.
Still
to find
what
tonal sensitivities
other psychologists and a fe"w sociologists have
focused their interests on the affective and evaluative aspects of music.
All these interests are reflected to
that treat the area
some extent
where music and psychology
however, there has been no complete agreement
One
in the textbooks
overlap.
as to
So
far,
what are the
may stress laboratory data and do a minimum of theorizing, another may present fewer
"facts" but be far more philosophical in approach. One may treat of
boundaries of the psychology of music.
music and musicians
another
music
as if the cultural
milieu were of little importance,
may show more concern with
the social determination of
activities.
Of course no book
been
text
said to
can include
all
that at
one time or another has
be subsumed under the psychology of music.
All that
PREFACE
can properly be asked of an author
as
a coherent picture of the
is
that
he present what he regards
phenomena of the
field,
major
its
problems, and the solutions he deems most plausible. This, then,
is
what the present book attempts to do.
The psychology of music
books issued
in the past
has been the subject of at least six text-
two decades. The year 1937 saw the publicaA Psychology of Music and Mursell's The
tion of Diserens and Fine's
Vsjchology of Music.
The former book not only
dealt with experimental
literature but also devoted considerable space to the origin of music,
animal auditors, mythology and folklore, and the relation of music to
magic and sorcery and to religion, melancholy, and
Mursell book philosophized
much more and
interpreted research
data rather narrowly in terms of Gestalt theory.
music teachers was reserved for Music and
The
ecstasy.
Mursell's advice to
the Classroom Teacher
and
other treatises.
Seashore's Psychology of Music was issued in 1938,
With no interest in
those aspects of music which are primarily social psychological Seashore
,
limited himself largely to a description of the excellent but apparatus-
bound
studies of his
broaden
later to
In Search
his
own
laboratories.
coverage of the
of Beauty in Music.
field
He attempted some
years
with Why We Love Music and
Seashore prided himself on following no
"school" of psychology. Yet he was one of the most ardent hereditarians
psychology has produced, and his books quite clearly reflect
this nativistic bias.
In 1940
one of Seashore's students.
The Psychology of Music.
Music,
Built
on
Max
his earlier
Beautiful in
Schoen' s book presented a well-rounded picture of the
experimental findings through the 1930's.
sophical
work
No new
known
Schoen, published his
work, The
A
later,
more
of Schoen's appeared as The Understanding of Music.
texts appeared after 1940 until 195^3,
Eirfiihrung in die Musikpsjchologie
when
Revesz's well-
was translated into English
and published in Great Britain in somewhat revised form.
vi
philo-
A
year
PREFACE
later
it
was issued
in the
in
title Introduction to
Revesz's book contained a good survey of the
the Psychology of Music.
European findings
United States under the
music psychology but touched only
American research. The tone of the Revesz volume was
lightly
on
absolutistic
and hereditarian.
Lundin's An Objective Tsychology of Music was also published in 19^3.
As the only American text to appear
in thirteen years,
it
had the
important task of digesting the research materials of more than a
decade. This book has a cultural and relativistic flavor and an interbehavioristic orientation.
Two
other American books have influenced music-psychology
research, although they are not formal texts in the psychology of
music.
One was
Pratt's The Meaning of Music,
essays rather than a
which was
a series of
textbook and hence made no attempt to cover
the experimental literature. Showing a high degree of sophistication,
Pratt's little
book was written
in large part as a defense of formalism.
The other work was given the
Arithmetic.
Its
author,
is
the
Indeed,
field.
first
Max Meyer,
one of the most
dedicated,
it
rather frightening
to
whom
brilliant theorists
title
The Musician
s
book
is
and experimenters
in
the present
was the manuscript of Meyer's
treatise
which
stirred the interest of this author in the psychology of music,
Meyer's book offered exciting neurological speculations
important research data, but
it
is
admittedly
difficult to
therefore has had an extremely limited audience.
years the present writer has
become
as
well
as
read and
Although over the
increasingly disappointed at the
slow growth of scientific neurology and has occupied himself less and
less
with theorizing along the
lines suggested
by Meyer, he
still
appreciates Meyer's refreshing approach and feels that the serious
student will find The Musician
his
s
Arithmetic,
more recent How We Hear well worth
Meyer's early
and
careful attention.
During the three decades since the author
works, he has been occupied with
articles,
first
came upon Meyer's
a host of research
problems and has
vii
PREFACE
finally
adopted a
relativistic, culturally
would be one of the
to
first
answer the problems of music
course,
may never be
least tentative
He
oriented point of view.
to admit that scientists have hardly
begun
Many problems,
good number already have
aesthetics.
resolved. Yet a
of
at
answers, the elaboration of which will be found in the
Since
chapters to follow.
little
experimental
done on non-European music and the
work
less serious
has so far been
forms of Occidental
music, this book will necessarily be concerned mainly with the
serious music of the West.
To write
task.
Yet
both psychological and musical audiences
for
book attempts
this
to interest these
that
which any
educated adult usually possesses.
intelligent
more
psychological
But unless the reader has some
beyond the
title
His musical knowledge, however, need not be exten-
of this book.
To
It is
and reasonably well-
sustained interest in music he probably will not look
sive.
a difficult
two audiences.
the author's belief that the reader will need no
knowledge than
is
help him with the psychological and musical terms with
which he may be unfamiliar,
For the reader
who
a glossary
more
desires
is
detailed
provided on pp. 280—287.
knowledge
o of the research
material described in the articles listed in the footnotes, a key to
the reference abbreviations
The reader who wishes
is
to
given on pp. 288—292.
keep abreast of the work being done in
psychological aesthetics should consult the Journal of Aesthetics and
which once
Art Criticism,
a year carries a list of articles that have
appeared during the previous calendar year.
articles
which
interest
him and before reading the
After noting the
articles themselves,
the reader would be advised to examine the abstracts printed six
times a year in Psjchological
Abstracts.
coverage of the older articles than
is
referred to
Allied Fields
volumes
Vlll
i
A
is
For a more comprehensive
offered by this book, the reader
Bibliography of Periodical Literature in Musicology and
and a Record of Graduate Theses Accepted (published
and
2
in
as
1940 and 1943 by the American Council of
PREFACE
Attention should also be directed to A. R.
Learned Societies).
Chandler, "A Bibliography of Experimental Aesthetics, 1865"— 1932"
(Ohio State
E.
N.
University
Barnhart,
Aesthetics,
A
Studies,
1
[1933]);
Bibliography
to
A.
R.
of Psychological
Chandler and
and Experimental
1864—IP3J (Berkeley, University of California Press,
W. A. Hammond, A Bibliographj of Aesthetics and of the
1938); and to
Philosophy of the Fine Arts from
igoo
to
1932 (New York, Longmans,
Green, 1934)-
The author
is
indebted to
Since in general they
here.
An
know
many people and
name them
exception must be made, however, in the case of the
Stanford University Press, which kindly allowed
for this
publishing houses.
of his appreciation he will not
book almost the
This material
him
to take over
entire manuscript of his earlier Musical Taste.
now makes up much
of Chapters 6 and
7.
P.R.F.
Stanford, California
July 1957
IX
Contents
Chapter One
The Psychological Approach
Music
to
i
The Psychology of Music and the Social Sciences, 2
The Unreliability of Common Sense, 3 The Search for
•
•
Alternative Hypotheses, 4
The Possibilities of Research
Experimental Aesthetics, 7
The Absence of
musical Investigations, 6
in
Limitations of Psycho-
•
•
•
Absolutes,
I
2
•
A
Preview of Later Chapters,
i
3
Chapter Two
The Social Psychology oj Musical Scales
The Tone Elements of Music,
Times,
1
8
17
•
Scales of Ancient
Scale of Just Intonation,
•
Number
17
2
i
•
A
Scale w^ith
The Need for Modulation,
Mean-Tone Temperament, 24 Equal Tempera23
ment, 2^
The Stability of Intervals, 26
Equal
Temperament, Our Frame of Reference, 28 Other
Possible Scales, 29
Summary, 31
the Prime
7, 23
•
•
•
'
•
•
•
Chapter Three
The Interval
36
Distinctive Quale, 36
37
•
•
Vibrato, Tremolo, and Trill,
Apparent Pitch of
Minor
Effect,
lutions,
44
sonance, 47
•
•
40
•
Intervals,
38
Finality Effects, 41
Tonality,
4^
•
•
•
The Major-
Interval Reso-
Consonance and Dis-
Summary, £o
XI
CONTENTS
Chapter Four
Melody
gg
Melody and
Melody and Loudness, 6i Melody
and Timbre, 64 Melody and Sonance, 66 Melody
and Noise, 67 Melody and Tempo, 69 Melody and
Rhythm, 70 Harmony, j £ Summary, 77
Principles of Attention and Learning, gy
Pitch Level, ^8
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Chapter Five
Language Aspects of Music
84
Grammar, 8g
Desire for Communication, 84
Alleged Key Effects, 86
Major and
Meaning, 8g
Color-Tone Linkage, 90
Minor Modes, 88
"The
Adjective Lists for
Language of the Emotions," 93
Classifying Music, 9^ Variables Which Give Meaning
to Music, 99
The Expression of Tensions, 102
Music as a Universal Language, 106 Psychoanalytic
Symbolism, 108 Summary, 109
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Chapter Six
The Nature oj Musical Taste
116
Whimsey or Law? 117' Eminence, 120
Enjoyment,
129- Know^ledge of Composers, 1 3 1 Programs, 132*
Individual and Group
Space Allocations, 136
Differences, 138
Criteria and Conditioners of
•
•
•
•
Taste, 142
•
Summary, 1^2
Chapter Seven
The Measures oJ Musical Taste
A
Variety of Measures,
i
^8
•
i^'S
Auditory Tests,
1
5^9
•
Paper-and-Pencil Tests, 16^ Polling, 167 Orchestral
Programs, 167
Broadcasts of Recordings, 168
•
•
•
•
Record Listings, 169 Scholarly Texts, 170
dom, 173 Summary, 174
•
•
xii
•
Bore-
CONTENTS
Chapter Eight
The Nature of Musical Abilities
Ability
—an
178
Appropriate Descriptive Term,
178
•
Ability in Music and the
Generality of Ability, 179
Other Arts, 182 Academic Intelligence and Musical
•
•
The
Hereditability of Musical Abilities,
and Body Structures, 188
Adlerian
Views on Ability, 192' Jungian Views on Ability, 193Freudian Views on Ability, 1 94 Imagery as a Source of
Developing Abilities, 196 Training
Abilities, 195"
Methods: General Problems, 199- Training Methods
Special Problems, 204* Creativity, 207' Summary, 212
Ability, 183
184
•
•
Abilities
•
•
•
•
Chapter Nine
226
The Measurement of Musical Abilities
Tests of Verbal Knowledge, 226
Musical
231
•
Skills,
230
Tests of Nonverbal
•
Unstandardized Aptitude Tests,
•
The Original Seashore
Gretsch Test for Musical
Battery,
235^
Aptitude,
Tilson-
•
237
1939
Edition of the Seashore Measures of Musical Talents,
•
Kwalwasser-Dykema Music Tests, 240 Kwal237
wasser Music Talent Tests, 242
The Drake Tests,
•
•
•
Whistler-Thorpe Musical Aptitude Test, 244
Lundin Tests, 24^
Wing Standardized Tests of
243
•
•
•
Musical Intelligence, 246
Test, 247
•
•
Strong Vocational Interest
The Future of Music Aptitude
Tests, 248
Chapter Ten
Applications oj Music to Therapy and Industry
2^4
Physiological Changes, 2^4
The Present Status of
Music Therapy, 2^8 Music in Physical Therapy, 25-9
Music in Mental Therapy, 2 5^9 The Effects of Music
on Achievement, 264
•
•
•
•
Xlll
CONTENTS
Epilogue
273
Appendix
lj£
1.
2.
The Musical Taste of an American Elite, 275^
Glossary, 278
3. Key to Reference Abbrevi•
•
ations,
XIV
286
Subject Index
291
Name
299
Index
THE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
OF MUSIC
CHAPTER ONE
The Psychological Approach
to
JLiKE most
discussions
area of study
is
which attempt
show
arguments about the
a science,
psychology of music can settle
would allow science
to
that
all
particular
scientific status of the
Some
or nothing.
little
to include almost
some
Music
definitions
systematic investigation,
while others would restrict the term to the older and betterestablished disciplines of the natural sciences. Yet
that
the
psychologists
aesthetics of
who
music aim to be
have
interested
scientists.
They
it
can be truly said
themselves
try to
in
the
employ the best
tools available, to handle their experimental variables according to the
accepted rules of science, and to treat their findings with a reasonable
degree of
times
statistical
when
Admittedly, there have been
sophistication.
they have kept too close to their laboratories and have
withdrawn somewhat from musical
reality.
Several decades ago, for
example, a number of psychologists claimed to be able to
test innate
musical capacities. They also maintained that these tested capacities
could not be improved by training, a dogma which was most
tating to those musicians
ment
who had
devoted their
lives to the
irri-
improve-
knew that their labors had
more and more data have been collected,
have come to agree with the musicians that the
of tonal perception and control and
not been in vain.
the psychologists
But, as
"musical ear" can indeed be improved
logical aestheticians are
more
(p. i86).
careful to
work
Nowadays, psycho-
in a musical context.
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH TO MUSIC
The Psychology of Music and the Social Sciences
It is
often said that psychology was born from a union of philosophy
and the natural sciences. With the passage of time, however, the
social sciences
began to envelop psychology
until, at present,
many
of the research problems and techniques of cultural anthropology,
sociology, and psychology are surprisingly alike.
—
psychology
sciences
its
retention of
its
not with philosophy) and the addition of
(if
interests in the social science area
of the psychology of music.
members of
This growth of
older affiliations with the natural
—
is
reflected in the
its
newer
development
Past workers in the field,
notably
the Carl Seashore group at the State University of Iowa,
rather limited themselves to experiments of the natural science sort
(p. 8).
Others, particularly researchers of the past few years, have
tended to be
at least equally interested in
techniques of the social sciences.
It is
problems adapted to the
natural that those
who
deal
primarily with the biological aspects of music should feel that the
more important antecedents of musical activity are to be found in the
nature of the human organism, whereas those further removed from
the natural science laboratory should look more to cultural forces for
their explanations.
While the present
treatise attempts to cover the
major experi-
ments of psychological aesthetics whatever the techniques employed,
its
orientation
is
admittedly a sociopsychological one.
Believing as
he does that the earlier workers tended to overstress the importance
of the biological bases of musical behavior almost to the point of
ignoring
its
cultural determinants, the author has here tried to bring
the picture a
to
some
to
little
more
to balance.
No
be an overbalance on the cultural
the effect, the choice has been deliberate.
become
doubt the result will seem
clearer as the
book
is
read.
Its
side.
But whatever
justification will perhaps
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH TO MUSIC
The Unreliability of Common Sense
The behavioral
that he perceives.
obvious,
v^^hat
scientist tends to question the validity of
He
than the layman to accept the
less likely
is
much
"common
the dictionary terms
sense," for
he has
found that he and others "know" many things that are simply not
true.
Let us take
as
an illustration the very widespread belief that
marijuana heightens the auditory capacities.
addicts are convinced that they are
when
more
Even many musician-
sensitive to tonal stimuli
given this drug. Yet psychophysiological research gives no
support to the idea.^ In this area, alertness and the feeling of alertness are not closely related.
Or
more
let us
consider the almost universal belief that Negroes are
sensitive to tone
and rhythm than are whites.
Large numbers
of these two American subgroups have been tested in tonal
and
in the discrimination of differences in pitch,
rhythm, and timbre.
No
striking
memory
loudness, time,
Negro (or white) superiority has
ever been demonstrated. In the several studies in this area the racial
differences that do
emerge are
so slight that
one group or another will
yield the higher average score because of factors local to the
But
diate testing situation (Chap. 8).
of these subgroups were at
local conditions
Common
and make
if
the superiority of either one
impressive,
all
itself
sense teaches that
imme-
it
would transcend these
unmistakably apparent.^
some humans
are born monotones.
These unfortunates cannot carry tunes and are doomed to go through
life
embarrassed by the
fact that they
recognize our national anthem
political witch-hunting.
—
cannot sing or perhaps even
a serious disability in these days of
The follower of common
sense typically
accepts the fatalistic genetics of earlier decades and does nothing
about the matter. To him the monotone appears to have an inherent
anatomical defect.
educators
But luckily there are psychologists and music
who check on common
sense.
They have shown
that most,
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH TO MUSIC
if
not
all,
abilities
monotones have psychological rather than
biological dis-
and can be helped to overcome their tune weakness. Mono-
tones are often people
who
the early grades of school. 3
have met with emotional
Possessed of
difficulties in
more than average
dislike
of the schoolroom or of the music teacher, or of both, and quite
frequently holding to the attitude that singing
is
an activity for
monotones may become uncooperative during
when music fundamentals
life
are usually
most
that
sissies,
early period
easily learned.
Later in
they will find that with great effort they can master the concept
of pitch but that they must have considerable aid from psychologists
or music educators to do so (p. i86).
Although many other
unreliability of
more example.
common
illustrations
could be given of the occasional
sense, let us content ourselves
with just one
Capacities for handling two-four, three-four, four-
measure seem to be
four, six-four, and even eight-four beats per
generally regarded as "instinctive."
American music students handle
such time signatures without formal training but flounder
to beat out the five-four or the seven-four.
"instinct" for these latter, says
common
Man
sense.
when asked
simply lacks the
Yet
if this
were
the lack should be general and not limited to a few culture areas.
psychologist
Max Meyer should not have found natives
so,
The
of North Africa
dancing and swaying to these beats. But, according to his observations,
certain of the natives
four as
his
we are with
were almost
with the
as skillful
the two- and three-four.
American laboratory, he found
it
Later,
five-
on
and seven-
his return to
quite easy to train his students
to tap out the five- and seven-four with great accuracy. 4 These
Americans soon forgot that they had no "instinct" for such
young
activities.
The Search Jor Alternative Hypotheses
Another characteristic of the
for rival hypotheses.
scientist
is
his willingness to search
While the layman may be content with one
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH TO MUSIC
apparently reasonable "cause" for soine phenomenon, the scientist
investigates a variety of possible antecedents.
It
looks reasonable,
for example, to assume that the true beat in music5 has a rate
is
determined by some organic rhythm
many
like the heartbeat,
years the assumption of an intimate connection
function and music response was treated
matter to
test in
which
and for
between body
But Lund put the
as a fact.
an attempt to see whether there might not be some
other deterininants.^ Although he did not find what these latter were,
he did show that true beat and heartbeat have
During 1939
many performances
of the
Roth Quartet and of
orchestras and found the true beat to vary
—
association.
psychologist took meticulous measureinents of
this
100 pulsations
little
a far cry
all
several
the
symphony
way from 40
from the 70—75" beats the heart
to
gives each
minute.
The search
accept
as
creating
that
if it
a
for alternative hypotheses
finally valid all that gets
new
makes the
into print.
scientist loath to
In the process of
theories and rechecking behavior he sometimes finds
what the books
say about
some phenomenon
is
no longer true
ever was. Thus, long ago the notion was written into at least
few textbooks
that the great vocalists sang pure,
Happily, this invalid observation appears in print
fact, it is a
tones.
but rarely. In
Avonder that anyone ever did hold to the purity idea, for
one needs only to
listen to a relatively
fork, to realize that
music
now
steady
deals.
And
it is
there
pure tone, say that of a tuning
the impure and not the pure tone with which
is a
host of excellent psychological works on
the vibrato which demonstrate beyond doubt the unsteadiness of the
preferred vocal and violin tone (p. 8).
Other almost
totally incorrect sets of musical rules can
be found
some of the older books on baton movements. Typical diagrams
show a preponderance of straight-line motions and periods of
in
relative
rest
at
the
beat-instants.
Bartholomew checked these
diagrams against the baton performances of conductors. 7
He attached
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH TO MUSIC
lamp to the end of
a tiny
light
dimmed
a
baton which had been so wired that the
at the exact instant of the beat.
By photographing the
path of the light this experimenter found curvilinear rather than
straight-line
motions and points of
The
respective beats.
fastest,
rest closer to the "ands" after the
not the slowest, speeds were often
at
the beat-instants
On
misinformation
printed
occasion,
practical reasons, the ethical aspects of
As an
illustration let us take
been
has
retained
for
which are not of a high order.
one of the author's minor
studies.
Around 1930 considerable research was being undertaken with a
make of player piano. Its manufacturer had long been
certain
advertising that
it
offered sixteen different intensities of
strokes, roughly twice the loudness possibilities of
two chief
This statement was true enough from the standpoint of physics
rivals.
as
its
hammer
many
there actually were twice as
being studied. But,
as the
on the music
intensity holes
roll
author clearly proved, only one half of
its
loudness differences were discriminable by the typical layman whereas
all
of
its rivals'
were. Musically and practically speaking, then, the
competing instruments were equally good
ness differences. Yet the advertising
in their handling of loud-
went on unchanged.
Limitations of Psjchomusical Investigations
The psychologist
organized whole.
pieces
But why
together bits of information into an
does he choose to
problems and not on others? His choice,
it
work on
would seem,
is
certain
to
some
extent forced by the availability and cooperation of his subjects and
by the degree to which the complex phenomena of music can be
subjected to scientific analysis.
The
first
of these conditioners
research choices of the psychologist.
human
6
is
common
Unless he
is
to
almost
all
the
working with sub-
animals which can be caged, or with the semicaged school
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH TO MUSIC
child or college sophomore,
who must
cooperate willy-nilly, the
psychologist often has great selection and motivation difficulties with
his subjects.
He commonly
he might desire to
answer
test,
his questions
cannot get the cooperation of
and even those
without
who do
all
those
"cooperate"
may
His findings, then, are
sufficient care.
not always truly representative.
The second
factor
which
limits psychomusical research operates
throughout the social sciences and the humanities.
are rarely simple, and
whenever
analyses are to
Causal relations
be made care must
be taken that the dynamic interrelation of the phenomena
is
be devoid of musical meaning. The practical
is
in question
not disturbed. Otherwise, the data resulting from the analyses will
many
that
fascinating musical
effect of this limitation
problems cannot be studied by the
aid of any of the analytic techniques currently used by the psycho-
In
logist.
He
many
areas
he can only chew along the edges, so to speak.
cannot get his teeth into the meaty center of the problem.
The
Psychological
what
of Research in Experimental Aesthetics
research in aesthetics can often throw much light on
Possibilities
is
taking place in a particular music area, i.e.,
function.
it
has a descriptive
Research may sometimes yield, in addition, pertinent
information on the reasons for some particular bit of music behavior.
It
can also be of considerable aid in forecasting
criteria
for
all
work
by which
artistic
But no science
.
offers
responses can be rated as "good," "proper
time," "bad," or "improper for
all
time." In other words, the
of the psychological aesthetician leads to descriptions, expla-
nations, and forecasts, but does not reveal aesthetic absolutes.
THE DESCRIPTIVE FUNCTION.
To
illustrate
descriptive, function of psychological aesthetics
the
first,
or
we might well return
to a consideration of vocal and violin vibrato.^
Careful research in
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH TO MUSIC
this area has
demonstrated that the cultivated singing voice of the
adult show^s periodic changes in pitch in approximately 9 ^ per cent of its
•
tones. Regular changes in intensity and timbre have also
been found
to occur. For both violin and voice the tone pulsates about 6* g times
a second.
The extent of the pulsation of the violin tone
pitch range)
approximately a quarter of a tone.
is
the vibrato extent
is
twice
this value
(in the
middle
For the vocal tone
although the listener can rarely
believe this and interprets the range as
somewhat smaller
(a fifth
of a
tone). Both the musically trained and the relatively unmusical prefer
the current vibrato rates to
all
others.
Untrained individuals prefer
a pitch range of approximately a quarter-tone, while the musically
trained favor a pitch
The
wobble of about
typical vibratos of a
measured. Hence,
it is
number of
now
whole tone.
a tenth of a
virtuosos have been carefully
possible for the aspiring
violinist to coinpare his vibrato
with that of
his
before some instrument which transmutes his
young singer or
model by performing
own
tonal efforts into
visual stimuli.
Vibrato of Some Well-known Singers*
* C.
Average Extent in
per Second
Whole Tones
Schumann- Heink
7-6
•38
Galli-Curci
7-3
•44
Caruso
7-1
•47
Rethberg
7-0
•49
Ponselle
6-9
•48
Chaliapin
6-8
•54
Jeritza
6-8
•53
Tetrazzinl
6-8
•37
Talley
6-7
•54
Tibbett
6-6
•55
Gigli
6-5
•57
Hackett
5-9
•47
Homer
5-9
•51
E. Seashore,
mission).
Average Rate
Psychology of Music, N.Y.,
McGraw-Hill, 1938,
p.
43 (with per-
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH TO MUSIC
THE CAUSAL FUNCTION. ^°
While the second,
or
causal,
function of psychological aesthetics can be illustrated from any one
of a large
number
of only two, the
of studies, let us limit ourselves to a consideration
first
to be
concerned with the determiners of tempo
preferences and the second with the reasons for the high regard in
which the old Cremona-made
Tempo
violins are held.
preferences have been found to vary considerably from
person to person. This large range
factors,
to
but
is
no doubt due
to a
number
of
one of these factors has been isolated and found
at least
be what might be termed "occupational tempo." Thus Foley found
that girls studying trades like dressmaking in
at a
which
activity
proceeds
slow pace were prone to favor andante tempos; those working
with power machines,
slow allegro. Typists, with their
a
working speeds, tended to prefer
Their work speeds,
came
seems
it
a fast allegro
clear, so
faster
bordering on presto.
conditioned these
to prefer these rates even outside the shop
girls that
they
and the office."
And now for our second illustration of psychology's causal function. With the passage of time, the sales values of the violins built by
the old masters of Cremona have grown enormously. The know-how
of making great instruments has been lost and
are
weak
imitations,
Stradivarius or
its
some
it
modem
reproductions
commonly said.^^ But what makes a
Cremona fiddle so magnificent? Is it
Or may it not be, in part at least, a matter
is
other old
physical construction?
of attitude, of prestige long associated with this period of alleged
violin-making supremacy?
The
physical qualities of the old instruments and of their
imitations have been carefully examined by Saunders. ^3
prising finding
is
that
instruments differed
other old violins.
on
from
all
its
but one of his
modern copy
to
less
make an
His sur-
any one of the old
than
All the instruments, old and
alike in the response curves they yielded.
work required
tests
modem
it
did from the
new, were much
Saunders did find that the
old violin speak properly was, on the
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH TO MUSIC
newer models. The
average, a little less than that needed for the
Cremona
violins
with their older
that are not quite so easily
wood and
drowned out by the other instruments of
But aside from
the orchestra. ^4
drier varnish yield tones
this
energy variable no great
differences emerged.
There
particular instrument
feel that the
tone
is
than he would for a
was made by
a great
modern
to pay
more
for
it
All that
is
needed to prove that
is
to arrange a psycho-
experiment in which Strads and their well-built inodern
logical
imitations are played behind a screen a
The
results
marvelous
violins.
number of times
in
prove that the person has yet to be found
consistently pick the Strad.^5
tions
him
validity
violin.
some
that a
master makes the listener
superior and stimulates
the suggestion hypothesis has
order.
The awareness
then, the suggestion hypothesis.
is,
The old masters,
it
random
who
would seem,
can
built
But along with the instruments they built reputa-
which w^ere even more marvelous
THE FORECASTING FUNCTION.
To
illustrate the third,
or
forecasting, function of psychological aesthetics let us look again to
the psychology of suggestion and next to the forecasting of grades in
conservatories of music.
suggestion
affected
we might
From what we know
forecast that musical preferences
by an experimenter
subjects' likes
and
dislikes.
shown by Rigg, when he
college students.
^^
of the principles of
if
he
set himself the task of altering his
That such
effects
can actually occur was
offered the saine music to three groups of
The members of one group were
what they were hearing
could be
in a romantic
light.
No
led to regard
special psychological
"atmosphere" was suggested to the members of the second group.
The
last
group of students was successfully led to associate the music
with Hitler and the Nazi movement. The proof that the three
different "atmospheres" elicited three different degrees of acceptance
was shown
lo
in the three
mean preference
scores.
When
thought of as
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH TO MUSIC
Nazi music the compositions were least appreciated.
When
romantic atmosphere was suggested the acceptance was
greatest.
Knowing very well
that to
many laymen
the
word
the
"classical"
suggests high-brow, boring music, the arrangers of a Danish broadcast
program of serious music changed the
"Classical
of their series from
title
Music" to "Popular Music" but kept unchanged the
their musical offerings.
style of
The latter label, they felt, suggested pleasanter,
easier-to-grasp music. That they had properly gauged the connota-
was rather dramatically demonstrated
tions of these terms
that the
It
number of listeners doubled
after the
changed
in the fact
titling. ^7
can safely be predicted that certain compositions will be better
liked
if
the listener
is
led to think they
some eminence. Thus,
audiences
who
if
believe the
composer
Buxtehude, the acceptance will be
that the
effects
composer
is
were composed by
Bach's Concerto
to
far less
in
D
Minor
is
a
man
of
played to lay
be the relatively unknown
than
if
the listeners are told
their revered J, S. Bach,^^
Similar suggestive
have been demonstrated in the area of jazz preferences and in
the pictorial
arts.
And now let us look at the forecasting of conservatory grades.
Many colleges nowadays have established what they call "critical
levels" of college aptitude, minimum scores which an applicant must
reach in order to matriculate.
These
critical
levels
empirically determined from the scores of past failures.
have been
They
then, of considerable value for forecasting, since persons
scores
below these
critical points will
time of graduation.
Music, found a
almost certainly
fail
are,
making
before the
Stanton, working at the Eastman School of
critical level
She based her level on a
of this type for entering music students. ^9
test of tonal
imagery, a case history, a
college aptitude test, and a battery of music aptitude tests (Chap. 9),
After years of experimentation, Stanton found she could foretell
with considerable accuracy which of the applicants would be the
failures.
1
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH TO MUSIC
The Absence of Absolutes
Because there are certain biological periodicities close to the 6 or
6'^ pulsations per second that
musician prefers above
the vibrato rate the contemporary
is
other rates, one theorist has assumed this
all
periodicity to be the "proper vibrato rate for
all
time."
To him
the fact that the musically elite currently prefer a rate identical with
one of the periodicities of "nature" proves that they
like v\^hat
it is
biologically proper to like.
This type of reasoning
he knows
that
what
is
is
not acceptable to the social
deemed proper
in
scientist, for
one period of time may not
be so considered in the next.^° The position taken
in this
book, the
belief that scientific research does not yield absolutes and final ansvv^ers,
is
well expressed by Tiffin in an article in which he describes some of
his vibrato researches:
This
work
intended to present objective unequivocal
is
information about the vibrato used by this generation of
and students of voice.
vibrato
is
included in the results.
by present day
improved
is
not contended that
is
if
It
it
were made
repeated
may
No
esthetic value
may be araued
artists is a fad
eliminated. This
study
It
ultimately beautiful.
type of
judgment
is
that the vibrato in use
and that their voices would be
less
prominent or even entirely
quite possibly be true.
fifty
this
artists
Perhaps
if this
years hence, the average extent of the
vibrato then in use will be found to be quite different from the
one
now employed.
artistry
have changed,
time to time.
taste
This will simply
nor to
.
.
.No
justify
as all esthetic
atteiTipt is
made
mean
that standards of
preferences change from
to prophesy future artistic
current preference in terms of ultimate
esthetic principles. ^^
Absolutes are not revealed by psychological research for the simple
reason that there are no musical absolutes to be found. There
12
is,
for
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH TO MUSIC
example, no absolutely "good" music, music whose goodness transcends time and space. As the British psychologist Vernon phrases
"That music
it:
'good' which happens to appeal especially to the
is
subjective tastes of the musicians of the period, these tastes being to
a large extent
determined irrationally by temperamental and various
environmental conditions, by suggestion, contra-suggestion, conservatism and iconoclasticism."^^
A
Preview of Later Chapters
Our first consideration will be the
agreed upon placements of
or sing. The interval,
all
scale, the relative
and socially
the notes the musician attempts to play
any two simultaneously or successively
i.e.,
played tones, and the melody, a succession of intervals
felt to possess
unity, furnish the basic underpinninp^s of musical structure and are
for this reason considered in Chapters
Since the
first,
a piece of music
and
4.
and often the only, question many laymen ask about
is,
"What
story does the composition tell?"
appropriate to present in the
medium
3
fifth
of communication.
meaning of a composition
is
seemed
chapter material on music as a possible
And
clearly
as a
person's attitude toward the
forms an important part of his
of his over-all attitude toward that composition and
language chapter
it
its
taste,
composer, the
followed by two on musical taste— Chapter 6 on
the nature of taste and Chapter 7 on the several ways of measuring
The
discussion of the basic musical abilities and their
(Chaps.
and 9) might
8
for in a very real sense
suppose
abilities.
A
however.
is
all
perception, affection, and attitude pre-
There are other ways of viewing the problem,
They can be expressed only
his culture's taste,
inhibitory.
have appeared earlier in the book,
person's abilities will mature only
propitious.
own and
justifiably
it.
measurement
and
this taste
if
the social climate
in the context of a
man's
may prove stimulating or
may be thought to
In this limited sense, then, ability
13
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH TO MUSIC
depend on
taste
and so deserve treatment,
The consideration of the appHcations
appears as the
book, after
what he
is
to medicine and industry
chapter, for before one tries to apply any
final
ledge he should
With
as it has in this
been considered.
taste has
make
certain that he has learned
all
know-
he can about
to apply.
this brief
introduction to the social psychology of music, let
us examine next the musical scale, the totality of those fixed (but
relatively placed) pitch positions
which the musician
uses in his
melodic and harmonic endeavors.
Notes
i]
as
C. K. Aldrich, "The Effect of a Synthetic Marihuana-Hke
Measured by the Seashore Test,"
M. Mezzrow and
2]
One
by G.
of the
B.
B.
Wolfe, Really
most extensive of the
Publ.
the Blues,
studies
Hlth
N.Y.,
Rep.,
Compound on
Random
59 (1944):
House, 1946.
After testing 33i'o Negroes of
431-433;
which compared Negroes and whites was
Johnson reported in "Musical Talent of the Negro," Mus. Superv.
81, 83, 96.
Musical Talent
Wash.,
fifth
J.,
grade, eighth grade, and college level on
the Seashore Measures of Musical Talent he states: "It becomes evident that the only
conclusion to be drawn from the data
is
that
!£ (1928):
that there are
no
significant differences
fair
between
whites and Negroes on those basic musical sensibilities measured by the Seashore tests."
3]
M. Ramm,
K.
"Personality Maladjustment
among Monotones,"
Smith Coll. Stud. Soc.
Wk., ij (1947): 264-284.
4]
£]
M.
F.
Meyer, The Psychology oj
By true beat or takt
of time signatures or
6]
M. W. Lund, "An
is
the Other-one,
Columbia, Mo., Missouri Book, 1922.
meant the pulsations which underlie phrase rhythms irrespective
number
of notes in the phrase.
Analysis of the 'True-beat' in Music," Doctoral Thesis, Stanford U.,
1939. In a somewhat similar analysis of the true beat of phonograph recordings, Hodgson
found that
slightly less than half of the
Although he had undertaken
measures
fell
between 60 and 70 per minute.
his researches in the belief that true beat
may be
causally
Hodgson now admits the impossibility of proving a causal relationWalter Hodgson, "Absolute Tempo," Mus. Teach. Nat. Assoc. Proc. 1949> 43 Ser.,
related to heart beat,
ship.
19^1: 158-169.
7]
W.
T. Bartholomew, "Baton Movements," Peahody Bull., 29, No.
Using a similar technique,
F.
the same composition there
Giese found that
when
34^
2 (1933): 37-39persons were asked to conduct for
were huge individual differences
in the style of conducting.
Giese 's data show some similarity in the pattern of conducting (a) the different works of
14
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH TO MUSIC
the same conductor and (b) compositions of the same musical school ("Individuum
Epoch
Taktierbewegungen bei verschiedenen Komponisten," Arch.
in
Ges.
und
Psychol.,
go
(1934): 380-426).
8]
The most extensive work on the
State University of Iowa.
tains articles
vibrato was done at the Seashore laboratories of the
See the U. of
la. Stud. Psychol.
Mus., vol.
by E. Easeley, M. Hattwick, M. T. Hollinshead,
M. Metfessel, R. S.
Wagner; an earlier
(1932), which con-
N. Reger, D. A. Rothschild, H. G. Seashore, and A. H.
Miller, S.
research from this same laboratory was that of
Experimental Study of the Pitch Factor in Artistic Singing,"
230-259.
1
F. E. Linder, J. Tififin,
Excellent
work
M. Schoen, "An
Psychol. Monog., 31
(1922):
has also been done by L. Cheslock, "Introductory Study on
Violin Vibrato," Peabodj Cons. Mus. Res. Stud., No.
i
(193
i).
See also
W.
E.
Kock,
"On
the Principle of Uncertainty in Sound, "J. Acoust. Soc. Amer., 7 (1935'): 5^6-58; "Certain
Phenomena Accompanying a Frequency Vibrato, "J. Acoust. Soc. Amer., 8 (1936):
M. Small, "An Objective Analysis of Artistic Violin Performance," U. of la.
Psychol. Mus., 4 (1936): 172-231; J. R. Tolmie, "An Analysis of the Vibrato from
Subjective
23-25-; A.
Stud.
the Viewpoint of Frequency and Amplitude Modulation," J. Acoust. Soc. Amer., 7 (1935):
29—36; L. Sjostrom, "Experimentellphonetische Untersuchungen des Vibratophanomens
der Singstimme," Acta Oto-larjng. (Stockholm), Suppl., 47 (1948): 123-130.
9]
J. F.
Psjchol.,
10]
Corso and D. Lewis, "Preferred Rate and Extent of Frequency Vibrato, "y. Appl.
34 (1950): 206-212.
"Explanation" as used in this book
A phenomenon
"description."
variables to
which
it
is
popularly referred to as
11]
J.
P. Foley, Jr.,
J. Soc. Psychol., 12
I
2]
This "loss of
related.
its
is,
in a sense,
to be explained
Where
is
merely an extension of the concept
described in the context of the other
these latter are antecedent in time they are
"causes."
"The Occupational Conditioning of Preferential Auditory Tempo,"
(1940):
I
21-129.
know-how"
has been greatly exaggerated in the popular mind.
A. Saunders, "The Mechanical Action of Violins, "J. Acoust. Soc. Amer., 9 (1937):
13]
81-98. A. Small has shown that the "better" stringed instruments differ from the
F.
"poorer" largely in their emphasis on frequency bands below 2500 d.v. ("The Tone-color
[Timbre] of Stringed Instruments," Mus. Teach. Nat. Assoc, 1940 (1941): 35^4-360). See
also E.
14]
G. Richardson, "Orchestral Acoustics,"
Even the
"lost art" of
making old
1
5]
Data from personal communications
to
Month., 80, isss- 211-224.
Italian violin varnish is lost
Michelman, "Lost Art of Strad Varnish,"
author. The Oxford Companion
Sci.
Month., 81,
Sci.
as
i9i;'5:
no longer.
See
J.
221-223.
well as from one unpublished study by the
Music (P. A. Scholes, ed., London, Oxford U. Press,
1943, p. 988) reports that in London and in several other places there have been similar
failures to discriminate the tones of the older
16]
M. G.
from those of the newer instruments.
Rigg, "Favorable versus Unfavorable Propaganda in the Enjoyment of Music,"
J. Exp. Psychol,
38 (1948): 78-81.
"A Radio Test
17]
T. Geiger,
It is
conceivable that the long-continued use of the Geiger procedure might increase the
of Musical Taste," Puhl. Opin. Quart., 14 (1950): 45^3-460.
15
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH TO MUSIC
number
of persons
titled "classical."
1
8]
habitually tune in
was well known
the
name
of
J.
S.
in the late
Bach that
degree of formal education
19]
on musical programs even when the music
The organist-composer Buxtehude, although
public,
it is
who
is
Unfortunately, the reported data do not cover this possibility.
is
largely
unknown
to the present-day lay
seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.
familiar to
all
But
now
laymen who have had any appreciable
(p. 276).
H. M. Stanton, "Measurement of Musical Talent," U. of
la.
Stud. Psychol. Mus., 2
(1935): 1-14020]
Even
number
in the short period that scientists have
been observing musical behavior,
of changes in basic activity have been noted. Thus, the
of the great Schumann-Heink was quite acceptable in her day but causes
even amusement to those of us
who
listen,
on recordings,
a
manner of breath control
to
much
what appear
distress or
to
be her
periodic gasps.
21]
J.
Tiffin,
"The Role of Pitch and
Artists," U. of la. Stud. Psychol. Mus.,
22]
134.
16
P. E.
Vernon, "Method
1
Intensity in the Vocal Vibrato of Students
and
(1932): 134-165-.
in Musical Psychology," Amer. J. PsjchoL,
42 (1930): 127-
CHAPTER TWO
The
Social Psychology of
Musical Scales
iVlusic
is
made
of socially accepted patterns of sounds. These
sounds are either noisy, with no perceptible pitch, or they are tonal,
and can be located on
a
high— low continuum. The tones may differ in
loudness, timbre, duration, volume, density, and quite possibly in
still
other characteristics.^ While
all
pitches in the middle range are
of potential musical use, only a few appear in any one composition.
is,
convention limits the number and relative locations of the
pitches.
This chapter will consider the several attempts at pitch
That
limitation, matters studied in music
under the category of
scales.
The Tone Elements of Music
Unlike the music of some other cultures in which the sounds slide
up or down without discrete
alike, the
far
back
steps and the patterns are rarely twice
music of the West has been built around fixed tones, so
as
there are records.
These tones, the stepwise, ordered
arrangement of which constitutes
a scale,
have been tied to a variety
of frequencies with their exact pitch locations largely matters of local
tradition or of convenience to the musical performer.
example, of
little
theoretical importance
whether violin
A
It
is
is,
for
tuned
at
43 3-2 d.v. (Philharmonic pitch), at 435- d.v. (French pitch), or at
some other agreed-upon frequency.^ Of more importance to the
17
THE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF MUSICAL SCALES
musical structure, to the melody and harmony,
by an
interval's
two
tones.
The absolute
is
the ratio formed
of the spans
size
is
generally
not of paramount importance since a large span covering 4000-
8000
much
d.v. has
the same psychological effect as a small span
spreading from 100 to 200 d.v.
Both spans are termed octaves 3 and
are characterized by the ratio of
i
:
2
out of ratios that melody
It is
.
and harmony are constructed, and so long
as the ratios are
unchanged,
the notes can be raised or lowered without damage to the tune. Such
an alteration of the pitch locations merely
another register.
To understand
music, then, one must learn
the
shifts
melody
to
the basic facts of the psychology of
how
ratios
have been employed in scale
construction.
The tones of the
ratio
1:2, the octave, are easily produced on
pipes, they sound well together, and they are so easily confused
that identical letter
names have
been given them. 5 For
traditionally
these and perhaps other psychological and biophysical reasons, the
octave relationship was already recognized in the earliest documents
history has provided.
The
ratio of
i
:
2
(also
by the ancients. This
3
ratio
and those of
:4 (the musical fourth) were so well
2
:
written 1/2) holds for
were much played upon
lengths of pipe of constant bore, and pipes
(the musical fifth) and
3
known by
the time of Pytha-
goras (approximately ^^^o b.c.) that the diatonic (or seven white-
note) scale of his day was conceived of as being built with the octave
and the
fifth
(or the fourth)
on the
ratios
i
:
2
and
2
:
3
(or 3:4).
Scales of Ancient Times
PYTHAGOREAN
with
fifths (2: 3)
Next
G
down by
or
and counts up
C.
SCALE.
a scale position, say F,
a
is
musical
Pythagoras derived his scale by starting
and moving progressively up by musical
fourths (3:4).^ Thus,
fifth, i.e.,
if
one begins with F
by seven semitones, one comes to
reached, then D, A, E, and finally B.
Proceeding
THE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF MUSICAL SCALES
Since each
further, the several black notes are successively located.
of these scale points
in row^
to
is
next higher
its
64:96:144:216:324:486:729
(six
2:3, the ratios given
fifth as
of the table belovv^ obtain,
l
F:C:G:D:A:E:B
i.e.,
as
contiguous 2:3 ratios).
Scale of Pythagoras
C
C
D
E
F
96
216
486
2
384
3
256
432
288
486
324
64
512
1/1
8/9
64/81
3
27
Sharp
38
31
G
G
310
3/4
1
30(312)
35
B
C
144
324
729
192
2
576
768
384
648
432
729
3
486
512
4
2/3
16/27
128/243
1/2
5
9
81
729
6
32
Sharp
39
34
Note: For the purposes of this
They could,
vs^ritten in
A
F Sharp
341-3
243
33
A
Sharp
1
such.
D
D
1
Sharp
311
3
31
36
book the sharps of
been replaced by the
in fact, have
this table
flats
3'
have no significance
C
and D,
by adding together successive musical
fifths
here merely to indicate that there are chromatic scale steps between
and E, F and G,
G
and A, and
In building his scale
(see row^
1
A
and B.
and the paragraph above), Pythagoras covered almost four
octaves, that
is,
64
third octave, and
value, 729,
as
of D, E, G, A, and B. They are
is
:
i
5:1 2
taken
2 8 is
:
729
as a
one octave,
is
i
2 8
:
2 5^6
another,
a part of a fourth octave.
If
2
^6
:
5^ i
2
a
the largest
reference point and the values of the low^er
pitch locations are successively doubled until their magnitudes
fall
between 729 and the next lower octave, 364*5^, the letter steps are
now located within a single octave span (row 2). It is not customary,
however, to locate
C
at 384.
"Scientific pitch" places
and the other
letter locations are given in
rows 2 and 3
magnitude
differ in
row
3.
it at
2^6 cycles
While the
values of
they denote identical ratios. Thus,
19
THE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF MUSICAL SCALES
C:D
can be expressed either
reduced
ratio given in
row
4.
2^6:288, 384:432 or
as
Similarly,
C E
8:9, the
as
can be either 2^6:3 24,
:
384:486 or 64: 81.
should be noted that the removal of the powers of
It
2
series of ratios or frequencies disturbs the octave location but
letter arrangements. Thus, if a certain
other C's
vs^ill
the ratios of
row
row
the values in
A
3
25-6,
the dividing through
by
2
2's until
odd numbers
are reached reveals
2's.
clearly the Pythagorean philosophy of scale construction
"tone symbols" by
and
not the
given the value of
Now
row
yields a series of skeleton values in
I
is
a
be 128, 64, ^12, or other numbers found by dividing
or multiplying 2^6 by a succession of
more
C
from
Max Meyer. 7
6,
formed
which have been termed
5,
Pythagoras,
his scale
and
it
can
now be
seen from
by the use of the prime numbers
exclusively.^
SUGGESTION FROM ARISTOXENUS (ciRCA
35^0 B.C.).
the process of climbing by seven semitone steps, by
fifths,
is
If
con-
tinued from B, the accidentals are located (from B to F sharp, then
to
C
sharp,
point F
2: 3 ratio
sharp,
of the
the octave
fifths
G
D
i
:
2
fifth,
A
sharp) and finally the starting
3^^.
This value, derived from the
sharp and
reached, this time as
is
cannot coincide with any power of
requires.
2,
which
Obviously, then, the Pythagorean cycle of
cannot lead to a perfect octave.
Having noticed the imperfection of the Pythagorean system, the
Greek philosopher Aristoxenus suggested tempering the
make each
half-step equal in ratio to every other one.
later that such a
so
change would have made the
that twelve fifths
would have
pattern, i.e., into seven octaves.
this suggestion at the time,
20
S.
Bach's day (p. 2^).
We
shall see
small
enough
precisely into an octave
Although nothing practical came of
over the years theorists (Galileo, for one)
kept reviving the notion until
J.
fitted
fifth just
intervals to
it
was
finally
put into practical use in
THE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF MUSICAL SCALES
SUGGESTION FRO M PT O LE M Y (CI RC A 200 A.D. ),
Ptolemy
was one of several who felt that worthwhile scales might be conA
structed with prime
small
numbers other than
i
and
number might be employed, thought Ptolemy,
zation of the diatonic scale.
reached
as the result
It is
Any
3.
relatively
in the rationali-
clear that these conclusions
were not
of psychological research. Their chief import-
ance derives from the fact that other theoretically minded musicians
of a later date held similar views.
a
compromise
between
The
scale next to
Pythagorean
the
be considered
conception
and
is
the
Ptolemaic.
Scale ofJust Intonation
What
generally given in textbooks
is
psychology
as the diatonic scale
Pythagorean scale
a
of Western music
w^as
the scale of just
number
g.
modified by the introduction of ratios based on
This modification can be understood through
comparison of the tone symbols of the two
F, C,
is
In the construction of the scale of just intonation the
intonation.
the prime
on music, physics, and
G, and
D are identical. The
scales.
The symbols
for
tone symbol for the Pythagorean A,
81, was changed to
^, a multiple of
which, 80, approximates the 81
of the older scale.
As will be seen
later (p. 27), this
tively small change, but
it
affected the location of
that of E, the Pythagorean
a
is
B and
compara-
particularly
form of which had been creating some
difficulties for the musicians.
Over the
stress to
fitted
centuries.
Western music had been giving increasing
harmony. While the simpler
well this development, the 64:
E, gave particular trouble.
changed to the simpler
number
4.:
8
ratios of the
1
Pythagorean scale
ratio of the third,
So, in the course of time,
s-
its
from C to
ratio
was
This introduction of another prime
to rival the Pythagorean
3
caused the scientifically minded to
look to the overtone, or harmonic, series for help in justifying
this
21
THE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF MUSICAL SCALES
more
departure in scale construction. 9 For what could be
scientific,
thought they, than to construct out of the lower harmonics a scale
for
harmonic usage. In
became
fact,
the early scientists, and
enamored of the overtone notion of
so
that they attempted to preserve this just scale
to niake
it
the "scale of nature."
It
some
later ones,
scale rationalization
from
all
further change,
was held that early man had
consciously or unconsciously "recognized" the overtones and out of
them he had derived
It is
his musical scale. ^°
unfortunate for the theorizing of these overtone enthusiasts
that the "natural" or just-intoned scale has not
accepted.
On
been carved
the contrary, in a
in
quite
number of
"unnatural" ways
been universally
cultures the octave has
(p.
ig).
deriving the scale from overtones our ancestors
Then, too, in
would have had
to
recognize partial tones as high as the forty-eighth. Yet, in spite of the
evidence against the overtone theory
it
has served to raise the just
scale to the status of the diatonic scale of science.
Scale of Just Intonation
C
C
D
D
E
Sharp
F Sharp
F
2
24
27
3
256
288
30
320
341-3
4
1/1
8/9
4/S
3/4
S
3
27
15
1
6
31
X 3)
30
G
22
Sharp
33
G
Sharp
(5
A
A
32
Sharp
48
2
36
40
3
384
426-6
45
480
512
4
2/3
3/5
8/15
1/2
5
6
9
5
45
3
32
51
(15x3)
31
THE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF MUSICAL SCALES
A
Number 7
Scale with the Prime
A
composed of the prime numbers
scale
attempted by several people," but
group of musicians. ^^
large
A
i,
3,
and
g,
7 has
been
has never been adopted by any
it
possible scale of this type
is
described
in the table below. ^3
Scale with the Prime
C
C
D
D
7
E
F
2
16
18
20
21
3
256
288
320
336
4
1/1
8/9
4/5
16/21
1
9
5
3(
32
51
5
6
G
G
sharp
A
Sharp
A
2
24
27
3
384
432
4
2/3
16/27
5
3
6
31
Sharp
F Sharp
21
(7x3;
C
Sharp
B
(28)
30
32
480
512
8/15
1/2
27
15
(7)
33
1
3"
(5x3)
(71)
This scale differs from the others shown so far not only in
the prime 7 but also in the fact that
modulated up
which
a fifth (or
on F
fell
down
its
a fourth).
here
in the other scales
its
use of
tone symbols have been
That
falls
is,
the tone symbol
i
on C.
The Needjor Modulation
A
glance at the scale tables will
had whole steps with
steps) of 243:2^6.
8
:
9 and 9
number
7
:
:
o
made
smaller steps of
steps
15^:16.
that the Pythagorean scale
and smaller steps (not actual
The just-intoned
—and
had three whole
— 20:21 and
i
smaller steps
clear,
ratios of 8 9
show
i
^
scale
:
1
6
.
half-
had two whole steps
The
scale
with the prime
8:9, 9:10, and 7:8
—and two
All three of these scales,
direct modulation virtually impossible. Yet the
it
is
new
23
THE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF MUSICAL SCALES
harmonic music of the West demanded modulation, and
interval of 8
:
9 will not sound like
one of 9
were
in an era of modulation, any of these three scales
If,
kept, either the listener
would have
a do to re
10.
:
to
be
to adjust to serious mistunings
or the instrument builder would need so to alter his sound sources
many
that
auxiliary tones sharper or flatter than those already avail-
able could be played. ^4
common
and was
system of sharps,
burdened.
still
Unfortunately the latter practice becanie
cumbersome
at least in part responsible for the
flats,
and other signs with which Western music
is
As an aftermath has come the apparently unending
argument over the exact pitch location of the
sharps should be pitched higher than
flats,
signs, i.e.,
whether
or vice versa.
Mean- Tone Temperament ^^
We have
noted that music theorists from the time of Aristoxenus
on have advocated tempering the
theorizing
is
In
intervals.
with such
line
mean-tone temperament, which came into use
in
western Europe in the seventeenth century and was almost universally
accepted during the eighteenth until equal temperament
the day.
It is
a shaving or flatting of several of the fifths so that the
Pythagorean hope of a scale of
fifths
could actually be
mean-tone temperament, modulations within
keys were possible.
It
a
fulfilled.
With
few of the most used
was unfortunate, however, that what today
are similarly pitched sharps and
flats, e.g.,
C
sharp and
D
given different pitch locations and were regarded
still
won
flat,
were
as different
notes.
Scale of
C
3
24
Sharp
256
G
3
C
Mean-Tone Temperament
382-8
D
D
Sharp
286-1
G
Sharp
A
428-0
A
Sharp
E
F
320
342-4
B
C
478-6
512
F Sharp
THE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF MUSICAL SCALES
Equal Temperament
Equal
temperament
in
Western music was accomplished by
dividing the octave into twelve equal semitone steps, i.e., equal
so far as ratios
frequencies.^^
which
The
J.
S.
were concerned but not
This
scale
terms of the span of
in
temperament
of equal
the one
is
Bach fought and to which the modern piano
ratio of the
is
for
tuned.
semitone in the scale of equal temperament
is
i: 1-05^9.
According to musicological research,
tempered
at
occur in the Orient.
scales also
appears
it
It is
that
equally
said that the
Siamese
times divide their octave into seven equal steps and the Javanese
divide theirs into five equal steps.
Western Scale of Equal Temperament
C
C
Sharp
3
G
G
Sharp
D
Sharp
A
A
Sharp
430-3
383-5
3
D
287-3
256
UNITS OF RATIO MEASUREMENT.
E
F
322-5
341-6
B
C
483-2
512
F Sharp
Either the octave or the
semitone of the equally tempered scale could have served
ratio
measurement
if
a relatively large unit
as a unit
of
had been desired. Yasser
has urged the adoption of the decitone, the centitone and the milli-
tone (tenth, hundredth, and thousandth of the tone of the scale of
equal temperamentyas feasible units. ^7 As a small unit the thousandth
part of the octave has been suggested. In
is
the cent,
tempered
which
scale.
^^
is
a
most general
use,
however,
hundredth part of the semitone of the equally
The octave
in this system of
measurement equals
1200 cents, the semitone 200.
Let us from
now on
attempt to think in terms of these cent units
and examine the previously described
scales to see
how
perceptually
^5
THE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF MUSICAL SCALES
important the changes from one scale to the next really were.
first
we must
between
look
at thresholds,
man's
at
ability to discriminate
intervals of differing size.
The Stability of Intervals
Intervals may be distorted, made somewhat
without
But
loss of identity.
It is
larger or smaller,
indeed fortunate that
this
is
true, for
otherwise the transition from the just-intoned scale to the mean-tone
or the equally tempered mi^ht have been
plish.
how much
Just
more
interval distortion can
difficult to
difficult to say, since the researches in this area are
But
agreement.
of the
fifth is
it
human
the
fifth
scales.
it
is
not entirely in
does appear that for most people the uniqueness
disturbed
more
easily than that of the third or sixth.
Happily enough, the historical changes were in line with
of
accom-
be tolerated
this aspect
psychophysiology. As will be noted in the following table,
was kept
at
approximately 700 cents in
Even the Siamese and Javanese had
approximating the
be thought of
as
approximately
5-00 cents.
On
the Western
all
which might
The fourth was kept at
scale points
fifth.
the other hand, the third, sixth, and
more extensively from scale to scale.
work by Pratt and his associates shows that
seventh varied
Careful
for perceiving changes in interval quality
in the
is
approximately 20 cents
middle of the tonal range. ^9 This value checks with the findings
of the present author,
between the
fifths
whose student
the seconds.
The
difference
mean-tone seventh, which
perceived.
accuracy a
subjects hear
no difference
of the several scales, between the several fourths
(except perhaps where the "7" scale
is
concerned), or even between
between the Pythagorean seventh and the
is
27 cents
(iiio— 1083),
is
occasionally
But more subjects discriminate with better than chance
number
of the other larger differences.
discussed are, then, perceptually as well as
26
the threshold
The
scales so far
mathematically different
THE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF MUSICAL SCALES
some contemporary laymen. However,
to
would tend
to
make most
the vibrato,
when present,
of these differences imperceptible.
Values in Cents of Scale Intervals
D
E
F
G
A
B
C
204
204
408
498
702
906
1110
1200
Just
386
498 f
702
1088
1200
M.T.T.
193
386
503
697
884
890
1083
1200
E.T.
200
400
500
700
900
1100
1200
C
pjth.
514 686
343
171
Siam.
480
240
Javan.*
"7"
204
*
has been found that the
It
between the
intervals
Tuning
•j-
in a
386
Ganda Harp,"
T. E. Simonton, in
"A
Ganda
Nature,
720
702
471
strings all equal
857
960
P.
1200
906
eight-string harp of Africa
240 cents (K.
1200
1029
1088
is
so
1200
tuned that the
Wachsmann, "An Equal-Stepped
l6s (London, 1950): 40-41).
Ratio Chromatic Scale, "J.
New Integral
Acoust. Soc. Amer.,
2S
{^9Sl)' 1167-1170, has devised a chromatic scale with a perfectly symmetrical arrangement of just fourths. He claims that it combines the advantages of the Pythagorean, the
just-intoned, and the equally
scales.
possible that the musicians of several centuries past had even
It is
more
tempered
difficulty than
we
in perceiving the differences, since their
tone-producing sources were markedly cruder than the apparatus of
today.
But of course the theoreticians expected to find differences.
Believing as they did in the perfection of the just-intoned scale, they
undoubtedly imagined greater differences than they actually perceived.
PITCH DISCRIMINATION.
compare
Let US supposc that one
is
asked to
single tones rather than intervals, for example, the Pytha-
gorean and mean-tone D's. Then, of course, pitch discrimination
comes
into play, and this sensitivity
is
detect differences between intervals.
can be discriminated by
So,
many
far
keener than that needed to
But even though the two D's
people, the two major seconds cannot.
despite the fact that pitch discrimination and tolerance for
interval change are related, they are not the same.
27
THE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF MUSICAL SCALES
Equal Temperament, Our Frame of Reference
Western music
is
today tied rather closely to the piano, and pianos
are tuned to equal temperament. Yet there
still
are theorists
who
maintain that keen-eared musicians "sense" equal temperament to be
a
mere compromise. These
just intonation
The author
whenever
sensitive people will, they hold,
possible to do so.^°
it is
many
has not had the privilege of testing
sensitive people.
employ
His subjects have,
in the main,
musically
been laymen,
amateur musicians, and teachers of music, and to them he has presented a variety of scales.
scales, the
it is
He
has found that
commonest response when the
if
he does not label the
just scale
played
is
odd, interesting, and not particularly displeasing.
anyone prefer
it
to the equally tempered.
But
if
is
that
Rarely does
the just scale
is
presented and labeled, a few of the better-trained musicians, feeling
perhaps that they should prefer
harmonic
it,
may
declare that they like
possibilities, that its thirds are so
much
better, etc.
its
When
the scales have not been identified, the typical listener appears to feel
more comfortable with
the scale of equal temperament, the scale of
his present culture period.
He
does not "unconsciously" think in
terms of just intonation.
It is
true that the great Helmholtz quotes cases
where
violinists
reverted to just intonation whenever their playing was unaccompanied.^^ These observations
modern
may or may not have been
research paints a different picture.
unaccompanied playing of six professional
been anticipated, the accuracy of the
valid.
But
Greene studied the
violinists. ^^
As might have
intervals varied considerably.
But the mean value of each interval was closer to what was advocated
by Pythagoras than to that of just intonation.
Later
work by
Nickerson on unaccompanied solo and ensemble performances of the
same melody gave very similar
28
results. ^3
THE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF MUSICAL SCALES
Other Possible Scales
So
far
notes.
we
have discussed only the Western diatonic scale of seven
While
the basic scale of the West, several other scales
it is
One
have had a substantial degree of popularity.
D
pentatonic, w^here only the F, G, A, C, and
C
sharp, and
D
sharp, i.e., spans of
steps.
this scale
and many Chinese
Even
five
at a
it is
when
time
today,
G
semitones,
2,
it
the diatonic scale was
was allowable
to
make
diatonic tones there was
i.e.,
more
When
The
adhered to
they were called,
added to the seven
scale of the
and poly tonal
employed by Debussy and others
D, E, F sharp,
e.g., C,
is
G
sharp,
A
many
sharp, C.
people,
in
It
who
obviously not their accustomed major scale
—which of course
Scriabin has used a scale
flat
finally 2
facilitated their acceptance.
believe that since this
B
as
rise of atonal
has been found that this scale seems strange to
must be minor
rigidly
formed the twelve-semitone
accidentals have also been
whole-tone music,
it
sharp,
the dodecuple. These twelve tones have been
freely used as a scale.
music has greatly
The
and
3
A
occasional use of any one of
to give variety or color.
modern piano,
more and more
sharp,
if
as well.
other notes not in the scale. These accidentals,
were thought
the
is
A number of well-known Scottish tunes are based on
semitone
than
2
—F
sharp,
one prefers, the black notes of the piano
of these'
are employed, or,
whose
it is
not
(p. 89).
steps are C,
D, E, F sharp, A,
to give a distinctive character to his music. Perhaps others will
follow him in devising
Scales
made up
still
other scale steps
as their
personal idiom.
of a variety of microtones have been suggested at
one time or another. One of the most bizarre was that of the
century Chinese, Chien Lohtze,
who proposed
match the 360 days he thought made up the
that this theorist had
a
fifth-
360-note scale to
year.
It is
quite clear
done no research on the psychology of human
perception.
29
THE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF MUSICAL SCALES
The Hindus have a 2 2 -note scale which can be sung with considerable accuracy. The Moravian musician Haba, who has advocated
splitting the semitone into a number of microtones, claims to be able
to sing intervals as small as one-sixtieth of an octave.
is
able to do this, he
Our
interest
would
But even
clearly not in freakish virtuosity but in those
is
extensions to our present scale that could prove successful.
on
development, partly because our music system
semitone base and the quarter-tone
a
A number
he
lack appreciative listeners.
of musicians and psychologists have seen the quarter-tone
logical
if
is
A number
as
the next
now
operates
half of the semitone.
of quarter-tone pianos and organs have been built and a
considerable body of quarter-tone music has been written. ^4
It
is
will be recalled that the threshold for interval discrimination
approximately 20 cents.
But
this
is
the value at which Pratt's
observers could detect the differences only half of the time.
To be
completely functional, however, an interval should be discriminated
properly not half of the time but
the time.
all
The value
for the
smallest interval that will be perceived as different 100 per cent of
the time Pratt has found to be about ^o cents, the span of the
quarter-tone in the equally tempered scale. ^5
are psychologically feasible.
But no interval
Quarter- tones, then,
much
smaller than the
quarter-tone would seem to be acceptable except to the person of
extraordinary sensitivity.^^
An
interesting demonstration for the musically unsophisticated
to play
one octave
A common
played.
answer
and to ask what has been heard.
that the chromatic scale of
Most persons
intervals pleasing.
is
in quarter-tones
is
will find at least a
two octaves
few of the quarter-tone
C
to a tone
between the minor
and major third, an interval which approximates one
fact, this interval is typically
of the seconds or
30
has been
Generally, the most pleasing quarter-tone span
the one that extends from a bass of
music. In
is
sevenths. ^7
in
Siamese
rated as pleasanter than either
THE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF MUSICAL SCALES
Summary
In this chapter
we
have seen that the basic scale of Western music
has been for centuries the seven-note diatonic, w^hose precise ratios
have varied from time to time. The Pythagoreans had held that a
succession oftwelve musical fifths of ratio
seven octaves,
i.e.,
there
would be
2
:
3
could be arranged to cover
a return to the starting letter
seven octaves higher. Hence the primes
and
i
3
,
some
which alone appear
in the ratio of their musical fifth, were, according to the Pythagoreans,
the only primes needed in the building of the diatonic scale.
It
was early noted that the twelve Pythagorean
fifths
were
a trifle
too large to squeeze into seven octaves, and again and again there arose
The
the hope that other primes might be used in the scale ratios.
first
to be accepted
just intonation.
was the
g,
The addition of
flatting the third, the sixth,
ratios facilitated
which appeared
work
this
in
what was termed
prime was accomplished by
and the seventh.
Since the
harmony, there developed
in
new
scale
a school
of
thought which subscribed to the notion that the just-intoned scale
steps
had been borrowed from positions on the overtone or harmonic
held that
It w^as
series.
man had
sciously, the tonal partials
scale.
Such
a
recognized, consciously or uncon-
and had made use of them in creating
his
on the Deity
for
philosophy inspired theologians to
call
support of His scale and led early scientists to regard the just scale
"natural."
The
scale
became
so
honored that
all efl^orts
to alter
it
met
with tremendous opposition, even though the arguments for
"God-given quality" and
its
"naturalness"
Although there were attempts to bring
£,
the
more
lasting changes to the scale
equal temperament.
The former made
were
in
as
its
invalid.
primes other than
3
and
came with mean-tone and
a limited
modulation possible,
while equal temperament allowed for free modulation ranging
through
octave
is
all
keys.
In equal
temperament,
as the
term implies, the
divided into twelve equal intervals.
31
THE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF MUSICAL SCALES
Taking the cent, or hundredth part of the semitone of the equally
tempered
measurement,
scale, as the unit of scale
tolerance for interval change
is
of the scale changes had been less than
probably caused but
was found that
it
approximately 20 cents. Since many
2
o cents in
magnitude they
except to a few theorists and
little difficulty
musically sensitive persons. Scale changes above threshold magnitude
do
exist,
however, and most persons can
tell that
the several scales
are not identical.
There
is
no evidence
that
we
hesitantly accept equal
for practical reasons only, i.e., solely because
and
in
temperament
allows modulation,
terms of just intona-
Psychological research discloses no outstanding preference for
tion.
the
do our musical thinking
really prefer to
it
"natural"
violinists
and suggests that whenever unaccompanied
scale
deviate in their playing from equal
temperament
their
intervals are actually closer to those of Pythagorean intonation.
the other hand, there
Mursell
menon
says,
of
"Any
no reason to suppose that the diatonic
is
of equal temperament
Western music's
is
scale
is
final scale
a construct of the social
social agreement. "^^
The
diatonic has had
pentatonic, dodecuple, whole-tone, etc.
—and
reasonable scale units.
pheno-
a
rivals
circles
is
Research indicates that microtones
smaller than ^o cents are
more
now
and therefore are perceptually
intervals
as
some
as
Quarter-tone spans of
being modified to include quarter-tones.
^o cents can be heard
in
many
scale
For
form.
mind,
On
much
rarely perceived as qualitatively
unique by the typical listener and hence are not functional for
music.
A number
of scale properties
still
they can better be understood after
to the
interval,
in
particular
melody. The interval and
chapter.
3^
its
to
remain to be described.
more
the
But
attention has been given
role
role, then, will
the
interval plays in
concern us in the next
THE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF MUSICAL SCALES
Notes
For an authoritative consideration of tonal characteristics see
i]
Handbook of Experimental Psychology, N.Y., Wiley,
The
2]
Stevens,
S.
S.
ed.,
igi'i.
value 435- d.v. (double vibrations), or 435- cycles, indicates that the sound-giving
body, be
it
a string, a fork, or a
column of
air, is
vibrating 43 £ times a second.
For the sake of convenience, the names given the intervals in Western music will be
3]
employed here even though the terms have proved to be definitely misleading to the
The octave, so called because it makes use of eight w^hite notes on the
unsophisticated.
piano,
better described as a span of 12 semitones; the
is
named
notes, as seven semitones; the fourth,
fifth,
which involves
five
white
for the four white notes used, as five
semitones; etc.
who was
C. Stumpf, a psychologist
4]
perhaps the
to
first
show
any other two tones.
See his Tonpsjchologie, Leipzig, Hirzel, 1883, 1890.
frequency ratio of which
The fourth
6]
is
was
two tones of an octave more than
600 Pope Gregory the Great ordered a single name to be given
In A.D.
g]
a pioneer in the area of musical aesthetics,
that naive subjects confuse the
is
i
:
2
some power of
(or to
merely the octave minus the
i.e.,
fifth,
all
tones the
2).
12 semitones
minus
7 equals
£ semitones.
7]
M.
8]
Since F
^0
Qj-
9]
A
F.
Meyer, The Musician
is
Arithmetic, Boston, Ditson, 1929.
fifth
above
A
sharp,
vibrating body, be
it
a string or a
own
pitch(octave plus a
column of air,
body gives forth
fifth), etc.
its
fundamental to these harmonics are
10]
can be either
vibrates not only as a
A somewhat
whole but
also
unique tone (the octave), one-third gives
These auxiliary tones are termed overtones and with
The
the fundamental tone constitute the series of partials or harmonics.
it
it
^12
in sections. Thus, one-half the
its
s
not only the starting point but also the
as
i
:
2,
1:3, 1:4,
i
similar concept occurred in the naive
:
ratios of the
^, etc.
geometry of architecture. Here,
was held, man was somehow psychobiologically in tune with the root squares, the
golden sections, and the other "God-blessed" forms used so
much by
the Greeks of the
classical period.
1
1]
and
I
2]
The experimental
aesthetician
M.
F.
7 in a neurological interpretation of
It is
has
made
use of the small primes 1,3,
Western music of prime numbers not
offered was that since
below, before,
God
after, right,
in His
Wisdom had
and
—the number
left
in the series
i
to
5^.
The reason
arranged for only six directions
6
had metaphysical
prime would be to go contrary to God's Will. The
classical
rationalization although they spoke of only five "proper" directions
after,
f,
musical intervals (The Musician's Arithmetic).
of some sociopsychological interest that in the sixteenth century a taboo existed
against the use in
a larger
Meyer
—above,
significance.
Chinese had
— up,
To
use
a similar
down, before,
and center.
33
THE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF MUSICAL SCALES
A
13]
note
14]
1
scale
W.
developed by H.
Poole, an American organ builder (see
Meyer
reference,
1).
That the listener will adjust to mistunings can be demonstrated.
pologists have reported that their pitch discrimination
is
contact with alien intervals, and one such claim has been checked.
whose musical instruments tend
the inland Chinese,
Several anthro-
temporarily impaired after long
It
has been noted that
make poorer
to be carelessly tuned,
scores on pitch discrimination tests than do the coastal and American-born Chinese, for
whom
exact tuning
is
more
a part of the culture (P.
R. Farnsworth,
"An
and Experimental Study of the Seashore-Kwalwasser Test Battery,"
Critical,
Historical,
Genet. Psychol.
Monogr., 9 (1931): 29I-393-)
i^]
die
H. H. Drager, "Zur mitteltonigen und gleichschwebenden Temperatur,"
Juli 19 SO, pp.
16]
Bachtagung der
Wissenschaftliche
O.
Gesellschaft
Bericht iiber
23.
bis
Jacobsen defends the idea that the tempered and the "natural" scale each has
I.
Tempered
("Harmonic Blending
26.
Yasser, A Theory of Evolving Tonality, N.Y.,
J.
1
Another unit of
ratio
measurement
its
in the Natural versus the
126—132.)
Scale," J. Musical., 2 (1941):
17]
4
Leipzig,
389-404.
place for contemporary performance.
8]
fur Musikforschung,
is
Amer.
Lib. Musicol., 1932.
the savart, which has a span of approximately
cents.
19]
C. C. Pratt, "Quarter-Tone Music,"
Thresholds for intervals
from musical,
i.e.,
Hence,
observers.
y. genet. Psychol.,
made from pure
35 (1928): 286-293.
tones are slightly different from those formed
impure, tones. Pratt's data were elicited from psychologically trained
it is
more typical listener would have a
The reader should not confuse threshold and
reasonable to suppose that the
threshold somewhat above
20 cents.
terms which are negatively related. Where the listener's threshold is low,
where he perceives the interval quality as changed after very little expansion or
sensitivity,
i.e.,
contraction of the pitch span, he
20]
Other
theorists
tone intonation in mind but
21]
H.
L. F.
is
said to
be highly
sensitive.
worry because much highly rated music was composed with mean-
Helmholtz, On
now
is
played with equal temperament.
the Sensations of Tone,
N.Y., Longmans, Green, 1912,
p.
486.
See also A. C. Roncalio, "Just and Equal Temperament," J. Musical., 3 (1941): 120—122.
22]
23]
P. C. Greene, "Violin Intonation," J. Acoust. Sac. Amer., 9 (1937),
J.
F.
Melody,"
24]
J. Acoust. Sac. Amer., 21
Max Meyer
{The Musician
s
(1949): 593-^9^.
Arithmetic)
and others have long advocated the introduction
of quarter-tones into our music system and have argued that a
signatures and the usual signs
staff lines
would be
arranged
34
as are
is
in order.
See also P.
2S3 (19^2): 12^-143.
C. C. Pratt, op.
cit.
One
such
new
staff has
staff
which omits key
been suggested with the
The only sign needed in this new staff
Moon, "A Proposed Musical Notation,"
the piano's black keys.
for the quarter-tone.
J. Franklin Inst.,
2^]
43-44.
Nickerson, "Intonation of Solo and Ensemble Performance of the Same
THE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF MUSICAL SCALES
26]
An
organ with a 31 -note scale to carry out the harmonic ideas of the seventeenth-
century mathematician Christiaan Huygens has been built by the Dutch physicist, A. D.
Fokker ("Equal Temperament and the Thirty-one-keyed Organ,"
Sci.
Month., 81 {i3SS)'-
161-166). The basic interval of approximately 39 cents would appear to be on the very
border of practicality at best.
27]
P. R.
Farnsworth and C.
J. Appl. Psychol., 12 (1928):
28]
J. L.
F. Voegelin,
"Dyad Preferences
at Different Intensities,"
148-1^1.
Mursell, "Psychology and the Problem of the Scale," Music. Quart., 32 (1946):
^64-^73-
3?
3-2
CHAPTER THREE
The
In
Interval
the preceding chapter
music are the tonal
it
was shown that the building blocks of
intervals. This chapter will
continue the exami-
nation of these musical constituents and will pay special attention to
a
number
of characteristics they have been said to possess/
Distinctive Quale
It
goes almost without saying that each interval has
distinctive quale,
recognized.
We
the psychological characteristics by
have already mentioned the
own
its
which
fact that,
it
is
physically
may be a number of things. The tones of the
example, may have frequencies of 2^6 and 432, 25^6
speaking, the interval
major
sixth, for
384 and 648, or even ^i
and 426-6, 2^6 and 430*
3,
mention only
a
But
configurations
have a psychological quale in
sixthness.
within
a
few.
The major
all
sixth,
like all
margin of span tolerance
A number
of researchers
who
2
and 864 d.v.
,
to
these physically different stimulus
common,
a
major
other intervals, has stability
(p. 26).
are interested in phenomenological
description have attempted to describe verbally the several interval
characteristics.
The
results have
not been strikingly successful.
It is
unlikely that an octave rendered by a flute will be described in the
same terms
36
as will
the identical interval presented by a piano, a
THEINTERVAL
violin, or a tuba.
However, the reader can check
on
to intervals played
a variety of instruments
his
ov^n reactions
and see
if
the
fifth
always sounds dilute, hollow, and harsh; the fourth rich, harsh, and
coarse; the second gritty and grating; the third
mellow and sweet;
the sixth luscious and juicy-mellow;
the seventh astringent and
sharp-rough; and the octave smooth,
as
the
Edmunds and Smith
observers found them.^
The reader
will probably already
know
can improve his ability to recognize the
also
know
that descending intervals are
than the ascending (p. 39).
find that he, like
If
Ortmann's
he
tests
subjects, 3
much practice he
intervals. He will possibly
more difficult to recognize
that by
himself he will very likely
is
relatively
poorer in
his
recognition of minor intervals and particularly of minor sixths,
sevenths, and thirds, and, like Maltzew's observers, 4 poor also in the
identification of tritones.
in the
middle
Recognition, he will find, tends to be best
register, the tonal range
most used
in music.
But
whether the greater use of the middle range has made recognition
better or better recognition has forced greater usage
is
as
yet
unanswered.
Vibrato, Tremolo,
and
Trill
Vibrato concerns physical spans too small to be perceived
Although the
intervals.
definite pitch spans
reacts as
if
violinist or vocalist
whenever he employs
produces
as
such but rather
them, and he continues for
a
as
as
of
his vibrato, the listener
he were hearing embellished single tones.
hear the two pitches
a series
He
does not
one pitch midway between
time to hear a single tone even though
the performer oscillates his tone over a wider and wider pitch
span.
Whenever
the embellishment has
extreme, the effect
is
more
become
likely to
so
marked
be termed
a
as to
be quite
tremolo than
a
37
THE INTERVAL
vibrato, although
the two.
If
no
definite
the extent of oscillation
between three-quarters of
ceases to hear a single
tion
boundary Hne can be drawn to separate
a
between two tones,
emerges
as qualitatively different
pitches are
at vibrato rate.
He
reaches his interval.
heard
In
somewhere
instead perceives an oscilla-
a successive interval,
now
still,
tone and two whole tones, the listener
wobbly tone and
The two
even
becomes greater
or
The trill,
trill.
then,
from the tremolo and the vibrato.
as separate tones
making
a trill the
which may
alternate
performer often over-
does this to compensate for the fact that his
listener tends to underestimate the size of the trill just as
he does
the extent of the vibrato.
Apparent Pitch of Intervals
After stating that an interval has
seem paradoxical to speak of
relative pitch
a
which even
pitches,
it
is
an entity and
nai've listeners
as
may
were
interval pitch as if the interval
Yet each interval
single tone.
two boundary
a
such possesses a
can recognize.
Many years ago while at work on the pitch of intervals, Stumpf,
German psychologist, proposed a principle which he supposed
had universal application.^
component of an
upper, that
that
it
is,
interval
He
is
held that the pitch of the lower
always dominant over that
of the
much more
obvious
that the pitch of the
lower
is
so
has the greater effect on the pitch of the interval con-
figuration.
In his experiments
to his listeners, one
he presented two octave intervals
whose frequency span was approximately from
130 to 260 d.v. and the other from 260 to
reported that
it
was the apparent pitch of the
was more unlike the pitch of 260
d.v.
They seemed, then,
more
to be attending
5^20.
first
His audience
interval
which
(approximately middle C).
to the pitches of the
lower
components.
Stumpf's generalization seems in line with the dictum of the
THE INTERVA L
harmonists
is
who
state that the
normal orientation of
a tonal pattern
from below upward. To quote Watt: "Rising makes the impression
We
of tonal recession, falling, that of approach.
voluntarily
Perhaps
begin a scale
from below, not from above, and we end
this
tendency toward upward movement
it
is
below
in-
again. "7
responsible for
the fact, mentioned above, that ascending intervals are easier to
recognize than the descending.
Which
is
more
unlike middle
C
Which
in pitch?
higher in pitch?
is
IC
-er^
or
w
Unfortunately, the British psychologist Valentine was unable to
verify this principle of
Stumpf 's,
of the higher interval
as
more
for his subjects regarded the pitch
unlike that of 260 d.v.^
When
he
further asked for a comparison of the pitch of a certain octave with
that of a smaller interval
which
lay
wholly within
this octave, his
subjects voted for the octave as the higher in pitch. Thus,
apparent that his subjects were, in each instance,
it is
quite
more impressed by
the higher pitch.
Puzzled by these conflicting sets of data,
performed two experiments along similar
1920's and the other fifteen years later. 9
the present writer
lines,
one
In his
in the early
researches he
attempted to learn whether these divergent findings might not some-
how be
in his
related to the fact that
Stumpf had used musically naive men
experiments while the majority of Valentine's subjects had
been schoolchildren with some musical
training.
It
was the author's
theory that children, sopranos, and well-trained musicians generally
39
THE INTERVAL
have had so
upper
tones
much
experience in melody hunting, in looking
lines of their
now
To
stand out for them.
verify this idea that
melody hunting
unmusical persons, sopranos, contraltos and
resulting data
showed
an important variable
is
the writer tested relatively
in establishing the pitch of intervals,
The
the
at
music, that the higher pitches of a complex of
and male singers.
altos,
that the relatively unmusical,
and to some
The
extent the male singers, voted in line with Stumpfian theory.
sopranos, on the other hand, and
many
of the other singers of both
sexes behaved as had Valentine's schoolchildren.
Clearly,
then,
Stumpf's rule must be modified to embrace the effects of training
in
melody hunting.
Stumpf was correct
of the lower component of an interval
musically untrained and for
higher component which
some
is
basses.
in stating that the pitch
dominant, but only for the
For other persons
more markedly
it is
the
affects the pitch of the
interval.
The Major-Minor
Effect
Misled by the terms "major" and "minor," many people assume
that the
major
sixth, for
and the minor sixth
a
example,
calls forth a
minor or gloomy-feeling tone.
demonstrated, however, that intervals,
minor
major or joyous
characteristics.
as such,
a
Moreover, the major and minor chords, the
major and
better, therefore, had
the small
labels
number
a
more
minor
interval.
It
(p. 88), are
each
would have been
far
writers followed the lead of Alchin and
of bolder harmonists
who
have changed the interval
from "major" and "minor" to "large" and "small. "^° To term
a sixth a "large sixth"
characteristics.
40
can easily be
have no major or
musical structures which do possess such attributes
composed of
It
affect
is
to
impute to
it
no
special psychological
THE INTERVAL
Finality Effects
A
simple demonstration of
finality effect
made by running
can be
over a succession of C's and F's on the keyboard and asking the
listeners for an appropriate stopping point.
in Western music there will be
almost invariably be
one of the C's
made on an
with
some have
C
as the first
seem more
that ordinarily
The
argument.
stop will
Yet the vote would have been for
C
this note,
restful,
is
The repeated
scale.
note will make
C
playing of this
the tonic or keynote, which
or intervals and chords with
more
finished,
not regarded
characteristic of finality
We
listeners steeped
"magnet tone." Because of the emphasis on C,
called a
melodies ending on
will
Among
the demonstration had been immediately preceded
if
by several renditions of the
scale
F.
little
if it is
more
as at all
final.
it as
all
a bass,
Even an ending
restful will take
listened to as an ending
see here, then, a principle of return, a desire to
on
this
many times. ^^
come back to
an emphasized note.
may well ask, why was so much emphasis on C
needed to make it the more appropriate ending? Why was a stop on
F otherwise the iTiore final? The answer would appear to depend on
the way Western scales are constructed. In the key of F, C is a
perfect fifth above F; and the fifth, or dominant, is without much
But, the reader
doubt the second most important note of the
C
scale.
boundary note of both the major and minor chords
A
flat,
C).
On
the other hand, F
fourth above C) in the key of
often than
C
is
heard
as
C
is
and
is
the upper
(F,
A, C; F,
only the subdominant (a perfect
is
heard in that capacity
the dominant in the key of F.
experience leads us to structure C's and F's with F
as
far less
Hence,
the tonic, with
the notes in the key of F.
If
the listener had heard a succession of unemphasized C's and
G's, his inclination
would have been
appropriate ending. This time
it is
to vote for a
C which
is
C
as the
more
the subdominant in the
41
THE INTE R VAL
key of G and
G the dominant in the
key of C. Therefore
C
is
the
more
hkely keynote and gives the better ending.
A
second principle which operates in inducing finahty
that of faUing inflection. ^^
Just as in
with an unresolved question and
music there
falls
many
with an assertion, so in Western
lower tone of
This
phenomenon
has appeared in the data of a host of re-
quite possibly linked to the fact, mentioned earlier,
searchers and
is
that a scale
normally begun from below and
The
It
is
effect of falling inflection
enhanced by
is
also appears that size of interval
finality.
intervals
is
a
ended
is
size
of successive
steadily decreases the
But with chords the effect of
may be
descent.
related to restfulness and
from one to eleven semitones rather
different, for the larger chords
as a
slowing of the tempo.
Thus, Zener has shown that increasing the
finality effect. ^3
a succes-
descending melodic
sively played interval or the lowest point of a
line.
is
languages the voice rises
a feeling of resolution in the
is
effects
as restful as
span
is
quite
or even
more
size of
restful than the smaller.
Striking finality effects can be obtained by playing a successive
interval
(or broken
chord or melody) where the ratio of the
frequency of one of the tones
multiple of
2 is
of the perfect
rest.
to
is
to that of the other as
some other number. For example,
fifth,
whose
Thispower-of-2 effect
ratio
is
is
2:3, the
2
is
2
or some
in the interval
the point of
more
often termed the Lipps-Meyer law after
the eminent psychologists Lipps^^ and Meyer, ^5
who
first
worked
in
the area and postulated similar theories to explain the phenomenon.
Much
of the factual side of the Lipps-Meyer law
is
unquestioned,
but considerable controversy has arisen over the explanation of what
it
describes.
w^hich makes
Is
it
there
some neurological reason
universally applicable, or should
for the
it
phenomenon
be subsumed under
the co-principles of emphasis and return and applied only to certain
cultures? Thirty years or
to
42
more
ago, the present author
was inclined
accept a neurological position similar to that of the earlier
THE INTERVAL
In fact, in researches
theorists.
he had found
lesser but
the ratio symbol
with
still
undertaken in the 1920's, he thought
measurable
smaller effects with
3,
In these experiments
7.^^
finality effects associated
and
£,
still
with
smaller effects
he had employed stimuli tuned
in
equal temperament which he hoped would approximate the symbols
3,
g
and
7.
A
decade later he was able to use tones pitched to just
intonation, i.e., with quite exact tuning. ^7 But this time these lesser
finality effects did
not appear. ^^ His inability to validate the earlier
work strengthened
his belief that the neurological factor, as reflected
in these primes,
Among
effect
is
those
was not of major importance
who
in finality effects.
have attempted to show that the Lipps-Meyer
the resultant of cultural conditioning rather than biophysical
structure
is
Updegraff, whose research was arranged to determine
whether the conventional resolution of
"power
of 2"
former,
she
was the more
found,
a
influential in
suggested
harmony or the
determining
The
More
finalty.^9
appeared to be somewhat stronger.
important, perhaps, was her discovery that Chinese students regarded
*
Chinese melodies
own
for their
as
more
melodies.
finished
and
restful
while Americans voted
In other words, the decisive element for
Updegraff 's subjects was familiarity, not the pitch relationships of the
endings.
Others have found that American-reared Chinese give responses
much
like those of Caucasian
Americans.
Orientals recently from
the coast of China feel the finality effects of our Western music less
keenly than American
where our
interior,
Chinese,
style of
music
while those from the
is
Chinese
not so well known, do not share
out notions of finality. Because of these racial-national differences in
response,
likely
it
would appear
that cultural conditioning
explanation for the Lipps-Meyer power-of-2
is
the
effect.
more
It
is
conceivable, however, that in addition to the "pulling power" which
practice
would
give the tone symbol 2, there
may
also
important neurological or other biophysical causation.
be some
less
^"^
43
THE INTERVAL
Interval Resolutions
Harmony textbooks teach that the successively played intervals
that make up the diatonic scale can be divided into those that are
"restless" or unresolved and others that have repose and finality. The
table
below shows the
Any other
system.
traditional resolutions in the tonic sol-fa
intervals,
such
as
do—re or do-ti, yield a "restless"
or unresolved effect.
Resolutions
Tonic Sol- Fa System
re to
do
re to
mi
Scale Letter in Key of
Ja to mi
G
A
to
C
la to sol
to
G
to do
B
to
C
sol
ti
C
D to C
D to E
FtoE
to do
Half of the resolutions listed in the table are quite obviously
C has been
examples of the principle of return. Wherever
emphasized to achieve keynote
on C,
that
is,
on
do,
status, all successive intervals
will display the
finality
descending major second re— do, the descending
a
symbol
interval
or ascending
return to the
If
scaled in just intonation the intervals are seen to end
2
tone (9 to
(27
to
3,
2
,
3
or 9 to
to
2
2).^^
,
and
15-
to
(It
as
on
does the la-sol
It is
interesting to note
it
were, the
will be recalled that the ratios of equally
tempered
that performers often sharp the
resolution.
2
)
These resolutions, then, can be
described in terms of the Lipps-Meyer effect.
scales
all
ending
Thus, the
effect.
fifth
fourth sol-do, and the ascending minor second ti—do
keynote.
sufficiently
ti
a little, anticipating, as
do not employ such small numbers.
mate the values given here
However, they approxi-
for just intonation and can
presumably be
described similarly.)
The
44
chief chord in the key of
C major
is
C, E, G, which occurs not
THE INTERVAL
only with
C
as
the bass but in
two other
E (or mi)
inversion, E, G, C, the
inversion, G, C, E, the chord
sol
become magnet
Mi
"pulls" re
it
stronger ending than the
bass
more used
is
weaker than
tones,
and fa to
in
is
and
It
would be
do,
since the
(or
sol).
Hence, mi and
but effective nontheless.
first
Of
the two, mi makes a
inversion with mi as
music than the second inversion.
for this reason that mi needs little or
who had
G
"pulls" la.
sol
sol,
the bass, and in the second
based on
is
In the first
positions as well.
It is
its
apparently
no resolution.
interesting to speculate about the reactions of people
heard only music in minor keys. The expectation would be
that since me
(E\} )
would now replace
mi as the
much-heard
bass of
the chief chord, the ascending major second (re—mi) and the descending minor second (fa—mi)
there
would no longer display marked finality. But
probability that people will ever be so tonally confined.
is little
Tonality
At
this
point
it
how
reasonable to ask
is
having a marked tonic.
any music can escape
We note the modernist's
interest in atonality
we meet much enthusiasm for polytonality, which the layman
may erroneously regard as another form of atonality. We are also
and
aware that the Oriental, although perceiving
music,
fails
to sense the tonalities of
tonalities are really there,
The
why
into the music.
is
in his
our Western music.
own
If
the
does he not perceive them?
Oriental's lack of sensitivity for our tonics simply under-
scores the point that tonality
he
finality
is,
in the last analysis,
subjective matter.
It is a
The
what one puts
Oriental, unfamiliar as
with the Western music system, needs to hear our resolutions
over a considerable period of time before he
our expectancies. But
with us even
as
we,
after a
is
equipped to appreciate
time he can learn to share experiences
in time, can learn to react "properly" to the
4?
THE INTERVAL
nuances of some of the Eastern systems.
Musical sensitivities are
culturally (but not racially) bound.
music Schonberg tried to
In creating his earlier atonal, or keyless,
would be emphasized above
insure that no tone
acquire keynote status.
its
neighbors and so
His method for achieving this atonality
barred the repetition of any one of the chromatic scale's twelve
tones until the other eleven had
hoped,
on the
of
all
been played. As Schonberg had
this self-imposed rule yielded
first
music which seemed,
few hearings, to possess no
Yet many persons
finality.
tonality;
have
it
saturated
at least
led to no feelings
with
themselves
Schonberg' s music to the point where they have begun to read a
modicum
of tonality into his music.
SchonberCT thought,
is
a relative
Atonality, regardless of
matter after
what
all.
Milhaud and others have for some time been composing polytonal
music. Although to
many
it
sounds keyless, from two to six keys are
functioning at once in the several melodies of the musical fabric. ^^
Attention to any one melodic line will disclose an obvious tonic. Yet
the lay listener normally focuses his attention on the complex, not on
a single strand, so that to
Although
it is
more
we
him
the music
is
virtually atonal.
speak somewhat carelessly of the evolution of music,
accurate to talk simply in terms of cultural changes.
know that "primitives"
the world over tend to have weakly structured
music systems and that they probably have somewhat
we
for
Western
tonality. ^3
Of our own
early
its
gradually
disappeared
until
only
we know
little
music
But over the years the
the
major and
iTiinor
remained.
Late in the sixteenth century the stage was set for strong
tonality as
we now know
it.
Tonality
is still
endeavors of the atonalists, but whether
centuries hence in
46
than
music system could be described with reasonable
accuracy, polymodality was already in vogue.
modes
less feeling
By the time the records of the Western world were
or nothing.
such that
We
its
present strength
is
it
with us
in spite of the
will be with us several
anyone's guess.
THE
I
RVAL
N TE
Consonance and Dissonance
Textbooks on harmony
fifth,
state flatly that the octave, the fourth, the
the thirds, and the sixths are concordant or consonant, Avhile
the seconds, sevenths, and
all
diminished and augmented intervals
are discordant or dissonant. These books, however, have
nothing to offer the student
who
quite properly asks what
little
or
makes the
minor seventh dissonant or the minor third consonant. The student
may know
that he prefers the dissonance of the
concordance of the minor
third. ^4
detective can generally find
He may
to the
also realize that a musical
some musical context
any dissonance will seem highly agreeable.
traditional
minor seventh
It
in
is
which almost
clear that the
conceptions of consonance and dissonance do not so
and that there can, in
readily apply to the present,
fact,
be no
unchanging definition of either.
Among
the rationalizations offered for the consonance-dissonance
classification, the
most accepted, perhaps because of the prestige of
the theorist, has been that proposed by Helmholtz.^5
this scientist, the
According to
consonant intervals are those whose fundamentals
and/ or overtones are free from the roughness caused by beats. ^^
Smoothness, then,
is
Krueger has offered
a similar
It is
remarkable
numerous
the Helmholtzian criterion of consonance.
how
refutations.
theory of beating difference-tones. ^7
these theories have persisted in the face of
One need
only arrange for one of the two
tones of the interval to be piped to the
right to see that
when
all
left
ear and the other to the
psychological effects are largely unchanged even
the possibility of air-borne beats has been eliminated.
More-
over, no beats can be created by the sounding of successively played
intervals.
Yet even Helmholtz
classified these latter just as
simultaneously sounded ones. Here
an interval without beats
same
interval with beats
is
is
branded
is
he did the
an example of name magic, for
as
dissonant simply because the
dissonant.
47
THE INTERVAL
Stumpf's theory effusion can be objected to on similar grounds, ^^
For when he
consonant interval tends to fuse into a
says that the
which
unitary impression
defies
he
analysis,
is
obviously
quite
speaking solely of the simultaneously sounded interval.
Successively
played intervals can be easily separated into their component tones
by the musically untrained
always certain that he
is
as
well as the trained, and the listener
hearing two tones.
is
But with the simulta-
neously sounded interval, with the well-fused octave particularly,
there
A
may be moments
of doubt for
many
persons,
theory stressing the internal structure of the interval was pro-
posed by Lipps.^9 According to
his view, the
consonant intervals are
those with simple ratios, and the dissonances those with the
complex
ratios.
Thus, the consonant
fifth
has the simple ratio of
and the dissonant seventh the more complex
There are many
most
serious, perhaps,
is
its
failure
2
:
3
8:15:.
with Lipps's theory.
difficulties
more
to cover
One
of the
the fact that the
consonant interval can, within limits, be stretched or squeezed,
the ratio
made more complex, without an apparent change
interval quale, 3° If the
perfect
fifth,
it
be rated
will
larger or smaller
it
interval
has been
as
is
still
recognizable
as,
consonant no matter
made or how complex
in the
say,
the
how much
its
ratio has
become.
The hypothesis of
number
interval,
adaptation, that consonance depends
on the
of times an individual, or his ancestors, has heard a given
has been supported
Although the two
men
both by Ogden3^ and by Moore, 3^
differ in the details of their theories, they
agree in employing in an explanatory sense the once popular but
now
discarded biological doctrine of the inheritance of acquired characteristics, 33
Hence,
we
shall
not consider their ideas further except
to note that they have both suaaested the possibility that consonance
is
not absolute, fixed once and for
all.
If
such a suggestion were
followed, the theorists might then go a step forward, drop the
48
THE INTERVAL
consonance-dissonance dichotomy, and replace
it
with
a
continuum.
This would indeed be a gain for musical theory.
So
far
we
have considered theories which have identified con-
sonance with smoothness, with fusion, with simplicity of interval
ratio,
and with stage of cultural and individual adaptation. These four
be so dissimilar that one wonders whether their
criteria appear to
proponents had the same phenomenon in mind. That they probably
did not has been quite well demonstrated by several studies in
persons have been asked to judge intervals
first in
which
terms of smooth-
then for blending, and later on for fusion. 34 Three quite
ness,
judgments emerge. They are so
different sets of
that the early Seashore Sense of Consonance Test,
for judgments
on
all
different, in fact,
whose
directions asked
three criteria at once, proved quite unworkable
and was abandoned. 35 The
became hopelessly confused
test subjects
and ended by rating the intervals in terms of their agreeableness.
In their studies of consonance, the theorists of the past largely
ignored the fact that the
human organism
capable of learning.
is
Inherent in their theories was the assumption that a given interval
should
call forth identical
responses in
extent of their musical training. But
in the study of
as
all
people regardless of the
Cazden
says:
"The
consonance and dissonance dissolve
as
difficulties
soon
as
we
realize that these qualities are not inherent in perception as such but
are learned responses, adaptations to an existing pattern of the social
group. "3^
A
successively sounded major third
A
a simultaneously played third.
different
from
a
major third in
third has a different effect
A
major third
is
on
a
a
by
a
as a
perceptually different from
major third
in a
whole-tone composition.
not an abstraction.
It is
own
is
A
quite
major
composed of two tones
after the other,
part of this composition or that, and
person of our
Bach work
Hottentot and a European theatregoer,
which may be played together or one
played
is
which may be
which may be heard
or some other culture. 37 But to speak of the
49
THE INTERVAL
major third (or of any other interval)
more
were
consonance
is
do no
to
Musical science would be the better
than parrot a dogma.
this
as a
concept dropped from the scholarly literature.
Summary
The music student knows
that all but the tone-deaf can readily
learn to recognize the several intervals of the diatonic and chromatic
know
But what he may not
scales.
that each interval span can,
is
within certain limits, be stretched or squeezed without harm to
distinctive interval quality.
only one facet
The
in the
He
will find that interval uniqueness
composite of psychological
effects
register of the interval, the rate and loudness of
timbre of the instrument on which
harmonic contours
what each
abstraction
What
is
it
in
isolation
of real importance
Hence, the interval
as
an
only slight musical significance.
has
is
playing, the
its
have their part in creating
all
listener has learned to want.
or
is
on the listener.
played, and the melodic and
it is
helps to form
its
some
the interval in
specific musical
context.
The simultaneous playing of two tones forms, by
simultaneous interval, and the sounding of
When
another a successive interval.
alternated yet are
The
trill differs
still
perceived
as
the
two
first
The
trill,
two tones are
tones, a
then,
is
a
one tone and then
trill is
from the vibrato and the tremolo
are heard as single pitches.
definition,
rapidly
produced.
in that the latter
a successive interval,
while the vibrato and the tremolo are but ornamented single tones.
Although composed of two
felt to possess a definite
to
easily localized tones,
pitch level.
"melody hunt" among the higher
more
likely to give the interval
its
If
voices, the top
tone which provides the pitch.
50
it
is
the listener has been trained
pitch location.
has been attending to lower registers
each interval
will
boundary tone
But
if
is
the listener
be the lower boundary
THE INTERVAL
Intervals
possess
number
a
of perceptual
characteristics,
but
although certain intervals are traditionally labeled "major" or "minor,"
them
major or minor
no one
of
only
phenomena of chords and modes.
as
In
displays
Western music
a
number
Such
effects.
effects
of intervals are regarded as restful, as
yielding the effect of finality, whereas others are looked
unresolved.
appear
upon
as
Certain theorists tend to be impressed by the fact that,
other things being equal,
it is
the interval of simple ratio that calls
forth the greatest feeling of finality and rest in persons steeped in
Western music. These men regard
finality effects as physiologically
engendered even though members of other cultures often
the well-resolved intervals of the
sociopsychologically
their
issue
is still
explanations
is
minded
main explanatory
unclear.
may be
West
be
restful.
it is
a fact that
Other, more
At the moment, however, the
formalists 3^ and those given to biological
correct in their belief that the
natively geared to feel the simple-ratio intervals as
But
to find
theorists have offered habituation as
principle.
The
to
fail
human organism
the more restful.
continued experience with a so-called unresolved
interval will lead to a
growing feeling of rest and
music becomes familiar
finality.
Even atonal
in time.
Most theorists and composers are beginning to see that an interval
can be evaluated only in terms of
its
intervals consonant or dissonant
creativity and appreciation.
when
it
No
is
context and that labeling certain
a
stumbling block to musical
interval
is,
per
se,
unmusical even
cannot be formed from diatonic or chromatic notes.
since the listener of any culture
must be taught
is
to
some degree
a traditionalist,
But
he
to like the rarely used and the unfamiliar, and these
must be presented with caution. Indeed, music history
is
in large
part the story of the handling of innovations, of the gradual acceptance
of what was once musically unacceptable.
5-1
4-2
THE INTER VA L
Notes
i]
A number
of the
phenomena we
shall
be describing concern chords and melodies
well as intervals and could quite logically have been treated in other chapters.
as
The reader
must forgive the rather arbitrary decision to consider them here.
2]
E.
M. Edmunds and M.
Intervals," Amer. J. Psychol.,
3]
"The Phenomenological Description of Musical
E. Smith,
34 (i923):287-29i.
O. Ortmann, "On the Melodic Relativity of Tones,"
Monog., 3S, No.
Psychol.
i
(1926): 1-47.
4]
C. V. Maltzew, "Das Erkennen sukzessiv gegebener musikalischer Intervalle in den
aussern Tonregionen," Zsch.f. Psychol., 64 (191 3): 161—25^7.
S]
C. E. Seashore, "The Vocal Trill," Mus. Ed.
6]
C. Stumpf, Tonpsychologie, Leipzig, Hirzel, 1883, 1890.
7]
H.
J.
8]
C.
W.
29,
No.
3
(1943): 40.
Watt, The Psychology of Sound, Cambridge, Cambridge U. Press, 19 17.
Valentine, "The Aesthetic Appreciation of Musical Intervals
Children and Adults,"
9]
J.,
P. R. Farnsworth,
among School
6 (191 3): 190-216.
Brit. J. Psychol.,
"Notes on the Pitch of a Combination of Tones,"
(1924): 82—85^; "The Pitch of a Combination of Tones," Amer.
Brit. J. Psjchol.,
Psychol.,
J.
No.
5;,
25
3
(1938): S3^~Si910]
C. A. Alchin, Applied Harmony, Los Angeles, published by the author, 192
11]
P. R. Farnsworth,
"The
Amer. J. Psjchol., 37 (1926):
12]
L.
A
1
on Ending Preferences
in
i.
Melodies,"
16-122.
demonstrates the
finality
effects
of falling inflection
Kaiser, "Contribution to the Psychologic and Linguistic
Psychol.,
13]
study which
Effect of Repetition
is
by
that
Value of Melody," Acta
9 (i95'3): 288-293.
K. E. Zener, "The Perception of Finality in Simple Tonal Sequences
as
Determined
by Pitch," Doctoral Thesis, Harvard U., 1926.
14]
A good
English language account of the T. Lipps views can be found in volume
2
of
Psychology Classics, K. Dunlap, ed., Baltimore, Williams and Wilkins, 1926.
i^]
M. Meyer, "Elements
of a Psychological Theory of Melody," Psychol. Rev., 7 (1900):
in the Psychology of Music," Amer. J. Psychol., 14 (1903):
241-273; "Experimental Studies
4^6-478.
16]
P.
R. Farnsworth, "Atonic Endings in Melodies," Amer. J. Psychol., 36 (192^):
394-400.
17]
P. R. Farnsworth, "Further Data
the Psychology of
18]
J.
Tone and Music,"
Concerning the Lipps-Meyer Law"
Genet. Psychol. Monog., IS,
Handschin, in Der Toncharakter:
Atlantis Verlag,
1948, asserts that
if
eine
Einjuhrung in die
i
in "Studies in
(1934): 40-44.
Tonpsychologie,
ZiJrich,
the tones of the scale are arranged in an order
corresponding to the number of fifths they are removed from
S2
No.
F,
then the smaller the order
THE INTERVAL
number
more masculine
the
"A Preliminary Study of
R. UpdegrafF,
19]
Acad.
the Nature of Finality in Melody," Proc.
Gestalt explanation of the
suggests the
power of the symbol
2
well-known Law of Pragnanz, which holds
objects in the simplest arrangement possible.
among
the scale symbols,
See
keyed to characteristics of the
in
A
"Theory of Tonality,"
than a matter of mores, see A.
2 is
the smallest symbol to appear
Teach. Nat. Assoc. Proc. 1949,
43
I.
of the inner ear, has been offered by
J. Gen. Psychol.,
who
formation
as
Ser. (195-1):
203-206. E. Franklin has recently suggested
movement
Actually 9 to
division by
i
.
The
essential nature,
be subsumed under one
when
"applied to melody
of the bass or the implied bass." (Tonality as a
Basisjor the Study of Musical Talent, Goteborg,
21]
Sweden, Gumperts Forlag, 1956,
however,
is
2
See Milhaud's Third Sjmphonj for an example of six-key polytonality.
23]
Most American Indian music, however, shows considerable
McAllester, Enemy Way Music, Cambridge, Mass., Peabody
P. R.
Farnsworth and C.
]. Appl. Psychol., 12
H. L.
2^]
191
p. 48.)
not altered by multiplication or
22]
24]
more
is
Elkus, "Tonal Centers and Central Modalities," Mus.
that the Lipps-Meyer law functions only
subordinate to the
For the
3J (1947): 169-176.
believes that the Lipps-Meyer effect
that the principles so far suggested to explain finality effects can
is
who
biological explanation of tonality, this time
membrane
basilar
views of a biologically minded musician
His notion
L. Mursell
J.
that persons tend to perceive
Mursell 's "Psychology and the Problem of the
J.
Scale," Music. Quart., 32 (1946): £64.-^j^.
H. Wunderlich
Since the
comes from
furnishes the simplest possible arrangement and so provides
it
the most satisfying of endings.
rule.
la.
23 (1926): 279-282.
Sci.,
A
20]
Handschin has apparently
be the character of the tone.
will
and restfulness with masculinity.
identified stability
F.
F.
See D. P.
tonality.
Museum, 19^4.
Voegelin, "Dyad Preferences at Different Intensities,"
(1928), 148-151.
Helmholtz, On
the Sensations of Tone, Ellis, trans.,
N.Y., Longmans, Green,
2.
When two
26]
tones which are very close to each other in pitch are sounded together,
the amplitude of the resulting sound
eliciting a
throbbing or beating effect.
is
periodically
augmented and decreased, thus
For example, the sounding of two tones whose
frequencies are 1000 and looi d.v. will yield one beat per second.
beats
is
over 20, the individual beats are not heard; the effect
When, under
certain conditions,
two tones with,
are sounded, a difference tone of 700 cycles
ment of instruments which
say,
may be
is
If
the
Until recently
were relying on beat phenomena to help them tune
that they depend rather on apparent pitch. See J.
Before the develop-
it
made
use of
was assumed that musicians, too,
But
their instruments.
F.
of
frequencies of 8000 and 8700 d.v.
distinctly heard.
give visual pictures of sound waves, piano-tuners
beat counts in adjusting piano strings.
number
merely one of roughness.
it
now appears
Corso, "Unison Tuning of Musical
Instruments," J. Acoust. Soc. Amer., 26 (i^^^.): 746-750.
Krueger,
Differenztone und Konsonanz," Arch. Ges. Psychol.,
27]
F.
28]
C. Stumpf, Tonpsjchologie, Leipzig, Hirzel, 1883, 1890.
"
1
(1903): 205—27^.
5"3
THE INTERVAL
29]
T. Lipps, Psychological
Wilkins, 1926.
by D. B.
Irvine
Irvine,
would
Classics,
What might be
"Toward
a
vol.
regarded
2,
K. Dunlap, ed., Baltimore, Williams and
as a variant
of the Lippsian theory
is
that
proposed
theory of intervals," J. Acoust. Soc. Amer., IJ (1946): 350-3^^.
classify intervals
by families on the
basis of the length of the
composite wave
scheme, the fourth (3:4) and the major sixth (3: j) would belong to one
family, the major third (4: ^) and the ninth (4:9) to another, etc. In other words, all
intervals whose ratios are as 3 to something would be grouped into one classification, 4
form.
By
this
to something into another, and £ to something into
30]
J.
Peterson and F.
W.
Musical Intervals," Amer.
View of Consonance,"
31]
32]
ij,
33]
still
another.
Smith, "The Range and Modifiability of Consonance in Certain
J.
PsjchoL, 42 (1930):
Psjchol. Rev.,
^61-^72;
J.
Peterson,
R. M. Ogden, Hearing, N.Y., Harcourt, Brace, 1924.
H. T. Moore, "The Genetic Aspect of Consonance and Dissonance,"
No.
2
Psychol.
Monog.,
(1914): 1-68.
For an excellent refutation of genetic theories of consonance see "An Experimental
Test of the Genetic Theory of Consonance" by E. G. Bugg and A.
Psychol.,
34]
"A Functional
32 (192^): 17-33.
E.
S.
Thompson,
J. Gen.
4J (19^2): 71-90.
G. Bugg, "An Experimental Study of Factors Influencing Consonance Judgments,"
Psjchol. Monog., 4s,
No.
2
(1933);
C
P. Heinlein,
"An Experimental Study
of the Sea-
shore Consonance Test," J. Exp. Psjchol., 8 (i925'): 408—433; C. P. Heinlein, "Critique
of the Seashore Consonance Test," Psjchol. Rev., 36 (1929): 524-^43.
35']
C. E. Seashore, Manual of Instructions and Interpretations for Measures of Musical Talent,
N.Y., Columbia Graphophone, 19 19.
36]
N. Cazden, "Musical Consonance and Dissonance:
(194^): 3-1
37]
R.
W.
A
Cultural Criterion," J. Aesth.,
4
1-
Lundin, "Toward a Cultural Theory of Consonance,"
y. Psychol.,
28 (1947):
45-4938]
C. C. Pratt,
known through his earlier publications as
now espouses what might be
the role of learning in the arts,
a formalist
Although Pratt backs away from cultural relativism and approaches
his
physical science rather than a social science bias, his theoretical position
to be in complete opposition to that taken in this
Judgments," J.
54-
Aesth.,
IS [1956]: i-ii).
who
plays
down
called contextual relativism.
book ("The
problems with
a
would not appear
Stability of Aesthetic
CHAPTER FOUR
Melody
/vLTHOUGH
usually present a
layman will
somewhat
feel that
larger configuration of tones before the
music
as
such really
At
exists.
musically unsophisticated the basic element of music
tones he terms a tune or an
He
one must
intervals have great musical significance,
air.
what he can
It is
tends to regard most other musical
least for the
is
recall
phenomena
as
a series of
and name.
the tune's
embellishments. This chapter will consider in some detail the tune,
what musicians
Melody,
define.
call
like so
The
the melody.
many other concepts
best general definition
successively sounded intervals and
tion.
is
in music,
that a
is
very difficult to
melody
must have some
is
made up
of
sort of organiza-
But the nature of that organization has puzzled both the
musical theorists and the experimentalists.
frequent statement that a melody
optimum
validity;
variety within unity.
yet
it
tells
us too
is
Such
little.
In the literature
a tonal
may have some
need to know how
a description
We
still
entirely in terms
Certain tonal sequences, they say, are by their very
nature properly unified and
than a few formalists
and optimum.
the
sequence displaying
optimum unity and variety can be identified.^
The formalists attempt to state their definitions
of tonal stimuli.
is
who
show optimum
variety.
feel that intuition tells
But the majority
fall
There are more
them what
is
proper
back on the practices of their
S5
M ELODY
Only what
favorite composers.
Brahms regarded
as
Beethoven, or perhaps a
a Bach, a
properly melodic
can
be accepted.
When
These
formalists
would
reminded
that musical practices are in the process of continual
freeze music at one of
its
periods.
they are
change, they either hold firmly to the rules followed by the earlier
elite
and frown upon the modernists, or
shift
models with the
thought that absolute principles are only gradually revealed. True,
absolutes are implicit in the tonal stimuli and so are fixed and eternal.
But
man must
search
them out with the reward of only
partial
success..
The
relativistic position, the
one accepted by most
favors a definition in terms of
listener
hearing
comes
it
it
learning.^
as
it
which brings
changes,
For
all
its
course, will
of us live in a social organiza-
to our attention certain sequences and ignores, if
sanctions change.
But culture
is
never
static.
Hence, what was once regarded
properly unified and optimally varied
hackneyed, and what once had too
on
holds that a
Not every sequence, of
does not actively frown upon, others.
As
It
to regard a sequence as forming a unity only through
over and over again.
have the chance of repetition.
tion
human
social scientists,
much
may
later
variety
be thought of
may
as
eventually take
unity.
Many
years ago Emerson, employing intervals smaller than our
semitones, constructed what might be called microscopic melodies.
The sequences seemed
to possess little tonality as the musician of the
West knows the term. Yet Emerson's
subjects learned to regard
these unusual patterns as unified and to develop certain expectancies
Emerson had
concerning them.
in effect established a tiny musical
subculture.
A
melody, then, seems best defined
personal thing,
a
in
terms of learning.
56
a
matter of expectancy. Theoretically speaking, any
sequence of tones could conceivably constitute
culture group.
It is
But
at
a
any one time and place only
melody
for
a fraction
some
of the
MELODY
many
possible will receive official approval.
nonconformist
will
patterns until, for
to
which the
persist
him
experimenting with unapproved
become melodies. The extent
at least, these
radical can convince others that they should accept
these sequences
is
a
mark of
shown
has
his greatness.
and Learning
Principles of Attention
Ortmann
in
In spite of this, the
laws of primacy, recency,
that the
and
emphasis, which educational psychologists have found so helpful,
also
hold for melodies. 5
First
and
notes he found to stand out
last
prominently. They often become focal centers for the melody and
The
aid the listener in his quest for unity and coherence.
were
low^est notes
also seen as attention-getting.
highest and
Moreover, any one
of the remaining notes of the melody could, he found, be
equally or even
emphasizing
it
Ortmann' s
in
more prominent by
some other way.
can
observations
giving
easily
be
it
more
loudness or
by
verified
made
analyzing
responses to Seashore's Measure of Tonal Memory.^ In this test threeto five-note sequences are played twice,
with one of the notes
changed on the second rendition. The task
to recognize the change.
Now
it
be the
is
might be guessed that the three-note melodies would always
remember and
easiest to
the problem
is
not so simple.
the five-note the most difficult.
For the
difficulty in recall
is
But
in part a
function of the prominence of the note which has been altered.
Altering the
produce
first
a radical
number of
The law
or the
last
tone, or the highest or the lowest,
may
change in the tonal configuration, regardless of the
tones in the sequence.
of frequency
is
one of the most important principles
melody formation. The themes of the
some new and unfamiliar idiom seem
they are heard a
number
of times.
radical
who
is
composing
in
in
tuneless, i.e., unmelodic, until
The layman who
is
forced to listen
57
MELODY
to such material
may lament
the good old-fashioned melodic music
of the past, without realizing that
music
his great-grandfather,
on
some
of what he
now
calls
melodic
hearing, described as tuneless.
first
Repeated hearing over the years has led to acceptance and, with
the feeling that this kind of melody
now possesses
it,
adequate unity and
coherence.
Many American laymen and psychologists are hard put at times
understand why musical theorists seem so blind to the importance
to
to
their art of the law of frequency, ignoring so completely the function
of learning.
The explanation appears
to be that music theory stems
pretty largely from European philosophy, which was long dominated
by the great formalist Kant. This or that
is
so, said the formalists,
because inherent in the stimulus conjiguration are the qualities that
it
this
make
way. The formalists ignore the possibility that reasons may
lie
frequency of association, in cultural inheritance.
in
The present author does not hold
feels that
many,
if
He
to the formalistic position.
not the majority, of explanations necessary for
understanding the phenomena of music must be looked for in the
habits of the listener, in
culture history.
,
what he has learned from
and
his personal
,
Melody and Pitch Level
Now
and again one may hear of
a small child
who,
complain that
"Mama
his
customary evening
my
song tonight." Mama, of course, will
same
as
on previous
lullaby, will
nights.
And
a pitch level slightly higher or
so
it
insist that
after hearing
didn't sing
the song was the
was, except that
it
was sung
lower than the usual one.
For
child and for a tiny fraction of the population, pitch level
important part of melody.
440
d.v. will for this
do
is
pitched
at,
this
is
an
say,
extremely small number of persons be psycho-
logically different if do
^8
A melody whose
at
is
perceptibly raised or lowered.
MELODY
There was
a time
when most
of the authorities considered the
abihty to identify pitch level, termed "absolute" or "positive" pitch,
the resultant of
some Mendelian principle of inheritance and an
infallible
index of musical precocity.
not quite
as
But the
facts of the case are
the early theorists described them.^
no person can identify accurately by
We now
know
letter every tone given
that
him or
can sing or play correctly any demanded pitch. Varying with a
number
of circumstances, his accuracy will most probably be better
for tones
whose timbre he knows
best.
It
will, for
for piano tones and poorer for the purer tones
some laboratory instrument. 9
range, in the registers
It
example, be good
from
a tuning fork or
will be better for tones in the middle
most used
in music.
It
will be poorer for
black than for white keys.
A
small boy of five studied in the Stanford Psychological Labora-
tory began, while
still
in kindergarten, to notice the pitch level of
mother's songs
o and to "correct" her when her Jo's were as much
a semitone away from their accustomed pitch level. At this age,
his
as
however, he could not make such
fine discriminations
home instrument. But
when tested on his own
tones, even with those of his
years he
showed
great skill
another year's time he could do
tory piano.
Still later, his skill
clarinet tones.
Here we
growing experience with
see a
as
with piano
about two
in
piano, and in
well on the very different labora-
became phenomenal with
growth
violin and
in pitch-level skills paralleling
a variety of timbres.
more skill in
minded persons who
Persons claiming absolute pitch generally display
recognizing pitch level than do other musically
make no such claims. Yet
the overlap in ability between those willing
to claim the ability and the
more modest
the high scorers often decrease in
vastly
improve their
status
skill.
is
large. ^°
Without practice
Those lower
in ability can
with assiduous practice."
After hearing a pitch of 2^6 d.v. frequency, most of us could play
or sing a gii d.v. pitch with reasonable accuracy.
Or
if
given
some
^9
MELODY
kinesthetic cue,
if
can sing, some of us could figure, so to speak, where ^i
we
But
definitely
be reacting
in
would need some sort of reference
2
should be.
point.
We would
terms of relative, not absolute, pitch, or so said the early
on the other hand, there
In absolute pitch,
writers.
we
allowed to probe for the lowest or highest note
no need for
is
auditory or kinesthetic reference points, for the reactions are allegedly
"intuitive"; the faster they are, the
The reader may
biological
more
accurate they will be.
be convinced that absolute pitch
still
relative pitch,
that the
two
matter of
However, the evidence can even more
inheritance.^^
showing either that absolute pitch
readily be interpreted as
extreme
is a
is
but
one end of the relative-pitch continuum, or
while perhaps not completely identical, are
abilities,
highly correlated and are both dependent on musical experience. ^3
It is
a fact familiar to all psychologists that in learning a
an individual at
first
makes use of
motor
skill
of cues or crutches. ^4 As
a variety
the skill improves, less and less attention will be paid these cues.
By
the time the person has achieved real mastery over his task, he can
and does
will
its
be
likely not only to
He
quality.
tuitive" fashion.
Some
slow
does his best
Thus
it is
his
if
he
if
At
A
first
he found
After
position.
humming
this
it
note
he behaves
necessary to
as a
many weeks
disappeared, but for
humming.
Later, this
immediately or the
A
use them, he
in
an unthinking, "in-
with the learning of absolute pitch.
(440 d.v.) to the point of
manage, taking
tries to
performance but seriously to harm
years ago the author developed his
nizing violin
error.
In fact,
for2;et his earlier aids.
need
own
less
hum
accuracy in recog-
than an eighth-tone
the lowest note he could
point of reference to "figure" the
A
of effort, the need for the audible
a
time he
still
also vanished
needed to imagine the
and the
string of the violin could
A
could be sung
be tuned without
outside reference.
It
has been said that
While
60
this
many
"primitives" possess absolute pitch.
claim has not been verified,
it is
reasonable to suppose
MELODY
that a person
whose
were confined
tonal experiences
to a do of
constant pitch would rather quickly develop a relatively good feel
Certainly better pitch-level responses should be
for pitch level.
expected in an area where
all
persons used only French pitch
more
(p. 17)
than in another area where a variety of standard pitches was used.
Many German
in
schools do not teach the movable- Jo system so
common
America. They follow the "tone-word" method which, by assigning
a singable
nearly
name
to each tone of the chromatic scale, gives a
absolute
frame of reference.
make fewer
children so taught
So
far
we
^5
not surprising that
is
errors in pitch level.
have not delimited the term absolute pitch.
would reserve
it
Seashore
for abilities with errors of a tenth of a semitone
(10 cents) or less. ^^ Bachem's criterion
other contemporary researchers allow
No
It
more
is
almost
a far larger
census of the general population has ever been
percentage enjoying absolute pitch.
obvious that the figures can be
made
If
one
is
But
as stringent. ^7
margin of error.
made
to find the
ever undertaken
large or small
it is
depending on the
narrowness of the criterion adopted for absolute pitch.
to conclude that only a person extremely interested in
It is safe
who
pitch level or
melody has
its
has been indoctrinated with the notion that each
"proper" key
(p.
86) will be greatly upset by melody
modulations of small magnitude. The great majority of us think
musically in terms of intervals, not single tones of fixed pitch. Therefore, unless a
register,
its
melody
is
raised or
lowered to
a relatively
unmusical
basic characteristics will not be greatly affected
by
changes in pitch level.
Melody and Loudness
Melodies with unconventional skips and harmonies are noticeably
less bizarre
attention to
when
played at low intensities.
what otherwise would tend
No
to slip
doubt loudness
calls
by unnoticed. The
61
MELODY
below shows
table
a typical set
of preferences obtained from college
Note
students for intervals based on middle C.^^
that,
by and
large,
the softest renditions are the most preferred.
Relation of Loudness to Interval Preference
3
octave soft
15-5
minor 3rd soft
major 6th loud
major 6th medium
27-S
tritone loud
4
tritone soft
15-5
octave
27-S
5
minor 6th
17
4th
29
minor 7th loud
minor 3rd loud
6
minor 7th
soft
18-5
major 7th
30
major 2nd loud
7-5
major 6th
soft
18-5
minor 6th medium
31-S
major 7th medium
7-5
major
medium
20
Sth
31-S
9
Sth soft
21-5
major 2nd
34-S
minor 7th medium
minor 2nd loud
major 2nd medium
34-S
minor 2nd medium
36
major 7th loud
1
4th soft
2
major 3rd
13
3rcl
14
soft
soft
medium
25-S
4th loud
2S-S
minor 6th loud
medium
medium
soft
medium
10
tritone
21-5
octave loud
11
major 3rd loud
23-5
Sth loud
12
minor 3rd medium
23-5
minor 2nd
If
made
sufficiently
loud,
a
33
soft
soft
pitch in the middle register
may
appreciably change in apparent pitch. While estimates differ, one
good experimentalist claims
minor
third. ^9
to have observed a change as large as a
Ordinarily an increase in the loudness of a low or
middle-register vocal tone tends to increase
tone to decrease the pitch.
its
pitch, of a very high
Soft tones are, in general, flatted.^''
blaring discordance then, may, because of
its
The
extreme loudness, have
pitch relationships slightly different from those the composer in-
tended.
Indeed,
shift in pitch
Much
that
it
is
conceivable that on very rare occasions the
might lead to
is
invalid has
less
discordance.
been written about the control of loudness
in playing the various musical instruments.
the assumption on the part of
infinite
number
way
which the
in
others have
little
62
many piano
There
is,
for instance,
teachers that an almost
of tone qualities can be elicited simply by varying the
shown
fingers strike the piano keys.
that the
But Ortmann^^ and
mechanics of piano action allow for very
tone variation. The few effects that do obtain are
made
possible
MELODY
through
hammer
nothing
else.
velocity, impact and
Most of the
striking the keys in various
As anyone with only
knows, there are
ways are
hammer
and pedal
brought about by
illusory.
a passing acquaintance
at least tw^o,
noises,
allegedly
effects
with the modern piano
and sometimes three, foot pedals.
These are the sustaining or loud pedal, the
and, particularly in
soft,
American-made instruments, the sostenuto. Scores
for pedal effects
like those for intensity generally are in rather a primitive state.
so
it is
Even
surprising that professional pianists are in so little agreement
as to the
"proper" use of the pedals.
research
in
this
who
Heinlein,
did extensive
found marked disagreements among the
area,
performances he examined. ^^ As
a
matter of
fact,
no performer he
studied was able even to duplicate the pedal performance he himself
had made ten minutes
have
little
earlier.
Heinlein found music teachers to
precise knowledge of just what the pedals can and can-
not do.
It
should be noted that performers do not follow their pitch scores
slightly,
and employ a
variety of melodic ornaments. Yet these deviations
from the pitch
exactly.
They
intentionally sharp and
flat
scores are relatively slight. "Inaccuracies" in intensity control, on the
other hand, are far
so crude and
it
is
more
extensive.
knowledge of
no wonder
that the
With
intensity-score indicators
finger and pedal possibilities so meagre,
control of loudness often mirrors the
idiosyncrasies of the performer
more than
does those of the
it
composer.
Because of terminological inadequacies,
is
it
musician to designate a particular loudness. There
ever, a unit of loudness, the phon,
use.
(The number of phons
of looo cycles
is
is
available,
the
how-
be enjoying some
number
of decibels a tone
above the reference intensity
loudness to the tone in question.)
is
for
to
which appears
equal to the
difficult
The phon
when judged
is
equal in
approximately the
smallest increment of loudness that can be noticed under ordinary
63
MELODY
circumstances.
The
below
table
some
gives
idea of the average
loudness of various noises.
Type of Noise
Phons
Airplane engine 10 feet from propeller
120-130
Riveting machine 35 feet away
Pneumatic
drill a
few
feet
102
90-100
away
Conversation
60
Quiet suburban street
40
Quiet whisper
20
The contemporary conductor Leopold Stokow^ski
is
said to inter-
pret his scores as follows:
ppp=
p^
2o phons
pp=4o phons
ff= 8g phons
55 phons
mj^6g
phons
1=75
phons
jJJ=^^ phons
Melody and Timbre
It is
unfortunate that authorities write
minor chord, or
fifth, a
whether played on
violin.
What
a
a
melody
marimba,
a
at
times as though a perfect
will have identical characteristics
harmonica,
a tuba,
or an old
Cremona
they are neglecting are the differences in timbre, the
constellations of partial tones each instrument adds to the fundamental
tones. ^3
The tuning fork and
simplest tones one can
certain organ pipes will yield the purest,
meet outside an
tones are relatively free of overtones.
acoustics laboratory, for their
The
air
columns around them
vibrate largely at only one frequency for each pitch.
instruments, by and large, give very impure tones.
But orchestral
In
some, certain
of the overtones even match the fundamentals in loudness. ^4
Flute tones and soprano voices are relatively pure; tones from soft
horns, soft male voices, pianos and strings are richer,
more complex;
tones from wood-winds (except the flute), loud male voices, and loud
brass (in this order) are
brilliant, cutting, blaring^,
64
more complex and may be described as
or even strident. The tones of the clarinet
still
MELODY
emphasize the uneven-numbered partials and are usually regarded
hollow and
(See also Chap,
nasal, ^5
g, p.
as
Melodies in a low
92.)
register have richer quality than those of high pitch.
Many
of us associate melodies of bagpipe timbre with things
Scottish, the
fife
or
drum with
the military, the oboe family with the
oriental world, and the pipe organ with church.
male
associate the
may
falsetto
whose
lose
with buffoonery,
falsetto
much
of
a serious
we
often
melody sung
in
serious quality. Yet for the Cantonese,
its
employs no female voices, the male
stage
Because
falsetto replaces the
female voice and so w^arrants serious listening.
There are those who
precisely as
Bach on
its
One
really prefer
own
that
composer played
modern organ or
a
orchestra.
their
feel
can only
it.
music should always be played
To
these people
to arrange his
music for the present-day
wonder how many of
Bach on the baroque organ and
these conservatives
how many
However, there
intellectualizing.
a sin to play
it is
is
are victims of
no question but
that
the psychological effects of Bach's polyphony depend in some degree
on the type of organ employed.
It is
a bit disheartening to find that as
one grows older the timbre
of what one hears progressively changes. The
human
ear
becomes
gradually deafer, especially for tones in the highest registers and the
higher overtones cease to exist. The average thirty-year-old hears
well as he did a decade earlier.
almost
as
age
likely
is
as
man
years of
fifty
to be appreciably deafer, particularly for tones of
2048 d.v. and above.
low
But the
By seventy years the deafness may extend
the 1024 d.v. level.
Another way of looking
as
^^
at this
age-decrement
is
to
compare the
hearing of the several age-groups at one pitch level, say at 8192 d.v.
In the
decade from the early twenties to the early thirties there
change. But by age forty there
is
often a ten-decibel loss.
The
is little
testable
loss tends to
grow
more than 40
decibels by age sixty. ^7 These loudness losses have little
to approximately
2
^ decibels
by age
fifty
and to
65
MELODY
relevance to the hearing of the melody's fundamentals, but they bar
the older person from hearing the full richness of the overtone matrix.
Many
instruments have important resonance areas in the higher
pitch reaches. The partials in these areas are lost to the older listeners.
In consideration of these hearing losses
vv^e
should, perhaps, be
When
considerate toward crotchety old music critics.
critic maintains that the tones of a certain orchestra
performer are not so
full
and rich
correct; for to his aging ears the tonal mass truly
he
to realize
fails
come
that the time has
is
younger colleagues the evaluation of tonal
We
saw^ earlier (p. 9) that the
playing of old
Cremona
one such
or virtuoso
they once w^ere he
as
for
is
him
more
is
quite
less rich.
What
to leave to his
effects.
timbre effects elicited from the
violins are in part illusory.
There are other
situations w^here the alleged timbre effects are better attributed to
some other
what
sense than the auditory.
said to
is
one study
it
An
instance of this sort concerns
be the coldness of Heifetz's violin performances.^^ In
was
first
demonstrated that Heifetz
is
indeed regarded
one of the coldest of concert performers. But whenever
his
as
recorded
performance of a particular composition was compared with another's
recording of the same piece
Szigeti
latter's playing that
and Totenberg and Milstein
seemed occasionally
Heifetz coldness
was usually the
is
was
Morini and Elman were thought to be quite
rated as the colder.
definitely colder,
it
less cold.
It
at least as cold.
would appear, then,
that the
probably due to the visual effects of his
posture or lack of
playing looks colder,
facial
we
Since Heifetz's
expression.
imagine that
it
also
Only
stiffer
manner of
sounds colder.
Melody and Sonance
Tone
quality and timbre appear as
musical treatises.
in
most
But, as Metfessel points out, timbre refers only to
instantaneous pictures of the
66
synonymous terms
sound complex. ^9
Under the broader
MELODY
caption of tone quality must also be considered the progression of the
complex
Sonance,
which Metfessel has coined the word "sonance."
for
as
the term
is
now
used, refers to the progressive changes
moment
and fusions which take place within the tone from
moment.
to
Like timbre, sonance furnishes a setting for melody and
can greatly affect
psychological characteristics.
its
The most worked-over
area of sonance
is
melodic ornament described elsewhere
that of the vibrato, a
(Chap.
i).
It
be
will
recalled that in employing the vibrato the singer or instrumentalist
varies his tones periodically
from those of the score.
Sonance
also
appears in nonperiodic and in erratic tone fluctuations. 3°
much impressed by
Seashore has been
never sung or played precisely
as
the fact that a
melody
is
The introduction of the
scored.
vibrato and of glides, and the intentional sharping or flatting of tones
illustrate
how
the performer can stamp his individuality on the
Seashore has generalized from these data to the point of
music.
formulating an aesthetic rule: beauty, he thinks,
deviation from the rigid and regular.
the photograph, which, with
not so highly rated
as
its
He
lies
in artistic
has offered the analogy of
too faithful copying of an object,
is
the less representational painting (p. 142).
But whether or not the deviation principle should be elevated to the
position of an artistic law,
we must
agree that the "horizontal"
impurities of the vibrato and of the erratic and the nonperiodic
fluctuations of tone are, musically speaking, extremely important.
Sonance,
impurities
then,
must be considered along with those
we term
"vertical"
timbre.
Melody and Noise
We
have
seen
characteristics
that
when
it is
a
melody shows
different
psychological
played on instruments of dissimilar timbre.
Noise, too, attaches itself to melody and aids in the creation of most
67
5-2
MELODY
Noise has been defined
musical experiences.
complex, or so irregular, or both, that
heard by
itself. "3^
There
is
no
definite
it
boundary between noise and
tone, for experts can sometimes detect a pitch
seems only
which
layman
to the
conglomerate of unpitched sounds.
a
The rubbing of the bow, the tapping of the
keys3^ or
sound either so
as "a
seems to have no tone when
on the fingerboard of
on the piano
fingers
a violin, the hissing of the breath in
playing the flute, and the plucking sounds necessary to harp-playing
all
serve as excellent examples of noise in music.
belief of some, noise
On
at all costs.
not unpleasant per
is
the contrary,
it is
se,
nor
Contrary to the
is it
to
be avoided
often deliberately sought to give
pleasure.
That beating
effects
add to the fullness of tonal experience can be
observed by listening to the pipe organ. This versatile instrument
assigns
them
more
than one pipe to each pitch but does not achieve for
precisely the
pipe organ
its
same pitch. The beats
in the thinner sounding
sing pipes
audition.
which
felt as
much
missed
and awe by posseshuman threshold of
effect of massiveness
whose frequencies are below the
While these slow
they can be
is
and more exactly tuned electric organ. There
which achieve the
are organs
so created help to give the
characteristic quality, an effect
periodicities cannot be heard as tones,
building vibrations and sometimes heard as faint
rattlings.
The modern
orchestral
composer often
feels the
need for more
noise effects than the traditional instruments can provide.
excite and shock his audience with his use of apparatus
He may
which
yields
rhythmic grunts, siren wails, noises usually associated with the
factory,
and even more unusual sounds.
Henry Cowell,
temporary American composer, has put noise to work
compositions.
piano strings.
massage of the
68
a
con-
in his piano
Plucking sounds arise from a harplike picking of the
An
eerie, wailing effect
strings.
comes from
And, following Dandrieu,
a light stroking or
who
in the early
MELODY
1
700's expressed the cannon's roar by striking the lower harpsichord
notes with his
where the
Cowell has long been playing "tone-clusters"
fist,
fist,
the
of the hand, or even the entire forearm
flat
simultaneously depresses
the keys
all
it
Cowell 's
can encompass.
techniques are especially effective for program music.
Melody and Tempo
It is a matter of common
which
a
melody
is
played
observation that the
often an index of
is
position set to walking speed
slow speed
waltz.
As
a dirge,
we
and
still
shall see in the
an important determinant of
as
major or
Some
as
may
some intermediate speed
a
next chapter, the tempo of a melody
is
its
at
activeness, of whether
fixed in
told to
mind
move back and
deemed proper. The
were
if
college students had
The
subjects
forth a large speed lever
were hearing was
1
at the rate
were
16 quarter-notes to the minute,
what the Aeolian Corporation regarded
fox- trots
reacted to
lever settings given by this group
generally in the neighbourhood of
The
it is
for waltz time. 33
until the playing of the composition they
just
A com-
Duo-Art player-piano, made by the Aeolian
tempo well
were blindfolded and
they
function.
minor.
years ago a
specific
its
well be a march, another at very
another
Corporation, was used in an attempt to learn
one
tempo or speed with
at that
time
as
proper.
usually set at a considerably faster tempo, at
approximately 143.
Further research on dance tempo was carried on six years later by
Lund with
a similar
faster speeds
were by
sample of college students. 34 Lund found that
time considered proper,
this
and i^g for the fox-trot.
leaders recognize
Lund noted
two waltz times,
a
that
many
i
39 for the waltz
dance-orchestra
slower one that approximates
the value uncovered in the earlier study, and the so-called concert or
faster style
whose tempo
is
about the figure his subjects considered
69
MELODY
The
proper.
tempo
fox-trot also has several
variants, of
which two,
the Charleston and the Black Bottom, had considerable popularity for
a time.
Conductors and performers often
develop some particular
effect.
In
alter the
in order to
one movement of the
Symphony (The Funeral March), Beethoven's
Eroica
own marking was
set at
Koussevitzky cut the speed to 74 for his conducting, Beecham
80.
to
tempo
and Toscanini to ^2. Wagner once complained that the
62,
Tannhduser Overture took twelve minutes under his
long
as
own
baton but
as
twenty under certain other conductors.
Music seems to have more than
culties.
Confusion abounds in
this
time, tempo, periodicity, takt, true
defined.
In the
next section
we
its
share of nomenclature
tempo
beat, 35
area
diffi-
where terms such
as
and rhythm are variously
shall discuss the relation
of melody to
rhythm. The reader should be warned that other authors might have
included portions of the discussion on rhythm in this section on
tempo.
But although tempo and rhythm are obviously very closely
related, they are
by no means
identical. 3^
Melody and Rhythm
Rhythm
is
more than the
periodicity resulting from the continuous
repetition of a simple sequence such as do,
re,
mi, fa.
To
elicit
rhythm,
one element from among the four symbols must be emphasized
some way
to
make
stand out from
it
its
fellows.
If
the do alone
in
were
made more intense, if it were held longer than any one of the others,
or of it were somehow made qualitatively unique, say given a very
different timbre, then the sequence would possess what has been
termed objective rhythm.
All three of these
simultaneously.
The
modes of emphasis
pianist, in striking
are used in music, often
more
strongly the
first
note
of a rhythmic pattern, not only makes the tone louder but auto-
70
MELODY
matically alters
its
timbre in
slight
degree
and
also breaks the regularity of his timing
Unwittingly, he
as well.
tarries longer than
he
thinks he does on the stressed tone. 37 In trying, then, to use intensity
as a
means of emphasis the
pianist has also
employed both timbre and
timing to create his rhythms. The organist, of course, cannot so easily
control his intensity relationships and must depend
more on timing
in his attempts to bring about emphasis.
Rhythms serve the
listener
by increasing
his perceptual
span,
dividing up patterns of melodic material so that larger units can be
more
When
readily grasped.
rhythmic emphasis
the
on the
tonic, dominant, etc.,
important positions of the
scale, e.g.,
the tonality structure
made more obvious and
is
anticipations are whetted.
By
on the
is
the listener's
shifting the accent to a tone
which
is
is,
by synco-
pation, the listener's anticipations are strengthened even
more and
normally not accented in a given rhythmic pattern, that
the intensity of the adjacent time-keeping beat
The most obvious
motor
gift
rhythm brings
activity. This activity
movements too
slight to
often occur while jazz music
may reach only
is
played. 39
to eliminate
activity-inducing quality of
rhythm
Simple labor, such
as that
music.
still
on contemplation rather than on
rhythm and endeavored
heavy loads
music
intensified. 3^
is its
invitation to
the covert stage with
be casually observed, or the rhythms may
induce overt nodding, foot tapping, and
stress
to
is
it as
is
other activities, such
The
early church, with
as
its
action, looked askance at
far as possible. 4°
The
earthy,
well demonstrated in
of unskilled
workmen
work
passing
down a line, is made easier because of the highly rhythmic
And although many lay dancers pay little or no
chanties they sing.
attention to the
rhythm of the music
to
which they are dancing, the
more skillful do dance in time with the music and are guided by it.
Combing through the work of the past, Mursell has tentatively
concluded that there are only seven unit groups among the musical
rhythms. 4^
In the table below, the dash designates the emphasized
71
MELODY
element in each
case.
The reader can
readily find illustrations of the
iamb, trochee, dactyl, and probably the amphibrach, although the
much
latter is
illustrates
Lundin
the least frequent.
the
single
offers the
beat,
rumba
as
Unit Groups
—
—
— w
— w
v-/
Handel's Dead March from Saul
and Chopin's Opus S3 the tremolo.
an example of the anapest.^^
Musical Rhythms
in
accented,
^
unaccented
Iamb
w
Trochee
v^
Dactyl
1^
1^ —
— w
'u Ky \j
- I
I
I
rhythmic units tends to possess
seems more
Dunlap
is
somber. 43
referring less to
Tremolo
Single Beat
According to the experimentalist Dunlap,
units
Anapest
Amphibrach
a
music with short
joyous quality and that with longer
It
would appear, however,
that
we
have
rhythm than
tempo, and
to
more
already noted that faster music seems
active or major, while
slower tunes appear inore somber or minor. The available evidence
indicates that the affects given
on either
culture
cultural
we do
not rush a corpse to
with measured tread.
funereal.
•
trochee
melody by rhythm depend very much
conditioning or personal experience.
grave, but carry
its
Hence, rhythms with
from those of
take on a
a
5"
2
have already
slowly and
single beat
may seem
march
flavor.
Other
illustrations of
would be somewhat
commented on
and
7
in the
our
different
the fact that
Western music has
on the rather simple rhythmic patterns
-beat, 3 -beat, 4-beat, and, to a lesser extent, the 6
and
8.
The
occur so rarely that laymen are usually ignorant of their
existence and
fail
to appreciate theiTi. These rarer rhythms do occur
Orient and could enjoy more use
were devised which forced movements
72
it
people of an alien culture.
specialized, so to speak,
the
our
Infantrymen usually favor one or the other foot, so the
may well
associations could be gathered, but they
We
In
in the
West
if
dances or
drills
in these patterns (p. 4).
MELODY
fortunate that the abiUty learned by one set of muscles "crosses
It is
over" in some degree to other
A rhythmic
sets.
one, learned through drill with the right hand,
by the entire organism. The
pattern, say a 5^-beat
is
in actuality learned
hand, either foot, or, in
left
any
fact,
mobile part of the body, can beat out the rhythm. After the pattern
has been thoroughly mastered
upon
a
Such
a superimposition
can be superimposed,
it
is
termed "subjective rhythm."
later in 4-beat can readily
that there
is
siderable
first
do
as
no rhythmic pattern
could not hear a
5^-beat
contact with
rhythm
5^-beat
in
if
the objective rhythm
is
person
when he knows
in the physical stimuli.
unless, of course,
But he
he had had con-
If a
melody
terms of that rhythm.
in
is
possesses a strong and
very weak, the listener
may
supply his
subjective rhythm.
A number
of the early missionaries to Africa brought back the
surprising tale that the natives
seemed poor
in
rhythms and often beat
randomly on their drums. Since drumming was
as
A
-beat rhythm, then in 3-
requested even
familiar objective rhythm, the listening
But
2
music or had been subjected to
laboratory drill with this rhythm.
own
were,
sequence of events which physically has only periodicity.
asked to hear a metronome beat
and
as it
a sort of telegraphy
well as musical behavior and so was a highly skilled activity, such
a report did not
seem very reasonable.
More
careful observations
proved the missionaries to have been quite mistaken. These
studies
showed the rhythmic patterns
to
later
be extremely precise but
too complicated for Western-trained laymen to follow. The African
drummers,
it
patterns, i.e.,
was found, were simultaneously tapping
2
against 3, 3 against 4,
Western music has not
2
against
in
D
against g, etc.
entirely neglected polyrhythms.
be observed, for instance, in MacDowell's
Chopin's Nocturne
3
Flat.
Certain
in several
Tragic
They can
Sonata
or in
modern composers, notably
Henry Cowell, have employed cross- or polyrhythms rather extensively,
and composers of "hot" jazz have traditionally superimposed
73
MELODY
rhythmic cycles of three beats on the fundamental rhythm of two or
four beats. 44 But the majority of conservatories and schools of music
offer
no
how
the student will be able to play these polyrhythms on the
special training for their mastery.
It is
assumed that some-
occasions he finds the need, 45
The schools
that
do teach the handling of polyrhythms employ one
some combination of
of two procedures or
procedure
is
the kinesthetic method, by which the hands (or feet)
are separately trained in
two or more rhythms. This
scheme featured by Jaques-Dalcroze
mies. 4^
The most obvious
these.
The method
is
also
in his
is
supposedly the
dance system of eurhyth-
used by the pianist Arthur Hardcastle,
w^ho on being tested by the author some years ago was found to be
very
A
Hardcastle could tap
skillful,
3 against 7,
and 4 against
7
with
2
against 3,
less
3
against 4, 3 against ^,
than a 10 per cent error.
second approach to the mastery of polyrhythms
oneself the least
common multiple
to be played. For example,
from
I
through
the other on the
i
and
by counting to
(or fraction of this) of the rhythms
in learning to play 2 against 3,
and taps with one hand on the
6
is
i
,
3
and
one counts
g,
and with
4,
Other Hand
One Hand
X
X
1
2
X
3
X
4
X
5
6
Where
When
the multiple becomes large,
playing
counts of the
against £,
3
first
it
can be
split into parts.
one hand taps on the
group of five, on the second and
first
fifth
and fourth
counts of the
second group, and on the third count of the third group. The other
hand
74
taps
on the
first
count of each group of
five.
MELODY
O THER Hand
One H AND
X
X
1
2
3
X
4
5
X
1
X
2
3
4
X
5
X
2
X
3
4
5
At Stanford University there has been devised
a third, or Gestalt,
procedure which appears to have an advantage over the other methods
in that
comphcated patterns can be learned almost
simpler.
The scheme
necessitates
pressing a phonograph record.
the
2
in
2-beat
the
cutting a player-piano roll or
In presenting the polyrhythms, say
against 3, the roll or record
middle C's
as readily as
rhythm and
is
made
to offer a succession of
a series of G's in 3-beat.
The
learner merely listens and attempts to duplicate the C's and G's at
some higher or lower piano
register.
If
the piano roll
is
employed,
the beginner has additional cues from watching the keys as they are
automatically depressed.
Harmony
Singing in unison
is
undoubtedly
and men, or w^omen and
men
as
old as music.
join in singing the
But when boys
same melody, the
make it easier for
The octave span was
natural differences in the lengths of the vocal folds
the
men
to sing an octave
below the
others.
75
MELODY
probably adopted for perceptual reasons
as well.
Its
two tones
fuse
so completely that the musically untutored often imagine the singing
to be
all in
unison. This confusion
less likely to
is
occur with any of
the other intervals.
Another early breakaway from unison singing came with the drone
bass.
Here, one tone
of the melody.
is
continuously sung or played for the duration
In effect, the
drone becomes
a
keynote which adds
greatly to the stability, i.e., to the tonality, of the musical structure.
At times the
or dominant,
sol,
Nowadays the drone
bass
is
is
most
the pipe organ has a place for
it
additionally
employed
as a
drone.
readily heard in bagpipe music, and
in the pedal, so called because the
foot sustains the drone.
Many
to
of the world's music systems went no farther along the road
harmony.
Their major innovations were often in rhythmic
development, an area in which Western music has done relatively
But the West, perhaps during the ninth century, took a logical
little.
next step in developing the organum in which there were
in addition to the octave, voices a fourth
moving
parallel to the
although one with
theme. Here, then,
is
finally
a type of
monotony of
moved
harmonizing,
parallel octaves, fifths,
in opposite directions.
the only intervals officially recognized
At
first
were the same three "perfect"
But since the very mechanics of opposing motion necessarily
ones.
created other intervals, thirds and sixths gradually
came
into vogue.
these innovations, simple parallel motion gradually dropped in
favor to the point
again dared
It is
where
later harmonists proscribed its use.
It
was,
not until the contemporary period that composers once
in fact,
employ
a fact of
become
76
both
drove composers to the scheme of opposing
motions, where two melodies
With
now added,
a fifth above,
little variety.
After several centuries the
and fourths
below and
it
to any considerable extent.
music that the composing habits of any era tend to
rigidly codified.
The
rules take
on the character of taboos
MELODY
which keep
all
but the braver composers from experimentation. Yet
each great composer establishes his
a
few of the
rules
own
school by breaking at least
which have fettered music up
process of breaking old rules and making
new
won
and gradually
a
is
several
Although poly-
homophony, appeared during the Renaissance
dominant position
entirely replaced polyphony.
music
which
in
melodic strands are simultaneously sung or played.
rival,
this
ones, simple opposing
motion gradually broadened into polyphony,
phony's great
By
to his time.
In fact, a
in
Western music,
it
never
good proportion of modern
quite polyphonic in character.
During the heyday of polyphony, any simultaneously sounded
interval or
chord was more or
less a fleeting, fortuitous affair
happened with certain juxtapositions of the several melodic
homophonic
which
lines.
In
became the focus of
writing, however, a single line
attention and the other parts took on a decidedly secondary aspect.
became the
These
latter
effect
was music
intervals
as
clothes, the ornaments, for the melody.
the present-day layman hears
became important
in their
own
right,
it.
The
Chords and
and arguments about
which ones were allowable were heard. But gradually the harmonic
rules changed until, as the reader well
has by
now had
its
knows, almost every chord
day of glory.
Summary
Although in the past
tonal pattern
was taught
that, to
be
a
proper melody,
must have inherent unity and coherence,
that the unity
the listener.
it
is
not in the tonal line at
It is
all
but
is
it
now appears
literally
naturally difficult to feel unity in patterns
virtually impossible to sing or play.
a
read in by
which are
Yet even such tonal contours,
if
heard sufficiently often, become increasingly familiar so that the
hearing of any one of the tones arouses the feeling that this should be
followed by the next tone in the sequence.
It is
this
expectancy,
77
MELODY
then, that characterizes our conception of melody. 47
phenomena which obey the
perceptual
Melodies are
far
more than
principles of learning.
familiar sequences of tones.
persons with "absolute pitch," a melody
characteristics
if
Melodies are
the pitch register
may appear
altered ever so
is
To
the few
to change
little.
its
But for
the great majority of the musical public, melodies can be modulated
freely without
much change
in psychological effect.
Relative and
absolute intensities, on the other hand, are important to almost
Since this
listeners.
is
so, it
is
unfortunate that the
all
staff signs for
loudness variations are extremely crude and that the control of
loudness changes by vocalists and instrumentalists
is
incredibly poor.
For loudness nuances may make just the difference between the
acceptance of a melody or
its
But perhaps in the years to
rejection.
come, musicians will develop symbols which
notation.
It
will permit
more
exact
should be noted that finer units of measurement, e.g.,
phons, already are available to the musician.
Pure tones have no place
features
of tonal
variety
a
vibrato), and noises
—and
Indeed, each musical culture
in music.
impurities
— timbres,
sonances
trains its public in their appreciation.
New timbre effects are accepted slowly and grudgingly.
this
now
(e.g.,
For centuries
conservatism in Western music could be readily excused.
that the innovator can
sources of
modern
The job
largely a
is
But
draw on the almost inexhaustible
electronics there
is
re-
less justification for timidity.
propaganda one of convincing the public that
all
worthwhile timbres were not discovered by the old masters.
The older person
heard them
often imagines that
phonograph he will hear
his radio or
if
he turns up the volume of
his favorite
when he was younger. But
melodies just
as
he
deafness tends to be selective,
with the higher registers affected earlier than the lower. Hence, the
elderly miss
as
having a
much
of the tonal complex and perceive their melodies
less rich
timbre.
in loudness sensitivity.
78
Deafness, then,
is
more
than a weakness
M ELODY
Tempo and rhythm
often cue the Hstener to the melody's function.
With one temporal arrangement a waltz is indicated, with another
a dirge. The proper use of syncopation can whet the auditor's
anticipations. Although certain other cultures have made great use
of rhythmic complications, the West has not. A few courageous
contemporaries have attempted to free their music from the tyranny
of the quarter-note by the use of polyrhythms; but music teachers
have made
little effort
to train their students in the execution
appreciation of such "novelties." They
fail
and
to realize that they are
bypassing a rich source of aesthetic enjoyment.
Slow though the Occident has been
rhythmic materials,
it has
the stage of unison singing, the
basses,
experimenting with
in
led the world in melodic improvisation.
West
slowly
moved
to the use of drone
theorganum, opposed motion, polyphony and
phony with its chordal structures
,
It
From
finally to
homo-
should be noted that music systems
do not necessarily evolve. The music of a people may remain relatively
static, it
may proceed
toward an
from
along one line or another, or
earlier set of forms.
satiation, a goal
we
may
turn back
The composer's task is to keep his public
which can be achieved
In the present chapter
it
in countless fashions.
have concerned ourselves largely with
the anatomical side of music, with
its
flesh
and bones.
We
shall
continue in the next chapter with our discussions of melody, but
there
we
shall
emphasize
its
more dynamic
aspects.
Several facets of
the language problem will interest us.
Notes
i]
G. D. Birkhoff,
in Aesthetic Measure,
Cambridge, Mass., Harvard U. Press, 1933, has
presented a mathematical formula for assessing unity and variety which at
first
glance
seems delightfully straightforward.
But even Birkhoff has been unable to apply
except the simplest materials,
present author found when, in the middle 1930's, he
sent
him
as the
several melodies to assess.
it
to any
Apparently Birkhoff derived his formula from the
practices of composers as described in the
harmony manuals.
79
MELODY
J.
G. Beebe- Center and C. C. Pratt, in "A Test of Birkhoff 's Aesthetic Measure, "J. Gen.
IJ (1937): 339-35^3, have been brave enough to try out the formula with simple
Psychol.
,
Although they expressed themselves
musical materials.
hopeful of the ultimate utility
as
of the Birkhoff scheme they have not published further in this area.
Another formalistic measure of beauty has been proposed by Cyril Burt
How
Psychology of Art" chapter of
D + /\-i
/
Burt's aesthetic index
is
differentiated,
is
|
exp
the
/ is
|
number
in "The
Mind Works, London, Allen and Unwin, 1933.
the
,
where D
is
the
number
of items into which the
of relations integrating the items, and S
is
work
the scope of
apprehension under the usual conditions.
2]
L. L. Thurstone,
3]
L. E.
"The Problem of Melody,"
Music. Quart., 6 (1920):
426-429.
Emerson, "The Feeling- Value of Unmusical Tone-Intervals," Harvard
269-274. The work of Emerson and the studies by
Stud., 2 (1906):
Psjchol.
Max Meyer, "Elements
of a Psychological Theory of Melody," Psjchol. Rev., 7 (1900): 241-273, and by W. V. D.
Bingham, "Studies in Melody," Psjchol. Monog., 12 (191 o): 1-88, are examples of the
excellent early American researches on melody.
H. Werner,
4]
in
"Musical
'Micro-scales'
and
'Micro-melodies'," J.
Psjchol.,
10
(1940): 149-156, has shown that after a sequence has once been accepted as a melody
it
much
can be drastically changed without
intervals proportionately until they
all
O. Ortmann, "On the Melodic
S]
1—47.
J. P. Guilford
See also
loss of identity.
were of microtone
His procedure was to reduce
size.
Short Musical Melodies," J. Exp. Psjchol., 16 (1933): 32-54;
Nelson, "Changes in the Pitch of Tones
Exp. Psjchol.,
6]
J.
P. Guilford
when Melodies Are Repeated," J.
19 (1936): 193-202; "The Pitch of Tones in Melodies
_/.
No.
Relativity of Tones," Psjchol. Monog., 35,
i
(1926):
and R. A. Hilton, "Some Configurational Properties of
as
Compared with
and H. M.
Exp. Psjchol.,
Single Tones,"
20 (1937): 309-335.
C. E. Seashore, D. Lewis, and
J.
G. Saetveit, Manual, Seashore Measures of Musical
Talents,
N.Y., Psychol. Corp., 1956.
7]
With an arrangement
similar to that found in the Seashore Tonal
Wunderlich ("The Recognition Value of the Steps of the Diatonic
Memory
test,
H.
Scale," Amer.J. Psjchol.,
S3 (1940): 579-582) studied the ease of identifying the scale steps, Theja and ti were
re, and la were readily
quite difficult to identify as having been altered while the do,
identified.
See also C. P. Heinlein's
Melodic Configuration
Memory
in
Tonal
"A
Memory
Brief Discussion of the Nature and Function of
with Critical Reference to the Seashore Tonal
Test, "J. Genet. Psjchol., 35 (1928), 45-61 and R. Frances' "Recherches Experi-
mentales sur
la
Perception de
la
Melodie,"
J.
Psjchol.
Norm. Path., 47-Sl
(i9S4):
439-4^78]
For a review of the literature on absolute pitch see D. M. Neu's "A Critical Review of
the Literature on 'Absolute Pitch'," Psjchol. Bull., 44 (1947): 249-266.
9]
10]
B. L. Riker,
No. 193 (1932).
80
"The
L. A. Petran,
Ability to Judge Pitch, "J. Exp. Psjchol.,
"An Experimental Study
36 (1946), 331-346.
of Pitch Recognition," Psjchol. Monog., 42,
M ELODY
1 1]
Building on the early
work
of
M.
F.
Meyer,
"Is the
Memory
of Absolute Pitch
Capable of Development by Training?" Psychol. Rev., 6 (1899), J14-J16, others have
found as he did that by dint of careful training, errors can be reduced to as small a figure
as 33 cents.
See Helen K. Mull's "The Acquisition of Absolute Pitch," Awer. J. Psychol.,
Psjchol. Bull., 3S
36 (192 j): 469-493, and C. H. Wedell's "A Study of Absolute Pitch,"
(1941): ^^47-548.
A. Bachem
12]
pitch
is
Amer.,
is
one of the research
1 1
of this area
who
is still
convinced that absolute
W.
J. Acoust. Sac.
(1940): 434-439; "Time Factors in Relative and Absolute Pitch Determination,"
]. Acoust. Soc. Amer.,
13]
men
an inherent type of behavior. ("The Genesis of Absolute Pitch,"
F.
26 (19^4),
75^1-75^3.)
Oakes, "An Experimental Study of Pitch Naming and Pitch Discrimination
Reactions," J. Genet. Psychol., 86 (i9SS), 237-2^9.
14]
Even when the cues do not directly benefit the performance their presence may give
M. Brammer found
the person confidence. Thus, L.
that the pitch-level scores of several
were no better when they were given the opportunity to tune their own violins
than when the experimenter tuned the instruments for them under their orders. Yet the
violinists
added kinesthetic cues the manipulation of their own
fiddles gave
them increased
their
confidence in their scores. ("Sensory Cues in Pitch Judgment," J. Exp. Psjchol., 41 (1951):
336-340.)
I
£]
Karl Eitz, Das Tonwort, Leipzig, Breitkopf u. Haertel, 1928.
16]
C. E. Seashore, "Acquired or Absolute Pitch," Mus. Ed. J., 26 (1940): 18.
17]
A. Bachem, op.
cit.
The tonal intervals were played on a Duo- Art reproducing piano. When the intensity
levers were set at "soft" the intervals termed "soft" were elicited. Other combinations of
the levers yielded the "medium" and "loud" intensities. See P. R. Farnsworth and
C. F. Voegelin, "Dyad Preferences at Different Intensities," J. Appl. Psjchol., 12 (1928):
18]
148— 1
19]
5^1
H. Fletcher, Newer Concepts oj
the Pitch, Loudness
and Timbre of Musical Tones, N.Y.,
Telephone, 1935; ^- Kohler, "Tonpsychologie," Handhuch
Berlin, Alexander u. Marburg, 1923, 419—464.
Bell
20]
J. S.
Hurley,
"A Study
der Neurologie des Ohres,
of Pitch Tendencies in Certain Phases of Singing as Measured
by the Conn Chromatic Stroboscope," Thesis, Syracuse U., 1940. The picture with bowed
tones is somewhat different. Here professionals tend to flat with increases in bow pressure
but to sharp with each
bow velocity. See R. J. Harrington, "The Influence of
Bow on Violin Intonation: A Stroboscopic Study," Master's
rise in
Pressure and Velocity of the
Thesis, Syracuse U., 1952.
21]
O. Ortmann, The
H. C. Hart, M.
Tone,"
W.
Phjsical
Fuller,
Basis
and
J. Acoust. Soc. Amer., 6
W.
of Piano
S.
Touch
and Tone, N.Y., Dutton,
Lusby, "Precision Study of Piano
192^;
Touch and
(1934): 80—94.
Touch and Damper-Pedalling in the
(1929): 462-469; "A Discussion of
the Nature of Pianoforte Damper-Pedalling together with an Experimental Study of Some
22J
C. P. Heinlein, "The Functional Role of Finger
Appreciation of Pianoforte Music,"
J. Gen. Psjchol., 2
MELODY
Individual Differences in Pedal Performance," ].
Ten
"Pianoforte Damper-Pedalling under
Gen.
Psychol.,
2
(1929): 489-508;
Different Experimental Conditions," j. Gen.
Psychol, 3 (1930): 511-^:28.
23]
One
researcher believes he has demonstrated the existence of undertones, which he
conceives as the inverse of overtones.
C. Revesz's Introduction
to the
But so
far,
few others accept their
Norman, U. of Oklahoma
Psychology of Music,
reality.
See
Press, 1954,
pp. 13-1424]
For an excellent account of the timbre of band and orchestral instruments see
Chapter 17 of C, E. Seashore's Psychology of Music, N.Y., McGraw-Hill, 1938.
2 £]
The mounting
of the
mute on the bridge of
a violin
overtones and makes the "shade" of the tone "darker."
produced by holding the mouth "long," and a
D. Preston, "Pitch Variations
dampens certain of the higher
A "dark" vocal tone can be
"light" tone
in the Singing of Specific
Using Bright and Dark Tones," Master's Thesis, Syracuse U.,
26]
Variability, a general fact of
Many men
in life.
life, is
by
a "short"
Vowels on
mouth.
See
Specific Frequencies
1945^.
well illustrated in the area of auditory sensitivity.
deafen early while others keep their sensitivity relatively intact until quite late
But the average changes in hearing
ability are as described above.
C. C. Bunch, "Age Variations in Auditory Acuity," Arch. Otolaryngol., Chicago, 9
(1929): 62^-636; H. C. Montgomery, "Do Our Ears Grow Old?" Bell Lab. Rec, 10
27]
(1932): 311-313; N. H. Kelley,
Age and
Its
29 (1939),
somewhat
Effect
i'o6-5'i3.
28]
Montgomery
slighter than does
the frequencies
"A Study
in Presbycusis:
Auditory Loss with Increasing
upon the Perception of Music and Speech,"
below 1024
P. R. Farnsworth,
Arch. Otolaryngol., Chicago,
pictures the hearing losses of the aging as being
Bunch. Kelley presents them
as still slighter, particularly for
d.v.
"Notes on 'Coldness'
in Violin Playing," J. Psychol.,
33 (1952):
41-4?.
29]
M.
Metfessel, "Sonance as a
Form
of Tonal Fusion," Psjchol. Rev., 33 (1926): 45^9—
466. See also O. Ortmann's "The Psychology of Tone Quality," 1939
Int.
Congr. Musical.,
1944, PP- 227-232.
30]
Research
men
of the Seashore laboratories at the University of Iowa have
excellent studies of certain of these phenomena.
The
made
interested student can refer to
C. E. Seashore's Psychology oj Music, Chap. 9, or to the following monographs by Seashore's
student associates for detailed pictures of the portamento and of typical attacks and releases
of vocal tones: D. Lewis,
M. Cowan, and G.
Fairbanks, "Pitch Variations Arising from
Certain Types of Frequency Modulation," J. Acoust. Soc. Amer., 9 (1937): 79; R. E.
Miller, "The Pitch of the Attack in Singing," la. Stud. Mus., 4 (1936): 15^8-171; H. G.
Seashore,
A. Small,
"An Objective Analysis of Artistic Singing," la. Stud. Mus., 4 (1936): 12-157;
"An Objective Analysis of Artistic Violin Performance," la. Stud. Mus., 4 (1936):
172-231
31]
32]
W.
W.
T. Bartholomew, Acoustics of Music, N.Y., Prentice-Hall, 1942, p. 159.
G.
244-259-
Hill,
"Noise in Piano Tone, a Qualitative Element," Music. Quart., 26 (1940):
MELODY
33]
34]
H. A. Block, and
P. R. Farnsworth,
W.
C. Waterman, "Absolute Tempo," J. Gen.
10 (1934): 230-233.
Psychol.,
M. Lund, "An
Analysis of the 'True Beat' in Music," Doctoral Thesis, Stanford U.,
19393
5^]
For a definition of takt and true beat see Glossary.
36]
G. Brelet, Le Temps Musical, Paris, Press. U. de France, 1949.
37]
M.
T. Henderson, "Rhythmic Organization in Artistic Piano Performance," U. of
la. Stud. Psjchol.
psychologists
Mus.,
who
4 (1936): 281-305. The work of Henderson and the other Iowa
have studied piano performance was made possible by
For more
designed camera.
detail
Musical Pattern Score of the First
U. of
38]
la. Stud. Psychol.
It
its
J.
"A
of the Beethoven Sonata, Opus 2J, No. 2,"
A
Study of Musical Rhythms,"
J.
Gen. Psjchol.,
20
should be noted that the jazz musician syncopates not only with
Possibilite
as well.
See also P. Fraisse and
de Syncoper en Fonction du
Tempo
S.
Ehrlich,
d'une Cadence," Annie
5S (19?^): 61-65.
Psychol.,
39]
la
specially
4 (1936): 263-280.
Music,
rhythmic beats but with melodic contours
"Note sur
a
use see L. Skinner and C. E. Seashore,
Movement
H. E. Weaver, "Syncopation:
(1939): 409-429.
on
Eggen, "A Behavioristic Interpretation of Jazz," Psychol. Rev., 33 (1926):
B.
407-409.
40]
Kate Gordon,
Esthetics,
N.Y., Holt, 19 13.
41] J. L. Mursell, The Psychology of Music, N.Y.,
reproduced here with the permission of the
42]
R.
W.
Norton, 1937, p. 177. Mursell's table
Co.
Lundin, An Objective Psychology oj Music, N.Y., Ronald Press, 1953, p. 95.
43]
K. Dunlap, A Sjstem oJ Psychology
44]
See Kitten on
the Keys
or
/
Cant
,
N.Y., Scribner, 191
2,
pp. 309—313.
Give You Anything But Love, Babj.
45]
P. R. Farnsworth, "Concerning Cross-Rhythms," Sch. Mus., 33 (1933): 11-12.
46]
E. Jaques-Dalcroze, Rhjthm, Music and Education, N.Y.,
47]
This
is
is
W. W. Norton
not to imply that expectancy
fortunately, there
is
no brief
treatise
would do well
i.
the only basic principle of learning.
on learning which can be read with
psychologically unsophisticated musician.
learning principles
is
Putnam, 192
profit
Un-
by the
Those who wish more acquaintance with
to devote the time necessary to reading the learning
sections of one of the elementary textbooks in psychology.
83
6-2
CHAPTER FIVE
Language Aspects of Music
VVe
have already seen that sometimes to some people a melody
presents at least a small message.
said that
answer
still
is
a language in
question
we must
a
any
mean by language and then examine
this,
all
strict sense of the
agree on what
first
eerie feeling,
march time, or com-
But, granting
other impressions.
music
this
may "talk about" an
an oriental atmosphere,
a restlessness,
municate
It
we
can
it
be
word? To
are going to
the research material of the area.
Desire Jor Communication
Before the language process can be said to exist, there must be
persons
this
who
desire to
communicate
were the only earmark of
many composers, convinced
religious,
economic, or
their thoughts and emotions.
a language,
that the
political
music would
world needs
ideologies,
feel
If
qualify, for
their favored
that they
must
medium of their musical creations.
be found who believes that he, too, has
share their beliefs through the
An
occasional performer can
a share in the
communication process through
handling musical materials.
His thoughts, he
modify what the composer has to
that the confidence of
they can do
84
is
say.
It
unique way of
insists,
add to or
should be noted, however,
in
what they think
that they can successfully
employ musical
composers and performers
no proof
his
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
elements
linguistic signs, that they can tell the stories they are
as
so anxious to
tell.
different problem,
The matter of
which
somewhat
success constitutes a
will be discussed later in this chapter.
Grammar
A
second major earmark of language has to do with the formal
relations
among
music, with
harmonic
its
signs.
Every language has
signs.
its
grammar.
detailed rules governing the use of
But no grammar
is
its
fixed once and for
So does
melodic and
all.
The use of
"none are" would have been banned without question by any editor
a
few years ago.
Now
this
phrase occasionally gets by on the
rationale that usage seems to be giving
rules of music.
viewed
it
support. Thus
it is
with the
What was not allowed some time ago may now be
And some of the presently accepted usages
as acceptable.
may be frowned on in a later period. It is clear, then, that the rules
of grammar change. But, even so, there has been a grammar for
every school of musical composition.
Meaning
Few
but professional musicologists take
grammar of music.
historically
for
It is
much
a highly specialized area to
minded. More attention
is
communication. What motivates
likely to
a
interest in the
be studied by the
be given the desire
composer
to
create or a
professional performer to reproduce music arouses a deep-seated
curiosity
vity
on the part of many of us. Yet even motivation and
do not,
as a rule, excite as
much
interest as does the
musical meaning, the story that music
It
problem of
tells.
has been suggested that the existence of a desire for
communica-
tion does not of itself guarantee the presence of meaning.
monkey may
creati-
A
hungry
wail and screech in his attempts to communicate with
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
mate
his
in a nearby food-filled cage.
While the
monkey may
first
interest the second with his antics, his vocalizations will not tell her
to give
him
food.
So
far as she is
concerned
his vocal behaviors are
not meaningful although he
is
obviously striving to
The problem now before
us
is
communicating and
like the
hungry monkey,
must somehow
are deluding themselves into believing that others
understand them. The remainder of
with
so.
what extent musicians are
to see to
what degree they,
in
make them
chapter will be concerned
this
meaning aspect of music.
this
Alleged Key effects
In Grecian times, long before the day of free
tempered
scales,
a
melody was supposed
psychological character of the
was
Dorian mode with
in the
whole
tones, a half-tone, and
mode
its
in
to
which
modulation and
reflect
the unique
was written.
it
If it
arrangement of a half-tone, three
two whole tones
G, A, B,
(as in E, F,
C, D, E), dignity, manliness, courage, and self-dependence were the
qualities
thought to be expressed. But
if
the Lydian
used,
melodic message was considered one of softness and
the
Because he believed that hearing the Lydian
indulgence.
be harmful to man's character, Plato banned
Republic."^
Lydian
It
mode
There
is
is
is
that of
no doubt
our current major
that there
i.e.,
no person of the present day
what
in this area as in
effects
many
him "hear" what he should
It
is
is
his "Ideal
it is
who imagined
effects.
But
it is
also
apt to be so affected unless
Man is
not much
he "should" hear.^
another, and
scholars
"meaning,"
clear that
told
from
self-
could
scale.
were ancient
he
is
it
mode
of interest that the internal arrangement of the
they heard these psychological,
highly suggestible
of a trick to
make
hear.
of considerable interest that this notion concerning modal
effects persisted
86
mode was
even after the modes had been shaken
down
to
two
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
the present-day major and minor.
In fact,
the idea was further
extended to the several keys of the major mode. Thus, the key of
F major was said to be the key of the pastoral
Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony); keys with
nine sharps
made men
idyll (for
seven, eight, or
five, six,
think of heavenly matters
example
while the keys of
;
F minor and F sharp minor were the tragic ones.
It
not
is
to speculate
difficult
on how, before the advent of
temperament, one key was associated with Heaven, another with the
farm, and
a
still
another with tragedy. For,
melody whose do
whose do—re
ratio
is
is
9
as
to re as 8:9 will not
:
i
o
sound precisely
would have been
It
.
was shown in Chapter
course, there
would come
school of thought.
in
2,
one
simple matter to
a
attach psychological qualities to these differences.
they attached would have been pretty
like
But whatever
much pure whimsey.
time a codification of the rules of
Of
this
Pastoral music must be written in the key of
F major, the rules would read, and tragic music in F minor or F sharp
And
minor.
effects
"sensitive" people
whenever they knew
may
It
who
all
strike the reader as
would begin
that the key of F
odd
try to find the "proper"
to "hear" pastoral
major was employed.
that even today there are
composers
key for their melodic message.
with equal temperament, where
do: re has the
same
But
ratio in every key,
there is little possibility that key differences of a psychological character
can
exist.
It is
know whether
true that the listener with absolute pitch (p. gS)
a
melody
is
being played in E or F, and
in these traditional expectancies he
different.
The only other
may
if
he
is
may
versed
feel that the keys are vastly
possible differences arise
from the
fact that
equal temperament is almost never quite secured, and from differential
fingering.
Weak fingers may be
blacknote keys.
But such
slight stimulus differences
expected to yield psychological
It
seems
safe to
from modal)
given too great a task in certain multi-
effects
such
as
those described above.
conclude, therefore, that no key
effects of
can hardly be
(as
distinguished
any importance exist for the modern listener.
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
Major and Minor Modes
We have already seen that intervals,
minor.
as such, are
to intervals of the
major and minor chords, where they remained
as
But with chords and melodies there
is
curiosities of nomenclature.
more reason
to apply these terms.
There are three positions of the major chord
they are C, E, G; E, G, C; and G, C, E
—and
all
—
the listener a happy
structure
what
G; E
flat,
mood. The three
flat,
were thought automatically
in
minor chord
—with
to elicit
C
their different
somber moods. But
in the structures allegedly causes these opposing feelings has
come from Meyer, 3 who
G)
the major (C, E,
One
is
to i) and to the
well balanced with
There
is
in that the
3
much
(15^
to
3
flat,
symbol structure of
G, or A, C, E) with
"points" both to the
15-
or
its
5^
5^
its
have been uncovered during
this
But two
5^
or
3
is
not nearly so
statements would have us believe.
between major and minor chords
(2)
is
The
The
common as
of
ability
the older
structural difference
not the only variable which
suggests "majorness" or "minorness" to the listener.
examine further the findings which
sets
century which lead to a some-
that of the earlier theorists: (i)
major from minor
g—^—i 5 has
(i^ to
to i).
of worth in Meyer's suggestion.
what broader view than
to distinguish
of the few helpful suggestions
points out that in the just-intoned scale
1—^—3, while the minor (C, E
more ambiguity
facts
flat
key of
which aroused
positions of the
G, C; and G, C, E
never been satisfactorily stated.
has
in the
were thought by the
early theorists to have something in their structure
C, E
neither major nor
Centuries ago these modal labels were erroneously attached
cast
Let us, then,
doubt on the invariance of
the correspondence between chordal structure and modal affect.
Shortly before
World War
I,
Valentine, an English psychologist,
began to question the idea that
a particular
chordal or melody
structure automatically called forth a particular modal name.'^
His
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
he found, made many errors in their attempts to separate
subjects,
the major from the minor.
showed
more
About
fifteen years later, Heinlein
much more
Heinlein's
a similar observation. 5
made
extensive research
that even his musically trained subjects labeled as
minor
than a third of the major chords he presented to them, and
labeled major approximately
12
Furthermore, Heinlein located
a
key which sounded minor to
which were reacted
number of compositions
his subjects,
and Anitra
s
Fifth Sjmphorry,
in a
major
and others in minor
mode
Thus, a Sousa performance of
to as major.
Handel's Largo from Xerxes and the
from Dvorak's
per cent of the minor chords.
first
both
in
theme of the
largo
movement
major keys, seemed minor;
Dance from Grieg's Peer Gynt
A
Suite,
written in minor
mode, was described
as bright
own
was labeled melancholy by many and cheery by
Caprice Viennois
many
others.
and happy.
Kreisler rendition of his
Hevner, however, found that her musically trained
group and even her relatively untrained subjects usually did rather
well in separating the major from the minor melodies
(as distin-
guished from simple chords).^
It
has been noted that both the whole-tone chord,
the chief Siamese chord (which
and minor) tend to be
is
C,E,
mood
and
about halfway between our major
classified incorrectlv as
minor. 7 There seems
to be a fairly widespread misconception that whatever
must be minor. So much, then,
G sharp,
is
not major
for the invariance of the structure-
relationship.
Modern
research has brought to light three other variables which
can affect the success with which people distinguish major from
minor. These are loudness, pitch, and tempo. Thus, Heinlein noted
that the louder and/or higher-pitched chords
seemed more major
and the softer and/or lower-pitched ones minor. ^
wobbling the thirds and sevenths are
later
popular music to induce minor
American Negro music
is
tricks
employed
effects.
Flatting and
in the blues
Characteristic of
the alternation of ordinary major
and
much
thirds and
89
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
sevenths with "blues" (shghtly flatted) thirds and sevenths.
Other
techniques to create a sad atmosphere are found in some jazz compoBeale Street
sitions
Mamma,
for instance
ance of the leading tone. The tonic
is
from below,
a blue third, the sixth
—where there
approached
or,
more
at a
is
an avoid-
cadence through
rarely, the blues third
and the second.
That tempo
is
an important variable can easily be demonstrated
the reader will simply drag the timing of
some otherwise major-
sounding melody, or play rapidly some typical dirge.
tion of what had been
a happy-sounding tune will
be minor, and of the erstwhile
We
dir2;e,
if
His
classifica-
now more
likely
major. ^°
conclude that the problem of identifying the major chord or
major melody
far
is
more complicated than was once
thought.
It is
admitted that major chords and melodies are typically employed, in
Western culture
is
by no means
at least,
invariant.
on joyful occasions.
Moreover, the
But the relationship
nullified
by
color) notes and a chromatic scale.
It
effect can
be
deliberate changes in loudness, pitch, or tempo.
Color-Tone Linkage
Music has chromatic
also has timbre,
which
(i.e.,
in
Music has color, then,
literal sense in
connection
German
is
Klangfarbe, that
in a figurative sense.
But
which color and tone are joined?
is
Is
between any particular frequency,
is,
sound-color.
there a further,
there a necessary
interval,
chord,
timbre, key, or melodic sequence on the one hand and some given
color?
Many
scientist
musicians and poets of the past and even an occasional
have thought
in the "fact" that
so.
colors had seven names.
known
as
90
that there
well have
The
great
Newton saw such
both the diatonic scale and
is
named
no
his
own
a connection
classification of
But since the days of Helmholtz
finite
number of
colors.
eight or only four colors.
it
has been
Newton might
just
Nevertheless, the idea
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
that there
is
some inherent connection between color and tone
number
persisted and has led to the construction of a
which "play" colors
In the table
(e.g., the clavilux),
and sometimes tones
below are contrasted the key-color
eminent Russian composers."
It
has
of instruments
as well.
associations of
two
should be noted that they agree but
slightly.
RiMSKY-KoRSAKOV
Key
SCRIABIN
C
G
major
major
Brownish-gold, bright
Orange-rose
D
A
major
Yellow, sunny
Yellow, brilliant
major
Red
White
Rosy, clear
Green
E major
B major
Blue, sapphire, sparkling
Bluish-white
F sharp major
Greyish-green
D
flat
major
Dusky,
A
flat
major
Greyish-violet
Purple-violet
E
flat
major
Dark, gloomy, bluish-gray
Steel-color with a metallic
B
flat
major
Somber, dark blue shot with
Bluish-white
steel
Bright blue
warm
Violet
luster
Steel-color with a metallic
luster
F major
It is
the general lack of agreement
associations
the
two
of the
Red
Green
which
senses.
members
because of
attests the
There
is
some
among
the associations
much agreement
can be expected
similarity
family experiences.
That color-tone associations are very
many
those having tone-color
absence of inherent connection between
often
of a family, but this
common
among
investigations. In
common
has been
shown by
one of Omwake's surveys of college students,
60 per cent reported that they had color-tone associations.^^ Less than
I
per cent of the general population has color imagery of hallucinatory
intensity when stimulated
this tiny fraction of
by particular tonal
signals. ^3
The behavior of
our population has been termed "colored hearing,"
or chromesthesia, one of several possible types of synesthesia.
If
one can
would appear
trust the introspective reports of chromesthetics,
that
some
see a colored haze
it
whenever they are
91
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
when
Stimulated by a particular auditory stimulus. Thus,
the nine-
teenth-century musician Joseph Raft heard a cornet, he viewed the
world through
a greenish haze; the flute
produced
in
him an
ex-
perience of azure blueness, and the hautboy, yellowness. The trumpet
called
up
scarlet, the
French horn purple, and the flageolet grey.
Chromesthetic behavior tends to run in families, but
necessarily imply biological inheritance.
most frequently
Chromesthesia
with vivid imagery, and
and the presence of certain drugs,
fatigue, shock,
The reaction
in persons
is
one-way,
i.e.,
this
does not
is
induced
facilitated
is
by
e.g., mescaline. ^'^
with color never calling up
a tonal
In chromesthesia, higher tones are usually tied to
hallucination.
As
brighter colors. ^5
of the peculiarity's
colored hearing
as
claim not to have
a rule, chromesthetics cannot recall the date
first
Hence, they tend to regard
appearance.
inborn and universal and to look upon those
it
as insensitive individuals
who
who
are not realizing
their potentialities.
So
far as the
writer knows, no one has ever been able to induce a
chromesthesia under controlled scientific conditions. Kelly did what
he could along
this
line,
even going to the extent of giving his
subjects peyote and physical shocks in the
stimuli might help elicit the effect.
after
that these
added
2000 associations of tone and color (even 3000 for one subject)
became
In
hope
But no one of his subjects even
^^
a
chromesthetic.
an ingenious experiment by Howells,
either a high or a
low tone along with
a
subjects
green or
a
red
were given
light. ^7
Most
of the time the high tone and green light were given together and the
low tone and the
the pairings.
The
red.
But occasionally the experimenter reversed
subjects
were
told that their jobs
depended on
doing well and so were strongly motivated. They kept their eyes
closed until the tones
quickly
named them. Of considerable
that there
92
were heard. Then they examined the
was
theoretical interest
a gradual increase in the
number
lights
is
and
the fact
of naming errors
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
made
at the
times of the unusual,
But whether
green pairings.
high-tone/red and low-tone/
i.e.,
this rise in the error
curve indicates
the creation of a chromesthesia or of only a pseudochromesthesia
is
problematical.
The reason
persons and
few
for the presence of chromesthetic behavior in a
its
absence in most others
is still
not known.
^^
Anato-
mical, physiological, and psychological theories have been suggested,
Of course, there is the
answer may involve more than one
but no one theory seems entirely satisfactory.
possibility
theory.
the correct
that
For example,
whose brain
it is
conceivable that the chromesthetic
is
one
structures and/or physiological functions are such that
he makes tone-color conditioned responses more readily than do
most of
But he would also need to be a person for
us.
whom some
accident of environment had allowed the tonal and color stimuli to
occur together so that the conditioning could take place and
tonal configuration could
then,
fact
is
come
to
"mean"
one hypothesis. But whether
it is
a certain color.
a given
Here,
correct or incorrect, the
remains that no aspect of tone has, per
se, a universal color-
meaning.
''The Language of the Emotions"
Perhaps
it
time to consider a warning sounded on several
is
occasions by C. C. Pratt, ^9 an aesthetician
ambiguity in the idea that "music
Pratt notes that to
many
To
who
sees a fundamental
the language of the emotions."
mean that
commotion within
writers this expression appears to
the emotional character of music
the listener.
is
is
a subjective
others, including Pratt, the emotional character
objective property of the music
Pratt, in that the
itself.
The confusion
an
arises, thinks
same words have quite properly been employed to
describe the objective as well as the subjective events.
Doe and
is
a certain musical
Both John
composition may seem agitated, or calm,
93
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
But in Doe's case the
or passionate, or sentimental.
moods and emotions,
music
a
it is
of kinesthetic-organic forms, while with the
matter of tonal form.
The attempts of the
mena
formalists to keep these
two
sets of
pheno-
separate should not deny the possibility that on occasion
agitated music
may
one of
affair is
may
somewhat superior
take a
The
stimulate agitation in the listener.
attitude and imply that the sophisticate
moods and emotions
does not allow his
formalist
to intrude while
But the rank and
listening to the "best" in music.
file
he
is
of us are not
know of many occasions
improved our mood or when a sad-
functioning at such an "elevated" level and
when joyous-sounding music
has
seeming composition has elicited
A
a sad effect.
danger greater than that of denying the possible influence of
music on
mood and
musical character
lies
in the
assumption that
moods and emotions whose names
they share. Psychiatrists and clinical psychologists would no doubt
rejoice if all they needed to cure the depressed or the maniacal were
access to a variety of compositions whose "moods" had previously
tonal forms invariably arouse the
been carefully catalogued. Therapy under such circumstances could
be administered
in truly engineering fashion
one disturbance and Y for another.
invariant,
and the listener
is,
But music's
after all,
personal, as well as a cultural, history
any piece of music, to some degree
—composition
effects are
no automaton.
which makes
at least,
He
X
for
not so
has a
his reactions to
unique and therefore
difficult to forecast.
Years ago the great
Thomas Edison was
so concerned at
what he
considered the whimsicalness with which composers titled their
compositions that he hired a panel of experts to catalogue his
available recordings according to
labeled
1 1
2
"true
mood
"mood." Out of
music. "^'^
Fifteen
5^89
these, the panel
were guaranteed
to
stimulate and enrich imagination, 14 to bring peace of mind, 10 to
make one joyous, and
94
8 to elicit
moods
of wistfulness.
Ten were kept
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
in the list for jolly
1 1
for love,
I
o for
of tender memory,
spirit,
No
and
1
moods and good fellowship, 9 for more energy,
moods of dignity and grandeur, 2 for the mood
i
1
3
for the
mood
of devotion, 9 for stirring the
6 to "catch the childish fancy
and make
it
merry with glee."
doubt hearing the Edison recordings worked wonders on the
more
suggestible.
Yet Anna Case's singing of Home, Sweet Home,
supposed by Edison's panel to bring peace of mind, might well have
made the homesick person more distraught. And while some of the
more religious-minded no doubt found Schubert's Ave Maria conducive to the peace of mind Edison had guaranteed, it is doubtful if
all
so benefited.
In fact
one could be almost certain that the forced
hearing of this composition would
make
communist
the confirmed
^^
more irascible.
The mood elicited by
^
the music will depend not only on the tonal
configuration the listener hears but also on a variety of factors
external to the music
itself.
Among
the
more important
just preceding the listening period, the
if
there
music
musical
is
in
word-meanings of the
held
libretto
one, and the attitudes built up in the listener toward
general and toward the piece in question.
Although
compositions can quite properly be placed into
categories, they will not invariably arouse the
which they have been described.
that
of these
mood
variables are the listener's personality structure," the
music can be regarded
as a
We
moods
mood
in terms of
are thus forced to conclude
language of
moods and emotions
in
a very limited sense only.
Adjective Lists for Classifying Music
Research by Schoen, Gatewood, Mull, and others has demonstrated
beyond the
possibility of
doubt that synonymous words will
be employed to describe the character of most music whenever the
listeners are
drawn from roughly the same subculture. ^3 The degree
9^
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
of agreement
is little
affected by differences in listener intelligence,
tested musical aptitude, musical training, or age level
sixth grade). ^4
As might be suspected,
where the concern
passages
is
with program
which are characterized
and "calm."^^ "Defiance"
A more
more
is
in
listener
music. ^5
It is
relatively
bit of
in terms of a profile of the eight clusters
regards as appropriate.
The
list
It
than any
contains 67
been assumed to be almost
Hence, the characterization of any
adjectives, although the listener
poor for
The mood quale expressed by the
adjectives within any one cluster has
made
greater
than "rage" or "fear."
used in the past has been developed by Hevner.^7
identical.
is
terms of "yearning," "tenderness,"
easily identified
in eight clusters.
above the
agreement
systematically constructed adjective check
words arranged
(if
is
music
is
typically
and not of the 67
urged to check every word he
clusters are arranged like the dial of a
clock on the supposition that as one proceeds from any given cluster
around the
dial,
opposite cluster
the mood-similarity steadily decreases until the
is
reached; from there back to the starting cluster
the resemblance increases.
The
utility of the
by data from the
files
check
list
for the aesthetician can be illustrated
of the Stanford Laboratory. In one experiment,
200 college students were asked to
patterns.
It
number of brief tonal
show the responses to two
listen to a
will sufKice for our purposes to
of these musical passages. Only the adjectives checked by one-half or
more
First
all
of the listeners will be listed.
Movement
For the
of Franck's Symphony
in
D
first
but one of the adjectives were from cluster
dark, solemn, and mournful.
Clair de Lune,
different.
For the
2
measures of the
first
2
—heavy,
gloomy,
26 measures of Debussy's
on the other hand, the adjectives checked were quite
Here, two were from cluster
were from 4
i
Minor (allegro non troppo)
—
delicate,
graceful,
5^,
one was from
3,
and two
dreamy, soothing, and serene.
These checkings were quite reliably and consistently made.
to be expected, of course, that the responses
96
It
is
would have varied
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
Hevner Adjective Check
List
6
bright
cheerful
happy
joyous
merry
7
8
emphatic
5
agitated
delicate
dramatic
fanciful
exciting
graceful
exhilarated
humorous
impetuous
light
passionate
playful
restless
quaint
sensational
sprightly
soaring
whimsical
triumphant
4
calm
exalting
leisurely
majestic
lyrical
martial
quiet
ponderous
satisfying
robust
serene
vigorous
3
1
awe-inspiring
dreamy
dignified
longing
lofty
plaintive
sacred
pleading
serious
sentimental
sober
tender
solemn
spiritual
2
dark
soothing
tranquil
yearning
yielding
depressing
doleful
frustrated
gloomy
heavy
melancholy
mournful
pathetic
sad
tragic
97
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
somewhat had there been changes
were played.
passages
one which allows
All in
all,
in the
manner
the technique
a reasonably clear picture to
is
in
which the
a fairly sensitive
mood
be drawn of the
character of the musical fragments.
M ODIFIED
A DJECTIVE Check
List
A
B
C
D
E
cheerful
fanciful
delicate
dreamy
longing
light
graceful
leisurely
pathetic
happy
quaint
lyrical
sentimental
plaintive
joyous
whimsic al
serene
pleading
bright
soothing
yearning
merry
tender
playful
tranquil
sprightly
quiet
G
H
I
J
dark
sacred
dramatic
agitated
frustrated
depressing
spiritual
F
emphatic
exalting
doleful
majestic
exciting
gloomy
triumphant
exhilarated
melancholic
impetuous
mournful
vigorous
pathetic
sad
serious
sober
solemn
tragic
Hevner's check
list
has
been recently revised with
of the adjectives so that the
mood
new
a
rearrangement
more
clusters have considerably
consistency than the older clusters had,^^ In the course of the
research
it
was found that one of the
adjectives, "pathetic," fitted
almost equally well two of the revised clusters. The adjective
"frustrated" did not
fit
any of the clusters and so stood alone.
It
was
found that neither the original Hevner nor the revised clusters could be
placed in exact clock-face arrangement although the
98
new
clusters
came
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
No
closer than the old to satisfying such a scheme. ^9
goes on this much-used Hevner
as
time
added to and further
will be
list
doubt
improved
Which Give Meaning
Variables
Of
the variables
experiments in
modality
this area,
is
descending carries relatively
words, the listener
plays the
on numerous
probably second in import-
Harmony and rhythm
meaning to the
little
tempo
has carried
and whether the melody
importance,
less
to music,
who
Pitch seemingly ranks third.
ance. 3*^
far
which give meaning
According to Hevner,
largest role.
Music
to
are of
ascending or
is
listener.
In other
most likely to change the affective terms with
is
which he describes what he hears whenever
its
tempo
is
appreciably
slowed or hastened. Other alterations of the musical matrix change
what he
less strikingly
The
table,
relative
enough
is
saying to him.
is
no need to consider here the
by which she derived her weights; for our purposes
The following example
For music described
variables appear to
indicates
as dignified
it is
importance of the
say that they indicate the relative
to
variables.
:
music
reproduced below. There
statistics
table
feels the
importance of these variables can be seen in Hevner's
how
to interpret the
and solemn the most important
be firm rhythm, slow tempo and low pitch.
Major mode, ascending melody, and simple harmony are of
little
importance.
Gundlach has made
which give meaning
from asking
melodies. 3^
to
listeners
Out
a
somewhat
music. ^^
to
different analysis of the variables
He
factor analyzed data obtained
characterize a considerable
of this process emerged a factor which dealt with
A
second factor had
do with orchestral range and the use of certain
intervals, particu-
tempo, smoothness of rhythms, and loudness.
to
number of
larly firsts
and seconds.
A
third factor was related to the use of large
99
7-2
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
Gundlach found music
intervals.
carried
by woodwinds to be
characterized by terms such as "mournful," "awkward," and "uneasy;" by brasses as "triumphant," and "grotesque;" by the piano as
"delicate," "tranquil," "sentimental,"
and "brilliant;" by strings
as
"glad."
Relative Importance of Six Variables
Musical
Dignijied
Sad
Factor
Solemn
Heavy
Mode
Tempo
Major
Dreamy
Minor
Slow
Minor
20
Slow
14
Slow
12
Pitch
Low
10
Low
19
Rhythm
Harmony
Firm
18
Firm
3
Simple
3
7
Simple
Melody
Ascending
4
4
Complex
—
Major
16
Slow
High
6
High
8
Flowing
9
Flowing
9
4
Simple
—
3
20
10
Ascending
Graceful
Happj
Exciting
Vigorous
Factor
Sparkling
Bright
Elated
Majestic
Major
Pitch
High
Rhythm
Harmony
Flowing
Melody
Descending
21
6
Fast
16
8
Simple
12
Major
24
Fast
20
Low
Flowing
10
Firm
Simple
16
Complex
—
3
High Pitch
Pitch
Wide Range
'Narrow Range
3
—
—
21
Fast
6
High
6
Fast
9
Low
13
2
Firm
10
14
Descending
Pitch, Range,
Fast
12
Musical
Mode
Tempo
Low
Serene
Gentle
Sentimental
7
Complex
8
Descending
8
and Tempo
European
sentimental, whimsical, animated, glad
Indian
happy love, recitative
European
mournful, somber, tranquil, dignified, grotesque
Indian
general war, organization of war party
European
uneasy, animated, grotesque, brilliant, glad
Indian
general war, organization of war party
European
tranquil, dignified, delicate, mournful,
Indian
healing, scout, warpath
European
brilliant,
animated, uneasy, glad,
awkward, somber
whimsical,
flippant,
grotesque
Slow
Indian
general war, organization for war
European
dignified,
somber,
delicate, sentimental
Indi
1
OO
in battle, sad love
tranquil,
melancholy,
mournful,
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
Two
by Gundlach seem worthy of reproduction
They contrast the connotation of certain
here.
style
tables constructed
music with those
in the
music of
a
variables in European-
number
of American Indian
tribes.
Rhythms and Intervals
Characterization
of
Factors
Many Rough
Rhythms
Many Uneven
Rhythms
Appropriate Situations for
>
'
European Folk songs
Indian Songs
Musical Phrases
grotesque
after killing warrior
victory
uneasy
scout song, victory
war march
delicate
disappointment in love
death of lover
sentimental
parting
description
dignified
happy love
song
of,
or
to, love
exalted
somber
Few Uneven
Rhythms
flippant
after killing warrior
animated
recitatives
grotesque
victory
victory
brilliant
Many Smooth
Rhythms
Many
Ists
and 2nds
Many
3rds
brilliant
war medicine
lonesome or sad
animated
parting
gay or playful
flippant
death of lover
glad
healing,
happy love
uneasy
war medicine
mournful
death of lover
awkward
healing, recitatives
warpath
absence or parting
triumphant
absence of lover
victory
after killing
sentimental or serious
love
lonesome or sad
warrior
war organization
Many Large
Intervals
glad, exalted
disappointment in love
gay or playful
delicate
lonesome, scout
lonesome or sad
death of lover, war
dirge
From
the
Harvard Laboratory of Social
interesting study in
semantics. 33
Relations
comes an
Metaphorical terms employed to
describe voice qualities were taken from the writings of George
Bernard Shaw and three contemporary music
critics.
These were
offered to musically naive subjects for use in describing nine operatic
lOI
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
There appeared to be
voices.
among
three categories
potency, and
termed
—one having
a third
with
lump the
to
descriptive terms into
do with evaluation, another with
The baritone voice was often
activity.
"dull," "coarse," "closed," "dark," "heavy," "rough," "hard,"
and "thick;" the tenor
soprano
as
"bright," "thin," and "light;"
as "coarse," "soft," "light,"
Another attempted use of factor
ful
better than chance agreement
far
the judges and a tendency to
and the
and "thin."
analysis for studying the
meaning-
elements of music can be seen in the researches of Henkin.34 The
items to be intercorrelated were the preferences of college students
who had
classic,
listened to ten pieces representative of (a) Baroque, pre-
and
classic, (b)
romantic, and
(c)
modern
styles.
Two
inde-
pendent, meaningful factors emerged, which Henkin designated
melodic and
a
rhythmic factor. There was
third factor, orchestral color.
When Henkin
as a
also the possibility of a
was deciding on
his ten
compositions, he searched for recorded music written in a "purely
harmonic idiom" but was unable to
find a single
lack of records with strong emphasis
a
harmonic factor from appearing
The
example.
on harmony, he
It
was
feels, that
this
kept
in his final data.
data of a slightly later study led Henkin to believe that the
melodic and rhythmic factors are independent both mathematically
and psychologically. These factors appeared to be relevant variables
in
eliciting the galvanic
skin response.
Musical
style,
orchestration, timbre, and other compositional variables
have no significant relationship with
this physiological
dynamics,
seemed
to
measure of
affective response.
The Expression of Tensions
A number
ings of
of researchers have
music solely
in
felt that to
characterize the mean-
terms of the Hevner mood-adjectives
oversimplify. These theorists prefer to describe
io2
what music
is
to
signifies
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
in the
framework of
conflict, of the arousal,
While granting
resolution of tensions.
no concrete goals and no
nates
growth, change, and
that unfamiliar music desig-
universally agreed-upon
specific,
it
can carry a message of goal-seeking, goal-
blocking, and goal-finding.
We have already seen an illustration of the
imagery, they hold that
resolution of tensions in the discussion of the keynote
(p. 41).^^
But these theorists are more concerned with larger segments of
behavior and feel that music can depict, though but vaguely,
fairly
extensive experiential episodes.
Rogge
is
who
one
become impatient with the
has
analytic studies of music's
possibility that
she
a
To
terms of human
potentialities.
linguistic
music can communicate
developed
in
experimental design.
clever
earlier, highly
Bloch's
tensions,
Schelomo,
Ravel's Daphnis and Chloe, and Stravinsky's L'Histoire du Soldat
chosen for study. She
college students
whom
who
first
were
played these pieces to a group of eighteen
differed
the compositions
the
test
were
somewhat
unfamiliar.
in musical training
and for
After these students were
carefully queried about their reactions to the music, the interview
material was analyzed to extract similarities in content.
Out of
the
content similarities, two different paragraphs were constructed for
each of the three pieces. These six descriptions were arbitrarily
termed the "correct" descriptions.
Other students were then
called in to read these six paragraphs
and to decide which of Hevner's adjectives most adequately characterized the three
mood
When
patterns. 3^
two new paragraphs were composed
from the "correct" descriptions
as
agreement was reached,
for each piece. These differed
to narrative, i.e., in concrete
imagery, but could be characterized by the same Hevner adjectives.
Hence, they were termed "correct
in
mood
only." This
meant
that
Rogge now had four paragraphs for each piece, two "correct" ones
made up from interview material, and two "correct in mood only."
To make the procedure clearer the four for Schelomo are given below. 37
103
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
Correct
He wants to see
He wants to see
her open her eyes, to see her looking at him.
remembers
that she
too.
Remembers
the
years they had been apart, searching, following one another
from border to border. He wants to see her remembering
now the last few years they've been together. If he could
whisper just once more
memory
is
cold.
return.
how much he
him
of her love for
Her eyes glass
Once again he
is
over.
is
He
alone.
how
loves her,
deep inside him.
the
Her forehead
cries out, begging her to
He
can't believe
Then
it.
holding her hand, he begins to feel the strength of their love.
He knows
it
will be strong
enough
to help
him go on
alone.
Correct
As he watches the shore fade away he wants to
He
deck and sob.
exiled.
Why
Forever.
sit
on the
can never return to that land he loves.
hadn't they believed him
He
is
when he had
pleaded? Had there been one voice to defend his act? No, not
one.
Now,
rail.
Had they
the shoreline
as
lies
dim on the water he
been blinded to
all
his love
by their
grips the
own
hate?
condemn them? Can
now, regret his love for his country? No,
for so long as he knows that what he has done was right, will
benefit his people, then he can somehow endure the coming
Persecuted, suffering; in loneliness, can he
he fear
his future
years.
Correct in
The pigeon
flies
passed, and she
she
is
is
mood
only
back through the cold gray sky. The storm has
anxious to return to the safety of her nest.
When
over a village she hears a bell tolling. She wants to stop, to
descend and
rest,
but more than anything else she wants to reach
home. She passes over another town searching for the building
where she knows her nest lies strong and secure, and as she sees
104
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
the chimney, she circles and begins to settle. As she alights on the
ledge, and folds her wings, she sees that the storm has dislodged
her nest and the three eggs.
Correct in
Mood Only
As he approached her house he wondered
that night
How
on the
would she
Oh,
if
as
still
He
the stooped old
This wasn't her.
table
steps he
remembered. Twenty
when
He
she'd see him.
held his breath. The door opened.
woman he closed his eyes. It
He wanted to open his eyes,
he'd been mistaken.
The
Oh, he wished she might
?
had that strong, direct warmth.
probably shout his name
steps inside.
she had forgotten
she was before, as she was that night on
Going up the
she
if
straightened his well-clad shoulders.
react to his success
open the door and be
the lake.
He
lake.
below
years.
She would
heard foot-
As he saw
can't be true.
telling himself
But his eyes refused to open.
indicates
how
a third
group of some ninety
students reacted to the descriptions while listening to the three
compositions. 3^ They had been asked to select the three descriptive
paragraphs which best matched the three pieces of music.
If
chance
RoGGE Data
Description
1
Bloch
**16
2
Ravel
1
1
1
•4
*3
3
6
**28
S
2
*1
6
*11
7
2
*3
3
4
Stravinsky
8
1
9
**25
10
1
••49
IS
**48
3
11
1
1
••27
12
*11
4
2
90
90
90
Total
^05
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
alone had operated, seven and one-half votes w^ould have been cast
But that the voting was not
for each of the twelve descriptions.
chance
affair
which indicate the "correct"
starred positions,
show
single stars
a
suggested by the concentrations at the double-
is
descriptions
descriptions.
which were "correct
mood
in
The
only."
These descriptions received relatively few votes.
Rogge
Naturally, the
be
criticized.
study, like
One wonders,
all
had three pieces more alike in
guess
would be
that
It is
how the votes would have
mood been selected. A good
for instance,
fallen
compositions.
pioneering experiments, can
Rogge maximized her
by her choice of
effects
also quite possible that the votes for the "correct-
in-mood-only" paragraphs might have been more numerous had the
mood been
judged directly from the music instead of from reading
the "correct" descriptions.
In spite of certain inadequacies in the
probably
safe
to
Rogge experiments,
conclude that unknown compositions
it
is
may be
described not only in terms of the Hevner adjectives but sometimes
also in the language of goal-striving, goal-blocking,
of tensions. 39
Of
and the resolution
course, a descriptive narrative with
its
specific
imagery may not be the same for any two persons. But any narrative
with patterns of
stress parallel to the tension episodes of the
music
will be appropriate to describe the musical action.
Music as a Universal Language
We
have seen that the major chord communicates
its
"proper"
message only under rather limited circumstances, and that while our
major
scale
affect us in
may have symbolized decadence
such a fashion.
to Plato,
it
does not
Although the Siegfried motive may be
perceived by the devotee of the Rin^ cycle in the approved Wagnerian
manner,
it
will have quite different
meanings to those
been taught Wagnerian symbolism.
106
who
have not
Are there, then, no musical
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
configurations
which have
similar meanings to people of widely
dissimilar culture?
After considering the data of his tables, presented in the preceding
Gundlach concluded
section,
similarity in the
there
that
some
least
at
is
slight
meanings the cultured European and the American
But whether
Indian attach to the musical variables he had studied.
the similarities are extensive enough to raise them significantly from
chance
is
a question,
Morey played Schubert's Doppelgdnger and the
members of the Loma culture in Liberia
love duet from Tristan to
and found these "emotionally charged" compositions to have
emotional effect on the African
made
that had
natives. 4°
little
Yet the argument has been
he played other sorts of European music he might
have stirred their emotions.
When Dartmouth
asked laymen to draw forms
psychologists
suggested by hearing a series of twelve short,
selections, there
simple,
clarinet
was more than chance similarity among the forms
produced under the stimulation of any one of the
selections. '^^
Cowles likewise found some agreement among subjects who had been
asked to select a particular picture to match a given musical selec-
And,
tion. 4^
found
reversing
the
experimental procedure,
degree of correspondence among musical themes composed
a
under the stimulation of four designs,
e.g., a
saw-toothed form. 43
The commonality of response which appears
can be explained, in part at
would hardly seem reasonable
least,
on purely
to expect a
She would be likely to employ
else she
in these
experiments
practical grounds.
mother
It
to scream a lullaby
which she might belong.
to her baby, regardless of the culture to
soft tones,
monotony, and anything
and other mothers the world over had learned was sleep
inducing.
tempo could
scarcely
with Pratt's argument
(p. 93),
Similarly, a piece of extremely fast
mean "march"
to any
one might hazard
and an
Willmann
Italian
human.
a small
In line
wager
that
were
a Chinese, a
forced to listen to a series of tones
all
Loma Negro,
of the same
107
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
pitch and then told to
draw whatever seemed appropriate, they
would be more
draw horizontal
likely to
lines than vertical or
wavy
ones.
Psychoanalytic Symbolism
The
early psychoanalysts claimed to have discovered a
which
made
universal in
is
its
sweep but unknown
manifest through psychoanalysis.
universality
symbolism
to the individual until
The force of the claim
was somewhat tempered, to be
sure,
by the
for
inability of
among themselves on what symbolizes what. Yet
this lack of agreement did not deter the bolder of them from extending their dogmas to embrace most if not all human activities. For
the analysts to agree
illustrative purposes, only a
few of the claims pertaining to music
need be given here, since very
scientific
little
has been done by
way of
check. Thus, Montani holds that minor modes containing
the diminished third express feelings of the suffering, chastisement,
and pain which characterize reactions to the castration complex. 44
According to Mosonyi primitive and noninstrumental music
narcissism, and "good" harmonies "mass
symbols reflect obvious associations,
ecstasy. "45
e.g.,
On
signifies
occasion, the
rhythm and sexual
inter-
course, and in other instances, only an analyst will see a logical
connection.
Altshuler4^ and Tilly 47 have also suggested that music possesses
sexual symbolism.
are,
to
However, these
some degree
interest in such
at least,
According to them,
a
"manly" patient
has emotional difficulties should be approached with music
different
from what must be employed with
personality.
In other
and other music
io8
recognized even by laymen. Their
symbolism stems from the belief that music can be
employed therapeutically.
who
theorists feel that the symbols
is
words, some music
"feminine. "4^
is
a
man
of more "feminine"
"masculine" in character
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
A number
of psychologists have attempted to set up experiments
with the aim of indicating to what extent music can be described
terms of a mascuhne-feminine continuum. 49
studies
it
seems clear
that, ifforced to
it,
As
in
a result of these
laymen and musicians will
agree in selecting certain composers as the creators of predominantly
masculine music and others
as the originators
of rather feminine
compositions. Thus, Wagner, Beethoven, Shostakovich, Bach, and
Rimsky-Korsakov are regarded by many
most of which was masculine
as
having created music
in character;
Debussy, Brahms, and Schubert are
R.
Strauss,
Chopin,
more
classified as writers of
feminine music. By and large, the march, loud music, and the music
of the drums, bass viols, trombones, and trumpets are thought of
as the
more masculine;
rendered by the harp are
"decorative" music, soft music, and that
classified as feminine.
These findings should not be taken to mean that certain musical
phenomena
necessarily function as sexual symbols. 5°
data appear to
individuals are
as
show
is
in
the American subcultures polled,
sometimes willing to use "masculine" and "feminine"
category headings
there
that,
Rather, the
if
these
names are suggested to them and
considerable consistency in the
that
way they employ them. But
the making of such forced choices should not be interpreted as
proving that Beethoven's music
is
inherently and universally mascu-
line in any true sense of the term.
The
associated loud and low-pitched tones with
with male
soldiers, soft
music with women,
raters generally maintain that they
raters
presumably have
men, marching rhythms
etc.
When
queried, the
would have much preferred
to use
other categories than those of "masculinity" and "femininity. "5^
Summary
Music has
a
grammar,
authors of music, often
And its composers, the orators and
have much to say. To this extent, then,
a syntax.
109
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
music behaves
But does music convey detailed
language.
a
as
messages which are understood similarly by large groups of listeners ?
This
is
Key
extended argument.
a question that has aroused
effects, at least for the
objective fashion.
many persons
Nor
is
modern
listener,
exist in any
there a natural tone-color linkage although
associate a particular color with
and a few have associations of hallucinatory
major and minor
do not
some pitch or timbre
intensity.
However,
Chordal
effects are real, at least in certain cultures.
structure, loudness, pitch, and
tempo each
its
part in eliciting
the words "happy" and "sad." Moreover, there are a
number of other
and tension responses which music can convey to the
affective
Some music can even be described
relatively unsophisticated listener.
as
plays
masculine or feminine, although
this sort
of categorization seems
would excite any
to have little significance and certainly
none
but the Freudians.
clear that the "messages" of
music are
All told, then,
it is
in the affective rather than the cognitive realm.
stimulates no detailed imagery of a sort that
music
language,
a
that
then,
is
is
Music
widely shared. To
to distort out of
all
call
proportion the
meaning of the term.
The paragraph given below illustrates rather well the fallacy in the
thinking of those who would make music a language in the sense that
English or French
of the Boston
These notes, taken from a program
a language.
is
Symphony Orchestra, describe some of
the varied
reactions to Beethoven's Seventh Symphony.
Mark what commentators have found in the Seventh
symphony: One finds a new Pastoral symphony; another a new
Alberti
Eroica.
Germany
is
sure that
saw
it is
a knightly festival.
a political revolution.
Marx
describes a Southern race,
ancient
I
lo
is
a description of the joy of
delivered from the French yoke.
in
it
it
Moors of
Spain.
An
is
Nohl shakes
Dr. Iken of
his
Bremen
head and swears
inclined to think that the music
brave and warlike,
old edition of the
such
as
the
symphony gave
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
programme: "Arrival of the Villagers; Nuptial Benediction;
The Wedding Feast." Did not Schumann discover in the second
movement the marriage ceremony of a village couple ? D Ortigue
this
'
found that the Andante pictured
a procession in
an old cathedral
more
cheerful person,
or in the catacombs; while Duerenberg, a
prefers to call
Finale has
The
the love-dream of a sumptuous odalisque.
it
many meanings
North returning
:
a battle of giants or warriors of the
to their country after the fight;
a feast of
Bacchus or an orgy of the villagers after a wedding.
Ulibichev
goes so far
as to say that
Beethoven portrayed in
this Finale a
drunken revel to express the disgust excited in him by such
popular recreations. Even Wagner writes hysterically about
symphony
this
as
who knows
"Stroemkarl" of Sweden,
a friend of the
variations,
"the apotheosis of the dance," and he reminds
eleventh belongs to the Night spirit and his crew, and
one plays
eleven
and mortals should dance to only ten of them: the
if
any
and benches, cans and cups, the grand-
tables
it,
mother, the blind and lame, yea, the children in the cradle,
to dancing.
fall
"The
last
movement
of the Seventh symphony,"
says
Wagner,
We
are forced to conclude that, ordinarily, the images music
"is this
eleventh variation. "5^
arouses are specific to the experiences of the listener. 53
school of imagery
the motive-hunting Wagnerians),
(e.g.,
images will, quite naturally, be more alike.
is
several
have had similar experiences, are trained in the same
listeners
there
If
more commonality
that, as Pratt phrases
it,
On
their
the affective side
of response, at least partly from the fact
music sounds the way the emotions
feel.
Music can be used to indicate the build-up and release of tensions.
It
to
can, of course, be given almost any desired
stamp
however,
in the
is
proper associations.
Such
meaning
if
time
is
taken
specificity of designation,
not generally encouraged, for to most people the real
essence of music
lies in
the fact that
it
gives each person an oppor-
tunity to project his private experiences through his
own
personal
III
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
images or even to listen without trying to
elicit
images of any sort. 54
Everyone can appreciate the grammar, the melodic and harmonic rules
of the school to v^hich the music of his immediate interest belongs.
But he
not listening to a language in the fullest sense of that term.
is
Notes
i]
One
2]
For an exception to
3]
M.
F.
4]
C.
W.
reminded of the
is
legislative threats against
this
Valentine,
'n' roll
during the
s
of
Arithmetic, Boston, Ditson, 1929.
"The Aesthetic Appreciation of Musical
Brit. J. Psychol.,
Intervals
among School
6 (1913): 190-216.
C. P. Heinlein, "The Affective Characters of the Major and Minor
g]
summer
statement, see the next section of this chapter.
Meyer, The Musician
Children and Adults,"
rock
Modes
in Music,"
Comp. fsychoL, 8 (1928): 101-142.
J.
K. Hevner, "The Affective Character of Major and Minor
6]
Psychol.,
Chords," J. Gen.
Comp.
).
03-1
Psychol.,
C. P. Heinlein,
8]
1
Modes
in Music," Amer. J.
18.
R. Farnsworth, "The Discrimination of Major, Minor, and Certain Mistuned
P.
7]
4J (193^):
Psychol., 8
1
(1928): 377-379.
"The Affective Characters of the Major and Minor Modes
(1928): 101-142.
in Music,"
L. Kaiser, in "Contribution to the Psychologic
and
Linguistic Value of Melody," Acta Psychol., 9 (19^3): 288-293, argues that falling intervals
lead to sad affects while rising intervals the size of the fifth are exhilarative.
9]
Note that it is not the blues third per se which yields a minor effect but rather the
melody in which the third is embedded. Intervals as such have no modal charac-
over-all
teristics (p. 40).
10]
For detailed material on the
effect of
tempo
see
M. G.
Rigg's "Speed as a Determiner
of Musical Mood," J. Exp. Psychol., 2J (1940): J66-571. Rigg has verified Heinlein's
work on the effect of pitch in "The Effect of Register and Tonality upon Musical Mood,"
]. Musical., 2 (1940),
"sad" music in
No.
1
1]
Taken from
L.
468-48
more
See also K. B. Watson's extensive
Omwake,
1
.
P. A. Scholes, The Oxford Companion to Music,
Press, 1943.
I
12
Psychol. Monog., £4,
It
second edition, London,
Reproduced by permission of the publisher.
"Visual Responses to Auditory Stimuli," J. Appl. Psychol., 24 (1940):
is a slight tendency for persons who are
has also been demonstrated that there
interested in color than in
form to prefer tone
"Colour Form Attitudes, an Analogue from Music,"
13]
work on "happy" and
(1942).
2
Oxford U.
12]
49-61.
"The Nature and Measurement of Musical Meanings,"
to form.
See
W.
Austral. J. Psychol., 5
C. E. Seashore, "Color Music," Mus. Ed. J., 2S, No.
2
(1938): 26.
A. McElroy,
(1953): 10-16.
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
14]
J.
Delay,
et
al.,
"Les Synesthesies dans I'lntoxication Mescalinique," Encephale, 40
(19^1): i-io.
I
The
s]
fact that synesthesias are
modalities
is
emphasized by D.
I.
not entirely chance associations between two sense
Masson
in "Synesthesia
and Sound Spectra," Word, 8
(195-2): 39-41.
16]
E. L. Kelly,
"An Experimental Attempt
Technique of the Conditioned Response,"
17]
Biol.,
J. Gen. Psychol., 3
M.
J. Zigler,
Color Hearing,"
"Tone Shapes:
A
No.
3
Brit. J.
Novel Type of Synaesthesia,"
(1930): 277-287.
i
(1954): 289-300. Essentially the same position
Chapter £ of Aesthetics and Language,
21]
in the Light of a Case of
C. C.Pratt, The Meaning of Music, 'N.Y.,McGra.w-Hi\\, 193
Aesth., 12,
2o]
Chromesthesia by the
IJ (1934): 315—341.
5 (1933): 15^5—211; L. A. Riggs and T. Karwoski, "Synaesthesia,"
2S (1934): 29-41;
Psychol.,
in
Artificial
34 (1944), 87—103.
O. Ortmann, "Theories of Synesthesia
Human
19]
Produce
T. H. Howells, "The Experimental Development of Color-Tone Synesthesia," y. £xp.
Psychol.,
18]
to
J. Exp. Psychol.,
W.
;
is
"The Design of Music, "y.
taken by O. K.
W. V. Bingham, Mood Music, Orange, N.J., Thomas A. Edison, 192 i.
A more recent study along the Edison lines is that of A. Capurso, et al..
Your Emotions, N.Y., Liveright,
Bouwsma
Elton, ed., N.Y., Philosophical Lib., 1954.
1952, pp. 56-86.
Music and
Sixty-one pieces were found which
provided listener agreement (1075 nonmusical students were the listeners) of £o per cent
or more when the task was to sort the compositions into six categories.
22]
Thus
S.
and R. L. Fisher,
in
"The
Effects of Personal Security
on Reactions to Un-
familiar Music," J. Soc. Psjchol.,
those
who
34 (1951): 265-273, report that a large percentage of
react to "dramatic" music with unusually extreme favorableness or unfavorable-
ness
seem to possess marked personal
23]
M. Schoen and
E. L.
N.Y., Harcourt, Brace,
Psychol.,
24]
insecurity.
Gatewood, Chapter
7 in The Effects of Music,
1927; H. K. Mull, "A Study of
Humor
in
M. Schoen,
ed.,
Music," Amer. J.
62 (1949): 560-566.
R. E. Dreher, "The Relationship between Verbal Reports and Galvanic Skin Responses
to Music," Doctoral Thesis, Indiana U., 1947.
25]
P.
J.
Hampton, "The Emotional Element
in Music," J. Gen. Psychol.,
33 (194^):
237-250.
26]
I.
G. Campbell, "Basal Emotional Patterns Expressible in Music," Amer.
J. Psychol.,
SS (1942): 1-17; B. Shimp, "Reliability of Associations of Known and Unknown Melodic
Phrases with Words Denoting States of Feeling," y. Musical., 1, No. 4 (1940): 22-35'.
27]
K.
Hevner, "Expression in Music:
A
Discussion of Experimental Studies and
Theories," Psjchol. Rev., 4J (1935): 186-204; "Experimental Studies of the Elements of
Expression in Music," Amer. J. Psychol., 48 (1936): 246-268. (The Hevner Adjective
Check
List
is
reproduced by permission of the
Psychological Review
Psychological Association). A. L. Sopchak, "Retest Reliability of the
to Music," 7. Psychol., 44 (1957): 223-226.
and the American
Number
of Responses
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
28]
P. R. Farnsworth,
"A Study of the Hevner Adjective
List," J. Aesth.,
13 (195^4):
97-103.
29]
The mood expressed by the
of clusters B and
"frustrated" describes a
expressed with
30]
adjectives of cluster
and resembles
I,
little
least the
mood which
mood
A
resembles most closely the
only cluster F reflects, and even here the affect
is
precision.
K. Hevner, "Studies in Expressiveness of Music," Mus. Teach. Nat.
pp. 199—217.
mood
of clusters E and F. The adjective
Assoc. Proc.
1938,
See also Hevner's "Experimental Studies of the Elements of Expression in
Music," Amer.J. Psjchol., 48 (1936): 246-268; "The Affective Value of Pitch and
in Music," Amer.J. Psjchol.,
49 (1937): 621—630; "Expression
Tempo
in Music," Psychol. Rev.,
42
(193J): 186-204.
31]
are
The
tables that follow,
reproduced by permission of The American Journal of Psychology,
from R. Gundlach, "Factors Determining the Characterization of Musical Phrases,"
Amer.J. Psjchol., 47 (1935^): 624-643; "A Quantitative Analysis of Indian Music," Amer.J.
Psychol., 44 (1932): 133-145-. See also S. DeGrazia's attempted analysis of Shostakovich's
His descriptive categories are intra-opus repetition, short and sym-
Seventh Sjmphonj.
metrical themes, figurative background, simplicity of fugal form, regular chord progressions,
rhythmic
background,
and
correlative
description
("Shostakovich's
Seventh
Sjmphonj: Reactivity-Speed and Adaptiveness in Musical Symbols," Psychiat., 6 (1943):
1
17— I 22).
32]
Factor analysis
is
a
method
for resolving a set of interrelated variables or tests into a
few "factors" which are regarded
as
being the fundamental variables underlying the
original
complex of
variables.
R.
W. Brown,
R. A. Leiter, and D. C. Hildum, "Metaphors from Music Criticism,"
33]
J. Abn. Soc. Psjchol., 54 (19^7): 347-3?2.
34]
R.
43
35^]
Henkin, "A Factorial Study of the Components of Music, "y.
I.
161-181
;
"A Reevaluation of
(195^7):
a Factorial
Psjchol., 39 (i9SS)'Study of the Components of Music, "y. Psjchol.,
301-306.
R. V. Fay points out that music tensions are produced by "dissonance and diminution
of dissonance, intensification of a rhythmic pattern, intensification of a note or chord,
sequential building of phrases or motives, change in dynamics, alternation of unfamiliar
material with familiar material, enlargement and elaboration of material already presented,
addition of
new harmonies
Development
or of melodic and rhythmic counterpoints" ("Tension and
as Principles in
Musical Composition," J.
36]
Actually, only a portion of the
37]
G. O. Rogge, "Music
as
Hevner
list
Alusicol.,
5 (1947): 1-12).
was presented.
Communication, with Special Reference to
Its
Role
as
Content," Doctoral Thesis, U. of California at Los Angeles, 19^2, pp. 66—67.
38]
G. O. Rogge, op.
39]
A. Pepinsky, "The Contribution of the Frequency Factor to the Psychological State
cit.,
p. 76.
of Tension," yWu5. Teach. Nat. Assoc. Proc. 1939, pp. 134-143.
40]
114
R. Morey, "Upset in Emotions," J. Soc. Psjchol., 12 (1940), 333-3^6.
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OFMUSIC
T. F. Karwoski, H.
41]
II.
The Role of Form
L.
Omwake,
S.
Odbert, and C. E. Osgood, "Studies in Synesthetic Thinking:
Responses to Music, "J. Gen. Psychol., 26 (1942): 199-222;
"Visual Responses to Auditory Stimuli," J. Appl. Psychol., 24 (1940): 468—
in Visual
481.
42]
T. Cowles, "Experimental Study of Pairing Certain Auditory and Visual Stimuli,"
J.
J. Exp. Psychol.,
43]
Monog., 57, No.
Psychol.
44]
18 (1935'): 461-469.
R. R. Willmann, "An Experimental Investigation of the Creative Process in Music,"
i
(1944).
A. Montani, "Psychoanalysis of Music," Psychoanal. Rev., 32 (194^): 22^—227.
45]
D. Mosonyi, "Die irrationalen Grundlagen der Musik," Imago, 21 (193^): 207-226.
46]
I.
M.
Altshuler,
"The Case of Horace
F.," Mus. Teach. Nat. Assoc. Proc. 1946, pp.
368-
381.
47]
M.
Tilly,
"The Psychoanalytic Approach
and Feminine Principles in
to the Masculine
Music," Amer. J. Psychiat., 103 (1947): 477-483.
48]
The ancient
theorists of China also
saw sex
qualities in music.
In the Lin
Lun
system of approximately 2700 B.C. in the reign of Emperor Huang-ti there were the lu
or masculine family of scale notes and the
Handschin
49]
lui
or feminine.
See also the theories of
(p. 5^2).
P. R. Farnsworth,
Musical Phenomena,"
and Femininity
J.
C. Trembley, and C. E. Dutton, "Masculinity and Femininity of
J. MusicoL,
9 (19J1): 2^7-262; C. H. Rittenhouse, "Masculinity
in Relation to Preferences in Music," Thesis, Stanford U., i9i^2; P. R.
Farnsworth, "The Musical Taste of an American Musical Elite," Hinrichsen Musical Year
Book,
^o]
7 (19^2):
I.
1 1
2-1 16.
A. Berg, in "Observations Concerning Obsessive Tunes in Normal Persons under
Clin. PsjchoL, 9 (1953): 300-302, has made a study of clients who were
plagued by obsessive songs and song lyrics. Interestingly enough, he found that their
Stress," J.
conflicts,
while severe, were largely nonsexual. This was true even though the lyrics of
these obsessive tunes
were
filled
with what the Freudians traditionally term sexual
symbols, e.g., bananas, coconuts, pistols, and the like.
£i]
A
cleverly written article
Symbols
on
art
— Freudian and Otherwise,"
and Freudianism
J. Aesth., 12,
on the same general topic can be found
£2]
No.
is
i
that
by R. Amheim, "Artistic
(195^3): 93-97.
Other
articles
in this issue of the Journal of Aesthetics.
A. R. Chandler, Beautj and Human Nature, N.Y., Appleton-Century, 1934, p. 213,
by permission of the publisher.
5^3]
Thus, persons
who
of Walt Disney and his
possess tonal-visual associations
staff
may have found
which
his Fantasia
English, ''Fantasia and the Psychology of Music," J. Aesth.,
54]
The
Evidence
age
(J.
calling
is
at
up of imagery
hand that
is
markedly from those
differ
extremely distasteful (H. B.
7 (1943): 27-31).
certainly not essential to the musical
this generalization also
H. Higginson, "The Associational
enjoyment of adults.
holds true for children 10 to 14 years of
Aspect
of Musical
Response
in
School
Children," J. Educ. Psychol., 2J (1936): ^72-^^80.)
115"
8-2
CHAPTER
SIX
The Nature of Musical Taste
l\ PERUSAL
of the current definitions of musical taste would lead
one to believe that there
authoritative.
no definition which can be taken
is
Even Runes's
Dictionary
of Philosophy^
statements which are quite different in meaning.
faculty of judging art
perience."
The second,
artist in his
works of
rules,
His
offers
two
first is
"the
through sensation and ex-
"the ensemble of preferences
shown by an
choice of elements from nature and tradition, for his
art,"
would appear
broadened to include
The
without
as
all
to be acceptable
if
men making judgments
the term "artist"
is
in the field of art.
term "preferences" should not be limited
to
momentary
pleasures, but should refer to an over-all, average set of emotionally
oriented attitudes, even including the strivings for appreciations not
who is endeavoring to achieve an
appreciation of Bach's music, but who so far does not enjoy contrapuntal music, has taste different from that of his friend who casts
as yet gained.
Bach aside
Thus, the person
as the
mere creator of
tinkly sounds.
Musical taste can be very roughly described
attitudinal set
Note:
The
as
the
over-all
one has toward the phenomena which collectively
material in this and the following chapter
and revisions) from Musical
Taste
:
Its
is
reprinted (with adaptations
Measurement and Cultural Nature by Paul Randolph
Farnsworth with the permission of the publishers, Stanford University Press. Copyright
1950 by the Board of Trustees of Leland Stanford Junior University.
116
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
comprise music. The communication expectancies one
attitudes built
up
one toward modal,
in
effects, all quite clearly
chapter
we
shall
examine
an effort to understand
Whimsej
The
or
form
finality,
a part of musical taste.
has,
the
key, and other
In the present
this larger attitudinal picture called taste in
at least a little of its nature.
Law?
may
fact that several of one's friends
enjoy only jazz and other
colleagues receive their greatest pleasure from the music of Bach
is
often brushed aside with an airy "What's one man's poison, signor,
is
another's meat or drink."
statement that taste
is
The assumption seems
But the diametrically opposed view
is
that musical taste obeys
According to
this
some absolute and unchanging
low order;
friends have taste of a
who
Bach; and a
more
still
—the
taste."
the geniusare on their
One's jazz-loving
a higher order of taste
loves the music of
set of laws.
critics,
—have discovered, or
what constitutes "good
to discovering,
by the man
—and the more common one
view, the musically elite
composers, and the musicologists
way
implicit in this
whimsical, and so without pattern of any sort.
is
possessed
Mendelssohn but not that of
higher status has been reached by those
attracted to the
who
are
works of Bach than to those of Mendelssohn.
Laws can be either absolute,
and unchanging, or
eternal,
relative,
culturally derived, and stable for only limited areas and periods of
time.
The professor of music who attempted
to
keep
his students
from being "polluted" by the music of Mahler and Bruckner
really
happened
—was
following
the
absolutist's
—which
conception
of
musical taste. His colleague was more of a relativist when he said to his
students
:
"I
much
prefer the music of the early nineteenth century to
that of later periods
.
Yet it might be well
with music of later periods, since
this
who
if
you would become familiar
can
tell
what
level of regard
newer music will have achieved by the days of your grandchildren
.
117
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
The
absolutist in musical theory holds that musical creations are
good because they follow metaphysical
or are in line with
rules,
For
certain of the principles of natural science.
we
metaphysical approach,
five,
elements
who
were
five,
on the i^rounds
—metal,
and political relationships
social
sample of the
can refer to the classical Chinese,
justified their pentatonic scale
and only
a
that there
wood, water,
—
fire,
and earth;
five
father and children, husband and
wife, brothers, friends, and ruler and subjects; and five political
terms
—
king, official, people, governmental affairs, and wealth.^
own
Closer to our
Western European sixteenth-
culture was the
century taboo against music ratios employing prime numbers not in
the series i-6.3
The reason
space has six directions
To make
offered, as
—above,
we saw
in
below, fore,
Chapter
2,
after, right,
was that
and
left.
use of a prime not in this series was thought to be contrary
to the Will of
God. Even
in
that "good" aesthetic taste
our
own time there are many who believe
who happen to
inherent in those of us
is
have been born under a propitious sign of the zodiac, but these
astrology-lovers are often a
influential
predetermining
in
answer, however,
For
it
little
it
vague
taste.
as to just
which
Whatever the
sign
is
most
astrological
does not check with experimentally tested
facts.
has been demonstrated that the distribution of the birthdays
of the musically great
is
not different from that of the
In their birthdays, the artistic
and the
inartistic
less gifted.
have been favored by
the same astrological signs.
Although
it is
would believe
in
quite probable that only the
more credulous today
such metaphysical principles
as
that a law of physics or of
is
a
still
held by
number
many
some other
theorists.
have already noted
(p.
21) that
of the important textbooks persist in describing the scale
of just intonation
as
the scale of nature and our contemporary
equally tempered scale as a
former can be derived,
118
We
the above, the idea
natural science underlies taste
compromise
in theory at least,
affair,
simply because the
from the overtone
series,
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
while the latter cannot be so rationalized. These overtone enthusiasts
seem to forget
tempered
scales,
other cultures have enjoyed equally
that
some of them even
removed than ours from
farther
the possibility of such rationalization, e.g., the Siamese and the
Although the physics of horns, reeds, and
Javanese.
strings did help
condition the early use of the octave, and perhaps a few of the other
with simple
intervals
ratios,
it
seems unjustifiable to
restrict
our
explanations of present-day taste to physical principles.
Attention has already been called to the interesting neurological
speculations of
they relate to
Meyer and
to the theories of Mursell, particularly as
finality effects (pp.
42,
_5"3).
So long
are not formulated to exclude habituation they
as these theories
would not appear un-
tenable, although in the present primitive state of neurology they
not seem currently to furnish
nature of
A
taste.
much
firmer statement can be
made about
in
there are experiments to
show
for the diversities of true beat.
his
muscles react.
(p.
for
5"),
that the latter cannot possibly account
It is
obvious that the capacities of the
biological organism set the general limits within
and
the relation
music and body pulse-rate
between the true beat
do
help to the understanding of the
But that they can
which man's
affect his taste
ears
without the
mediation of cultural forces has never been demonstrated. All the
facts so far
seem
accumulated by the musicologists and
social scientists
to point in a different direction, toward a cultural explanation
of taste.
The hypothesis
large measure,
that
contemporary
culturally derived,
taste in
music
is,
at least in
can be demonstrated through
the data of anthropology, history, and experimental psychology.
has been
tuning,
shown
fixed
diatonic scale
tonal
is
It
that the Occidental love for simple rhythms, careful
steps,
harmonies,
the
not shared the world over.
tonic
As
effect,
we saw
and the
earlier, the
African predilection for complicated rhythmic patterns was so far
out of line with the taste and perceptual
abilities
of many of the early
119
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
missionaries that they
commonly reported
the Africans to be arhyth-
The Chinese often appear obUvious
mical.
music which has
little
harmony
in the
to mistunings; they love
Western sense of the word.
Yet Orientals can learn to love Occidental music and, indeed, with
come
continued residence in America
to appreciate
Western musical
principles, and gradually to develop facility in the perception of small
auditory differences.
Conversely, the people of the Western world
more com-
often learn to love alien music forms, and to master
plicated rhythmic patterns.
tuning, the
American slowly
When
constantly subjected to poor
loses his pitch sensitivity
and
his
need
for pitch exactitude.
It is
well
known
that the people of each culture area are likely to
regard their art forms
neighbors.
as
God-given and superior to those of their
But the theorist
who would
accept the mythology of
racism and believe that the composers of his group alone have
discovered the "true" standards of musical taste will receive no
support from the social sciences.
Some form
that the
of the absolutist view
among the
whimsey view of
musicians.
matter of
It is
fact,
is
often accepted by professional
relatively untutored,
taste
is
more
on the other hand,
likely to
be found.
As
a
the evidence which can be gathered supports neither
of these conceptions. But before indicating what theoretical position
the facts force us into, let us see
taste
is
without pattern.
to be found in
We
why we cannot
shall first
accept the idea that
note the degree of agreement
judgments on relative eminence.
Eminence
The most eminent composer
even the
man whose works
are
is
between these three categories
ference
I20
—
is
a close one.
not necessarily the best known, or
most preferred. Yet the relationship
— eminence,
knowledge, and pre-
Moreover, while eminent composers are
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
assumed to be geniuses or
create that
which
at least near-geniuses,
Only
be called eminent.
is
a
few
live
not
up to their
all
geniuses can
potentialities,
honored by their fellows. Others have
or
traits
of
character or are subjected to situational pressures which preclude
great achievement;
moments"
or perhaps they are not born at the "right
development of their
in the
art.^
We
can readily accept
the traditional, dictionary view of eminence as "an elevated condition
among men;
a place
elevated status
is
or station above
men
in general," adding that the
the result of social evaluations which are relative to
particular times and places.
The patience of the
classroom and
listener, along
lecture hall,
with the conventions of the
force each lecturer on music history to
confine his talk to an hour or two.
restricted to
reasonable
number
what the author and
number of pages. These
of composers
who
editor, if
work
written
Similarly,
no one
else,
is
consider a
limitations function to reduce the
can receive
critical attention,
and to
decrease the extent to which those of lesser importance can be
treated.
with
as
By these means, eminence hierarchies are
many such
Each scholar has
lists
appearing
as
in effect created,
there are musicologists at work.
his individual biases,
produced out of
national,
school, and teacher loyalties, and occasional illogical reasoning, to
mention what are perhaps the most obvious
a
measured entity
is
to have
stability,
influences. If eminence as
each selection of the eminent
must be balanced by the choices of many others.
polling
of individual
decisions
furnishes
just
Fortunately, the
such
mechanism, and cancels out many of the eccentricities
EMINENCE RANKINGS. The
just a
a
balancing
in the choices.
unsounducss of the view that taste
is
matter of whimsey can be demonstrated in a variety of ways.
Our first evidence
is
that the
Society, one group of elite,
in their selections of
members of the American Musicoloaical
agree among themselves extremely well
eminent musicians.
In 19^1 these specialists
111
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
were asked
to consider a long
to check the
list
of composers born since
names of the ten whose contributions
to be of greatest importance. 7
the second into pile
I,
two
piles of the
same
2,
first
the third into pile
ballot going into
etc.
i,
Thus, with
two rankings of eminence could be con-
size,
number of checks each composer received
structed by tabulating the
from the
ballots in each pile.
The
below shows
table
870 and
As the ballot sheets were received,
they were put alternately into two piles, the
pile
i
music appeared
to
that the first seven
two subgroups of musicologists were
identical.
names chosen by the
The eighth and ninth
Of
composers who
of the one subgroup were the ninth and tenth of the other.
course,
the table had been lengthened to include
if
received relatively few votes, the two columns would not resemble
each other quite
relish roast beef
as
much
they do now.
as
For just
as
almost
all
of us
and apple pie but disagree more with regard to tripe
and cottage-cheese pie, so practically
all
musicologists treat with high
regard Stravinsky and Bartok, but do not agree quite
as
well on the
importance of composers of the order of Mason and Lockwood.
First Nine Eminence Choices of Musicologists
Polled in 195^1
Composers Born Since
'k
Order
'Note:
122
1870
Pile
1
2
1
Stravinsky
^Stravinsky
2
Bartok
(Bartok
3
Hindemith
4
Ravel
Ravel
S
Schonberg
Schonberg
6
Prokofiev
Prokofiev
7
Vaughan Williams
Vaughan Williams
8
Copland
Rachmaninov
9
Britten
Copland
11
first
Pile
Rachmaninov
The name appearing below
Hindemith
1
Britten
the line in any one of the columns appears
nine in one of the other columns.
among
the
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
The musicologists were
also asked in 195^1
to scrutinize
lists
of
composers whose birth dates were before 1870. They were to check
the
2
£ they
deemed most worthy
to be called to the attention of their
When
children and their lay contemporaries.
the two-pile scheme
was employed, the top names were found to be the following:
Eminence Choices of Musicologists
Polled in 195^1
Composers Born Before 1870
First Nine
Rank Order
Pile
Beethoven
2
Bach
Bach
3
4
Haydn
Brahms
Mozart
5
Mozart
Haydn
6
Debussy
Schubert
Handel
Debussy
r Schubert
Handel
9
[ Wagner
Wagner
A
were
the American Musicological Society
1938 and were asked
musicians of history
Letters
Brahms
8
The members of
consulted in
2
Beethoven
7
to music. ^
Pile
1
1
whom
again sent to the
more
were placed randomly
that time to
as
in
into
AMS members
19^1.9
two
sets.
The
list
first
the ten
having contributed most
composers were named in
total of 92
already noted, once
at
they regarded
were
in
this survey.
1944 and,
as
we
ballots received in
have
1944
Special attention was paid to
the ranks achieved by the 92 names mentioned in the original (1938)
survey.
The
correlation {rho)
the high value of •97.^"
between the two-pile orders came to
The same technique employed on the
195^1
of -96 for those born since 1870 and '98 for those
data yielded
r/70's
born before
this date.
It is
thus apparent that even at the lower levels
of eminence there was considerable agreement
between the two subo
groups of contemporary musicologists. It can safely be said, then,
that the
some
judgments of
this
group of the musically
elite are
following
sort of principle or lawful pattern.
123
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
The reader may
say,
however, that
one thing to prove that
it is
among musical specialists, and
quite another to demonstrate it among lay groups. To answ^er this
reasonable objection, the procedures which were employed with the
considerable agreement in taste exists
musicologists
were used
from psychology
in
194^ with
senior high-school students, and with
fifth-graders.
students taken
25-0 college
with
classes at Stanford University,
Here, again, each group was
ballots cast for the 9
split into
composers voted
2
nearby
100 sixth-graders and 100
scheme was followed of correlating two eminence
from the
105^
as
two and the
lists
compiled
most eminent
in
1938. While no correlations quite as high as the -98 of the musicologists
appeared, the college value was found to be -9^, the high-
school -93, the sixth-grade -93, and the fifth-grade '87.^^
assumed that these groups are typical of
grade-school groups, even in California.
that since
other
all
the above groups
fairly similar lay
all
It
is
not
college, senior-high, or
But
it is
logical to believe
showed marked communality of taste,
groups would also show
fair
agreement among
themselves.
For
illustrative purposes,
number
the nine names receiving the highest
of college votes from a 195^3-^4 balloting are
shown below. ^^
First Nine Eminence Choices of 120 College
Students Polled
in 195^3-5^4
Composers Born Before
Rank Order
Pile
1870
Pile 2
1
1
Beethoven
Beethoven
2
Bach
Bach
J
3
(
Chopin
Chopin
4
i
Mozart
Mozart
Wagner
5
^
Tchaikovsky
6
r
Brahms
Brahms
7
[
Liszt
Tchaikovsky
8
r
Wagner
Handel
9
I
Schubert
Liszt
10
124
Handel
10-S
Schubert
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
The
grammar-school students agree so well
composers can only be interpreted
is
and even high- and
fact that musically elite, college students,
patterned and
is
as
eminent
this facet of taste
not a matter of whimsey.
Eminence hierarchies of great
stability also
similar culture are queried about the
The next
classics."
in their selections of
showing that
table
appear
when people
of
composers of the "popular
shows the top nine names given by two
college groups of approximately 40 each, questioned in 195^4.
subject had been given a
list
Each
on which were the names of 108
composers and had been told to rank the ten most eminent from
i
to 10.13
First Nine Choices of 80 College Students,
Polled in Summer of 19 ^4
Composers of "Popular Classics"
Rank Order
Pile
1
George Gershwin
George Gershwin
2
Cole Porter
Irving Berlin
3
Jerome Kern
Jerome Kern
4
Irving Berlin
Richard Rodgers
5
r
Richard Rodgers
Cole Porter
6
[
Stephen Foster
Stephen Foster
7
Hoagy Carmichael
8
S.
Romberg
9
J.
Strauss
10-5
Sir
CHANGES
folkways
Pile 2
1
it
IN
1^
Arthur Sullivan
Romberg
S.
(
10
EMINENCE RANKINGS.
Hoagy Carmichael
Sir
J.
Arthur Sullivan
Strauss
If tastc
bchavesas do Other
should be possible to perceive changes over the years.
That such changes do occur
is
shown by the
fact that
although the
eminence ranks yielded by the votes of the American Musicological
Society's
members
in 195^1 correlated '95^
with the ranks obtained
in
1944, they correlated only 'S^ with the 92 ranks derived from the
polling of
1938.
(The comparisons concerned the
1938 poll's
92 eminent names.)
12^
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
Eminence Ranks of the Musicologists
tk
193s
Order
1951
1944
Bach
1
Bach
Beethoven
2
Beethoven
Beethoven
Bach
3
Wagner
Mozart
Brahms
4
Mozart
5
Palestrina
Wagner
Haydn
Mozart
6
7
Haydn
Brahms
8
Monteverdi
Schubert
Handel
9
Debussy
Handel
Wagner
10
Schubert
10
Debussy
10
Palestrina
11
Handel
25
Monteverdi
IS
Monteverdi
r
(^
Haydn
Brahms
(
Palestrina
Stanford college students similarly polled
(^
Schubert
Debussy
showed the following
agreements: 1953 and 1945^, a rho of -88; 195^3 and 1938,
a rho
of '81.
Eminence Ranks of College Students
Rank Order
1938
i945
.
i953
1
Beethoven
Beethoven
Beethoven
2
Bach
Wagner
Bach
3
Wagner
Mozart
Chopin
4
Mozart
Bach
Mozart
Wagner
S
Brahms
Chopin
6
Tchaikovsky
Tchaikovsky
7
Schubert
Brahms
8
Chopin
Mendelssohn
Liszt
9
Mendelssohn
Schubert
Schubert
11
10
Liszt
reverence for the
remark that "the older
a
past.
Liszt
One
{
-!
1
17
Tchaikovsky
Brahms
Mendelssohn
occasionally hears a cynic
composition the more highly will
it
be
regarded," or, "Music of the quality of Mozart's compositions but
written in the twentieth century will not receive wholehearted
acceptance."
Unfortunately, the complete facts which could prove
or contradict these statements are not at hand. Yet data are available
126
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
which bear
to the
at least indirectly
on the problem. They
refer,
however,
eminence of composers rather than to the acceptability of the
compositions.
one pertinent study, the time which had elapsed since the birth
In
of each of the 92 composers mentioned
polling of the
lated. ^4
most eminent
as
American Musicological Society was
Xhe rank order which
in the
1938
carefully tabu-
these time periods yielded was then
correlated successively with each of
more
than 20 eminence ranks
obtained through a variety of methods. The coefficients of correla-
were found
tion
to range
—
coefficient falling at
zero.
•
from +*2i
a value
i 5",
— '36,
to
with the median
not significantly different from
Had time from death been used
in the tabulations instead of
time since birth, the values would have been almost precisely the
same, since the two time series correlate '99 one with the other.
The
picture,
over-all
between the
relative
then,
disclosed
no
eminence of the men
significant
relationship
in this highly selected list
and elapsed time since birth or death.
eminence was
In a second study, the relation of the year of birth to
observed by plotting the birth years of the 92 selected composers,
and then finding the central tendency. The median birth year was
found to
a larger
fall
in the
number
determine the
For
decade of the i72o's.^5 Next, the birth years of
of less rigidly selected musicians were analyzed to
effects of
this part of the
broadening the concept of "high eminence."
research the original
was expanded to include
by current musicologists
1 1
8
list
other composers mentioned
in their articles
birth year of this less highly selected group
the i8oo's.
still
of 92 composer names
Finally, to study the effect of
more, the birth years of
all
as
eminent
and books. The median
fell in
the
first
decade of
broadening the selection
the musicians mentioned in
current encyclopedias of music, the Oxford Companion
the International Cyclopedia of Music and Musicians,
to
two
Music and
were examined.
For these two large groups the median birth years were in the
late
127
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
i8 2o's and the early 185^0's, respectively.
mode was found
examined, the
to
In each of the four lists
several decades after the
fall
median.
Another view of the working of the same principles can be obtained by studying the birth dates of the hundred or so
who ranked
highest in the American Musicological Society's eminence
5"
persons
who
was 1770; for the top
1
75^6.
1
1
1809; top 2^, 181
15^,
3;
,
top 100, 1820. The
comparable medians compiled from the data of the
astonishingly similar: top g,
17^6; top 11,
top 2^,
I
The
the
hundred ranks because of the poorer
first
8 10;
top 100,
I
818.
The
944 survey were found to
For the top 1 the median figure
achieved top status in the
have a median birth year of
lists.
analyses
i95"i
survey were
1770; top
1797;
15-,
were not carried beyond
reliability of the
lower
rank positions.
From
the data of these researches
we
can conclude that, in con-
sidering musicians of great eminence, there
is little
or no tendency
bestow most honor on those who have been longest dead.
to
clear,
however, that the higher the selection of those
eminent, the greater the chance that they will not be of our
In fact, the data
show
that
it is
far
we
own
call
day.
easier for a composer of a century
or so ago to achieve a placement in a music encyclopedia than
for
It is
one born toward the end of the
last
century or
later.
it is
The com-
poser of recent years has not had the requisite time to become
familiar to his listeners, to build
of
far
many
centuries ago
removed,
is
up
a school of supporters.
also at a disadvantage, for his
stylistically,
His peer
works are too
from the contemporary scene. The
latter'
become
progressively slighter as his
birth date recedes farther and farther
from the 1700's. The most
chances of being rediscovered
honored, then, must be the between-groups, the composers of the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
128
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
Enjoyment
For those
is
who
beheve that the measurement of eminence
refuse to
an adequate measurement of contemporary taste, there
is
pertinent
information to be considered which concerns the closely related
variables of
enjoyment and knowledge.
ratings are positively correlated.
Enjoyment and eminence
But their degree of relationship
with the musical sophistication of the subjects.
varies
Data on enjoyment have been obtained from students of the San
Francisco City College. ^^ These subjects were asked to check a
of
22
5"
names and
to indicate the ten
most enjoyed. The
was
-66,
lower
showing
rho
fair
list
composers whose music they
between the rank orders of two subgroups
agreement.
It
should be noted that Bach
in this sort of ranking than in the
eminence
falls
listings.
First Nine Preferences of 126 Junior-College
Students Polled in
1^
Order
Pile
195^4
Vile 2
I
1
Chopin
Chopin
2
Beethoven
Beethoven
3
Tchaikovsky
4
Brahms
^Tchaikovsky
5
Mozart
1
6
Rimsky-Korsakov
7
Sousa
8
-
Schubert
Brahms
R. Strauss
Debussy
fSousa
[Bach
9
Mozart
|Foster
10-5
Foster
11-5
Debussy
12-5
Schubert
11-5
Bach
15-5
R. Strauss
15-5
Rimsky-Korsakov
The well-known West Coast
critic
Alfred Frankenstein has also
found Bach relatively lower in the enjoyment
interviewing
States.
many
lists
he assembled by
college students in different areas of the United
^7
129
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
As another example of how similar groups
will
show
similar
members of
Symphony Orchestra in
former symphony player. ^^ The
preferences, let us examine the ballots collected from
the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Boston
the early 1930's by Folgmann, a
members
of these orchestras were asked to exclude from their
preference ratings of composers any biases based on their knowledge
As can be seen from the
of the relative greatness of the composers.
accompanying
order
is
table, the first nine
somewhat
names are
dissimilar for the
identical, although the
members
of these two great
orchestras.
Preferences of Symphony Players
Rank Order
Boston
Philadelphia
1
Beethoven
Beethoven
2
Wagner
Brahms
3
Bach
Bach
4
Mozart
Mozart
5
Brahms
Wagner
6
Debussy
Schubert
7
Schubert
Haydn
8
Haydn
Schumann
Schumann
9
The enjoyment of
sections
Debussy
of compositions, ^9 of the simpler
phrases, and even of chords and intervals,
similar groups.
is
also rather consistent for
Let us compare the order of preference established
for college students at the University of Minnesota in the years
before 1929^*' with the order found at Stanford University in 1933.^^
While there
is
essential
regarded
Some
is
some
slight variation in the
agreement
as neutral,
as to
which
order of preference, there
intervals are preferred,
which are
and which are disliked.
years ago, while
making
studies of the Measure of Consonance
from Seashore's well-known music-test battery and of Kwalwasser's
Melodic and Harmonic Sensitivity tests,
"errors" made by two
130
an analysis was run of the
large groups of subjects. ^^
In these experi-
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
ments, the Measure of Consonance was treated
just as
as a
tonal-preference test,
were the two Kwalwasser records. The "errors"
(i.e.,
the
disagreements with the "correct" choices) of two groups of loo
subjects each correlated in this order: Consonance, -96; Melodic
Sensitivity, '98;
Harmonic
the Kwalwasser- Dykema
Sensitivity, '99.
Test
A
later, similar study of
of Melodic Taste yielded coefficients of
correlation of -78 for fifth-graders, '92 for eighth-graders, and -91
for college students. ^3
Dykema
Test
The corresponding
of Tonal Movement
Here again we
were
values for the Kwalwasser-
•91, •91, and -98, respectively.
see almost perfect agreements, this time in the liking
for intervals, for simple phrases, and for certain resolutions as well.
Preferences for Intervals
Rank Order
Minnesota
Stanford
Major Third
Major Third
Minor Third
Minor Sixth
4
Minor Third
Minor Sixth
Major Sixth
5
Fourth
Octave
6
Tritone
Major Sixth
7
Fifth
Tritone
8
Octave
Fifth
9
Major Second
Major Second
10
Minor Seventh
11
Major Seventh
12
Minor Second
Minor Seventh
Major Seventh
Minor Second
1
2
3
Fourth
Knowledge of Composers
Like enjoyment, knowledge of composers seems to be a factor in
known composers, however, do not always
appear at the top of the eminence listings, and when knowledge and
eminence ranks are correlated, the value may run as low as •65-. The
musical
taste.
The
best
next table shows the top nine composers
as
college ratings of professed knowledge.
considered, the rank orders of the
two
they appeared on certain
When
2
1
2
names were
piles correlated at 'JS-^'^
131
9-2
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
Familiar Names, Judged by 126 Junior-College
Students Polled in 195^4
mk
Order
Pile
1
Chopin
Pile 2
1
Chopin
Beethoven
2
Beethoven
3
Mozart
4
Schubert
Schubert
5
Brahms
Tchaikovsky
6
7
Tchaikovsky
8
Schumann
9
Bach
j
[
Brahms
R. Strauss
[
J
Schumann
Bach
(^Mendelssohn
Mendelssohn
10
Mozart
10
R. Strauss
Programs
By
this
time the reader may be saying to himself: "So
behavior under observation has been purely verbal.
taste
from the standpoint of action?
orchestras, for example, ignore
many
Why
far the
not discuss
Does any one of our great
of the
more eminent composers
and concentrate consistently on playing the music of certain others
Do
the programs of the several great
world tend
To
made
to
?
symphony orchestras of the
resemble one another?"
give a partial answer to the
first
of these queries a study was
of the frequencies with which the compositions of each of the
92 world-famous composers have been listed in the programs of the
Boston Symphony Orchestra. The tabulations, made by decades,
show rank-order
correlations from one decade to the next averaaino
in the nineties ('87 to '98).
In the table
below are given the names
of the nine composers whose music was played most frequently in
each of two decades.
names are
identical.
132
And
again
we
practicallv the same.
can
make
In fact,
the statement that the
the
first
ten names are
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
Program Choices of the Boston
Symphony Orchestra
ink
1925-1935
Order
1935-1945
1
Beethoven
2
Brahms
3
Wagner
j
Mozart
4
Bach
[
Sibelius
5
R. Strauss
R. Strauss
6
Ravel
Ravel
7
Mozart
8
Sibelius
1"
9
Stravinsky
(
Beethoven
Brahms
Wagner
Stravinsky
«
Tchaikovsky
10
Tchaikovsky
Bach
10
Furthermore, supplementary information shows that the programs
of the great orchestras
do resemble each other
Mueller and Hevner have constructed
the programs played
American symphony
during
a "popularity
1936-41
orchestras. ^5
in
large
part.
pyramid" from
by seven of our leading
Note
that nine of the top ten
names of their pyramiid appear among the ten played most often by
the Boston
Symphony Orchestra during the decade
starting in 1935".
Seven American Symphony Orchestras, 1936-1941
Rank Order
1
2
Brahms
3
Mozart
4
Wagner
5
Tchaikovsky
6
7
it
Sibelius
JR. Strauss
8
(Bach
9
|Ravel
10
Thus
Composers
Beethoven
(Schumann
appears that this operational or action aspect of taste show^s
consistencies just as does the
more
verbal side,
which
is
studied
through balloting.
133
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
To
music
learn
also
whether or not the broadcast programs of recorded
show
consistency, an analysis was
made by
the author of
the Pacific Gas and Electric Company's programs, which, for a
period of years, were broadcast nightly over
KYA
from 8.00
until
10.00 P.M. The years 1941, 1942, and 1943 were chosen for study. ^^
Ranks for each of these years were constructed by counting the
number of times
the works of the great composers were broadcast.
Great consistency was found, shown by the fact that the average of
the intercorrelations of the three ranks was "9^.
radio hours of this type
is
show
similar
If,
then, other
program hierarchies, and there
no reason to suspect that they do not,
it
can be said that the choice
of recorded music for broadcasting purposes also follows
some
sort of
lawful pattern.
Pacific Gas and Electric
Rank Order
Company Broadcasts
1942
1941
1943
1
Beethoven
Beethoven
2
Tchaikovsky
Tchaikovsky
Brahms
3
Brahms
Bach
Mozart
4
Mozart
Mozart
Bach
5
Sibelius
Brahms
Tchaikovsky
6
Bach
Sibelius
Wagner
7
Wagner
Schubert
8
Wagner
Schumann
Debussy
Sibelius
9
Schubert
R. Strauss
Debussy
Beethoven
11
R. Strauss
10
Schubert
10
Schumann
37-5
Debussy
11
Schumann
11
R. Strauss
CHANGES
clearly in
IN
PROGRAMS.
program trend
Fluctuations in musical taste Can be Seen
lines.
If taste
were
a
matter of the slow
discovery of absolute values, one might reasonably expect that the
great orchestras
works of
all
would show
would gradually discard from
their
programs the
but the "best" composers. This progressive elimination
itself in
upward swings on the curves of the chosen few.
However, when Mueller and Hevner examined the 1876— 194
134
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
programs of several of the great American symphony orchestras,
curve fluctuations and plateaus rather than persistent climbs or
seemed
to be the rule. ^7
flat,
who
Beethoven,
started at the top in favor,
dropped speedily
position, though his curve
and
now
had
a dip in the late i88o's,
has leveled
vs^as
falls
show^n to be
But the curves for Mozart and Bach were
slowly climbing in favor.
quite
true that Brahms
It is
Wagner
off.
at first,
is still
then
in this
less rapidly
started second in popularity, then
climbed back into second place with
peak about 19 lo, and since has
fallen
appeared to resemble Wagner's, but
a
markedly. Tchaikovsky's curve
at a
lower
level of popularity.
These researchers have conducted many other interesting studies on
taste,
among them an
analysis of the relative popularity of Beethoven's
nine symphonies as program material.
For
illustrative purposes, it
will probably suffice to describe the popularity curves of the Fifth
and Ninth. The former had
dropped
until
a bit in the late
World War
I,
i
fairly
high status in the earliest years,
88o's, climbed in popularity rather rapidly
and has since
fallen slowly
preferred to any of the other symphonies.
what below the
now
is
Fifth
and has rather steadily
it is still
much
Ninth started some-
fallen in
rank until
it
lowest in favor.
In the course of a later study,
show
though
The
Mueller assembled additional data to
the cultural nature of taste. ^^
strike different world areas at
Just as social attitudes tend to
somewhat different times,
so,
he finds, do
trends in musical taste. Thus, while Beethoven's curve of popularity
New York
orchestras, any given position on the curve is reached by the New York
is
much
the same whether plotted for the
orchestras approximately five years after the
London or the
London body. For Wagner
the lag appears to be in the same direction, but
We
is
fifteen years in length.
have seen that the relative frequencies with which the works
of eminent composers appeared on the programs of the Boston
Symphony Orchestra
for the decade beginning in
those for the next decade.
The
192^ are similar to
data of the following table indicate
13^
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
that
tend to be greatest between contiguous
the resemblances
decades.
The program
present.
The
slow and irregular, but definitely
shifts are
correlation values
shown below were obtained from
comparisons of the relative frequency of appearance of the works of
92 composers on the programs of
this orchestra.
Decade Intercorrelations for the Boston
Symphony Orchestra
Period
Decade
Starting in 1895
Decade
Starting in 1905
Decade
Starting in 1915
Decade
Starting in 1925
1905
1915
1925
1935
•87
•82
•81
•81
•92
•83
•83
•98
•90
•90
...
Space Allocations
Another operational or action aspect of
amounts of space allotted to composers
general and music encyclopedias.
As
concerns the relative
taste
in histories of
it
is
music and in
obviously out of the
question to permit the insertion in these books of articles of con-
on
siderable length
of the world's musicians,
all
selection in considering the composers to be
amount of space each composer
be informed about the
lives
Are selections inade, then,
it
is
to receive.
and works of
in
largely a matter of chance
all
there must be
mentioned and the
Our children cannot
who have composed.
accordance with soine principle, or
which
is
composers are included in a
history or an encyclopedia?
To throw
early 1900's
on
light
were
from 1920 on.
It
this
problem, histories and encyclopedias of the
studied, as well as others published in each decade
was found that the publications, some 22 or more
in each decade, agreed
among themselves
quite well, that
is,
they
devoted almost the same relative amounts of space to the musicologists'
favored
92
composers. ^9 The coefficients of correlation
ranged from -94 to -96, demonstrating considerable communality of
136
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
judgment. These high correlations along with the others reported
earlier
show
clearly that musical taste
concern, then,
is
is
not whimsical.
Our next
with the nature of the principle which governs
it.
Allocation of Space
Rank Order
Histories of the
1
2
C
1
930' s
Histories of the
Wagner
Beethoven
Beethoven
Wagner
Mozart
Mozart
4
Bach
Bach
Brahms
3
(
5
Haydn
6
Liszt
7
Handel
8
Schumann
Brahms
9
10
Schubert
f
1
Haydn
Liszt
(^Schubert
Schumann
10
Alusic Encyclopedias
oj the 1930'
of the 1940's
1
Wagner
(
2
Bach
[
3
Beethoven
Mozart
4
Schubert
Liszt
5
Mozart
Bach
6
Schumann
Schubert
7
Debussy
8
Brahms
r
9
Mendelssohn
\^
13-5
Liszt
General Encyclopedias
Kank Order
of the ip30's
9 40'
[Handel
Music Encyclopedias
Kank Order
1
Wagner
Beethoven
Mendelssohn
1
3
Schumann
Brahms
Debussy
General Encyclopedias
of the ip40's
1
Beethoven
Beethoven
2
Bach
Bach
Mozart
3
Wagner
4
Handel
Wagner
S
Schubert
Mendelssohn
Schubert
6
Mozart
7
Schumann
Schumann
8
Mendelssohn
Handel
9
Tchaikovsky
J
[Tchaikovsky
137
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
CHANGES
relative
similar
found,
We
IN SPACE ALLOCATIONS.
have just Seen that the
amounts of space given the eminent composers tended to be
from decade
it
to decade.
But although similarities are to be
should also be noted that these allocations, like other social
judgments, change slowly but perceptibly
vs^ith
time.
The rank order
or eminence (space-attention) for any one decade
is
found to be
most
is
shown by the
like those of the decades nearest
it
in time. This
fact that the correlation values in the table
below generally decrease
in
magnitude from
is
further evidence for the cultural determination of musical taste.
left to right
and from bottom to top. Here, then,
Intercorrelations
in Space
Allocations
Histories
of the
1920's
1930's
1940's
•90
-88
-78
•90
-88
Histories of the 1900's
Histories of the 1920's
•90
Histories of the 1930's
Music Encyclopedias of the
1920's
1930's
1940's
•77
-74
-72
•91
^89
Music Encyclopedias of the 1900's
Music Encyclopedias of the 1920's
Music Encyclopedias of the 1930's
•95
General Encyclopedias oj the
1920's
1930's
•90
-88
-88
•94
^91
General Encyclopedias of the 1900's
General Encyclopedias of the 1920's
1940's
•93
General Encyclopedias of the 1930's
Individual and Group Dijerences
In the earlier portion of this chapter, the similarities rather than
the differences
among
aesthetic responses
an emphasis does not need to be justified,
were
we
any given social pressure does not stimulate
138
stressed.
While such
should not forget that
all
people in the same
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
way. That
is,
even
musical taste obeys social principles, individual
if
differences of considerable magnitude will of necessity be present in
they are in
this behavioral area, just as
realms of
who
human
respond to
passivity
In any social
response.
other socially significant
all
group there will be those
a particular social pressure
with almost complete
Others will be more
and compliance.
resistant,
and
a
few
will be extremely unconventional.
Although the pooling of items
is
necessary
if
trends are to be
established,
this
process tends to mask whatever differences are
present, and
may
give an erroneous impression of the extent of the
agreement between people, books, programs, or whatever the items
may
be.
To
avoid
all
possibility of misinterpretation,
to study the diversity of the elements
To
illustrate this process,
were presented,
since i860.
late in
might be wise
it
which make up
a typical pool.
126 randomly selected college students
1946, with a
They were asked
list
to rank
on
of over 200 composers born
a scale
of 10 to
i
the names
of those they regarded as the ten leading composers. The response
were divided by simple
sheets
A
labeled
The
alternation into
two equal
and B.
table
shows the detailed distribution of the votes
of the twelve composers
The number
who
received the greatest
cast for each
number
of votes.
top of each column shows the ascribed rank, and
at the
the numbers below (opposite the names of the composers)
number
piles,
show the
of votes cast for each composer under each rank. Thus,
twelve of the students in Pool
rating of 9,
etc.
To
A
gave Debussy a rating of 10,
five a
number of
votes
figure the final ranks,
the
received by each composer was multiplied by the respective rankvalue, the products
were
totaled,
and the sums so obtained were
arranged in order of size and ranked.
figuring
times
proceeded
8, etc.
Note
as follows:
12 times 10 plus g times 9 plus 12
that even Debussy,
in each pool, received a
For Debussy (Pool A) the
number
who
of 4-,
achieved the top position
3-,
2-,
and
i
-order votes.
139
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
Thus the examination of the inner structure of the two pools reveals
enormous
among
individual differences
the judgments of the raters.
a
view of the two rank orders shows almost unanimity of opinion
when
the voters are considered as groups rather than as individuals.
Yet
Pool A
OF Choice
O RDER
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
Sums
Debussy
12
S
12
5
4
3
2
3
1
364
1
Kreisler
1
3
4
4
2
3
4
2
4
1
120
11
Sibelius
7
7
9
6
1
2
6
2
4
297
3
Ravel
1
8
3
2
2
4
4
2
176
9
R. Strauss
7
8
3
5
4
4
3
3
1
268
5
Paderewski
4
2
6
2
2
5
4
1
3
4
186
7
3
1
4
7
2
2
2
1
1
132
10
Composer
Prokofiev
1
Rank
Rachmaninov
7
12
6
11
5
2
1
3
2
358
2
Shostakovich
6
4
4
4
8
5
3
1
2
3
251
6
Stravinsky
2
2
3
5
5
1
4
8
4
3
Gershwin
7
6
7
1
4
5
3
4
3
5
1
I
4
4
1
3
2
3
2
1
Sums
Schuman,
W.
i
183
8
271
4
60
12
Pool B
O RDER OF Choice
Composer
Debussy
6
5
4
5
1
5
3
3
2
1
395
1
1
4
1
5
5
5
134
11
276
5
3
260
7
296
4
10
9
8
7
16
7
10
4
Kreisler
1
1
Sibelius
7
7
5
5
2
4
2
4
4
8
6
S
8
4
5
2
4
Ravel
9
R. Strauss
Paderewski
Prokofiev
1
7
5
5
2
4
2
4
8
8
7
6
3
1
1
6
5
3
6
7
3
1
2
2
3
14
8
8
4
10
2
3
2
5
5
3
5
6
5
9
3
Stravinsky
2
7
2
4
2
8
7
Gershwin
9
3
S
9
7
6
7
2
1
1
1
1
2
Rachmaninov
Shostakovich
Schuman,
It
W.
has just been
8
shown
4
229
8
177
10
1
393
2
1
2
264
6
2
5
2
225
9
3
2
1
334
3
3
4
3
72
12
that individual musical tastes differ
do other individual behaviors governed by
Rani
social pressures.
much
as
More-
over, characteristic differences as well as similarities also can be
140
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
detected
among
orchestras.
In
symphony
the programs of the leading American
their
of orchestral
study
careful
idiosyncracies,
Mueller and Hevner have given us a w^ealth of information, from
which are presented here
program
a
few
illustrations of the characteristic
have disclosed. 3^
styles their researches
During its years under Koussevitzky the Boston Symphony Orchestra
,
changed from lowest to highest place in the amount of Russian music
it
presented. But this great organization has never, except for a five-
year period under the batons of French conductors, favored French
music. Moreover,
prisingly
it
has given little attention to
enough when
its
foreign-born personnel
Wagner. And,
is
considered,
always been a proponent of American music Since 1920
.
outstanding leader in the presentation of music of the
it
Philharmonic Orchestra have reflected
it
has
has been an
modern period.
the programs of the
Since the time of Stransky,
sur-
less interest in
New
York
Russian music
than have the programs of the other leading American orchestras.
But they have indicated more than average interest in German music,
an interest held to throughout
World War
I.
French and American
music, on the other hand, have been rather neglected. The program
trends of the sister organization, the
are the
most irregular and
The programs of
this
orchestra have been
American music, but strong
The programs of
weak
in
German and
in French.
the Philadelphia Orchestra have reflected almost
an average interest in the music of
ties,
New York Symphony Orchestra,
difficult to characterize of the entire study.
with the exception of the
interest indicated for the
all
the chief Occidental nationali-
British.
There
is
less
than average
music of Beethoven, Mozart, Mendelssohn,
Handel (except from 192^ to 1930), Schumann, DTndy,
Rachmaninov (except from 191^ to 1920, 1925^ to 1930, and 1937
Liszt,
to 1940), Saint-Saens, Berlioz, and Glazunov.
average attention has been paid
to
In contrast,
more than
Haydn, Bach (up to
1936),
Brahms, Wagner, Debussy, Stravinsky, Sibelius, and Mahler.
141
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
The opera
two
these
in
New York
and Chicago also has been scrutinized by
researchers, with the result that certain characteristics for
each geographic area have been uncovered. This research on the
opera companies and that on the orchestras make
the hierarchy of composer prestige
it
clear that while
roughly similar from one
is
organization to another, conductors, directors, critics, and perhaps
others stamp their individualities on the programs.
Criteria
With
and Conditioners of Taste
C.
Seashore's dictum that beauty consists in artistic
E.
the regular or rigid no
deviations from
illustrations of this
phenomenon
one need quarrel, for
are legion in
all
of the
arts. 3^
The
painter never paints with completely photographic accuracy; the
vocalist
and the
regular
known
violinist
as
make
great use of that deviation from the
But
the vibrato.
if
one should desire to make
specific use of this generalization in forecasting
positions will be accepted and
it
of
little
help.
generation
For what
may not be
a deviation
is
which
will be rejected,
considered an
to
some
he will find
artistic deviation in
so regarded in another.
must be acceptable
which future com-
To be
one
called artistic,
particular culture group.
And the reasons for its acceptance may be difficult to ascertain.
Howes and others have maintained that taste in music is good
whenever one chooses the sincere; avoids the shallow, the
mental, and the cliche; and
emotions. 32
comes
Some
A
not deceived by base motives and
writers have implied that
to appreciate
develops good
is
fact,
142
the listener
and so eventually
taste.
shows that no one can ever
be absolutely certain of a composer's motives
life,
somehow
the composer's motives,
careful examination of this position
of his
senti-
and certainly not from
a
mere
—not even from
a study
scrutiny of his music.
the musical genius often does not understand his
own
In
impulses,
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
and
asked about them will answer with rationalizations of the most
if
unrealistic sort.
hoped
Was Wagner's music
democratic ideals?
Is
we
have with
who
are not of much help to one
And
as for
Wagner
his earlier
boogiewoogie shallow and sentimental per
or because of the associations
clear,
insincere because
would bring him fame, and because he forgot
it
the cliche,
it
it?
These terms,
se,
it is
desires to study taste.
need only be
said that
while there
is
a
tendency to eschew the hackneyed, cliches are matters of personal
may become
experience, and the cliche of one period
music
at
in the
next (and vice versa). Thus, parallel
one time, but became cliches
second period brought on
To
lifted.
a
is
only
now
this
being gradually
the listener born in this century, parallel intervals do not
constitute hackneyed material but
strange.
acceptable
were popular
Their excessive use in
later.
ban which
fifths
Thus Howes's
criteria,
In considering the
we
as alluring
it
and
are forced to conclude, are too
Only the cliche has
subjective for our purposes.
explanatory concept, and even
may be regarded
utility
an
as
has very definite limitations.
phenomena which
are basic to the appreciation
of music, E. H. Staffelbach has stressed the feeling tone he believes
to be implicit in rhythms and auditory sensations; the associations
formed between music and persons,
places, things,
and previously
expressed affective states; the lure of the familiar and the novel; the
stimulation of the imagination; the possibilities of self-expression;
and the pleasures to be derived from the genius and good craftsmanship of composers and performers,
works of these
what
artists,
artists are
from
facts
about the
and from the belief in one's
attempting to express.
33
lives
and
ability to interpret
C. E. Seashore, a pioneer
in the scientific study of music, has said:
Why
it
then do
because
it is
built
selves;
it
it
we
love music?
Among
other things
we
love
creates a physiological well-being in our organism;
from materials which are beautiful objects
carries us
in
them-
through the realms of creative imagination,
143
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
thought, actions, and feelings in limitless art forms;
it is self-
propelling through natural impulses, such as rhythm;
language of emotion, a generator of social fellowship;
us out of the
ideal;
it
isolation
humdrum
life
and makes us
live in play
it
the
takes
with the
our cravings for intellectual conquest, for
satisfies
in
of
is
it
the
of emotion,
attitude
artistic
and for
self-
expression for the joy of expression. 34
Whether or not we agree with
reasons for the love of music,
further review.
theories
It
is
it
all
of these carefully considered
should be clear that the topic needs
time, then, to examine in
which purport
some
to explain the reasons behind
current preferences. The facts of the situation are
still
detail the
some of our
quite unclear.
But sufficient data have already been assembled to prove the great
importance of both formal training and incidental learning
in the
building up of taste norms.
CULTURAL DERIVATIONS.
If taste is
Culturally derived rather
than innate, one would expect to find the taste of the child approxi-
mating more and more closely that of the adult
Such
a
as
he grows older.
convergence does occur in judgments of eminence.
In
one
study in which several groups had been asked to assess the relative
eminence of 92 composers,
only slightly with the
(a rho
of '3 3).
But
a
the musicologists in
more marked
for
a
group of fifth-graders was found to agree
members
of the American Musicological Society
group of sixth-graders was somewhat closer to
its
judgements
(rho of '^2); the similarity
some high-school students
Stanford University sophomores ('79).
(•68), and
still
more
was
for
Musicologists surveyed in
19^1 and college students polled in 195^4 agreed to the extent of a
rho of -77.
Here we see
the groups
become more
In
1
9
1
3
a steady
as
and in training.
Valentine reported on some of his experiments with
British school children. 35
144
climb in the degree of agreement
alike in age
He found
that by age twelve or thirteen
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
there tended to be a decided change in the preferences for tonal
by adults w^ere
intervals, so that the intervals preferred
Another psychologist,
by adolescents.
Dashiell,
also
enjoyed
observed that,
although kindergarten children did not have precisely the adult
preferences for the diatonic intervals, they already rated the thirds
high and the sevenths and seconds low.^^ Aizawa,
who had examined
the songs most enjoyed by Japanese school children, noted that
agreements
and adults increased
in preference of children
school year advanced, being particularly marked
among
as
the
children of
the upper classes. 37
The Kwalwasser-Dykema
of Melodic Taste, in
Test
which 20 items
are considered for their suitability as concluding phrases, can be
employed
yield data
to
While the college
which
reflect
the learning of folkways.
subjects in one study of this test
with the "correct" responses on
showed agreement
out of 20 items, eighth-graders
i£'4.
gave the "correct" responses 13 times, and fifth-graders only i2'2
times on the average.
of Harmonic Sensitivitj
Similarly,
when
were analyzed,
data of the Kwalwasser Test
was found that an unselected
it
group of college students averaged 2^*4 "correct" scores out of
a possible
ages
eighth-graders 24-1, and fifth-graders 2i'2.
35",
became more
similar the responses
became more
As the
like those of
more like the "correct" responses.
In the areas of tempo and rhythm, it is noteworthy that subjects
show consistent preferences, but differ considerably among them-
the experts,
selves. 3^
i.e.
Although
consistency"
is
mentioned data
one writer
feels
that
this
the result of inheritance, 39 there are the previously
(p. 9)
which
show
clearly
that
are in part functions of cultural conditioning.
recalled,
proceeds
"intra-individual
tempo preferences
Foley,
it
will be
found that subjects studying trades in which activity
at a
slow pace,
those working with
preferred a
e.g.,
dressmaking, favored andante tempo;
power machines,
fast allegro
a
slow allegro; while
his typists
bordering on presto. "^^ Other experimenters
14^
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
(p.
69) have found that college students prefer their waltzes to be
played at about the speed they have heard them rendered traditionally.
In fact, these students have demonstrated a sort of absolute
or positive tempo quite comparable to absolute pitch.
Somevs^hat similar to the w^ork of Foley, but broader in
was the study by Schuessler.^^
its
scope,
Eight phonograph recordings w^ere
played to large groups of subjects
who had been
occupation into six job
On
levels.
which Schuessler employed, great
divided according to
the live-point preference scale
differences of scores appeared.
CLIMATIC CYCLES AND TASTE.
According to one of the
climatic determinists, R. H. Wheeler, world climate fluctuates "in
rhythms within rhythms which tend to follow multiples of the sunspot cycle of II'
years. "4^
3
Whether long or
short, these
rhythms
"tend to follow a similar pattern of phase sequences, the phases
being cold-dry, warm-wet, warm-dry, cold-wet, then cold-dry again,
in that order."
Phases of
warm weather
are supposed to bring into
being musical taste for (and so creativity in the area of) the serious
opera, the symphony, the sonata, the concerto,
chamber music,
swing, jazz syncopation, masses, anthems, oratorios, dissonance, and
atonality.
Warm
weather
is
also said to
Cold
choruses, orchestras, and bands.
somehow put
operas,
be conducive to the
spells,
rise
of
on the other hand,
us temperamentally in tune with light and comic
program music, tone poems,
and counterpoint
—according
to the
folk music, ballads, madrigals,
Wheeler doctrine. During cold
periods occur the heyday of Castrati and musicology
"golden ages" of music were neither
warm nor
!
However, the
cold, but
were rather
periods of transition from cold to warm.
Wheeler holds
that
we
are
now
in a
cold-wet phase which
not leave until 2000 or 2010 except for
this
decade or the
1830; the
146
last
1
960's.
warm
Our
last
a ten-year
warm
we
will
period in
previous cold phase began around
period about 1900.
Since such swings are held
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
we need merely
by Wheeler to be the rule of nature, he beUeves that
to study weather cycles to forecast the taste of any future time period.
The only escape from
says, to
No
would seem, he
these predetermined swings
be in universal air-conditioning.
scientist
would dare
say that the
eventually be found to have
some very
surprising, to say the least,
if
changes the
vs^orld has
Wheeler doctrine may not
slight validity.
Yet
it
would be
the relatively insignificant temperature
endured during the past
few^ centuries should
have caused huge changes in aesthetic interests and taste while the
Minnesota and California are
far greater climatic differences of, say,
apparently unrelated to musical taste.
TASTE CREATED BY THE STATE.
It
is
popular to believe that good taste in music
becoming increasingly
is
indicated by special
Some
reverence for those compositions which mirror the times.
would go
so far as to say that
that type of music
"good" causes.
which has
Ordinarily,
good
a
taste insures the
honoring of only
propaganda value for the furthering of
little is
done to promote the acceptance
of compositions which are so regarded. In lands under police control,
however,
positions
this
doctrine
which are
is
often so rigidly enforced that only
felt to
com-
mirror the times or which follow the
state's
approved pattern can be heard. 43 The
fact that the leaders
may be
deluding themselves
or propaganda worth
as to the timeliness
of their approved compositions
beside the point.
is
musical works can be heard, and
it is
healthier to
to laugh at them, they will quite likely
masses. 44
This
TRAINING.
is
one way to create
Little
by
little,
come
to
If
only certain
honor these than
be accepted by the
taste.
data are being accumulated
which
demonstrate the potency of both auditory and visual training in the
creation of musical taste. 45 As Tyler 4^ and C. L. Stone 47 have shown,
we
are trained to think of music in terms of stereotypes.
Even the
147
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
been taught to
relatively unsophisticated college student has
names of Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert
position.
music he associates with the
Italian
The
chapters also
airy,
German music
studies reported in previous
of training in stereotyped thinkina.
tell
the
com-
and the
light
Russian music w^ith the somber and the gloomy, and
with the heavy and the philosophic.
tie
to certain styles of
For American
grade-school children surely have few facts to go on
when
Beethoven and Bach so high on their eminence
They answer not
from deep conviction, but rather
The
situation
Lincoln
J.
Stone
and
4^
W.
lists
Robinson
war music.
War, the
lists.
accordance with their teaching.
analogous to their placing of Jesus, Washington, and
the top of their
at
aspects of
Civil
is
in
of the most eminent
49
of
all
time.
have studied the sociopsychological
soldiers' songs reflected their
common
traditions and
Although noting that each war to some
extent mirrors the times, Robinson stresses the
wars sing about: bad food, insect
all
men
Stone points out that during the American
not their war alignments.
soldiers of
they place
common
subjects
war
terrors,
pests,
the enemy, sweethearts and other loved ones, and the desire to return
home.
Gardner and Pickford have demonstrated by experiment what
absolutists have difficulty in understanding: that perceived dissonance
varies
with (i) the listener's experience, training, and traditions,
and (2) the musical "intent" of the passage
as a
5°
(3) the physical composition of the chord.
listener's recent experiences
experiment
L' Histoire
in
du
sophomores.
on enjoyment has
which Beethoven's
Sold at
Fifth
were presented
to
whole,
The
also
as
well as
effect
of the
been shown
Symphony and Stravinsky's
several groups of college
When the playing of the Beethoven composition preceded
that of the Stravinsky, the professed enjoyment-ratings
and 27'4 respectively
enjoyment").
When
for the Stravinsky
148
in an
(a
were 73-8
rating of 100 equaled "greatest possible
the order was reversed, the values
number, and
79-
1
became
for Beethoven's Fifth.
34*5^
Note the
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
when it followed the better
latter when it was played second.
depressive effect on the less enjoyed
liked,
and the enhancement of the
Wiebe found
that the extensive playing of popular songs over the
radio did not appear to increase his student subjects' liking for them.^^
However, lack of "plugging" seemed
preference.
WNYC
have done
much
in a decrease
result
of
that the broadcasts of radio station
to develop an interest in
music among
its
and to establish taste norms. 5^ The broadcasts make music
listeners
more
Suchman concluded
to
accessible; they extend the range of musical experience; they
repeat the musical stimuli; they supply commentators and, on occasion,
program notes53 and other educational
liability
ment
which may be inherent
A
literature.
in radio taste training
is
possible
the develop-
of a dependent attitude of listening attentively only to
positions
com-
which are sponsored by the broadcasters of the favored
radio station.
A number
of researchers have attempted to telescope history by
forcing their subjects to hear the same musical stimuli
within a relatively short period.
several studies are not in
54
many times
Although the conclusions of the
complete agreement,
that a composition with little variety reaches
seems
safe to say
maximum
acceptance
it
quickly, and then as speedily declines in popularity.
Music with
more complexity tends to gain acceptance more slowly and to
become hackneyed less rapidly. In one paper it has been suggested
that the continuous repetition of musical material has a stronger
effect
on the
listener than
hearings. 55 Mull has
made
would the same number of well-spaced
the interesting discovery that the preferred
parts of musical compositions tend to
Since the spread of preference usually
become
is
larger
greater at the anterior end
of the focal region, Mull has suggested that this
a case of
"Might
it
what psychologists
on rehearing. 5^
phenomenon may be
call "goal gradient."
As she phrases
it:
not be that learning to like a composition has features
similar to those involved in an animal's learning to run a
maze
—
that
149
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
is
in the case of
to say,
our experiment, an original high spot
(corresponding to the maze goal)
may be
thereafter anticipated and
extend backward? Thus, pleasure would actually
a pleasure gradient
spread from a focus, rather than appear de novo.
reached, there would be relaxation of interest
Once the climax is
and some tendency
for the pleasure to drop off."
A
peculiar situation has developed in the area of phonograph and
radio listening, in
which tones of relatively "poor"
quality, i.e.,
timbres unlike those of the "live" instruments, are
at
with
present pre-
ferred to those of more realistic quality. Apparently, long-continued,
informal training
the responsible agent.
is
set of taste habits for listening to the
another to function
when
We
have developed one
phonograph and the
in the presence of orchestral instruments. 57
Chinn and Eisenberg, two of the investigators of
have shown that
this
type of preference
is
this
phenomenon,
found among the musically
sophisticated as well as the naive, and persists even
is
radio, and
when
the listener
told that a wider tonal band yields tones closer to the sounds of
real life. 5^
Until recently the lay preference has been for an un-
usually strong emphasis
from the
on the
bass.
Presumably
fact that the engineers early
this
preference arose
achieved reasonable realism in
the lower tonal ranges but have only recently brought in the very
high frequencies.
As
a
matter of
fact,
the early attempts of
RCA
Victor to produce "high fidelity" led to such poor audience response
that this manufacturer continued for
bass.
However, with "high
lovers,
years with an overloaded
now
an essential for
all
music
one might guess that there will shortly appear an equally
extreme
The
fidelity"
some
taste for
an overloaded treble.
Hi-Fi Hall, with
its
incredibly short reverberation time,
necessitates further taste adjustments. 59
Long accustomed
deadening effects of most auditoriums, the listener
to react to greater brilliance, to tone that
While the
hi-fi
is
is
to the
here called upon
"acoustically naked."
enthusiast has little difficulty in learning to appreciate
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
persons
this "drier" effect,
^
somewhat
at first
Some
can
call
more attuned
more
up than to the music
said to
^'^
Schoen terms
if
there
is
its
this
group into
great concern with the objective features of
moods,
the attention
if
changes within the listener's
own
is
on
real or apparent
body, and "character,"
if
the
music
itself.
divides this group into "sensorial" and "perceptual."
While
listener imputes
these classifications
may
traits,
to
and
activities to the
some readers look
suspiciously like fixed
clearly not the intent of these theorists to create typo-
types,
it is
logies.
They
are, rather,
emphasizing the different things people have
learned to "see" in music and they realize
listeners
sort
Such persons are often
have taste of a high order. Myers subdivides
Ortmann
extreme
Myers "associative,"^^ and Ortmann
calls "intrinsic" listeners.
the music, "intrasubjective,"
We
this
Those who pay more attention to the music than to
Schoen
"objective,"
sets are
attention to the associations music
itself.
of response "extrinsic" listening,
"imaginal."^^
home
startled, to say the least.
of us learn to pay
associations
to the older
full
well that few
if
any
belong to a single category.
hardly need proof to be certain that taste develops out of
experiences gained in home, church, club, and school, and out of
contacts with the concert stage, recordings, the radio, and the printed
page. These agencies of education, propaganda, and censorship force
us to revere certain composers and their compositions, and to take less
seriously other
men and their works. We come to have several standards
of taste: for the concert stage, for the dance hall, ^3 for church, and for
school
—
to
mention some of the more important. Age,
and special training are important variables
formation. ^4 But
it is
difficult to
be
specific
intelligence,
in this process of taste
about
all this
since there
seems to be a great difference between taste as it is observed in everyday
life
If
and the sort of
we
taste
people are willing to admit they possess. ^5
take as our aim the inculcation in our children of the
standards of taste that adults of our culture regard as "good," checks
^S^
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
on the success of
endeavor with groups of children can be made
this
through the use oftaste and attitudinal tests, interviews, and operational
methodologies. Care should be taken, however, that the standards
set
up are not made too narrow, and
absolute and unchangeable.
toward the widening of the
For
that they are not thought of as
training
if taste
is
to be directed
enjoyment of music,
possibilities for the
it
would seem obvious that a standard of taste which embraces only a few
composers of top eminence will be
less effective
standard which leads to an interest in
many
than a
styles of
more
catholic
composition.
Summary
The
first thesis
considered in this chapter was,
matter of whimsey or
clear
—
taste
is
it
is
lawful.
It
in
"Is
musical taste a
some way lawful?" The answer was
was noted that the musically
have
elite
surprisingly similar tastes in their selections of eminent composers.
Even more surprising
exist
among
shared,
elite
also
and the
as
the high agreement on eminence found to
lay public alike.
forming
at least
must be mentioned
And,
if
knowledge of composers
one facet of musical
as lawful,
taste,
is
of other similarly chosen samples.
is
knowledge
man known well
be equally well known
for a
segment of the population tends to
members
Enjoyment, too,
the music of certain composers given top billing by the
vs^ith
accepted
is
college and high-school groups.
to
one
to the
Analyses of musicians'
nonverbal behavior further attest to the fact that musical taste
is
not
whimsical. Thus, the composers whose works are most recorded
and appear most often on the programs of symphony orchestras
with few exceptions, those regarded
they are likely to be the
as
most eminent.
men whose biographical
are,
Moreover,
sketches occupy most
space in histories of music and in general and music encyclopedias.
The second question
the chapter posed was that of learning whether
the laws oftaste are absolute or relative.
1^2
Here, too, the answer was
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
unequivocal. Taste follows no absolute, metaphysical rules.
even
as
if
they
among
natural science variables are
may
well be
—
the determiners of taste
must be
their importance
And
slight at best.
All
the evidence so far gathered points rather to the rejatiyity of taste,
to the fact that
it is
culture-bound, not culture-free. The descrip-
tions sociology gives of
mores
most
taste
fit
Change with
exactly.
'
training and individual differences in the acceptance of standards,
both characteristics of musical
folkways.
The teaching of
taste,
are earmarks of
then,
taste,
is
mores and
essentially a process of
indoctrination, and the material to be learned differs
somewhat from
culture to culture and from period to period.
Notes
i]
D. D. Runes, ed., The Dictionary of Philosophy, N.Y., Philosophical Library, 1942.
2]
M.
F.
Meyer, The Musician's
Arithmetic, p.
3]
Ibid., p. 81.
4]
P. R. Farnsworth, "Aesthetic Behavior
109.
and Astrology," Char, and
Person.,
6 (1938):
33J-340S]
The reader who enjoys
interesting articles by
speculations based on physics and neurology
N. Rashevsky, "Suggestions for
a
is
referred to the
Mathematical Biophysics of
Auditory Perception with Special Reference to the Theory of Aesthetic Ratings of
Combinations of Musical Tones," Bull. Math. Biophjsics, 4 (1942): 27-32; "An Alternate
Approach to the Mathematical Biophysics of Perception of Combinations of Musical
Tones," op.
cit.,
pp. 89—90.
6]
See Chapter 4 of A. Einstein's Greatness
7]
P.
in Music,
N.Y., Oxford U. Press, 1941.
R. Farnsworth, "The Musical Taste of an American Musical Elite," Hinrichsen's
Musical Year Book, 7 (19^2): 11 2— 116.
8]
P.
R. Farnsworth, "Stereotypes in the Field of Musical Eminence," Genet. Psychol.
Monog., 24 (1941): 347-381; "Musical Eminence," Sch. and Soc, £0 (1939): 1^8-160.
9]
I
o]
P. R. Farnsworth, Musical Taste, Stanford, Calif., Stanford
When it is
ments, each
is
U. Press,
desired to find the degree of correspondence between
ranked and an index of relationship
is
i9i'o.
two
figured. This value
sets of
may
measure-
vary from
I* 00 (which shows the rank orders to be identically arranged) through o (where there is
no correspondence) to — i-oo (where the two rank orders are inversely arranged; the
highest name in one array is lowest in the other). The rho of -97 indicates that the two
1^3
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
piles
were ordered very
regarded
1
1]
Unless otherwise designated the
similarly.
Unless otherwise stated,
it is
to be
method was employed, and
1938 survey formed the
list
2]
3]
all
to be
that the 92
names mentioned
in the
of items to be correlated.
names are offered with no thought that the number nine
The number is kept constant only for the sake of uniformity.
In these tables, the nine top
has any particular significance.
I
are
assumed that wherever coefficients of correlation
are mentioned the rank
1
r/io's
as positive.
For a discussion of
how
jazz experts regard the
music, see the annual polls in Down Beat (the
first
contemporary performers of
jazz
of which was in 195^3), or Metronome'
"All-Star" polls.
14]
R. Farnsworth, "Musical Eminence and Year of Birth," J. Aesth., 4 (1945):
P.
107—109.
I
j]
When
the birth years of a group of composers are arranged in order from
remote to most recent, the middle birth year
is
any other contains birth dates of composers
the mode.
16]
is
the median. That year
most
which more than
These data were gathered through the courtesy of Dr R. Granneberg, of the San
Francisco City College.
17]
Alfred
Chronicle,
Frankenstein,
February
"What People Think They Should Think," San
During the spring of 1947 A.
1941.
2,
F. Michaelis, the
Francisco
program
manager of the (California) Standard Oil Company's "The Standard Hour," conducted a
survey
among
the listeners to this regular
NBC
Sunday evening broadcast. The 8000
who
returned their questionnaires voted Beethoven the most popular composer. The next
few
in
descending order of popular regard were Tchaikovsky,
Wagner, and Johann
Gershwin's Rhapsodj
Strauss.
in Blue.
by Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker
18]
E.
Chopin,
Suite
and Chopin's Polonaise
Militaire.
E. E. Folgmann, "An Experimental Study of Composer- Preference of Four
Outstanding Symphony Orchestras,"
19]
Gershwin,
The most frequently requested of all compositions was
Beethoven's Fifth Symphony came a close second, followed
y. Exp. Psychol.,
16 (1933): 709-724.
H. K. Mull, "Preferred Regions in Music Compositions and the Effect of Repetition
J. Psjchol., S3 (1940): 5^83-^:86; G. Marill and H. K. Mull, "A
Further Study of Preferred Regions in Musical Compositions and the Effect of Repetition
upon Them," Amer.
upon Them,"
20]
W.
S.
y4mer. J. Psjchol.,
Foster and
SS ('942): iio-iii.
M. A. Tinker,
Experiments in Psychology, rev. ed., N.Y., Holt, 1929,
p. 316.
21]
P.
R. Farnsworth, "Studies in the Psychology of Tone and Music," Genet. Psjchol.
Monog., IS, No.
i
(1934): 24-30.
See also O.
W.
Eagleson and L. E. Taylor,
Group of Negro Women," J. Exp.
and "The Preference of Twenty-five Negro College Women
of Chord Preference in a
J. Exp. Psjchol.,
22]
i
28 (1941): 439-442.
P. R. Farnsworth,
"An
Kwalwasser Test Battery,"
1^4
"A Study
26 (1940): 619—62
for Major and Minor Chords,"
Psychol.,
Historical, Critical, and Experimental Study of the SeashoreGenet. Psjchol. Monog., 9,
No.
^ (193 i):
291—393.
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
P. R. Farnsworth, "Studies in the
23]
Monog., IS, No.
The
24]
subjects
Psychology of Tone and Music," Genet. Psychol.
(1934): 50-84.
i
were asked
to
check
all
names they were certain they recognized. The
number of
scoring was the simple procedure of tabulating the
25]
votes each
name
received.
H. Mueller and Kate Hevner, "Trends in Musical Taste," Indiana U. Publ.,
J.
Humanity
Ser.,
See also
Press.
No.
J.
8
(1942), p. 59. Reproduced by permission of the Indiana University
H. Mueller's The American Symphony
Orchestra, a Social History of Musical
Bloomington, Indiana U. Press, 1951, and D. Nash's "The Construction of the
Taste,
Repertoire of a Symphony Orchestra," Thesis, U. of Washington, 1950.
These broadcast programs were obtained through the courtesy of R. R. Gros, an
26]
official
27]
of the company.
J.
H. Mueller and Kate Hevner,
op.
cit.
28] J. H. Mueller, "Methods of Measurement of Aesthetic Folkways," Amer. J. Social., 57,
No. 4 (1946): 276—282. See also the more recent orchestral data in Chapter 4 of Mueller's
The American Sjmphonj Orchestra.
Kaplan, "Telopractice:
For data on social roles within the orchestra see M.
A Symphony
Orchestra
as
It
Prepares for a Concert," Soc. Forces,
33 {^9SS)- 3S^-iSSIn the case of certain of the histories
29]
where the space technique could not be
number of page mentions the composer
followed, the score was based on the relative
received.
30]
J.
H. Mueller and Kate Hevner, "Trends
Musical Taste."
in
Further data can be
obtained in Mueller's article, "Methods of Measurement of Aesthetic Folkways."
C. E. Seashore, Psychology oj Music, N.Y., McGraw-Hill, 1938, p. 267.
31]
According
to L. Vernon, pianists play at least one-half of their chords asynchronously ("Synchronization of Chords in Artistic Piano Music," U. of
W.
See also
la. Stud. Psychol.
H. Lichte's "One Man's Preferred
Mus., 4 (1936): 306-345).
Fifth," Amer. J.
Psychol.,
68 (1955):
312-315.
32]
F.
33]
E.
Howes, The Borderland of Music and
Psychology,
London, Kegan Paul, 1926.
H. Staffelbach, "The Psychology of Music Appreciation," School Musician,
2<)
(1928): 9-13.
34]
C. E. Seashore,
35]
C.
W.
and Adults,"
36]
J. F.
Why We
Love Music, Philadelphia, Ditson, 1941, p. 9.
Valentine, "The Aesthetic Appreciation of Musical Intervals
Brit. J. Psychol.,
among Children
6 (1913): 190-216.
Dashiell, "Children's Sense of
Harmonies
in
Colors and Tones," J. Exp. Psychol.,
2 (1917): 466-47^37]
1 1
M. Aizawa, "The Musical
38]
T.
W.
Harrell, "Factors Influencing Preference and
J. Gen. Psychol., IJ (1937):
39]
1
Taste of School Children," Tohoku Psychol. Folia, 6 (1938):
1-126.
I.
Memory
for Auditory
Rhythm,"
63-104.
Frischeisen-Kohler, "The Personal
Tempo
and
Its
Inheritance," Char, and Person.,
(1933): 301-313-
^55
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
40]
/.
Foley
J. P.
41]
K.
Jr.,
"The Occupational Conditioning of
12 (1940):
Soc. Psychol.,
I
Background and Musical Taste," Amer.
F. Schuessler, "Social
330—33^. For
Preferential Auditory
Tempo,"
21-129.
the preference for popular music during 1942, see
Music," in Radio Research 1^42-43, P.
J.
Social. Rev.,
13 (1948):
and urban-rural differences in
a study of age, sex, regional, educational
G. Peatman, "Radio and Popular
Lazarsfeld and F. Stanton, eds., N.Y., Duell,
F.
Sloan and Pearce, 1944.
42]
R. H. Wheeler, "Climate and
Human
Behavior," in P.
L.
Harriman, ed..
The
N.Y., Philosophical Library, 1946, pp. 78-86; R. H. Wheeler
and T. Gaston, "The History of Music in Relation to Climatic and Cultural Fluctuations,"
Encyclopedia of Psychology
in Mus.
43]
,
Teach. Nat. Assoc. Proc. 1940, pp.
An example
number
"advice" given a
432-438.
of a governmental determination of taste can be seen in the
of the leading composers of the
USSR, February
lo,
official
1948.
pronouncement and the composers' answ^ering statethe American Russian Institute's pamphlet, On Soviet Music, published in
Translations of the governmental
ments appear
May
44]
in
1948, in Hollywood.
The
task of an officially constituted
committee on musical standards
the tendency of the masses to accept what the "experts" claim
experiment on the
effect of expert opinion
on musical
M.
J.
Keston and
easier
by
H. T. Moore, "The
Psychol.,
32 (192
1):
16—20.
Pinto, "Possible Factors Influencing Musical Preference,"
"An Exploratory Study
L. E. Tyler,
Psychol.,
M.
made
86 (19^5): loi — 113.
J. Genet. Psychol.,
46]
I.
is
"good music." For an
taste see
Comparative Influence of Majority and Expert Opinion," y4mer. J.
4^]
is
of Discrimination of
Composer
Style," J. Gen.
34 (1946): 153-163.
47]
C. L. Stone, "Identification of Nationality in Music," Psychol. Bull., 35 (1937): 7^6.
48]
J.
Stone,
"War Music and War Psychology
in the Civil
War,"y. Abn.
Soc. Psychol.,
36
(1941): 543-560.
49]
W.
U. of
50]
Robinson,
Calif. Press,
P. A.
"War
Songs of America," in Writers Congress, Proceedings, Berkeley,
1944, pp. 284-304.
Gardner and R.
W.
Pickford, "Relation between Dissonance and Context,"
For a study of the
Nature (London), 1^4 (1944): 274-275.
playing Bach and jazz in the
effects
same program see G. D. Williams, "The
Appearance on the Appreciation of Musical Selections,"
J.
Gen.
on appreciation of
Effect of
Psychol.,
Order of
2J (1942):
295-310.
51]
G. Wiebe, "The Effect of Radio Plugging on Students' Opinions of Popular Songs,"
]. Appl. Psychol.,
52]
E. A.
24 (1940): 721-727.
Suchman, "Invitation
to Music:
by the Radio," in Radio Research 1941, P.
A
Study of the Creation of
F. Lazarsfeld
and
New Music
F. Stanton, eds.,
Listeners
N.Y., Duell,
Sloan and Pearce, 1941.
53]
For an experiment on the effectiveness of program notes see G. D. Williams, "The
Effect of
Program Notes on the Enjoyment of Musical
(1943), 261-279.
iS6
Selections," J. Gen. Psjchol., 29
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
^4]
H. T. Moore, "The Genetic Aspect of Consonance and Dissonance,"
IJ (1914): 1-68; M.
F.
Washburn
"The
et al.,
Effects of
Psychol. Monog.,
Immediate Repetition on the
Pleasantness or Unpleasantness of Music," in The Ejfects of Music, N.Y., Harcourt, Brace,
1927, Chap. 10; A. R. Gilliland and H. T. Moore, "The Immediate and Long-time Effects
of Classical and Popular Phonograph Selections," J. Appl. Psjchol., 8 (1924): 309-323;
H. E. Krugman, "Affective Response to Music as a Function of Familiarity," J. Ahn. Soc.
38 (1943): 388-392; J. E. Downey and G. E. Knapp, "The Effect on a Musical
Progrannme of Familiarity and of Sequence of Selections," in The Effects of Music, Chap, 2
H. K. Mull, "The Effect of Repetition upon the Enjoyment of Modern Music, "J. Psychol.,
Psjchol.,
i
;
43 (1957): i?5-i62.
£S]
M. Verveer,
E.
"Change
et al.,
in Affectivity
with Repetition,"
Arner. J. Psychol.,
45
(1933): 130-134^6]
H. K. Mull, "Preferred Regions
upon Them," Amer.
conception
as it
in Musical
Compositions and the Effect of Repetition
S3 (1940): 5^83-^86. For further data on the gradient
applies to music, see G. H. S. Razran's "Studies in Configurational
J. Psjchol.,
Conditioning. VII: Ratios and Elements in Salivary Conditioning to Various Musical
Intervals," Psychol. Rec, 2 (1938):
Sj]
This suggestion
acoustic
filter
370—376.
supported by a study by H. F. Olson,
is
who found
that
when
was placed between sound and audience the preference was for
frequency range. ("Frequency Range Preference for Speech and Music,"
an
all-
a full
J. Acoust. Soc.
Amer., 19 (1947): SA9-SSS-)
58]
H. A. Chinn and P. Eisenberg, "Tonal Range and Sound-intensity Preferences of
Broadcast Listeners,"
Radio Eng., Proc, 33 (194^), ^71-581.
Inst.
j9]
"The new sound,"
60]
M. Schoen, "The
Time, 66,
No. 26 {1955): 40.
Aesthetic Attitude in Music," Psjchol. Monog., 3g (1928): 162-184.
See also P. E. Vernon, "The Phenomena of Attention and Visualization in the Psychology
of Musical Appreciation,"
61]
C.
S.
21 (1930): 50-63.
Brit. J. Psjchol.,
Myers, "Individual Differences in Listening to Music,"
Brit. J.
Psychol.,
13
(1922): 52-71.
62]
O. Ortmann, "The Sensorial
Basis
of Music Appreciation," J.
Comp.
Psjchol.,
2
(1922): 227-256.
63]
J.
E.
Eggen, "A Behavioristic Interpretation of Jazz," Psjchol. Rev., 33 (1926)
571-581.
64]
G. Rubin-Rabson, "The Influence of Age, Intelligence, and Training on Reactions to
Classic
and Modern Music,"
J. Gen. Psjchol.,
Experimental Study of the Factors Involved
Thesis,
Columbia U., 193
i
M.
;
J.
Keston,
22 (1940): 413-429; E. G. Plotkin, "An
in the Appreciation of Standard Music,"
"An Experimental Evaluation of the
Efficiency
Two Methods
of Teaching Music Appreciation," J. Exp. Ed., 22 (1954): 215-226. For
an experiment on increasing tolerance with age, see P. R. Farnsworth, "Changes in
of
Musical Taste," J. Musical.,
65]
1
(1939): 1-4.
R. L. Fisher, "Preferences of Different Age and Socio-economic Groups in Un-
structured Musical Situations," J. Soc. Psychol., 33 (1951): 147-152.
iS7
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Measures
We
have seen that
siderable stability.
like other social
of Musical Taste
taste,
Moreover,
A
its
it
several manifestations, has con-
has been
shown
that taste behaves
phenomena of our culture and not
obeying some absolute law.^
ment
in
It is
now
were
as if it
time to consider the measure-
of taste, the problem of the current chapter.
Variety of Measures
Experience has shown that no one measure of musical taste can
hope
to tap the
ensemble or
totality of preferences.
Several pro-
cedures, then, are needed, each to paint a partial picture.
the measures
we
many
are about to describe are of
Though
different types,
they can for convenience be divided into two main categories
(i) the formal tests, and (2) the approaches
such standardized procedures. The
which do not employ
tests, in turn,
auditory and the purely paper-and-pencil types.
can be
The
less
split into
the
standardized
—the
methods include the techniques discussed in the previous chapter
interview and the counting of ballots, the measurement of space
allocations,^
and the analysis of programs
phonograph record
1^8
listings.
—
as
well as the tabulation of
THE MEASURES OF MUSICAL TASTE
Auditory Tests
One
of the earliest of the standardized music tests was Columbia
record number
A 7^39,
designed by C. E, Seashore as a measure of
the "sense of consonance," rather than
as a test
of taste. 3
However,
the directions proved to be impossible of execution, and the term
"consonance" was seen to be so ambiguous that the
from the
later revision of the Seashore battery.
test
The record
been more suitably employed by some researchers
test for tonal intervals.
was dropped
as a
has since
preference
In giving the test, go sets of simultaneous
dyads are presented in pairs, with the second of each pair to be
judged
as "better"
measure
of
'65"
is,
by
or "worse" than the
first.
As the
reliability of the
a very conservative estimate, only in the
for adults and considerably
be limited to group work. 4
reliability figure,
low
It
lower for children,
neighborhood
its
use should
should be noted, however, that
as it is, at least equals the values
this
reported for a
number of the other tonal appreciation tests.
The early Kwalwasser battery consists of two tests of 35^ items
each. The Melodic Sensitivity Test presents two-measure melodic
progressions, and the Harmonic Sensitivity
progressions of three chords each.
The
Test presents
harmonic
stimuli are to be rated as
"good" or "bad."
Bad melodic progressions result from the following: bad
resolutions, incompatible tones,
awkward rhythms,
failure to
turn after a wide skip, lack of design or purposiveness, distorted
balance, incompleteness of
melody or rhythm,
etc.
Authorities
agree that bad harmonic effects result from parallel
octaves,
wrong
doublings, bad-sounding voice
fifths
and
movement, bad
part omissions, digressions, unprepared modulations, unresolved
dissonances, voice distribution over too
wide
a range, etc.
Scores on these two Kwalwasser tests intercorrelate best at the
fifth-grade level
with
a value of '40.
The corresponding value
for the
i5"9
THE MEASURES OF MUSICAL TASTE
eighth grade
•42
-29, and for college, '24.
is
and -21
(adult level),
these
two
With
reliabilities of
must be rated
tests
only
as
questionable value, except possibly for studying group trends.
of
The
have the disadvantage of offering stimuli which are completely
tests
out of musical context and of scoring the answers on the basis of
rules
other
from
a
past.
To
a greater or lesser extent
many
of the
described below suffer similarly.
tests
The
now
day
Kwalwasser-Dykema battery has among
later
appear to be directly concerned with
The
taste.
its tests
two
that
Melodic Taste Test
measures, "on the basis of general music appeal, sensitiveness to
structure, balance, and phrase compatibility."^ Each test item consists
of two melodies of two phrases each.
two melodies
latter are to
The
are identical, but the
be compared for their
test has only 10 items.
allow the test
The second
much
test
As
this
The opening phrases of the
second ones are unlike. The
suitability as
number
concluding phrases.
of stimuli
reliability, its usefulness
is
is
too small to
definitely limited,
having to do with taste, the measure of Tonal
Movement, offers 30 patterns, each consisting of four tones.
patterns are incomplete melodically, and
mentally a
below
it.
fifth
With
statistically
tone, reporting whether
its
reliability
the best of the
K-D
th,e
it is
above the fourth tone or
for adults in the -So's,
battery.
There
is
One
this
test
tests,
and the
show only chance resemblances.
of the earliest tests of appreciation which employed music
the one by Courtis, in which the child
is
asked to recognize
and rhythmic movements. Typical of the directions
is
160
how
the music says John
felt.^
is
moods
the following:
It was Saturday morning and the sun was shining.
John's
mother gave him a pail and sent him into the woods to pick
berries. The music will tell you how John felt about going.
Listen to the selection and underline the words which best
express
is
a correlation of '40
between the scores of college students on the two K-D
scores of grade-school children
The
must supply
listener
THE MEASURES OF MUSICAL TASTE
After listening to approximately 30 seconds of Victor record
number 747 11
745"8
1
(Serenade Melancolique)
(Perpetual Motion), the child states
felt glad, sorry, angry, or busy.
However,
little reliability.
The
or
seconds of
25^
whether he thinks
test
is
number
that
John
very short, and so has
for training purposes
it
may have
a real
function.
A
somewhat the same
higher-level test with
Schultz Test of Listening Power
test, it calls for
in Music.^
basic idea
Admittedly more than
the playing of phonograph discs followed by
choice questions similar to those in achievement
range from 7 ^ for junior high-school students to
•
Another
•
8
of tonal-rhythmic configurations,"
is
the
multiple-
tests. Reliabilities
for college adults.
i
along these lines, which "seeks to show.
test
3 2
is
a taste
.awareness
.
the Gaston Test of Musicalitj^^
Themes from 20 selected w^orks constitute the Gernet Music
The compositions include both "serious" music and
Preference Test.^^
jazz.
The
electrically transcribed stimuli are arran2;ed in pairs for
simple preference judgments, forming a test which has a reported
reliability oi
'
££.
Themes from 20
Musical Moods
selected
Test.'^^
The items of
seventh- and eighth-graders,
whose answers
No
little relation to
A
similar
also the
elements of the Bower
which was arranged
this test,
were prejudged by
1
7
more
sets of adjectives
reliability data are
for
music instructors,
are assumed to be the correct ones.
designate the one or
the themes.
works are
The
task
is
to
which describe each of
reported for
this test,
which has
the so-called "tonal capacity" tests,
measure
is
the Keston Music Preference
Test, in
which 120
musical excerpts, 4^ seconds in length, are arranged for judging in
groups of four. ^3 Twelve "music authorities" decided the relative
worth of each excerpt.
As was to have been expected, the twelve
rated the "serious classics" as best and the swin^ as worst.
Keston Music Recognition Test, the subject
is
asked to match
In the
a list
of
34 composers with 30 snatches of "serious" music.
161
THE MEASURES OF MUSICAL TASTE
The
Adler Music Appreciation Tests present compositions by Brahms,
Chopin, Mozart, Rameau, Ravel, and Weber, recorded on playerpiano rolls /4
Besides the original version of each piece there are
three distorted forms
The
.
—
a sentimental, a dull,
and
a chaotic version.
subject indicates w^hich are his most and least preferred versions,
and attempts to guess the names of the composers.
Phonograph records give the stimuli for the Mohler
Measuring Judgment of Orchestral Music.
and serious music, prejudged
as
^^
assembled into groups, whose small
more than
-^i.
The measure
is
Semeonoff, following the
has also offered sets of
preference judgment, ^^
In
were
of historic interest only, as
several of the record discs are unavailable.
Mohler procedure,
critics,
precludes a reliability of
size
now
for
Sixteen compositions of jazz
merit by 368
to
Scales
one study he
phonograph records for
also asked his subjects to
check from four possible interpretations the
mood
intended by the
composer.
An
ambitious attempt to measure musical taste has been
made by
R. B. Cattell and D. R. Saunders. ^7 Snatches of 120 compositions,
averaging 20 seconds in length, were given to 188 persons confined
to a mental hospital and to 196
data
were
factor
who were assumed
to be normal.
analyzed and eleven factors were teased out.
Unfortunately, the phonograph recording was badly done.
can be assumed that
this
subjects' judgments, and
of interest.
One
factor
structure,
But
if it
many will
have meaning, the data become
can be further granted
all
(as
was found to concern liking for popular
rhythmical
emphasis,
fast
tempo,
individual
interpretation, discordant harmonies, and joyful but agitated
A
if it
imperfection did not unduly affect the
not grant) that the emerging factors
jazz-like
The
second factor apparently involved "an attachment to
mood,
classical
music, of a sentimental, introspective but cheerful nature, with a
tendency to color harmonies,"
liking for
162
"warmth and
Another factor seemed to
stress a
gentleness," and another a preference for
THE MEASURES OF MUSICAL TASTE
"lush, romantic, fairly conventional harmonies,
nature of
The
with a flourish." The
other additional factors was not entirely clear.
still
easier of the Oregon Music Discrimination Tests (constructed
Kate Hevner and
J.
L. Landsbury) can
by
be used to learn whether or
not a subject can differentiate between short musical compositions
deemed
with
to possess merit, and versions of these compositions
distorted melody, rhythm, or harmony.
^^
The
of "meritorious" and altered compositions.
test consists of 48 pairs
Scoring credit
given
is
for recognition both of the unaltered versions and the type of
distortion to the altered version.
The
reliability of this
ranges from '47 for children of the
fifth
and sixth grades, to -63 for
measure
junior high-school groups, -78 for pupils in the senior high-school,
and '86 for
A
adults.
each of which contains
and
his
more difficult test comes in two forms,
40 items. The subject indicates his preferences
second,
degree of confidence, the latter being taken into account in
the scoring.
The
been found to
test's reliability has
borhood of '80 (college population).
odds the best of the formal auditory
fall
Both of these
tests
tests are
by
Test
for Musical
comprehension of compositions
complete wholes. ^9 While hearing a rendition of Tchaikovsky's
Symphony,
for
example,
original
as
Sixth
the listener answers a set of true-false
questions of this type: "The melody of the middle section
from the
all
of taste so far developed.
Hevner has constructed another measure, the
Concepts, to assess the subject's
in the neigh-
theme;
it is
varied,
however, and
is
is
taken
played in faster
tempo." After three hearings of the symphony, the listener checks
one statement
to do with
which run
Wing
in
each of four pairs of statements which have largely
mood.
as
Preliminary forms of this test have reliabilities
high as -Si.
has devised four tests
which have
to
do with judging the
appropriateness of the style of playing a tune.^°
recorded tune
is
In each test a
repeated either in identical or altered
notes played by the
left
hand
in the
"harmony"
test
may
style.
or
The
may not
163
THE MEASURES OF MUSICAL TASTE
be altered during the second rendition. The subject must
listen for
the possibility of a change, and then decide which of the
two
more appropriate. In the
test of "rhythmic accent" the accents may or may not fall in a
different place in the second rendition. The possibility of change and,
if there is a change, the more appropriate style of playing are to be
checked. The two other tests in this series concern loudness patterns
and phrase groups. The four tests are individually not very reliable.
But when they are taken as a battery and combined with several other
harmonizations
tests of
music
achieved.
(if
there are two)
is
the
neighborhood of -90
is
be having considerable use
in
a reliability in the
ability,
The Wing battery appears
to
Great Britain.
Lowery,"
Tests of taste have been constructed by Schoen,^^
Drake, ^3 and others. ^'^
Schoen's
Tonal
Sequence
supposedly
Test
reveals the listener's sensitivity to the fitness of the tones of a melody.
For
fitness,
Schoen suggests
balance,
criteria:
five
"belonging-
In the test, each phrase
togetherness," unity, variety, and finality.
is
followed by four terminal phrases, which must be assigned values of
Lowery's Cadence
o, 2, 4, or 6 for fitness.
In
pair of cadences heard
must be judged
Drake's
probes for the
Test of Intuition
unfinished themes. This ability
is
Test,
the second of each
more or
less
complete.
ability to supply
endings to
as
thought to be concerned with
phrase-balance, key-center, and time-balance.
The
listener judges
whether or not the second phrase of each stimulus pair makes
satisfactory ending to the first phrase.
have constructed other measures of
a
Lowery, Drake, and Schoen
abilities
which border on the
area of taste.
Practically nothing
is
known about
the degree of overlap
the areas covered by these formal, auditory
tests.
among
However, with the
stimuli often quite divergent and the test philosophies occasionally
rather dissimilar,
correlations
164
it
would be
were found
surprising
if all
to be very high, i.e., for
of the test interall
of the tests to
THE MEASURES OF MUSICAL TASTE
be measuring very similar
remembered
Moreover,
variables.
be
should
it
that the criteria of the tests for "correct" answers are
based on social judgments.
Naturally,
then,
fraction
a
of the
"correct" ansv^^ers of today will be "incorrect" tomorrow.
Paper-and-Pencil Tests
On
the theory that general musical information should be related
to appreciation, Kwalwasser has published a Test of Music Information
and Appreciation.^^
Its
arrangement
is
that of the typical school-
com-
subject achievement test, with queries about composers and
by orchestral instruments,
positions, the production of tone
The
requires
test
some 40 minutes
by M.
structed
etc.
administration.
its
Its
been found to be approximately -84 for
reliability for adults has
Stanford students.
for
A more
Young, ^^
form of
difficult
this test has
been con-
and another modification of
it
by
is
Semeonofif.^7
A
novel sort of measure, with
a reliability
of Musical Taste developed by Vernon.
around '85,
Here the subject
^^
is
is
the Test
asked to
record his reactions to 30 wholly imaginary programs of music.
the assumption that the experts
Vernon
On
has chosen to prejudge the
prograins possess taste (he has chosen as experts a panel of six
musicians),
the
score
is
defined
in
terms of the resemblances
between what the subject records and what the experts have
previously checked as the ideal.
Using
a slight
modification of the Thurstone
struction of attitude scales, Kate
developed
a Test of Attitude
subject
is
is
it
for the con-
Hevner and R, H. Seashore have
Toward Music.^9 While
strictly speaking, a test of taste,
lem. The test
method
this
measure
is
not,
bears rather closely on the prob-
composed of statements about music with which the
asked to agree or disagree.
acceptance would indicate
An example
of an item
a fairly favorable attitude
whose
toward music
is,
16^
THE MEASURES OF MUSICAL TASTE
"I
believe strongly in the beneficial and pleasurable effects of music,
but do not care to take an active part in
myself." As each test item
it
has been prejudged by a large group of people, and so
on an
may be
placed
continuum, the testee's verbal attitude can readily
attitudinal
be assessed by
this
college students
is
instrument. 3°
The
reliability as
reported for
exactly '90.
Self-rating scales have
been developed to measure interests
An
"serious" music and in several sorts of "popular" music. 3^
portant feature of these scales
in
im-
the placing of prejudged behavioral
is
characterizations along the rating lines as points of reference. Thus,
in the case of
one
"extreme
left indicates
"strongest
24 cm. in length, where a check at the extreme
scale
possible
dislike of
interest
in
characterizations are, "I listen to
make me
teachers
and,
(placed
scales,
2 1' 3
music,"
my
the
music only
listen to it" (placed 2-7
spend most of
"1
music" and one
end
at the right
two most extreme
when my
parents or
cm. from the extreme
left)
free time listening to or playing music"
cm. from the
left
end).
In an assessment of
seventh-graders and their mothers were asked
one of the
check
to
independently the musical interests of the former. The coefficient of
correlation between the ratings of the mothers and their children
was found
scale.
It
to be 'So,
indicating a fair degree of validity for the
should be added, however, that the mothers believed their
children to have
more
interest in
music than the
latter
admitted to
having.
Another, more informal measure of
list
to be assessed are given this
most eminent
the ordering
list
made by
the
becomes out of date
reflect
contemporary
is
It
of the American Musicological
should be noted that any such
course of time.
attitudes.
taste
The extent of the agreement with
members
in the
whose
with the request that they check the
ten, fifteen, or so.
Society determines the score.
166
taste involves the use of the
of 200 composers described in Chapter 6.32 Those
To be
of worth
it
list
must
THE MEASURES OF MUSICAL TASTE
The more formal tests are obviously concerned with individual
taste. With their reliabilities and validities generally mediocre or
poor, they would appear to have a rather limited future. So
seem
to have stimulated little interest or research.
next to be discussed are in no sense
what might be termed
rivals, for
far,
they
The techniques
they aim to measure
"collective" taste.
Polling
This book has already considered at
through polling, which
is
some length
data obtained
obviously not the perfect psychological
Samples polled in past studies have sometimes proved to be
tool. 33
but poor representatives of the populations with which the researcher
was
really
have
all
too often been shown to be ambiguous or impossible to
And
answer.
data.
concerned. The questions which have at times been asked
pollsters have occasionally misinterpreted their
These are among the most frequently encountered
w^here polling
are, have
taste as
is
own
difficulties
used. Yet, polling data, inaccurate as they sometimes
been found to yield roughly the same picture of contemporary
have the more operational procedures. Polling would appear
to possess, then, a degree of validity and research utility.
Orchestral Programs
Attention has been called to the fact that the Boston Symphony
Orchestra favors approximately the same composers decade after
decade.
It
is
of interest, too, that this orchestra's top choices 34
tend to be the ones also favored by the musicologists
(r/io 35
of -Si in
1944, 'jg in i95"i) and by a group of presumably typical Stanford
sophomores
the ones
(rho of '79).
who
These same composers
are,
by and
large,
have received the greatest amount of attention in the
music encyclopedias of the 1940's,
in the general encyclopedias of
167
THE MEASURES OF MUSICAL TASTE
The rho^s here run
Had the orchestral choices been
would have been even higher.
the same decade, and in the histories of music.
•82, '73, and 'jg, respectively.
limited to the 1940's, the rho's
Musicologists' and Boston Symphony's
Favorites Compared
Order of
Boston Symphony
Choice
Orchestra
0951)
Bach
Beethoven
2
Brahms
Beethoven
Bach
3
Wagner
Mozart
Brahms
4
Mozart
5
R. Strauss
Wagner
Haydn
Mozart
6
Bach
Brahms
Debussy
7
Sibehus
Palestrina
Schubert
8
Tchaikovsky
Handel
Handel
9
Debussy
Schubert
Wagner
Haydn
11
Haydn
10
Debussy
10
13
Schubert
13
Tchaikovsky
18
R. Strauss
16
Handel
20
R. Strauss
19
Tchaikovsky
66
Palestrina
30-5
Sibelius
30
Sibelius
Note:
first
Musicologists
(1944)
Beethoven
1
*
Musicologists
The names appearing below
Palestrina
the line in any one of the columns appear
among
the
nine in one of the other columns.
Unusual features of the Boston Symphony's order of favorites are
the high status of R. Strauss and Sibelius, and the low position of
Palestrina.
The idiosyncrasies of the Boston Symphony's list, however,
are relatively few.
Hence,
of taste, particularly
if
we
appear to have
at
hand
a fair
barometer
the data gathered from this organization are
pooled with those from the other leading orchestras of the land. 3^
Broadcasts of Recordings
When
the Pacific Gas and Electric Company's broadcasts (p.
i
34)
were analyzed in an effort to learn whose compositions were most
often played,
168
it
was found
that the favorites over a three-year period
THE MEASURES OF MUSICAL TASTE
coincided remarkably well with those of the Boston Symphony
Orchestra (rho of •90). Here, again, Sibelius achieved unusually high
Status.
Tchaikovsky's broadcast rank was the most markedly out of
line (using the musicologists' ballots as the
frame of reference). The
rank order of composers favored in the broadcast programs correlated
fairly
well (rho of '8^) with the eminence ranks established from the
votes of the musicologists (1944) but
somewhat
less
well (rho of 'yi)
with the eminence ranks derived from the ballots of
Stanford sophomores.
The
a
group of
hierarchies based on the relative amounts
of attention paid the musicologists' 92 composers in the histories and
in the
music and general encyclopedias of the 1940's yielded
•81, '81, and -68
from the
utility
when
of
correlated against the rank order derived
company's programs. Thus,
will give approximately the
inspection of
r/jo's
a
glimpse at the table
same picture of current
taste as will
an
some of the other barometers.
Pacific Gas and Electric Company's Broadcasts
I94I, 1942
AND
1943
Order of
Frequency
Composers
1
Beethoven
2
Tchaikovsky
3
Brahms
4
Mozart
5
Bach
6
Sibehus
7
Wagner
8
Schubert
9
Schumann
Record Listings
The composers favored
in the
programs of the Boston Symphony
Orchestra and the Pacific Gas and Electric
also to
Company
broadcasts tend
be the ones with the most recordings to their credit. Thus,
169
THE MEASURES OF MUSICAL TASTE
the rank order of the record-Usting frequencies of the early 1940's
correlates -SS with the symphony's rank order, and •91 with that of
the utility company's broadcasts.
When compared with the
eminence
ranks obtained from the histories, the music encyclopedias, and the
general encyclopedias of the 1940's, the correlation values were found
to be '87, '88, and -69, respectively.
extent of a rho of '90,
The
The musicologists agreed
to the
but the college students' value was lower, 'jg.
scores for the disc listings
distribution of recordings
were obtained by noting the
mentioned
used in counting the discs were
I.
in
each of four books. Those
Kolodin's A Guide
to
Recorded
Music (1941), D. Hall's The Record Book (1943), B. H. Haggin's Music
and The Gramophone Shop Encyclopedia of Recorded
Music (1942). The four books agree very well among themselves on
on Records (i943),37
the
number
of recordings associated with the 92 composers.
pool of any two of the book
yields
a
rho
lists
against the pool of the other
of approximately -9^.
Incidentally,
The
two
the agreement
between the 1936 and 1942 and between the 1942 and 1948 editions
of the Gramophone Shop Encyclopedia
of magnitude.
well a
number
Here, then,
we
is
roughly of the same order
have a reliable index which checks
of the other barometers of taste.
Scholarly Texts
Since histories of music and encyclopedia articles on the com-
posers are written by musicologists or their peers,
it is
to expect that the allocations of space in scholarly
works
the taste patterns of the authors' cultures.
Of course,
not too
much
will follow
the editors of
encyclopedias must usually limit the over-all space, and this necessity
must
in turn lead to a restriction of the
names can appear
in
such publications.
number of composers whose
But the relative amounts of
space devoted to the names which do pass the selection will tend to
reflect cultural attitudes.
1
70
THE MEASURES OF MUSICAL TASTE
It
must be granted, of course,
than
taste.
The
who composes
perfectionist
important composer whose life-span
space than they deserve,
character, particularly
may both
short
is
the data of
and the
receive less
the controversial and notorious
vs^hile
blessed with a long
life,
may
receive unarticle
may
own
vs^hich at
times can reach serious proportions.
many
histories
and encyclopedias are pooled, the
possess biases of his
if
relatively little
Moreover, the author of the history or
deserved space.
But
if
more
that the allocations will mirror
author-biases will tend to cancel, or at least will distort the picture
less.
Before the turn of this century,
space-allocation
eminent
men
method
in an
because no
now
be determined,
Webers and
some of the composers
Mozart
is
list.
the
first
Of
who
may be guessed
it
to aid in distinguishing
that the
may
or
in his
which of
Hence
Strausses Cattell intended.
bear these names
may not have
those whose identities cannot be questioned,
musician, with a rank of 93 in the general array
(Napoleon topped the
list
with
a rating of
i
).
of 220, Handel 261, Haydn 300, Rossini 326,
sohn 404, Palestrina 471, and Bach
appeared among the
It
employed the
There are some ambiguities
were given
initials
the several famous
in the
Cattell
attempt to discover the thousand most
Encyclopaedia Britannica was one.
been
McKeen
of history. 3^ Although the names of the encyclopedias
he used cannot
list
J.
first
475^.
Beethoven had
Wagner
No
rank
a
337, Mendels-
other composers
^00.
was to have been expected that the editors of the general
encyclopedias would allocate less space to composers than to the
military heroes and to the eminent of certain other fields.
the absolute ranks of these musicians
that these nine
tell
composers received the
us very
little.
Hence,
Yet the
fact
lion's share of attention
is
surely indicative of their relative status during the period just prior
to that of Cattell's researches.
It is
of interest that
all
with the exception of Rossini's, appear high on the
of these names,
later lists
com171
THE MEASURES OF MUSICAL TASTE
The space devoted
piled by the present author.
to this ItaUan
com-
poser has decreased slowly but steadily in both the music and general
source books written in the English language during
this century. 39
Rossini was not mentioned by a single musicologist in the 1938
survey and received few votes from the 1944 and 195^1 memberships.
Bach, on the other hand, improved in status rapidly and soon became
one of the top-ranking masters.
In the allocation studies reported in this book, the pooling of
several
works published
in
each time span has been the practice. The
general encyclopedias under scrutiny
numbered
for each period except for the 1940's, for
employed.
five
standard works
which only three were
Seven standard music encyclopedias were examined for
the period 1900-19, six for the decade of the 1920's, and five each
for the 1930's
and 1940's. Ten to twelve histories of music were
studied for each of these same periods.
Although an eminent composer
is
normally discussed in but one
section of any given encyclopedia,
number
histories
typically
mention
a
of composers on a single page and repeat mention of the
same composer on
a
number
of widely separated pages. Hence, space
measurements are usually not possible
in
work on
histories,
only practical technique so far found to be serviceable
tabulation of page-mentions.
Fortunately,
the
is
and the
that of the
number
of page-
mentions and the amount of space have been found to correlate so
highly
(r/70's
in the •90's) that for
sidered as a single technique.
It
most purposes they may be con-
4"
has already been deiTionstrated that the rankings of composers
determined on the
basis of
space-measurement and page-mention
frequencies are quite similar to the eminence rankings obtained from
the ballots of musicologists and college students, to the preference
orders taken from the programs of the Boston
Symphony Orchestra
and the Pacific Gas and Electric Company, and to the order of
frequencies secured from record listings.
172
Furthermore, the three
THE MEASURES OF MUSICAL TASTE
sorts
—the
scholarly endeavor
of
the
music
— devote rather
similar
of music,
histories
encyclopedias, and the general encyclopedias
amounts of attention to our group of 92 composers.
of the
1940's
considered,
is
histories correlates '81
When the decade
the rank order obtained from the
and -70, respectively, w^ith those constructed
from the music and the general encyclopedias. The ranks secured
from the two kinds of encyclopedias agree to the extent of
•77.
The
a rho
of
between the data of the other time periods
intercorrelations
have been found to be of approximately the same order of magnitude.
While these space
chapter are not
as
values and the related ones described in this
high as might be desired,
it
would appear
consider the space- and page-mention procedures
good picture of
taste at
safe to
as yielding a fairly
any given place and time.
Boredom
While no one
taste
has probably ever attempted seriously to measure
by testing for musical boredom, the New York Herald Tribune,
during March of 195^4, asked
its
readers to
they regarded as most boring. 4^
It
name
the ten compositions
would seem, however,
that the
New York list is unique,
that
one assembled either
Minneapolis or in San Francisco since local
in
it
should in
all
probability not resemble
conditions would be quite dissimilar in these three locales.
area
would have
its
own
particular irritations, brought
on
Each
in part
by
the too-frequent hearing of certain pieces and by the fact that other
compositions may have recently been badly played.
But one wonders
not a relatively small number
if it is
react so strongly to cliches and nuances of rendition.
Alfred Frankenstein says in the April 4,
Francisco Chronicle, there
passive followers and
is
a considerable
i9 5"4,
group of
who would
As the
issue of the San
listeners
honor what they have been taught
For them, boredom, even
if
present,
would have
critic
who
are
to honor.
little effect
on basic
173
THE MEASURES OF MUSICAL TASTE
Only the sophisticated
taste.
Of
listeners
might be seriously affected.
course, most persons tire rather rapidly of jazz pieces and other
examples of
less serious
And Rachmaninov's
music.
shelved occasionally to keep
Prelude
But such reac-
reasonably in favor.
it
tions to specific compositions have relatively little to
musical
Any school
related to taste.
it is
in favor at
against itself.
w^ith basic
is
a
it
of musical composition, no matter
is
how
any one time, sooner or later begets a reaction
Although
modified form,
Here
do
taste.
somewhat broader sense of the term, how^ever, boredom
In a
much
must be
must
it
may
later return to favor,
at least in
pass through a period of partial eclipse.
phenomenon found in all but the most static cultures, a sort
The sociologist W. I. Thomas has called this
of collective boredom.
human tendency
"the wish for
new
experience."
was
first
called to the formal tests and to
Summaij
In this chapter attention
the fact that, in general, they measure individual taste with relatively
poor
reliability
and
validity.
To
disclose the taste of classes and
interest groups, other techniques have
polling,
tions
program
among
and examina-
the relative amounts of attention paid composers in
into
scholarly
been more successful. Thus,
analyses, the counting of recordings,
works 4^ on music
all
have disclosed similar group favorites
the composers. These barometers have been found to be
internally consistent.
as it exists
They furnish ways of studying
here and elsewhere, and even
collective taste
as it existed
decades ago.
Notes
i]
Hungerland has reviewed the problem of aesthetic standards
and has offered
book.
a relativistic
view which
is
in the field of painting
consonant with that expressed throughout
this
See Helmut Hungerland, "Suggestions for Procedure in Art Criticism," 7. Aesth.,
THE MEASURES OF MUSICAL TASTE
5,
No.
A more
(1947): 189—195.
3
recent rejection of the absolutistic position can be
seen in T. Munro's "The Concept of Beauty in the Philosophy of Naturalism," Rev.
(i9SS)'- i-43-
Intern. Phil., 31
2]
The page-mention method can be considered
of the measure of space
as a variety
allocations.
3]
C. E. Seashore, Manual of Instructions and Interpretations Jor Measures oj Musical Talent,
N.Y., Columbia Graphophone, 1919.
4]
The
reliability of a test
is
degree of self-consistency, the extent to which
its
uninfluenced by factors intrinsic to or associated with
reliability
£]
6]
J.
J.
Tests
Kwalwasser and
I
low
in the high -So's or
Kwalwasser,
1930, p.
7]
one
is
induce boredom or fatigue)
as to
it
•90's.
tends to
and Measurements
P.
As
it
is
For most purposes, a reasonable
a test is
become more
in Music,
W. Dykema,
it.
lengthened (but not so
much
reliable.
Boston, Birchard, 1927, p. 26.
Manual of
Directions,
K-B
Tests,
N.Y., Fischer,
8.
The authors
realize that a lo-item test tends to have
poor
reliability
and suggest a
repetition under conditions such that the subjects believe they are hearing a 20-item test.
But even with 20 items the
8]
S.
test is quite unreliable.
A. Courtis, Courtis Standard Research
1922, p.
£.
Tests, Series
M, Music, Detroit,
S.
A. Courtis,
Before the days of formal psychological tests an even earlier attempt to study
music moods was that by B.
J.
Oilman, "Report on an Experimental Test of Musical
Expressiveness," Amer. J. Vsychol., 4 (1892): 42—83; 5 (1893): 55'8— 587.
9]
E. J. Schultz, "Testing Listening
Power
in
Music," Mus. Superv. Nat. Conf. Yearb.,
1933, 306-312.
10]
E. Gaston,
A
of Musicalitj, Manual of Directions, 2nd ed., Kansas City, Streep,
Test
1944.
11]
S.
K. Gernet, Musical Discrimination
at
Various Age
and Grade
College Place,
Levels,
Washington, College Press, 1940.
12]
L. B.
13]
M.
J.
Bower, "A Factor Analysis of Music Tests," Thesis, Catholic U., 1945.
Keston and
J. Genet. PsjchoL,
14]
M.
J.
M.
Pinto, "Possible Factors Influencing Musical Preference,"
1
01 — 113.
Adler, "Music Appreciation:
Arch. Psychol., IJ,
15]
I.
86 {13 ss):
M. R. Trabue,
An Experimental Approach
to
Its
Measurement,"
No. iio (1929): 1-102.
"Scales for Measuring
Judgment of Orchestral Music, "J.
Educ. Psychol.,
14 (1923): 545-?6i.
16]
B. Semeonoff,
"A
New
Approach to the Testing of Musical
Ability," Brit. J. Psychol.,
30 (1940): 326-340; "Further Developments in a New Approach to the Testing of
Musical Ability, with Special Reference to Groups of Secondary School Children," Brit.
J. Psychol., 31 (1940):
17]
145-161.
R. B. Cattell and D. R. Saunders, "Music Preferences and Personality Diagnosis,"
J. Soc. PsjchoL,
39 (1954): 3-24; R. B. Cattell and Jean C. Anderson, "The Measurement
THE MEASURES OF MUSICAL TASTE
of Personality and Behavior Disorders by the
18]
Music Preference Test," J. Appl.
P. A. T.
I.
37 (19^3): 446-4^4-
Psychol.,
John H. Mueller,
et al.,
"Studies in Appreciation of Art," U. Oregon Publ., 4, No. 6
(1934): 11J-130.
31-137.
19]
Ibid.,
20]
H. Wing, "Tests of Musical Ability and Appreciation,"
1
Monog. Suppl.,
Brit. J. Psychol.,
No. 27 (1948).
21]
M. Schoen,
"Tests of Musical Feeling and Musical Understanding," J. Comp. Psychol.,
5 (1925): 3i-?222]
H. Lowery, "Cadence and Phrase Tests
Music,"
in
Brit. J. Psjchol.,
IJ (1926): 11 1-
118.
23]
M. Drake, "Four New
R.
136-147; Drake Musical Aptitude
24]
The
between
difference
Tests of Musical Talent," J. Appl. Psjchol., ij (1933):
Tests, Chicago, Science Research Associates, 19^4.
a test of taste
and one of musical "capacity"
slight.
See Chapter 9 for a discussion of the latter type of measure.
2^]
J.
Kwalwasser,
26]
M. Young, "A Study of
Tests
and Measurements
and the Construction for
in Music,
is
sometimes
90—98.
the Kwalwasser Test of Music Information and Appreciation,
More
this Field of a
Reliable and
Advanced Test," Master's
Thesis, Stanford U., 1932.
27]
B. Semeonoff, op.
28]
P. E.
cit.
Vernon, "A Method for Measuring Musical Taste, "J. Appl.
Psychol.,
14 (1930):
3^5-362.
29]
John H. Mueller,
30]
The
et al.,
scale value of the
"Studies in Appreciation of Art," pp. 138-142.
example
just given
unfavorable end of the continuum and
31]
i
was found to be 4-2 where
1
1
is
the most
the most favorable.
R. Farnsworth, "Rating Scales for Musical Interests," J. Psjchol., 28 (1949):
P.
24S-253.
32]
P. R. Farnsworth,
Musical Taste,"
33]
"Agreement with the Judgments of Musicologists
J. Psjchol.,
as a
Measure of
28 (1949): 421-42^.
Q. McNemar, "Opinion- Attitude Methodology,"
Psjchol. Bull.,
43 (1946): 289-374.
34] These values were obtained through a tally of the musical items listed in the "Boston
Symphony Orchestra Programmes" for the seasons 1895-96, 1904-5 through 1907-8,
191 2-1
35]
3
through
1
91 8-1 9, and 1920-21 through 1944-45.
This rho and those which follow have as their
number
by the members of the American Musicological Society
36]
programs, "J. Abn.
Soc. Psjchol.,
"On
the
p.
(in a
123).
mathe-
Dynamic Structure of Concert-
41 (1946): 25-36.
Because of the peculiar arrangement of the Haggin book,
employ the page-mention technique.
176
1938 poll (see
For extremely interesting program analyses which are too technical
matical sense) for review here, see G. K. Zipf,
37]
of items the 92 names offered
in the
it
proved necessary to
THE MEASURES OF MUSICAL TASTE
38]
J.
McKeen
3^9-377.
Cattell,
Cattell's data
"A Statistical Study of Eminent Men," Pop. Sci. Month., 62 (1903):
were gathered many years before they were published.
Under the direction of R.
39]
ments have been taken from
different language.
2 2-
J in Mejers Lexikon.
that Rossini
Siecle, a
encyclopedias.)
When
Stempel combined
From
regarded far more favorably in
40]
It
who
(G. H. Stempel,
largest
amount of
has reported these studies, has found that
was seventh
(Note that
in space allocation.
completely out of line with what Rossini
is
placement was seventh.
countries.
was given the second
eighth place in Enciclopedia Universal (Spanish),
rank of 18 in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, and one
G. H. Stempel,
in the Encyclopedia Americana Rossini
allocation
of the University of Indiana, space measure-
of general-interest encyclopedias, each written in a
He achieved
rank of 8*^ in Larousse du XX"
of
Tangeman
worth noting
It is
space in Enciclopedia Italiana.
a
S.
five sets
is
this
given in other English-language
with those of Tangeman, Rossini's
comes the hint that Rossini may be
and Spain than in Germany and the Anglo-Saxon
his data
these data, then,
Italy
"C Sharp Minor,"
The Bloowington [Ind.] Star, August 6, 1943.)
can be taken as axiomatic that the greater the variability in the lengths of the
encyclopedia articles the
expressed.
If it is
more
exact will be the differences in eminence that can be
found that the largest encyclopedias possess
articles
with the greatest
would seem to follow that these massive treatises can supply the most
adequate material for work on eminence. Support for this possibility can be seen in the
rho of -^4 which obtains between the sizes of the encyclopedias and the spread in the
range in length
it
lengths of the articles.
41]
From most
Scheherezade,
to least boring these compositions
Missa Solemnis, Brahms's German Requiem, Dvorak's
Sjmphonj, Wagner's Tristan und
42]
were
said to be:
Cesar Franck's Symphony, Ravel's Bolero, Wagner's
Isolde,
Rimsky-Korsakov's
Parsifal,
Tchaikovsky's
Eijth
Symphony.
That the music encyclopedias make more reliable barometers of
general encyclopedias has recently been demonstrated by the author.
show
taste.
that
Beethoven's
New World Symphony, Beethoven's Ninth
taste
than the
His researches
the Encyclopaedia Britannica no longer keeps abreast of changes in musical
See "The Limitations of Cattell's Space
Method
of Studying Eminence," J. Psychol.,
44 (i9S7): 169-173-
177
CHAPTER EIGHT
The Nature of Musical
In
Abilities
the preceding chapters, the notion of capabihty has been freely
employed but
intervals,
to
in
rather loose fashion.
differentiate
To
discriminate between
major from minor, to sense
strain
or
relaxation in a melody, or even to develop a taste for a particular kind
of music, presupposes musical abilities of
some
sort.
But whether
these capabilities are largely inborn and whether only one general
ability or several
must be assumed are questions which have
not been considered.
It is
so far
time, then, that these and other important
about the functioning of our musical capabilities be
questions
examined.
Ability
—
In their
an Appropriate Descriptive Term
work
of describing musical capabilities, the psychological
testers have
employed
as to exact
meanings.
a variety of
To some
terms without complete agreement
authorities musical talent has
innate capability for musical performance.
Others have used the
term more broadly to include musical appreciation. Talent
latter
area
has
meant
in this
sometimes been called "musicality." The term
"capacity" also seems to bear the connotation of innate ability.
Capacities, of course, are never directly observed, but are inferred
from behavioral manifestations such
178
as
test
scores.
The term
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
"aptitude"
is
is
somewhat
the inferred ability
less controversial in that
assumed to be only in part innate.
tends to imply potentiality
It
rather than achievement, ability undeveloped before formal training
The term
has taken place.
power
"ability," suggesting the
to act but
indicating nothing about the hereditability or congenitalness of the
inferred potentiality
we
for as
jointly,
and
is
soon
shall
it is
the broadest and safest of
see,
erroneous to say that any act
either the one or the other.
all
of these terms
nature and nurture invariably function
Hence,
is
the sole result of
in the discussions of the present
chapter, conservative usage will be followed and musical ability will
be the focus of attention.
Generality of Ability
Almost everyone who has attempted
has
met persons who show
and extreme weakness
to forecast musical success
great promise along
in other areas.
Here
is
some musical
lines
who
memory
a sixth-grader
scored in the top percentile on standardized tests of tonal
and of pitch and intensity discrimination but had only chance scores
A monotone
on measures of time and rhythm.
came
to the laboratory for aid in
overcoming
to score quite well on time, intensity, and
of mature years
his disability
rhythm
who
was found
tests.
But his
pitch weakness was so complete that he could detect only a slight
difference
between the highest and lowest tones of the piano. And
the vocalist Galli-Curci, while proficient in most musical endeavors,
had such
a
poor "musical ear" that she needed an accompanist
who
could be called upon to transpose at a moment's notice. There also
are weaknesses in the affective realm, e.g., a kettle
of America's great
he abhorred
all
music
called into action.
which
early led
symphony orchestras who
It
him
in
which the
was
to
his
kettle
drummer
in
one
privately admitted that
drums were not frequently
abnormally strong interest in rhythms
work with
the percussion choir.
Cases such
179
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
would seem
as these
to yield evidence for the existence of several
rather independent musical abilities rather than a single all-em-
bracing one.
Certain of the statistically minded have attempted to answer the
question of the generality of ability through recourse to tables of
intercorrelations and to the findings of factor analysis.
out that most music tests
Hence,
indeed.
if it
now
at
They point
hand intercorrelate very poorly
can be assumed that the tests are valid measures
of musical capabilities, this evidence also
tells against
the notion of a
single musical ability.
The
more deeply
factor analysts have tried to probe
problem.
factor
into the
Unfortunately, however, the several different methods of
analysis
now
available
are
based on somewhat dissimilar
philosophies and therefore do not always lead to identical conclusions.
hardly an exaggeration to say that the English,
It is
prone to believe
in the existence of general factors,
who
are
tend to find them
in almost every set of test intercorrelations, while the Americans,
w^ith their different theories,
factors but
when he
general musical factor
tonal
memory,
general
music
find several
group
Wing
While
40 per cent of the
also
a
studied tests covering the areas of
rhythm,
pitch,
intelligence.^
tests.
factors,
more commonly
no general one. Thus, the British-trained Drake found
tonal
intensity,
scrutinizing
his
movement, and
own
English-made
found a general factor which accounted for
total variance.^
There were two additional group
one being bipolar and apparently having to do with
analysis
and synthesis, and the other concerned with harmony and melody.
Another Briton, McLeish, who gave both the Wing and the Seashore
music batteries to some
cognitive factor in each. 3
American-built
(p.
237) have
tests
little
to
Manzer and Marowitz
180
100 students,
Still
found the same general
another Briton, Vernon,
feels that the
of Seashore which stress sensory capabilities
do with music
ability. 4
to bolster this view. 5
He quotes the data of
He himself has studied
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
tests
such
163) which
the Hevner-Landsbury (p.
as
make use of
actual musical materials. These, he thinks, test a general factor,
Vernon's attitude toward the sensory
Franklin,
who
A
some
Wing,
tests
and
visual perceptual tests,
of intelligence and vocabu-
his
own music
study of the factors which emerged convinced
ability has
shared by
partly
is
has recently factor analyzed a battery of tests including
several of the Seashore, the
lary,
tests
two
aspects,
test (p. 246).
him
that
music
one being the mechanical-acoustic
(e.g.,
on
pitch, timbre, time, and intensity discrimination) and the other,
far
its
a
higher level, he terms the judicious-musical. The latter reaches
highest levels in creative musical talent.^
The most extensive study of basic music
has been that of Karlin, an American,
found eight group
factors. 7
No
abilities so far
who
The most important
manipulations.
memory
for musical passages as a whole,
A
still
factored 32 tests and
general factor emerged from the
statistical
musical elements.
undertaken
factors involved pitch,
and
recall for isolated
American study by Bower
later
also dis-
closed no huge general factor but rather three group factors.^
Bower's
first
memory,
factor
was
complex one w^hich had
a
do with tonal
pitch discrimination, melodic taste, and rhythm discrimi-
Her second concerned mood,
nation.
to
Her
nation.
third
loudness, and time discrimi-
rhythm
featured
discrimination
and
tonal
memory.
The reader
analysis
will probably agree that conclusions based
must be quite
tentative.
the tests used. Therefore,
if
there
on factor
Factors are obviously products of
is
no
test
covering some important
area of musical activity, the picture disclosed by the factor analysis
will reflect this imbalance.
of tests,
it is
For, after
economy
all,
a
When two
studies
employ
different sets
quite possible that they will report different factors.
factor analysis
is
only a
matrix of correlations.
way
of describing with
some
Since the factors depend upon
the measures used, they will be meaningful only as the tests are
181
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
With present-day music
meaningful.
tests still in a primitive state, it
follows that factor analysis can yield no definitive answers.
left,
are
and with the notion that there probably are
tional analyses can yield,
music
several poorly correlated
Ability in Music
and
abilities.
the Other Arts
Another aspect of the problem of general musical
with the hypothesis that there may exist
embraces
aptitude and
found that
Interest
taste
tests,
is
Morrow
could find no correlations of
art
measures. 9
Although Strong
score as measured by his well-known Vocational
artist
Test correlates
•
£j with musician score, he also noted that
the former correlates higher with a
number
of other occupational
with mathematician, -62 with dentist, -70 with
-Gi
interests:
which
ability
In an extensive study with a variety of special
between the music and
size
do
ability has to
broad
a
But here again, the experimental evidence
the arts.
all
largely opposed.
any
We
then, with whatever conclusions case studies and intercorrela-
psychologist, '79 with physician, '84 with author-journalist, and
Music interest correlates -60 with
•8£ with architect.
interests in
both psychology and the ministry.^" White, in a study of the versatility
of 300 eminent men, could find no general aesthetic type of interest
or ability."
One
small area in
average length of
life
which musicians do resemble
of their eminent fellows.
span for both musicians and
6y £
7
2*
5-
over
years. '^
7
1
,
Just
and for educators
why
artists
182
life
it
was somewhat more than
and musicians should be alike and
two occupational groups have
certainly no
the
was found to be approximately
musicians and educators different in this regard
fact that
artists is in
one study, the
That of eminent engineers, on the other hand, was
years.
slightly
artists
In
is
not clear. But the
similar longevities
justification for hypothesizing a
is
most
commonality of abilities.
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
Academic Intelligence and Musical Ability
It
has been argued that academic inteUigence
component of musical
abiHty.^3
that the musically great
average intelligence.
men
J. S.
At
is
least the fact has
an important
been established
of history possessed far better than
Bach, for example, had an estimated i.q.
somewhere between i 2^ and 140, Beethoven's was between i 35^ and
140, Haydn's between 120 and 140, Handel's between i^g and 155,
and Mozart's between 1^0 and
i^'^^.^'^
show children with high music-test
music
it
tests,
must be
when
there are studies which
scores to be significantly brighter
than their low-scoring colleagues. ^5
argument,
And
But, for the other side of the
said that scores
on the better-standardized
given to groups of limited age range,
show
little
correlation with those on tests of academic intelligence, although
the slight correlations which are found are usually positive. ^^
It
should also be noted that children of high i.q. tend to yield music
test scores appropriate to their chronological ages
but not to their
i.Q.'s.^7
Other evidence
against the notion that intelligence and musical
ability are invariably related
can be seen in data gathered on those
peculiar individuals, the idiot savants. Traditionally this term has
been applied to persons who
some well-developed
who
test
low
in intelligence but
special ability. Typical
is
who
possess
an idiot of four years
could barely articulate "papa" and "mama" but was able to sing
over ^o melodies.
earlier to
first
now
believed that
many
of the cases thought
the idiot-savant classification could better be called
fit
schizophrenics.
than had
It is
Others have been found to be
been estimated, ^^ while
intelligence, have
relative sense.
still
much
others, admittedly
been shown to be musical or
That
is,
artistic in
low
in
only a
they were imbeciles or idiots, perhaps, in
academic intelligence but morons or border-line
ability,
higher in i.q.
in
the special
not really superior. There seem, however, to be
at least a
183
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
few
who come
cases
When
savant.
Rife and Snyder addressed inquiries to
institutes for the
who
tives
ability.
close to fitting the classical picture of the idiot
5^^
American
feeble-minded they unearthed eight mental defec-
appeared to show somewhat better than average musical
^9
True
idiot savants, while small in
number, are
sufficiently
numerous
to refute the hypothesis that better-than-average musical ability
must
we
have
invariably be
And,
accompanied by high intelligence.
as
seen, the music test data indicate that within the range of school
populations, academic intelligence and the several tonal abilities have
at best
if
one
only a slight positive relationship.^" Yet the fact remains that
is
to reach the highest level of musical success
intelligence considerably above that of the average.
one needs an
^^
The Hereditability of Musical Abilities
The present-day formulation of the nature-nurture
relationship
is
not one which would have appealed to the extremists of a few
decades ago.
Whether they were
hereditarians or environmentalists,
older theorists blinded themselves to
the
the
attempts to maintain their one-sided positions.
neither nature nor nurture can alone
make
obvious in their
now
It is
a musician.
clear that
Both must be
present before musical and other abilities can emerge. The person
who
has excellent tonal and rhythmic sensitivities but
unmusical surroundings will not be
as likely to
will another with similar sensitivities
propitious
environment.
who
They are
as
meaningless
of a particular automobile
the
make of
car, or
attributable to
184
its
is
in
finds himself in a
more
Questions which ask for the relative
potencies of nature and nurture in creating
able.
who
achieve in music as
is
as
a
musician are unanswer-
how much of the speed
gasoline and how much to
questions on
due to the
what percentage of the area of
length and what percentage to
its
a rectangle
width.
is
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
more
Certain people seem to be so constructed that they react far
positively than
must be
most
of environment
fertility
But even for these cases there
to tonal stimuli.
the early interest
if
Erwin Nyiregyhazi,
turned in other directions,
a
not to be
is
prodigy
vs^ho
was
studied most carefully by Revesz, sang melodies before he could
speak and began to improvise during his third year.^^ Yet he has not
achieved the renown which might reasonably have been forecast
But Mozart,
for him.
composed
little
who
"learned" the clavier before age four and
more
pieces at age five, although perceptibly no
precocious, reached musical heights almost no one else has attained.
The
differences in the successes of Mozart and his fellow prodigy
be due,
A
at least in part, to dissimilarities in
warning should be given on the possibility of confusing musical
ability with motor skills
excellently
formed
.
History reveals youngsters whose hands were
for piano
long hours and so mastered
had parents or teachers to
and
must
environmental pressures.
how
work, who were willing to practice
many
tell
to vary their playing
difficult
them
who
and when
piano techniques, and
precisely
what
to play
from the mechanically exact. These
children admitted to no real love of music or yearning to perform or
to compose.
not their
The "performance expressiveness" of
own
their playing
but was imposed on their playing by others.
these children musical geniuses, then, or
of unique build on
whom
tonal abilities
Were
were they merely persons
optimal pressures from the surrounding
environment led to the development of remarkable motor
The more
was
^3
skills
?
appear in the child at an earlier age than
do the rhythmic. ^'^ With practice, preschool children make spectacular gains in singing tones, intervals, and phrases, but less improve-
ment
in time-keeping.
Greatly enhanced
skill in
the
last
mentioned
appears with training at a somewhat later period, as soon as better
motor coordination permits.
growth,
then,
is
Some
of the unevenness in musical
apparently due to
differences
in
maturational
readiness for the activities in question.
i«ir
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
It is
know that pitch sensitivity can be improved by
Wyatt and a number of others have shown that enormous
reassuring to
training.
changes can be produced by the use of proper training procedures, ^5
After training, Wyatt' s music-school students had
moved on
the
Seashore pitch norms
decile.
(p. 2^5) from the seventh up to the second
Her subjects who were not enrolled in a music school had
with pitch training risen from the seventh decile to the third or
growth
fourth. This
was apparent
But
is
the
was not
in sensitivity
at tonal ranges
improvement
where no
training had
the Seashore thesis
I.Q.,
were
valid,
mere
a
limits as Seashore has maintained, ^^ or
enhanced
upping; of cognitive
something more basic?
is it
one would expect children of high
with their better powers of concentration, to score higher than
more normal fellows on tonal
noted, the two groups make similar
their
scores. ^7
assume that the
It
might, of course, be added that even
effects of pitch training
we
But, as
tests.
to
Hence,
have already
it
seems
safe
on
ability are rather basic.
if
sensitivity changes
not been demonstrated so dramatically there would
to
but
been attempted.
so far demonstrated a matter of
attention and mental concentration,
If
just a coaching effect
still
had
be no reason
suppose that training methods developed later might not be
effective.
The view of nature and nurture
have led us
is,
in brief, that
interplay of heredity and
facilitates
which our considerations
is
environment.
From
these
two
facilitations abilities develop.
The organism
less
sets
limits
or
of interacting limitations and
Musical
inherited than abilities in
abilities
to a limited extent.
seem
many other
MUSICAL ABILITIES AND FAMILY LINES.
186
so far
always the resultant of the
achievement in many ways. The environment likewise aids
or inhibits.
more nor
to
an ability
in general
no
areas.
Like begcts like Only
But even where the offspring closely resemble
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
the progenitors in
causes of the resemblance.
little
impossible to determine the exact
abilities, it is
D.A.R.-like studies of family stock are of
or no value to the problem of unscrambling the roles played by
heredity and environment in the creation of musical abilities. ^^
should
come
v^ives,
only one of
as
no surprise to
whom
was musical,
resemble, on the average, their
his
two
has had
two broods of children
own mothers more
But whether the resemblance
mothers.
man
find that w^here a
It
is
than their step-
due to the biological
inheritance of ^enes transmitting musical potentiality, to a complex of
mother
fixations or
of biological
disclose. ^9
ability
is
stepmother rejections, or to some combination
and sociopsychological causes,
Whether
wholly
a
training he can be
a
person
is
wedded
cannot
the analyses
to the idea that musical
matter of inheritance or entirely due to excellent
made happy by
the same family line analyses.
If
the
genealogical research proceeds far enough back in time, the musician
who
believes in heredity can always find a musical ancestor
whom
from
may have come, while the environmentalist
absence of musical abilities among his immediate
his musical ability
can relish the
ancestors and point to
some unrelated musician or teacher
as
the
"source" of the environmental pressures which have antedated the
musical achievements.
The musical Bachs and the members of other
families of
famous
virtuosos have been carefully counted generation after generation but
with no great benefit to science. 3^ For
who
can
tell
whether the
eventual eclipse of certain of these families was due to dilution of the
musical heritage; to changes in the social, economic, and political
made other occupations more attractive to the members
of later generations; or to some combination of biological and economic forces? Genealogical research may indeed be quite necessary
milieu which
for those
light
who
crave to belong to the socially elite.
on the problem of the origin of
But
it
throws no
special abilities.
187
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
Abilities
Much
and Body Structures
of the folklore about the effects of physique on ability
outgrowth of "common sense" and primitive
folktale
is
that angular ears predispose
logic.
owner
the
is
One
3^
to
an
such
unmusical
existence since sound waves are not angular but curvilinear.
A
person fortunate to be gifted with long, thin, muscular fingers and
wide hand-span
has,
per
se,
—or
the ability to be a violinist, a pianist
Extremely even front teeth and certain textures of
a thief.
allegedly related to the ease of playing
one or more
lip
sorts of
are
wind
instruments.
So
far
no one has bothered
to
check on the relation of ear shapes
But work has been done on finger length and
to musical abilities.
slenderness, tooth evenness, and thickness of lips. 3^ Admittedly
it is
easier to play the violin or the piano if the hands are "properly"
Yet no
constructed.
between
violins, horns,
of
correlations
finger, lip, or tooth
or clarinets.
moment
have been found
measurements and
Although the
pianists
master
ability to
and
violinists of
college age so far examined do have slightly wider than average hands
and longer
younger
fingers, 33 a study of still
pianists
beginners to have shorter than average fingers. 34
dedicated musician like the ^reat violinist Ysaye,
stubby fingers, simply works harder
reach
skills
as
at his task
showed these
Apparently a
who had extremely
and may manage to
great as those his better-fingered colleagues
more
easily achieve.
The
racial
abilities. 35
.Ordinarily Nordic-lovers,
grant the Alpines,
Negroes prominence
Mediterraneans,
in
as
say
about musical
they have been willing to
Semites,
and sometimes the
arts
because
belonging to a higher order of
creativity than capability in music,
racists base
to
one or more of the nonliterary
they regard ability in literature
Most
much
determinists have had
painting,
and the other
arts.
any alleged superiority on obscure elements of
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
physique presumably caused by differences in genetic structure.
A
very few have offered sociopsychological explanations, e.g., the
musical achievements of the Negro and the
tions for their
unhappy minority
would seem wise
It
to
check on the
true, of course, that
places,
and has withered
there
if
But
is
of any particular race ?
The question would have more meaning
what constitutes
times and
other periods and in other areas.
fall
as to
"racial" group.
at certain
the blossoming correlated with the rise or
ment
before searching
some one
music has blossomed
at
are overcompensa-
facts of race
for reasons for the supposed superiority of
It is
Jew
status.
were general agree-
After decades of argument, the
a race.
physical anthropologists are in the process of discarding the term
except, perhaps, for use in separating Caucasians, Mongoloids, and
Negroids. The ancestry of most Europeans and Americans shows such
diverse strains that
cultural unities.
"X
is
that
it
To
can be described only in terms of national and
explain a person's musical abilities by saying
musical because he
is
a Slavic
Jew" can mean
X probably came from a culture area where
teachers and
where music was
especially
little
there
more
than
were excellent
honored and furnished one
of the few outlets for occupational success. 3^
As was mentioned
little
worth
earlier, research in
music testing has proved of
for "racial" assessments, 37 even for the comparisons of
whites and Negroes. 3^
In the several studies
on
racial difference,
sometimes one and sometimes the other of these two American
groups has achieved the higher mean
said
is
that whatever the
be due largely
if
mean
test score.
The most
that can be
score differences are, they appear to
not entirely to factors of the testing situations and
not to basic differences associated with
racial stock.
The explanation of sex differences in musical ability is much the same
as that for "racial" differences
difficulty
except, of course, that there
with the term. Music
the higher
mean
tests
cannot be guaranteed to
score consistently to either sex. 39
On
is
less
award
the achieve-
189
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
ment
side there
almost
all
is
prizes.
no question but that the male has so
In a
man's world
this
is
hardly to be
far
taken
wondered
at,
for the environmental pressures to succeed are largely exerted in his
direction. Such observations, however, have not dissuaded Vaerting,'*°
Schwarz,"^^ and others
creative and
is
the
bases for
from the thought
that
inherently defective in whatever
several
musical
adored
"Woman's fundamental urge
person; man's urge
as a
The statements of the
any strength.
Far
is
is
is
may be
naturally less
the biological
Moreover, the eminent
abilities.
psychologist and determined hereditarian
claimed:
woman
Carl
Seashore has de-
to be beautiful, loved, and
to provide and achieve in a career. "'^^
hereditarians are not backed by evidence of
more
must be gathered before sex
basic data
And, unfortunately, these
differences can be properly explained.
cannot be gathered until there emerges a culture in which the two
sexes have equal opportunity and equal motivation to achieve in the
arts.
It
Then and only then
will the
comparisons have real meaning.
probably would not occur to most musicians that there might be
a connection
between handedness and musical
psychiatrist
Quinan has maintained
the normal
amount of
abilities.
that musicians display
Sikes, a
sinistrality. '^3
Yet the
more than
music teacher, has
also
considered the presence of left-handedness a cue for the prognostication of later musical achievement, in this case success with the
piano. 44
However, there
Sikes's theory
affected
students.
.45
by the
is
support from piano teachers for
There was the feeling
skillful
left-hand
In piano playing the left
carry, a fact
which most beginners
ambidextrous person or one
his left
little
who
that Sikes
work
may have been unduly
more promising
of her
hand has an important load to
fail
to realize.
A more
nearly
early recognizes the inadequacies of
hand and assiduously practices
this
weaker member would have
an advantage although he was not left-handed. 4^
There
I
90
is
the implication in the writings on sinistrality that
left-
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
handedness
is
associated with mental and emotional abnormality and
that musicians have
behavior.
It
more
than their proper share of such deviant
may assume
true that an occasional musician
is
a
Hollywood-like personality which has many deviant elements, but
there
is
no reason to believe that one must have an unstable nervous
system before he can achieve in music. 47 In one study, elementaryschool children were rated by their teachers and music supervisors
for promise in music, handedness, and speech adequacy. 4^
showed
The
data
most musical possessed only the normally
that those rated as
expected number of speech troubles and amount of left-handedness.
In another, unpublished study of college students, the
most musical
and most unmusical were compared on standard personality
Here, again, there was no evidence that musical
way
tied to mental or emotional abnormality.
of Miles and Wolfe on the early
life
tests.
abilities are in
any
Moreover, the work
histories of fifty of the great
geniuses of history discloses no unusual concentration of mental or
emotional abnormality. '9
Keston has recently compared the personality profiles of students
who
score high on a music preference test of his
with others
made
quite
who
score low. 5°
similar
mean
men
ficantly higher than did their less musical fellows
scores (F, Mf, Sc, and Ma).
looked upon
men
show
with
in
America
as a relatively
feminine interest area only
slightly deviant personality patterns
It
is
But even
if
they do
musicians
as
it
enough
is
can be expected to
too early to
further researches along the line of Keston' s
deviations will be large
scored signi-
on four of the sub-
Keston speculates that with music
great interest in this art.
findings.
construction
on the Minnesota Multiphasic
scores
But his more musical
Personality Inventory.
own
His two groups of female subjects
work
know whether
will yield similar
not to be expected that the
to justify
the branding of male
psychoneurotics.
191
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
Adlerian Views on Ability
well
It is
known
that defects often spur an individual to extra-
The
ordinary achievement.
became
that
a
Demosthenes of antiquity
stuttering
famous orator. The illegitimate Smithson showed the world
though he suffered from
social inferiority
majority of his generation in
partially deaf
many
he was superior to the
And
areas of achievement.
Beethoven, perceiving that
the
was progres-
his affliction
sive,
composed
own
compositions before complete deafness could overtake him.
The
at a faster
and
faster rate in an
attempt to hear his
more dedicated
theories of at least a few of the
followers of
Alfred Adler go beyond the simple idea described above. 5^
granted that
man may be
But instead of seeing
It
is
new heights.
many wellsprings
spurred by his inferiorities to
mechanism
this
of virtuosity, these Adlerians see
as
it
as
one of the
one of few, often
as the
Jew as possessing
hearing and becoming through
major
wellspring. Thus, Rosenthal views the
a "racial
tendency" toward defective
his over-
compensation to
looked upon
And
as
the deafness
antedating
all
Needless to
Moreover,
it
is
say,
Beethoven
his
is
Had he not been
a musical giant, these extremists
Rosenthal's "proofs" are of the anecdotal
quite well demonstrated that Beethoven w^as
well on the road to musical success
difficulties.
more musical than
of the genius
signs of his musicality.
would not have become
deaf he
declare.
sort.
this sort of inferiority far
Gentile. 52
fellow
when
infection led to his hearing
53
Apparently there has so
far
been but
little
experimentation on
the subject of the Adlerian theory of musical ability. 54
In
1937
comparisons were made of the auditory acuities of two groups of
school children chosen by their teachers
the most unmusical of a group of
at
169.
The
the most musical or
acuities
were measured
seven pitch levels, for each ear alone, and for both ears together.
Of the
192
1
as either
21 comparisons, only one, that for the right ear at
1900 d.v.,
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
was what one might regard
as a really significant difference
favored the Adlerian formula, that
more
is,
the unmusical group
acuity for this pitch with the right ear.
parisons showing insignificant differences
it
some
years
later. 5^
better acuities.
At
were
this
tested at the
age the
all
other com-
same seven pitch
more musical had
fell at
The
(p.
levels
consistently
Along with the acuity tests, the students
who
showed
similar acuities. 55
given the older Seashore battery of music measures
acuities of those
this
was concluded that these
two groups of young children had very
acuities of college students
With
and
were
also
The
235").
67 percentile or above on the Seashore
were compared with the hearing scores of those who scored
33 percentile or lower.
Except
in the areas of
at
rhythm and con-
sonance the higher Seashore scorers had the better acuities.
A
similar study of junior high-school students but undertaken in a
different context
was
that
by Bower. 57 She
states:
"There
is
some
evidence here that those with superior and average hearing did better
in the tests of pitch,
rhythm, and tonal
memory
than those with
defective hearing."
The
data gathered in these studies are not incompatible with the
notion that occasionally a somewhat deaf person
in a musical direction.
(or "races"
which show
But
this
is
not to say that
more musical
musical persons
felt
auditory defects.
More
possess the better acuity.
Jungian Views on Ability
A onetime collaborator of Freud,
sively of
all
a high incidence of musical achievement) are
musical because of overcompensations to
often the
may overcompensate
C. G. Jung, has written exten-
what he has termed "archetypes." These are primordial
images, psychic residua of experiences which have happened not to
the individual but to his remote ancestors. These psychic residua act
as
unconscious forces which are basic to the appearance of musical
193
13
FSP
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
and other
artistic abilities, say
the Jungians.5^ Unfortunately for the
Jungians, the theory of the collective unconscious
out of line with
is
the thinking of all present-day biologists, except perhaps those in the
USSR,
since
involves the concept of the inheritance of acquired
it
In other words,
characteristics.
it
can be subsumed under the
now
discredited Lamarckian theory of evolution.
It
was Jung who gave the world the terms "introvert" and "extro-
vert."
with
The
his
more
introvert
own
is
attitudes
He
introspective.
tends to be preoccupied
and mental processes. The extrovert attends
to external events and objects, according to the definition.
These terms have had
a difficult history,
them
psychologists are employing
Europeans
who
think
more
and contemporary American
less
and
But the
often.
less
terms of typologies have seen the
in
several artistic abilites as closely linked to mental
musical although he
may
possess a
Here the more musical college students they
ten American composers
than were the
less
as well,
were found
picture of the extrovert.^^ They find
preferring popular to serious music.
between research
findings
measures of extroversion
other.
to be
is
at least in
tested,
still
Such
a
and
a different
him not unmusical per
se,
but
marked disagreement
when
the various
available agree so poorly
with each
not surprising at a time
now
rarely
more extroverted
Keston and Pinto paint
musical.
is
good sense of motor rhythm. 59
Gross and Seashore found quite the reverse to be true,
America. ^°
Thus,
types.
Szucharewa and Ossipowa hold that the extreme extrovert
What is really needed is a better way of describing personality.^^
Freudian Views on Ability
Music has received
sister arts,
less attention
from the Freudians than have
throughout the aesthetic
fields.
The perplexing problem of the
Freudian symbol was considered in Chapter
194
its
but the basic psychoanalytic assumptions seem similar
£.
The other elements of
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
Freud's system are equally difficult to handle. ^3
Little
is
described in
an operational form which would permit of ready experimental
verification. Explanations in
terms of instincts tend to be tautological,
and Freud's explanations seem to be no exception. Moreover, such
concepts
as
sublimation are slippery. ^4 Xhe Freudians, and everyone
but in explaining
else for that matter, can see sex in the cancan,
dance form there
sex
is
is
no need for the concept of sublimation. Where
not obvious,
basically sexual
the only "proof" that the energy source
comes from the process of psychoanalyzing.
unfortunately, the psychoanalytic interview
mind of
analyst later takes out as his proof.
course, adds up to no proof at
present stage,
may have
all.
the analysand
Such a process, of
So, w^hile psychoanalysis, at
therapeutic utility,
it
is
And,
in great part at least,
is,
a process of indoctrination, a putting into the
what the
this
its
has not as yet provided
a consistent set of scientifically verified explanations for the origin of
the several artistic abilities.
largely
on
It
must,
if it is
to be accepted,
be taken
faith.
Imagery as a Source of Abilities
Sir Francis Galton,
one of the
to
first scientists
work with mental
imagery, thought he had discovered pure image types.
But
later
researches convinced the psychological fraternity that most persons
all
sense fields, with the
most
vivid in the auditory.
have images of considerable strength in
strongest in the visual area and the next
Musicians, of course, tend to have
more
intense auditory images than
do the unmusical and may be above average
thetic areas as well. ^5
Von Weber,
in the tactual
for example,
was
extraordinarily strong visual and auditory imagery.
One
that
a
and kines-
musician with
^^
of the most extensive comparative studies of imagery has been
by Agnew
who
has carefully rated the "mind's ears" of
many
run-of-the-mill musicians, psychologists, and children, ^7 as well as
13-2
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
of great composers. ^^
She has developed an imagery questionnaire
which has enjoyed some
The German
use.
scientists, particularly,
have noted the existence of
imagery of hallucinatory intensity, w^hich they have termed "photographic" or "eidetic."
almost
Imaginal material appears to the eidetiker
normal perception. Virtually unbelievable
as in
told of the abilities of eideiikers
who, by reading
a
tales
have been
book or
a score
only once, or by listening to one rendition of a symphony, could then
without obvious cues reproduce the material
rehearing. ^9
tikers,
and so presumably
Cowell.7°
Sistine
as
if
rereading or
Mozart, Gounod, and Berlioz were undoubtedly eideis
the contemporary composer
Henry
Mozart's famous "theft" of the Miserere after visiting the
Chapel only twice was accomplished through the aid of his
eidetic imagery.
The
early appearance of strong auditory imagery in the child
may
serve as a predisposing factor to subsequent ability with, and interest
in,
tonal materials.
The evidence
so far collected indicates that
images can be cultivated and that the absence of a functional sense
organ, e.g., as in complete deafness,
imagery in that sensory area.
more common among
is
always paralleled by absence of
Eidetic images are
children than
among
adults,
known to be far
many of the latter
having lost their eidetic potentialities through lack of practice.
Developing Abilities
It is
possible for the organism to respond to sudden, loud noises
even thirty days before birth.
where the
Several instances have been observed
foetus has jerked convulsively
were sounded
close to
the mother.
when
tones of high intensity
Unless there
is
anatomical
impairment, the child normally shows considerable sensitivity to
tone shortly after birth, and by the eighth day he will usually stop
feeding at the sound of a gong.7i
196
Quite naturally, the small infant's
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
depend
reactions to tone will
condition of the moment,
The
first
e.g.,
to
some extent on
two-note cadences sung by the very young child tend to
be descending fourths and major thirds,
Werner
his physiological
whether or not he is sleepy or hungry. 7^
according
to
Piatt. 73
agrees that the early cadences are the descending ones but
minor third appears
feels that the
first. 74
The octave
is less
frequently
attempted and the ascending and other descending cadences are tried
As the child matures and
less often.
sions and chord figures, he learns the
than he does the
age employ
them
mean
presented with scale progres-
former with
far greater facility
latter. 75
When singing voluntarily,
for
is
children four and a half to eight years of
pitch levels significantly lower than those arranged
in their
song books; the mean of their voluntary pitch
range, approximately
9*5"
semitones,
is
smaller than that
of them by their printed songs, which average about
But, without
much
strain,
young children can,
cover a considerably greater tonal span,
as
i
if
o*
demanded
7^
g semitones.
they really try,
Froschels has shown. 77
His four-year-olds had a range of eight semitones, his five-year-olds
ten semitones, his six-year-olds eleven, his seven-year-olds fourteen,
and
his
eight-year-olds sixteen semitones.
found even higher values
—age
Jersild
and Bienstock
four, thirteen semitones; age five,
seventeen; ages six and seven, twenty-two; and age eight, twentyfour semitones. 7^ These researchers report that with
some practice
there can be expected at least a 30 per cent gain in the
number
of
tones three-year-olds can sing. 79
Outstanding musical
age seven.
In fact
Brown ^^ would
abilities are often
lead one to suspect that by age seven the typical child
has matured to the point
begun.
noted considerably before
the studies of Garrison, ^° Cochran, ^^ and of
Unusual
where piano
lessons
may be
profitably
ability in painting usually appears at a later age,
presumably because the motor
skills
necessary for handling art tools
are not sufficiently developed until after the seventh year.
197
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
The
show
a
decided preference for the traditional concordances, and then only
if
must be nearly nine before he
typical child
will
he has been subjected to some Western subculture. ^3 But
old he needs to be before he will get the
minor dichotomy
delights
is
not clear. Walker,
complicated typologies,
in
full
who
has
just
how
import of the major-
like
many
drawn
Continentals
most involved
a
picture of the growth of the modal discriminatory powers. ^4
data at least
make
it
clear that the child only gradually develops a feel
Particular trouble
for these affective associations.
minor, which
pleasant.
His
seems merely dull and perhaps
at first
Only much
comes with the
later does
it
slightly un-
begin to take on a clearly sad
affect.
That the growing child steadily improves his discriminatory powers
in the several tonal areas
C. E. Seashore found
music
In his earlier
it
is
shown by the
fact that
music
testers like
necessary to offer several sets of age norms.
test battery.
Seashore presented separate norms
for the fifth grade, for the eighth grade, and for adults. ^5 His current
battery offers one set of norms for the fourth and
for the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades, and
nine through sixteen.
fifth
still
grades, another
another for grades
^^
Attention has already been called to the peculiarly thin tone of the
preadolescent male soprano, a tone with
The female appears
to pick
up
this
less
than normal vibrato.
ornamentation
much
earlier than
the male, possibly because she matures faster than he does. ^7 In both
sexes there
is
a
change in tonal quality and
a
widening of the pitch
range at the time of puberty, slight in the female and quite marked in
the male.
It
goes almost without saying that puberty in the male
period of considerable musical
less
strain.
Not only
is
his voice
a
under
firm control as he shifts from a higher to a lower register but his
status has changed.
He
has
begun to assume an adult role and will
from now on be compared with other
suffer
from
this shift in
adults.
Prodigies particularly
frame of reference and many such exceptional
children leave the musical spotlight shortly after this period.
198
is
For
it
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
is
one thing to be compared with other child performers but quite
something
be rated on
else to
continuum along with
a
a Heifetz or a
Kreisler.
Training Methods: General Problems
Musical learning might be expected to follow in general the rules
of
all
learning.
Questions regarding whole versus part learning,
motivation, overlearning, prestudy and mental rehearsal, distributed
versus massed practice, beta learning, and retroactive inhibition, are
encountered here
as
In addition, there are other pro-
elsewhere.
blems met solely within the music
Under what
conditions,
sections
example,
for
is
whole
more
learning
Should one go over the material
efficient than part learning?
whole, time after time, or
area.
it
is
wiser to break
with practice restricted pretty
much
it
up into smaller
to
these
smaller
portions ? Research on music materials checks rather well the
in other learning areas.
Where
as a
work
the material to be learned seems very
long to the memorizer so that he tends to become discouraged and
lose morale, the part
method
is
superior. ^9 But
where the
learner's
method and he is not overawed by the length of the score he must learn, the whole method
wins out. 90 The student's aim, then, should be to work with as large
prior habits are not too tied to the part
a portion of his score as
makes
persons this means that
as
a
manageable unit for him. For most
learning proceeds, longer and longer
scores can be treated as a single unit.
The
literature reveals but
one experimental study
in the musical
area on motivated versus unmotivated music learning, and this one
would appear
to be quite limited in applicability.
In each section of
the Rubin- Rabson study one of three different sorts of incentives was
operative. 9 1
In the first of the experimental situations the only
incentive was what the learning process itself provided.
No
verbal
199
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
encouragement or other goad was employed.
In a second, there
were many exhortations from the experimenter.
there was promise
of
money payment
if
And
in a third,
improvement became
Rubin-Rabson's data revealed no differences among
especially good.
number of trials needed to bring
agreed upon level of achievement.
the three stimulus situations in the
the
It
skill
up
to a previously
should be noted that the Rubin-Rabson study does not prove that
learning efficiency will be the same irrespective of the type of
incentive.
What
does demonstrate
it
is
that rather forceful incentive
changes must obtain before the slope of the learning curve will be
much affected, more forceful than any that Rubin-Rabson employed.
One is reminded of an adult monotone who was being taught to
His improvement had been unmistakable and
discriminate pitches.
remained exasperatingly slow until
was
quite steady, but
it
knocked from
head during the singing of the national anthem. At
his
his hat
this
point his learning curve swept sharply upwards and maintained
for
some time much of
its
new
standing can undoubtedly recall
slope.
Any music
somewhat
teacher of long
similar instances
her pupils where spurts in learning speed occurred
"proper" incentives were
To
as
among
soon
as
come upon.
learn an act, say the educational psychologists, practice should
be continued beyond the
trial
where the material can
for the first
time be reproduced correctly. The material, in other words, must be
overlearned. Valid as this principle
seems to be
in
most
hold in the extensive musical studies of Rubin-Rabson,
her subjects to practice
5^0,
it
did not
who
forced
areas,
100, and even 200 per cent
more
than
was necessary for bare learning. 9^ Nothing was measurably gained by
all this
added
effort.
notion that while
favorably sheer
it
Rubin-Rabson explains her
is
200
with the
conceivable that overlearning might affect
motor performance on the piano,
affect the learning of piano
a
finding;
it
music since the activity here
matter of meaning and insight.
should not so
is
much more
Consequently, once memorization
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
is
achieved,
"needs only to be restored to
it
original clarity
its
on
subsequent occasions. "93 With no other studies to contradict those
her conclusions must be
of Rubin-Rabson,
at
least
tentatively
accepted.
Although Kovacs,
as early as 1915',
attempted to ascertain whether
keyboard practice actually takes
careful inspection of a score before
place might not benefit the subsequent learning of the score, his
experimental controls were so poor that no generalizations could
safely
be drawn. 94 Hence,
Rubin-Rabson
rely again
upon the researches of
no other psychologist or educator has worked
The questions Rubin-Rabson attempted
this area. 95
in brief, (i)
(2) if
as
we must
mental prestudj of benefit to subsequent learning, and
is
will mental rehearsal
it is,
in
to answer w^ere,
be of value
learning process? Affirmative answers
at
other periods in the
were found
to
both questions.
The best period for mental rehearsal was found to be a time roughly
midway among the keyboard practice sessions. Thus, it would appear
that the ambitious piano student should not only analyze and study
his scores before
he
starts his
formal keyboard practice but should
take off time considerably before his top
skill is
reached to rehearse
mentally what has been going on.
The work of Rubin-Rabson must once
on the problem of massed versus
generalizations
With
again be
all
to
one continuous session or to
several sessions?
For the learning of
educational psychologists favor
some
split
for
distributed practice.^^
limited time to spend on learning something,
allocate
employed
is
it
wiser to
the effort between
but the easiest material,
all
sort of distribution or spreading
of the practice
trials,
and Rubin-Rabson' s data on the learning of
piano music
in line
with their generalization. She
fall
of one hour betw^een
trials
vals
far
more than two time
must be experimented with before
allocation
is
an interval
group of students and
for her first
24 hours for the second. Admittedly,
set
best for any given situation.
it
can be
said just
inter-
what
But with some labor,
a
201
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
music Student can,
sort of material
Common
he
if
will, find the
optimum time spread
for each
he desires to master.
sense warns against the practicing of one's mistakes.
Repeated again and again, these errors will grow into habits and
become
But
eradicate.
difficult to
is
this belief in the
power of
practice really sound?
Would
almost
a matter not of avoiding but of repeating
all
practice
mistakes ? For
The
if
is
it
not be more accurate to say that
an act can be done perfectly,
fact that practice
is
why
skills
at all
it
?
being
made
as associated
with
needed shows that errors are
even though the learner may not recognize them
the individual
practice
still
he wishes to acquire. In ordinary learning, then,
there is practice of errors along with a rehearsal of the correct elements
Why not force the practicer to become acutely aware of his errors?
asks the psychologist Dunlap.97 Why not have the learner single out
his mistakes
and rehearse them alone but do so with the ever-present
desire that they can and should be
Dunlap
calls beta learning in
eliminated? This procedure
contradistinction to the
more
ordinary
form, where the learner does not restrict his practice to his errors
but
drills
himself on a medley
mistakes in the
hope
While McGeoch and
made up
of both correct acts and
that the latter will gradually
be eliminated.
Irion categorically state that beta learning has
proved effective "in correcting errors
studies to support their
contention. 9^
in piano-playing," they cite
no
Moreover, the only published
report of the use of the beta technique in the entire music area, that
by Wakeham on the elimination of errors
only of
its failure. 99
It
might be added that the present writer has
twice tried beta practice on musicians
persistent performance errors and
instances.
carry out
Perhaps
some
Wakeham and
detail of
performance errors
in
who were bothered by
was quite unsuccessful
in
both
the author unwittingly failed to
Dunlap 's methodology.
Or
it
may be
that
music are somehow unlike typing errors where
the scheme has proved so successful.
202
in organ-playing, tells us
But, in any event, there
is
no
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
reason
as yet for
replacing the
more ordinary procedures with
the
beta variety.
There
is
the distinct possibihty that the learning process
thrown badly out of gear should the learner practice two
or
less
Evidence from
concomitantly.
that this possibility
becomes
The
tasks are quite similar.
number
practically a certainty
learning of the one
learning of the other task, a
It
a
phenomenon
of areas suggests
whenever the two
somehow
To
may prove
inhibits the
called retroactive inhibition.
behooves the musical educator, then, to ascertain
this principle
how
important
to be for keyboard learning.
obtain at least a partial answer, Rubin-Rabson observed the
behaviors of i8 highly trained musicians in a
number
of situations.
Happily, no important inhibitory effects were detectable
tasks
may be
more
tasks
when two
were learned concomitantly. To quote Rubin-Rabson:
[My] conclusions are not unexpected. The experimental pro-
cedure was only a repetition of
had long since
many
a learning situation familiar to
The mechanics of piano study
accustomed them to learning much new music
these subjects for
concomitantly while
various degrees.
No
years.
retaining
material
already
learned
to
confusion develops transferable from one
learning to the other because the organizational skill of these
learners
bits of
is
highly trained and specific and because rarely are
two
music so similar in key, rhythm, melodic or structural
details as to
make
involuntary transfer feasible. There
is
here,
furthermore, a favorable task-set engendered by the prestige
factors implicit for musicians in a music-learning situation. ^°°
It
would be
a bit
premature to suggest that the Rubin-Rabson
research has completely settled the problem. While
will
most probably be found
generally, they
at this
final
may
or
may not
lower proficiency
its
conclusions
to hold for well trained musicians
apply to beginners.
level, then,
Further research
must be undertaken before
a
answer can be given.
203
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
Training Methods: Special Problems
While
will, to
has long been
it
some
known
that practice with the right
hand
extent, also train the left hand, this fact has certainly
led no one to limit his practice to his right hand. Yet certain music
teachers have believed that practice
would
the other
with one hand and then with
first
result in quicker learning than drill
with the two
hands in coordination. The notion seemed to be that while one hand
was resting
it
would be absorbing more
practicing than
rested with
are at least
the
it.
two
if it
unilateral.
^^^
continued to practice with
However, the
facts
studies available
superiority
The
from the hand that was
skill
of the
do not support
mate and then
this idea.
There
which demonstrate beyond question
coordinated
student, then,
its
is
technique
as
opposed to the
advised to attempt hand coordina-
tion from the very beginning of practice.
Proper imagery
is
most important
needed for "good" voice quality
is
for
particularly difficult to achieve but,
according to Bartholomew, training in
The
and "image" of
"feel"
resonance
at 5^00
this area
tonal quality represented by strong
violinist,
vocalist.
particularly
Good kinesthetic imagery is
when he begins to practice
double stops. ^°3 At
this stage in his learning,
longer
guide
as effective a
a single string.
can be effective. ^°^
and 2800 cycles are essential for the male singer and
around 3200 for the female
needed by the
a
music training. The imagery
For in
as
it
auditory imagery
is
no
was when he was learning to play on
his earlier practice
on the
single string
he
could by careful listening almost instantly adjust his finger position
whenever
it
it
becomes
rely
was incorrect. But with two
difficult to
know which
fingers breaking the strings
finger to change.
on kinesthetic images which refer
So
now he must
specifically to a single finger.
Too much emphasis, however, must not be placed on imagery.
Indeed, direct sensory cues are often more essential. Thus, beginners
on the piano learn more slowly if they are kept from looking at their
204
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
hands and the keyboard than
if
allowed to look where they will/"'^
This finding follows the basic learning principle which states that,
other things being equal, the
more
the sensory cues available the
faster the learning/^5
Several excellent studies
on
sight reading are available to
the reader.
Although space here allows for but few comments, the serious
student will find an examination of the original articles cited in the
references of the next
fev^^
pages most w^orthwhile.
The exposure of
musical material on cards offers one approach to the study of sight
reading, and photography of eye fixations furnishes another excellent
source of data.
moving hands and the
In certain of the studies, the
hammers within
the piano have been photographed.
Bean warns piano teachers to allow their pupils to gain reading
speed in the early stages of learning even
errors.
^°^
He
finds all too
to single notes
that
is,
when
many persons
at the
expense of occasional
reading slowly and attending
they should be attending to musical patterns,
to short phrases.
Reading individual notes
to individual letters while reading, and this
is
is
akin to attention
behavior typical of
extremely poor readers. By the judicious use of flash cards the reading
of most students can, Bean says, be speeded up appreciably and be made
considerably
more
who knows what
accurate.
Ortmann
points out that the teacher
her pupils' eyes can and cannot do will be better
equipped to suggest proper training methods. ^°7
As
a result of their researches,
Lannert and Ullman believe that the
piano student should be early taught to read ahead of the measure
being played and should be forced into considerable sight-reading
practice. ^^^
known
The arrangement of
that little visual attention
the keyboard
need be paid
must become
it.
so well
Lowery also stresses
the great need for sight-reading practice and the early achievement of
smooth eye-hand coordinations. ^°9 He notes
far
more complicated than
that reading
music
is
reading print, since musical symbols are
not arranged on lines or columns but are scattered both horizontally
20^
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
and
vertically.
between
The eye often
staves.
on
fixates
Music reading
areas
between notes or even
made even more
is
difficult
of our unscientifically arranged staff and symbols.
because
The work of
Wheelwright, "° for example, clearly shows that the spaces between
notes and rests should, for purposes of better reading, be proportional to the represented time values.
A
wealth of material on the reading and playing of music can be
found
in
the excellent reports of Weaver,"^ of
Weaver, ^^^ and of
While these
Jacobsen.-^^^
Van Nuys and
studies
were not
primarily oriented toward training procedures, they do offer helpful
suggestions for the
improvement of
will be given here, however, since
extended coverage of
that
all
Only
practice.
this
book
is
a
few samples
not the place for an
might be found helpful to the music
teacher.
The reading of music should
start
with chromatics and accidental
perceive.
much
in the bass clef
which are very
and that written on leger
difficult to
lines cause
reading difficulty which can only be overcome by extensive
practice.
often
Music
with diatonic intervals and not
signs,
Surprising as
more needed by
it
may seem,
practice on reading
words
is
the beginning music student than practice on
note reading. Immature students should be introduced rather early
to scale runs and only
much
later to arpeggios.
Emphasis should be
on speed reading rather than on accuracy since the habit of slow
reading
is
difficult to break.
reader, not the slow one,
his advice
who
On
is
with the pessimistic
material for beginners
is
the average,
more
comment
the
it
is
accurate.
the
fast
music
Jacobsen ends
that inuch note-reading
not well adapted to their reading level and
should be replaced by scores better geared to their perceptual
capacities.
206
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
Creativity
No
as
one
really understands the intricacies of the creative processes
they function in any particular composer, not even the composer
himself. This fact, however, has not stopped several musicians
from
introspecting and retrospecting on these interesting processes.
For
example, the modern composer Henry
psychologist-mentor, L.
how
M. Terman,
Co well,
stimulated by his
has described in
and for a time having
little
detail
access to musical instruments, Cowell
diligently practiced imagining the timbres
finally getting
imagined
in the traditional
effects
manner.
he had been imagining.
string
massage,
many
different timbres,
not offered by any instrument played
Later,
Cowell, he experimented with
He was
imagery. With
he had heard.
aided in this labor by the possession of eidetic
practice, he put together in his "mind's ear"
his
some
he believes he composes. "4 Early deciding to be a composer
it
when
to elicit
In this fashion
a piano
some
was available to
of the bizarre effects
were born
his
tone clusters,
and the other Cow^ellian timbre
novelties.
Whenever Cowell was commissioned to compose, he employed
effects which seemed to him appropriate to the occasion, realizing,
however, that he was offering
his
listener
no clear-cut musical
message.
Research which many composers might not consider entirely
realistic
was that performed by Benham when,
in the interests of an
experiment, he composed a series of nine-measure melodies (average
time between 60 and 70 seconds). -^^5
strongest
at
the
He found
emergence of each musical
his auditory
idea.
imagery
During the
development there were motor sensations and other types of
imagery. The major danger in this and other similar experiments, of
course,
is
that the overly analytic mental set, necessitated
experiment,
may have
by the
interfered with the experimenter's creative
powers or have given them rather
different qualitative flavor.
207
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
Benham were made by
well-known European com-
Observations somewhat similar to those of
Bahle,
who
sent questionnaires to 32
posers in an effort to learn
replies
by
a
were
later
number of
In
centuries.
how
they believe they composed. ^^^ Their
checked against autobiographical documents
left
the greatest European composers of the past three
one of
his
many
studies
on the problem of
creativity,
Bahle asked his composer respondents to set poems to music and to
introspect and retrospect on the process.
Unfortunately his data,
extensive as they are, have led to few generalizations which could
made before
not have been
problem was
respects Bahle' s
the reasons for their long
that are aired
—yet
life.
were undertaken.
In
some
like that of asking centenarians
about
the studies
Many and
varied are the convictions
no one knows with certainty the degree of
one of the theories offered to explain either the
validity of any
longevity of an individual or his creativity.
By comparing better and poorer students of composition, Gross
and Seashore have helped validate the commonly held belief that
composition comes in part
facility in
at least froin toil
and sweat. ^^7
Formal and informal training and knowledge of good work habits
appeared in
this
study as extremely important for
compose. Whittaker and
reflect
the
creations
particular
were shown
folk art of the
the
life
who would
found compositions to
composer's informal
training. ^^^
Musical
to be generally in line with the traditional and
immediate culture and the rather narrow interests of
community
The
his associates also
all
in
which the composer
sociologists Lastrucci"9
lived.
and Becker "° have studied the way of
of dance-band musicians and the effects on creativity and per-
formance which stem from their extremely atypical living habits Dance
.
musicians feel forced to compose and perform in idioms and manners
appreciated by their audiences. Such pressures from the "ignorant" lay
public they often resent and compensate for by striving to produce,
at least in
208
jam
sessions,
what they regard
as
higher level material.
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
It
is
popular nowadays to point to a reified unconscious
major wellspring of
Max
logist
Graf
artistic inspirations.
Thus, the great musico-
asserts that the greater part of musical
takes place in the unconscious mind,
entity that science cannot
as the
which
to
him
is
formation
a mystical
measure or explain/^^ Graf does admit,
however, that the composer's childhood memories and
his life-long
environmental pressures affect his style of composition.
Jancke makes the point that most
not
creativity
is
by psychological tensions which are often unconscious.
^^^
if
all
preceded
In
some
degree the act of composing relieves these tensions. To the com-
more than to the listener, music is autistic and
personal. Hence, when the composer listens to one of his own
earlier compositions, it may take on a quite different meaning from
poser, then, even
what
it
originally
what
is
perhaps a rather different tension.
To make
his
had for him, since
own
unconscious
deliberately fatigued himself and
at this
at least
time
it
serves to lessen
somewhat recordable, Loar
went without
his
normal
sleep. ^^3
Then he attended concerts where he drowsed. When Loar
attempted to record
his
dreams and reveries he found that no
repressed wish or inhibited desire could be recognized
Instead, there appeared in fictionalized
fantasies.
which Loar had formed from
times.
However,
his reading of the
in fairness to analytic theory,
that Loar's technique
later
among
composer's
it
his
form memories
life
and
must be admitted
was not one which could uncover repressed
wishes.
Why
some composers
beautiful"
is
create "beautiful" music and others "un-
explained by Ehrenzweig on a Gestalt-psychoanalytic
basis. ^^4 Aesthetically
good
Gestalts, i.e., beautiful tonal materials,
belong to the surface layers of the mind. The "depth mind" or unconscious, on the other hand,
is
"Gestalt free."
Hence
it is
from the
unconscious that the poor Gestalts, the ugly and the distorted, come.
Although the modern composer's unpleasant music may seem highly
209
14
FSP
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
sophisticated, his art, thinks Ehrenzweig, represents a retrogression
to the least differentiated
modes of
The composer may honestly
to
infantile "thing perception."
believe his compositions to be novel,
be born from an unconscious that has had
or no
little
the music of his contemporaries or of the past.
But the
with
traffic
fact
that
is
the composer forgets the origins of much of the material he will later
come from
use in his creations. This material has
and
is
unconscious in the sense that
As time goes on
later
it
will
a variety of sources
not immediately recallable.
it is
be elaborated into the form
be produced. But just
how much
goes on below the verbal threshold
which
will
it
of the rearrangement of items
not known.
is
amount must often be considerable
in
as
However, the
Haydn
certain composers,
and Schumann, for instance, seem to have done their creative work
without
much
effort.
But others, like
J. S.
and erased and followed extremely rigid
to be a continuum, then, along
"intuitive" at the
Bach, typically scratched
rules.
There would appear
which composers
one end and the "non-intuitive"
fall
—with
at the other,
the
with
the former yielding his finished product almost without considered
thought and the latter only after
much
careful deliberation and
conscious elaboration.
Biographical studies of the great composers usually stress their
personality structures, their psychological abnormalities and sociological uniquenesses, as well as the cultural forces
been
in part responsible
embraced and
both for the
for the fact that they chose
Luck, special body build, extreme
standingly
style of
relatives or friends, high intelligence,
facility, vivid
imagery, abnormally fine
as a career. ^^5
and joy of
health,
for
2IO
living,
pressures
out-
from
extreme tonal and rhythmic
memory,
past suffering,
greater than average ambition and persistence, ability to
work on
to have
composition they have
composing
vitality
good or extraordinarily poor
which seem
make
much
others
one's behalf, poorly controlled emotions, inherited talent
composing,"^ readiness to forgo present pleasures for future
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
and even willingness to be a melody thief have
gains,
mentioned by one or another biographer
Biographical research
genius.
is
necessary for creative
as
fascinating w^ork,
pay big dividends in the years to come, yet
at
conclude that some one of
his
which may indeed
present
too crude to allow for valid generalizations.
likely to
A
many
its
methods are
biographer
and emphasize
this item.
It
too
is all
biographical items has
great causal significance simply because his biases encourage
select out
been
all
him
to
can be expected, perhaps, that
over the years biographer biases will in some degree cancel each
But until that happier day arrives, only hunches and very
other.
tentative conclusions can be safely
material.
It
is
drawn from
this
type of research
^^7
when neurolowas found by Lehman to be
interesting to note that the period of
muscular coordinations are
at their best
life
when eminent composers of the past were at the peak of
creativity. ^^^ Of course, temporal coincidence does not neces-
the time
their
sarily indicate causality.
maximum
so
many
creativity
areas
—
and philosophy,
Yet the correspondence between decade of
and years of best motor coordination
well as musical composition
considerable significance.
motor
skill
as
simply do not have
as
much
is
to
Wayne Dennis
somehow
men,
Hence, the date of
work
maximum
available time.
seems to find that topflight workers
Lehman and Ingerham
that
related, asks us not to
keep producing to an advanced age with surprisingly
In a study by
may have
it
particularly those in academic
some extent determined by
^3^
that
free time to devote to creative
do their younger brethren. ^^9
creativity
—
However, Bjorksten, while agreeing
and creativity must be
forget that middle-aged and older
life,
mathematics,
athletics, painting, writing, science,
as
exists in
who
live
And
long
little letup.
of the compositions of eminent
deceased musicians, the half-decade from age thirty-five to thirtynine was shown to be the most productive for grand operas, cantatas,
and orchestral and symphonic works of "superior" quality. ^3i
21
14-2
I
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
This research team continued
its
study with contemporary American
composers, but apparently met with great difficuhy in deciding what
compositions should be placed in the "superior" category.
this uncertainty
makes
less
meaningful the
creative half-decade for this group
from
in
fifty
to fifty-four.
The peak
both studies to come
It
for
fell
later
peak
—
in the years
music of high quality was found
earlier than that for sheer quantity.
inust be admitted that the above discussions of creativity leave
us with a deplorable lack of closure.
answers sought in
this area
sometimes proved to be
menon
It is
have been
quite possible that the
bound
is
they have
as unrealistic as
in certain other areas.
Rarely
of nature found to have a single cause.
question
is
much
Perhaps
that the
finding;
If
is
a
pheno-
the process in
broad in scope and appears in many different contexts,
to be related to a host of variables.
We now
know,
it
for
example, that the several sorts of leadership demand different psychological qualities, although for years researchers sought a single set of
psychological characteristics that
would be
typical of
doubt the creative processes, too, show multiple
blossoming of creativity
is
all.
Without
causality.
^3^
The
surely dependent in considerable part
on
circumstances unique to particular situations. The trigger which
actually sets off the creative process in
similar
from
that
one
man may
needed for another, particularly
different personality or school of composition,
be quite
if
he
is
dis-
of a
or from another
culture or age.
Summarj
The layman
often speaks of his friends as extremely musical, as
moderately musical, or perhaps
that there
is
as
not
at all musical.
one general musical or even broader
one may possess to
a greater or lesser degree.
implies
art ability
which
The evidence, however,
points to a contrary conclusion, to the existence of a
2X2
He
number of
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
semi-independent musical
music, just
a
most other
as in
no one of Avhich seems particu-
abilities
other
larly related to abilities in the
While top achievement
arts.
in
academic intelligence of
areas, calls for
high order, the correlation in the school years between music test
scores and i.q.
who
is
slight.
much
few very stupid persons have been
In fact a
less stupid in
the musical realm. These are the
In the main, spectacular musical
achievement seems unrelated to
located
are
idiot-savants.
anomalies of gross body musculature. This should not be taken to
mean
that there are not neural constitutions admirably suited to
musical endeavor.
Yet these constitutions are largely wasted
proper environmental pressures are not operative.
aware of the constitutional
musical accomplishment.
prodigies
who
who
misfits
But
we
are
all
if
well
struggle in vain toward
are less apt to note the
numerous
sooner or later drop out of the musical picture because
of the infertility of their musical surroundings.
modern
We
It
is
the view of
science that the course of development of neither group can
be predicted from scrutinies of their family
weaving of nature and nurture
is
far
Indeed, the inter-
lines.
too complicated for the successful
use of such a simple device as genealogical analysis. Achievement and
no means identical, and the fact that one man has
more in music than another, or men in general more than
women, or members of one national or racial group more than
potentiality are by
achieved
another cannot be transcribed into capacity terms.
A
wide range of
achievement can be derived from similar potentialities.
To
describe a person as "arty"
psychoneurotic.
who
It is
is,
in
some
circles, to
as
true, of course, that history reveals musicians
have been neurotic or even psychotic.
between musicality and abnormality,
slight.
brand him
if
there
But the connection
is
one,
is
extremely
Standard personality tests and ratings disclose no relationship
between the two.
A
possible exception to this generalization con-
cerns the jazz performer,
whose way of
life
typically encourages
213
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
unstable relations with his family and other deviant behaviors as
well.
In this chapter, the claims of Adler, Jung, and
scrutinized for their bearing
on musical
abilities.
Freud have been
It
was concluded
that while auditory insufficiencies can facilitate musical creativity,
such weaknesses are not essential to composition and performance of
high order, even though the Adlerian extremists would have us
Jung's view that abilities arise as psychic residua of
think so.
ancestral experiences
was dismissed
Lamarckian notion of the inheri-
logical belief, being a variant of the
And
tance of acquired characters.
out of line with current bio-
as
the extraversion concept was held
to be too poorly defined for purposes of quantification.
notion of sublimation was also regarded
What
as
of
little
The Freudian
explanatory aid.
are needed are operationally sound hypotheses susceptible to
eventual verification.
Sublimation seems not to be a concept of this
sort but rather something to
While
be accepted
as
an act of
musicians have auditory imagery of
all
faith.
more than average
strength, a few, the eidetikers, possess auditory pictures of halluci-
natory intensity.
Such imaginal
enter a musical career.
He might
possession of eidetic imagery
By and
skill
is
could well encourage a child to
enter anyway, however, for the
not
a sine
large, the rules of learning as
qua non of musicality.
formulated by the educational
psychologists are found to hold for the learning of musical materials.
But each
field of learning has its
exception.
learning as
unique problems, and music
Overlearning, for example,
it
has been found to be in
because the activities here are
more
a
than of sheer motor performance.
facilitated
by proper increases
slighter goadings
214
is
not
as beneficial to
many other
areas,
is
no
music
presumably
matter of insight and meaning
Music learning
is
of course
in motivation although not
by the
found of value in many other sorts of learning. Beta
learning, the intentional practice
on
the elimination of typing errors,
fails
errors,
which works so well
with musical materials.
in
And,
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
at least
with well-trained musicians, retroactive inhibition does not
appear to be the hazard
in
it is
some
fields
of learning.
Students of musical creativity are gradually giving up the idea that
come from
the abilities of the composer
authorities have so far gotten little
common
a
beyond the
stage of enumerating
up
possible essentials to creativity and of playing
favorites.
The more mystically minded
creativity
at least a
is
is
now
are techniques
all
now
and
consider
problem
Gradually, however,
later yield a clearer
Introspection, retrospec-
available.
treatment of age data
statistical
our concern with precocity and creativity
number
those
as special
—here
being used.
forget that every musician
ficiency in a
few
the receptacle from
few data are being assembled which may
tion, biographical analysis,
With
as
alleged to spring full blown.
picture of creativity than
a
theorists sidestep the
with their positing of the unconscious mind
which
wellspring and
Unfortunately, however, most
are independent of the social setting.
must reach
of basic abilities.
capabilities
at least a
In
we
our next chapter
assumed to be needed,
measurement has long been one of the
should not
minimum
of pro-
we
since
shall
their
tasks of the psychological
aesthetician.
Notes
i]
R.
M. Drake,
"Factorial Analysis of
Technique," J. Musical.,
that his early conclusions
to musical ability
l
were
—-music
Music Tests by the Spearman Tetrad-difference
(1939): 6-16.
in error.
Over the
He now
memory and rhythmic
years,
Drake has convinced himself
two important
facets
See Drake Music Aptitude
Tests,
feels that there are
ability.
Chicago, Science Research Associates, 19^4.
2]
H. D. Wing, "A Factorial Study of Musical Tests,"
3]
J.
McLeish
U. Press,
Brit. J. Psjchol.,
in The Fourth Mental Measurements Yearbook,
New
31 (1941): 34i-3i'S'.
Brunswick, N.J., Rutgers
i95'3.
4]
P.
Vernon, The
£\
C.
W. Manzer
Structure of
and
S.
Human
Abilities,
N.Y., Wiley, 19^0,
p. 93.
Marowitz, "The Performance of a Group of College Students on
the Kwalwasser-Dykema Music Tests," J. Appl. Psychol., 1^ (i93f): 331—346.
21^:
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
6]
Franklin,
E.
Gumperts
7]
J.
Tonality As a Basis for the Study of Musical
"A
Karlin,
E.
Talent,
Goteborg, Sweden,
Forlag, 195^6.
Factorial Study of Auditory Function," Psjchometrika, 7
2^1-279; "Factor Analysis in the Field of Music,"
J. Musicol., 3
8]
L. B.
Bower, "A Factor Analysis of Music Tests," Thesis, Catholic U.,
9]
R.
Morrow, "An
S.
Mechanical Abilities,"
10]
K. Strong,
E.
Analysis of the Relations
J. Psychol., 5
1945'.
Tests of Musical, Artistic, and
(1938): 2^3-263.
Manual Jor Vocational
Jr.,
Among
(1942):
(1941): 41-5^2.
Blank Jor Men,
Interest
Stanford,
Calif.,
Stanford U. Press, 194^'.
11]
R. K. White, "The Versatility of Genius," J.
12]
C. Alexander, "The Longevity of Scientists," J. Soc. Psychol., sp (19^4): 299—302.
13]
M. Schoen,
14]
C. Cox, Genetic Studies of Genius, vol.
i^]
C. F. Lehman,
the
16]
W.
(1931): 460-489.
The Psychology of Music, N.Y., Ronald Press, 1940.
2,
Stanford, Calif., Stanford U. Press, 1926.
"A Study of Musically Superior and
Kwalwasser-Dykema Music
R.
Soc. Psychol., 2
Tests," J. Educ. Res.,
Inferior Subjects as Selected by
4s (19^2): 517—5^22.
Lundin, "The Development and Validation of a Set of Musical Ability Tests,"
Psychol. Monog., 63,
No. 10 (1949).
For a resume of the studies in
this area see J. L.
Mursell, "Intelligence and Musicality," Education, 59 (1939): SS9~S^^17]
L. S. Hollingworth,
J. Educ. Psychol.,
18]
"The Musical
Ehrsam, "Uber den
E.
Sensitivity of Children
Who
Test Above
i
3^ i.Q.,"
IJ (1926): g^^- 109.
Fall einer einseitigen
Kindes bei hochgradigen Leistungsriickstand,"
musikalischen Begabung eines blinden
Neurol. Med. Psychol., Leipzig,
Psychiat.
7
(19^^): 149-1^419]
D. C. Rife and
S4-7~SS9-
^^^ ^ls°
L.
in Human Inheritance," Hum. Biol., 3 (193 i):
Owens and W. Grimm, "A Note Regarding Exceptional
H. Snyder, "Studies
^-
^-
Musical Ability in a Low-grade Imbecile,"
20]
Of
average.
J. Educ. Psychol.,
32 (1941): 636-637.
from high schools sometimes show music students to be brighter than
data
I.Q.
course this finding could conceivably
mean
that
music students per
se
have
higher than average i.Q.'s.
More
and that
not the rule (D. K. Antrim, "Do Musical Talents Have Higher
this superiority is
Intelligence?"
21]
Etude, 63 (194^):
The claim
ability
is
has
been made
plausible
is
the hypothesis that the surveys
were
selective
127-128).
that
it is
not academic intelligence per se to which musical
related but rather mathematical ability.
To check on
this persistent belief,
G. Revesz has surveyed both mathematicians and musicians and has found no unduly large
number
of musical mathematicians or mathematically
the Psychology
oj Music,
Norman, U. of Okl.
Press,
minded musicians
{Introduction to
135^; "Beziehung zwischen mathe-
matischer und musikalischer Begabung," Schweiz. Z. Psychol. Anwend., 5 (1946): 269—281).
22]
G. Revesz, The Psychology of a Musical Prodigy, N.Y., Harcourt Brace,
1925-.
See also
C. Stumpf, "Akustische Versuche mit Pepito Areola," Zsch.f. Ang. Psychol., 2 (1909):
i-ii;
F.
Baumgarten, "Der Werdegang eines Wunderkindes," Zsch.f. Ang.
(1932): 473—498.
216
It
is
Psychol.,
41
of interest that there have been virtually no child prodigies in
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
'cello, clarinet, flute,
conductors.
or voice, and but few in composition. The style
most
In the past the
fertile areas for prodigies
N. Slonimsky, "Musical Children, Prodigies or Monsters?"
23]
R. Updegraff, L. Heiliger, and
J.
were
Etude,
now
violin
is
for prodigy
and piano. See
66 (1948): 591-592.
Learned, "The Effect of Training upon the Singing
Ability and Musical Interest of Three-, Four-, and Five-year-old Children," U. of la. Stud.
Child Welf., 14 (1938): 83-131 A. T. Jersild and S. Bienstock, "A Study of the Development of Children's Ability to Sing," J. Educ. Psychol., 2S (1934): 481—503; M. S. Hattwick
and H. M. Williams, "The Measurement of Musical Development, II," U. of la. Stud.
Child Welf., 11 (1935): i-ioo; G. E. Moorhead and D. Pond, "Music of Young Children,"
Pillsburj Found. Stud., 1941, 1942; E. N. Drexler, "A Study of the Development of the
Ability to Carry a Melody at the Preschool Level," Child Bevel., 9 (1938): 319-332.
;
24]
H. Christianson, Bodily Khjthmic Movements of Young Children in Relation to Khythm in
Educ, No. 736, N.Y., Teachers College, Columbia U.,
Music, Teach. Coll. Contrib.
1938; A. T. Jersild and
S.
Bienstock, "Development of
Rhythm
in
Young Children,"
Child Devel. Monog., 22 (1935).
25]
R. F. Wyatt, "Improvability of Pitch Discrimination," Psychol. Monog., ^8, No.
2
(1945); A. A. Capurso, "The Effect of an Associative Technique in Teaching Pitch and
Appl. Psychol., 18 (1934): 811-818; E. Connette, "The
Knowledge of Results," J. Educ. PsjchoL, 32 (1941): 523—532;
H. Pyle, "An Experiment in Individual Training in Pitch-Deficient
Interval Discrimination," J.
Effect of Practice with
M. Wolner and W.
Children," J. Educ. Psychol., 24 (1933): 602-608; G.
M. Whipple,
"Studies in Pitch
Discrimination," Amer. J. Psychol., 14 (1903): 289—309; R. H. Seashore, "Improvability
of Pitch Discrimination," Psychol. Bull., 32 (1935): 546. For training data on other music
abilities see
Psychol.,
G. M. Gilbert, "Sex Differences in Musical Aptitude and Training," J. Gen.
26 (1942): 19-33.
26]
C. E. Seashore, Psychology of Music, N.Y., McGraw-Hill, 1938, p. 57.
27]
See L.
135 i.Q."
28] H.
S.
Hollingworth, "The Musical Sensitivity of Children
J. Educ. Psychol.,
Koch and
F.
Who
Test above
ly (1926): 95—109.
Mjon, "Die Erblichkeit der Musikalitat," Zsch.J.
Psychol., 121
104—136; H. Stanton, "The Inheritance of Specific Musical Capacities,"
(193 i):
Psychol. Monog.,
31 (1922): 157—204; V. Haecker and T. Ziehen, "Beitrag zur Lehre von der Vererbung
u.s.w.," Zsch.J. Psychol., 1931, 121, i— 103; R. S. Friend, "Influences of Heredity and
Musical Environment on the Scores of Kindergarten Children on the Seashore Measures of
Musical Ability," J. Appl.
N.Y., Stokes, 1939.
29]
J.
Psjchol.,
23 (1939): 347-357; A. Scheinfeld, You and Hereditj,
Mjon, "Zur Erbanalyse der musikalischen Begabung,"
Hereditas,
7 (1926): 109-
128; G. Voss, "Die Familie G.," Dtsch. Zsch.J. Nervenhk., 83 (1925): 249-263.
30]
C. Terry, The Origin oj the Family oj Bach Musicians, London, Oxford U. Press, 1929;
K. Geiringer, The Bach Family, N.Y., Oxford U. Press, 1954.
31]
at
In the category of folktales
is
the belief that music ability arises through being
an astrologically propitious time
(p.
118).
There
is
one
folktale
which
bom
says that
musicians do not enjoy normal longevity and another which states that they live beyond
217
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
their "proper" span. These notions, however, have
statisticians,
who
find the Uves of musicians to
been disproved by the insurance
be of normal length. See
W.
Schweisheimer,
"Do Musicians
Live Longer Than Others?" Etude, 6j (1949): 54.- ss; A. H. Whittaker,
"Occupational Diseases of Musicians" in Music and Medicine, N.Y., Schuman, 1948. Note
(p. 182),
however, that musicians enjoy
less
musicians but the difference
Some
is
not
Differences
Physiological
whose
longevity than educators,
above average. The blood pressure of musicians
is
slightly
life-span
is
lower than that of non-
statistically significant (L. F.
Sunderman, "A Study of
between Musicians and Non-Musicians:
L
Blood-
pressure," J. Soc. Psychol., 23 (1946): 20^-2 1^).
32] C. J.
Lamp and N.
Keys, "Can Aptitude for Specific Musical Instruments be Pre-
dicted?" J. Educ. Psychol., 26 (1935^): S^l—S3^33]
J.
H. Taylor, "The Relation between Finger Length, Hand Width and Musical
Ability," 7. vlppi. Psychol.,
34]
S.
Graf,
20 (1936): 347-3i'2.
"Measurements of Hand Length, Muscular Control, and Motility Related to
Handedness," Master's Thesis, Syracuse U., 195^2.
35]
E.
Bauer, E. Fischer, and F. Lenz,
Human
Heredity,
N.Y., Macmillan, 193
1;
R.
Breithaupt, "Pianistic Talent and Race," Etude, 42 (1924): 4^5-4^6; E. Kretschmer, The
Psjchology of
is
that of S.
Men oj
Genius,
Giinther.
N.Y., Harcourt, Brace, 193
Western music,
says he,
is
i.
A
typical racist generalization
better integrated than that of the
Dinaric people but lacks the empathic or emotional potential of the latter ("Rassenseelen-
kundliche Beitrage zur musikalischen Stilforschung," Arch. Musikjorsch
.
,
3 (1938):-
^8g-
427). E. Rittershaus maintains that most creative musicians of the nineteenth century had
Nordic features ("Die Vererbung musikalischer Eigenschaften," Arch.
Rass.- u. Ges.-BioL,
29 (193^): 132-1^2).
36]
R. Braine, "The Making of a Virtuoso Violinist," Etude, 43 (192^): 1^7-158.
Sward, "Jewish Musicality in America,"
that in
Keith
IJ (1933): 675^-712, points out
1932 one-half of American violin virtuosos, maestros, and first violinists of
J. Appl. Psychol.,
symphony orchestras were of Jewish descent. Ten per cent of American composers were
also Jewish.
Yet ten- and eleven-year-old Jewish and gentile youngsters score similarly
and intensity discrimination, tonal movement, and tonal memory. It
would appear, then, that the presence of so many Jews in American musical life must be
due to economic and social factors rather than genetic causes.
on
37]
tests of pitch
G. B. Johnson, "Musical Talent of the American Negro," Mus. Superv.
J.,
is (1928):
81, 83, 96.
38] The study of D. Van Alstyne and E. Osborne, "Rhythm Responses of Negro and
White Children Two to Six," Monog. Soc. Res. Child Devel., 2 (1937): 4, is almost the only
research where Negro superiority has seemingly been found. Negro children appeared to
be markedly better in motor rhythm, the superiority being greatest for the simplest
rhythms and the youngest subjects. But whether these data are to be explained on genetic
grounds, are due to errors of selection, or may be attributed to the Negroes being less
inhibited or receiving more musical encouragement is not clear. Other studies, e.g., that
of R. L. Streep, "A Comparison of White and Negro Children in Rhythm and Con-
218
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
sonance," J. Appl. Psychol., IS (1931): ^3— 7I) have found slight Negro superiorities but
never differences of such impressive magnitude.
39]
G. M. Gilbert, "Sex Differences in Musical Aptitude and Training," J. Gen.
Psychol.,
26 (1942): 19-3340]
M.
Vaerting, "Die xnusikalische Veranlagung des Weibes," Zsch.J. Psjchother. Med.
Psychol.,
41]
y (191 y): 120—127.
H. D.
Schv^^arz,
"Die Kunst
als
seelische Kraftquelle
fiir
die Frau," Psychol. Rundschau,
3 (1931): ^2-^342]
C. Seashore,
43]
C. Quinan,
of Beauty in Music, N.Y., Ronald Press, 1947, p. 367.
In Search
"A Study of
Sinistrality
workers and Others," Arch. Neur. and
and Muscle Coordination in Musicians, Iron-
Psjchiat.,
J (1922): 3^2; "The Principal
Sinistral
Types," Arch. Neur. and Psjchiat., 24 (1930): 3^-47.
44]
M.
45]
P. R. Farnsworth, "Musical Talent and the Left hand," Sch. Mus., 32 (1932): 11.
46]
For data which picture the ambidextrous
J.
L. Sikes, "Musical Talent
Kwalwasser, Exploring
47]
M.
E.
the Musical
East, "Insanity
J. P. Foley, Jr.,
J. Gen. Psychol.,
and the Left hand," Ped. Sem., 30 (1923):
than average in tongue-agility see
Mind, N.Y., Coleman-Ross, i9SSy P- 132.
and Genius,"
"A Survey
as better
56-161.
1
J. Hered.,
of the Literature
2S (1941): 111-142;
on
2^ (1938): 2y£-^j9; A. Anastasi and
Abnormal, I,"
Artistic Behavior in the
"II," Annals,
N.Y. Acad. Sc, 42 (1941): 1-112;
Monog., S^ (1940):
1-71; "IV," J. Gen. Psychol., 2S (1941): 187-237.
P. E. Vernon believes that composers of the romantic school tend to have been more
Psjchol.
"III,"
neurotic than those of the classical school ("The Personality of the Composer," Music and
11 (1930): 38-48).
Letters,
48]
P.
R. Farnsworth, "Ratings in Music, Art, and Abnormality in the First Four
Grades," J. Psjchol., 6 (1938): 89-94.
49]
C. C. Miles and L.
S.
Wolfe, "Childhood Physical and Mental Health Records of
Historical Geniuses," Psychol. Monog.,
47 (1936): 390-400.
A
study by R. V. Burton
("Are Musicians Normal?" Overture, 3S, No. £ (195s)' ^°) on approximately one-third
of all musicians employed in the motion picture studios of the Los Angeles area revealed
no unusual amount of emotional abnormality. The
Zimmerman Temperament
50]
M.
J.
Keston,
testing device
was the Guilford-
Survey.
"An Experimental
Investigation of the Relationship
between the
Factors of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory and Musical Sophistication,"
Amer. Psjchol., 11 (i95'6): 434.
5-1]
A. Adler, "Character and Talent," Harpers, 1S5 (1927): 64-72.
£2]
H. Rosenthal, "Die Musikalitat der Juden,"
I
22—1
53]
Int.
Zsch. J. Indiv.-psychol., 9 (193 1):
3 I.
P.
C. Squires, "The Problem of Beethoven's Deafness," J. Abn. Soc. Psychol., 32
(1937): 11-62.
54]
P. R. Farnsworth, "Auditory Acuity and Musical Ability in the First Four Grades,"
J. Psychol.,
6 (1938): 95-98.
219
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
5^]
weakness among artistic and
what might have been expected from
In a parallel study S. Atwell looked for evidence of color
Her
inartistic children.
findings
the Adlerian doctrine in that
it
were contrary
was the
artistic
to
youngster
who
tended to possess slightly
better color vision ("Color Vision in Relation to Artistic Ability," J. Psychol., 8 (1939):
P.
56]
Psychol,
R. Farnsworth, "Further Data on the Adlerian Theory of Artistry," J. Gen.
24 (1941): 447-4 i^oBower, "A Factor Analysis of Music Tests," Thesis, Catholic U.,
57]
L. B.
58]
M. Bodkin, "Archetypal
1945^.
Patterns in Tragic Poetry," Brit. J. Psychol., 21
(1930):
183-202.
59]
G. Szucharewa and
S.
Ossipowa, "Materialen zur Erforschung der Korrelationen
zwischen den Typen der Begabung
u. d. Konstitution," Zsch. ges. Neurol, u. Psjchiat.,
100
(1926): 489-^26.
60]
B.
Gross and R. H. Seashore, "Psychological Characteristics of Student and Profes-
sional Musical
61]
M.
J.
Composers, "y. Appl.
Keston and
J. Genet. Psychol.,
62]
A number
I.
M.
Psychol.,
25 (1941): 1^9-170.
Pinto, "Possible Factors Influencing Musical Preference,"
86 (195^): loi — 113.
of researchers have attempted to study personality variables through the
construction of a tonal equivalent of the famous Rorschach Ink-Blot
elicit
imagery and attitudinal
sets
which are interpreted more or
Test.
Music
is
used to
less in the fashion
of the
O. Grimmett, "Personality Diagnosis
through Music," Master's Thesis, Stanford U., 195^0. Personality has also been studied by
Rorschach. For one of the studies in this area, see
J.
the aid of musical preference tests.
63] S. Freud,
A General
Introduction to Psychoanalysis,
N.Y., Liveright,
H. Racker, "Contributions to Psychoanalysis of Music," Awer. Imago,
1935'.
^^^ ^l^o
8 (195^1):
129-163.
For a discussion of the Rankian adaptation of Freudianism see A. Michel, Psychoanalyse de
la Musique, Paris,
U. de
Paris, 19J1.
Michel connects the oral stage of sex development
with the use of the piano, the anal with the trumpet, and the phallic with the
flute.
64] For an attempt to link Mozart's creativity with sublimation see A. H. Esman,
"Mozart, a Study of Genius," Psjchoanal. Quart., 20 (195-1): 603-612.
65]
A. Hartmann, "Untersuchungen uber metrisches Verhalten in musikalischen Inter-
pretationsvarianten," Arch. Ges. PsjchoL, 84 (1932): 103—193; K. L. Bean,
Visual, Auditory,
and Kinesthetic Imagery
in the
Piano Keyboard," y. Educ. Psychol., 30 (1939): 5^33-^41;
Factors in the Recall of Musical Experience,"
66]
P. C. Squires,
"The Use of
Transfer of Musical Notation to the
J-
Brit. J. Psychol.,
Mainwaring, "Kinaesthetic
23 (1932): 284-307.
"The Creative Psychology of Carl Maria von Weber," Char, and
Pers.,
6 (1938): 203-217.
67]
M. Agnew, "A Comparison
of Auditory Images of Musicians, Psychologists, and
Children," Psychol. Monog., 31 (1922): 268-278.
68]
M. Agnew, "The Auditory Images
279-287.
220
of Great Composers," Psjchol. Monog., 37(1922):
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
69]
R. Kochmann,"Uber musikalische Gedachtnisbilder,"Z5c/i.J~. Ang.
Psychol.,
23 (1924):
329-35-1; T. Zaworski, "Akustyczne wyobrazenia ejdetyczne," Kwart. psychol., 13 (1947):
156-203.
70]
H. Cowell, "The Process of Musical Creation,"
3J (1926): 233-236.
ylmer. J. Psychol.,
Forbes and H. B. Forbes, "Fetal Sense Reaction: Hearing," J. Comp. Psychol.,
7 (1927): 353—355; K. Fleischer, "Untersuchungen zur Entwicklung der Innerohrfunktion," Z. Laryngol., 34 (1955): 733-740.
71]
H.
72]
M. W.
S.
Haller,
Pure Tones, "y.
73]
W.
Pets.,
74]
Piatt,
"The Reactions of
Genet. Psychol.,
Infants to
Changes in the Intensity and Pitch of
40 (1932): 162-180.
"Temperament and Disposition Revealed
in
Young Children,"
Char, and
2 (1934): 246-251.
H. Werner, "Die melodische Erfindung im friihen Kindesalter,"
Klasse
Phil. -Hist.
182 (19 17); T. F. Vance and M. Grandprey, "The Evaluation of the
Musical Capacity of Nursery School Children," Proc. la. Acad. Sci., 36 (1929): 321-328.
Sitzungsberichte,
For further data on the music of preschool children see M. G. Colby, "Instrumental
Reproduction of Melody by Preschool Children," J.
75]
Composed
M.
Bull.,
30 (1933): 21-23; D- Doig, "Creative Music: Music
for a Given Test," J. Educ. Res.,
S.
3S (1941): 263-275; 35 (1942): 344-355.
Hattwick, "The Role of Pitch Level and Pitch Range in the Singing of Pre-
school, First-grade, and Second-grade Children," Child Bevel.,
also
in
H. M. Williams, "Immediate and Delayed
Tonal Sequences," U. of
77]
47 (1935): 413—430.
A. Wells, "A Comparison of Chord Figures and Scale Progressions in Early School
Music Learning," Peabodj
76]
Genet. Psychol.,
E. Froschels,
la. Stud.
"Untersuchungen
Memory
4 (1933): 281-291. See
of Preschool Children for Pitch
Child Welf., 11 (1935): 85-94.
iiber die
Kinderstimme,"
Zentralbl.
f.
Physiol.,
34
(1920): 477-484.
78]
A. T. Jersild and
F.
S.
Bienstock,
"A Study
of the
Development of Children's
Ability to Sing," J. Educ. Psychol., 2^ (1934): 481-503.
79]
A. T. Jersild and
S. F.
Bienstock, "The Influence of Training on the Vocal Ability of
Three-year-old Children," Child Bevel., 2 (1931): 272-290.
80]
K. C. Garrison, "Psychology of Special Abilities," PeatoJ;'
Re/?ector,
12 (1939):
1
1-13.
See also R. Leibold, "Kind und Metronom," Zsch. Pddag. Psychol., 3J (1936): 317-322;
M. Varro, "The Musical Receptivity of the Child and the Adolescent," Mus. Teach. Nat.
Ass.
Proc, 1943, 77-88.
81]
M. Cochran,
82]
R.
"Kinesthesis and the Piano," Austral. J. Psjchol., 8 (1930): 205-209.
W. Brown, "The
Relation between Age (Chronological and Mental) and Rate of
Piano Learning," J. Appl. Psjchol., 20 (1936): 511-516.
83]
C.
W.
Valentine, "The Aesthetic Appreciation of Musical Intervals
Children, and Adults,"
84]
Brit. J. Psychol.,
among School
6 (19 13): 190-216.
E. Walker, Bas musikalische Erlehnis und seine EntwicMung, Gottingen,
Vanderhoeck
u.
Ruprecht, 1927.
221
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
8j]
C. E. Seashore, Manual of Instructions and Interpretations of Measures of Afusical Talent,
N.Y., Columbia Graphophone, 19 19.
86]
C. E. Seashore, D. Lewis, and
J.
G. Saetveit, Manual, Seashore Measures of Musical
Talents,
N.Y., Psychol. Corp., 1956.
87]
For a genetic study of the voices of 44 choir boys see
F. J. Hell, "Physiologische
und
musikalische Untersuchungen iiber die Singstimme der Kinder," Arch. Ges. Thonel., 2
(1938): 6^—102. Another study which compares the musical productions of children from
by A. Nestele, "Die musikalische Produktion im Kindes-
preschool to adolescence
is
alter," Beihefte z. Zsch.
f.
Ang. Tsychol.,
that
1
£,
No. ^2 (1930). For
M. Van
musical abilities of the adolescent see
still
another study of the
Briessen, Die Entwicklung der Musikalitdt in
den Reifejahren, Langensalza, Beyer, 1929.
88]
The
reader
material of this section
who would know how
learning
is
referred to the text by
Silver Burdett,
195^1.
Music,PaTtl,"
199—213.
Brit. J.
Still
work of
largely limited to the
J. L.
psychologists.
The
Mursell, Music and the Classroom Teacher, Boston,
which show the
Articles
psychologist are those by
is
the professional educator regards the problems of music
insights of
both the educator and the
Mainwaring, "Psychological Factors in the Teaching of
J.
Educ. Psychol., 21 (19^1): loj-i
another publication worth reading
is
2
i
;
that
"Part
Applied Musicianship,"
II.
by M.
Wilson, How
E.
to
Help
Your Child with Music, N.Y., Schuman, 19^1.
89]
C. C. O'Brien, "Part and
Tsychol.,
90]
R.
Whole Methods
in the
Memorization of Music,"
W.
Brown, "A
Comparison of the
Methods of Learning Piano Music,"
'Whole,'
y. Exp. Psychol.,
11
and
'Part,'
L.
E.
Whole and
Eberly,
Approach,"
Part
"Part versus
Columbia U., 192
91]
the
J.
Whole Method
Educ.
in
Psjchol.,
Memorizing
'Combination'
235-247; G. Rubin-
(1928):
Rabson, "Studies in the Psychology of Memorizing Piano Music,
of the
J. Educ.
34 (1943): jf2-^6o.
31
III:
A Comparison
(1940):
Piano
460-476;
Music,"
Thesis,
i
G. Rubin-Rabson, "Studies
in the
Psychology of Memorizing Piano Music, IV: The
Effect of Incentive," J. Educ. Psjchol., 32 (1941): 45-54.
92]
G. Rubin-Rabson, "Studies
A Comparison
in
the Psychology of Memorizing Piano Music,
VI:
Two Forms
of Mental Rehearsal and Keyboard Overlearning," J. Educ.
Psychol., 32 (1941): 593-602; "VII: A Comparison of Three Degrees of Overlearning,"
of
J. Educ. Psjchol.,
93]
32 (1941): 688-696.
Rubin-Rabson,
G.
"Mental
and
Keyboard Overlearning
in
Memorizing Piano
Music," y. Musical., 3 (1941): 33-40.
94]
1
I
95]
S.
Kovacs, "Untersuchungen iiber das musikalische Gedachtnis," Zsch. J. Ang. Psjchol.,
(1916): 113-135.
G. Rubin-Rabson, "The Influence of Analytic Prestudy
Arch. Psychol., 31,
Piano Music, V:
32 (1941
222
):
A
loi-i
I
in
Memorizing Piano Music,"
No. 220 (1937): 1-5^3; "Studies in the Psychology of Memorizing
Comparison of Prestudy Periods of Varied Lengths," J. Educ. Psjchol.,
2.
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
G. Rubin-Rabson, "Studies in the Psychology of Memorizing Piano Music,
96]
Comparison of Massed and Distributed Practice,"
97]
K. Dunlap, Habits: Their Making and Unmaking, N.Y., Liveright, 1932.
98]
J.
McGeoch and
A.
II:
A
270-284.
y. Educ. Psychol., 31 (1940):
A. L. Irion, The Psychology oj Human Learning, N.Y., Longmans
Green, 1952.
99] G.
Wakeham, "Query on 'A
Science,
Law
Revision of the Fundamental
of Habit Formation',"
68 (1928): 13 i'— 136.
G. Rubin-Rabson, "Studies in the Psychology of Memorizing Piano Music,
100]
The
Same and of Different Degrees of Learning," J.
Inhibitory Influence of the
VIII:
Musical., 5
(1947): ^S-
W. Brown, "The
R.
loi]
Two Methods
Relation between
of Learning Piano Music,"
16 (1933): 43^-441; G. Rubin-Rabson, "Studies in the Psychology of
Memorizing Piano Music, I: A Comparison of the Unilateral and Coordinated Approaches,"
J. Exp. Psychol.,
J. Educ. Psychol.,
W.
102]
30 (1939): 321-34^.
T. Bartholomew, "Imagery in Voice Pedagogy," Peahodj Bull., 31
20—28; "The Paradox of Voice Teaching," J.
103]
P. R. Farnsworth,
104]
R.
W. Brown, "A
Acoust. Soc. Amer., 11 (1940):
(1934):
446-4^0.
"Psychology and Double Stops," Sch. Mus., 2J (1926): 21.
Preliminary Study of the Touch
Method of Learning Piano
Music, "J. Appl. Psychol., 18 (1934): ^16-527.
To
loj]
tie
imagery to action rather than to tones,
F.
Fredrich (Plajing by Seeing,
Medino, Ohio, Lynne, 19^0) suggests the use of note pictures where sketches of the
piano keyboard are placed over the staff and lines are drawn from the piano keys to their
staff notes.
K. L. Bean,
106]
No.
SO,
"An Experimental Approach
6 (1938);
to the Reading of Music," Psychol. Monog.,
"Reading Music Instead of Spelling
"The Use of Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic Imagery
It," J.
Musicol.,
in the Transfer of
1
(1939): i-j;
Musical Notation
to the Piano Keyboard," J. Educ. Psjchol., 30 (1939): ^33-^41107]
O. Ortmann, "Span of Vision
in
Note Reading," Mus.
Educ. Nat. Conf. Yearb., 1937,
88-93.
108]
V. Lannert and
Psychol.,
109]
M. Ullman,
"Factors in the Reading of Piano Music," Amer. J.
s8 (1945): 91-99-
H. Lowry,
"On Reading
Music," Diopt. Rev. and
Brit. J.
Phjsiol. Opt.,
I
(1940):
78-88.
1
10]
L. F.
Wheelwright, An Experimental Study of
Symbols, Teach. Coll. Contr.
the Perceptibility
and Spacing of Music
Educ, No. 77^, 1939, N.Y., Teachers
College, Columbia
U., 1939.
Ill]
H.
E.
Weaver, "A Survey of Visual Processes
Musical Selections," Psychol. Monog., S5, No.
i
in
Reading Differently Constructed
(1943): 1-30.
112] K. Van Nuys and H. E. Weaver, "Memory Span and Visual Pauses
Rhythms and Melodies," Psjchol. Monog., SS, No. i (1943): 33-50.
in
Reading
223
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
113]
O.
I.
Jacobsen,
"An
Analytic Study of Eye-movements in Reading Vocal and
Instrumental Music," J. Musical., 3 (1941): 1-32, 69-100, 133-164; 3 (1942): 197-226.
114]
H. Cowell, "The Process of Musical Creation," Awer.
J. Psychol.,
37 (1926): 233-
236.
115]
E.
Benham, "The Creative Activity,"
Brit. J. Psjchol. (Gen.
Sec), 20 (1929): ^9—6^.
For somewhat similar research on children eight to eleven see the
D. Doig. Of special interest
entitled "Creative Music" by
number
is
2
series of articles
which
is
to be
found
J. Educ. Res., 36 (1942): 241-253.
116]
J.
Bahle, Der musikalische Schajfensprozess, Leipzig, Hirzel, 1936.
117] B. Gross and R. H. Seashore, "Psychological Characteristics of Student and Professional Musical
118]
W.
Composers," J. Appl.
G. Whittaker,
W. O.
Psychology of Music and Painting,"
119]
I
20]
Psychol.,
2^ (1941):
Brit. J. Psjchol.,
i
W.
Hutchison, and R.
59-170.
Pickford,
"Symposium on the
33 (1942): 40—57.
C. L. Lastrucci, "The Professional Dance Musician." Thesis, Stanford U., 1941.
H.
S.
Becker, "The Professional Dance Musician and His Audience," Amer.J.
Sociol.,
57 ( 1 9 5 1 ): 1 3 6— 44. A somewhat similar study is being made of contemporary American
composers of "serious" music by D. Nash ("Challenge and Response in the American
1
Composer's Career, "J.
121]
Max
Aesth.,
Graf, From Beethoven
14 (1955): 116— 122).
to
Shostakovich; the Psychology oj the Composing Process,
N.Y.,
Philosophical Library, 1947.
122]
J.
Jancke, "Das Spezifisch-Musikalische und die Frage nach
Musik," Arch.
123]
L. Loar,
Ges. Psjchol.,
dem
Sinngehalt der
J 8 (1930): 103-184.
"An Adventure
in Musical Psychoanalysis," J. Musical., 2,
No.
i
(1940):
15-23.
124]
Anton Ehrenzweig,
The
aj Artistic
Psjcha-analjsis
Vision
and Hearing,
London,
Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1953.
125]
M. L
126]
G. Revesz,
Press,
Stein, "Creativity
and Culture, "J.
Psychol.,
36 (1953): 311-322.
in his Introduction to the Psychology oJ Music,
1954, maintains that there
is
a single
manifests itself in very young children
homogeneous
much
less
Norman, U. of Oklahoma
composing which
talent for
often than does the reproductive-
interpretative talent.
127]
Biographical studies by psychologists are the following:
J.
Bahle, Eingehung und Tat
im musikalischen Schajfen, Leipzig, Hirzel, 1939; H. Jancke, "Beitrage zur Psychologie der
musikalischen Komposition," Arch. Ges. Psjchol., 66 (1928): 437-492; R. Schramek,
(1934): 45—84; P. C. Squires, "The Creative
Psychology of Cesar Franck," Char, and Pers., 7 (1938): 41—49; P. C. Squires, "The
"Franz Liszt," Arch. Ges. Psjchol., g2
Creative Psychology of Chopin," J. Musical., 2, No.
i
(1940): 27-37; P. C. Squires,
"Peter Ilich Tschaikowsky (a psychological sketch)," Psjchaanal. Rev., 28 (1941): 445—
465; P. C. Squires, "The Creative Psychology of Carl Maria von Weber," Char, and Pers.,
6 (1938): 203-217; P. E. Vernon, "The Personality of the Composer," Music and Letters,
II (1930): 38-48.
224
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
H. C. Lehman, "'Intellectual'
128]
vs.
'Physical Peak'
Performance,"
Sci.
Month., 61
(194J): 127-137.
Bjorksten, "The Limitation of Creative Years,"
129]
J.
130]
W.
Month., 62 (1946): 94.
Dennis, "Predicting Scientific Productivity in Later Maturity from Records of
Earlier Decades," J. Gerontol., 9 (19^4):
H. C. Lehman and D.
131]
Sci.
W.
46^-467.
Ingerham, "Man's Creative Years in Music,"
Sci.
Month.,
48 (1939): 431—443; H. C. Lehman, Age and Achievement, Princeton, N.J., Princeton U.
Press, 19J3.
132]
Most
authorities find
no evidence for
a
unitary creative ability in the arts.
Rev.
J. P. Guilford, "Creative Abilities in the Arts," Psychol.
15
FSP
64 (1957): 110-118.
See
CHAPTER NINE
The Measurement of Musical
Abilities
IVlusiCAL
can be measured in a variety of ways.
abilities
For
persons already proficient in some phase of music, achievement tests
are appropriate. These
may be measures
of appreciation (see Chap. 7),
before the person to be tested has had
In the latter,
are the aptitude tests.
either of verbal knowledge,
or of nonverbal musical
much
music
is
skills.
For use
formal training, there
usually
broken into
various components and tests are constructed in each of these
ponent
areas.
In a sense, aptitude tests are also
ment, although they aim to
its
com-
measures of achieve-
test informal learning
and potential
ability
rather than the effects of formal training.^
Tests
of Verbal Knowledge
Music achievement
geared
to
school
tests
based on verbal knowledge are generally
performance
and
attempt
to
well certain musical abilities have been taught. They
measure
tell
how
us nothing
about what should be taught and so do nothing toward altering
Achievement
the musical status quo.
tests
typically
possess
high
reliability.
The
earliest published tests of verbal
Standardized Music
Tests,
which cover
There are parts devoted
226
a
knowledge are the Beach
wide area of musical
abilities.^
to notation, to the elements of "time
and
THE MEASUREMENT OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
tune both in isolated form and in melodies," recognition of funda-
mental structural elements, pitch differences, memory, sight singing,
and to the writing of music. The
title is
spmething of
a
misnomer
as
the battery has not been well standardized.
Beach's
battery was followed
by the Musical Achievement
developed by Gildersleeve and Soper.3 This has
designed to
five parts
measure recognition of compositions from notation and
Test
as
played by
the examiner; ability to detect changes in pitch, meter, key signature
and meter signature; knowledge of instrumentation, theory, history,
note values, time signatures, and transpositions from one clef to
another; and ability to use accidentals, to locate
keys, and to write key signatures.
eight,
it
The
la in six different
Designed for grades four through
has a reliability of over -90 at each age-grade.
Torgerson-Fahnestock Music Test
ment measures. 4
A
Part
taps
is
another of the older achieve-
knowledge of note and
rest values,
signatures, pitch and syllable names, expressive marks,
minor key
time
major and
signatures, repeat bars, slurs, do placements, clefs, and
natural and harmonic
minor
Part B tests ear training through
scales.
four subparts which are concerned with the writing of syllable
names, time signatures, and notes,
as
well
as
with the detection of
pitch and time errors.
The most used of the
early
achievement measures was the
Kwalwasser-Ruch Test of Musical Accomplishment.^ This battery attempts
to test the following phases of public-school music
from grades four
through twelve: knowledge of musical terms and symbols, pitch and
letter
names
in bass
and treble
clefs,
time signatures, key signatures,
note values, rest values, and familiar melodies from notation; and
detection of pitch and time errors in a familiar melody.
An
achievement measure very similar in most respects to the
Kwalwasser-Ruch
is
the Strouse Music
areas except for detection of pitch
pitch height and time length.^
Test,
which covers the same
and time errors and adds
The Strouse measure
tests of
takes longer to
227
15-2
THE MEASUREMENT OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
administer and must be accompanied by a piano or singer. There are
three forms which can be used in grades four through twelve.
Number
of the Hutchinson Music
i
Tests
a
is
measure of tonal
Snatches from ig well-known melodies are presented
imagery. 7
along with the names of these and of 2^ additional songs.
purpose of Hutchinson's measure
Norms
recognition."
The Knuth
"silent
test
reading and
are available for grades seven through twelve.
Achievement Tests in Music are well characterized by their
"For
subtitle,
to
is
Recognition
of
Rhythmic
Certain
and
Melodic
Aspects."^ In presenting the stimuli for the test, the examiner
represent one of the four scores the student has in his hands.
five
first
chord to sound the key and then plays four measures which
strikes a
Knuth
The
The
has three levels, one for grades three and four, another for
and
six,
and the third for grades seven through twelve.
The McCaulej Experiment
four through nine,
Soper, but so
is
in Public School
much
Music, arranged for grades
by Gildersleeve and
like the older test
much longer that
it
takes
more than one
There are measures of knowledge of syllable and
session to give.
letter
names, of note
and rest values, meter and key signatures, chromatics, sight and aural
identification of melodies,
types of compositions, musical instru-
ments, famous names in music, and musical terms.
A somewhat more
in Music. '^^
Its
limited measure
key signatures, measure signatures,
bass-staff syllables,
rivals, it
is
the Providence Inventory Test
ten sections have to do with naming notes, note values,
rest values, syllables, melodies,
and symbols; and placing
has but one form.
It is
do.
Like most of
its
intended for grades four through
nine.
A
rather different kind of achievement test
lary list
developed by
L.
C. Pressey."
The
vocabulary" words appear in capital letters,
mentary words
in italics,
found in textbooks are
228
is
the musical vocabu-
so-called "fundamental
fairly
important supple-
and words of no great importance but often
in ordinary type.
THE MEASUREMENT OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
Ear
Tests in
Harmony are measures suitable for use in any standard
course in harmony. ^^ They test "active musical experience in the
world of sound." Sound combinations of many
sorts including the
rather unusual are treated in this battery.
Among
the
more
recently published achievement batteries
devised by Kotick and Torgerson.^3 Their Diagnostic
Tests
ment in Music are intended for grades four through twelve.
covered include diatonic
syllable,
chromatic
syllable,
one
is
of Achieve-
The
topics
and number
names; time signatures; major and minor keys; note and rest values;
names;
letter
A
signs
and symbols; key names; and song recognition.
contemporary measure which
Tarnum Music Notation
sented by means of
a
Test.^^
is
enjoying some success
is
the
Forty four-measure melodies are pre-
phonograph record. The student follows along
with a printed score and selects for each melody the one measure in
which the
norms are
pitch, rhythm, or time
is
handled differently.
available for grades seven, eight,
The
sexes separately.
Sets of
and nine, and for the two
test correlates appreciably
with
a
number of
the standard measures of musical aptitude and with scores on certain
instrumental performance scales.
Another contemporary measure
Test,
whose
is
the
Aliferis
Music Achievement
tonal stimuli can be given either by piano performance or
tape recording. ^5 Intended for use at the college freshman level, this
test has
melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic sections. The total test
said to correlate
reliable
with music grades in the
'^^o's
and
•6o's.
It is
is
quite
and has been extremely well standardized with separate
T-scores for each of the four major geographical sections of the
United
In
1
9
States.
5" I
a
much used
music achievement
test
was added to the well known and
Graduate Record Examination, Advanced. ^^ Achievement
is
measured from the senior year of college through graduate school.
Since this battery
is
part of the Institutional Testing Program,
available for general use
it is
not
and cannot be described here.
229
THE MEASUREMENT OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
Tests
The
of Nonverbal Musical
Skills
earliest of the semistandardized tests of musical
performance
(1923) was the Hillbrand Sight-Singing
Test,
a
fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade pupils/7
The
test contains six songs
which the student
studies for a
few minutes and then
The examiner
help or accompaniment.
measure devised for
listens
wrongly pitched, to transpositions, notes
without
sings
with an ear to notes
notes sharped,
flatted,
notes omitted, errors in time, extra notes, repetitions and hesitations.
Hillbrand' s scale was followed
Individual Singing. ^^
Twelve
two
years later by the Mosher Test of
exercises, arranged in order of difficulty,
are presented and sung back by the pupil.
measures
rendered tonally and
Mosher was co-author of
a
The score
rhythmically
is
the tally of the
correct.
In
0-M
Sight-Singing Test.^^ This
one.
The items "progress through most of the major keys and
measure
is
structurally like the earlier
duce the minor mode. Some of the exercises
test
1932
second performance scale entitled the
intro-
in the latter part of the
begin on scale steps other than the tonic." The test has high
reliability
(odd-even) and
two examiners
reasonably objective in the sense that any
is
will agree fairly well
on the
ratings
which should be
given.
Watkins's A Performance
a scale
Test
for the Cornet or Trumpet consists in
of fourteen melodic exercises.^"
obtained, one as the test
is
Two
scores are usually
administered to the pupil
at sight,
and the
other after he has had a week's time to practice the material. The
scores are built up from a tabulation of pitch, time, change of tempo,
expression, and slur errors; and the mishandling of rests, holds,
pauses, and repeats.
cornet or trumpet
latter
may be used
An
is
adaptation of this performance scale for the
Watkins-Farnum Performance
The
for any
Scale."^^
This
band instrument. The fourteen exercises
are so graded that while the
first is
intended for those
who
have had
lessons for approximately three months, the fourteenth will be found
230
THE MEASUREMENT OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
difficult
by the student
reliability
is
good
who
as is also
the correlation with teacher ratings.
Relatively unstandardized achievement tests keep appearing
time to time.^^
A few
of these
owe
construct
test battery,
music achievement
tests
do not meet the standards of good
fluid
and uncertain
music has made the task of devising
o achievement
difficult
than
there will be
in, say,
more
the scientific areas.
tests in
Perhaps
at
When
this
test
state of school
music more
some
later date
general agreement on what children should
about music by the end of each grade.
first-rate tests
profit
although at present the majority of
Without doubt the
construction.
too local to justify
still
Hence, each large school system can with
own
its
from
their birth to the idea that the
music curricula of the public schools are
national norms.
The
has studied for several years.
know
time arrives, really
can be devised for the area of music.
Unstandardized Aptitude Tests
We
have seen that the music achievement
current curriculum practices and give
basic musical abilities.
little
tests largely reflect
help in isolating the
Attention must be shifted, then, to the
musical aptitude tests in the hope that they
may
yield
more
pertinent
information.
Stumpf was one of the
basic musical abilities. ^3
first
psychologists to interest himself in the
In his
work with
the young genius Pepito
Areola, he stressed the following: possession of absolute pitch;
unusually good pitch and timbre discrimination; excellent musical
memory;
ease in judging pitch intervals; and ability in transposition,
in improvisation, and in producing dissonant chords and series of
"unmelodic" tones. Stumpf saw four basic
tell
whether
a clang
abilities in musicality: to
was composed of one or two tones, to discrimi-
nate pitch differences, to judge degrees of consonance as to pleasantness,
and to sing correctly.
Pear modified Stumpf's ideas very
231
THE MEASUREMENT OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
slightly
by testing for pitch aptitude,
a clang,
ability to sing, ability to analyze
and consistency in reporting the clang analyses. ^4
number of ingenious devices to assess
musical talents. ^5 His "obe-imeter" measures "how echotheratic
(sound-hunting) the subject is." The task in this test is to listen for
Meyer
has developed a
not easily
an auditory stimulus w^hich
is
masked by other tones and
noises.
follovv^ed since it
is
partially
The "concertometer" shows how
well a musician can play with other musicians in concert. The
"rhythmometer," which resembles the motor rhythm
Seashore independently developed
person can follow
a
(p.
23^), measures
rhythmic pattern and reproduce
it.
test
R. H.
how
well a
The "terpo-
meter" presents major, minor, and mistuned chords which are to be
classified as either active, sad,
battery, the
"hymnometer,"
is
or neutral.
The
in essence a tonal
the "terpometer" and the "hymnometer"
member of the
memory test. Both
last
make
use of a specially
devised quarter-tone reed organ.
During
his early research,
Revesz appeared to regard absolute
Chord and
pitch as the most important element of musicality.
interval recognition; ability to
and keen
memory were
also
compose, improvise, and to transpose;
deemed
to be basic musical abilities.
of these Revesz found to be present
child Nyiregyhazi (p. 185-),
Psychology of a Musical
Prodigy. ^^
do with
fitness for
In
talents, for
more recent
(a) aptitudes
some
talent
The
latter
type
is
subdivided into
and talent for conducting.
have
refer to
Musical
instrumental-
Revesz would
tests
now
of rhythmic
regional pitch, ability to analyze two-tone clangs and
chords, and ability to grasp and sing a melodic line.
232
feels
which
special field. ^7
measure the "lower grades of musicality" through
sensitivity,
theorizing
which he
(h) talents
in The
him, are of two distinct types: creative and reproductive-
interpretative.
virtuoso
his
performance and
capacities far above the average in
All
an early age in the wonder-
whose achievements he described
Revesz has differentiated between
to
at
For the "higher
THE MEASUREMENT OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
grades of musicality" he
and
give tests suited to the
melodies from memory.
ability to play familiar
For Rupp the
measurement
harmonic apprehension and response, creative
of relative pitch,
fantasy,
would
of basic abilities included: interval recognition,
list
absolute pitch, chord analysis, harmonic feeling, melodic recognition
and reproduction, and
Billroth
^9
ability to
sensitivity to
rhythms and time differences.^^
and von Kries^^ had briefer
lists.
The former's included
remember, recognize, and reproduce short melodies. The
contained sense of rhythm, musical memory, and musical ear.
latter's
For Mjon the
five
most important
abilities
appeared to be: to com-
pose, to possess absolute pitch, to play by ear, to improvise a second
voice, and to sing a second voice. 3^
Haecker and Ziehen obtained the bulk of their data on musical
abilities
by sending out ii,ooo questionnaires. 3^ Exceptional tonal
memory seemed
less
them
to
more from
best to distinguish their
musical respondents.
An
excellent prognostic sign for later
musicality turned out to be precocity in things musical.
vocal
skill, a
skills, e.g.,
motor
ability, to
and
be
little
tests,
one of musical memory, another
must be decided which of two cadences
it
They found
related to the several sensory
pitch discrimination.
Low^ery has devised three
which
their
a phrase test in
which the problem
phrase has been repeated. 33
Ortmann
is
to tell
is
in
more complete,
whether or not
a
has a battery of seven tests
at the Peabody Conservatory of Music. 34 The
memory, rhythm memory, melodic memory,
which has enjoyed use
members
are: pitch
harmonic memory, fusion, pitch discrimination, and time discrimination.
Schoen, too, has offered a battery of
the measurement of relative pitch,
difference in distance
tests. 35
These are for
where one must judge the
between two successive pitch
intervals; tonal
sequence, in which four two-phrase melodies are given with alternative endings; and
rhythm discrimination, where
either be repeated or reappear in
somewhat
a
rhythm may
altered form.
A
tonal
233
THE MEASUREMENT OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
movement
test of considerable
five unfinished
the best
final
promise
is
Franklin's
TMT. Twenty-
melodies are presented to the testees with requests for
Retest and split-half reliabilities in the
tone for each.
•8o's are reported for an adult music student population.
of the
TMT
it is
poorer students
Among
aptitude
those
is
at a level considerably better
a
than chance. 3^
who have used achievement tests as measures of
who has made an extensive study of the ability
Madison,
to discriminate intervals. 37
all
By the use
apparently possible to select the better from the
musical perception,
it
most important musical
Since interval discrimination
would seem
ability.
that
Scores on Madison's measure have
aptitude by
Lamp and Keys
way of achievement. They
brass
in theory at the
and from "39 to 'ji with indices of musical
at the secondary-school level.
weeks on
basic to
Madison has specialized on
been found to correlate from -46 to 'ji with grades
Juilliard School
is
3^
ability
have also studied
trained pupils for several
then on woodwinds, and later on
instruments,
After these weeks of training, ratings
strings (the
order varied).
were made
for achievement
on each family of instruments. The
authors hoped through such ratings to learn which of the three sorts
of instruments was best suited to the aptitudes of each of their pupils.
They appeared
to enjoy mild success in their prognostications.
These
teachers also attempted, without success, to forecast later achieve-
ment through
analyses of tooth evenness, lip thickness, and length
and slenderness of fingers
No
(p.
188).
well standardized tests have so far been developed to measure
control of pitch intonation, loudness, time, or rhythm.
But a record
of pitch control can be obtained through the use of instruments such
as the
tonoscope39 and other standard stroboscopic devices 4°
the market
which show
instrumental attempts.
dynamic control are
now on
visually the accuracy of a person's vocal or
Intensity meters and instruments to study
available. 4^
Ability to control time and
rhythm
can be studied through the Meyer "rhythmometer," mentioned
234
THE MEASUREMENT OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
above, or by means of R. H. Seashore's "rhythm meter," which
phonograph with contacts imbedded
A number
points. 4^
subject,
is
a
in the turn-table at various
of different rhythms can be provided for the
who must make his
on
taps
a telegraph
key coincide with the
he hears.
clicks
C. E. Seashore and his students have felt that the ability to imagine
tonal material
is
an important aspect of musical aptitude. 43 Their
of testing imagery
will
Naturally, their
adults.
is
images
elicit
The
to present
in
list
subjects,
the
of questions which,
lists
eight
it is
most important sensory
for children differs
from
way
hoped,
areas.
that appropriate to
whatever their age, must introspectively evalu-
ate the strengths of their images
on
a seven-point scale.
The Original Seashore Battery
The
first really
standardized aptitude tests
C. E. Seashore. 44
menon
were those devised by
Seashore argued that since music was a pheno-
of tones, times, and rhythms, discrimination tests in these
areas should
make
possible to pick out the potentially musical,
it
with those having the best acuities being expected to give the
Seashore believed that his tests tapped
greatest musical promise.
basic physiological capacities
influenced by training.
that there
were other
He
which were inborn and could not be
admitted that his
capacities he
test battery
was limited,
was not measuring.
number of
Many psychologists and musicians have condemned its
and unmusical orientation. 4^ They have emphasized that the
Seashore's test philosophy has been criticized on a
counts. 45
atomistic
Seashore tests get at psychophysiological, and not necessarily at
musical, differences.
What
is
the good, they say, of a performer's
being able to discriminate pitches which differ by
listeners can only discriminate pitches
cycle
if his
more
cycles apart?
If
the performer
is
a pianist,
as little as
which are
one
five
or
why need he bother
23^
THE MEASUREMENT OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
with differences smaller than a half-tone? Other psychologists have
been made unhappy by the Seashore claim that
improved by practice. 47
native capacity and cannot be
proved possible to entice
hereditarian camp.
test scores reflect
music
all
testers aw^ay
It
pure
has not
from Seashore's
But there has been amassed an impressive array
of data which demonstrate beyond the possibility of doubt that the
Seashore scores can be enormously improved
procedures are employed
The
if
proper training
i86).
(p.
original Seashore Measures of Musical Talent offered scores for
sense of pitch, sense of intensity, sense of time, sense of consonance,
and auditory
memory
span (tonal memory). 4^ Six years later a sense
Because of the many criticisms of
of rhythm measure was added.
the sense of consonance test was later dropped (p. 49).
each
member
of the battery were
eighth-graders, and for fifth-graders,
made
Norms
available for adults,
who were
it,
for
for
thought to be the
youngest age group which could properly attend to the tonal stimuli
of the
tests.
There have been
a
number
of attempts to improve the battery.
Several have found that the norms, at least for the intensity test,
vary
somewhat with the type of phonograph employed. Others have
advocated simplifying the directions, which are quite
fifth-graders to
comprehend. 49 Salisbury and Smith have modified
the pitch test so that
difficult, instead
all
of the items are scaled from less to
of from less to
original measure. 5*^
the aim of adapting
more and then more
Hattwick has
it
dropped the most
changes did improve the
tests are
test
tests
grades.
were too
items of these
5^
with
Gaw,
difficult for
tests. 5^
These
somewhat, although the Gaw-modified
easy. 53
have been developed, since
make
236
now a little too
tests
memory
difficult
first five
more
to less as in the
also modified the pitch test
to children of the
deciding that the time and tonal
fifth-graders,
difficult for
California adult
it
norms for the rhythm
West Coasters
do lowans.54 O'Connor
has been found that
better scores on this measure than
THE MEASUREMENT OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
would modify the
difficulty,
memory
tonal
by (i) better scaling of item
test
(2) greater temporal spacing between items, and (3) the
use of the whole-tone as the minimal interval. 55
Tilson-Gretsch Test for Musical Aptitude
Created to replace or
at least to serve as a
second form of the
original Seashore battery, the Tilson-Gretsch tests played into
in appearing shortly after the revised
bad luck
(1939) Seashore battery. 5^ The
Tilson-Gretsch presents tests in the areas of pitch, intensity and time
sensitivities,
and tonal memory.
records whereas
recorded on two phonograph
It is
older rival was spread over
its
six.
considerably more communicable than Seashore's but
easy.
fifth-
Its reliabilities
are approximately the
same
directions are
Its
its
items are too
as Seashore's at the
and eighth-grade levels but are considerably poorer in the adult
range. This battery
1^39
now
has
little
excuse for continued existence. 57
Edition of the Seashore Measures
oj Musical Talents
Only minor changes
in
this
newer
"talents."
in the Seashore test philosophy are reflected
battery. 5^
Musical
is
measure consonance. The term "intensity"
appropriate "loudness."
sufficient
it.
importance to
become musical
no longer an attempt to
is
replaced by the
Sensitivity to timbre
is
recognized
justify the construction of a test to
more
as
of
measure
But the bulk of the objections raised in connection with the
earlier edition
still
pertain.
Two
forms of the battery,
constructed, one an easier and the other a
Form B was
are
has
"talent"
As was mentioned above, there
now
later
withdrawn from
available for
Form A
—
sale.
more
Three
A
and B, were
difficult series,
sets
but
of centile norms
for the fourth and fifth grades, for
the sixth, seventh, and eighth, and for grades nine through sixteen.
237
THE MEASUREMENT OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
The
basic tones of the pitch test are set at ^oo cycles. 59
the go items in the test consist of
pitch.
is
The
subject's task
17 cycles,
finally to
moves
2
The
first.
to differences of
The
cycles.
Brown) ranges from
differ only in
whether the second of each pair
to state
is
higher or lower than the
two tones which
Each of
i
test
opens with differences of
cycles, then to 8, g, 4, 3,
2
and
by Spearman-
reliability (odd-even, raised
'79 in the lower grades to '88 for adults.
The go items of the loudness
test are also
Here
arranged in pairs.
the subject must decide whether the second tone of each pair
weaker or stronger than the
is
from four decibels
in the
first.
The range of loudness
to a half-decibel.
lower grades to '88
The
is
at the adult level.
more
The time
•
3
is
about equally reliable
Each item of the rhythm
first.
second, the test becomes progres-
difficult: "2, -i^, '12^, -lo, 'Oj g,
test
whether the second
held a longer or shorter time period than the
Starting with differences of
sively
differences
run from '79
reliabilities
Similarly, in the time test the subject judges
tone of each pair
is
and
finally 'o^^
second.
at all ages ('76).
test consists in
two patterns which may
have either identical or different rhythms. With only 30 true-false
items, the reliability of this test
the poorest of
is
junior-high-school levels (-62 and '69) and
is
all at
the adult and
second lowest
at the
grade-school level ('73).
The measure of timbre
more
also uses the same-different
items than the rhythm
To change
test.
scheme but has
the timbre, the intensity
of the tone's fourth partial was increased and that of the third partial
w^as
decreased by an amount necessary to keep the total intensity
constant. In the
The changes
^•5-,
and
first fifth
in the
finally
more
of the go items this change
difficult
of 4-0 decibels.
The measure of tonal memory
choice plan.
Hence,
items are
The
first
of
is
of i o decibels.
8' g,
reliability ranges
then of 7*0,
from -69 to -77.
has 30 items and follows a multiple-
its reliability is
high (from '84 to -SB).
Short
series of tones are given and then repeated with one of the tones of
238
THE MEASUREMENT OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
each series changed in pitch.
One-third of the series are three-tone
sequences, another third are four-tone, and the remaining third are
While the Seashore
five-tone.
independent of one another,
tests
the
are,
tonal
in the main,
memory
test
relatively
correlates
appreciably with the others.
VALIDITY OF SEASHORE BATTERIES. The majority of the
many validity studies on these widely used tests have been concerned
with the
against
set of records Seashore
which the Seashore
tests
brought out in 19 19. The criteria
have been measured are several, with
teacher ratings and grades in music appearing in perhaps most of the
studies.
Where
—and occahave been reported— they tend
correlations of any size have been found
sionally values in the •6o's
and 'yo's
to be the highest for the tonal
memory and
pitch tests ^° and for the
battery considered as a single measuring instrument. ^^
In
one of the
few studies of the 1939 tests. Manor found that fourth-grade work
instrumental music could be forecast by the pitch test with
coefficient of correlation of -49
and by the measure of tonal
in
a
memory
with a correlation value of '32.^^
Intelligence tests have
been found to be of more worth than the
Seashore tests in forecasting music grades in academic classes, e.g.,
more
more the classes are tonally conducted, e.g., classes in
harmony. ^3 Members of musical organizations make, in the main,
higher than average Seashore scores. ^4 High scorers show a greater
history and appreciation of music, while the Seashore are of
value the
preference for "classical" music than do the lower scorers says one
study, ^5 while, a.ccording to another, their preferences l5an
toward the "romantic
Persons
who
classical" (as
regard themselves as
opposed to
more
"light classical"). ^^
more musical than
average tend to
achieve significantly higher music test scores, particularly in tonal
memory, than those who think of themselves
as
below the musical
average. ^7
239
THE MEASUREMENT OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
From
have
the discussion so
at
least
some
far, it is
vaUdity.
apparent that the Seashore
tests
Further support comes from data
gathered at the Eastman Conservatory of Music, ^^ w^here the music
tests (19 19 edition)
were added
to a
measure of academic inteUi-
gence, a case history, and a test of tonal imagery, and the combined
scores w^ere used for selection purposes.
studied.
was found
It
1
7
per cent of the bottom
In a slightly later study at Eastman,
as successful.
that course grades in musical theory correlated
scores. ^9
were
that 60 per cent of the persons in the top fifth
succeeded in graduating, but only
were
Five levels of scores
•
5^9
it
fifth
was shown
with Seashore
Less success was achieved with these music tests at the
College of Music of Cincinnati, which concluded that although
music
tests are of
some
use, they should always
junction with academic intelligence
tests. 7°
be employed
in con-
McLeish, a British
psychologist, suggests that appreciation tests should also be used
along with the Seashore battery. 7^
Kwalwasser-Dykema Music
The Kwalwasser-Dykema
only serious
It
rival,
Tests
battery, for a long time the Seashore's
attempts to do
all its
competitor does and more.?^
has measures for the Seashore-tested areas of pitch, intensity, time,
quality (timbre), rhythm, and tonal
appreciation
Chap.
7).
— melodic
taste
memory. There
are
two
tests
and tonal movement (described in
In addition, there are tests of pitch
and rhythm imagery,
which are measures of achievement rather than of aptitude. The
are
much briefer than
of
the Seashore, the test items seem
tests
more musical,
and the directions are easier to follow. But, except for the measures
of tonal
memory and
tonal
movement, the
reliabilities
are very
low. 73 This poor reliability accounts in part for the fact that only the
tonal
memory
The
240
test correlates at all
well with
its
Seashore counterpart.
structural arrangement of the individual tests
is
as follows.
THE MEASUREMENT OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
The measure
of tonal
memory
consists of
2
5^
pairs of patterns
which
range in length from four to nine tones. The patterns are repeated
either in original or in altered form, and the subject responds with
the words "same" or "different."
presents 30 items, each
The
test of quality discrimination
composed of two tones played on some
instrument and then repeated on that or a different
particular
Like the previous
instrument.
the responses "same"
test, it calls for
or "different." The stimuli of the time-discrimination test were
recorded from a player-piano
Twenty-five tones lasting from
roll.
•03 to -30 second are repeated unchanged or with a different dura-
rhythmic patterns repeated in the same or in an
tion. Twenty-five
form make up the rhythm-discrimination
altered
test.
The K-D
intensity-discrimination test offers 30 tones and chords and then
repeats
them
at different intensities.
strengths of the second
members
nation test there are 40 items.
3
seconds, rises or
falls
in pitch
imagery and rhythm-imagery
hear with what
items
is
subjects judge the relative
of the pairs.
In the pitch-discrimi-
Each tone, held for approximately
and then returns to
The pitch changes range from
position.
25-
The
tests,
'6 to
5-0
its
original pitch
d.v.
In the pitch-
the subjects compare what they
on the printed blanks supplied them. Each of the
to be described as "same" or "different. "74
is
Several persons have been disturbed by the fact that only one set of
norms
is
that
persons, eight or eighty, trained or untrained, score similarly.
all
offered for this battery. 75 Apparently the test designers feel
But that several
who
is
The
sets of
at all familiar
reliabilities of
norms are needed should not
with the area of aptitude
surprise anyone
testing.
approximately half of the members of the
battery have been materially improved by Holmes,
who
K-D
has changed
the plan of the tests from true-false to multiple-choice. 7^ This he did
solely
by altering the directions for administering the several
measures.
memory
Thus,
test
the subject taking the
Holmes-modified tonal-
must not only decide whether there has been
a
change
241
16
FSP
THE MEASUREMENT OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
in pattern but, in addition,
of each item
is,
if
possible
responses
"equal,"
"different,"
for
the
"different,"
quality-discrimination
as last
The
are
now
test
of intensity discrimination
"different
they are
and weaker," and "different and
stronger;" for the tonal-movement measure,
"same
first.
and heavier," and "different and
"different
For the measure
lighter."
"equal,"
must check whether the second pattern
changed, higher or lower than the
"down," and
"up,"
note actually heard;" for the measure of time discrimi-
nation, "equal," "different," "different and longer," and "different
and
shorter;"
for
the
test
of rhythm
discrimination,
"equal,"
been changed,"
"different," "different because the time values have
and "different because the accent has been changed;" for the pitchdiscrimination measure, "equal," "different," "different and higher,"
and "different and lower;" and for the melodic-taste
test,
"B better," and "equally good." With these changes, the
the battery
now
There are
employed
training,
a
"A
better,"
reliability of
reaches '91 (high-school level).
number
of studies in which the
K-D
battery has been
to forecast teacher ratings and grades in sight-singing, ear-
and in
"all fine arts"
courses.
In
some
instances there has
been little or no success reported, but in one study the astonishingly
high correlation value of '83 has been claimed. 77 Perhaps the modal
forecast value for the battery as a
hood of
whole would
lie in
the neighbor-
'40, with that for the individual tests being considerably
lower.
Kwalwasser Music Talent Tests
In
195^3
there appeared a
new Kwalwasser
requires only ten minutes to take. 7^
more
norms
difficult
Accompanying Form A, the
of the test's two phonograph records,
for junior-high-school students
high and college groups.
242
aptitude test which
Form B
is
and another
is
one
set of
set for senior-
for grades 4, ^, and 6.
Form A
THE MEASUREMENT OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
"consists of ^o three-tone patterns
in
which are repeated with
one of the following respects:
(J) loudness."
The pitch
tempo changes from 40
(a) pitch,
differences range
(b) time,
from
5^
rhythm,
to 70 cents, the
to g per cent of the standard
marking of 90 to the quarter-note, and loudness
(c)
variation
varies
metronomic
from 10 to
2
The rhythmic changes become more
decibels from the standard.
difficult as the test progresses.
The corresponding
values for the
40-item Form B are: pitch, 15^—70 cents; time, 15^—40 per cent; and
loudness, 3—10 decibels.
The rhythms proceed from more
changes in pattern.
difficult
to less
Kwalwasser, a staunch hereditarian and
student of C. E. Seashore, closes his eyes to the research literature
and maintains that training can have
made on
his test.
little
or no effect on the scores
Kwalwasser has violated approved
test practice
by
publishing a commercial test without reliability data of any kind.
The Drake Tests
Drake offered the musical world four partially standardized
In 1932
aptitude
tests. 79
memory),
These covered the areas of musical
interval discrimination, retentivity
memory (melody
(memory
for isolated
tones), and intuition (key center, phrase and time balance).
he replaced these with two well standardized
tests,
one
In 195^4
in the area
musical
memory and the other to forecast rhythmic ability. ^° The
memory test has two equivalent forms, A and B, and the
rhythm
test has
of musical
an easier
Form A and
musically nai've are tested on
or
more
rhythm
all
a
more
difhcult
B.
The
four forms, but subjects with five
years of musical training need take only
test
Form
Form B
of the
and either form of the measure of musical memory. The
two new Drake
tests intercorrelate
With reliabilities in
scores. Norms for them
only slightly.
the high -So's or low •90's, they yield stable
are available for music and non-music students, and for ages 11, 12,
and 13; 14,
I
^,
and 16; 17, 18, and 19; 20, 21, and 22; and 23 and
243
16-2
THE MEASUREMENT OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
over.
Sex differences in scores and those associated with
cultural
background are
test
and
be negligible.
said to
The musical memory
racial
made up
is
composed
of especially
melodies, which are either repeated or changed with respect to time,
The rhythm
key, or note.
test presents the
sound of
a
metronome
beating at a certain rate and a voice which counts "one," "two,"
"three," and "four."
at a different rate
The voice then
His score
original rate until told to stop.
the
metronome
beat
Drake reports
number and
a coefficient
scores on his measure of
discrimination.
either stops counting or proceeds
while the subject continues to count silently
his
is
own
the difference between
silent count.
of correlation of only
rhythm and on the Seashore
The two memory
tests,
similar variables and intercorrelate
at the
•
1
test
7
between
of rhythm
however, are tapping more
at -^^^
(from unpublished data
gathered at Stanford University). Drake's recent studies suggest that
his
new
tests
the fact that
have considerable
when
validity.
He draws
his
support from
correlations are run aaainst
teacher estimates of
O
musical talent, the values are generally above -^8 and have run
high
as
as '91.
Whistler-Thorpe Musical Aptitude Test
The developers of the
Whistler-Thorpe Musical Aptitude Test pride
themselves on presenting musical, not just tonal, stimuli (piano
music). ^^ The test has two "same-different" sections dealing with
rhythm recognition, one
more
difficult.
fairly
easy,
and the other considerably
The "same-different" pattern
melody-recognition portion.
is
also followed in the
In the pitch-discrimination section,
chords are given and then are repeated either with precisely the
same structure or
test
higher or lower pitch level. The section of the
devoted to pitch recognition
pitch
244
at a
is
is
the most novel.
strongly emphasized. Then there follows
Here
a
a particular
melody of four
THE MEASUREMENT OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
measures of 13 quarter-notes. The subject's task
is
to count the
number of times the previously emphasized pitch has appeared.
The Whistler-Thorpe has a reported reUabiUty of '93. It claims to
correlate at '78 with teacher estimates of vocal talent.
Lundin Tests
measure musical behaviors not considered by the
In an effort to
Lundin devised
earlier testers,
of these measures
is
five rather different tests. ^^
in the area of interval discrimination.
ascending and descending intervals
either repeated without
rendition.
is
in
make up
first
Fifty
the stimuli, which are
change or are modified in the second
The responses of
Lundin battery are
The
this
and the other members of the
terms of "same" or "different." The
reliability
reported to be in the -yo's.
The melodic-transposition
test offers 30
the second rendition the key alone
by "same." But
response
is
if
simple melodies.
If
on
changed, the subject responds
is
both the key and the melody are altered, the proper
"different."
The
reliability
is
said to
be -6^ for musicians
and -72 for unselected college students.
Mode
discrimination
of chords.
is
"same."
"different."
If
the pair
But
if
When
the
is
tested through the presentation of 30 pairs
members are in the same mode, the response
mode is changed, the subject responds with
employed on unselected students,
the poorest reliability of any
For musicians the
member
reliability value
is
this test has
of the battery (one of -lo).
in the
middle
Each of the 30 items of the melodic-sequences
•6o's.
test contains three
melodic groups which follow the same melodic order.
group may or may not follow
this pattern.
The
A
fourth
reliability of this
measure
falls
member
of the battery, the measure of rhythmic sequences, except,
in the •70's.
This test sets the pattern for the
last
of course, that in the latter test rhythms and not melodies are
24^
THE MEASUREMENT OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
For musicians the rhythm
involved.
unselected college students the value
is
reliability coefficients for the battery as a
In
one study by Lundin, when
for forecasting pooled ratings
correlation
values
The corresponding
-72.
whole are '89 and
total battery scores
made by
emerged:
rehabiUty of -60; for
test has a
-Sg.
were employed
six professors, the following
melodic
dictation,
harmonic
-70;
dictation, '70; written harmonization, -43; general ability in theory,
•63; performance, -^i; and
sum of
Seashore pitch, rhythm, and tonal
memory measure
(original
Wing Standardized
A British flavor can
Lundin found the
ratings, '69.
memory
tests
and Drake's musical
form) to forecast these
criteria less well.
of Musical Intelligence
be seen in the Wing tests, although the
measures are not so different from the much condemned American
tests as one might guess from a perusal of the Wing monograph. ^3
Tests
Recorded on ten records are seven
range
low
as
Five-step
as -Gg,
norms
seventeen.
The
Although their
tests.
the battery reliability
is
are available for each year
selection of the tests
studying
and
who had
at
or so.
from age eight through
was based on factor
That the battery has considerable validity was shown
333 adolescent boys
reliabilities
a satisfactory '93
analyses.
in a study of
one time studied or were
some musical instrument. Wing gave
classified their scores into three classes.
still
his tests to these lads
He found
that
40 per
cent of the below-average group had already given up studying. The
comparable values for the average and above-average groups were
27 and
2
percent, respectively.
Wing's chord-analysis
number
test
requires
the
subject
of notes in a series of single chords.
to
In the
count the
measure of
pitch change, chords are played and repeated either with exactly
similar structure or with
The memory
246
some one note pitched higher or lower.
measure presents tunes which are either repeated or
THE MEASUREMENT OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
altered.
If
they are modified, the subject must
In the test of
altered notes.
which are the
tell
rhythmic accent, melodies are either
repeated in identical form or with the accents rearranged. The
subject notes the changes,
The
the tune.
except that
any, and states
which versions better
fit
intensity and phrasing tests are similarly arranged
it is
The harmony
if
now
the intensity or the phrasing which
test presents tunes
altered.
is
which are either repeated exactly
or altered. Each item must be assessed for identity or else a decision
must be made
as to the better
of the
two
versions.
Strong Vocational Interest Test
A
rather different sort of test and one
aptitude measure
known
is
is
only in part an
the Strong musician scale. ^4
Strong's well-
set of questions
men whose
which
on
interests has for
some time had
composed of 2^0 musicians,
criterion group was
symphony performers. Their average age was 32*6 and
schooling i2'4.
The
a scale for
scale's reliability
is
-87.
The
largely
their years of
test score indicates
the degree of resemblance between the answer profile of the person
tested and that of the criterion group.
Judged by the high
that the Strong scales achieve in other areas
where
validity
tively easy to ascertain, e.g., life insurance, Strong's
validity
rela-
is
musician scale
merits respectful attention.
During 1952, the Music Journal gathered data for four other Strong
musician
scales.
It
men
tested ^00
schooling, 17*0) to form one of
another 4^0
performer"
men
its
(average age, 41*4;
two "music teacher"
years of
scales
and
(average age, 36*4; education, 13*6) for a "music
scale.
In an
the Journal tested 4.^0
attempt to build parallel scales for women,
women
years of schooling,
16' g)
years of schooling,
i^''^^).
music teachers (average age, 43*8;
and 290 performers (average age, 34*2;
Although the project
is
not
as yet
com-
pleted, the scales are available to anyone interested.
247
THE MEASUREMENT OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
The Future of Music Aptitude Tests
It
would be
music
foolish to attempt too precise a forecast of the course
tests will take in the
the testers will
make
next few years.
But
it
seems clear that
increasing use of musical materials and that
their tests will not be as atomistic as are the Seashore measures.
More
cast
than a half-century ago, the intelligence testers tried to fore-
achievement by the use of simple items
They then moved
i.Q.
tests,
and
omnibus or buckshot approach with
to an
later
still
at the sensory level.
worked out
sort
a
their
of compromise of
these extremes with their measures of primary mental abilities.
The music
The progressive
sensory materials.
demned
did
this
little
began their labors with the aid of simple
testers, too,
to
educators, in particular, con-
approach and argued for the omnibus stand; yet they
make
model. The philosophy of the more
tests in this
recent testers, however, would seem to allow as test items at
least a
modicum
of sensory material as well as bits of real musical
behavior.
Musical
memory
has
come
to be the one area
agree merits the most careful attention.
may not be important
earlier, the violinist
Other
all
testers
ability areas
may or
As was mentioned
to the potential performer.
needs
which
far better pitch discrimination
than does
the pianist, yet neither instrumentalist should necessarily score near
the top of the Seashore range.
Music
testers
must get away from the
philosophy of "better score, better musical potential." They should
follov^ the course blazed
more
by the college aptitude
minimum
intensively the
the several kinds of musical
testers
and study
levels necessary for later success in
skills.
More and more
they can be
expected to add to their batteries measures of academic aptitude,
interest,
personality,
and perhaps even
base to their forecasting efforts.
and
248
less
attention
to
It is
taste,
to give a broader
likely that they will pay less
the nature- nurture problem.
Instead,
the
THE MEASUREMENT OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
emphasis will be turned toward the practical issue of deciding
which persons
will profit most, given a
minimum
of practice oppor-
tunities.
Notes
i]
A number
of paper-and-pencil tests in music give no publication dates.
interest of uniformity,
2]
no dates will be given here even when
Beach and H. E. Schrammel, Beach Standardized Music
F. A.
Hence,
in the
available.
Emporia, Kans.,
Tests,
Bureau of Ed. Meas., Kansas State Normal School.
3]
W.
G. Gildersleeve and
Soper, Music Achievement
Tests,
N.Y., Bureau of Publications,
Teachers College, Columbia U.
4]
T. L. Torgerson and E. Fahnestock, Torgerson-Fahnestock Music
Test,
Bloomington,
111.,
Public School Publ.
^]
J.
Kwalwasser and G. Ruch, Kwalwasser-Ruch
of Musical Accomplishment, Iowa City,
Tests
Iowa, Bureau of Ed. Res. and Serv., State U., Iowa.
6]
C. E. Strouse and H. E. Schrammel, Strouse Music
Test,
Emporia, Kans., Bureau Ed.
Meas., Kansas State Teach. Coll.
7]
H. E. Hutchinson, Hutchinson Music
8]
W.
9]
C.
Tests,
Bloomington,
111.,
Public School Publ.
E. Knuth, Knuth Achievement Tests in Music, Philadelphia, Ed. Test Bureau.
McCauley, McCauley Experiment
J.
in Public School Music,
Knoxville, Tenn.,
J. E.
Avent.
10]
R. D. Allen,
W.
H. Butterfield, and M. TuUy, Providence
Inventory Test in Music,
Yonkers, N.Y., World Book.
11]
L. C. Pressey, The Specialized Vocabularies of the Public School Subjects,
111.,
Public School Publ.
12]
C. P.
13]
M.
Wood,
L.
Ear
Tests in
Bloomington,
Harmony, N.Y., American Book.
Kotick and T. L. Torgerson, Diagnostic
Tests
of Achievement in Music, Los
Angeles, Calif. Test Bureau.
Famum, Farnum
Music Notation
14]
S. E.
i^]
Aliferis, Alijeris Music Achievement Test,
J.
Test,
N.Y., Psychological Corp.
Minneapolis, U. of Minnesota Press.
16]
Graduate Record Examinations, Advanced Music
17]
E. K. Hillbrand, Hillbrand Sight-Singing Test, Yonkers, N.Y.,
18]
R. M. Mosher, Mosher
Test
Test,
Princeton, N.J., Ed. Test. Service.
World Book.
of Individual Singing, Teach. Coll. Contrib.
Educ, No.
194,
N.Y., Bureau of Publications, Teachers Coll., Coliambia U.
19]
A.
W.
Otterstein and R.
M. Mosher, 0-M
Sight-Singing
Test,
Stanford,
Calif.,
Stanford U. Press.
249
THE MEASUREMENT OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
2o]
J.
G. Watkins, Objective Measurement of Instrumental Performance, Teach. Coll. Contrib.
Publications, Teachers Coll., Columbia U.
Educ, No. 860, N.Y., Bureau of
21]
G. Watkins and
J.
S.
E.
Farnum, The Watkins-Farnum Performance
Scale,
Winona,
Minn., Leonard Music.
See,
22]
for
Achievement
Tests,
example,
Plymouth
Educational
Tests,
Chicago,
Plymouth Press; Music
Baltimore, Dept. Ed.; Krone Recognition, Tonal and Rhjthmic Dictation
Test,
Indianapolis,
M.
T. Krone, Butler U.; Mosher Group
Educ. No. 194, N.Y., Columbia U.
Tests,
Teach. Coll. Contrib.
See also A. Roe, "A Study of the Accuracy of
Perception of Visual Musical Stimuli," Arch. Psychol., 1^8 (1933); F. S. Salisbury and
H. D. Smith, "Prognosis of Sight Singing Ability of Normal School Students," J. Appl.
(1929): 42^-439; T. G. Stelzer, "Construction, Interpretation, and Use of
Psychol., 13
Sight Reading Scale in
Organ Music, with an Analysis of Organ Playing
Abilities," J. Exp. Ed.,
7 (1938): 35'-43;
S.
into
Fundamental
T. Burns, "The Value of Prognostic Tests for
Instrumental Pupils," Sch. Mus., 31 (193 i): 6—9.
23]
C. Stumpf, "Akustische Versuche mit Pepito- Areola," Zsch. f. Ang. Psychol., 21
(1909): i-ii.
24]
T. H. Pear, "The Classification of Observers as 'Musical' and 'Unmusical',"
J. Psychol.,
2j]
M.
F.
4 (191
1
):
Brit.
89—94.
Meyer, "Special Ability Tests
as
Used
in Missouri; Including a
Demonstration
of a Typical Test," Psychol. Bull., 21 (1924): 114-116.
26]
G. Revesz, The Psychology of a Musical Prodigy, N.Y., Harcourt, Brace, 192^.
27]
G. Revesz, Introduction
28]
H. Rupp, "Uber die Priifung musikalischer Fahigkeiten," Zsch.
to the
Psychology of Music,
Norman, U. of Oklahoma
f
Press,
Ang. Psychol., 9
(1919): 1-76.
29]
T. Billroth, Wer
30]
J.
31]
J.
Psychol.,
32]
ist
von Kries, Wer
musikalisch?
ist
musikalisch?
Gebriider Paetel, 1898.
Berlin, Springer,
1926.
A. Mjon, "Zur psychologischen Bestimmung der Musikalitat," Zsch. f.
27 (1926): 217-273.
Ang.
V. Haecker and T. Ziehen, Zur Vererbung and Entwicklung der musikalischen Begabung,
Leipzig, Barth, 1923.
33]
1 1
H. Lowery, "Cadence and Phrase Tests
in
Music,"
Brit. J.
Psychol., IJ
(1926-27):
i-i 18.
34]
O. Ortmann,
Tests
of Musical Talent, Baltimore, Peabody Conservatory of Music,
unpublished.
3j]
M. Schoen,
"Tests of Musical Feeling and Musical Understanding," J. Comp. Psychol.,
5 (192^): 31-52.
36]
E. Franklin,
Gumperts
2^0
Tonality as a Basis for the Study of Musical Talent,
Forlag, 19^6.
Goteborg, Sweden,
THE MEASUREMENT OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
37]
T. H. Madison, "Interval Discrimination as a Measure of Musical Aptitude," Arch.
No. 268 (1942).
Psychol,
38]
C.
J.
Lamp and N.
Keys, "Can Aptitude for Specific Musical Instruments Be Pre-
dicted?" J. Educ. Psychol., 26 (1935^): ^87-596.
39]
C. E. Seashore, "The Tonoscope and
Musician, 11
(1906):
(1928): 166—170; P.
J. Gen. Psychol., 2 (1929):
40]
41] O.
I.
Use
in the Training of the Voice,"
The
S5^~SS^-
Kwalwasser, Exploring
J.
Its
331-332; E. W. Scripture, "Das Strobilion," Zsch.J. Psychol., 59
R. Famsworth, "Two Independent Developments of the Strobilion,"
the Musical
Mind, N.Y., Coleman-Ross, 19^5^, Chap. 10.
Jacobsen, "Dynamic and Temporal Control in Music," j. Gen. Psychol., 1£
(1936): 171-190.
42]
R. H. Seashore, "Studies in Motor Rhythm,"
la. Stud. Psychol.,
9 (1926): 142-199;
"A Study in the Seashore Motor Rhythm Test," Psychol. Monog., 40 (1930):
J.
74-84. For a note on the Sievers rhythm test see H. M. Williams, "A Study in the
Prediction of Motor Rhythmic Performance of School Children," J. Genet. Psychol., 43
T. Nielsen,
(1933): 377-388.
43]
C. E. Seashore,
Chap.
1
The Psychology of Musical
Talent,
Boston, Silver,
Burdett,
19 19,
See also G. H. Smith, "Auditory Imagery in Music Reading," Thesis, Stanford
1.
U., 1947.
44]
C. E. Seashore, Manual oj Instructions and Interpretations Jor Measures of Musical Talent,
N.Y., Columbia Graphophone, 19 19.
45^]
H. Lowery,
1-14;
"On
the Integrative Theory of Musical Talent," J. Musical., 2 (1940):
Erit. J. Educ. Psychol., IJ
Mainwaring, "The Assessment of Musical Ability,"
J.
(1947): 83-96.
46]
The
leader of this group was J. L. Mursell.
See his The Psychology of Music, N.Y.,
Norton, 1937.
47]
R. Wyatt, "A Note on the Use of 'Omnibus' Training to Validate Seashore's
Capacity Hypothesis," Amer.J. Psychol., S2 (1939): 638-640.
48]
C. E. Seashore, Manual of Instructions and Interpretations Jor Measures of Musical Talent,
N.Y., Columbia Graphophone, 19 19. For a survey through 1930 of the research articles on
this first set of
Seashore measures see P. R. Farnsworth,
"An Historical,
mental Study of the Seashore-Kwalwasser Test Battery," Genet.
Critical,
and Experi-
Psychol. Monog.,
9 (193
i):
291-393.
49]
E.
M. McGinnis,
"Seashore's Measures of Musical Ability Applied to Children of the
Pre-school Age," Amer.J. Psychol., 40 (1928): 620-623.
£o]
F. S. Salisbury
and H. B. Smith, "Prognosis of Sight Singing Ability, "J. Appl.
Psychol.,
13 (1929): 42^-439£i]
M.
S.
Hattwick, "Manual of Instructions and Interpretations for
tion Test for
£2\
E. A.
Young Children,"
Gaw, "Five
U. of
la. Stud. Child.
Welf., 11
a Pitch
Discrimina-
(1935): 69-74.
Studies of the Music Tests," Psychol. Monog., 39 (1928): 14^-1^6.
2^1
THE MEASUREMENT OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
Psychology of Tone and Music," Genet. Psychol.
P. R. Farnsworth, "Studies in the
^3]
Monog., IS (1934): 4^—49; "Further Notes on the Seashore Music Tests, "J. Gen. Psychol.,
18 (1938): 429-431.
M.
^4]
E.
Brown, "A Note Concerning the Seashore Measures of Musical Talent,"
Sch.
and Soc, 30 (1929): 274-27^.
££]
J.
O'Connor, "Steps toward the
Hum. Engng.
L.
56]
M.
Isolation of Tonal
Memory
as a
Mental Element,"
Lab. Tech. Rep., 21 (1938).
Tilson, The Tilson-Gretscb Musical Aptitude Test, Chicago, Publ. Sch. Music Dept.,
Fred Gretsch Mfg., 1941.
R. Farnsworth, "Data on the Tilson-Gretsch Test for Musical Aptitude," J.
P.
£j\
4 (194^): 99-102.
Musical.,
C. E. Seashore, D. Lewis, and
^8]
J.
G. Saetveit, Manual, Seashore Measures of Musical
Talents,
N.Y., Psychol. Corp., 19^6.
^9]
G. Saetveit, D. Lewis, and C. E. Seashore,
J.
Revision of the Seashore Measures of
Musical Talent, Iowa City, U. of Iowa Press, 1940. Several researchers have adapted portions
of the Seashore battery for their own, nonmusical purposes.
Pitch-Memory Selection Test," OSRD
"A Revision of
Base,
60]
New
F.
S.
the
F.
March, 1944;
Navy Pitch-Memory Test," Med.
London, Conn., 9
See A. Ford, "The
J.
Lab., U.S. Naval
Res.
UCDWR
D. Harris and D. Charney,
Submarine
(195^0): i-io.
Salisbury and H. R. Smith, "Prognosis of Sight-Singing Ability of
School Students,"
61]
Report,
J. Appl. Psjcbol., 13
Normal
(1929): 42^-439.
A. Wright, "The Correlation between Achievement and Capacity in Music,"
J. Educ. Res.,
IJ (1928): 5^0-^6.
62]
H. C. Manor, "A Study
63]
P.
R.
in Prognosis," J. Educ. Psychol., 41 (19^0):
Farnsworth, "Are Music Capacity Tests
More Important
31— jo.
than Intelligence
Tests in the Prediction of Several Types of Music Grades?" J. Appl. Psychol., ig (193^):
347-3^064]
C. H. Lawshe,
Jr.,
and
W.
Wood, "Membership
F.
in
Musical Organizations as a
Criterion of Talent," Amer. J. Psychol., 60 (1947): 2^0-25^3.
65^]
P.
J.
Fay and
W.
C. Middleton, "Relationship between Musical Talent and Preferences
for Different Types of Music," J. Educ. Psychol., 32 (1941):
66]
E. C. Dunlevy, "Musical Training and
J73-5'83.
Measured Musical Aptitude,"
J. Musical.,
4
(1944): i-^.
67] P. R. Farnsworth,
"The Relation of the Auditory Capacities to the Feeling of Being
Musical," J. Musical., 2 (1941):
68]
la.
69]
1
19-122.
H. M. Stanton, "Measurement of Musical Talent: The Eastman Experiment," U. of
Stud. Psjchol. Alusic, 2 (i93i^):
W.
S.
i
— 140.
Larson, "Practical Experience with Music Tests," Mus. Ed. J., 24 (1938): 31.
See also R. C. Larson, "Finding and Guiding Musical Talent," Mus. Ed.
22-2S.
J.,
42 {13 £s):
THE MEASUREMENT OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
M.
E.
70]
"A Study
Taylor,
in the Prognosis of Musical Talent," J. Exp. Ed., 10 (1941):
1-28.
71]
J.
McLeish, "The Validation of Seashore's Measures of Musical Talent by Factorial
Methods,"
72]
J.
Brit. J. Psychol., Stat. Sect., 3
(19^0): 129-140.
W. Dykema,
Kwalwasser and P.
Kwalwasser-Bjkema Music
Tests,
N.Y., Fischer,
1930.
73]
P. R. Farnsworth, "Studies in the Psychology of
Tone and Music,"
Genet. Psjchol.
Monog., IS (1934): Sect. 9.
74]
For descriptions of the
Chapter
K-D measures
of melodic taste and tonal
movement
see
7.
7S] G. M. Gilbert, "'Aptitude' and Training: A Suggested
K-D Music Test Norms, "y. Appl. Psjchol. 25 (1941): 326-330;
,
Restandardization of the
P. R. Farnsworth, op.
cit.
76] J. A. Holmes, "Increased Reliabilities, New Keys, and Norms for a Modified
Kwalwasser-Dykema Test of Musical Aptitudes," J. Genet. Psychol., 8s (i95'4): 65-73.
77]
M.
T. Whitley,
"A Comparison of
the Seashore and
Kwalwasser-Dykema Music
Tests," Teach. Coll. Rec, 33 (1932): 731-751.
78]
J.
79]
R.
Kwalwasser, Kwalwasser Music Talent
M. Drake, "Four New
Test,
N.Y., Mills Music, 1953.
Tests of Musical Talent," J. Appl. Psjchol., ij (1933):
136-147.
80]
R.
M. Drake, Drake
81]
H.
S.
Calif.
82]
Tests,
Chicago, Science Research Associates,
Whistler and L. P. Thorpe, Whistler-Thorpe Musical Aptitude
R.
W.
Los Angeles,
Lundin, "The Development and Validation of a Set of Musical Ability Tests,"
No. 10 (1949).
H. Wing, "Tests of Musical Ability and Appreciation,"
No. 27 (1948); "Some Applications of Test Results
Psychol., 24 (1954): 161-170.
84]
Test,
Test Bureau, 1950.
Psjchol. Monog., 63,
83]
Musical Aptitude
E. K. Strong, Jr.,
Stanford U. Press,
teachers, see
M.
Vocational Interest Blank for Men, Revised Form
1938.
Kleist, C.
Interest Scales for
Brit. J. Psjchol.
For
a further
Monog. Suppl.,
to Education in Music," Brit. J. Educ.
M, Stanford,
Calif.,
attempt to construct Strong scales for music
H. Rittenhouse, and
P. R. Farnsworth, "Strong Vocational
Music Teachers," Occupations, 28 (1949):
1
00-101.
2^3
CHAPTER TEN
Applications of Music to Therapy
and Industry
Increasingly
over the years, music
therapy for the emotionally
output.
already
ill
and
as a
is
as a
Indeed, the job of furnishing music to shops and stores has
become
a sizable
and lucrative business. Yet the student
asks for proof of the medical and industrial
he will recognize
little that
likely
being employed both
goad to increase industrial
as
worth of music
having scientific validity.
he will be fed anecdotes and legends,
is
who
offered
More
than
e.g., the Bible story of
the mentally disturbed King Saul listening to young David's harp
playing.
He may be shown
improvement
in
learns that the
data
which demonstrate unmistakable
work output or emotional
adjustment.
music was given along with
a host of
or changes in industrial atmosphere and he
part music
may have
is left
But then he
other therapies
puzzling over the
played in the process, wondering
if it
was
really
the music that induced the changes.
o
Physiological Changes
As
a preliminary step
toward getting
a
clearer picture of the
it may be well to
human physiology. The
and modify moods needs no further
potential role of music in therapy and industry
examine what
thesis that
is
music can
defense (p. 94).
2^4
known
of
its
elicit
power
to affect
But can tone and rhythm affect blood pressure,
APPLICATIONS OF MUSIC TO THERAPY AND INDUSTRY
pulse,
man's
respiration rate,
processes?
life
may be
It
and other physiological manifestations of
categorically stated that music can
markedly
affect the
bodily processes. Yet the effects are not so striking as was once
thought.
It
was believed at one time, for instance, that the heart would,
within limitations, accommodate
its
beat to the pulse of the music
being heard. By the use of better apparatus and controls, however,
it
has been possible to re-examine the
data.^
Of
problem and
the subjects so far studied, only one
collect additional
showed any tendency
for synchrony of heartbeat and musical pulse, and even here the
correspondence was so
slight that it
may have been a matter of chance.
combed the experimental
Diserens and Fine, after having carefully
literature
up through the middle 1930's
on physiological processes,
Music
.
.
.
increases
its
regularity
.
.
.
offer the following conclusions:
.
.
.
.
increases
or
de-
accelerates respiration and decreases
produces marked but variable effect on volume,
.
.
modes.
stimuli of different
With some
.
.
pulse and blood pressure
still
metabolism
bodily
creases muscular energy
for studies of musical effects
.
.
lowers the threshold for sensory
.influences the internal secretions.^
rephrasing the conclusions of Diserens and Fine can
be accepted.
It is
reasonably clear that music has on occasion
increased the bodily metabolism of a certain few people and has
affected their muscular energy, respiration, and/or circulation.
generalization in this area
matons reacting
in a
is
But
dangerous since humans are not auto-
pushbutton fashion to music.
Nor
is all
music
the same, and the effect of one composition does not necessarily
resemble that of another. The idea that music can lower thresholds
(raise acuities) in
other sensory areas
experimenters. 3
However,
this
Dannenbaum, who found the
significantly impaired,
is
held by contemporary Soviet
notion has been questioned by
visual acuity of
each of his subjects
not improved, by the presence of music. 4 But
APPLICATIONS OF MUSIC TO THERAPY AND INDUSTRY
whether or not music can improve
visual acuity as such,
it is
able,
according to Lovs^enstein,5 to restore the size of eye-pupils w^hich
have been experimentally fatigued by
thus reduced in
size.
It
many exposures
to light and
should be added, however, that Lowenstein
obtained this effect with "very musical people" only.
He
is,
therefore,
inclined to think that this "restitution phenomenon," as he calls
it, is
not
a function of tonal stimuli per se but rather of psychological stimuli,
i.e.,
of stimuli which have real musical significance to the listener. At
any rate, here
An
an example of the fatigue-reducing capacity of music.
unpublished study by Dreher^ showed that the unmusical
well as the
more musical
exhibit galvanic changes
7
the
unmusical subjects.
There was
direct
a
as
while listening to
much weaker
But these electrical changes were found to be
music.
in
is
correspondence
between the degree of galvanic change and the importance of music
in the life of the listener.
Thirty-six students, randomly selected by Ellis and Brighouse from
volunteers in undergraduate psychology,^ listened to three recordings
—
and
Hall's Blue Interval, Debussy's Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun,
Liszt's
Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2
—while records were made of
their heart and respiration rates. Physiological records
were
also
kept
for several minutes before, and for as long as five minutes after, the
playing of the music. These experimenters report that no statistically
significant changes in heartbeat
in respiration rate
were found
were apparent
at
any time. But increases
in almost all subjects, particularly
during the playing of the Liszt and Hall numbers.
that
no respiration change
It is
of interest
lasted for longer than five minutes after
the cessation of the listening session, a finding which offers
encouragement to the music
It
therapists.
goes almost without saying that the findings of the Ellis-Brig-
house experiments might have been greatly different
if
either the
extremely musical or monotones had been tested, or
if
quite dis-
From what
is
known
similar compositions had
2^6
little
been presented.
of
APPLICATIONS OF MUSIC TO THERAPY AND INDUSTRY
we
psychology
should expect enormous individual differences to
And contemporary
exist in physiological responses to music.
ments bear out
experi-
In fact there are persons so readily
this expectation.
affected by music that listening to certain compositions leads to
And
epileptic attacks. 9
who
deaf,
can get
little
at the
other extreme there are the pitch-
or nothing from music except through the
kinesthetic and tactual senses.
The
on
physiological effects of music
the listener will be large or small, depending on the nature of the
composition which
A number
being heard.
is
of variables are of
importance here, including, among others, the presence or absence
of abrupt tempo changes, the acceptability or unacceptability of the
composition, and the personal associations the music has for the
As Miles and
listener.
Tilly have demonstrated,
the chief cause of respiratory changes.
^°
change in tempo
While tempo change
a factor in altering circulation, the attitude of the listener
composition seems to be a
far
more important
principles hold both while the listener
As the music becomes more
tized.
is
alert
familiar,
is
is
also
toward the
variable.
and while he
is
These
hypno-
more "understood" and
become more marked.
appreciated, the physiological changes tend to
How
The
extensive, then,
answ^er
music
is
elicits,
is
music's
power
to affect
body processes?
not an easy one to make. For the physiological changes
while substantial and varied in certain musical persons,
are relatively insignificant in the unmusical and appear to be shortlasting at best.
By and
large, the effects are greater the
music has "meaning" for the
may
call
That
is,
a given
the
composition
forth one set of effects in a musical person and quite
different changes in
differ
listener.
more
from one time
one not musically inclined.
to another in the
Or
the effects
same person depending on the
on the
training the individual has received in the meantime,
tions he has picked up, and
from these
facts that
on
his changes in
no composition
may
mood.
would follow
It
will be found
associa-
which can be
guaranteed to produce identical or even nearly identical physiological
17
FSP
APPLICATIONS OF MUSIC TO THERAPY AND INDUSTRY
changes
among
members
the
One
of any sizable population.
likely to find any considerable degree of generality of
is
not
body change
except perhaps where the effects are elicited through the hearing of
most of us have known well since
national and church hymns, music
With music which
early childhood.
common
of the
less a part
is
heritage, the chances of securing identical effects are slighter.
The Present Status of Music Therapy
Since music can undeniably alter both
physiological processes of
for therapy."
It
has,
and the physically
then, are
partial
its
ill
many
we know,
in
it
moods and some basic
may have some potential
long been used to treat the mentally
both preliterate and civilized cultures." Why,
medical qualities not more easily demonstrated?
answer can be found
hospitals.
persons,
It is
in the
way therapy
is
employed
want
natural that the psychiatrists should
mental health to the point where their patients can be
Most mental
speedily returned to their homes.
fully
in
to
A
mental
improve
safely
and
hospitals are dread-
crowded, and many more emotionally disturbed persons are
usually waiting to enter than can be accepted.
Under such
pressures, a research
program on musical or any other
kind of therapy can be only incidental,
a
must be
a
at best.
"buckshot" policy must be followed. That
tried
on each patient
in the
hope
combination of treatments will effect
of therapies makes
it
impossible to
tell
On
the curative side,
is,
a variety of therapies
that
some one of them or
a cure.
But
which one
this multiplicity
is
mainly respon-
when the patient improves, if he does improve. As a matter of
fact, it may sometimes be that no one therapy by itself contributes
very much to the subsequent "cure." The active agent may be the
friendly attention the patient has been receiving, or there may
sible
perhaps be some dynamic personality change which would have
occurred even though no therapy
2^8
at all
had been attempted.
APPLICATIONS OF MUSIC TO THERAPY AND INDUSTRY
With
the situation so beclouded, the one clear fact
is
that definitive
statements about the medical value of music must await the establish-
ment
another can be put through
some
where
of research-oriented hospitals
years away.
And
until
But
paces.
its
it
this
comes, there
research-heaven
winnow
Music
in Physical
is still
one can do but
is little
examine the anecdotes which abound and the
accept and from them try to
one therapy and then
first
beliefs the specialists
at least a
few grains of
fact. ^3
Therapy
Boring indeed are the exercises that the muscle- and joint-injured
must practice day
become,
able.
fit
if
It is
But
after day.
not actually enjoyable,
relatively easy to find
the needs of each patient.
encouraged.
piano.
if
set
at least
to music,
the exercises
considerably
more endur-
music with tempos and rhythms to
For leg injuries dancing
Finger exercise needs
may
call for
is
often
the playing of the
and throat muscles need to be strengthened, the
If facial
playing of brass or
wood-wind instruments may be
the leg-injured patient
who
possesses
For
appropriate.
no musical or dancing
skill,
pumping of a small organ may be prescribed. Time seems to
more quickly when music accompanies the therapeutic exer-
the foot
pass
cises,
and patient morale tends to be better maintained. This type of
musical therapy
is
usually administered in hospitals but
reasonably beneficial in the home,
benefit derived
Music
in
from seeing others
it
be
although here the additional
also exercising
is
missing.
Mental Therapy
When
ESTABLISHING CONTACT WITH THE PATIENT.
patient has
will
withdrawn
into a
world of daydreams, an early step
to re-establish the patient's contact with the
therapy
is
reality.
Often the psychotic will not
talk or take
much
the
in
world of
interest in
25-9
17-2
APPLICATIONS OF MUSIC TO THERAPY AND INDUSTRY
his surroundings.
Yet the patient
who
earUer had a deep love of
music and no frustrations associated with
to
melody and rhythm when he
principle.
to
match
patient.
drawn,
The music
is
sometimes respond
as to
be isomoodic and isotempic,
mood
and "mental tempo" of the
chosen so
so far as possible the
Thus, quiet, unobtrusive music
lively
is
selected for the with-
music for the maniacal, "feminine" music for one of
feminine mentality,
and held,
will
In such cases, Altshuler suggests the use of his "iso"
stimulation.
^4
it
will not react favorably to verbal
etc.
Later, after the attention has been aroused
a gradual shift in
type of music
is
engineered in the hope
that the patient's mental and physiological states will also change.
PLEASANTNESS AND THE FEELING OF BEING RESTED. Many
more alert and rested after listening to our favorite compositions.
A somewhat similar situation exists among those in
mental hospitals. But among the hospitalized, listening to music has
of US feel
the additional advantage of helping to pass the time, which can drag
frightfully.
Research has shown that a
between the
fairly
feeling of restfulness and the pleasantness of
between tiredness and unpleasantness).
.
strong relationship exists
^5
music (or
During the course of
life,
become associated. We should keep the fact of
mind and not listen to strange, and so potentially
pleasantness and rest
this association in
unpleasant, music at a time
when we
to understand the unfamiliar
is
feel
mentally fatigued. Striving
not a restful undertaking.
MUSIC AS A SOCIALIZING AGENT. The psychotic can be
regarded as a person who is poor in his interpersonal adjustments. He
badly needs music or some other resocializing agent. To supply such
a need, unison group singing and dancing are encouraged in the more
therapeutically oriented of our mental hospitals. These activities take
a
minimum
of alertness. Yet they bring about vitally needed inter-
personal contacts, they break the
260
monotony of institutional life, and,
APPLICATIONS OF MUSIC TO THERAPY AND INDUSTRY
for a short time at least, they
may
patient.
singing, the patient
once again
is
dissipate the personal worries
While engaged
which have beset the
a
member
in dancing or
group
of a functioning group.
THE SENSE OF ACHIEVEMENT AND PRESTIGE. Music
IcSSOnS
are often given in mental hospitals so that the patient can feel that he
is
achieving a real
skill,
leaves the institution.
comes the opportunity
or with vocal
one that he can continue to enjoy
With
skill in
playing a musical instrument
to perform in the hospital's orchestra or band,
place in the chorus. Such ensemble
skill a
he
after
a sense of achievement,
work
brings
bestowes prestige on the performers, and
aids in the process of socialization.
OTHER ATTEMPTS TO USE MUSIC.
With
SO
many
physicians
and musicians convinced of the existence of large physiological
from music,
hospitals
active,
it
and
effects
was inevitable that music should have been used
clinics to quiet the apprehensive, to
in
calm the hyper-
to stimulate the depressed, to reduce accidents, ^^ and to
distract
those
about to undergo dental work or surgery.
The
reported successes of such uses of music vary with the enthusiasms
Sad to relate, therapy data are rarely recorded in
of the therapists.
terms which mean
perceived benefit
is
much
to
the scientist.
more properly
To what
extent the
attributable to the attention the
patient gets than to the music cannot at present be figured.
may be an appreciable
remains,
fraction of the therapeutic effect.
however, that there are patients
apprehensive,
less
who
are
The
But
it
fact still
visibly
less
maniacal, or less depressed after sessions with
musical therapy.
the"musicopoeia."
Although normal persons and psychotics
of like subculture react in a fairly similar fashion to music, there
seems to be enough dissimilarity to
justify the rule that all
music to
261
APPLICATIONS OF MUSIC TO THERAPY AND INDUSTRY
be employed with psychotics should be pretested on psycho tics /7
This rule appears to be followed rather religiously in
while in others the therapist's
own
some quarters
feelings or those of his friends
furnish the guide for his selection of the compositions he will use.
If
he
is
patients
psychoanalytically oriented, he
on simple
may
Each musical therapist seems to have
"^^
his favored list of musical
compositions. Thus, for relieving serious headaches
Rhapsody
No.
1,
Mendelssohn's
Prince Igor; "popular"
Suite
Paris;
in
Brown
offers
includin^r such old "classics" as Liszt's Hungarian
ones like Grofe's
and "moderns"
and Copland's Lincoln
Portrait.
like
Don
Mozart's
Elijah,
Offenbach's Tales of Hojfmann, Beethoven's
American
"seem
folk tunes, following the theory that these
to resupply or reactivate the mother-child complex.
some 40 pieces
convalescing
start his
Fidelio,
Mississippi
Giovanni,
and Borodin's
and Gershwin's
Khachaturian's Masquerade
^^
Arrington suggests the following "reassuring" compositions for use
just before electroshock treatment:
Beethoven's
First
Piano
/kfoonii^ Ac Sonata,
Concerto
Largo from Bach's Concerto
Brahms's Intermezzo
(Second
Movement),
in
E
Flat,
in A,
Chopin's
Mendelssohn's
Italian
Symphony (Second Movement), and Rachmaninov's Second Concerto
(Second Movement).
During the awakening period Arrington con-
siders these as appropriate: Kern's
Look Tonight,
Chopin's Waltzes
Album, and Adamson's Time on
Show Tunes, Fields's The Way You
in
A and
Mj
Hands.
C,
Berlin's Eddie Duchin
To Arrington
are musical tonics: Tchaikovsky's Sixth Symphony (Third
these eight
Movement),
Beethoven's Egmont Overture, Chopin's Prelude, Opus 28 No.
Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2, Bizet's
Marches, Offenbach's Gaiete
Toreador'' s Song,
Parisienne,
1, Liszt's
Sousa's Military
and Bach's Prelude and Fugue
in
E Minor; and these nine are musical sedatives: Mascagni's Cavalleria
Rusticana (Intermezzo), Schubert's Ave Maria, Saint-Saens's The Swan,
Brahms's LuUahj, Beethoven's
Chopin's Nocturne
262
in
G
Sixth
Symphony (Second Movement),
Minor, Debussy's Clair de Lune, Schubert's
APPLICATIONS OF MUSIC TO THERAPY AND INDUSTRY
Quartet
Sonata.
B
in
and
(Andante),
Minor
Flat
Beethoven's
Moonlight
^°
Sugarman attempts to lower "emotional high blood pressure"
through renditions of a variety of compositions which include:
Bach's Concerto
Bruckner's Mass
of the
D
in
E
in
Minor for
Bartok's Sonata for Piano,
Sjmphony No.
3,
Dead, and Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake Ballet
among which
eating he suggests 20 pieces,
Violin,
Ravel's La
and
Rachmaninov's
Isle
To accompany
Suite.
are Bartok's Sonata for
Debussy's Children's Corner
Valse,
Concerto No. 2 in A,
To
Violin,
Minor, Ives's
Ives's Sonata No. 2 for Violin
Suite,
and
Liszt's
Piano.'^^
replace jealousy and suspicion with contentment, Hillard offers
Anthiel's
Quartet No. 5,
Bach's
4,
Chopin's Nocturne
and Ravel's Quartet
mentions
No.
Sonata
Piano
Bach's
in
F To
.
Italian
in
D
Cantata
Flat,
No.
Milhaud's
21,
Suite Frangaise,
relieve chronic hatred this
Concerto,
Haydn's
Bartok's
same author
Sjmphony,
Clock
and
Sibelius 's Finlandia.^'^
Girard
claims
to
reduce
Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata,
anger with
Bach's
Grofe's Aviation
Sonata in D, and Franck's Sjmphonj in
D
Minor.
Cantata
Suite,
To overcome
Girard would play Chopin's Mazurkas and Preludes,
Waltzes, Nevin's
The
lists
literature. ^4
Narcissus,
and Rubinstein's Melody
above are typical of what one
finds
in
f
in
No.
2,
Prokofiev's
the
anxiety,
Strauss
.^3
the current
Quite clearly they are the resultants of "rule of thumb"
rather than scientific procedures.
changes both in
mood and
It is
very probable, of course, that
in overt activity have
sometimes occurred
following the playing of these and other musical compositions, but
the causal connections between the music and the behavioral changes
are obscure.
Moreover,
at this stage in the history of the institu-
tional use of music, little or
venture to another
is
no generalization from one therapeutic
warranted. The reader should not conclude,
however, that music has no future
may demonstrate
in therapy.
Indeed, later research
large benefits attributable to the music alone.
At
263
APPLICATIONS OF MUSIC TO THERAPY AND INDUSTRY
the very least,
it
would seem
morale
that the
many
lift
patients
receive from this kind of treatment amply justifies the effort involved.
And
surely
The
no great harm
Effects
is
likely to
come from
of Music on Achievement
MUSIC AND ACTIVITY.
Although many of the phenomena of
the laboratory cannot be replicated in "real"
carry over or at least can be
may
facilitate later
work
made
sway of people
who were
life
many
life,
others
to yield cues and principles
v^ill
which
outside the laboratory. Thus, Husband's
finding, that several rather different sorts of
applicable to
the use of music.
attempting to stand
generally. ^5
music
still,
all
increased the
would seem
As might have been guessed,
caused greater sway than music of other
styles.
Work
at the
to
be
jazz
Stanford
University laboratories has carried the Husband study farther to
show
that even thinking of jazz
music can increase sway. That
is,
more while they
rhythmical music than when they imagined
subjects told to stand as quietly as possible swayed
imagined hearing strongly
themselves studying in an easy chair.
It
would seem,
then, that the
activation of either the ear or the "mind's ear" can lead to slight
body movements which are of measurable
size.^^
Diserens and Fine report a series of laboratory experiments on the
As pioneer work their research
influence of music on behavior.
should be commended.
the present day
it
However, viewed
inust be said that the study generalizes too freely
and concerns too few subjects.
show the
froin the vantage-point of
variety of areas
it
Its
conclusions are given here only to
encompassed.
Music tends to reduce or delay fatigue and consequently
increases muscular endurance. Music has no definite effect on
precision or accuracy of movement,
to the
rhythm of the work.
It
if
the rhythm
reduced accuracy
and handwriting, the result being shown
264
in
is
not adapted
in typewriting
an increased
number
APPLICATIONS OF MUSIC TO THERAPY AND INDUSTRY
of errors.
vs^riting
Music speeds up such voluntary
and handw^riting.
It
increases the extent of muscular reflexes
Music reduces normal
dravs^ing, etc.
activities as type-
also accelerates respiration.
employed
Music
in writing,
except in
suggestibility,
the case of direct suggestion involving color, in which case
suggestibility
produce
is
Music seems to have
increased.
a shift in
a
tendency to
normal preference for chromatic and achro-
matic impressions, the change being toward the blue end of the
spectrum and the white end of the achromatic
series.
Music
has a tendency to reduce the extent of illusion by acting as a
distracting factor.
of the
human body
Music influences the
as
electrical conductivity
manifested by increased fluctuations in the
psychogalvanic reflex. ^7
TYPING, MEMORY, AND READING.
effects of jazz
no
effect
errors.
and dirges on
on the speed of
is
his subjects' typing,
seemed to have
did increase their
Dirge
Jensen's findings appear reasonable.
obviously not in synchrony with good typing speed.
work accuracy would very
environment which,
likely
like jazz,
found by Whitely to have
insignificant,
compete
for attention.
might not have appeared
might be
fitting to
Music was
a very small detrimental influence
however, that with
And
be affected by factors of the
learning and retention of verbal material. ^9
It
jazz
it
Dirges, on the other hand, decreased the typing speed but
had no effect on errors.
time
Jcusen has Studied the
Although
typing. ^^
slightly
The
effects
on the
were
so
changed conditions they
at all.
describe here
some experiments
at
Stanford
University in which subjects were engaged in pursuit and codelearning tasks while in the presence of attention-getting noise
approximately the 70-decibel
level. 3°
After a
half of the subjects continued their tasks
in their ears while the other
number
with the noise
group proceeded
of
trials,
still
at,
one-
booming
in relative quiet.
It is
of interest that no consistent or significant differences appeared
26^
APPLICATIONS OF MUSIC TO THERAPY AND INDUSTRY
between the performances of these two groups during any of the
Here
trials.
organism
is
an example of the fact that
who
will
learn
and
man
a rather adaptable
is
under
retain
extremely
trying
circumstances.
Although learning can proceed reasonably well
one might think would be
in the face of
what
a considerable distraction, there are limits
beyond which the disturbance becomes
a real
detriment to learning.
Thus, Fendrick showed that music could be a serious distraction to
persons reading very difficult material. 3^
It
may be
that psychologists are minimizing the distracting eff^ects
of music through their almost exclusive use of college students as
subjects.
If
persons
fifty
years of age or
more were
to be tested, the
data might look quite different, for these older persons learned to
read and study without the blaring of radio or phonograph. For them
music
and
is
not an integral part of the reading process.
his colleagues
slightly the
had no
Henderson
demonstrated that popular music lessened only
paragraph comprehension of their college subjects and
harm vocabulary
did not
When
effect
learning at
and that
all,
on either of these aspects of reading
"classical"
skill,
music
they were
presenting data which perhaps relate solely to college populations. 3^
The
fact that
of music and
is
some of
still
these latter claimed to study without the "aid"
were not bothered by the music of the experiment
of interest but cannot be taken at face value.
atypical students are far
come from homes
more
So
have
noisy with music from phonograph or radio.
read in the sanctuary of a quiet study
modern
For even these
likely than are their elders to
is
To
not characteristic of the
youth.'
far the discussion has
centered on music
as a distraction.
It
might be expected, however, that readers can sometimes benefit
from background music, particularly
tomed
True
266
if
they are young and accus-
to the simultaneity of such auditory and visual stimulation.
to expectation, examples of actual gain in reading speed can be
APPLICATIONS OF MUSIC TO THERAPY AND INDUSTRY
seen in the data of Freeburne and Fleischer
sitions to college subjects as they
had
Hall, too,
a facilitating effect.
reading of some persons. 34
school group
studied. 33
made higher
may have
music
played jazz compo-
other sort of music
found music beneficial to the
Almost 60 per cent of
scores
on the
Nelson Silent Reading Test
on
effect
facilitating
a
his junior-high-
Mikol and Denny demonstrate
while hearing background music.
that
who
No
rotary
pursuit
performances. 35
The
data so far considered indicate that for
hearing of music during study hours has
and study
for
is
still
many persons the forced
little
or no effect on reading
For others there may be adverse consequences and
habits.
others there may be measurable benefit.
The type of music
that
heard, the difficulty of the material to be read, and the study and
reading habits of the person being tested appear to be the pertinent
variables
which account
for the diversity of effects so far reported.
REPETITIVE WORK.
The proof of music's
usefulness for in-
dustry has been best demonstrated for repetitive work. This
surprising
when
world over have
not
Negro stevedores and laborers the
recalled that
it is
is
work
typically synchronized their
speeds to the
tempos of music and have derived much benefit therefrom. Their
morale has been
lifted
smoother and more
Modern
and their work movements have been made
efficient
shops, too, have
by the directing force of group singing.
work which
for these factory workers that
them music
highly repetitive, and
it is
played.
For
in industry
number of possible benefits
smoother motor performance. 3^
has a
and make for
the daydreams which occupy
in this class of labor.
to hear
is
most music
much
has his interests at heart and
conditions. There
may
is
It
of the mental
Moreover, the
music while laboring may
It
:
may relieve fatigue
may supply food for
life
fact that the
signify to
him
is
of those engaged
worker
that the
is
allowed
management
attempting to improve his working
be, then, a considerable raising of morale.
267
APPLICATIONS OF MUSIC TO THERAPY AND INDUSTRY
NONREPETiTiVE WORK.
requiring
With
little intellectual effort
may prove
of music each day
siderable intellectual effort
is
nonrepctitive
the introduction of several periods
quite
worker
But where con-
worth while.
involved music
and may have a harmful effect on output.
feeling the
work
factory
It
is
may have
has for the music
less
often beneficial
should be noted that the
do with
little to
its
He may desire it and be quite certain that it is
work when in reality it is not. In those fewer instances,
value to his work. 37
aiding his
usually in offices,
who
where music
uses his brain
more
than his hands, the type of music found to be
appropriate resembles but
the labor
found to be of benefit to the worker
is
little
the kind used for
more manual. As might be
is
far softer, less regularly
workrooms where
guessed, office music must be
rhythmic, with fewer dynamic changes, and
without words.
OTHER CLAIMS FOR MUSIC.
Proponents of industrial music
have at one time or another maintained that, by the proper use of music
absenteeism and personnel turnover can be reduced; and physical
health, punctuality and plant safety can
students of plant music, however,
So
far,
have not found these
effects.
these alleged benefits have not been reported in the better
controlled studies. Yet
it
occasion. For might not
a
be improved. There are other
who
a
is
conceivable that they could occur on
worker be
company which brought music
become more punctual and
less
so filled with
to
its
good
will
toward
workers that he would
prone to "play" sick or
to quit his
job?
THE FORMULAE FOLLOWED.
in
complete agreement
The
in their musical prescriptions.
however, that care should be taken
beginning of recess periods. That
just before
268
authorities are
time to stop work,
by no means
They do
agree,
lest
music be conditioned to the
if
music were played each day
is,
its
presentation
would
give the
APPLICATIONS OF MUSIC TO THERAPY AND INDUSTRY
workers
home" cue which obviously would not
a "going
lead to
enthusiasm for work.
Some
students of industrial music take great pains to give the
workers exactly what they want to hear while others
much
preference aspect has been
overemphasized. These latter assert
that research attention should rather
But where preference
feel that the
be focused on output changes.
emphasized, folk music and operas are often
is
played to the foreign-born workers. The female voice
much
often than the male, since
less
appreciated.
The
British, as a
its
is
broadcast
higher register
matter of fact, rule out
all
is
not so
vocal music
because they have noticed a tendency for the laborer to stop work
and write down the
lyrics
he particularly enjoys. Sex differences for
the sort of music most preferred seem few in number.
differences
loom
larger,
Generation
with the older workers preferring, on the
whole, quieter and more serious music.
In
one extensive study of factory music, the optimum
when music
output was found to occur
time for the day
shift
Muzak Corporation,
i
2
effect
on
per cent of the
and go per cent for the night crew. 3^ The
the leading firm devoted to supplying music to
industry, has a rule of not
eight-hour workday.
played
v^^as
more than three hours
A common
formula
is
of music for each
to have ten to fifteen
minutes of music each half-hour in factories and ten to twenty
minutes each hour in those
offices
where music seems
to be favorably
received.
LIMITATIONS OF CONCLUSIONS. We have seen that the
made on behalf of industrial music largely await validation.
claims
Perhaps the most promising area
is
that of
worker morale,
factory workers playing an ever growing role in plant
worker morale
cerned.
With
so
is
for with
management,
becoming of increasing importance
to
all
con-
But even here definitive experiments have yet to be made.
many workers
calling for
music
in their factories,
it
is
269
APPLICATIONS OF MUSIC TO THERAPY AND INDUSTRY
probable that management will continue to provide for
this desire,
thus giving further opportunities for the gathering of sound data.
Eventually, then, a
more adequate assessment
may
of industrial music
be forthcoming. 39
Notes
D. M. Johnson and M. Trawick, "Influence of Rhythmic Sensory Stimuli upon the
i]
Heart-Rate,"
6 (1938): 303—310.
M. Diserens and H.
C.
2]
y. Psychol.,
A Psychology of Music, Cincinnati, pubUshed by the
Fine,
authors, 1939, p. 25^3.
D. London, "Research on Sensory Interaction
I.
3]
in the Soviet
Union,"
Psychol. Bull.,
51 (i9?4): Si^-S^^-
A. Dannenbaum, "The Effect of Music on Visual Acuity," Sarah Lawrence Stud., 4
(194-S)- 18-26.
4]
O.
^]
Lowenstein,
M. Grunewald
Der psychische
RestitutionseJJekt,
in Music Therapy, E. Podolsky, ed.,
Basel,
Schwabe,
See also
1937.
N.Y., Philosophical Library, 1954,
241-2^1.
R. E. Dreher, "The Relationship between Verbal Reports and Galvanic Skin Responses
6]
to Music," Thesis, Indiana U., 1947.
The
7]
galvanic skin response refers to the fact that the electrical resistance of the skin
measurably decreased whenever, during emotional
is
the skin surfaces; R.
j. Psychol.,
8]
D.
I.
S. Ellis
and G. Brighouse, "Effects of Music on Respiration and Heart-Rate," Amer.
6s (19^2): 39-47; also published
Philosophical Library, 195^4, 1^8-169.
M.
produced on
44 (1957): 111-127.
J. Psychol.,
9]
states, perspiration is
Henkin, "The Prediction of Behavior Response Patterns to Music,"
"Two
Critchley,
(1942): 182-184;
S.
in Music Therapj, E. Podolsky, ed.,
N.Y.,
Cases of Musicogenic Epilepsy," J. Royal Naval Med. Serv., 28
Taylor, "Musicogenic Epilepsy: Case," J. Kojal 'Naval Med. Serv.,
28 (1942): 394-39S.
10]
J.
Gazette,
1
1]
R. Miles and C. R. Tilly, "Some Physiological Reactions to Music," Guy's Hospital
4^ (193^): 319-322.
Music therapy
of the therapists
I
2]
F.
3]
now
denotes
a
very young but growing profession. The house-organ
the Bulletin of the National Association for Music Therapj.
Densmore, "Importance of Rhythm
American
1
is
That music therapy
is
in its infancy
270
Songs for the Treatment of the Sick by
can also be seen in the fact that the
course designed to create specialists in this
institution
in
Indians," Sci. Month., 79 (1954): 109-112.
which
started the curriculum
field
was not introduced
was Michigan
first
until
State University.
four-year
1944.
The
APPLICATIONS OF MUSIC TO THERAPY AND INDUSTRY
14]
M.
I.
Altshuler, "Rational Music-Therapy of the Mentally
Assoc. Proc,
i^]
W.
C. Middleton,
et al.,
H.
S.
Mus.
Nat.
Teach.
"The Effect of Music on Feelings of Restfulness-Tiredness,
and Pleasantness-Unpleasantness,"
16]
111,"
1939, 15^3-15^7.
J. Psjchol.,
IJ (1944): 299—318.
Whiting, in "Effect of Music on Hospital Accident Rate," Amer.
J. Ment. T)ef.,
SI (1947): 397—400, maintains that music played over the radio in a hospital for mental
defectives can produce a drastic reduction in the
number
of accidents on the wards.
For
further material on music in hospitals for mental defectives see A. Wendelin and T. L.
Engle, "A Survey of Musical Activities in Institutions for the Mentally Deficient," Amer.
J. Ment. Dejic,
17]
B. Simon,
S9
{^9S4-)'-
et al.,
206-209.
"The Recognition and Acceptance of
Patients, "J. Nerv. Ment. Dis.,
18]
G.
W.
Mood
in
Music by Psychotic
II4 (1951): 66-78.
Ainlay, "The Place of Music in Military Hospitals," Etude, 63 (1945^): 433,
468, 480.
19]
M. Brown
L.
in Music Therapj, E. Podolsky, ed.,
N.Y., Philosophical Library, 19^4,
13^-138.
20]
G. E. Arrington,
I9j'4,
2^2-287. See
Jr., in
Music Therapy, E. Podolsky, ed., N.Y., Philosophical Library,
also the longer lists
from the chapter by H. G.
Price,
et al.,
in the
same book, pp. 95^—100.
Sugarman
in Music Therapy, E. Podolsky, ed.,
N.Y., Philosophical Library, 19^4,
21]
P.
22]
B. Hillard in Music Therapy, E. Podolsky, ed., N.Y., Philosophical Library,
I
1954,
21-1 29.
23]
J.
Girard in Music Therapy, E. Podolsky, ed., N.Y., Philosophical Library,
195^4,
loi— 106.
24]
For further references on music therapy, see L. Gilman and
Your Emotions, N.Y., Liveright, 19^2, 24-^^;
S.
H. Licht, Music
F. Paperte,
in Medicine,
Music and
Boston,
New
England Conservatory of Music, 1946; D. M. Schullian and M. Schoen, eds., Music and
Medicine, N.Y., Schuman, 1948; D. Soibelman, Therapeutic and Industrial Uses of Music,
N.Y., Columbia U. Press, 1948;
and Therapy," Mus. Teach. Nat.
25]
R.
W.
de Wall, "Functional Use of Music in Industry
Proc, 1944, 147-IJ3.
Husband, "The Effects of Musical Rhythms and Pure Rhythms on Bodily
Sway," J. Gen.
26]
W. Van
Ass.
Psychol., 11
(1934): 328-336.
That music can stimulate compensatory movements which can aid one's sense of
balance has been demonstrated by
W.
Lavere in "The Influence of Musical Training and
Musical Accompaniment on the Sense of Equilibrium," Master's Thesis, Syracuse U., 19^0.
27]
C.
M. Diserens and H.
Fine,
A Psychology of Music, Cincinnati, published by the
authors, 1939, pp. 273-274.
28]
M.
B. Jensen,
"The Influence of Jazz and Dirge Music upon Speed and Accuracy of
Typing," J. Educ. Psychol., 22 (1931): 4^8-462.
271
APPLICATIONS OF MUSIC TO THERAPY AND INDUSTRY
29]
"The Influence of Music on Memory,"
P. L. Whitely,
J. Gen. Psychol.,
10 (1934):
137-15130]
P. R. Farnsworth,
J. Genet. Psychol.,
31]
P. Fendrick,
Res., 31
32]
M.
traction
33]
"Continued Training with the Omission of Certain Nebenreize,"
SO (1937): 277-282.
"The Influence of Music Distraction upon Reading Efficiency,"
J. Educ.
(1937): 264-271.
T. Henderson, A. Crews, and
on Reading
J.
Barlow, "A Study of the Effect of Music Dis-
Efficiency," J. Appl. PsjchoL, 29 (1945):
313-317.
C. M. Freeburne and M. Fleischer, "The Effect of Music Distraction upon Reading
Rate and Comprehension,"
J. Educ. Psychol.,
43 (19^2): loi — 109.
"The Effect of Background Music on the Reading Comprehension of 278
34]
8th and 9th Grade Students," J. Educ. Res., 45 (19^2): 4(^1-45^8.
J. C. Hall,
l^]
B.
Mikol and M. R. Denny, "The Effect of Music and Rhythm on Rotary Pursuit
Performance," Percep. Mot.
36]
Skills,
According to E. Podolsky
1945^,
5 {i9Ss)'- 3-6.
as
reported in Music for Your Health, N.Y., Ackerman,
almost any musical rhythm can be employed in factories since the rhythm of the
worker's task
is little
affected by the
claim which needs verification.
rhythm of the music he
hears. This
is
an astonishing
See also "Soap Wrappers' Jig," J. Amer. Med. Assoc,
1
SJ
(i9SS)- 1329-133037]
W. McGehee
Psychol., 2
38]
and
J.
E.
Gardner, "Music in a Complex Industrial Job," Personnel
(1949): 405-417-
H. C. Smith, "Music in Relation to Employee Attitudes, Piecework Production, and
Industrial Accidents," Appl. Psychol. Monog.,
39]
No. 14 (1947).
For a most optimistic report of British industrial music see L. Kaplan and R. Nettel,
"Music in Industry,"
Biol.
Hum.
Ajfairs,
London, 13 (1948): 129— 13
j.
For a discussion of
Muzak in getting music to industry see E. M. Werner, Work Music by
Muzak, N.Y., Muzak Corp., 1948. See also R. L. Cardinell, "Music in Industry," in
Music and Medicine, D. M. Schullian and M. Schoen, eds., N.Y., Schuman, 1948, 3^2-366.
the part played by
272
Epilog ue
IVl usic has been variously
called the
most mathematical of the
the purest, and the least universal. That
it is
highly mathematical
have already seen, particularly in the data of Chapter
in the book, how^ever, has there
arts,
In
2.
been the suggestion that
we
no place
a satisfactory
mathematical formula for forecasting musical taste or beauty has been
or
likely to
is
be discovered. Since there
is
no
invariant relationship
between musical stimuli and human responses,
toward the same stimuli change with the
since
attitudes
years, such a formula
be unthinkable. The mathematics of the Lydian
mode
would
has not been
altered over the years since Plato banned this arrangement of tones
as
harmful to man's character.
porary Western world
this
But to many people of the contem-
sequence has become the only "proper"
scale.
Music
nature.
is
pure in the sense that
Music
each listener
is
tells
it
only rarely copies the sounds of
no clear-cut story with universal meaning. Yet
trained to read local meanings into
what he
He recognizes a Wagnerian motive, a needed resolution,
hymn and thus sharesin the enjoyment of his associates.
ever, the very paucity of these local meanings
opportunity to implant in the music his
associations.
fantasy
Thus
this art
medium
own
which
hears.
or a church
It is,
gives
how-
him the
personal images and
serves as an important aid to his
life.
273
18
FSP
EPILOGUE
The
acceptability of any musical
Listener satiations gradually build
Sometimes the changes are
form grows, but
later diminishes.
up and eventually
lead to change.
in the direction of innovations, while at
other times they point back toward what was acceptable at an earlier
time.
If
the
new forms
differ too
achieve general acceptance.
rule and
A
apt at first to
is
major
must look
thesis
for
its
this
explanations far
It is
change
L at every
seem undesirable
developed in
to physical science.
markedly from the old they do not
book
more
a violation of
is
some
to the conservative.
the notion that music
is
often to social science than
granted that the very beginnings of music
are tied to man's physical surroundings, to the presence of instrument-
building materials,
and to the physics of simple
ratios.
Man's
psychophysiological potentialities also affect music's development.
But the
fact that the
music of one culture has gone through certain
phases that are not duplicated in another culture must be explained
largely
on the
basis of sociopsychological
and historical factors, not
Music's changes, like style changes
physical or physiological factors.
generally, are lawful, not in an absolutistic or metaphysical sense,
but in the
way
that other social
phenomena
This book has attempted to uncover a
are lawful.
number
psychological variables behind music change.
to
come many other
factors will
be
isolated.
described here should lead to greater, not
for
it
seems to be
a
fairly
274
it.
less,
doubt
in the years
Research of the sort
musical enjoyment,
general principle that the
understands the complexities of a
takes in
No
of the socio-
phenomenon
the
more
more man
delight he
APPENDIX
I
1 N Chapter 6
it
The Musical Taste
American
.
was noted that
of an
Elite'
1938 the members of the American
in
Musicological Society had been sent questionnaires through which
was hoped
in
a
1944 and
measure of their musical
still
later in 195^1 the
taste
might be obtained. Again
members
were interrogated. At the time of the
it
last
of this elite organization
data-gathering, the 37^
who
cooperated were given two questionnaires, one containing 11 £
names of composers born before 1870 and the other listing 249
born since 1870. There were two
tasks.
The
was for the
first
musicologist-respondent to check in each of the two questionnaires
the ten musicians he felt had
composed music most
vs^orthy to
be
called to the attention of his children and his lay contemporaries.
As
a
second task he was to consider
all
474 names and, with the same
criterion in mind, was to choose the top
The
first
of the tables below gives the £o
frequently chosen
among
second table gives the
lists.
Note
25".
i
o
i
the
who were
composers born since
selected
the most
1870.
most often from the combined
that 24 of the first table appear also in the second.
a finding gives
The
no support to the notion so commonly held
Such
that the
musically elite honor neither their contemporaries nor those recently
deceased.
i]
See P. R. Farnsworth, "The Musical Taste of an American Elite," Hinricbsen's Musical
Year Book, J (i^ ^2):
18-2
ii2— ii6.
THE MUSICAL TASTE OF AN AMERICAN ELITE
Composers Born Since
Rank Order
1870
Rank Order
29-5
Barber, S.
4S-S
Malipiero, G.
2
Bartok, B.
36
Martinu, B.
49
Bax, A.
20
Menotti, G.
12
Berg, A.
13
Milhaud, D.
43
Berlin,
I.
23
Piston,
11
Bloch, E.
27
Poulenc, F.
9
40
Britten, B.
6
Chavez, C.
10
Rachmaninov,
Copland, A.
4
24
M.
Reger, M.
25-5
Respighi, O.
8
32
Dohnanyi, E.
16
Falla,
14
Gershwin, G.
4S-5
Grainger, P.
M. de
4S-S
5
W.
Prokofiev, S.
Romberg,
S.
Schonberg, A.
W.
29-5
Griffes, C.
49
Schuman,
29-5
Hanson, H.
21
Scriabin, A.
Sessions, R.
2S-S
3
33-S
S.
Ravel,
Harris, R.
29-5
Hindemith, P.
15
Shostakovich, D.
Hoist, G.
49
Sowerby, L.
18
Honegger, A.
40
Ibert, J.
1
Stravinsky,
I.
45-5
Thompson, R.
42
Varese, E.
17
Ives,
37
Khachaturian, A.
33-5
Kodaly, Z.
19
40
Kreisler, F.
22
Walton,
35
Krenek, E.
38
Webern, A.
C.
7
Vaughan Williams,
Villa-Lobos, H.
W.
Eminent Composers of all Time
Rank Order
nk Order
88-5
Bach,
J.
2
Bach,
J. S.
59-5
Britten, B.
41
Bruckner, A.
71
Bach, K. P. E.
52
Buxtehude, D.
16
Bartok, B.
27
Byrd,
1
Beethoven, L.
72
Berg, A.
21
Berlioz,
55-5
Bizet,
66
Bloch, E.
3
276
C.
H.
G.
Brahms,
J.
100
W.
Chausson, E.
11
Chopin,
47
43
40
Copland, A.
6-S
F.
Corelli, A.
Couperin the Great
Debussy, C.
R,
THE MUSICAL TASTE OF AN AMERICAN ELITE
Rank Order
Rank Order
92
Donizetti, G.
10
Palestrina,
82-5
Dowland,
80
Pergolesi, G.
36
Dufay, G.
78
Dunstable,
38
100
J.
G.
74
Perotinus
88-5
Piston,
Dvorak, A.
34
Prokofiev, S.
Elgar, E.
45-5
Puccini, G.
76
Falla,
61-5
J.
M. de
W.
H.
20
Purcell,
Faure, G.
55-5
Rachmaninov,
97
Foster, S.
49
Rameau,
28-S
Franck, C.
26
Ravel,
S.
J.
M.
53-5
Frescobaldi, G.
85-5
Respighi, O.
45-5
Gabrieli, G.
44
Rimsky-Korsakov, N.
58
Gershwin, G.
59-5
Rossini, G.
85-5
Gesualdo, D.
74
Saint-Saens, C.
66
Gibbons, O.
69
Scarlatti,
A.
28-5
Gluck, C.
35
Scarlatti,
D.
84
Gounod, C.
22
Schonberg, A.
66
Gregory the Great
48
Grieg, E.
12
Schumann, R.
8
Handel, G.
31
Schutz, H.
100
Hanson, H.
94-5
Scriabin, A.
Haydn,
57
Shostakovich, D.
4
F. J.
6-5
Schubert, F.
23
Hindemith, P.
30
Sibelius, J.
80
Honegger, A.
82-5
Smetana, B.
77
Ives, C.
97
Sousa, J
33
Josquin des Pres
51
Strauss, J. Jr.
88-5
Landino, F.
18
Strauss, R.
25
Lasso,
13
Stravinsky,
32
Liszt, F.
92
Sullivan,
O.
74
Lully, J.
66
MacDowell,
42
38
I.
A.
94-5
Sweelinck,
19
Tchaikovsky, P.
Machaut, G.
92
Telemann, G.
Mahler, G.
50
Vaughan Williams, R,
97
Massenet,
14
Verdi, G.
17
Mendelssohn,
61-5
Victoria, T.
80
Menotti, G.
88-5
Villa-Lobos, H.
70
Milhaud, D.
38
Vivaldi, A.
15
Monteverdi, C.
24
Moussorgsky, M.
5
66
Mozart,
E.
J.
W.
Ockeghem,
F.
J.
53-5
Wagner, R.
Weber, C. M. von
63
Wolf, H.
9
J.
277
APPENDIX
2.
Glossary'
Skill
ability.
of any sort; relative importance of inheritance and
environment not considered
(cf. capacity, talent).
Ability to locate a pitch without the need
absolute or positive pitch.
of a reference tone; the allowable error
less
Signs indicating sharps,
accidental signs.
flats,
very slight, perhaps
flats,
double sharps, double
naturals.
arpeggio.
Tones of
atonality.
Absence of key
Throbbing
beats.
is
than lo cents.
a
chord played
in
in rapid succession.
music.
effect elicited
when two
tones very close together
in pitch are simultaneously sounded.
beta learning.
Negative practice, that
is,
the errors are deliberately
practiced.
cadence.
Melodic or harmonic figure which has come to have an
association with the ending of a phrase, a section, or
compo-
sition.
capacity.
cent.
* This
Basic potentiality; importance of heredity
Tonal span of
stressed.
200 of an octave.
glossary attempts to define psychological terms for the musician and musical terms
for the psychologist.
It is
of his craft described in
278
i/i
is
to be expected that the psychologist will prefer to see the terms
more
exact language, as will the musician
his.
GLOSSARY
chromesthesia
Visual image of hallucinatory intensity aroused by
.
some auditory stimulus
coefficient
(cf. synesthesia).
Measure of correspondence between two
of correlation.
sets
ofmeasurements; values vary from i-oo (perfect correspondence)
through zero to
—
i-oo (completely inverse relationship).
Logarithmic unit of intensity so chosen
decibel.
as to
be equal, under
certain conditions, to one just-noticeable difference in loudness.
Tone sometimes
difference tone.
pitch are
in
elicited
simultaneously
when two
sounded;
its
tones separated
frequency
is
the
difference of the frequencies of the other two.
double stopping
Fingering two strings of a bowed instrument at once
.
double vibration (d.v.).
a sound-giving
A
drone.
Frequency (number of cycles) with w^hich
body
is
vibrating.
tone held for the duration of a melody or
at least for a
considerable period of time.
as
though
who attends more to external events and
own attitudes and mental processes.
objects
Imagery so intense that the person behaves
eidetic imagerj.
he were directly perceiving the music.
A
extrovert.
person
than to his
factor analysis.
Method of
resolving a set of interrelated variables
or tests into a few "factors" which are regarded as being
the fundamental variables underlying the original complex of
variables.
Span of
fifth.
fourth.
7
semitones.
Span of g semitones.
fugalform.
A
round; each
galvanic skin response.
new
Change
voice chases the preceding one.
in the electrical resistance of the skin
whenever, during emotional
states, perspiration
is
produced on
the skin surfaces.
279
GLOSSARY
Change
goal gradient.
harmonics.
with distance to a goal.
Cf. overtones.
Music
homophonj.
idiot
in degree of motivation
in
which the voices move
who
Person of very low i.q.
savant.
in step, e.g.,
has
hymn.
above average
achievement in some specialized area.
Pitch span between
interval.
two notes played simultaneously or
successively.
augmented.
Perfect or major increased by a semitone.
diminished.
Perfect or minor decreased by a semitone.
Spans of
major.
semitones (second, third, sixth, or
2, 4, 9,
or
i, 3, 8,
or 10 semitones (second, third, sixth, or
1 1
seventh).
Spans of
minor.
seventh).
Span separating two melodies which are identical but
parallel.
in different registers.
perfect.
Spans of
g, 7,
or 12 semitones (fourth,
Person preoccupied with his
introvert.
own
fifth,
attitudes
or octave).
and mental
processes.
principle.
iso
Notion that
should match the
a patient's
mood
mood
and "mental tempo"
and tempo of the music.
Family of tones held together by their relation to a tonic from
kej.
which the key
named.
Lowest and principal note of
key-note.
leading tone.
up
is
a scale; the tonic.
Major seventh or subtonic, so-called because
it
leads
to the tonic.
leger lines.
Additional short lines added above or below the
notes than cannot be
accommodated on the
staff for
staff.
major.
chord.
Three simultaneously or successively played notes com-
prising intervals of a major third plus a
280
minor
third.
GLOSSARY
Cf. interval.
interval.
Cf. mode.
mode.
Span of
second.
2
semitones,
Span of 9 semitones.
sixth.
Span of
seventh.
1 1
semitones.
Span of 4 semitones.
third.
Concentration of time devoted to learning with
massed practice.
between successive practice
little interval
Series of successively
melody.
sounded tones
sessions.
felt to
possess internal
organization.
Scale step smaller than a semitone.
microtone.
minor.
Three simultaneously or successively played notes com-
chord.
prising intervals of a
minor third
Cf. mode,
mode.
Span of
second.
Span of
sixth.
Span of
third.
8
i
semitone.
semitones.
Span of 10 semitones.
seventh.
3
semitones.
Forerunner of the key;
mode.
plus a major third.
Cf. interval,
interval.
differs in that the
mode
possible
arrangements of scale steps,
semitone
steps, or 2, 1,2, 2, 2, 1,2 steps, etc.;
e.g.,
2, 2,
now
has several
1,2,
2,
2,1
only two:
major and minor.
modulation.
Transition of a melody from one key up or
down
to
another key.
monotone.
Person so weak in pitch sensitivity that he cannot
recognize or carry a tune.
noise.
octave.
Complex
of sounds in
which no
definite pitch can
be detected.
Span of 12 semitones.
281
GLOSSARY
Theme with
organum.
moving
overlearning
parallel to
other voices a fourth below or a
material can for the
Tone
overtone.
elicited
practice
first
beyond
the
trial
where
the
time be reproduced correctly.
by the vibration of some fraction of the
major vibrating body,
e.g., 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, etc.
Cf. overtone,
partial.
Unit of loudness in which the value
phon.
above
it.
Continuing
.
fifth
of decibels a tone of 1000 d.v.
when judged
is
is
equal to the
number
above the reference intensity
equal in loudness to the tone in question.
Applied to music in which several melodies are played
polyphony.
simultaneously.
poljtonality
Presence of several simultaneous keys in a musical
.
composition.
The carrying on of the tone from note
portamento.
gaps (voice and
Pragnanz, law
of.
bowed
to note without
instruments); half-staccato (piano).
Persons tend to perceive objects in the simplest
arrangement possible.
Pitch level.
register.
reliability.
is
Degree of self-consistency; extent to which the measure
uninfluenced by factors intrinsic to or associated with
retroactive inhibition.
something very
Impairment of learning by the
later learning of
similar.
Type of correlation
rho.
it.
coefficient obtained through the handling
of rank differences,
rhythm
objective.
polyrhjthm.
subjective.
Periodicity with one element regularly emphasized.
Complex of several simultaneously played rhythms.
Rhythm read into sheer periodicity or into weak
objective rhythm.
282
GLOSSARY
Series of tones arranged in order of pitch and
scale.
employed
as
the
accepted notes of some system.
The twelve-semitone
chromatic.
Seven-note scale in the
diatonic.
scale of
white and black notes.
major or minor mode.
Where chromatic steps are all equal
Where the ratios use only the primes
equally tempered.
just-intoned.
i
Compromise
mean-tone.
scale
some
with
,
in ratio.
3
and
^.
which
tempering
allowed for a degree of modulation,
Pythagorean.
whole-tone.
Where the
Where each
ratios use only the
step
is
primes
i
whole tone from
a
and
its
3.
nearest
neighbor.
score.
Sum
mean.
of
all
the scores divided by the
number
of cases.
Middle value.
median.
Most frequently occurring
modal.
score.
sensations.
Those
kinesthetic.
arising
from the stimulation of receptors
in
muscles, tendons, and joints.
Those
organic.
arising
from the stimulation of receptors
in the
internal organs.
Degree to which one can distinguish stimuli which
sensitivity.
very
sonance.
differ
slightly.
Qualitative
effects
due
to
progressive
("horizontal")
changes and fusions, e.g., vibrato.
sostenuto
pedal.
Pedal found mainly on American and Canadian
pianos which maintains raised dampers.
stroboscope.
Instrument for observing the successive phases of
a
periodic motion by means of a light periodically interrupted.
Cf. tonoscope.
syncopation.
Placing an accent
where there would normally be no
accent.
283
G
LOSSARY
Image of hallucinatory intensity in one sensory area
synesthesia.
aroused by
a stimulus
from some other sense modality.
Cf.
chromesthesia
Cf. true beat.
takt.
talent.
Usually taken to
tempo.
Rate of speed
mean high capability;
at
which
allegro.
Lively tempo.
andante.
Slow tempo.
heredity
a musical passage
is
emphasized.
moves.
Quick tempo.
presto.
tests.
Tests taken to measure
achievement.
what has been learned.
Tests used to forecast whether or not training in a
aptitude.
particular area will be profitable.
Inverse of sensitivity (as used in this book).
threshold.
Effect
timbre.
due to the constellation of
partial
tones present;
"vertical" quality.
Tones
tone clusters.
fist, flat
tone symbol.
elicited
by depressing the piano keys with the
of the hand, or with the forearm.
Tonal ratio with powers of
2
extracted.
Cf. key-note.
tonic.
Stroboscope which gives a visual picture of a vocal or
tonoscope.
instrumental tone.
tremolo.
Vibrato with abnormally wide pitch span; also used to
describe a rhythmic unit with three unaccented elements.
Rapid oscillation of two tones which are perceived
trill.
as
two
tones.
tritone.
true beat.
Span of
six semitones.
Pulsations
which underlie phrase rhythms irrespective of
time signatures or number of notes
284
in the phrase.
GLOSSARY
validity.
Extent to which a
test
is
measuring what
it
claims to be
measuring.
vibrato.
Periodic oscillations of the vocal or instrumental tone in
pitch, intensity, and
6' ^
sometimes
in quality; rate
is
approximately
per second.
whole learning.
Material to be learned
ning to end,
i.e., is
not broken
is
down
gone through from begininto parts
which are
to
be
learned separately.
28s
APPENDIX
3.
Key
to Reference Abbreviations
Acta Oto-laryngologica , Stockholm
Acta Oto-laryng
Acta Psychologica
Acta Psychol.
American Imago
Amer. Imago
American Journal of Mental Dejiciencj
Amer. J. Ment. Defic.
American Journal of Psjchiatrj
Amer. J. Psychiat.
American Journal of Psychology
Amer. J. Psychol.
American Journal of Sociology
Amer. J. Sociol.
American Psychologist
Amer. Psychol.
American Sociological Review
Amer. Sociol. Rev.
Annals of the
New
York Academy of Sciences
Annals, N.Y. Acad. Sc.
Applied Psychology Monographs
Appl. Psychol. Monog.
Archiv fur die Gesamte Phonetik
Arch. Ges. Phonet.
Archiv Jur die Gesamte Psychologic
Arch. Ges. Psychol.
Archiv Jur Musikforschung
Arch. Musikforsch.
Archiv Jiir Rassen- und Gesellschajts-
Arch. Rass.-
Biologie, Einschliesslich Rassen-
u.
Ges. -Biol.
und
Gesellschajts-Hygiene
Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry
Arch. Neur. and Psychiat.
Archives of Otolaryngology, Chicago
Arch. Otolarjngol.
Archives of Psychology
Arch. Psychol.
Australian Journal of Psychology
Austral. J. Psychol.
Beihefte zur Zeitschrijt Jiir Experi-
Beihefte z. Zsch.J.
mentelle und Angewandte Psychologic
286
Psychol.
Ang.
KEY TO REFERENCE ABBREVIATIONS
Bell Laboratories Record
Biology and
British
Human
Affairs,
Bell Lab. Rec.
London
Journal of Educational
Hum.
Biol.
Ajfairs
Educ. Psychol.
Brit. J.
Psychology
British
Journal of Psychology
British Journal
of Psychology, General
Brit. J. Psychol.
Brit. J. Psychol.,
Gen. Sec.
Brit. J. Psychol.,
Monog.
Section
British
Journal of Psychology
Monograph Supplement
British Journal oj Psychology, Statis-
Suppl.
Psychol., Stat. Sec.
Brit. J.
tical Section
Math. Biophysics
Bulletin of Mathematical Biophysics
Bull.
Character and Personality
Char, and Person.
Child Development
Child Devel.
Child Development Monographs
Child Devel. Monog.
Deutsche Zeitschrift Jiir Nervenheil-
Dtsch. Zsch.J. Nervenhk.
kunde
Dioptric Review and British Journal of
Diopt. Rev. and Brit. J.
Physiol. Opt.
Physiological Optics
Genetic Psychology
Monographs
Genet. Psychol.
Harvard Psychological Studies
Harvard
Human
Human
Biology
Human
Engineering Lahoratorj
Hum. Engng.
Technical Report
Indiana University Publications,
Humanity
Institute
Psychol. Stud.
Biol.
Lab., Tech.
Rep.
Indiana U. Publ., Humanity
Series
of Radio Engineers, Proceedings
Monog.
Ser.
Inst.
Radio Eng., Proc.
International Congress of Musicology
Int.
Congr. Musicol.
Internationale Zeitschrift Jiir Individual-
Int.
Zsch.J. Indiv. -Psychol.
Psjchologie
Journal of Abnormal and Social
J.
Abn. Soc. Psychol.
Psychology
287
KEY TO REFERENCE ABBREVIATIONS
Journal of the Acoustical Society of
J. Acoust. Soc.
Amer.
America
journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism
J. Aesth.
Journal oj the American Medical
J. Amer.
Med.
Assoc.
Association
journal of Applied Psychology
J. Appl. Psychol.
Journal of Clinical Psychology
J. Clin. Psychol.
Com p.
Journal of Comparative Psychology
J.
Journal of Educational Psychology
J. Educ. Psychol.
Journal of Educational Research
J. Educ. Res.
Journal of Experimental Education
J. Exp. Ed.
Journal
erf
Experimental Psychology
Journal of the Franklin
Psychol.
J. Exp. Psychol.
J. Franklin Inst.
Institute
Journal of General Psychology
J. Gen. Psychol.
Journal of Genetic Psychology
J. Genet. Psychol.
Journal of Gerontology
J. Gerontol.
Journal of Heredity
J. Hered.
Journal of Musicology
J. Musi col.
Journal of Nervous and Mental
J. Nerv.
Ment. Dis.
Disease
Journal of Psjchology
J. Psychol.
Journal de Psychologic Normale
et
J. Psychol.
Norm. Path.
Pathologique
Journal of the Royal Naval Medical
J. Royal
Nav. Med. Serv.
Service
Journal of Social Psychology
J. Soc. Psychol.
Kwartalnik Psychologiczny
Kwart. Psjchol.
Medical Research Laboratory
,
U.S.
Med.
Res. Lab.
Naval Submarine Base, New London
Monographs of
in
the Society Jor Research
Child Development
Music Educators fournal
288
Monog.
Soc. Res. Child
Devel.
Mus. Ed. J.
KEY TO REFERENCE ABBREVIATIONS
Music Educators^ National Conference,
Mus. Educ. Nat. Conf. Yearb.
Yearbook
Music Supervisors Journal
Mus. Superv. J.
Music Supervisors National Conference,
Mus. Superv. Nat. Conf.
Yearbook
Yearb.
Music Teachers National Association,
Proceedings
Proc.
Musical Quarterly
Office
of
Mus. Teach. Nat. Assoc.
Music. Quart.
Scientific Research
and
OSRD
Report
Development, Report
Veabodj Bulletin
Peabody Bull.
Research Studies in Music, Peabody
Peabody Cons. Mus. Res.
Conservatorj oj Music
Stud.
Pedagogical Seminary
Ped. Sem.
Perceptual and Motor Skills
Percep. Mot. Skills
Personnel Psychology
Personnel Psychol.
Philologisch-historische Klasse,
Phil. -hist. Klasse Sitzungs-
Sitzungsberichte
berichte
Pillsbury Foundation Studies
Pillsbury Found. Stud.
Popular Science Monthly
Pop. Sci. Month.
Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Science
Psychiatric, Neurologic,
and Medizinische
Psychologic, Leipzig
Proc. la. Acad. Sci.
Psychiat. Neurol.
Med.
Psychol.
Psychiatry
Psychiat.
Psychoanalytic Quarterly
Psychoanal. Quart.
Psychoanalytic Review
Psy choanal. Rev.
Psychological Bulletin
Psychol. Bull.
Psychological Monographs
Psychol.
Psychological Record
Psychol. Rec.
Psychological Review
Psychol. Rev.
Psychologische Rundschau
Psychol. Rundschau
Public Health Reports, Washington
Publ. Hlth. Rep.
Monog.
289
19
KEY TO REFERENCE ABBREVIATIONS
Public Opinion Quarterly
Publ. Opin. Quart.
Revue Internationale de Philosophic
Rev. Intern. Phil.
Sarah Lawrence Studies
Sarah Lawrence Stud.
School Musician
Sch. Mus.
School and Society
Sch.
Schweizerische Zeitschrijt Jiir Psychologie
Schweiz. Z. Psychol. Anwende.
und
ihre
Scientijic
and
Soc.
Anwendungen
Monthly
Sci.
Month.
Smith College Studies in Social Work
Smith Coll. Stud. Soc. Wk.
Social Forces
Soc. Forces
Teachers College Contributions to
Teach. Coll. Contrib. Educ.
Education
Teachers College Record
Teach. Coll. Rec.
Tohoku Psychologica Folia
Tohoku Psychol. Folia
University of Iowa Studies, Studies in
U. ojla. Stud. Child WelJ.
Child Welfare
University of Iowa Studies, Studies in the
U. of
la. Stud. Psjchol.
Mus.
Psychology of Music
University of Oregon Publication
Zeitschrijt Jiir Experimentelle
und
U. of Oregon Publ.
Zsch.J. Ang. Psjchol.
Angewandte Psychologie
Zeitschrijt JUr Laryngologie, Rhinologie, Otologic,
Zsch.J. Larjngol.
und ihre Grenzgebiete
Zeitschrijt Jiir Pddagogischc Psychologic
Zeitschrijt Jiir Psychologic
Zsch. Padg. Psychol.
und Physiologic Zsch.J. Psychol.
der Sinncsorgane
Zeitschrijt Jiir Psychotherapie
und
Medizinischc Psychologie
Zentralblatt Jiir die gesamte Neurologic
und Psychiatric
Zentralblatt Jiir Physiologic
290
Zsch.J. Psychother. Med.
Psychol.
Zentralbl. ges. Neurol, u.
Psychiat.
Zentralbl.
f.
Phjsiol.
Subject Index
(See also entries in Glossary beginning on page 280.)
ability, musical, see
beta learning, 202
musical ability
10—2
absolute pitch, 5^9—61, 78, 87, 231
biographies, musical,
accidentals, 20, 29
"blues" singers, 89—90
achievement, effects of music on, 264—270
bodily metabolism, music and, 2j^
body structures, and musical ability, 188—
music and, 264—26^
adaptation, in consonance perception, 48
adjectives, mood, 96-99, 102
Adler Music Appreciation Tests, 162
Aeolian Corporation, The, 69
activity,
aesthetics, experimental,
2
193
Boston Symphony Orchestra,
13^:.
African drums, rhythmic patterns
in,
iio,
program choices
133, 167—168
of,
Test, 161
73,
cadence
119
test,
164
age, and hearing ability,
Caprice Viennois, Kreisler, 89
Aliferis
cent, in scale nneasurement, 2^, 32
6^
Music Achievement Test, 229
American Musicological Society, 121, 123,
127—128, ly
aptitude tests, unstandardized,
see also
art, vs.
centitone, 2^
child prodigies, 198
2 3
1-2
3
j
musical aptitude tests
psychoneuroses, 209, 213
atonal music, 29,
children, musical ability in, 197
Chinese melodies,
finality in,
Chinese music, mistunings
4^—46
chordal structure, iio
attention and learning, principles of, ^7—58
chord-analysis test, 246
Ave Maria, Schubert, 9j
Bach family, 187
bagpipes, timbre of, 6^
baroque organ, 6^
basic abilities, 231-233
baton movements, £
Beach Standardization Music Tests, 226
Mamma, 90
beat, true, 4-5^
beat-instants,
and baton movements, ^-6
beauty, defined, 142
Seashore's rule of, 67
in,
43
120
chord recognition, 232
chromatic
Beale Street
130,
141
Bower Musical Moods
7—13
1
90
scale,
chromesthesia, 91-93
Cincinnati College of Music, 240
Clair de Lune, Debussy,
clarinet,
timbre
of,
96
64-65-
"classical music,"
layman's reaction to,
climatic
musical taste and,
cycles,
1
146-
147
college aptitudes, "critical levels" of,
1
color-tone linkage, 90-93
common
sense, unreliability of,
communication, desire
for,
3
84—85
291
19-2
SUBJECT INDEX
composers,
ranking
all-time,
of,
276-
277
modulation and, 32
biographical studies of, 210
born since 1870, ranking of, 276
eminence rankings of, 1 21-126, 276-
knowledge
of,
originality of,
i
expectancies, and tonalities, 45
factory work, music and,
211
of,
falling inflection,
Minor,
J. S.
Farnum Music Notation
Bach,
i
conductors, baton performances
^-6
264
and drum, 65
fatigue,
fife
fifth, in finality effect,
Fifth
9—10, 66
Fifth
interval and, 41
flute,
1
i
Dictionarj of Philosophy, 116
fusion, theory of, 48
dissonance, 47-48
dodecuple, 29, 32
dominant, 41, 76
Don Giovanni, Mozart, 262
Ganda
eight-string harp, 27
Gaston Test of Musicality, 161
German music, 141
Gernet Music Preference Test, 161
Doppelganger, Schubert, 107
Dorian mode, 86
bass,
64
French music, 141
French pitch,
frequency, law of, 57
frequency span, 38
diatonic scale, 18, 31
drone
36
flute tones, purity of,
decitone, 2^
deviation, artistic, 142
tests,
of thirds and sevenths, 89
flatting,
deafness, age and, 65, 78
Drake
41
Symphonj, Beethoven, 135, 148
Sjmphonj, Dvorak, 89
finality effects, 51
dance rhythms, unit groups in, 72
dance tempo, 69
Daphnis and Chloe, Ravel, 103
2
Test, 229
i
of,
consonance and dissonance, 47-^:1
creative process, 209—212, 215'
rationalization of,
267-268
42
male, 65
falsetto,
136-138
violins,
7—13
factor analysis, in musical ability, 180
210
space allocations for, in music histories,
D
in,
31-136
productive years
Cremona
Eroica Symphonj, Beethoven, 70, iio
experimental aesthetics, research
277
Concerto in
equal temperament, 25, 31, 87
as frame of reference, 28
Gestalt psychoanalysis, 209
243-244
76—79
grammar, musical language and, 85, 109
Gramophone Shop
Duo-Art player piano, 69
Music,
Guide
to
I
Encyclopedia
of Recorded
70
Recorded Music, A, 170
Ear Tests in Harmony, 229
Eastman
Conservatory
of
Music,
240
eminence, musical, and musical
taste,
11,
i
128
year of birth and, 127, 276-277
eminence rankings, 121 — 126, 276—277
changes in, 125—128
emphasis, law
of,
taste and,
epileptic attacks, 257
292
i
163, 181
high fidelity, and musical tastes, 150
57
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 171
enjoyment, musical
20-
harmonic sensitivity, test of, 145
harmonic series, 3 i
harmony, melody and, 75-77
in musical meaning, 99
stress on, in Western music, 21
Harvard Laboratory of Social Relations, o i
Hevner-Landsbury
discrimination
test,
i
29-1 31
Hindu
scale, 30
Home, Sweet Home, 95
SUBJECT INDEX
homophony, 77, 79
"hot jazz," 73-74
keyboard practice, 201
key-color associations, 91
see also color-tone linkage
Hutchinson Music Tests, 228
"hymnometer," 232
key-effects,
alleged,
and music language,
86-87
imagery, and musical abihty, 19^—196
and musical training, 204, 214
industrial music,
267-269
keyless music,
see
atonal music
keynote, 76, 103
defined, 41
inflection, falling, in finality effects, 42
kinesthetic imagery, 204
inhibition, retroactive, 203
Klangfarbe, 90
"instinctive" rhythm,
4
intelligence, and musical ability,
intensity,
183-184
and rhythm, 70—71
and Musi-
International Cyclopedia of Music
127
36-ji
apparent pitch of, 38-40
consonance and dissonance
cians,
interval,
in,
47-50
Knuth Achievement Tests in Music, 228
Kwalwasser Music Information and Appreciation Test, 165
Kwalwasser Music Talent Tests, 242
Kwalwasser-Dykema Test of Melodic Taste,
131, 145, 159-160, 240-242
Kwalwasser-Ruch Test of Music Accom-
plishment, 227
distinctive quality of, 36
falling inflection in,
finality effects
major-minor
language aspects of music, 84—1
42
and, 41
adjective
effects and,
i
major and minor scales, 88-89
music as language of emotions,
3
232
of, 37,
simultaneous, 47-50
size of,
and
finality effects,
stability of,
tonality and,
42
1
45-46
interval change, 32
learning, attention and,
interval distortion, 26
interval preference, loudness and, 62
57—58
function of, 58
musical, 199—203
learning efficiency, 200
44
interval tolerance, 36
L'Histoire du Soldat, Stravinsky, 103
interval uniqueness, 50
Liberia,
introvert-extrovert types,
Iowa, University of,
1
2
composers, 183
music, 148
i
3
5
melody and, 61—64
unit of, 63-64
rhythm and, 71, 73-74
loudness control, in musical instruments,
JuUiard School of Music, 234
just intonation, scale of, 21, 3
culture in, 107
loudness, 17, 89
and interval preference, 62
Javanese scale, 25—26
jazz,
Loma Negro
Lipps-Meyer law, 42, 44
listening power, test of, 161
London Philharmonic Orchestra,
94
I.Q., of great
Italian
93—
95
music as universal language, 106-108
psychoanalytic symbolism in, 08-1 10
"large" and "small," vs. major-minor, 40
26-27
interval resolutions,
2
1
95-99
color-tone linkage, 90—93
expression of tensions and, 102-106
and musical meaning, 10
recognition
for classifying,
alleged key effects, 86-87
40
melody hunting and, 40
preferences for,
lists
1
,
43
62-63
loudness losses, age and, 65-66
Keston Music Preference Test, 1 6
Keston Music Recognition Test, 161
Lundin Tests, 245—246
Lydian mode, 86
293
SUBJECT INDEX
"magnet tone," 41
major chord, three positions of, 8 8
major-minor effect, 40, £i, 109
major-minor modes, 88-90
major mode, "happy" nature of, 89—90,
major scale, 29
major sixth, stability of, 36
marijuana,
minor seventh, dissonance
and
"feminine"
1
10
need
Mohler
23—24
for,
Scales for
Measuring Judgment of
Orchestral Music, 162
composers,
monotones, human, 3-4
mood-adjectives, 96—99, 102—105
mood
108-109
meaning, in musical connmunication, 8^-86
mean-tone temperament, 24
Measure of Tonal Memory, £j
measurement of musical ability, 226-249
Drake tests, 243-244
Kwalwasser-Dykema tests, 240—242
Kwalwasser Music Talent Tests, 242-243
Lundin tests, 245-246
Seashore aptitude tests, 235-240
Strong Vocational Interest Test, 247
Tilson-Gretsch Test, 237
music, 94
Moravian music, 30
motor activity, rhythm and, 71
motor skills, and musical ability, 185
music, adjectives for classifying, 95-99
applications of, to therapy and industry,
254-270
chromesthetic behavior
91—93
in,
"classical" vs. "popular,"
1
144—146
cultural derivations,
distracting effects, 266
early history of,
231-23^
verbal and nonverbal skills, 226-231
Whistler-Thorpe test, 244-245
Wing standardized tests, 246-247
unstandardized aptitude
tests,
Measures of Consonance, 130
melodic taste, test of, 131, 145, 160
melody, 55-79
46
on achievement, 264-270
factor analysis in, 99-102
effect of,
grammar
of, 85
Grecian modes, 86
language aspects
of,
84-1
1
2
language of emotions, 93-95
love of, 143-144
as
mathematical
defined, ££
harmony and,
as
75—77
loudness and, 61—64
"meaning"
"microscopic," ^6
noise and, 67—69
psychological approach to, 1-14
art,
273
effects of, 86
psychoanalytic symbolism in, 108
physiological changes
pitch and, 58-61, 78
wrought by, 254-
258
rhythm and, 70—74
sonance and, 66—67
tempo and, 69—70
timbre and, 64—66
melody hunting, 40, 50
"purity" of, 273
memory,
sexual symbolism of, 108
reading
261
as socializing agent,
29,
In-
variables that give
88-89
"sadness" of, 90,
meaning
to,
99-102
musical ability, academic intelligence and,
ventory, 191
minor mode,
Personality
260—261
sound patterns in, 17
tone elements in, 17-18
as universal language, 106-108
millitone, 25
Multiphasic
205—206
260
and sense of achievement and prestige,
musical, 231, 244, 265-267
Minnesota
of,
rest and,
mental therapy, music in, 250-264
metabolism, effect of music on, 2^5
microtone, 29, 32
294
47
modality, in musical meaning, 99
modulation, in equal temperament, 32
3
"masculine"
of,
mistakes, "practising" of, 202
1
10
183
basic,
230-233
SUBJECT INDEX
training and, 147
whimsical or absolute nature
musical ability (cont.)
and body structures, 188-193
of,
117-
120
children and, 197
creativity and, 207—212
Music Journal, 247
178-179
development of, 196-199
and family lines, 187
Freudian view of, 194-1 9 j
generality of, 179-182
inheritance of, 184-187
imagery as source of, 19^-196
Jungian view of, 193-194
measurement of, see measurement of
defined,
musicologists, eminence ranks of, 126
"musicopoeia," 261
music
159-165
measurement of musical
tests,
see also
ability;
musical aptitude tests
music therapy, list of compositions favored
for, 202-263
present state
258-259
of,
Muzak Corporation, 269
musical ability
nature
178-21^
of,
and other
national anthem,
182
arts,
"natural" scale,
methods and, 199-203
training problems, 204-206
musical aptitude tests, 11, 226-249
future of, 248-249
see also measurement of musical ability
training
musical capacities, innate,
i
taste,
boredom
culture in
Nelson Silent Reading Test, 267
New
York Herald Tribune,
73
i
New York Philharmonic Orchestra, 135,141
New York Symphony Orchestra, 141
D
Chopin, 73
Flat,
noise, defined, 68
nomenclature
of,
142-152
cultural derivation of, 119
1
of, 3
Loma Negro
Liberia,
melody and, 67—69
and, 173—174
and conditioners
defined,
see also
Nocturne in
auditory tests for, 15^9-16^
climatic cycles and, 146
criteria
Negroes, tonal sensitivity
Ninth Sjmphonj, Beethoven, 135
i
musical learning, 199-203
musical
3
i
Nazi music, 10— 1
racial characteristics and, 188
"musical ear,"
3
difficulties,
70
nonrepetitive work, music and, 268
nonverbal musical
skills, tests of,
230-231
16
eminence of composer and, 120—128
enjoyment and 1 2 9- 1 3 i
"obe-imeter," 232
fluctuations in,
octave pattern, 20
,
34
individual and group differences
1
in,
i
38-
octave, 18-20
opera, musical taste
in,
142
orchestral color, and musical meaning, 102
142
knowledge of composers and, 131-136
of, 158-174
nature of,
16-153
orchestral programs and, 167-168
paper-and-pencil tests for, 165-167
organum, 76—79
polling of, 167
Oriental
measures
1
Oregon Music Discrimination
"beating" effects in, 68
electric, 68
and record broadcasts, 168—169
music,
lack
Western tones
scholarly texts on, 170—173
overtone,
space allocated to composers and, 136—
Oxford Companion
138
state creation
of,
Pacific
test for, 131,
145
147
Tests, 163
organ, baroque, 65
Gas
3
of
in,
sensitivity
for
45
1
&
to
Music, 127
Electric
Company
broadcasts,
134, 168—170
^95
SUBJECT INDEX
past,
reverence for, 126-128
prime numbers,
Peabody Conservatory of Music, 233
pedals, proper use of, 63
Peer Gynt Suite, Grieg, 89
pentatonic scale, 29, 32
Philadelphia Orchestra, 130, 141
1
10
psychological research, causal function in,
9—10
Philharmonic pitch, 17
phon, loudness unit, 63—64
listing,
1 1
Providence Inventory Test in Music, 228
psychic residua, in musical ability, 193
psychoanalytic symbolism, music and, 108-
Pastoral Symphony, Beethoven, 87, iio
phonograph
scale of, 22
taboo against, in music ratios,
pastoral music, 87
descriptive function in, 7—8
forecasting function, 7, 10— ii
musical taste and, 1^0—
Psychology oj a Musical Prodigy, 232
psychomusical investigators, limitations
physical therapy, music in, 2^9
see also
music therapy
psychoneurosis,
physiological changes, music and, 25-4—258
phonograph records, music
tests and,
1
59-
pure tones, 5, 78
Pythagorean scale, 21, 26, 31
piano lessons, beginning age for, 197
piano techniques, ability in, 185
quale, distinctive, of intervals, 36
quarter-note, tyranny of, 79
quarter-tone organ, 232
pitch, absolute, see absolute pitch
of intervals, 38
and major-minor modes, 89
and musical meaning, 100
quarter-tone scale, 30, 32
periodic changes
racial assessments, in
in, 8
Philharmonic, 17
musical ability, 188-
189
racism, musical, 120
233
pitch-deafness, 257
radio listening, musical tastes and,
pitch discrimination, 27
see also absolute pitch
range, and musical meaning,
pitch level,
polyrhythm
recordings, broadcasting of, 168
record
in, 6
studies,
research,
psychological,
resolution, of intervals,
composers
of,
psychological
44
1
resonance areas, in instruments, 66
"restless" or unresolved effects,
2," in finality effects,
keyboard, mass
vs.
43
distributed,
retroactive inhibition, 203
rhythm, defined, 70
precocity, 211, 215
melody and, 70-74
motor activity and,
primacy, law
"subjective," 73
201
of,
see
see also finality effects
i
positive pitch, 59
practice,
169-170
research
25
"popular music," layman's reaction to,
"power of
listings,
rehearing, and musical taste, 149
repetitive work, music and, 267
75
polyrhythms, 63-64, 79
polytonal music, 29, 46
classics,
57
51
of, 57
Record Book, The, 170
polymodality, 46
polyphony, 77
popular
1
recency, law
player piano, 69, 162
in
49-1
00-101
measurement, units of, 25
reading achievement, music and, 265—267
pitch wobble, 8
loudness differences
1
ratio
melody and, 58-61
pitch sensitivity, training and, 186
296
209, 213
vs. art,
psychotic, music therapy for, 259, 262
pulse rate, music beat and, 1 19
piano, loudness control in, 62-63
162
relative,
of,
6-7
71
44
SUBJECT INDEX
rhythm (cont.)
tempo and, 79
Stanford University Psychological Laboratory, 58-59, 96, 130, 244,
unit groups in, 72
rhythm discrimination, 232, 241-244
rhythmic ability, forecasting
"rhythmometer," 232, 234
rhythm preferences, 14^
Roth Quartet,
Rubin-Rabson
5
study,
of,
Strong Vocational Interest Test, 247
test, 227
subdominant, in finality effects, 41
243
Strouse music
sublimation, in musical ability, 195
in D Minor, Franck, 96
199-201
Symphony
symphony
minor
sadness, and
scale,
88—90
130
173
San Francisco City College, 129
synesthesia, 9
scale, diatonic, see diatonic scale
taste, musical, see
tempering, of intervals, 20
pentatonic, 29
psychological considerations of,
i
3
2 2
18—20
Power
in Music,
161
Seashore battery of music measures, 193
23^-237
239-240
Seashore Measures of Musical Talent, 236
1939 edition, 237—240
original,
validity of,
semitone, 25, 30
semitone steps, 20
variation in, 9
tensions, expression of,
Test of Musical Taste, 165
see also musical taste, measures of
therapy, music applications to, 254—270
music therapy
see also
237
sexual symbolism, of music, 108
Siamese chord, 89
Siamese scale, 25—26
timbre, 17, 78, 102
color and, 90
defined,
64
melody and, 64-66
timbre discrimination, 231
time signatures, "instinctive" rhythm
Siegfried motive, 106
205
as criterion
of consonance, 47
sonance, 78
melody and, 66
in,
4
tonal abilities, 185
musical ability
see also
tonal imagery, test for,
1
tonal impurities, 78
of,
64
physiological
tonal interval,
experiments
tonality,
see
interval
45—46
in atonal music,
by, 25^
space allotments, for composers, 136—138,
tonal
tonal
172
spans, absolute size of,
102—106
Test of Attitude toward Music, 165
Test for Musical Concepts, 163
Sense of Consonance Test, 49
Union,
of
Tilson-Gretsch Test for Musical Aptitude,
Seventh Symphony, Beethoven, iio
Soviet
meaning
melody and, 69—70
rhythm and, 79
tempo preferences, 145
Schultz Test of Listening
song "plugging," 149
soprano voices, purity
in
and major and minor modes, 89
Schelowo, Bloch, 103
smoothness,
of,
music, 99
types of, 17-32
sight reading,
importance
tempo,
scale changes, tolerance for, 32
scales, ancient,
musical taste
temperament, mean-tone, 24
2
scale of nature,
composer preferences
players,
of,
San Francisco Chronicle,
of just intonation,
264-265
stimulus configuration, 58
Stradivarius violin, 10
1
46
memory, 233
movement, measurement
test of,
of,
160
131
297
SUBJECT INDEX
of,
variables,
tone-word method, 61
37-38
and voice,
defined,
violin
MacDowell, 73
general problems
199-203
special problems of, 204—206
tremolo, defined, 37—38
trill, defined, 37-38
Tristan and Isolde, Wagner, 107
methods,
tritones, identification of, 37
4—^
see
pitch
typing, music and,
26^-267
5,
8
of well-known singers, 8
vibrato rate,
Tragic Sonata,
true pitch,
and musical meaning, 99—102
vibrato, 67, 78, 142
Torgerson-Fahnestock Music Test, 227
tragic music, 87
true beat,
toward,
verbal knowledge, tests of, 226-229
1
tonic, defined, 41
training
tendency
39
tones, duration of, 17
loudness
movement,
upward
tonal pattern, orientation of, 39
tone, pure vs. impure, g
tone color, 1 1 o
i
of,
Wagnerian symbolism, io6
war music, 148
weather, and musical
taste, 146—147
Western music, equal temperament in, 2j
stress on harmony in, 21
Whistler-Thorpe
Musical
244-245
whole-tone scale,
29, 32
Wing
Ability
Test,
Standardized Tests of Musical
Intelli-
gence, 246—247
unison singing, 75-76
University of Minnesota,
worker morale, music and, 268-270
i
30
Xerxes,
298
Handel, 89
Name
Adler, A.,
M.
Adler,
Bauer, E., 218
219
14,
2
Baumgarten,
17
J.,
Agnew, M., 220
Ainlay, G. W., 271
Aizawa, M.,
£g
i
Alchin, 40, ^2
Aldrich, C. K., 14
Alexander,
Aliferis, J.,
C,
1
1
Sir
109,
87,
123,
124,
30,
132,
260, 271
Bunch, C. C., 82
29,
1
Benham,
Areola, Pepito, 231
Berlin, Irving, i2j, 262
Aristoxenus, 20
Berlioz, Hector, 141, 196
Arnheim, R., 11^
Bienstock,
Jr.,
Berg,
271,
262
Atwell,
Avent,
E., 208,
S.
J.
E., 249
F.,
197,
I
5-6,
24,
I
W.
Campbell,
2^0
V.
D.,
80,
37, 141
,
Barlow,
J.,
6j, 109,
Bjorksten,
Case, Anna, 95
26,
Block, H. A., 83, 103
I
29,
148, 168, 169,
81
W.
J.,
211, 225-
T., ^, 14,
82, 204, 223
Bartok, Bela, 122, 263
Cattell,
Bodkin, M., 220
J.
McKeen,
Cattell, R. B., 162,
Bouvvsma, O. K., 113
Cazden, N., 49, 54
Chaliapin, Feodor, 8
Bower,
L. B., 175^, 181, 216,
122, 123,
I
3°,
169
I
I
24,
33-" 34,
171,
177
Borodin, Alexander, 262
220
Brahms, Johannes,
272
Bartholomew,
G., 112
Carmichael, Hoagy, 125
Caruso, Enrico, 8
1
171, 183, 262, 263
Bachem, A., 61,
Bahle, J., 224
I.
Capurso, A., 113, 217
Cardinell, R. L., 272
Bizet, Georges, 262
1
130- 132, 133-134, 13?,
I
W. H., 249
Buxtehude, Dietrich, 16
Butterfield,
217,
113
Bach, Johann Sebastian,
119, 123,
T., 25-0
Burton, R. V., 219
Birkhoff, G. D., 79
16, 20, 49,
S.
Burt, Cyril, 80
221
Bingham,
220
Burns,
224
A., 11^
I.
Billroth, T., 233,
S.,
Brown, L. M., 262, 271
Brown, M. E., 2j2
Brown, R. W., 114, 197,
182, 262, 263
1
133-134, 13s, 137, 141,
j,
Brighouse, G., 2j6, 270
148, 1^4, 168, 169, 171
26,
Anderson, Jean C, 17^
Antheil, George, 263
Antrim, D. K., 216
Arrington, G. E.,
56,
Brelet, G., 83
221, 222, 223
Bruckner, Anton, 117, 263
Bugg, E. G., J4
1
108,
M., 81
Britten, Benjamin, 122
G., 80
J.
Thomas, 70
Beethoven, Ludwig van,
70,
M.,
L.
Beebe-Center,
249
I.
Brammer,
Breithaupt, R., 218
Allen, R. D., 249
Altshuler,
Braine, R., 218
216
F.,
Beach, F. A., 249
Bean, K. L., 205-, 220, 223
Becker, H. S., 208, 224
Beecham,
216
Index
Chandler, A. R.,
^6,
I
26,
HI,
109,
I
29,
168,
1
1
17^
i'
Charney, D., 2^2
Cheslock, L., I
5^
Chien Lohtze, 29
Chinn, H. A., 50
i
299
NAME INDEX
Chopin,
109,
Frederic,
I
24,
72,
73,
26, 129, 132,
I
262
M., 219
East, E.
Thomas
Edison,
Christiansen, H., 217
Edmunds,
Cochran, M., 197, 221
Colby, M. G., 221
Connette, E., 217
Copland, Aaron, 122, 262
Eggen,
Corso,
Ehrsam, E., 216
J. F.,
i^,
5^3
Frances, R., 80
Eberly, L. E., 222
E.
Franck, Cesar, 96, 263
A., 94,
i
13
M., 37, 52
J. B., 83, 1^7
Ehrenzweig, Anton, 209—210,
Frankenstein,
Alfred,
1^4, 173
Franklin, E., 53,
Courtis, S. A., 160, 17^
Einstein, Albert, 1^2
Cowan, M., 82
Eisenberg, P., ijo, 156
Friend, R. S., 217
Cowell, Henry, 68, 73, 196,
221, 224
Cowles, J. T., 107, 115^
Eitz, Karl, 81
Frischeisen-Kohler,
Cox, C, 216
Crews, A., 272
Critchley, M., 270
Dannenbaum,
Dashiell,
Debussy, Claude, 29, 96, 109,
123,1 26, I 29, I 30, I 39,
168, 2^6, 262-263
De
14
M. W.,
Fuller,
W., 113
Galton, Sir Francis, 19^
Gardner,
English, H. B., 115-
Gardner, P. A.,
Esman, A. H., 220
Garrison, K.
Gatewood,
R.,
35-,
34,
Gaw,
E. L., 9^, 112
E. A., 251, 236
Gei^er, T.,
114, 115, IJ2, 1^4, iss,
Geiringer, K.,
57,
I
j6
197, 221
Gaston, E., 174
Gaston, T., 15-6
Fahestock, E., 249
Fairbanks, G., 82
I
i
C,
^2, ^3, 81, 82, 83, 112,
Denny, M. R., 267, 272
Densmore, F., 270
148, 272
J. E.,
113
J.,
15^^
81
Engle, T. L., 271
Dennis, Wayne, 211, 22
Delay,
I.,
Galli-Curci, Amelita, 8, 179
L. E., j6, 80
Farnsworth, P.
Grazia, S., 114
2
Froschels, E., 197, 221
53
D. S., 2^6, 270
Elman, Mischa, 66
Elton,
1^6
J. F.,
220,
Ellis,
Emerson,
A., 2^j, 270
I.,
216,
181,
2(^o
Fredrich, F., 223
Freeburne, C. M., 272
Freud, Sigmund,
194—19^,
224
Ehrlich, S., 83
Elkus, A.
129,
76, 177, 2 19, 220,
Gernet,
S.
i
£
2
17
K., 175
Farnum,
Gershwin, George, i2j, 140,
15^4, 262
Fay, P. J., 2^2
Fay, R. V., 114
Gigli,
Fendrick, P., 266, 272
Gilbert, G. M., 217,2 19, 25-3
Doig, D., 221, 224
Fine, H., 2^^^,
Gildersleeve, G., 227, 249
Downey,
Fischer, E., 218
223, 2JI, 2J2, 25^3, 272
S. E., 248, 2^0
D'Indy, Vincent, 141
Diserens,
C. M.,
25^,
264,
270, 271
Disney, Walt,
1
J. E.,
1
i
£
£y
Drager, H. H., 34
Drake, R. M., 164, 176,
21^^,
202, 223
Dunlevy, E. C, 2^2
Dutton, C. E., 115^
Dvorak, Anton, 89
P.
W.,
264
17^, 2^3
O. W.,
Easeley, E., i^
300
15-4
8
Fleischer, K., 221
Gilman, B. J., 174
Gilman, L., 271
Fleischer, M., 272
Girard,
i
^7
J., 271
Glazunov, Aleksandr, 141
Fletcher, H., 81
Fokker, A. D., 3^
Foley,
J. P., Jr.,
1^6,
2
9, 15,
14^,
19
Folgmann, E. E., 130, 154
Forbes, H. B., 221
Forbes, H. S., 221
Ford, A., 2^2
Foster, Stephen, i2y, 129
Eagleson,
Beniamino,
Gilliland, A. R., 1^7
Fisher, R. L., 113,
253
Dreher, R. E., 112, 256, 270
Drexler, E. N., 217
Dunlap, K., ^2, ^4, 72, 83,
Dykema,
Giese, F., 14
Foster,
W.
J.,
Fraisse, P., 83
i
54
Gordon, Kate, 83
Gounod, Charles Francis, 196
Graf, Max, 209, 224
Graf, S., 218
Grandprey, M., 221
Granneberg, R., 154
Greene, P. C, 28, 34
Gregory the Great, Pope
33
Gretsch, Fred, 2^2
St.,
NAME INDEX
Grieg, Edvard, 89
Higginson,
Grimm, W., 216
Hildum, D.
Grimmett,
Hill,
O., 220
J.
Grofe, F., 262
Gros, R. R.,
I
W.
C,
Keston, M.
14
1
J. P., 80, 22^
Gundlach, R., 99-101, 107,
Hitler, Adolf, 10
114
Gunther,
Hollingworth, L.
Hodgson, Walter, 14
M.
Hollinshead,
^7, 17^,
S.,
M., 253
Knapp, G. E., i ^7
Knuth, W. E., 249
Koch, H., 217
Kock, W. E., i^
Kichmann, R., 221
Kleist,
Hindemith, Paul, 122
218
i
Keys, N., 218, 234, 2 ji
Khachaturian, Avram, 262
Hillbrand, E. K., 249
Hilton, R. A., 80
Guilford,
j6,
i
J.,
191, 219, 220
G., 82
Hillard, B., 263, 271
^^
Gross, B., 220, 224
Grunewald, M., 270
S.,
Kern, Jerome, 12^, 262
H., 11^
J.
216, 217
R., ig
W.,
Holmes,
J.
Haba, 30
Haecker, V., 217, 233, 2^0
Haggin, B. H., 170, 176
Homer,
8
Hall, D., 170
Himgerland, Helmut, 174
Hurley, J. S., 81
Husband, R. W., 264, 271
Kovacs,
Friedrich,
Hutchinson, H. E., 249
Hutchison, W. O., 224
126,
Huygens, Christiaan, 35
Kries, J. von, 233, 2^0
Krone, M. T., 250
Kruger, F., 47, ^3
Krugman, H. E., 1^7
Kwalwasser, J., 130, i6(^, 175,
176, 219, 249, 2JI, 253
Hall, J.
Haller,
C,
256, 272
M. W.,
Hampton,
221
P. J., 113
George
Handel,
72, 89,
137, 141
Handschin,
123,
,
124,
115
J., ^2, 5^3,
Harrington, R.
J.,
Kotick,
Koussevitzky, Serge, 70, 141
F.,
I
^^
Ingerham, D. W., 211, 22^
Irion, A. L., 202, 223
D.
B.,
Ives, Charles,
^4
263
O.
Jacobsen,
Hartmann, A., 220
Hattwick, M., i j, 217, 221,
Jancke, H., 224
236,
I
25-1
Joseph,
26,
I
I.,
206,
224,
Kretschmer, E., 218
137,
123,
30, 141, 168, 171,
183, 210
Jancke,
J.,
218, 234,
J.,
W.
i£2
S.,
Lavere,
W., 271
Jaques-Dalcroze, E., 74, 83
Jensen, M. B., 271
Lawshe, C. H.,
Jeritza, Maria, 8
Learned,
Jersild, A. T., 197, 217, 221
Lehman, C.
Lehman, H.
Jr.,
J.,
217
F., 211,
C,
Jesus Christ, 148
Heiliger, L., 217
Johnson, D. M., 270
Johnson, G. B., 14, 218
Leibold, R., 221
Jung, Carl, 193-194, 214
Lenz, F., 218
5-4,
63, 80,
81, 89, 112
Hell, F. J., 222
Helmholtz, H. L.
252
Lazarfeld, P. F., 15^6
Heifetz, Jascha, 66, 199
Heinlein, C. P.,
224
Lastrucci, C. L., 208,
209, 224
25^1
J. L., 163
Lannert, V., 205, 223
Larson,
2^1
249
201, 222
S.,
Landsburg,
Harris, J. D., 252
C, 81
L., 229,
Kreisler, Fritz, 89, 199
Lamp, C.
81
Hart, H.
Haydn,
M.
Howells, T. H., 92, 113
Howes,
Irvine,
156
L.,
81
Kolodin, Irving, 170
168, 171, 183
Hardcastle, Arthur, 74
Harrell, T. W., 155
Harriman, P.
Kohler,
A., 241, 25-3
216
225-
Leiter, R. A., 114
Lewis, D., IS, 80, 83, 222,
F., 34, 47,
Henderson, M. T., 83, 266,
272
Henkin, R. I., 102, 114, 270
Hevner, K., 96, 97-99, 102,
103, 112, 114, 134, 141,
i^^, 163, 16^
Kaiser, L.,
5^2,
112
2^2
Kant, Immanuel, j8
Kaplan, I., 272
Licht, S. H., 271
Kaplan, M., i££
Lincoln, Abraham, 148
Karlin, J. E., 181, 216
Karwoski, T., 113, 114
Linder, F. E.,
Kelley,
N. H., 82
Kelly, E. L., 92, 113
Lichte,
W.
H., i^j
i
^
Lipps, T., 42, 48, S2, S4.
Liszt, Franz, 124, 126, 141,
137, 2^6, 262
301
NAME INDEX
Ortmann, O.,
Loar, L., 209, 224
Miller, R. S.,
London, I. D., 270
Lowenstein, O., 2^6, 270
Lowery, H., 164, 176, 205^,
Milstein, Nathan, 66
80,
Mjon,
I
223, 233, 2^0, 2^1
i
<^
217, 233, 2^0
J.,
Montani, A., 108, 115^
Monteverdi, Claudio, 126
Lund, M., 14, 69, 83
Lundin, R. W., ^4, 72, 83,
Montgomery, H. C,
Moon, P., 34
216, 253
Lusby, W. S., 81
Moore, H. T., 48,
Moorhead, G.
McAllester, D. P., ^3
McCauley, C. J., 249
82
25^3
McNemar, Q., 176
Palestrina,
Marx, Karl,
1
Pear, T. H., 231, 25^0
Peatman,
J. G., i j6
Pepinsky, A., 114
183, i8j, 196, 262
Pickford,
H.,
J.
1
34-1
35-,
141, ^55, 176
Mull, Helen K., 81, 95, 113,
L.,
J.
83,
71,
Pinto,
Piatt,
I.
R.W., 148,1^6, 224
M., 156, lyg, 220
W., 197, 221
W., 197, 221
Plotkin,
Plotkin, E. G., 156
32,
3^, ^3,
216, 222,
119,
Pond, D., 217
Ponselle, Rosa, 8
W., 34
Poole, H.
2^1
Myers, C.
S.,
54
J.,
Podolsky, E., 270, 271, 272
T., 17 j
Mursell,
180, 21 j
10
148, 171
Paperte, F., 271
Petran, L. A., 80
149, ij4, IS7
S.,
W., 249
A., 216
Peterson,
Munro,
Marill, G., 1^4.
W.
141, 148, 168, 169, 171
Maltzew, C. V., 37, 52
Manor, H. C, 239, 2^2
Manzer, C. W., 180, 215^
Marowitz,
Owens,
123,1 24, I 26, I 29, I 30,
132, 133-134, ns, 137,
Mueller,
iji, 15-7
Porter, Cole,
i
C,
Pratt, C.
Nash, D.,
Masson, D. L, 113
Mendelssohn, Felix, 117, 126,
132,1 37, 141, 171, 262
Nelson, H. M., 80
Pressey, L.
Nestele, A., 222
Preston, D., 82
Nettel, R., 272
Prokofiev,
Nevin, Ethelbert, 263
New, D. M., 80
263
Ptolemy,
Newton,
Pyle,
Metfessel, M., 15, 66, 82
Meyer, Max,
14,
4,
20,
33,
34, 42, 52, 80, 8i, 88,
224
93, 107, III, 113
90
Sir Isaac,
Nickerson,
J. F.,
Mezzrow, M., 14
Nielsen,
T., 2^1
Michaeles, A. F., 154
Michel, A., 220
Nyiregyhazi, Erwin, 185, 232
Michelman,
J.,
Oakes,
Middleton,
W.
112, 119,
Si, 232, 2^0
I
i
5
C., 252, 271
J.
W.
28, 34
Milhaud, Darius, 46, j
Miller, R. E., 82
Omwake,
Miles,
302
C.
J.
C.,
191,
R., 270
219,
L., 91, 112,
228, 249
Serge,
2
122,
140,
i
H., 217
Pythagoras, 18, 28
Quinan,
C,
190, 219
Sergei,
122,
140, 141, 174
J., 236—237, 2^2
Odbert, H. S., 114
Offenbach, Jacques, 262
Ogden, R. M., 48, ^4
Olson, H. F., I £j
Miles,
W.
C,
Rachmaninov,
F., 81
O'Brien, C. C., 222
O'Connor,
Mikol, B., 267, 272
2^
26, 34, ^4, 80,
Mascagni, Pietro, 262
15-,
iji,
Paderewski, Ignace Jan, 140
Giovanni,
126,
217
S., 216
Mosher, R. M., 249
Mosonyi, D., 108, 115
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus,
Madison, T. H., 234, 2ji
Mahler, Gustav, 117, 141
Mainwaring, J., 220, 222,
113,
sj, 205-, 223, 250
Otterstein, A.
ij6,
5^4,
Morrow, R.
McGehee, W., 272
McGeoch, J. A., 202, 223
82,
Osborne, E., 218
Osgood, C. E., 114
Ossipowa, S., 220
Morini, Erika, 66
MacDowell, Edward, 73
McElroy, W. A., 112
McGinnis, E. M., 251
McLeish, J., 180, 2ij,
E.,
37, ^2, ^7, 62,
81,
115
Racker, H., 220
Raff, Joseph, 92
Ramon, K. M., 14
Rashevsky, N., 1^3
Ravel, Maurice, 103,
133-134, 140, 263
122,
NAME INDEX
Razran, G. H.
Regner,
Rethberg, Elizabeth,
Revesz,
Schuessler, K. P., 146,
1^7
S.,
N., 15
S.
G.,
8
216,
82,
224,
Rife,
D. C., 216
Rigg,
M.
I
Rimsky-Korsakov,
Nicolai,
115^,
253
Rittershaus, E., 218
Robinson, W., 148, i j6
Rodgers, Richard, 12^
Roe, A., 2^0
Rogge, G. O., 103, 10^, 114
Romberg, Sigmund, 12^
C,
34
Rosenthal, A., 219
Rossini,
Ernestine,
16
1
130,
,
171,
177
Rothschild, D. A., 15
Rubin-Rabson, G., 157, 199-
Stone,
W., 2ji
Seashore, Carl E.,
262
2, 8 n.,
142, 143, ^SS, 1^9, I7S,
180, 190, 193, 198, 2 17,
222,
219,
23J,
240,
243, 244, 2J2
Seashore, H. G., i j
R. H.,
i6j,
217,
220, 224, 232, 23J, 2JI
Semenoff, B., 174, 176
Shaw, George Bernard, 10
Shimp,
112
B.,
14,
Dmitri,
109,
140
Sibelius, Jan,
J.,
148,
Strauss,
Stravinsky,
Igor,
Strong, E. K., Jr., 216, 2^3
Strouse, C. E., 249
Stumpf, C., 33, 38, 39, 48,
52, Si, 216, 231, 2JO
Suchman, E. A., 149, i j6
Sugarman, P., 263, 271
Sullivan, Sir Arthur,
66
Szucharewa, G., 220
Szigeti, Joseph,
133-134, 141,
168, 169, 263
M.
L., 190,
2
19
Talley, Marion, 8
Simon, B., 271
Simonton, T. E., 27
Tangeman, R.
Sjostrom, L.,
Taylor,
i
j
Small, A.,
iji,
216,
1^7,
2
113,
164,
176,
JO, 271, 272
Schonberg, Arnold, 46, 122
Scholes, P. A., I J, 113
Schramek, R., 224
Schrammel, H.
Schubert,
E.,
9^,
109, 123, 124,
130,
132,
I
26,
137,
168, 169, 262
W., 37, j4
Smith, G. H., 236, 2ji
Smith, H. B., 2ji
J.
H., 218
107,
I
29,
148,
Smith, H. R., 2j2
Smith, M. E., j2
Soibelman, D., 271
Sopchak, A. L., 113
Soper,
Sousa,
W.,
J. P.,
i
54
Peter
I.,
124,
227, 249
89,
I
US,
137,
1^4,
168, 169, 262
163,
Terry, C., 217
Thompson, A.
Smith, H. C., 272
Smith, H. D., 250
Snyder, L. H., 216
249
Franz,
177
126, 129, 132, 133-134,
J
Smith, P.
9^,
15^,
I
S.,
Taylor, E. M., 2^3
Tchaikovsky,
M.,
12 j
Sunderman, L. P., 218
Sward, Keith, 218
Slonimsky, N., 217
Schoen,
122,
103,
Streep, R. L., 218
Saunders, D. R., 162,
Scheinfeld, A., 217
129,
133, 140, 148
Taylor, L. E.,
i ^^
154
109,
•32, 133-134, 140, 168
Skinner, L., 83
Saunders, P. A., 9,
56
Richard,
Salisbury, F. S., 250, i£i, 25^2
175^
I
Strauss, Johann, i2j,
49,
52, 54, S7, 61, 67, 80,
81, 82, 83, 112, 130,
Sikes,
Saetveit, J. G., 80, 222, 2^2
Camille,
Saint-Saens,
141,
Stempel, G. H., 177
Scriabin, Aleksandr, 29, 91
1
Runes, Dagobert, 116, 1^3
Rupp, H., 233, 2 JO
224
2jo
I.,
Stevens, S. J., 33
Stone, C. L., 147, ij6
Shostakovitch,
201, 203, 222, 223
Ruck, G., 249
M.
Stelzer, T. G.,
Schwartz, H. D., 219
Schweisheimer, W., 218
Seashore,
Gioacchino,
1 1
j6
i
2J2
Stein,
Scripture, E.
29
Rittenhouse, C. H.,
Roncalio, A.
Stanton, H. M., 11, 16, 217,
132, 137, 141; 169, 210
112
J,
Riker, B. L., 80
I
Stanton, P.,
Schuman,W., 140
Schumann, Robert,
G., 10,
91, 109,
Staffelbach, E. H., 143, ijj
8,
Riggs, L. A., 113
Squires, P. C., 219, 220, 224
Schultz, E. J., 17
Schumann-Heink,
232, 250
Richardson, E. G., ij
j6
i
Schullian, D. M., 271, 272
29
S., 54
Thorpe, L. P., 2^3
Thurstone, L. L., 80, i6j
Thus, S., 113
Tibbett, Lawrence, 8
Tiffin, J., 12, 16
Tilly, C. R., 108,
Tilly,
M.,
Tilson, J.
270
2J7
M., 252
1 1
J,
303
NAME INDEX
Tinker,
M.
Voegelin, C. P., 3^,
A., 1^4.
Tolmie, J. R., 1 ^
Torgerson, T. L., 229, 249
Toscanini, Arturo, 70
Totenberg, Roman, 66
Trabue, M. R., 175
Trembley, J. C,
Tully, M., 249
11 j
81
^^3,
i
Wachsmann, K. P., 27
Wagner, A. H., ^
Wagner, Richard, 109,
Whittaker,
124,
Wakeham,
126,
iii,
130,
G., 202, 223
Updegraff, R., 43, ^3, 217
Walker, E., 198, 221
Washburn, M. P., 1^7
Washington, George, 148
Vaerting, M., 190, 219
Waterman,
W.,
Valentine, C.
112,1
Van
Van
^£, 22
39, j2, 88,
Briessen, M., 222
Vance, T. F., 221
Van de Wall, W., 271
Van Nuys, K., 206, 223
I
Williams,
Ralph,
22
Vernon, L.,
Vernon, P.
ids,
'
1
££
E.,
76,
13,
I
224
Verneer, E. M.,
304
16,
1^7,
80, 21^, 219,
i
s7
J.
W.
G., 224
83
G., 2^0
i j6
Williams, G. D., 156
Williams, H. M., 217, 221,
2JI
Willmann, R. R., 11^
Wilson, M. E., 222
Wing, H. D., 176, 180,
215-,
2^3
Wolfe, B., 14, 191
Wolfe, L. S., 191 219
Wolner, M., 217
,
Wood, C. P., 249
Wood, W. P., 252
Wright,
P. A.,
2^2
Wunderlich, H., 53, 80
Wyatt, R. P., 217, 2^1
Wells, A., 221
Varro, M., 221
Vaughan
Watkins,
W. C,
Watson, K. B., 112
Watt, H. J., 39, ^2
Weaver, H. E., 83, 206, 223
Weber, Carl Maria von, 19 j
Wedell, C. H., 81
I
Alstyne, D., 218
T., 253
Wiebe, G., 149,
i
143, 1^4, 168, 169, 171
Ullman, M., 2oj, 223
271
S.,
Whittaker, A. H., 208, 218
123,
^6
M.
Whitley,
133-134, 135, 137, 141,
Tyler, L. E., 147,
Whiting, H.
Voss, G., 217
Wendelin, A., 271
Werner, E. M., 3o, 221, 272
Wheeler, R. H., 146, 156
Wheelwright, L. P., 223
Whipple, G. M., 217
Whistler, H. S., 2^3
White, R. K., 216
Yasser, J., 34
Young, M., i6j, 176
Whitely, P. L., 265, 272
Zipf, G. K., 176
Zaworski, T., 221
Zener, K. E., 42, j2
Ziehen, T., 217, 233, 2jo
Zigler,
M.
J.,
113
DATE DUE
1
1
GAYLORD
PRINTED
IN U.S.A.
WELLESLEY COLLEGE LIBRARY
3 5002 03353 0705
Music ML 3830
Farnsworth,
1899-1978.
.
F215
Paul
R.
The social psychology of
music.
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Digitized by the Internet Archive
in
2011 with funding from
Boston Library Consortium IVIember Libraries
http://www.archive.org/details/socialpsychologyOOfarn
The Dryden
Press
Publications in Psychology
GENERAL EDITOR
THEODORE
M.
NEWCOMB
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
THE
SOCIAL
PSYCHOLOGY
OF
MUSIC
Paul R. Farnsworth
PROFESSOR OF PSYCHOLOGY
STANFORD UNIVERSITY
THE DRYDEN PRESS NEW YORK
•
316131
Copyright
©
igs^>fy ^^^ Dry den
All rights reserved.
The Drjden
Press, Inc.,
Press, Inc.
For information address
110 West 5yth
Street,
Library of Congress Catalogue Card
New
York ig, N.Y.
Number ^7—11^72
TO
Max
F.
Meyer
n'^ l/iW;^
Printed in the United States oj America
Preface
While
all
the arts have, from time to time, been subjected to
scientific scrutiny,
scientists.
music particularly has attracted the attention of
Musical instruments and their tonal potentialities have
traditionally
been the concern of the
physicists, but a
number of
Physiologists and physiological
psychologists share this interest.
psychologists have studied the auditory sense organs to learn the nature
of the neurological processes by means of vs^hich tones are perceived.
Laboratory psychologists have attempted to establish just what the
musician does
when he performs and
he possesses.
Still
to find
what
tonal sensitivities
other psychologists and a fe"w sociologists have
focused their interests on the affective and evaluative aspects of music.
All these interests are reflected to
that treat the area
some extent
where music and psychology
however, there has been no complete agreement
One
in the textbooks
overlap.
as to
So
far,
what are the
may stress laboratory data and do a minimum of theorizing, another may present fewer
"facts" but be far more philosophical in approach. One may treat of
boundaries of the psychology of music.
music and musicians
another
music
as if the cultural
milieu were of little importance,
may show more concern with
the social determination of
activities.
Of course no book
been
text
said to
can include
all
that at
one time or another has
be subsumed under the psychology of music.
All that
PREFACE
can properly be asked of an author
as
a coherent picture of the
is
that
he present what he regards
phenomena of the
field,
major
its
problems, and the solutions he deems most plausible. This, then,
is
what the present book attempts to do.
The psychology of music
books issued
in the past
has been the subject of at least six text-
two decades. The year 1937 saw the publicaA Psychology of Music and Mursell's The
tion of Diserens and Fine's
Vsjchology of Music.
The former book not only
dealt with experimental
literature but also devoted considerable space to the origin of music,
animal auditors, mythology and folklore, and the relation of music to
magic and sorcery and to religion, melancholy, and
Mursell book philosophized
much more and
interpreted research
data rather narrowly in terms of Gestalt theory.
music teachers was reserved for Music and
The
ecstasy.
Mursell's advice to
the Classroom Teacher
and
other treatises.
Seashore's Psychology of Music was issued in 1938,
With no interest in
those aspects of music which are primarily social psychological Seashore
,
limited himself largely to a description of the excellent but apparatus-
bound
studies of his
broaden
later to
In Search
his
own
laboratories.
coverage of the
of Beauty in Music.
field
He attempted some
years
with Why We Love Music and
Seashore prided himself on following no
"school" of psychology. Yet he was one of the most ardent hereditarians
psychology has produced, and his books quite clearly reflect
this nativistic bias.
In 1940
one of Seashore's students.
The Psychology of Music.
Music,
Built
on
Max
his earlier
Beautiful in
Schoen' s book presented a well-rounded picture of the
experimental findings through the 1930's.
sophical
work
No new
known
Schoen, published his
work, The
A
later,
more
of Schoen's appeared as The Understanding of Music.
texts appeared after 1940 until 195^3,
Eirfiihrung in die Musikpsjchologie
when
Revesz's well-
was translated into English
and published in Great Britain in somewhat revised form.
vi
philo-
A
year
PREFACE
later
it
was issued
in the
in
title Introduction to
Revesz's book contained a good survey of the
the Psychology of Music.
European findings
United States under the
music psychology but touched only
American research. The tone of the Revesz volume was
lightly
on
absolutistic
and hereditarian.
Lundin's An Objective Tsychology of Music was also published in 19^3.
As the only American text to appear
in thirteen years,
it
had the
important task of digesting the research materials of more than a
decade. This book has a cultural and relativistic flavor and an interbehavioristic orientation.
Two
other American books have influenced music-psychology
research, although they are not formal texts in the psychology of
music.
One was
Pratt's The Meaning of Music,
essays rather than a
which was
a series of
textbook and hence made no attempt to cover
the experimental literature. Showing a high degree of sophistication,
Pratt's little
book was written
in large part as a defense of formalism.
The other work was given the
Arithmetic.
Its
author,
is
the
Indeed,
field.
first
Max Meyer,
one of the most
dedicated,
it
rather frightening
to
whom
brilliant theorists
title
The Musician
s
book
is
and experimenters
in
the present
was the manuscript of Meyer's
treatise
which
stirred the interest of this author in the psychology of music,
Meyer's book offered exciting neurological speculations
important research data, but
it
is
admittedly
difficult to
therefore has had an extremely limited audience.
years the present writer has
become
as
well
as
read and
Although over the
increasingly disappointed at the
slow growth of scientific neurology and has occupied himself less and
less
with theorizing along the
lines suggested
by Meyer, he
still
appreciates Meyer's refreshing approach and feels that the serious
student will find The Musician
his
s
Arithmetic,
more recent How We Hear well worth
Meyer's early
and
careful attention.
During the three decades since the author
works, he has been occupied with
articles,
first
came upon Meyer's
a host of research
problems and has
vii
PREFACE
finally
adopted a
relativistic, culturally
would be one of the
to
first
answer the problems of music
course,
may never be
least tentative
He
oriented point of view.
to admit that scientists have hardly
begun
Many problems,
good number already have
aesthetics.
resolved. Yet a
of
at
answers, the elaboration of which will be found in the
Since
chapters to follow.
little
experimental
done on non-European music and the
work
less serious
has so far been
forms of Occidental
music, this book will necessarily be concerned mainly with the
serious music of the West.
To write
task.
Yet
both psychological and musical audiences
for
book attempts
this
to interest these
that
which any
educated adult usually possesses.
intelligent
more
psychological
But unless the reader has some
beyond the
title
His musical knowledge, however, need not be exten-
of this book.
To
It is
and reasonably well-
sustained interest in music he probably will not look
sive.
a difficult
two audiences.
the author's belief that the reader will need no
knowledge than
is
help him with the psychological and musical terms with
which he may be unfamiliar,
For the reader
who
a glossary
more
desires
is
detailed
provided on pp. 280—287.
knowledge
o of the research
material described in the articles listed in the footnotes, a key to
the reference abbreviations
The reader who wishes
is
to
given on pp. 288—292.
keep abreast of the work being done in
psychological aesthetics should consult the Journal of Aesthetics and
which once
Art Criticism,
a year carries a list of articles that have
appeared during the previous calendar year.
articles
which
interest
him and before reading the
After noting the
articles themselves,
the reader would be advised to examine the abstracts printed six
times a year in Psjchological
Abstracts.
coverage of the older articles than
is
referred to
Allied Fields
volumes
Vlll
i
A
is
For a more comprehensive
offered by this book, the reader
Bibliography of Periodical Literature in Musicology and
and a Record of Graduate Theses Accepted (published
and
2
in
as
1940 and 1943 by the American Council of
PREFACE
Attention should also be directed to A. R.
Learned Societies).
Chandler, "A Bibliography of Experimental Aesthetics, 1865"— 1932"
(Ohio State
E.
N.
University
Barnhart,
Aesthetics,
A
Studies,
1
[1933]);
Bibliography
to
A.
R.
of Psychological
Chandler and
and Experimental
1864—IP3J (Berkeley, University of California Press,
W. A. Hammond, A Bibliographj of Aesthetics and of the
1938); and to
Philosophy of the Fine Arts from
igoo
to
1932 (New York, Longmans,
Green, 1934)-
The author
is
indebted to
Since in general they
here.
An
know
many people and
name them
exception must be made, however, in the case of the
Stanford University Press, which kindly allowed
for this
publishing houses.
of his appreciation he will not
book almost the
This material
him
to take over
entire manuscript of his earlier Musical Taste.
now makes up much
of Chapters 6 and
7.
P.R.F.
Stanford, California
July 1957
IX
Contents
Chapter One
The Psychological Approach
Music
to
i
The Psychology of Music and the Social Sciences, 2
The Unreliability of Common Sense, 3 The Search for
•
•
Alternative Hypotheses, 4
The Possibilities of Research
Experimental Aesthetics, 7
The Absence of
musical Investigations, 6
in
Limitations of Psycho-
•
•
•
Absolutes,
I
2
•
A
Preview of Later Chapters,
i
3
Chapter Two
The Social Psychology oj Musical Scales
The Tone Elements of Music,
Times,
1
8
17
•
Scales of Ancient
Scale of Just Intonation,
•
Number
17
2
i
•
A
Scale w^ith
The Need for Modulation,
Mean-Tone Temperament, 24 Equal Tempera23
ment, 2^
The Stability of Intervals, 26
Equal
Temperament, Our Frame of Reference, 28 Other
Possible Scales, 29
Summary, 31
the Prime
7, 23
•
•
•
'
•
•
•
Chapter Three
The Interval
36
Distinctive Quale, 36
37
•
•
Vibrato, Tremolo, and Trill,
Apparent Pitch of
Minor
Effect,
lutions,
44
sonance, 47
•
•
40
•
Intervals,
38
Finality Effects, 41
Tonality,
4^
•
•
•
The Major-
Interval Reso-
Consonance and Dis-
Summary, £o
XI
CONTENTS
Chapter Four
Melody
gg
Melody and
Melody and Loudness, 6i Melody
and Timbre, 64 Melody and Sonance, 66 Melody
and Noise, 67 Melody and Tempo, 69 Melody and
Rhythm, 70 Harmony, j £ Summary, 77
Principles of Attention and Learning, gy
Pitch Level, ^8
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Chapter Five
Language Aspects of Music
84
Grammar, 8g
Desire for Communication, 84
Alleged Key Effects, 86
Major and
Meaning, 8g
Color-Tone Linkage, 90
Minor Modes, 88
"The
Adjective Lists for
Language of the Emotions," 93
Classifying Music, 9^ Variables Which Give Meaning
to Music, 99
The Expression of Tensions, 102
Music as a Universal Language, 106 Psychoanalytic
Symbolism, 108 Summary, 109
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Chapter Six
The Nature oj Musical Taste
116
Whimsey or Law? 117' Eminence, 120
Enjoyment,
129- Know^ledge of Composers, 1 3 1 Programs, 132*
Individual and Group
Space Allocations, 136
Differences, 138
Criteria and Conditioners of
•
•
•
•
Taste, 142
•
Summary, 1^2
Chapter Seven
The Measures oJ Musical Taste
A
Variety of Measures,
i
^8
•
i^'S
Auditory Tests,
1
5^9
•
Paper-and-Pencil Tests, 16^ Polling, 167 Orchestral
Programs, 167
Broadcasts of Recordings, 168
•
•
•
•
Record Listings, 169 Scholarly Texts, 170
dom, 173 Summary, 174
•
•
xii
•
Bore-
CONTENTS
Chapter Eight
The Nature of Musical Abilities
Ability
—an
178
Appropriate Descriptive Term,
178
•
Ability in Music and the
Generality of Ability, 179
Other Arts, 182 Academic Intelligence and Musical
•
•
The
Hereditability of Musical Abilities,
and Body Structures, 188
Adlerian
Views on Ability, 192' Jungian Views on Ability, 193Freudian Views on Ability, 1 94 Imagery as a Source of
Developing Abilities, 196 Training
Abilities, 195"
Methods: General Problems, 199- Training Methods
Special Problems, 204* Creativity, 207' Summary, 212
Ability, 183
184
•
•
Abilities
•
•
•
•
Chapter Nine
226
The Measurement of Musical Abilities
Tests of Verbal Knowledge, 226
Musical
231
•
Skills,
230
Tests of Nonverbal
•
Unstandardized Aptitude Tests,
•
The Original Seashore
Gretsch Test for Musical
Battery,
235^
Aptitude,
Tilson-
•
237
1939
Edition of the Seashore Measures of Musical Talents,
•
Kwalwasser-Dykema Music Tests, 240 Kwal237
wasser Music Talent Tests, 242
The Drake Tests,
•
•
•
Whistler-Thorpe Musical Aptitude Test, 244
Lundin Tests, 24^
Wing Standardized Tests of
243
•
•
•
Musical Intelligence, 246
Test, 247
•
•
Strong Vocational Interest
The Future of Music Aptitude
Tests, 248
Chapter Ten
Applications oj Music to Therapy and Industry
2^4
Physiological Changes, 2^4
The Present Status of
Music Therapy, 2^8 Music in Physical Therapy, 25-9
Music in Mental Therapy, 2 5^9 The Effects of Music
on Achievement, 264
•
•
•
•
Xlll
CONTENTS
Epilogue
273
Appendix
lj£
1.
2.
The Musical Taste of an American Elite, 275^
Glossary, 278
3. Key to Reference Abbrevi•
•
ations,
XIV
286
Subject Index
291
Name
299
Index
THE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
OF MUSIC
CHAPTER ONE
The Psychological Approach
to
JLiKE most
discussions
area of study
is
which attempt
show
arguments about the
a science,
psychology of music can settle
would allow science
to
that
all
particular
scientific status of the
Some
or nothing.
little
to include almost
some
Music
definitions
systematic investigation,
while others would restrict the term to the older and betterestablished disciplines of the natural sciences. Yet
that
the
psychologists
aesthetics of
who
music aim to be
have
interested
scientists.
They
it
can be truly said
themselves
try to
in
the
employ the best
tools available, to handle their experimental variables according to the
accepted rules of science, and to treat their findings with a reasonable
degree of
times
statistical
when
Admittedly, there have been
sophistication.
they have kept too close to their laboratories and have
withdrawn somewhat from musical
reality.
Several decades ago, for
example, a number of psychologists claimed to be able to
test innate
musical capacities. They also maintained that these tested capacities
could not be improved by training, a dogma which was most
tating to those musicians
ment
who had
devoted their
lives to the
irri-
improve-
knew that their labors had
more and more data have been collected,
have come to agree with the musicians that the
of tonal perception and control and
not been in vain.
the psychologists
But, as
"musical ear" can indeed be improved
logical aestheticians are
more
(p. i86).
careful to
work
Nowadays, psycho-
in a musical context.
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH TO MUSIC
The Psychology of Music and the Social Sciences
It is
often said that psychology was born from a union of philosophy
and the natural sciences. With the passage of time, however, the
social sciences
began to envelop psychology
until, at present,
many
of the research problems and techniques of cultural anthropology,
sociology, and psychology are surprisingly alike.
—
psychology
sciences
its
retention of
its
not with philosophy) and the addition of
(if
interests in the social science area
of the psychology of music.
members of
This growth of
older affiliations with the natural
—
is
reflected in the
its
newer
development
Past workers in the field,
notably
the Carl Seashore group at the State University of Iowa,
rather limited themselves to experiments of the natural science sort
(p. 8).
Others, particularly researchers of the past few years, have
tended to be
at least equally interested in
techniques of the social sciences.
It is
problems adapted to the
natural that those
who
deal
primarily with the biological aspects of music should feel that the
more important antecedents of musical activity are to be found in the
nature of the human organism, whereas those further removed from
the natural science laboratory should look more to cultural forces for
their explanations.
While the present
treatise attempts to cover the
major experi-
ments of psychological aesthetics whatever the techniques employed,
its
orientation
is
admittedly a sociopsychological one.
Believing as
he does that the earlier workers tended to overstress the importance
of the biological bases of musical behavior almost to the point of
ignoring
its
cultural determinants, the author has here tried to bring
the picture a
to
some
to
little
more
to balance.
No
be an overbalance on the cultural
the effect, the choice has been deliberate.
become
doubt the result will seem
clearer as the
book
is
read.
Its
side.
But whatever
justification will perhaps
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH TO MUSIC
The Unreliability of Common Sense
The behavioral
that he perceives.
obvious,
v^^hat
scientist tends to question the validity of
He
than the layman to accept the
less likely
is
much
"common
the dictionary terms
sense," for
he has
found that he and others "know" many things that are simply not
true.
Let us take
as
an illustration the very widespread belief that
marijuana heightens the auditory capacities.
addicts are convinced that they are
when
more
Even many musician-
sensitive to tonal stimuli
given this drug. Yet psychophysiological research gives no
support to the idea.^ In this area, alertness and the feeling of alertness are not closely related.
Or
more
let us
consider the almost universal belief that Negroes are
sensitive to tone
and rhythm than are whites.
Large numbers
of these two American subgroups have been tested in tonal
and
in the discrimination of differences in pitch,
rhythm, and timbre.
No
striking
memory
loudness, time,
Negro (or white) superiority has
ever been demonstrated. In the several studies in this area the racial
differences that do
emerge are
so slight that
one group or another will
yield the higher average score because of factors local to the
But
diate testing situation (Chap. 8).
of these subgroups were at
local conditions
Common
and make
if
the superiority of either one
impressive,
all
itself
sense teaches that
imme-
it
would transcend these
unmistakably apparent.^
some humans
are born monotones.
These unfortunates cannot carry tunes and are doomed to go through
life
embarrassed by the
fact that they
recognize our national anthem
political witch-hunting.
—
cannot sing or perhaps even
a serious disability in these days of
The follower of common
sense typically
accepts the fatalistic genetics of earlier decades and does nothing
about the matter. To him the monotone appears to have an inherent
anatomical defect.
educators
But luckily there are psychologists and music
who check on common
sense.
They have shown
that most,
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH TO MUSIC
if
not
all,
abilities
monotones have psychological rather than
biological dis-
and can be helped to overcome their tune weakness. Mono-
tones are often people
who
the early grades of school. 3
have met with emotional
Possessed of
difficulties in
more than average
dislike
of the schoolroom or of the music teacher, or of both, and quite
frequently holding to the attitude that singing
is
an activity for
monotones may become uncooperative during
when music fundamentals
life
are usually
most
that
sissies,
early period
easily learned.
Later in
they will find that with great effort they can master the concept
of pitch but that they must have considerable aid from psychologists
or music educators to do so (p. i86).
Although many other
unreliability of
more example.
common
illustrations
could be given of the occasional
sense, let us content ourselves
with just one
Capacities for handling two-four, three-four, four-
measure seem to be
four, six-four, and even eight-four beats per
generally regarded as "instinctive."
American music students handle
such time signatures without formal training but flounder
to beat out the five-four or the seven-four.
"instinct" for these latter, says
common
Man
sense.
when asked
simply lacks the
Yet
if this
were
the lack should be general and not limited to a few culture areas.
psychologist
Max Meyer should not have found natives
so,
The
of North Africa
dancing and swaying to these beats. But, according to his observations,
certain of the natives
four as
his
we are with
were almost
with the
as skillful
the two- and three-four.
American laboratory, he found
it
Later,
five-
on
and seven-
his return to
quite easy to train his students
to tap out the five- and seven-four with great accuracy. 4 These
Americans soon forgot that they had no "instinct" for such
young
activities.
The Search Jor Alternative Hypotheses
Another characteristic of the
for rival hypotheses.
scientist
is
his willingness to search
While the layman may be content with one
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH TO MUSIC
apparently reasonable "cause" for soine phenomenon, the scientist
investigates a variety of possible antecedents.
It
looks reasonable,
for example, to assume that the true beat in music5 has a rate
is
determined by some organic rhythm
many
like the heartbeat,
years the assumption of an intimate connection
function and music response was treated
matter to
test in
which
and for
between body
But Lund put the
as a fact.
an attempt to see whether there might not be some
other deterininants.^ Although he did not find what these latter were,
he did show that true beat and heartbeat have
During 1939
many performances
of the
Roth Quartet and of
orchestras and found the true beat to vary
—
association.
psychologist took meticulous measureinents of
this
100 pulsations
little
a far cry
all
several
the
symphony
way from 40
from the 70—75" beats the heart
to
gives each
minute.
The search
accept
as
creating
that
if it
a
for alternative hypotheses
finally valid all that gets
new
makes the
into print.
scientist loath to
In the process of
theories and rechecking behavior he sometimes finds
what the books
say about
some phenomenon
is
no longer true
ever was. Thus, long ago the notion was written into at least
few textbooks
that the great vocalists sang pure,
Happily, this invalid observation appears in print
fact, it is a
tones.
but rarely. In
Avonder that anyone ever did hold to the purity idea, for
one needs only to
listen to a relatively
fork, to realize that
music
now
steady
deals.
And
it is
there
pure tone, say that of a tuning
the impure and not the pure tone with which
is a
host of excellent psychological works on
the vibrato which demonstrate beyond doubt the unsteadiness of the
preferred vocal and violin tone (p. 8).
Other almost
totally incorrect sets of musical rules can
be found
some of the older books on baton movements. Typical diagrams
show a preponderance of straight-line motions and periods of
in
relative
rest
at
the
beat-instants.
Bartholomew checked these
diagrams against the baton performances of conductors. 7
He attached
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH TO MUSIC
lamp to the end of
a tiny
light
dimmed
a
baton which had been so wired that the
at the exact instant of the beat.
By photographing the
path of the light this experimenter found curvilinear rather than
straight-line
motions and points of
The
respective beats.
fastest,
rest closer to the "ands" after the
not the slowest, speeds were often
at
the beat-instants
On
misinformation
printed
occasion,
practical reasons, the ethical aspects of
As an
illustration let us take
been
has
retained
for
which are not of a high order.
one of the author's minor
studies.
Around 1930 considerable research was being undertaken with a
make of player piano. Its manufacturer had long been
certain
advertising that
it
offered sixteen different intensities of
strokes, roughly twice the loudness possibilities of
two chief
This statement was true enough from the standpoint of physics
rivals.
as
its
hammer
many
there actually were twice as
being studied. But,
as the
on the music
intensity holes
roll
author clearly proved, only one half of
its
loudness differences were discriminable by the typical layman whereas
all
of
its rivals'
were. Musically and practically speaking, then, the
competing instruments were equally good
ness differences. Yet the advertising
in their handling of loud-
went on unchanged.
Limitations of Psjchomusical Investigations
The psychologist
organized whole.
pieces
But why
together bits of information into an
does he choose to
problems and not on others? His choice,
it
work on
would seem,
is
certain
to
some
extent forced by the availability and cooperation of his subjects and
by the degree to which the complex phenomena of music can be
subjected to scientific analysis.
The
first
of these conditioners
research choices of the psychologist.
human
6
is
common
Unless he
is
to
almost
all
the
working with sub-
animals which can be caged, or with the semicaged school
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH TO MUSIC
child or college sophomore,
who must
cooperate willy-nilly, the
psychologist often has great selection and motivation difficulties with
his subjects.
He commonly
he might desire to
answer
test,
his questions
cannot get the cooperation of
and even those
without
who do
all
those
"cooperate"
may
His findings, then, are
sufficient care.
not always truly representative.
The second
factor
which
limits psychomusical research operates
throughout the social sciences and the humanities.
are rarely simple, and
whenever
analyses are to
Causal relations
be made care must
be taken that the dynamic interrelation of the phenomena
is
be devoid of musical meaning. The practical
is
in question
not disturbed. Otherwise, the data resulting from the analyses will
many
that
fascinating musical
effect of this limitation
problems cannot be studied by the
aid of any of the analytic techniques currently used by the psycho-
In
logist.
He
many
areas
he can only chew along the edges, so to speak.
cannot get his teeth into the meaty center of the problem.
The
Psychological
what
of Research in Experimental Aesthetics
research in aesthetics can often throw much light on
Possibilities
is
taking place in a particular music area, i.e.,
function.
it
has a descriptive
Research may sometimes yield, in addition, pertinent
information on the reasons for some particular bit of music behavior.
It
can also be of considerable aid in forecasting
criteria
for
all
work
by which
artistic
But no science
.
offers
responses can be rated as "good," "proper
time," "bad," or "improper for
all
time." In other words, the
of the psychological aesthetician leads to descriptions, expla-
nations, and forecasts, but does not reveal aesthetic absolutes.
THE DESCRIPTIVE FUNCTION.
To
illustrate
descriptive, function of psychological aesthetics
the
first,
or
we might well return
to a consideration of vocal and violin vibrato.^
Careful research in
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH TO MUSIC
this area has
demonstrated that the cultivated singing voice of the
adult show^s periodic changes in pitch in approximately 9 ^ per cent of its
•
tones. Regular changes in intensity and timbre have also
been found
to occur. For both violin and voice the tone pulsates about 6* g times
a second.
The extent of the pulsation of the violin tone
pitch range)
approximately a quarter of a tone.
is
the vibrato extent
is
twice
this value
(in the
middle
For the vocal tone
although the listener can rarely
believe this and interprets the range as
somewhat smaller
(a fifth
of a
tone). Both the musically trained and the relatively unmusical prefer
the current vibrato rates to
all
others.
Untrained individuals prefer
a pitch range of approximately a quarter-tone, while the musically
trained favor a pitch
The
wobble of about
typical vibratos of a
measured. Hence,
it is
number of
now
whole tone.
a tenth of a
virtuosos have been carefully
possible for the aspiring
violinist to coinpare his vibrato
with that of
his
before some instrument which transmutes his
young singer or
model by performing
own
tonal efforts into
visual stimuli.
Vibrato of Some Well-known Singers*
* C.
Average Extent in
per Second
Whole Tones
Schumann- Heink
7-6
•38
Galli-Curci
7-3
•44
Caruso
7-1
•47
Rethberg
7-0
•49
Ponselle
6-9
•48
Chaliapin
6-8
•54
Jeritza
6-8
•53
Tetrazzinl
6-8
•37
Talley
6-7
•54
Tibbett
6-6
•55
Gigli
6-5
•57
Hackett
5-9
•47
Homer
5-9
•51
E. Seashore,
mission).
Average Rate
Psychology of Music, N.Y.,
McGraw-Hill, 1938,
p.
43 (with per-
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH TO MUSIC
THE CAUSAL FUNCTION. ^°
While the second,
or
causal,
function of psychological aesthetics can be illustrated from any one
of a large
number
of only two, the
of studies, let us limit ourselves to a consideration
first
to be
concerned with the determiners of tempo
preferences and the second with the reasons for the high regard in
which the old Cremona-made
Tempo
violins are held.
preferences have been found to vary considerably from
person to person. This large range
factors,
to
but
is
no doubt due
to a
number
of
one of these factors has been isolated and found
at least
be what might be termed "occupational tempo." Thus Foley found
that girls studying trades like dressmaking in
at a
which
activity
proceeds
slow pace were prone to favor andante tempos; those working
with power machines,
slow allegro. Typists, with their
a
working speeds, tended to prefer
Their work speeds,
came
seems
it
a fast allegro
clear, so
faster
bordering on presto.
conditioned these
to prefer these rates even outside the shop
girls that
they
and the office."
And now for our second illustration of psychology's causal function. With the passage of time, the sales values of the violins built by
the old masters of Cremona have grown enormously. The know-how
of making great instruments has been lost and
are
weak
imitations,
Stradivarius or
its
some
it
modem
reproductions
commonly said.^^ But what makes a
Cremona fiddle so magnificent? Is it
Or may it not be, in part at least, a matter
is
other old
physical construction?
of attitude, of prestige long associated with this period of alleged
violin-making supremacy?
The
physical qualities of the old instruments and of their
imitations have been carefully examined by Saunders. ^3
prising finding
is
that
instruments differed
other old violins.
on
from
all
its
but one of his
modern copy
to
less
make an
His sur-
any one of the old
than
All the instruments, old and
alike in the response curves they yielded.
work required
tests
modem
it
did from the
new, were much
Saunders did find that the
old violin speak properly was, on the
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH TO MUSIC
newer models. The
average, a little less than that needed for the
Cremona
violins
with their older
that are not quite so easily
wood and
drowned out by the other instruments of
But aside from
the orchestra. ^4
drier varnish yield tones
this
energy variable no great
differences emerged.
There
particular instrument
feel that the
tone
is
than he would for a
was made by
a great
modern
to pay
more
for
it
All that
is
needed to prove that
is
to arrange a psycho-
experiment in which Strads and their well-built inodern
logical
imitations are played behind a screen a
The
results
marvelous
violins.
number of times
in
prove that the person has yet to be found
consistently pick the Strad.^5
tions
him
validity
violin.
some
that a
master makes the listener
superior and stimulates
the suggestion hypothesis has
order.
The awareness
then, the suggestion hypothesis.
is,
The old masters,
it
random
who
would seem,
can
built
But along with the instruments they built reputa-
which w^ere even more marvelous
THE FORECASTING FUNCTION.
To
illustrate the third,
or
forecasting, function of psychological aesthetics let us look again to
the psychology of suggestion and next to the forecasting of grades in
conservatories of music.
suggestion
affected
we might
From what we know
forecast that musical preferences
by an experimenter
subjects' likes
and
dislikes.
shown by Rigg, when he
college students.
^^
of the principles of
if
he
set himself the task of altering his
That such
effects
can actually occur was
offered the saine music to three groups of
The members of one group were
what they were hearing
could be
in a romantic
light.
No
led to regard
special psychological
"atmosphere" was suggested to the members of the second group.
The
last
group of students was successfully led to associate the music
with Hitler and the Nazi movement. The proof that the three
different "atmospheres" elicited three different degrees of acceptance
was shown
lo
in the three
mean preference
scores.
When
thought of as
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH TO MUSIC
Nazi music the compositions were least appreciated.
When
romantic atmosphere was suggested the acceptance was
greatest.
Knowing very well
that to
many laymen
the
word
the
"classical"
suggests high-brow, boring music, the arrangers of a Danish broadcast
program of serious music changed the
"Classical
of their series from
title
Music" to "Popular Music" but kept unchanged the
their musical offerings.
style of
The latter label, they felt, suggested pleasanter,
easier-to-grasp music. That they had properly gauged the connota-
was rather dramatically demonstrated
tions of these terms
that the
It
number of listeners doubled
after the
changed
in the fact
titling. ^7
can safely be predicted that certain compositions will be better
liked
if
the listener
is
led to think they
some eminence. Thus,
audiences
who
if
believe the
composer
Buxtehude, the acceptance will be
that the
effects
composer
is
were composed by
Bach's Concerto
to
far less
in
D
Minor
is
a
man
of
played to lay
be the relatively unknown
than
if
the listeners are told
their revered J, S. Bach,^^
Similar suggestive
have been demonstrated in the area of jazz preferences and in
the pictorial
arts.
And now let us look at the forecasting of conservatory grades.
Many colleges nowadays have established what they call "critical
levels" of college aptitude, minimum scores which an applicant must
reach in order to matriculate.
These
critical
levels
empirically determined from the scores of past failures.
have been
They
then, of considerable value for forecasting, since persons
scores
below these
critical points will
time of graduation.
Music, found a
almost certainly
fail
are,
making
before the
Stanton, working at the Eastman School of
critical level
She based her level on a
of this type for entering music students. ^9
test of tonal
imagery, a case history, a
college aptitude test, and a battery of music aptitude tests (Chap. 9),
After years of experimentation, Stanton found she could foretell
with considerable accuracy which of the applicants would be the
failures.
1
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH TO MUSIC
The Absence of Absolutes
Because there are certain biological periodicities close to the 6 or
6'^ pulsations per second that
musician prefers above
the vibrato rate the contemporary
is
other rates, one theorist has assumed this
all
periodicity to be the "proper vibrato rate for
all
time."
To him
the fact that the musically elite currently prefer a rate identical with
one of the periodicities of "nature" proves that they
like v\^hat
it is
biologically proper to like.
This type of reasoning
he knows
that
what
is
is
not acceptable to the social
deemed proper
in
scientist, for
one period of time may not
be so considered in the next.^° The position taken
in this
book, the
belief that scientific research does not yield absolutes and final ansvv^ers,
is
well expressed by Tiffin in an article in which he describes some of
his vibrato researches:
This
work
intended to present objective unequivocal
is
information about the vibrato used by this generation of
and students of voice.
vibrato
is
included in the results.
by present day
improved
is
not contended that
is
if
It
it
were made
repeated
may
No
esthetic value
may be araued
artists is a fad
eliminated. This
study
It
ultimately beautiful.
type of
judgment
is
that the vibrato in use
and that their voices would be
less
prominent or even entirely
quite possibly be true.
fifty
this
artists
Perhaps
if this
years hence, the average extent of the
vibrato then in use will be found to be quite different from the
one
now employed.
artistry
have changed,
time to time.
taste
This will simply
nor to
.
.
.No
justify
as all esthetic
atteiTipt is
made
mean
that standards of
preferences change from
to prophesy future artistic
current preference in terms of ultimate
esthetic principles. ^^
Absolutes are not revealed by psychological research for the simple
reason that there are no musical absolutes to be found. There
12
is,
for
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH TO MUSIC
example, no absolutely "good" music, music whose goodness transcends time and space. As the British psychologist Vernon phrases
"That music
it:
'good' which happens to appeal especially to the
is
subjective tastes of the musicians of the period, these tastes being to
a large extent
determined irrationally by temperamental and various
environmental conditions, by suggestion, contra-suggestion, conservatism and iconoclasticism."^^
A
Preview of Later Chapters
Our first consideration will be the
agreed upon placements of
or sing. The interval,
all
scale, the relative
and socially
the notes the musician attempts to play
any two simultaneously or successively
i.e.,
played tones, and the melody, a succession of intervals
felt to possess
unity, furnish the basic underpinninp^s of musical structure and are
for this reason considered in Chapters
Since the
first,
a piece of music
and
4.
and often the only, question many laymen ask about
is,
"What
story does the composition tell?"
appropriate to present in the
medium
3
fifth
of communication.
meaning of a composition
is
seemed
chapter material on music as a possible
And
clearly
as a
person's attitude toward the
forms an important part of his
of his over-all attitude toward that composition and
language chapter
it
its
taste,
composer, the
followed by two on musical taste— Chapter 6 on
the nature of taste and Chapter 7 on the several ways of measuring
The
discussion of the basic musical abilities and their
(Chaps.
and 9) might
8
for in a very real sense
suppose
abilities.
A
however.
is
all
perception, affection, and attitude pre-
There are other ways of viewing the problem,
They can be expressed only
his culture's taste,
inhibitory.
have appeared earlier in the book,
person's abilities will mature only
propitious.
own and
justifiably
it.
measurement
and
this taste
if
the social climate
in the context of a
man's
may prove stimulating or
may be thought to
In this limited sense, then, ability
13
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH TO MUSIC
depend on
taste
and so deserve treatment,
The consideration of the appHcations
appears as the
book, after
what he
is
to medicine and industry
chapter, for before one tries to apply any
final
ledge he should
With
as it has in this
been considered.
taste has
make
certain that he has learned
all
know-
he can about
to apply.
this brief
introduction to the social psychology of music, let
us examine next the musical scale, the totality of those fixed (but
relatively placed) pitch positions
which the musician
uses in his
melodic and harmonic endeavors.
Notes
i]
as
C. K. Aldrich, "The Effect of a Synthetic Marihuana-Hke
Measured by the Seashore Test,"
M. Mezzrow and
2]
One
by G.
of the
B.
B.
Wolfe, Really
most extensive of the
Publ.
the Blues,
studies
Hlth
N.Y.,
Rep.,
Compound on
Random
59 (1944):
House, 1946.
After testing 33i'o Negroes of
431-433;
which compared Negroes and whites was
Johnson reported in "Musical Talent of the Negro," Mus. Superv.
81, 83, 96.
Musical Talent
Wash.,
fifth
J.,
grade, eighth grade, and college level on
the Seashore Measures of Musical Talent he states: "It becomes evident that the only
conclusion to be drawn from the data
is
that
!£ (1928):
that there are
no
significant differences
fair
between
whites and Negroes on those basic musical sensibilities measured by the Seashore tests."
3]
M. Ramm,
K.
"Personality Maladjustment
among Monotones,"
Smith Coll. Stud. Soc.
Wk., ij (1947): 264-284.
4]
£]
M.
F.
Meyer, The Psychology oj
By true beat or takt
of time signatures or
6]
M. W. Lund, "An
is
the Other-one,
Columbia, Mo., Missouri Book, 1922.
meant the pulsations which underlie phrase rhythms irrespective
number
of notes in the phrase.
Analysis of the 'True-beat' in Music," Doctoral Thesis, Stanford U.,
1939. In a somewhat similar analysis of the true beat of phonograph recordings, Hodgson
found that
slightly less than half of the
Although he had undertaken
measures
fell
between 60 and 70 per minute.
his researches in the belief that true beat
may be
causally
Hodgson now admits the impossibility of proving a causal relationWalter Hodgson, "Absolute Tempo," Mus. Teach. Nat. Assoc. Proc. 1949> 43 Ser.,
related to heart beat,
ship.
19^1: 158-169.
7]
W.
T. Bartholomew, "Baton Movements," Peahody Bull., 29, No.
Using a similar technique,
F.
the same composition there
Giese found that
when
34^
2 (1933): 37-39persons were asked to conduct for
were huge individual differences
in the style of conducting.
Giese 's data show some similarity in the pattern of conducting (a) the different works of
14
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH TO MUSIC
the same conductor and (b) compositions of the same musical school ("Individuum
Epoch
Taktierbewegungen bei verschiedenen Komponisten," Arch.
in
Ges.
und
Psychol.,
go
(1934): 380-426).
8]
The most extensive work on the
State University of Iowa.
tains articles
vibrato was done at the Seashore laboratories of the
See the U. of
la. Stud. Psychol.
Mus., vol.
by E. Easeley, M. Hattwick, M. T. Hollinshead,
M. Metfessel, R. S.
Wagner; an earlier
(1932), which con-
N. Reger, D. A. Rothschild, H. G. Seashore, and A. H.
Miller, S.
research from this same laboratory was that of
Experimental Study of the Pitch Factor in Artistic Singing,"
230-259.
1
F. E. Linder, J. Tififin,
Excellent
work
M. Schoen, "An
Psychol. Monog., 31
(1922):
has also been done by L. Cheslock, "Introductory Study on
Violin Vibrato," Peabodj Cons. Mus. Res. Stud., No.
i
(193
i).
See also
W.
E.
Kock,
"On
the Principle of Uncertainty in Sound, "J. Acoust. Soc. Amer., 7 (1935'): 5^6-58; "Certain
Phenomena Accompanying a Frequency Vibrato, "J. Acoust. Soc. Amer., 8 (1936):
M. Small, "An Objective Analysis of Artistic Violin Performance," U. of la.
Psychol. Mus., 4 (1936): 172-231; J. R. Tolmie, "An Analysis of the Vibrato from
Subjective
23-25-; A.
Stud.
the Viewpoint of Frequency and Amplitude Modulation," J. Acoust. Soc. Amer., 7 (1935):
29—36; L. Sjostrom, "Experimentellphonetische Untersuchungen des Vibratophanomens
der Singstimme," Acta Oto-larjng. (Stockholm), Suppl., 47 (1948): 123-130.
9]
J. F.
Psjchol.,
10]
Corso and D. Lewis, "Preferred Rate and Extent of Frequency Vibrato, "y. Appl.
34 (1950): 206-212.
"Explanation" as used in this book
A phenomenon
"description."
variables to
which
it
is
popularly referred to as
11]
J.
P. Foley, Jr.,
J. Soc. Psychol., 12
I
2]
This "loss of
related.
its
is,
in a sense,
to be explained
Where
is
merely an extension of the concept
described in the context of the other
these latter are antecedent in time they are
"causes."
"The Occupational Conditioning of Preferential Auditory Tempo,"
(1940):
I
21-129.
know-how"
has been greatly exaggerated in the popular mind.
A. Saunders, "The Mechanical Action of Violins, "J. Acoust. Soc. Amer., 9 (1937):
13]
81-98. A. Small has shown that the "better" stringed instruments differ from the
F.
"poorer" largely in their emphasis on frequency bands below 2500 d.v. ("The Tone-color
[Timbre] of Stringed Instruments," Mus. Teach. Nat. Assoc, 1940 (1941): 35^4-360). See
also E.
14]
G. Richardson, "Orchestral Acoustics,"
Even the
"lost art" of
making old
1
5]
Data from personal communications
to
Month., 80, isss- 211-224.
Italian violin varnish is lost
Michelman, "Lost Art of Strad Varnish,"
author. The Oxford Companion
Sci.
Month., 81,
Sci.
as
i9i;'5:
no longer.
See
J.
221-223.
well as from one unpublished study by the
Music (P. A. Scholes, ed., London, Oxford U. Press,
1943, p. 988) reports that in London and in several other places there have been similar
failures to discriminate the tones of the older
16]
M. G.
from those of the newer instruments.
Rigg, "Favorable versus Unfavorable Propaganda in the Enjoyment of Music,"
J. Exp. Psychol,
38 (1948): 78-81.
"A Radio Test
17]
T. Geiger,
It is
conceivable that the long-continued use of the Geiger procedure might increase the
of Musical Taste," Puhl. Opin. Quart., 14 (1950): 45^3-460.
15
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH TO MUSIC
number
of persons
titled "classical."
1
8]
habitually tune in
was well known
the
name
of
J.
S.
in the late
Bach that
degree of formal education
19]
on musical programs even when the music
The organist-composer Buxtehude, although
public,
it is
who
is
Unfortunately, the reported data do not cover this possibility.
is
largely
unknown
to the present-day lay
seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.
familiar to
all
But
now
laymen who have had any appreciable
(p. 276).
H. M. Stanton, "Measurement of Musical Talent," U. of
la.
Stud. Psychol. Mus., 2
(1935): 1-14020]
Even
number
in the short period that scientists have
been observing musical behavior,
of changes in basic activity have been noted. Thus, the
of the great Schumann-Heink was quite acceptable in her day but causes
even amusement to those of us
who
listen,
on recordings,
a
manner of breath control
to
much
what appear
distress or
to
be her
periodic gasps.
21]
J.
Tiffin,
"The Role of Pitch and
Artists," U. of la. Stud. Psychol. Mus.,
22]
134.
16
P. E.
Vernon, "Method
1
Intensity in the Vocal Vibrato of Students
and
(1932): 134-165-.
in Musical Psychology," Amer. J. PsjchoL,
42 (1930): 127-
CHAPTER TWO
The
Social Psychology of
Musical Scales
iVlusic
is
made
of socially accepted patterns of sounds. These
sounds are either noisy, with no perceptible pitch, or they are tonal,
and can be located on
a
high— low continuum. The tones may differ in
loudness, timbre, duration, volume, density, and quite possibly in
still
other characteristics.^ While
all
pitches in the middle range are
of potential musical use, only a few appear in any one composition.
is,
convention limits the number and relative locations of the
pitches.
This chapter will consider the several attempts at pitch
That
limitation, matters studied in music
under the category of
scales.
The Tone Elements of Music
Unlike the music of some other cultures in which the sounds slide
up or down without discrete
alike, the
far
back
steps and the patterns are rarely twice
music of the West has been built around fixed tones, so
as
there are records.
These tones, the stepwise, ordered
arrangement of which constitutes
a scale,
have been tied to a variety
of frequencies with their exact pitch locations largely matters of local
tradition or of convenience to the musical performer.
example, of
little
theoretical importance
whether violin
A
It
is
is,
for
tuned
at
43 3-2 d.v. (Philharmonic pitch), at 435- d.v. (French pitch), or at
some other agreed-upon frequency.^ Of more importance to the
17
THE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF MUSICAL SCALES
musical structure, to the melody and harmony,
by an
interval's
two
tones.
The absolute
is
the ratio formed
of the spans
size
is
generally
not of paramount importance since a large span covering 4000-
8000
much
d.v. has
the same psychological effect as a small span
spreading from 100 to 200 d.v.
Both spans are termed octaves 3 and
are characterized by the ratio of
i
:
2
out of ratios that melody
It is
.
and harmony are constructed, and so long
as the ratios are
unchanged,
the notes can be raised or lowered without damage to the tune. Such
an alteration of the pitch locations merely
another register.
To understand
music, then, one must learn
the
shifts
melody
to
the basic facts of the psychology of
how
ratios
have been employed in scale
construction.
The tones of the
ratio
1:2, the octave, are easily produced on
pipes, they sound well together, and they are so easily confused
that identical letter
names have
been given them. 5 For
traditionally
these and perhaps other psychological and biophysical reasons, the
octave relationship was already recognized in the earliest documents
history has provided.
The
ratio of
i
:
2
(also
by the ancients. This
3
ratio
and those of
:4 (the musical fourth) were so well
2
:
written 1/2) holds for
were much played upon
lengths of pipe of constant bore, and pipes
(the musical fifth) and
3
known by
the time of Pytha-
goras (approximately ^^^o b.c.) that the diatonic (or seven white-
note) scale of his day was conceived of as being built with the octave
and the
fifth
(or the fourth)
on the
ratios
i
:
2
and
2
:
3
(or 3:4).
Scales of Ancient Times
PYTHAGOREAN
with
fifths (2: 3)
Next
G
down by
or
and counts up
C.
SCALE.
a scale position, say F,
a
is
musical
Pythagoras derived his scale by starting
and moving progressively up by musical
fourths (3:4).^ Thus,
fifth, i.e.,
if
one begins with F
by seven semitones, one comes to
reached, then D, A, E, and finally B.
Proceeding
THE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF MUSICAL SCALES
Since each
further, the several black notes are successively located.
of these scale points
in row^
to
is
next higher
its
64:96:144:216:324:486:729
(six
2:3, the ratios given
fifth as
of the table belovv^ obtain,
l
F:C:G:D:A:E:B
i.e.,
as
contiguous 2:3 ratios).
Scale of Pythagoras
C
C
D
E
F
96
216
486
2
384
3
256
432
288
486
324
64
512
1/1
8/9
64/81
3
27
Sharp
38
31
G
G
310
3/4
1
30(312)
35
B
C
144
324
729
192
2
576
768
384
648
432
729
3
486
512
4
2/3
16/27
128/243
1/2
5
9
81
729
6
32
Sharp
39
34
Note: For the purposes of this
They could,
vs^ritten in
A
F Sharp
341-3
243
33
A
Sharp
1
such.
D
D
1
Sharp
311
3
31
36
book the sharps of
been replaced by the
in fact, have
this table
flats
3'
have no significance
C
and D,
by adding together successive musical
fifths
here merely to indicate that there are chromatic scale steps between
and E, F and G,
G
and A, and
In building his scale
(see row^
1
A
and B.
and the paragraph above), Pythagoras covered almost four
octaves, that
is,
64
third octave, and
value, 729,
as
of D, E, G, A, and B. They are
is
:
i
5:1 2
taken
2 8 is
:
729
as a
one octave,
is
i
2 8
:
2 5^6
another,
a part of a fourth octave.
If
2
^6
:
5^ i
2
a
the largest
reference point and the values of the low^er
pitch locations are successively doubled until their magnitudes
fall
between 729 and the next lower octave, 364*5^, the letter steps are
now located within a single octave span (row 2). It is not customary,
however, to locate
C
at 384.
"Scientific pitch" places
and the other
letter locations are given in
rows 2 and 3
magnitude
differ in
row
3.
it at
2^6 cycles
While the
values of
they denote identical ratios. Thus,
19
THE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF MUSICAL SCALES
C:D
can be expressed either
reduced
ratio given in
row
4.
2^6:288, 384:432 or
as
Similarly,
C E
8:9, the
as
can be either 2^6:3 24,
:
384:486 or 64: 81.
should be noted that the removal of the powers of
It
2
series of ratios or frequencies disturbs the octave location but
letter arrangements. Thus, if a certain
other C's
vs^ill
the ratios of
row
row
the values in
A
3
25-6,
the dividing through
by
2
2's until
odd numbers
are reached reveals
2's.
clearly the Pythagorean philosophy of scale construction
"tone symbols" by
and
not the
given the value of
Now
row
yields a series of skeleton values in
I
is
a
be 128, 64, ^12, or other numbers found by dividing
or multiplying 2^6 by a succession of
more
C
from
Max Meyer. 7
6,
formed
which have been termed
5,
Pythagoras,
his scale
and
it
can
now be
seen from
by the use of the prime numbers
exclusively.^
SUGGESTION FROM ARISTOXENUS (ciRCA
35^0 B.C.).
the process of climbing by seven semitone steps, by
fifths,
is
If
con-
tinued from B, the accidentals are located (from B to F sharp, then
to
C
sharp,
point F
2: 3 ratio
sharp,
of the
the octave
fifths
G
D
i
:
2
fifth,
A
sharp) and finally the starting
3^^.
This value, derived from the
sharp and
reached, this time as
is
cannot coincide with any power of
requires.
2,
which
Obviously, then, the Pythagorean cycle of
cannot lead to a perfect octave.
Having noticed the imperfection of the Pythagorean system, the
Greek philosopher Aristoxenus suggested tempering the
make each
half-step equal in ratio to every other one.
later that such a
so
change would have made the
that twelve fifths
would have
pattern, i.e., into seven octaves.
this suggestion at the time,
20
S.
Bach's day (p. 2^).
We
shall see
small
enough
precisely into an octave
Although nothing practical came of
over the years theorists (Galileo, for one)
kept reviving the notion until
J.
fitted
fifth just
intervals to
it
was
finally
put into practical use in
THE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF MUSICAL SCALES
SUGGESTION FRO M PT O LE M Y (CI RC A 200 A.D. ),
Ptolemy
was one of several who felt that worthwhile scales might be conA
structed with prime
small
numbers other than
i
and
number might be employed, thought Ptolemy,
zation of the diatonic scale.
reached
as the result
It is
Any
3.
relatively
in the rationali-
clear that these conclusions
were not
of psychological research. Their chief import-
ance derives from the fact that other theoretically minded musicians
of a later date held similar views.
a
compromise
between
The
scale next to
Pythagorean
the
be considered
conception
and
is
the
Ptolemaic.
Scale ofJust Intonation
What
generally given in textbooks
is
psychology
as the diatonic scale
Pythagorean scale
a
of Western music
w^as
the scale of just
number
g.
modified by the introduction of ratios based on
This modification can be understood through
comparison of the tone symbols of the two
F, C,
is
In the construction of the scale of just intonation the
intonation.
the prime
on music, physics, and
G, and
D are identical. The
scales.
The symbols
for
tone symbol for the Pythagorean A,
81, was changed to
^, a multiple of
which, 80, approximates the 81
of the older scale.
As will be seen
later (p. 27), this
tively small change, but
it
affected the location of
that of E, the Pythagorean
a
is
B and
compara-
particularly
form of which had been creating some
difficulties for the musicians.
Over the
stress to
fitted
centuries.
Western music had been giving increasing
harmony. While the simpler
well this development, the 64:
E, gave particular trouble.
changed to the simpler
number
4.:
8
ratios of the
1
Pythagorean scale
ratio of the third,
So, in the course of time,
s-
its
from C to
ratio
was
This introduction of another prime
to rival the Pythagorean
3
caused the scientifically minded to
look to the overtone, or harmonic, series for help in justifying
this
21
THE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF MUSICAL SCALES
more
departure in scale construction. 9 For what could be
scientific,
thought they, than to construct out of the lower harmonics a scale
for
harmonic usage. In
became
fact,
the early scientists, and
enamored of the overtone notion of
so
that they attempted to preserve this just scale
to niake
it
the "scale of nature."
It
some
later ones,
scale rationalization
from
all
further change,
was held that early man had
consciously or unconsciously "recognized" the overtones and out of
them he had derived
It is
his musical scale. ^°
unfortunate for the theorizing of these overtone enthusiasts
that the "natural" or just-intoned scale has not
accepted.
On
been carved
the contrary, in a
in
quite
number of
"unnatural" ways
been universally
cultures the octave has
(p.
ig).
deriving the scale from overtones our ancestors
Then, too, in
would have had
to
recognize partial tones as high as the forty-eighth. Yet, in spite of the
evidence against the overtone theory
it
has served to raise the just
scale to the status of the diatonic scale of science.
Scale of Just Intonation
C
C
D
D
E
Sharp
F Sharp
F
2
24
27
3
256
288
30
320
341-3
4
1/1
8/9
4/S
3/4
S
3
27
15
1
6
31
X 3)
30
G
22
Sharp
33
G
Sharp
(5
A
A
32
Sharp
48
2
36
40
3
384
426-6
45
480
512
4
2/3
3/5
8/15
1/2
5
6
9
5
45
3
32
51
(15x3)
31
THE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF MUSICAL SCALES
A
Number 7
Scale with the Prime
A
composed of the prime numbers
scale
attempted by several people," but
group of musicians. ^^
large
A
i,
3,
and
g,
7 has
been
has never been adopted by any
it
possible scale of this type
is
described
in the table below. ^3
Scale with the Prime
C
C
D
D
7
E
F
2
16
18
20
21
3
256
288
320
336
4
1/1
8/9
4/5
16/21
1
9
5
3(
32
51
5
6
G
G
sharp
A
Sharp
A
2
24
27
3
384
432
4
2/3
16/27
5
3
6
31
Sharp
F Sharp
21
(7x3;
C
Sharp
B
(28)
30
32
480
512
8/15
1/2
27
15
(7)
33
1
3"
(5x3)
(71)
This scale differs from the others shown so far not only in
the prime 7 but also in the fact that
modulated up
which
a fifth (or
on F
fell
down
its
a fourth).
here
in the other scales
its
use of
tone symbols have been
That
falls
is,
the tone symbol
i
on C.
The Needjor Modulation
A
glance at the scale tables will
had whole steps with
steps) of 243:2^6.
8
:
9 and 9
number
7
:
:
o
made
smaller steps of
steps
15^:16.
that the Pythagorean scale
and smaller steps (not actual
The just-intoned
—and
had three whole
— 20:21 and
i
smaller steps
clear,
ratios of 8 9
show
i
^
scale
:
1
6
.
half-
had two whole steps
The
scale
with the prime
8:9, 9:10, and 7:8
—and two
All three of these scales,
direct modulation virtually impossible. Yet the
it
is
new
23
THE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF MUSICAL SCALES
harmonic music of the West demanded modulation, and
interval of 8
:
9 will not sound like
one of 9
were
in an era of modulation, any of these three scales
If,
kept, either the listener
would have
a do to re
10.
:
to
be
to adjust to serious mistunings
or the instrument builder would need so to alter his sound sources
many
that
auxiliary tones sharper or flatter than those already avail-
able could be played. ^4
common
and was
system of sharps,
burdened.
still
Unfortunately the latter practice becanie
cumbersome
at least in part responsible for the
flats,
and other signs with which Western music
is
As an aftermath has come the apparently unending
argument over the exact pitch location of the
sharps should be pitched higher than
flats,
signs, i.e.,
whether
or vice versa.
Mean- Tone Temperament ^^
We have
noted that music theorists from the time of Aristoxenus
on have advocated tempering the
theorizing
is
In
intervals.
with such
line
mean-tone temperament, which came into use
in
western Europe in the seventeenth century and was almost universally
accepted during the eighteenth until equal temperament
the day.
It is
a shaving or flatting of several of the fifths so that the
Pythagorean hope of a scale of
fifths
could actually be
mean-tone temperament, modulations within
keys were possible.
It
a
fulfilled.
With
few of the most used
was unfortunate, however, that what today
are similarly pitched sharps and
flats, e.g.,
C
sharp and
D
given different pitch locations and were regarded
still
won
flat,
were
as different
notes.
Scale of
C
3
24
Sharp
256
G
3
C
Mean-Tone Temperament
382-8
D
D
Sharp
286-1
G
Sharp
A
428-0
A
Sharp
E
F
320
342-4
B
C
478-6
512
F Sharp
THE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF MUSICAL SCALES
Equal Temperament
Equal
temperament
in
Western music was accomplished by
dividing the octave into twelve equal semitone steps, i.e., equal
so far as ratios
frequencies.^^
which
The
J.
S.
were concerned but not
This
scale
terms of the span of
in
temperament
of equal
the one
is
Bach fought and to which the modern piano
ratio of the
is
for
tuned.
semitone in the scale of equal temperament
is
i: 1-05^9.
According to musicological research,
tempered
at
occur in the Orient.
scales also
appears
it
It is
that
equally
said that the
Siamese
times divide their octave into seven equal steps and the Javanese
divide theirs into five equal steps.
Western Scale of Equal Temperament
C
C
Sharp
3
G
G
Sharp
D
Sharp
A
A
Sharp
430-3
383-5
3
D
287-3
256
UNITS OF RATIO MEASUREMENT.
E
F
322-5
341-6
B
C
483-2
512
F Sharp
Either the octave or the
semitone of the equally tempered scale could have served
ratio
measurement
if
a relatively large unit
as a unit
of
had been desired. Yasser
has urged the adoption of the decitone, the centitone and the milli-
tone (tenth, hundredth, and thousandth of the tone of the scale of
equal temperamentyas feasible units. ^7 As a small unit the thousandth
part of the octave has been suggested. In
is
the cent,
tempered
which
scale.
^^
is
a
most general
use,
however,
hundredth part of the semitone of the equally
The octave
in this system of
measurement equals
1200 cents, the semitone 200.
Let us from
now on
attempt to think in terms of these cent units
and examine the previously described
scales to see
how
perceptually
^5
THE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF MUSICAL SCALES
important the changes from one scale to the next really were.
first
we must
between
look
at thresholds,
man's
at
ability to discriminate
intervals of differing size.
The Stability of Intervals
Intervals may be distorted, made somewhat
without
But
loss of identity.
It is
larger or smaller,
indeed fortunate that
this
is
true, for
otherwise the transition from the just-intoned scale to the mean-tone
or the equally tempered mi^ht have been
plish.
how much
Just
more
interval distortion can
difficult to
difficult to say, since the researches in this area are
But
agreement.
of the
fifth is
it
human
the
fifth
scales.
it
is
not entirely in
does appear that for most people the uniqueness
disturbed
more
easily than that of the third or sixth.
Happily enough, the historical changes were in line with
of
accom-
be tolerated
this aspect
psychophysiology. As will be noted in the following table,
was kept
at
approximately 700 cents in
Even the Siamese and Javanese had
approximating the
be thought of
as
approximately
5-00 cents.
On
the Western
all
which might
The fourth was kept at
scale points
fifth.
the other hand, the third, sixth, and
more extensively from scale to scale.
work by Pratt and his associates shows that
seventh varied
Careful
for perceiving changes in interval quality
in the
is
approximately 20 cents
middle of the tonal range. ^9 This value checks with the findings
of the present author,
between the
fifths
whose student
the seconds.
The
difference
mean-tone seventh, which
perceived.
accuracy a
subjects hear
no difference
of the several scales, between the several fourths
(except perhaps where the "7" scale
is
concerned), or even between
between the Pythagorean seventh and the
is
27 cents
(iiio— 1083),
is
occasionally
But more subjects discriminate with better than chance
number
of the other larger differences.
discussed are, then, perceptually as well as
26
the threshold
The
scales so far
mathematically different
THE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF MUSICAL SCALES
some contemporary laymen. However,
to
would tend
to
make most
the vibrato,
when present,
of these differences imperceptible.
Values in Cents of Scale Intervals
D
E
F
G
A
B
C
204
204
408
498
702
906
1110
1200
Just
386
498 f
702
1088
1200
M.T.T.
193
386
503
697
884
890
1083
1200
E.T.
200
400
500
700
900
1100
1200
C
pjth.
514 686
343
171
Siam.
480
240
Javan.*
"7"
204
*
has been found that the
It
between the
intervals
Tuning
•j-
in a
386
Ganda Harp,"
T. E. Simonton, in
"A
Ganda
Nature,
720
702
471
strings all equal
857
960
P.
1200
906
eight-string harp of Africa
240 cents (K.
1200
1029
1088
is
so
1200
tuned that the
Wachsmann, "An Equal-Stepped
l6s (London, 1950): 40-41).
Ratio Chromatic Scale, "J.
New Integral
Acoust. Soc. Amer.,
2S
{^9Sl)' 1167-1170, has devised a chromatic scale with a perfectly symmetrical arrangement of just fourths. He claims that it combines the advantages of the Pythagorean, the
just-intoned, and the equally
scales.
possible that the musicians of several centuries past had even
It is
more
tempered
difficulty than
we
in perceiving the differences, since their
tone-producing sources were markedly cruder than the apparatus of
today.
But of course the theoreticians expected to find differences.
Believing as they did in the perfection of the just-intoned scale, they
undoubtedly imagined greater differences than they actually perceived.
PITCH DISCRIMINATION.
compare
Let US supposc that one
is
asked to
single tones rather than intervals, for example, the Pytha-
gorean and mean-tone D's. Then, of course, pitch discrimination
comes
into play, and this sensitivity
is
detect differences between intervals.
can be discriminated by
So,
many
far
keener than that needed to
But even though the two D's
people, the two major seconds cannot.
despite the fact that pitch discrimination and tolerance for
interval change are related, they are not the same.
27
THE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF MUSICAL SCALES
Equal Temperament, Our Frame of Reference
Western music
is
today tied rather closely to the piano, and pianos
are tuned to equal temperament. Yet there
still
are theorists
who
maintain that keen-eared musicians "sense" equal temperament to be
a
mere compromise. These
just intonation
The author
whenever
sensitive people will, they hold,
possible to do so.^°
it is
many
has not had the privilege of testing
sensitive people.
employ
His subjects have,
in the main,
musically
been laymen,
amateur musicians, and teachers of music, and to them he has presented a variety of scales.
scales, the
it is
He
has found that
commonest response when the
if
he does not label the
just scale
played
is
odd, interesting, and not particularly displeasing.
anyone prefer
it
to the equally tempered.
But
if
is
that
Rarely does
the just scale
is
presented and labeled, a few of the better-trained musicians, feeling
perhaps that they should prefer
harmonic
it,
may
declare that they like
possibilities, that its thirds are so
much
better, etc.
its
When
the scales have not been identified, the typical listener appears to feel
more comfortable with
the scale of equal temperament, the scale of
his present culture period.
He
does not "unconsciously" think in
terms of just intonation.
It is
true that the great Helmholtz quotes cases
where
violinists
reverted to just intonation whenever their playing was unaccompanied.^^ These observations
modern
may or may not have been
research paints a different picture.
unaccompanied playing of six professional
been anticipated, the accuracy of the
valid.
But
Greene studied the
violinists. ^^
As might have
intervals varied considerably.
But the mean value of each interval was closer to what was advocated
by Pythagoras than to that of just intonation.
Later
work by
Nickerson on unaccompanied solo and ensemble performances of the
same melody gave very similar
28
results. ^3
THE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF MUSICAL SCALES
Other Possible Scales
So
far
notes.
we
have discussed only the Western diatonic scale of seven
While
the basic scale of the West, several other scales
it is
One
have had a substantial degree of popularity.
D
pentatonic, w^here only the F, G, A, C, and
C
sharp, and
D
sharp, i.e., spans of
steps.
this scale
and many Chinese
Even
five
at a
it is
when
time
today,
G
semitones,
2,
it
the diatonic scale was
was allowable
to
make
diatonic tones there was
i.e.,
more
When
The
adhered to
they were called,
added to the seven
scale of the
and poly tonal
employed by Debussy and others
D, E, F sharp,
e.g., C,
is
G
sharp,
A
many
sharp, C.
people,
in
It
who
obviously not their accustomed major scale
—which of course
Scriabin has used a scale
flat
finally 2
facilitated their acceptance.
believe that since this
B
as
rise of atonal
has been found that this scale seems strange to
must be minor
rigidly
formed the twelve-semitone
accidentals have also been
whole-tone music,
it
sharp,
the dodecuple. These twelve tones have been
freely used as a scale.
music has greatly
The
and
3
A
occasional use of any one of
to give variety or color.
modern piano,
more and more
sharp,
if
as well.
other notes not in the scale. These accidentals,
were thought
the
is
A number of well-known Scottish tunes are based on
semitone
than
2
—F
sharp,
one prefers, the black notes of the piano
of these'
are employed, or,
whose
it is
not
(p. 89).
steps are C,
D, E, F sharp, A,
to give a distinctive character to his music. Perhaps others will
follow him in devising
Scales
made up
still
other scale steps
as their
personal idiom.
of a variety of microtones have been suggested at
one time or another. One of the most bizarre was that of the
century Chinese, Chien Lohtze,
who proposed
match the 360 days he thought made up the
that this theorist had
a
fifth-
360-note scale to
year.
It is
quite clear
done no research on the psychology of human
perception.
29
THE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF MUSICAL SCALES
The Hindus have a 2 2 -note scale which can be sung with considerable accuracy. The Moravian musician Haba, who has advocated
splitting the semitone into a number of microtones, claims to be able
to sing intervals as small as one-sixtieth of an octave.
is
able to do this, he
Our
interest
would
But even
clearly not in freakish virtuosity but in those
is
extensions to our present scale that could prove successful.
on
development, partly because our music system
semitone base and the quarter-tone
a
A number
he
lack appreciative listeners.
of musicians and psychologists have seen the quarter-tone
logical
if
is
A number
as
the next
now
operates
half of the semitone.
of quarter-tone pianos and organs have been built and a
considerable body of quarter-tone music has been written. ^4
It
is
will be recalled that the threshold for interval discrimination
approximately 20 cents.
But
this
is
the value at which Pratt's
observers could detect the differences only half of the time.
To be
completely functional, however, an interval should be discriminated
properly not half of the time but
the time.
all
The value
for the
smallest interval that will be perceived as different 100 per cent of
the time Pratt has found to be about ^o cents, the span of the
quarter-tone in the equally tempered scale. ^5
are psychologically feasible.
But no interval
Quarter- tones, then,
much
smaller than the
quarter-tone would seem to be acceptable except to the person of
extraordinary sensitivity.^^
An
interesting demonstration for the musically unsophisticated
to play
one octave
A common
played.
answer
and to ask what has been heard.
that the chromatic scale of
Most persons
intervals pleasing.
is
in quarter-tones
is
will find at least a
two octaves
few of the quarter-tone
C
to a tone
between the minor
and major third, an interval which approximates one
fact, this interval is typically
of the seconds or
30
has been
Generally, the most pleasing quarter-tone span
the one that extends from a bass of
music. In
is
sevenths. ^7
in
Siamese
rated as pleasanter than either
THE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF MUSICAL SCALES
Summary
In this chapter
we
have seen that the basic scale of Western music
has been for centuries the seven-note diatonic, w^hose precise ratios
have varied from time to time. The Pythagoreans had held that a
succession oftwelve musical fifths of ratio
seven octaves,
i.e.,
there
would be
2
:
3
could be arranged to cover
a return to the starting letter
seven octaves higher. Hence the primes
and
i
3
,
some
which alone appear
in the ratio of their musical fifth, were, according to the Pythagoreans,
the only primes needed in the building of the diatonic scale.
It
was early noted that the twelve Pythagorean
fifths
were
a trifle
too large to squeeze into seven octaves, and again and again there arose
The
the hope that other primes might be used in the scale ratios.
first
to be accepted
just intonation.
was the
g,
The addition of
flatting the third, the sixth,
ratios facilitated
which appeared
work
this
in
what was termed
prime was accomplished by
and the seventh.
Since the
harmony, there developed
in
new
scale
a school
of
thought which subscribed to the notion that the just-intoned scale
steps
had been borrowed from positions on the overtone or harmonic
held that
It w^as
series.
man had
sciously, the tonal partials
scale.
Such
a
recognized, consciously or uncon-
and had made use of them in creating
his
on the Deity
for
philosophy inspired theologians to
call
support of His scale and led early scientists to regard the just scale
"natural."
The
scale
became
so
honored that
all efl^orts
to alter
it
met
with tremendous opposition, even though the arguments for
"God-given quality" and
its
"naturalness"
Although there were attempts to bring
£,
the
more
lasting changes to the scale
equal temperament.
The former made
were
in
as
its
invalid.
primes other than
3
and
came with mean-tone and
a limited
modulation possible,
while equal temperament allowed for free modulation ranging
through
octave
is
all
keys.
In equal
temperament,
as the
term implies, the
divided into twelve equal intervals.
31
THE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF MUSICAL SCALES
Taking the cent, or hundredth part of the semitone of the equally
tempered
measurement,
scale, as the unit of scale
tolerance for interval change
is
of the scale changes had been less than
probably caused but
was found that
it
approximately 20 cents. Since many
2
o cents in
magnitude they
except to a few theorists and
little difficulty
musically sensitive persons. Scale changes above threshold magnitude
do
exist,
however, and most persons can
tell that
the several scales
are not identical.
There
is
no evidence
that
we
hesitantly accept equal
for practical reasons only, i.e., solely because
and
in
temperament
allows modulation,
terms of just intona-
Psychological research discloses no outstanding preference for
tion.
the
do our musical thinking
really prefer to
it
"natural"
violinists
and suggests that whenever unaccompanied
scale
deviate in their playing from equal
temperament
their
intervals are actually closer to those of Pythagorean intonation.
the other hand, there
Mursell
menon
says,
of
"Any
no reason to suppose that the diatonic
is
of equal temperament
Western music's
is
scale
is
final scale
a construct of the social
social agreement. "^^
The
diatonic has had
pentatonic, dodecuple, whole-tone, etc.
—and
reasonable scale units.
pheno-
a
rivals
circles
is
Research indicates that microtones
smaller than ^o cents are
more
now
and therefore are perceptually
intervals
as
some
as
Quarter-tone spans of
being modified to include quarter-tones.
^o cents can be heard
in
many
scale
For
form.
mind,
On
much
rarely perceived as qualitatively
unique by the typical listener and hence are not functional for
music.
A number
of scale properties
still
they can better be understood after
to the
interval,
in
particular
melody. The interval and
chapter.
3^
its
to
remain to be described.
more
the
But
attention has been given
role
role, then, will
the
interval plays in
concern us in the next
THE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF MUSICAL SCALES
Notes
For an authoritative consideration of tonal characteristics see
i]
Handbook of Experimental Psychology, N.Y., Wiley,
The
2]
Stevens,
S.
S.
ed.,
igi'i.
value 435- d.v. (double vibrations), or 435- cycles, indicates that the sound-giving
body, be
it
a string, a fork, or a
column of
air, is
vibrating 43 £ times a second.
For the sake of convenience, the names given the intervals in Western music will be
3]
employed here even though the terms have proved to be definitely misleading to the
The octave, so called because it makes use of eight w^hite notes on the
unsophisticated.
piano,
better described as a span of 12 semitones; the
is
named
notes, as seven semitones; the fourth,
fifth,
which involves
five
white
for the four white notes used, as five
semitones; etc.
who was
C. Stumpf, a psychologist
4]
perhaps the
to
first
show
any other two tones.
See his Tonpsjchologie, Leipzig, Hirzel, 1883, 1890.
frequency ratio of which
The fourth
6]
is
was
two tones of an octave more than
600 Pope Gregory the Great ordered a single name to be given
In A.D.
g]
a pioneer in the area of musical aesthetics,
that naive subjects confuse the
is
i
:
2
some power of
(or to
merely the octave minus the
i.e.,
fifth,
all
tones the
2).
12 semitones
minus
7 equals
£ semitones.
7]
M.
8]
Since F
^0
Qj-
9]
A
F.
Meyer, The Musician
is
Arithmetic, Boston, Ditson, 1929.
fifth
above
A
sharp,
vibrating body, be
it
a string or a
own
pitch(octave plus a
column of air,
body gives forth
fifth), etc.
its
fundamental to these harmonics are
10]
can be either
vibrates not only as a
A somewhat
whole but
also
unique tone (the octave), one-third gives
These auxiliary tones are termed overtones and with
The
the fundamental tone constitute the series of partials or harmonics.
it
it
^12
in sections. Thus, one-half the
its
s
not only the starting point but also the
as
i
:
2,
1:3, 1:4,
i
similar concept occurred in the naive
:
ratios of the
^, etc.
geometry of architecture. Here,
was held, man was somehow psychobiologically in tune with the root squares, the
golden sections, and the other "God-blessed" forms used so
much by
the Greeks of the
classical period.
1
1]
and
I
2]
The experimental
aesthetician
M.
F.
7 in a neurological interpretation of
It is
has
made
use of the small primes 1,3,
Western music of prime numbers not
offered was that since
below, before,
God
after, right,
in His
Wisdom had
and
—the number
left
in the series
i
to
5^.
The reason
arranged for only six directions
6
had metaphysical
prime would be to go contrary to God's Will. The
classical
rationalization although they spoke of only five "proper" directions
after,
f,
musical intervals (The Musician's Arithmetic).
of some sociopsychological interest that in the sixteenth century a taboo existed
against the use in
a larger
Meyer
—above,
significance.
Chinese had
— up,
To
use
a similar
down, before,
and center.
33
THE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF MUSICAL SCALES
A
13]
note
14]
1
scale
W.
developed by H.
Poole, an American organ builder (see
Meyer
reference,
1).
That the listener will adjust to mistunings can be demonstrated.
pologists have reported that their pitch discrimination
is
contact with alien intervals, and one such claim has been checked.
whose musical instruments tend
the inland Chinese,
Several anthro-
temporarily impaired after long
It
has been noted that
make poorer
to be carelessly tuned,
scores on pitch discrimination tests than do the coastal and American-born Chinese, for
whom
exact tuning
is
more
a part of the culture (P.
R. Farnsworth,
"An
and Experimental Study of the Seashore-Kwalwasser Test Battery,"
Critical,
Historical,
Genet. Psychol.
Monogr., 9 (1931): 29I-393-)
i^]
die
H. H. Drager, "Zur mitteltonigen und gleichschwebenden Temperatur,"
Juli 19 SO, pp.
16]
Bachtagung der
Wissenschaftliche
O.
Gesellschaft
Bericht iiber
23.
bis
Jacobsen defends the idea that the tempered and the "natural" scale each has
I.
Tempered
("Harmonic Blending
26.
Yasser, A Theory of Evolving Tonality, N.Y.,
J.
1
Another unit of
ratio
measurement
its
in the Natural versus the
126—132.)
Scale," J. Musical., 2 (1941):
17]
4
Leipzig,
389-404.
place for contemporary performance.
8]
fur Musikforschung,
is
Amer.
Lib. Musicol., 1932.
the savart, which has a span of approximately
cents.
19]
C. C. Pratt, "Quarter-Tone Music,"
Thresholds for intervals
from musical,
i.e.,
Hence,
observers.
y. genet. Psychol.,
made from pure
35 (1928): 286-293.
tones are slightly different from those formed
impure, tones. Pratt's data were elicited from psychologically trained
it is
more typical listener would have a
The reader should not confuse threshold and
reasonable to suppose that the
threshold somewhat above
20 cents.
terms which are negatively related. Where the listener's threshold is low,
where he perceives the interval quality as changed after very little expansion or
sensitivity,
i.e.,
contraction of the pitch span, he
20]
Other
theorists
tone intonation in mind but
21]
H.
L. F.
is
said to
be highly
sensitive.
worry because much highly rated music was composed with mean-
Helmholtz, On
now
is
played with equal temperament.
the Sensations of Tone,
N.Y., Longmans, Green, 1912,
p.
486.
See also A. C. Roncalio, "Just and Equal Temperament," J. Musical., 3 (1941): 120—122.
22]
23]
P. C. Greene, "Violin Intonation," J. Acoust. Sac. Amer., 9 (1937),
J.
F.
Melody,"
24]
J. Acoust. Sac. Amer., 21
Max Meyer
{The Musician
s
(1949): 593-^9^.
Arithmetic)
and others have long advocated the introduction
of quarter-tones into our music system and have argued that a
signatures and the usual signs
staff lines
would be
arranged
34
as are
is
in order.
See also P.
2S3 (19^2): 12^-143.
C. C. Pratt, op.
cit.
One
such
new
staff has
staff
which omits key
been suggested with the
The only sign needed in this new staff
Moon, "A Proposed Musical Notation,"
the piano's black keys.
for the quarter-tone.
J. Franklin Inst.,
2^]
43-44.
Nickerson, "Intonation of Solo and Ensemble Performance of the Same
THE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF MUSICAL SCALES
26]
An
organ with a 31 -note scale to carry out the harmonic ideas of the seventeenth-
century mathematician Christiaan Huygens has been built by the Dutch physicist, A. D.
Fokker ("Equal Temperament and the Thirty-one-keyed Organ,"
Sci.
Month., 81 {i3SS)'-
161-166). The basic interval of approximately 39 cents would appear to be on the very
border of practicality at best.
27]
P. R.
Farnsworth and C.
J. Appl. Psychol., 12 (1928):
28]
J. L.
F. Voegelin,
"Dyad Preferences
at Different Intensities,"
148-1^1.
Mursell, "Psychology and the Problem of the Scale," Music. Quart., 32 (1946):
^64-^73-
3?
3-2
CHAPTER THREE
The
In
Interval
the preceding chapter
music are the tonal
it
was shown that the building blocks of
intervals. This chapter will
continue the exami-
nation of these musical constituents and will pay special attention to
a
number
of characteristics they have been said to possess/
Distinctive Quale
It
goes almost without saying that each interval has
distinctive quale,
recognized.
We
the psychological characteristics by
have already mentioned the
own
its
which
fact that,
it
is
physically
may be a number of things. The tones of the
example, may have frequencies of 2^6 and 432, 25^6
speaking, the interval
major
sixth, for
384 and 648, or even ^i
and 426-6, 2^6 and 430*
3,
mention only
a
But
configurations
have a psychological quale in
sixthness.
within
a
few.
The major
all
sixth,
like all
margin of span tolerance
A number
of researchers
who
2
and 864 d.v.
,
to
these physically different stimulus
common,
a
major
other intervals, has stability
(p. 26).
are interested in phenomenological
description have attempted to describe verbally the several interval
characteristics.
The
results have
not been strikingly successful.
It is
unlikely that an octave rendered by a flute will be described in the
same terms
36
as will
the identical interval presented by a piano, a
THEINTERVAL
violin, or a tuba.
However, the reader can check
on
to intervals played
a variety of instruments
his
ov^n reactions
and see
if
the
fifth
always sounds dilute, hollow, and harsh; the fourth rich, harsh, and
coarse; the second gritty and grating; the third
mellow and sweet;
the sixth luscious and juicy-mellow;
the seventh astringent and
sharp-rough; and the octave smooth,
as
the
Edmunds and Smith
observers found them.^
The reader
will probably already
know
can improve his ability to recognize the
also
know
that descending intervals are
than the ascending (p. 39).
find that he, like
If
Ortmann's
he
tests
subjects, 3
much practice he
intervals. He will possibly
more difficult to recognize
that by
himself he will very likely
is
relatively
poorer in
his
recognition of minor intervals and particularly of minor sixths,
sevenths, and thirds, and, like Maltzew's observers, 4 poor also in the
identification of tritones.
in the
middle
Recognition, he will find, tends to be best
register, the tonal range
most used
in music.
But
whether the greater use of the middle range has made recognition
better or better recognition has forced greater usage
is
as
yet
unanswered.
Vibrato, Tremolo,
and
Trill
Vibrato concerns physical spans too small to be perceived
Although the
intervals.
definite pitch spans
reacts as
if
violinist or vocalist
whenever he employs
produces
as
such but rather
them, and he continues for
a
as
as
of
his vibrato, the listener
he were hearing embellished single tones.
hear the two pitches
a series
He
does not
one pitch midway between
time to hear a single tone even though
the performer oscillates his tone over a wider and wider pitch
span.
Whenever
the embellishment has
extreme, the effect
is
more
become
likely to
so
marked
be termed
a
as to
be quite
tremolo than
a
37
THE INTERVAL
vibrato, although
the two.
If
no
definite
the extent of oscillation
between three-quarters of
ceases to hear a single
tion
boundary Hne can be drawn to separate
a
between two tones,
emerges
as qualitatively different
pitches are
at vibrato rate.
He
reaches his interval.
heard
In
somewhere
instead perceives an oscilla-
a successive interval,
now
still,
tone and two whole tones, the listener
wobbly tone and
The two
even
becomes greater
or
The trill,
trill.
then,
from the tremolo and the vibrato.
as separate tones
making
a trill the
which may
alternate
performer often over-
does this to compensate for the fact that his
listener tends to underestimate the size of the trill just as
he does
the extent of the vibrato.
Apparent Pitch of Intervals
After stating that an interval has
seem paradoxical to speak of
relative pitch
a
which even
pitches,
it
is
an entity and
nai've listeners
as
may
were
interval pitch as if the interval
Yet each interval
single tone.
two boundary
a
such possesses a
can recognize.
Many years ago while at work on the pitch of intervals, Stumpf,
German psychologist, proposed a principle which he supposed
had universal application.^
component of an
upper, that
that
it
is,
interval
He
is
held that the pitch of the lower
always dominant over that
of the
much more
obvious
that the pitch of the
lower
is
so
has the greater effect on the pitch of the interval con-
figuration.
In his experiments
to his listeners, one
he presented two octave intervals
whose frequency span was approximately from
130 to 260 d.v. and the other from 260 to
reported that
it
was the apparent pitch of the
was more unlike the pitch of 260
d.v.
They seemed, then,
more
to be attending
5^20.
first
His audience
interval
which
(approximately middle C).
to the pitches of the
lower
components.
Stumpf's generalization seems in line with the dictum of the
THE INTERVA L
harmonists
is
who
state that the
normal orientation of
a tonal pattern
from below upward. To quote Watt: "Rising makes the impression
We
of tonal recession, falling, that of approach.
voluntarily
Perhaps
begin a scale
from below, not from above, and we end
this
tendency toward upward movement
it
is
below
in-
again. "7
responsible for
the fact, mentioned above, that ascending intervals are easier to
recognize than the descending.
Which
is
more
unlike middle
C
Which
in pitch?
higher in pitch?
is
IC
-er^
or
w
Unfortunately, the British psychologist Valentine was unable to
verify this principle of
Stumpf 's,
of the higher interval
as
more
for his subjects regarded the pitch
unlike that of 260 d.v.^
When
he
further asked for a comparison of the pitch of a certain octave with
that of a smaller interval
which
lay
wholly within
this octave, his
subjects voted for the octave as the higher in pitch. Thus,
apparent that his subjects were, in each instance,
it is
quite
more impressed by
the higher pitch.
Puzzled by these conflicting sets of data,
performed two experiments along similar
1920's and the other fifteen years later. 9
the present writer
lines,
one
In his
in the early
researches he
attempted to learn whether these divergent findings might not some-
how be
in his
related to the fact that
Stumpf had used musically naive men
experiments while the majority of Valentine's subjects had
been schoolchildren with some musical
training.
It
was the author's
theory that children, sopranos, and well-trained musicians generally
39
THE INTERVAL
have had so
upper
tones
much
experience in melody hunting, in looking
lines of their
now
To
stand out for them.
verify this idea that
melody hunting
unmusical persons, sopranos, contraltos and
resulting data
showed
an important variable
is
the writer tested relatively
in establishing the pitch of intervals,
The
the
at
music, that the higher pitches of a complex of
and male singers.
altos,
that the relatively unmusical,
and to some
The
extent the male singers, voted in line with Stumpfian theory.
sopranos, on the other hand, and
many
of the other singers of both
sexes behaved as had Valentine's schoolchildren.
Clearly,
then,
Stumpf's rule must be modified to embrace the effects of training
in
melody hunting.
Stumpf was correct
of the lower component of an interval
musically untrained and for
higher component which
some
is
basses.
in stating that the pitch
dominant, but only for the
For other persons
more markedly
it is
the
affects the pitch of the
interval.
The Major-Minor
Effect
Misled by the terms "major" and "minor," many people assume
that the
major
sixth, for
and the minor sixth
a
example,
calls forth a
minor or gloomy-feeling tone.
demonstrated, however, that intervals,
minor
major or joyous
characteristics.
as such,
a
Moreover, the major and minor chords, the
major and
better, therefore, had
the small
labels
number
a
more
minor
interval.
It
(p. 88), are
each
would have been
far
writers followed the lead of Alchin and
of bolder harmonists
who
have changed the interval
from "major" and "minor" to "large" and "small. "^° To term
a sixth a "large sixth"
characteristics.
40
can easily be
have no major or
musical structures which do possess such attributes
composed of
It
affect
is
to
impute to
it
no
special psychological
THE INTERVAL
Finality Effects
A
simple demonstration of
finality effect
made by running
can be
over a succession of C's and F's on the keyboard and asking the
listeners for an appropriate stopping point.
in Western music there will be
almost invariably be
one of the C's
made on an
with
some have
C
as the first
seem more
that ordinarily
The
argument.
stop will
Yet the vote would have been for
C
this note,
restful,
is
The repeated
scale.
note will make
C
playing of this
the tonic or keynote, which
or intervals and chords with
more
finished,
not regarded
characteristic of finality
We
listeners steeped
"magnet tone." Because of the emphasis on C,
called a
melodies ending on
will
Among
the demonstration had been immediately preceded
if
by several renditions of the
scale
F.
little
if it is
more
as at all
final.
it as
all
a bass,
Even an ending
restful will take
listened to as an ending
see here, then, a principle of return, a desire to
on
this
many times. ^^
come back to
an emphasized note.
may well ask, why was so much emphasis on C
needed to make it the more appropriate ending? Why was a stop on
F otherwise the iTiore final? The answer would appear to depend on
the way Western scales are constructed. In the key of F, C is a
perfect fifth above F; and the fifth, or dominant, is without much
But, the reader
doubt the second most important note of the
C
scale.
boundary note of both the major and minor chords
A
flat,
C).
On
the other hand, F
fourth above C) in the key of
often than
C
is
heard
as
C
is
and
is
the upper
(F,
A, C; F,
only the subdominant (a perfect
is
heard in that capacity
the dominant in the key of F.
experience leads us to structure C's and F's with F
as
far less
Hence,
the tonic, with
the notes in the key of F.
If
the listener had heard a succession of unemphasized C's and
G's, his inclination
would have been
appropriate ending. This time
it is
to vote for a
C which
is
C
as the
more
the subdominant in the
41
THE INTE R VAL
key of G and
G the dominant in the
key of C. Therefore
C
is
the
more
hkely keynote and gives the better ending.
A
second principle which operates in inducing finahty
that of faUing inflection. ^^
Just as in
with an unresolved question and
music there
falls
many
with an assertion, so in Western
lower tone of
This
phenomenon
has appeared in the data of a host of re-
quite possibly linked to the fact, mentioned earlier,
searchers and
is
that a scale
normally begun from below and
The
It
is
effect of falling inflection
enhanced by
is
also appears that size of interval
finality.
intervals
is
a
ended
is
size
of successive
steadily decreases the
But with chords the effect of
may be
descent.
related to restfulness and
from one to eleven semitones rather
different, for the larger chords
as a
slowing of the tempo.
Thus, Zener has shown that increasing the
finality effect. ^3
a succes-
descending melodic
sively played interval or the lowest point of a
line.
is
languages the voice rises
a feeling of resolution in the
is
effects
as restful as
span
is
quite
or even
more
size of
restful than the smaller.
Striking finality effects can be obtained by playing a successive
interval
(or broken
chord or melody) where the ratio of the
frequency of one of the tones
multiple of
2 is
of the perfect
rest.
to
is
to that of the other as
some other number. For example,
fifth,
whose
Thispower-of-2 effect
ratio
is
is
2:3, the
2
is
2
or some
in the interval
the point of
more
often termed the Lipps-Meyer law after
the eminent psychologists Lipps^^ and Meyer, ^5
who
first
worked
in
the area and postulated similar theories to explain the phenomenon.
Much
of the factual side of the Lipps-Meyer law
is
unquestioned,
but considerable controversy has arisen over the explanation of what
it
describes.
w^hich makes
Is
it
there
some neurological reason
universally applicable, or should
for the
it
phenomenon
be subsumed under
the co-principles of emphasis and return and applied only to certain
cultures? Thirty years or
to
42
more
ago, the present author
was inclined
accept a neurological position similar to that of the earlier
THE INTERVAL
In fact, in researches
theorists.
he had found
lesser but
the ratio symbol
with
still
undertaken in the 1920's, he thought
measurable
smaller effects with
3,
In these experiments
7.^^
finality effects associated
and
£,
still
with
smaller effects
he had employed stimuli tuned
in
equal temperament which he hoped would approximate the symbols
3,
g
and
7.
A
decade later he was able to use tones pitched to just
intonation, i.e., with quite exact tuning. ^7 But this time these lesser
finality effects did
not appear. ^^ His inability to validate the earlier
work strengthened
his belief that the neurological factor, as reflected
in these primes,
Among
effect
is
those
was not of major importance
who
in finality effects.
have attempted to show that the Lipps-Meyer
the resultant of cultural conditioning rather than biophysical
structure
is
Updegraff, whose research was arranged to determine
whether the conventional resolution of
"power
of 2"
former,
she
was the more
found,
a
influential in
suggested
harmony or the
determining
The
More
finalty.^9
appeared to be somewhat stronger.
important, perhaps, was her discovery that Chinese students regarded
*
Chinese melodies
own
for their
as
more
melodies.
finished
and
restful
while Americans voted
In other words, the decisive element for
Updegraff 's subjects was familiarity, not the pitch relationships of the
endings.
Others have found that American-reared Chinese give responses
much
like those of Caucasian
Americans.
Orientals recently from
the coast of China feel the finality effects of our Western music less
keenly than American
where our
interior,
Chinese,
style of
music
while those from the
is
Chinese
not so well known, do not share
out notions of finality. Because of these racial-national differences in
response,
likely
it
would appear
that cultural conditioning
explanation for the Lipps-Meyer power-of-2
is
the
effect.
more
It
is
conceivable, however, that in addition to the "pulling power" which
practice
would
give the tone symbol 2, there
may
also
important neurological or other biophysical causation.
be some
less
^"^
43
THE INTERVAL
Interval Resolutions
Harmony textbooks teach that the successively played intervals
that make up the diatonic scale can be divided into those that are
"restless" or unresolved and others that have repose and finality. The
table
below shows the
Any other
system.
traditional resolutions in the tonic sol-fa
intervals,
such
as
do—re or do-ti, yield a "restless"
or unresolved effect.
Resolutions
Tonic Sol- Fa System
re to
do
re to
mi
Scale Letter in Key of
Ja to mi
G
A
to
C
la to sol
to
G
to do
B
to
C
sol
ti
C
D to C
D to E
FtoE
to do
Half of the resolutions listed in the table are quite obviously
C has been
examples of the principle of return. Wherever
emphasized to achieve keynote
on C,
that
is,
on
do,
status, all successive intervals
will display the
finality
descending major second re— do, the descending
a
symbol
interval
or ascending
return to the
If
scaled in just intonation the intervals are seen to end
2
tone (9 to
(27
to
3,
2
,
3
or 9 to
to
2
2).^^
,
and
15-
to
(It
as
on
does the la-sol
It is
interesting to note
it
were, the
will be recalled that the ratios of equally
tempered
that performers often sharp the
resolution.
2
)
These resolutions, then, can be
described in terms of the Lipps-Meyer effect.
scales
all
ending
Thus, the
effect.
fifth
fourth sol-do, and the ascending minor second ti—do
keynote.
sufficiently
ti
a little, anticipating, as
do not employ such small numbers.
mate the values given here
However, they approxi-
for just intonation and can
presumably be
described similarly.)
The
44
chief chord in the key of
C major
is
C, E, G, which occurs not
THE INTERVAL
only with
C
as
the bass but in
two other
E (or mi)
inversion, E, G, C, the
inversion, G, C, E, the chord
sol
become magnet
Mi
"pulls" re
it
stronger ending than the
bass
more used
is
weaker than
tones,
and fa to
in
is
and
It
would be
do,
since the
(or
sol).
Hence, mi and
but effective nontheless.
first
Of
the two, mi makes a
inversion with mi as
music than the second inversion.
for this reason that mi needs little or
who had
G
"pulls" la.
sol
sol,
the bass, and in the second
based on
is
In the first
positions as well.
It is
its
apparently
no resolution.
interesting to speculate about the reactions of people
heard only music in minor keys. The expectation would be
that since me
(E\} )
would now replace
mi as the
much-heard
bass of
the chief chord, the ascending major second (re—mi) and the descending minor second (fa—mi)
there
would no longer display marked finality. But
probability that people will ever be so tonally confined.
is little
Tonality
At
this
point
it
how
reasonable to ask
is
having a marked tonic.
any music can escape
We note the modernist's
interest in atonality
we meet much enthusiasm for polytonality, which the layman
may erroneously regard as another form of atonality. We are also
and
aware that the Oriental, although perceiving
music,
fails
to sense the tonalities of
tonalities are really there,
The
why
into the music.
is
in his
our Western music.
own
If
the
does he not perceive them?
Oriental's lack of sensitivity for our tonics simply under-
scores the point that tonality
he
finality
is,
in the last analysis,
subjective matter.
It is a
The
what one puts
Oriental, unfamiliar as
with the Western music system, needs to hear our resolutions
over a considerable period of time before he
our expectancies. But
with us even
as
we,
after a
is
equipped to appreciate
time he can learn to share experiences
in time, can learn to react "properly" to the
4?
THE INTERVAL
nuances of some of the Eastern systems.
Musical sensitivities are
culturally (but not racially) bound.
music Schonberg tried to
In creating his earlier atonal, or keyless,
would be emphasized above
insure that no tone
acquire keynote status.
its
neighbors and so
His method for achieving this atonality
barred the repetition of any one of the chromatic scale's twelve
tones until the other eleven had
hoped,
on the
of
all
been played. As Schonberg had
this self-imposed rule yielded
first
music which seemed,
few hearings, to possess no
Yet many persons
finality.
tonality;
have
it
saturated
at least
led to no feelings
with
themselves
Schonberg' s music to the point where they have begun to read a
modicum
of tonality into his music.
SchonberCT thought,
is
a relative
Atonality, regardless of
matter after
what
all.
Milhaud and others have for some time been composing polytonal
music. Although to
many
it
sounds keyless, from two to six keys are
functioning at once in the several melodies of the musical fabric. ^^
Attention to any one melodic line will disclose an obvious tonic. Yet
the lay listener normally focuses his attention on the complex, not on
a single strand, so that to
Although
it is
more
we
him
the music
is
virtually atonal.
speak somewhat carelessly of the evolution of music,
accurate to talk simply in terms of cultural changes.
know that "primitives"
the world over tend to have weakly structured
music systems and that they probably have somewhat
we
for
Western
tonality. ^3
Of our own
early
its
gradually
disappeared
until
only
we know
little
music
But over the years the
the
major and
iTiinor
remained.
Late in the sixteenth century the stage was set for strong
tonality as
we now know
it.
Tonality
is still
endeavors of the atonalists, but whether
centuries hence in
46
than
music system could be described with reasonable
accuracy, polymodality was already in vogue.
modes
less feeling
By the time the records of the Western world were
or nothing.
such that
We
its
present strength
is
it
with us
in spite of the
will be with us several
anyone's guess.
THE
I
RVAL
N TE
Consonance and Dissonance
Textbooks on harmony
fifth,
state flatly that the octave, the fourth, the
the thirds, and the sixths are concordant or consonant, Avhile
the seconds, sevenths, and
all
diminished and augmented intervals
are discordant or dissonant. These books, however, have
nothing to offer the student
who
quite properly asks what
little
or
makes the
minor seventh dissonant or the minor third consonant. The student
may know
that he prefers the dissonance of the
concordance of the minor
third. ^4
detective can generally find
He may
to the
also realize that a musical
some musical context
any dissonance will seem highly agreeable.
traditional
minor seventh
It
in
is
which almost
clear that the
conceptions of consonance and dissonance do not so
and that there can, in
readily apply to the present,
fact,
be no
unchanging definition of either.
Among
the rationalizations offered for the consonance-dissonance
classification, the
most accepted, perhaps because of the prestige of
the theorist, has been that proposed by Helmholtz.^5
this scientist, the
According to
consonant intervals are those whose fundamentals
and/ or overtones are free from the roughness caused by beats. ^^
Smoothness, then,
is
Krueger has offered
a similar
It is
remarkable
numerous
the Helmholtzian criterion of consonance.
how
refutations.
theory of beating difference-tones. ^7
these theories have persisted in the face of
One need
only arrange for one of the two
tones of the interval to be piped to the
right to see that
when
all
left
ear and the other to the
psychological effects are largely unchanged even
the possibility of air-borne beats has been eliminated.
More-
over, no beats can be created by the sounding of successively played
intervals.
Yet even Helmholtz
classified these latter just as
simultaneously sounded ones. Here
an interval without beats
same
interval with beats
is
is
branded
is
he did the
an example of name magic, for
as
dissonant simply because the
dissonant.
47
THE INTERVAL
Stumpf's theory effusion can be objected to on similar grounds, ^^
For when he
consonant interval tends to fuse into a
says that the
which
unitary impression
defies
he
analysis,
is
obviously
quite
speaking solely of the simultaneously sounded interval.
Successively
played intervals can be easily separated into their component tones
by the musically untrained
always certain that he
is
as
well as the trained, and the listener
hearing two tones.
is
But with the simulta-
neously sounded interval, with the well-fused octave particularly,
there
A
may be moments
of doubt for
many
persons,
theory stressing the internal structure of the interval was pro-
posed by Lipps.^9 According to
his view, the
consonant intervals are
those with simple ratios, and the dissonances those with the
complex
ratios.
Thus, the consonant
fifth
has the simple ratio of
and the dissonant seventh the more complex
There are many
most
serious, perhaps,
is
its
failure
2
:
3
8:15:.
with Lipps's theory.
difficulties
more
to cover
One
of the
the fact that the
consonant interval can, within limits, be stretched or squeezed,
the ratio
made more complex, without an apparent change
interval quale, 3° If the
perfect
fifth,
it
be rated
will
larger or smaller
it
interval
has been
as
is
still
recognizable
as,
consonant no matter
made or how complex
in the
say,
the
how much
its
ratio has
become.
The hypothesis of
number
interval,
adaptation, that consonance depends
on the
of times an individual, or his ancestors, has heard a given
has been supported
Although the two
men
both by Ogden3^ and by Moore, 3^
differ in the details of their theories, they
agree in employing in an explanatory sense the once popular but
now
discarded biological doctrine of the inheritance of acquired characteristics, 33
Hence,
we
shall
not consider their ideas further except
to note that they have both suaaested the possibility that consonance
is
not absolute, fixed once and for
all.
If
such a suggestion were
followed, the theorists might then go a step forward, drop the
48
THE INTERVAL
consonance-dissonance dichotomy, and replace
it
with
a
continuum.
This would indeed be a gain for musical theory.
So
far
we
have considered theories which have identified con-
sonance with smoothness, with fusion, with simplicity of interval
ratio,
and with stage of cultural and individual adaptation. These four
be so dissimilar that one wonders whether their
criteria appear to
proponents had the same phenomenon in mind. That they probably
did not has been quite well demonstrated by several studies in
persons have been asked to judge intervals
first in
which
terms of smooth-
then for blending, and later on for fusion. 34 Three quite
ness,
judgments emerge. They are so
different sets of
that the early Seashore Sense of Consonance Test,
for judgments
on
all
different, in fact,
whose
directions asked
three criteria at once, proved quite unworkable
and was abandoned. 35 The
became hopelessly confused
test subjects
and ended by rating the intervals in terms of their agreeableness.
In their studies of consonance, the theorists of the past largely
ignored the fact that the
human organism
capable of learning.
is
Inherent in their theories was the assumption that a given interval
should
call forth identical
responses in
extent of their musical training. But
in the study of
as
all
people regardless of the
Cazden
says:
"The
consonance and dissonance dissolve
as
difficulties
soon
as
we
realize that these qualities are not inherent in perception as such but
are learned responses, adaptations to an existing pattern of the social
group. "3^
A
successively sounded major third
A
a simultaneously played third.
different
from
a
major third in
third has a different effect
A
major third
is
on
a
a
by
a
as a
perceptually different from
major third
in a
whole-tone composition.
not an abstraction.
It is
own
is
A
quite
major
composed of two tones
after the other,
part of this composition or that, and
person of our
Bach work
Hottentot and a European theatregoer,
which may be played together or one
played
is
which may be
which may be heard
or some other culture. 37 But to speak of the
49
THE INTERVAL
major third (or of any other interval)
more
were
consonance
is
do no
to
Musical science would be the better
than parrot a dogma.
this
as a
concept dropped from the scholarly literature.
Summary
The music student knows
that all but the tone-deaf can readily
learn to recognize the several intervals of the diatonic and chromatic
know
But what he may not
scales.
that each interval span can,
is
within certain limits, be stretched or squeezed without harm to
distinctive interval quality.
only one facet
The
in the
He
will find that interval uniqueness
composite of psychological
effects
register of the interval, the rate and loudness of
timbre of the instrument on which
harmonic contours
what each
abstraction
What
is
it
in
isolation
of real importance
Hence, the interval
as
an
only slight musical significance.
has
is
playing, the
its
have their part in creating
all
listener has learned to want.
or
is
on the listener.
played, and the melodic and
it is
helps to form
its
some
the interval in
specific musical
context.
The simultaneous playing of two tones forms, by
simultaneous interval, and the sounding of
When
another a successive interval.
alternated yet are
The
trill differs
still
perceived
as
the
two
first
The
trill,
two tones are
tones, a
then,
is
a
one tone and then
trill is
from the vibrato and the tremolo
are heard as single pitches.
definition,
rapidly
produced.
in that the latter
a successive interval,
while the vibrato and the tremolo are but ornamented single tones.
Although composed of two
felt to possess a definite
to
easily localized tones,
pitch level.
"melody hunt" among the higher
more
likely to give the interval
its
If
voices, the top
tone which provides the pitch.
50
it
is
the listener has been trained
pitch location.
has been attending to lower registers
each interval
will
boundary tone
But
if
is
the listener
be the lower boundary
THE INTERVAL
Intervals
possess
number
a
of perceptual
characteristics,
but
although certain intervals are traditionally labeled "major" or "minor,"
them
major or minor
no one
of
only
phenomena of chords and modes.
as
In
displays
Western music
a
number
Such
effects.
effects
of intervals are regarded as restful, as
yielding the effect of finality, whereas others are looked
unresolved.
appear
upon
as
Certain theorists tend to be impressed by the fact that,
other things being equal,
it is
the interval of simple ratio that calls
forth the greatest feeling of finality and rest in persons steeped in
Western music. These men regard
finality effects as physiologically
engendered even though members of other cultures often
the well-resolved intervals of the
sociopsychologically
their
issue
is still
explanations
is
minded
main explanatory
unclear.
may be
West
be
restful.
it is
a fact that
Other, more
At the moment, however, the
formalists 3^ and those given to biological
correct in their belief that the
natively geared to feel the simple-ratio intervals as
But
to find
theorists have offered habituation as
principle.
The
to
fail
human organism
the more restful.
continued experience with a so-called unresolved
interval will lead to a
growing feeling of rest and
music becomes familiar
finality.
Even atonal
in time.
Most theorists and composers are beginning to see that an interval
can be evaluated only in terms of
its
intervals consonant or dissonant
creativity and appreciation.
when
it
No
is
context and that labeling certain
a
stumbling block to musical
interval
is,
per
se,
unmusical even
cannot be formed from diatonic or chromatic notes.
since the listener of any culture
must be taught
is
to
some degree
a traditionalist,
But
he
to like the rarely used and the unfamiliar, and these
must be presented with caution. Indeed, music history
is
in large
part the story of the handling of innovations, of the gradual acceptance
of what was once musically unacceptable.
5-1
4-2
THE INTER VA L
Notes
i]
A number
of the
phenomena we
shall
be describing concern chords and melodies
well as intervals and could quite logically have been treated in other chapters.
as
The reader
must forgive the rather arbitrary decision to consider them here.
2]
E.
M. Edmunds and M.
Intervals," Amer. J. Psychol.,
3]
"The Phenomenological Description of Musical
E. Smith,
34 (i923):287-29i.
O. Ortmann, "On the Melodic Relativity of Tones,"
Monog., 3S, No.
Psychol.
i
(1926): 1-47.
4]
C. V. Maltzew, "Das Erkennen sukzessiv gegebener musikalischer Intervalle in den
aussern Tonregionen," Zsch.f. Psychol., 64 (191 3): 161—25^7.
S]
C. E. Seashore, "The Vocal Trill," Mus. Ed.
6]
C. Stumpf, Tonpsychologie, Leipzig, Hirzel, 1883, 1890.
7]
H.
J.
8]
C.
W.
29,
No.
3
(1943): 40.
Watt, The Psychology of Sound, Cambridge, Cambridge U. Press, 19 17.
Valentine, "The Aesthetic Appreciation of Musical Intervals
Children and Adults,"
9]
J.,
P. R. Farnsworth,
among School
6 (191 3): 190-216.
Brit. J. Psychol.,
"Notes on the Pitch of a Combination of Tones,"
(1924): 82—85^; "The Pitch of a Combination of Tones," Amer.
Brit. J. Psjchol.,
Psychol.,
J.
No.
5;,
25
3
(1938): S3^~Si910]
C. A. Alchin, Applied Harmony, Los Angeles, published by the author, 192
11]
P. R. Farnsworth,
"The
Amer. J. Psjchol., 37 (1926):
12]
L.
A
1
on Ending Preferences
in
i.
Melodies,"
16-122.
demonstrates the
finality
effects
of falling inflection
Kaiser, "Contribution to the Psychologic and Linguistic
Psychol.,
13]
study which
Effect of Repetition
is
by
that
Value of Melody," Acta
9 (i95'3): 288-293.
K. E. Zener, "The Perception of Finality in Simple Tonal Sequences
as
Determined
by Pitch," Doctoral Thesis, Harvard U., 1926.
14]
A good
English language account of the T. Lipps views can be found in volume
2
of
Psychology Classics, K. Dunlap, ed., Baltimore, Williams and Wilkins, 1926.
i^]
M. Meyer, "Elements
of a Psychological Theory of Melody," Psychol. Rev., 7 (1900):
in the Psychology of Music," Amer. J. Psychol., 14 (1903):
241-273; "Experimental Studies
4^6-478.
16]
P.
R. Farnsworth, "Atonic Endings in Melodies," Amer. J. Psychol., 36 (192^):
394-400.
17]
P. R. Farnsworth, "Further Data
the Psychology of
18]
J.
Tone and Music,"
Concerning the Lipps-Meyer Law"
Genet. Psychol. Monog., IS,
Handschin, in Der Toncharakter:
Atlantis Verlag,
1948, asserts that
if
eine
Einjuhrung in die
i
in "Studies in
(1934): 40-44.
Tonpsychologie,
ZiJrich,
the tones of the scale are arranged in an order
corresponding to the number of fifths they are removed from
S2
No.
F,
then the smaller the order
THE INTERVAL
number
more masculine
the
"A Preliminary Study of
R. UpdegrafF,
19]
Acad.
the Nature of Finality in Melody," Proc.
Gestalt explanation of the
suggests the
power of the symbol
2
well-known Law of Pragnanz, which holds
objects in the simplest arrangement possible.
among
the scale symbols,
See
keyed to characteristics of the
in
A
"Theory of Tonality,"
than a matter of mores, see A.
2 is
the smallest symbol to appear
Teach. Nat. Assoc. Proc. 1949,
43
I.
of the inner ear, has been offered by
J. Gen. Psychol.,
who
formation
as
Ser. (195-1):
203-206. E. Franklin has recently suggested
movement
Actually 9 to
division by
i
.
The
essential nature,
be subsumed under one
when
"applied to melody
of the bass or the implied bass." (Tonality as a
Basisjor the Study of Musical Talent, Goteborg,
21]
Sweden, Gumperts Forlag, 1956,
however,
is
2
See Milhaud's Third Sjmphonj for an example of six-key polytonality.
23]
Most American Indian music, however, shows considerable
McAllester, Enemy Way Music, Cambridge, Mass., Peabody
P. R.
Farnsworth and C.
]. Appl. Psychol., 12
H. L.
2^]
191
p. 48.)
not altered by multiplication or
22]
24]
more
is
Elkus, "Tonal Centers and Central Modalities," Mus.
that the Lipps-Meyer law functions only
subordinate to the
For the
3J (1947): 169-176.
believes that the Lipps-Meyer effect
that the principles so far suggested to explain finality effects can
is
who
biological explanation of tonality, this time
membrane
basilar
views of a biologically minded musician
His notion
L. Mursell
J.
that persons tend to perceive
Mursell 's "Psychology and the Problem of the
J.
Scale," Music. Quart., 32 (1946): £64.-^j^.
H. Wunderlich
Since the
comes from
furnishes the simplest possible arrangement and so provides
it
the most satisfying of endings.
rule.
la.
23 (1926): 279-282.
Sci.,
A
20]
Handschin has apparently
be the character of the tone.
will
and restfulness with masculinity.
identified stability
F.
F.
See D. P.
tonality.
Museum, 19^4.
Voegelin, "Dyad Preferences at Different Intensities,"
(1928), 148-151.
Helmholtz, On
the Sensations of Tone, Ellis, trans.,
N.Y., Longmans, Green,
2.
When two
26]
tones which are very close to each other in pitch are sounded together,
the amplitude of the resulting sound
eliciting a
throbbing or beating effect.
is
periodically
augmented and decreased, thus
For example, the sounding of two tones whose
frequencies are 1000 and looi d.v. will yield one beat per second.
beats
is
over 20, the individual beats are not heard; the effect
When, under
certain conditions,
two tones with,
are sounded, a difference tone of 700 cycles
ment of instruments which
say,
may be
is
If
the
Until recently
were relying on beat phenomena to help them tune
that they depend rather on apparent pitch. See J.
Before the develop-
it
made
use of
was assumed that musicians, too,
But
their instruments.
F.
of
frequencies of 8000 and 8700 d.v.
distinctly heard.
give visual pictures of sound waves, piano-tuners
beat counts in adjusting piano strings.
number
merely one of roughness.
it
now appears
Corso, "Unison Tuning of Musical
Instruments," J. Acoust. Soc. Amer., 26 (i^^^.): 746-750.
Krueger,
Differenztone und Konsonanz," Arch. Ges. Psychol.,
27]
F.
28]
C. Stumpf, Tonpsjchologie, Leipzig, Hirzel, 1883, 1890.
"
1
(1903): 205—27^.
5"3
THE INTERVAL
29]
T. Lipps, Psychological
Wilkins, 1926.
by D. B.
Irvine
Irvine,
would
Classics,
What might be
"Toward
a
vol.
regarded
2,
K. Dunlap, ed., Baltimore, Williams and
as a variant
of the Lippsian theory
is
that
proposed
theory of intervals," J. Acoust. Soc. Amer., IJ (1946): 350-3^^.
classify intervals
by families on the
basis of the length of the
composite wave
scheme, the fourth (3:4) and the major sixth (3: j) would belong to one
family, the major third (4: ^) and the ninth (4:9) to another, etc. In other words, all
intervals whose ratios are as 3 to something would be grouped into one classification, 4
form.
By
this
to something into another, and £ to something into
30]
J.
Peterson and F.
W.
Musical Intervals," Amer.
View of Consonance,"
31]
32]
ij,
33]
still
another.
Smith, "The Range and Modifiability of Consonance in Certain
J.
PsjchoL, 42 (1930):
Psjchol. Rev.,
^61-^72;
J.
Peterson,
R. M. Ogden, Hearing, N.Y., Harcourt, Brace, 1924.
H. T. Moore, "The Genetic Aspect of Consonance and Dissonance,"
No.
2
Psychol.
Monog.,
(1914): 1-68.
For an excellent refutation of genetic theories of consonance see "An Experimental
Test of the Genetic Theory of Consonance" by E. G. Bugg and A.
Psychol.,
34]
"A Functional
32 (192^): 17-33.
E.
S.
Thompson,
J. Gen.
4J (19^2): 71-90.
G. Bugg, "An Experimental Study of Factors Influencing Consonance Judgments,"
Psjchol. Monog., 4s,
No.
2
(1933);
C
P. Heinlein,
"An Experimental Study
of the Sea-
shore Consonance Test," J. Exp. Psjchol., 8 (i925'): 408—433; C. P. Heinlein, "Critique
of the Seashore Consonance Test," Psjchol. Rev., 36 (1929): 524-^43.
35']
C. E. Seashore, Manual of Instructions and Interpretations for Measures of Musical Talent,
N.Y., Columbia Graphophone, 19 19.
36]
N. Cazden, "Musical Consonance and Dissonance:
(194^): 3-1
37]
R.
W.
A
Cultural Criterion," J. Aesth.,
4
1-
Lundin, "Toward a Cultural Theory of Consonance,"
y. Psychol.,
28 (1947):
45-4938]
C. C. Pratt,
known through his earlier publications as
now espouses what might be
the role of learning in the arts,
a formalist
Although Pratt backs away from cultural relativism and approaches
his
physical science rather than a social science bias, his theoretical position
to be in complete opposition to that taken in this
Judgments," J.
54-
Aesth.,
IS [1956]: i-ii).
who
plays
down
called contextual relativism.
book ("The
problems with
a
would not appear
Stability of Aesthetic
CHAPTER FOUR
Melody
/vLTHOUGH
usually present a
layman will
somewhat
feel that
larger configuration of tones before the
music
as
such really
At
exists.
musically unsophisticated the basic element of music
tones he terms a tune or an
He
one must
intervals have great musical significance,
air.
what he can
It is
tends to regard most other musical
least for the
is
recall
phenomena
as
a series of
and name.
the tune's
embellishments. This chapter will consider in some detail the tune,
what musicians
Melody,
define.
call
like so
The
the melody.
many other concepts
best general definition
successively sounded intervals and
tion.
is
in music,
that a
is
very difficult to
melody
must have some
is
made up
of
sort of organiza-
But the nature of that organization has puzzled both the
musical theorists and the experimentalists.
frequent statement that a melody
optimum
validity;
variety within unity.
yet
it
tells
us too
is
Such
little.
In the literature
a tonal
may have some
need to know how
a description
We
still
entirely in terms
Certain tonal sequences, they say, are by their very
nature properly unified and
than a few formalists
and optimum.
the
sequence displaying
optimum unity and variety can be identified.^
The formalists attempt to state their definitions
of tonal stimuli.
is
who
show optimum
variety.
feel that intuition tells
But the majority
fall
There are more
them what
is
proper
back on the practices of their
S5
M ELODY
Only what
favorite composers.
Brahms regarded
as
Beethoven, or perhaps a
a Bach, a
properly melodic
can
be accepted.
When
These
formalists
would
reminded
that musical practices are in the process of continual
freeze music at one of
its
periods.
they are
change, they either hold firmly to the rules followed by the earlier
elite
and frown upon the modernists, or
shift
models with the
thought that absolute principles are only gradually revealed. True,
absolutes are implicit in the tonal stimuli and so are fixed and eternal.
But
man must
search
them out with the reward of only
partial
success..
The
relativistic position, the
one accepted by most
favors a definition in terms of
listener
hearing
comes
it
it
learning.^
as
it
which brings
changes,
For
all
its
course, will
of us live in a social organiza-
to our attention certain sequences and ignores, if
sanctions change.
But culture
is
never
static.
Hence, what was once regarded
properly unified and optimally varied
hackneyed, and what once had too
on
holds that a
Not every sequence, of
does not actively frown upon, others.
As
It
to regard a sequence as forming a unity only through
over and over again.
have the chance of repetition.
tion
human
social scientists,
much
may
later
variety
be thought of
may
as
eventually take
unity.
Many
years ago Emerson, employing intervals smaller than our
semitones, constructed what might be called microscopic melodies.
The sequences seemed
to possess little tonality as the musician of the
West knows the term. Yet Emerson's
subjects learned to regard
these unusual patterns as unified and to develop certain expectancies
Emerson had
concerning them.
in effect established a tiny musical
subculture.
A
melody, then, seems best defined
personal thing,
a
in
terms of learning.
56
a
matter of expectancy. Theoretically speaking, any
sequence of tones could conceivably constitute
culture group.
It is
But
at
a
any one time and place only
melody
for
a fraction
some
of the
MELODY
many
possible will receive official approval.
nonconformist
will
patterns until, for
to
which the
persist
him
experimenting with unapproved
become melodies. The extent
at least, these
radical can convince others that they should accept
these sequences
is
a
mark of
shown
has
his greatness.
and Learning
Principles of Attention
Ortmann
in
In spite of this, the
laws of primacy, recency,
that the
and
emphasis, which educational psychologists have found so helpful,
also
hold for melodies. 5
First
and
notes he found to stand out
last
prominently. They often become focal centers for the melody and
The
aid the listener in his quest for unity and coherence.
were
low^est notes
also seen as attention-getting.
highest and
Moreover, any one
of the remaining notes of the melody could, he found, be
equally or even
emphasizing
it
Ortmann' s
in
more prominent by
some other way.
can
observations
giving
easily
be
it
more
loudness or
by
verified
made
analyzing
responses to Seashore's Measure of Tonal Memory.^ In this test threeto five-note sequences are played twice,
with one of the notes
changed on the second rendition. The task
to recognize the change.
Now
it
be the
is
might be guessed that the three-note melodies would always
remember and
easiest to
the problem
is
not so simple.
the five-note the most difficult.
For the
difficulty in recall
is
But
in part a
function of the prominence of the note which has been altered.
Altering the
produce
first
a radical
number of
The law
or the
last
tone, or the highest or the lowest,
may
change in the tonal configuration, regardless of the
tones in the sequence.
of frequency
is
one of the most important principles
melody formation. The themes of the
some new and unfamiliar idiom seem
they are heard a
number
of times.
radical
who
is
composing
in
in
tuneless, i.e., unmelodic, until
The layman who
is
forced to listen
57
MELODY
to such material
may lament
the good old-fashioned melodic music
of the past, without realizing that
music
his great-grandfather,
on
some
of what he
now
calls
melodic
hearing, described as tuneless.
first
Repeated hearing over the years has led to acceptance and, with
the feeling that this kind of melody
now possesses
it,
adequate unity and
coherence.
Many American laymen and psychologists are hard put at times
understand why musical theorists seem so blind to the importance
to
to
their art of the law of frequency, ignoring so completely the function
of learning.
The explanation appears
to be that music theory stems
pretty largely from European philosophy, which was long dominated
by the great formalist Kant. This or that
is
so, said the formalists,
because inherent in the stimulus conjiguration are the qualities that
it
this
make
way. The formalists ignore the possibility that reasons may
lie
frequency of association, in cultural inheritance.
in
The present author does not hold
feels that
many,
if
He
to the formalistic position.
not the majority, of explanations necessary for
understanding the phenomena of music must be looked for in the
habits of the listener, in
culture history.
,
what he has learned from
and
his personal
,
Melody and Pitch Level
Now
and again one may hear of
a small child
who,
complain that
"Mama
his
customary evening
my
song tonight." Mama, of course, will
same
as
on previous
lullaby, will
nights.
And
a pitch level slightly higher or
so
it
insist that
after hearing
didn't sing
the song was the
was, except that
it
was sung
lower than the usual one.
For
child and for a tiny fraction of the population, pitch level
important part of melody.
440
d.v. will for this
do
is
pitched
at,
this
is
an
say,
extremely small number of persons be psycho-
logically different if do
^8
A melody whose
at
is
perceptibly raised or lowered.
MELODY
There was
a time
when most
of the authorities considered the
abihty to identify pitch level, termed "absolute" or "positive" pitch,
the resultant of
some Mendelian principle of inheritance and an
infallible
index of musical precocity.
not quite
as
But the
facts of the case are
the early theorists described them.^
no person can identify accurately by
We now
know
letter every tone given
that
him or
can sing or play correctly any demanded pitch. Varying with a
number
of circumstances, his accuracy will most probably be better
for tones
whose timbre he knows
best.
It
will, for
for piano tones and poorer for the purer tones
some laboratory instrument. 9
range, in the registers
It
example, be good
from
a tuning fork or
will be better for tones in the middle
most used
in music.
It
will be poorer for
black than for white keys.
A
small boy of five studied in the Stanford Psychological Labora-
tory began, while
still
in kindergarten, to notice the pitch level of
mother's songs
o and to "correct" her when her Jo's were as much
a semitone away from their accustomed pitch level. At this age,
his
as
however, he could not make such
fine discriminations
home instrument. But
when tested on his own
tones, even with those of his
years he
showed
great skill
another year's time he could do
tory piano.
Still later, his skill
clarinet tones.
Here we
growing experience with
see a
as
with piano
about two
in
piano, and in
well on the very different labora-
became phenomenal with
growth
violin and
in pitch-level skills paralleling
a variety of timbres.
more skill in
minded persons who
Persons claiming absolute pitch generally display
recognizing pitch level than do other musically
make no such claims. Yet
the overlap in ability between those willing
to claim the ability and the
more modest
the high scorers often decrease in
vastly
improve their
status
skill.
is
large. ^°
Without practice
Those lower
in ability can
with assiduous practice."
After hearing a pitch of 2^6 d.v. frequency, most of us could play
or sing a gii d.v. pitch with reasonable accuracy.
Or
if
given
some
^9
MELODY
kinesthetic cue,
if
can sing, some of us could figure, so to speak, where ^i
we
But
definitely
be reacting
in
would need some sort of reference
2
should be.
point.
We would
terms of relative, not absolute, pitch, or so said the early
on the other hand, there
In absolute pitch,
writers.
we
allowed to probe for the lowest or highest note
no need for
is
auditory or kinesthetic reference points, for the reactions are allegedly
"intuitive"; the faster they are, the
The reader may
biological
more
accurate they will be.
be convinced that absolute pitch
still
relative pitch,
that the
two
matter of
However, the evidence can even more
inheritance.^^
showing either that absolute pitch
readily be interpreted as
extreme
is a
is
but
one end of the relative-pitch continuum, or
while perhaps not completely identical, are
abilities,
highly correlated and are both dependent on musical experience. ^3
It is
a fact familiar to all psychologists that in learning a
an individual at
first
makes use of
motor
skill
of cues or crutches. ^4 As
a variety
the skill improves, less and less attention will be paid these cues.
By
the time the person has achieved real mastery over his task, he can
and does
will
its
be
likely not only to
He
quality.
tuitive" fashion.
Some
slow
does his best
Thus
it is
his
if
he
if
At
A
first
he found
After
position.
humming
this
it
note
he behaves
necessary to
as a
many weeks
disappeared, but for
humming.
Later, this
immediately or the
A
use them, he
in
an unthinking, "in-
with the learning of absolute pitch.
(440 d.v.) to the point of
manage, taking
tries to
performance but seriously to harm
years ago the author developed his
nizing violin
error.
In fact,
for2;et his earlier aids.
need
own
less
hum
accuracy in recog-
than an eighth-tone
the lowest note he could
point of reference to "figure" the
A
of effort, the need for the audible
a
time he
still
also vanished
needed to imagine the
and the
string of the violin could
A
could be sung
be tuned without
outside reference.
It
has been said that
While
60
this
many
"primitives" possess absolute pitch.
claim has not been verified,
it is
reasonable to suppose
MELODY
that a person
whose
were confined
tonal experiences
to a do of
constant pitch would rather quickly develop a relatively good feel
Certainly better pitch-level responses should be
for pitch level.
expected in an area where
all
persons used only French pitch
more
(p. 17)
than in another area where a variety of standard pitches was used.
Many German
in
schools do not teach the movable- Jo system so
common
America. They follow the "tone-word" method which, by assigning
a singable
nearly
name
to each tone of the chromatic scale, gives a
absolute
frame of reference.
make fewer
children so taught
So
far
we
^5
not surprising that
is
errors in pitch level.
have not delimited the term absolute pitch.
would reserve
it
Seashore
for abilities with errors of a tenth of a semitone
(10 cents) or less. ^^ Bachem's criterion
other contemporary researchers allow
No
It
more
is
almost
a far larger
census of the general population has ever been
percentage enjoying absolute pitch.
obvious that the figures can be
made
If
one
is
But
as stringent. ^7
margin of error.
made
to find the
ever undertaken
large or small
it is
depending on the
narrowness of the criterion adopted for absolute pitch.
to conclude that only a person extremely interested in
It is safe
who
pitch level or
melody has
its
has been indoctrinated with the notion that each
"proper" key
(p.
86) will be greatly upset by melody
modulations of small magnitude. The great majority of us think
musically in terms of intervals, not single tones of fixed pitch. Therefore, unless a
register,
its
melody
is
raised or
lowered to
a relatively
unmusical
basic characteristics will not be greatly affected
by
changes in pitch level.
Melody and Loudness
Melodies with unconventional skips and harmonies are noticeably
less bizarre
attention to
when
played at low intensities.
what otherwise would tend
No
to slip
doubt loudness
calls
by unnoticed. The
61
MELODY
below shows
table
a typical set
of preferences obtained from college
Note
students for intervals based on middle C.^^
that,
by and
large,
the softest renditions are the most preferred.
Relation of Loudness to Interval Preference
3
octave soft
15-5
minor 3rd soft
major 6th loud
major 6th medium
27-S
tritone loud
4
tritone soft
15-5
octave
27-S
5
minor 6th
17
4th
29
minor 7th loud
minor 3rd loud
6
minor 7th
soft
18-5
major 7th
30
major 2nd loud
7-5
major 6th
soft
18-5
minor 6th medium
31-S
major 7th medium
7-5
major
medium
20
Sth
31-S
9
Sth soft
21-5
major 2nd
34-S
minor 7th medium
minor 2nd loud
major 2nd medium
34-S
minor 2nd medium
36
major 7th loud
1
4th soft
2
major 3rd
13
3rcl
14
soft
soft
medium
25-S
4th loud
2S-S
minor 6th loud
medium
medium
soft
medium
10
tritone
21-5
octave loud
11
major 3rd loud
23-5
Sth loud
12
minor 3rd medium
23-5
minor 2nd
If
made
sufficiently
loud,
a
33
soft
soft
pitch in the middle register
may
appreciably change in apparent pitch. While estimates differ, one
good experimentalist claims
minor
third. ^9
to have observed a change as large as a
Ordinarily an increase in the loudness of a low or
middle-register vocal tone tends to increase
tone to decrease the pitch.
its
pitch, of a very high
Soft tones are, in general, flatted.^''
blaring discordance then, may, because of
its
The
extreme loudness, have
pitch relationships slightly different from those the composer in-
tended.
Indeed,
shift in pitch
Much
that
it
is
conceivable that on very rare occasions the
might lead to
is
invalid has
less
discordance.
been written about the control of loudness
in playing the various musical instruments.
the assumption on the part of
infinite
number
way
which the
in
others have
little
62
many piano
There
is,
for instance,
teachers that an almost
of tone qualities can be elicited simply by varying the
shown
fingers strike the piano keys.
that the
But Ortmann^^ and
mechanics of piano action allow for very
tone variation. The few effects that do obtain are
made
possible
MELODY
through
hammer
nothing
else.
velocity, impact and
Most of the
striking the keys in various
As anyone with only
knows, there are
ways are
hammer
and pedal
brought about by
illusory.
a passing acquaintance
at least tw^o,
noises,
allegedly
effects
with the modern piano
and sometimes three, foot pedals.
These are the sustaining or loud pedal, the
and, particularly in
soft,
American-made instruments, the sostenuto. Scores
for pedal effects
like those for intensity generally are in rather a primitive state.
so
it is
Even
surprising that professional pianists are in so little agreement
as to the
"proper" use of the pedals.
research
in
this
who
Heinlein,
did extensive
found marked disagreements among the
area,
performances he examined. ^^ As
a
matter of
fact,
no performer he
studied was able even to duplicate the pedal performance he himself
had made ten minutes
have
little
earlier.
Heinlein found music teachers to
precise knowledge of just what the pedals can and can-
not do.
It
should be noted that performers do not follow their pitch scores
slightly,
and employ a
variety of melodic ornaments. Yet these deviations
from the pitch
exactly.
They
intentionally sharp and
flat
scores are relatively slight. "Inaccuracies" in intensity control, on the
other hand, are far
so crude and
it
is
more
extensive.
knowledge of
no wonder
that the
With
intensity-score indicators
finger and pedal possibilities so meagre,
control of loudness often mirrors the
idiosyncrasies of the performer
more than
does those of the
it
composer.
Because of terminological inadequacies,
is
it
musician to designate a particular loudness. There
ever, a unit of loudness, the phon,
use.
(The number of phons
of looo cycles
is
is
available,
the
how-
be enjoying some
number
of decibels a tone
above the reference intensity
loudness to the tone in question.)
is
for
to
which appears
equal to the
difficult
The phon
when judged
is
equal in
approximately the
smallest increment of loudness that can be noticed under ordinary
63
MELODY
circumstances.
The
below
table
some
gives
idea of the average
loudness of various noises.
Type of Noise
Phons
Airplane engine 10 feet from propeller
120-130
Riveting machine 35 feet away
Pneumatic
drill a
few
feet
102
90-100
away
Conversation
60
Quiet suburban street
40
Quiet whisper
20
The contemporary conductor Leopold Stokow^ski
is
said to inter-
pret his scores as follows:
ppp=
p^
2o phons
pp=4o phons
ff= 8g phons
55 phons
mj^6g
phons
1=75
phons
jJJ=^^ phons
Melody and Timbre
It is
unfortunate that authorities write
minor chord, or
fifth, a
whether played on
violin.
What
a
a
melody
marimba,
a
at
times as though a perfect
will have identical characteristics
harmonica,
a tuba,
or an old
Cremona
they are neglecting are the differences in timbre, the
constellations of partial tones each instrument adds to the fundamental
tones. ^3
The tuning fork and
simplest tones one can
certain organ pipes will yield the purest,
meet outside an
tones are relatively free of overtones.
acoustics laboratory, for their
The
air
columns around them
vibrate largely at only one frequency for each pitch.
instruments, by and large, give very impure tones.
But orchestral
In
some, certain
of the overtones even match the fundamentals in loudness. ^4
Flute tones and soprano voices are relatively pure; tones from soft
horns, soft male voices, pianos and strings are richer,
more complex;
tones from wood-winds (except the flute), loud male voices, and loud
brass (in this order) are
brilliant, cutting, blaring^,
64
more complex and may be described as
or even strident. The tones of the clarinet
still
MELODY
emphasize the uneven-numbered partials and are usually regarded
hollow and
(See also Chap,
nasal, ^5
g, p.
as
Melodies in a low
92.)
register have richer quality than those of high pitch.
Many
of us associate melodies of bagpipe timbre with things
Scottish, the
fife
or
drum with
the military, the oboe family with the
oriental world, and the pipe organ with church.
male
associate the
may
falsetto
whose
lose
with buffoonery,
falsetto
much
of
a serious
we
often
melody sung
in
serious quality. Yet for the Cantonese,
its
employs no female voices, the male
stage
Because
falsetto replaces the
female voice and so w^arrants serious listening.
There are those who
precisely as
Bach on
its
One
really prefer
own
that
composer played
modern organ or
a
orchestra.
their
feel
can only
it.
music should always be played
To
these people
to arrange his
music for the present-day
wonder how many of
Bach on the baroque organ and
these conservatives
how many
However, there
intellectualizing.
a sin to play
it is
is
are victims of
no question but
that
the psychological effects of Bach's polyphony depend in some degree
on the type of organ employed.
It is
a bit disheartening to find that as
one grows older the timbre
of what one hears progressively changes. The
human
ear
becomes
gradually deafer, especially for tones in the highest registers and the
higher overtones cease to exist. The average thirty-year-old hears
well as he did a decade earlier.
almost
as
age
likely
is
as
man
years of
fifty
to be appreciably deafer, particularly for tones of
2048 d.v. and above.
low
But the
By seventy years the deafness may extend
the 1024 d.v. level.
Another way of looking
as
^^
at this
age-decrement
is
to
compare the
hearing of the several age-groups at one pitch level, say at 8192 d.v.
In the
decade from the early twenties to the early thirties there
change. But by age forty there
is
often a ten-decibel loss.
The
is little
testable
loss tends to
grow
more than 40
decibels by age sixty. ^7 These loudness losses have little
to approximately
2
^ decibels
by age
fifty
and to
65
MELODY
relevance to the hearing of the melody's fundamentals, but they bar
the older person from hearing the full richness of the overtone matrix.
Many
instruments have important resonance areas in the higher
pitch reaches. The partials in these areas are lost to the older listeners.
In consideration of these hearing losses
vv^e
should, perhaps, be
When
considerate toward crotchety old music critics.
critic maintains that the tones of a certain orchestra
performer are not so
full
and rich
correct; for to his aging ears the tonal mass truly
he
to realize
fails
come
that the time has
is
younger colleagues the evaluation of tonal
We
saw^ earlier (p. 9) that the
playing of old
Cremona
one such
or virtuoso
they once w^ere he
as
for
is
him
more
is
quite
less rich.
What
to leave to his
effects.
timbre effects elicited from the
violins are in part illusory.
There are other
situations w^here the alleged timbre effects are better attributed to
some other
what
sense than the auditory.
said to
is
one study
it
An
instance of this sort concerns
be the coldness of Heifetz's violin performances.^^ In
was
first
demonstrated that Heifetz
is
indeed regarded
one of the coldest of concert performers. But whenever
his
as
recorded
performance of a particular composition was compared with another's
recording of the same piece
Szigeti
latter's playing that
and Totenberg and Milstein
seemed occasionally
Heifetz coldness
was usually the
is
was
Morini and Elman were thought to be quite
rated as the colder.
definitely colder,
it
less cold.
It
at least as cold.
would appear, then,
that the
probably due to the visual effects of his
posture or lack of
playing looks colder,
facial
we
Since Heifetz's
expression.
imagine that
it
also
Only
stiffer
manner of
sounds colder.
Melody and Sonance
Tone
quality and timbre appear as
musical treatises.
in
most
But, as Metfessel points out, timbre refers only to
instantaneous pictures of the
66
synonymous terms
sound complex. ^9
Under the broader
MELODY
caption of tone quality must also be considered the progression of the
complex
Sonance,
which Metfessel has coined the word "sonance."
for
as
the term
is
now
used, refers to the progressive changes
moment
and fusions which take place within the tone from
moment.
to
Like timbre, sonance furnishes a setting for melody and
can greatly affect
psychological characteristics.
its
The most worked-over
area of sonance
is
melodic ornament described elsewhere
that of the vibrato, a
(Chap.
i).
It
be
will
recalled that in employing the vibrato the singer or instrumentalist
varies his tones periodically
from those of the score.
Sonance
also
appears in nonperiodic and in erratic tone fluctuations. 3°
much impressed by
Seashore has been
never sung or played precisely
as
the fact that a
melody
is
The introduction of the
scored.
vibrato and of glides, and the intentional sharping or flatting of tones
illustrate
how
the performer can stamp his individuality on the
Seashore has generalized from these data to the point of
music.
formulating an aesthetic rule: beauty, he thinks,
deviation from the rigid and regular.
the photograph, which, with
not so highly rated
as
its
He
lies
in artistic
has offered the analogy of
too faithful copying of an object,
is
the less representational painting (p. 142).
But whether or not the deviation principle should be elevated to the
position of an artistic law,
we must
agree that the "horizontal"
impurities of the vibrato and of the erratic and the nonperiodic
fluctuations of tone are, musically speaking, extremely important.
Sonance,
impurities
then,
must be considered along with those
we term
"vertical"
timbre.
Melody and Noise
We
have
seen
characteristics
that
when
it is
a
melody shows
different
psychological
played on instruments of dissimilar timbre.
Noise, too, attaches itself to melody and aids in the creation of most
67
5-2
MELODY
Noise has been defined
musical experiences.
complex, or so irregular, or both, that
heard by
itself. "3^
There
is
no
definite
it
boundary between noise and
tone, for experts can sometimes detect a pitch
seems only
which
layman
to the
conglomerate of unpitched sounds.
a
The rubbing of the bow, the tapping of the
keys3^ or
sound either so
as "a
seems to have no tone when
on the fingerboard of
on the piano
fingers
a violin, the hissing of the breath in
playing the flute, and the plucking sounds necessary to harp-playing
all
serve as excellent examples of noise in music.
belief of some, noise
On
at all costs.
not unpleasant per
is
the contrary,
it is
se,
nor
Contrary to the
is it
to
be avoided
often deliberately sought to give
pleasure.
That beating
effects
add to the fullness of tonal experience can be
observed by listening to the pipe organ. This versatile instrument
assigns
them
more
than one pipe to each pitch but does not achieve for
precisely the
pipe organ
its
same pitch. The beats
in the thinner sounding
sing pipes
audition.
which
felt as
much
missed
and awe by posseshuman threshold of
effect of massiveness
whose frequencies are below the
While these slow
they can be
is
and more exactly tuned electric organ. There
which achieve the
are organs
so created help to give the
characteristic quality, an effect
periodicities cannot be heard as tones,
building vibrations and sometimes heard as faint
rattlings.
The modern
orchestral
composer often
feels the
need for more
noise effects than the traditional instruments can provide.
excite and shock his audience with his use of apparatus
He may
which
yields
rhythmic grunts, siren wails, noises usually associated with the
factory,
and even more unusual sounds.
Henry Cowell,
temporary American composer, has put noise to work
compositions.
piano strings.
massage of the
68
a
con-
in his piano
Plucking sounds arise from a harplike picking of the
An
eerie, wailing effect
strings.
comes from
And, following Dandrieu,
a light stroking or
who
in the early
MELODY
1
700's expressed the cannon's roar by striking the lower harpsichord
notes with his
where the
Cowell has long been playing "tone-clusters"
fist,
fist,
the
of the hand, or even the entire forearm
flat
simultaneously depresses
the keys
all
it
Cowell 's
can encompass.
techniques are especially effective for program music.
Melody and Tempo
It is a matter of common
which
a
melody
is
played
observation that the
often an index of
is
position set to walking speed
slow speed
waltz.
As
a dirge,
we
and
still
shall see in the
an important determinant of
as
major or
Some
as
may
some intermediate speed
a
next chapter, the tempo of a melody
is
its
at
activeness, of whether
fixed in
told to
mind
move back and
deemed proper. The
were
if
college students had
The
subjects
forth a large speed lever
were hearing was
1
at the rate
were
16 quarter-notes to the minute,
what the Aeolian Corporation regarded
fox- trots
reacted to
lever settings given by this group
generally in the neighbourhood of
The
it is
for waltz time. 33
until the playing of the composition they
just
A com-
Duo-Art player-piano, made by the Aeolian
tempo well
were blindfolded and
they
function.
minor.
years ago a
specific
its
well be a march, another at very
another
Corporation, was used in an attempt to learn
one
tempo or speed with
at that
time
as
proper.
usually set at a considerably faster tempo, at
approximately 143.
Further research on dance tempo was carried on six years later by
Lund with
a similar
faster speeds
were by
sample of college students. 34 Lund found that
time considered proper,
this
and i^g for the fox-trot.
leaders recognize
Lund noted
two waltz times,
a
that
many
i
39 for the waltz
dance-orchestra
slower one that approximates
the value uncovered in the earlier study, and the so-called concert or
faster style
whose tempo
is
about the figure his subjects considered
69
MELODY
The
proper.
tempo
fox-trot also has several
variants, of
which two,
the Charleston and the Black Bottom, had considerable popularity for
a time.
Conductors and performers often
develop some particular
effect.
In
alter the
in order to
one movement of the
Symphony (The Funeral March), Beethoven's
Eroica
own marking was
set at
Koussevitzky cut the speed to 74 for his conducting, Beecham
80.
to
tempo
and Toscanini to ^2. Wagner once complained that the
62,
Tannhduser Overture took twelve minutes under his
long
as
own
baton but
as
twenty under certain other conductors.
Music seems to have more than
culties.
Confusion abounds in
this
time, tempo, periodicity, takt, true
defined.
In the
next section
we
its
share of nomenclature
tempo
beat, 35
area
diffi-
where terms such
as
and rhythm are variously
shall discuss the relation
of melody to
rhythm. The reader should be warned that other authors might have
included portions of the discussion on rhythm in this section on
tempo.
But although tempo and rhythm are obviously very closely
related, they are
by no means
identical. 3^
Melody and Rhythm
Rhythm
is
more than the
periodicity resulting from the continuous
repetition of a simple sequence such as do,
re,
mi, fa.
To
elicit
rhythm,
one element from among the four symbols must be emphasized
some way
to
make
stand out from
it
its
fellows.
If
the do alone
in
were
made more intense, if it were held longer than any one of the others,
or of it were somehow made qualitatively unique, say given a very
different timbre, then the sequence would possess what has been
termed objective rhythm.
All three of these
simultaneously.
The
modes of emphasis
pianist, in striking
are used in music, often
more
strongly the
first
note
of a rhythmic pattern, not only makes the tone louder but auto-
70
MELODY
matically alters
its
timbre in
slight
degree
and
also breaks the regularity of his timing
Unwittingly, he
as well.
tarries longer than
he
thinks he does on the stressed tone. 37 In trying, then, to use intensity
as a
means of emphasis the
pianist has also
employed both timbre and
timing to create his rhythms. The organist, of course, cannot so easily
control his intensity relationships and must depend
more on timing
in his attempts to bring about emphasis.
Rhythms serve the
listener
by increasing
his perceptual
span,
dividing up patterns of melodic material so that larger units can be
more
When
readily grasped.
rhythmic emphasis
the
on the
tonic, dominant, etc.,
important positions of the
scale, e.g.,
the tonality structure
made more obvious and
is
anticipations are whetted.
By
on the
is
the listener's
shifting the accent to a tone
which
is
is,
by synco-
pation, the listener's anticipations are strengthened even
more and
normally not accented in a given rhythmic pattern, that
the intensity of the adjacent time-keeping beat
The most obvious
motor
gift
rhythm brings
activity. This activity
movements too
slight to
often occur while jazz music
may reach only
is
played. 39
to eliminate
activity-inducing quality of
rhythm
Simple labor, such
as that
music.
still
on contemplation rather than on
rhythm and endeavored
heavy loads
music
intensified. 3^
is its
invitation to
the covert stage with
be casually observed, or the rhythms may
induce overt nodding, foot tapping, and
stress
to
is
it as
is
other activities, such
The
early church, with
as
its
action, looked askance at
far as possible. 4°
The
earthy,
well demonstrated in
of unskilled
workmen
work
passing
down a line, is made easier because of the highly rhythmic
And although many lay dancers pay little or no
chanties they sing.
attention to the
rhythm of the music
to
which they are dancing, the
more skillful do dance in time with the music and are guided by it.
Combing through the work of the past, Mursell has tentatively
concluded that there are only seven unit groups among the musical
rhythms. 4^
In the table below, the dash designates the emphasized
71
MELODY
element in each
case.
The reader can
readily find illustrations of the
iamb, trochee, dactyl, and probably the amphibrach, although the
much
latter is
illustrates
Lundin
the least frequent.
the
single
offers the
beat,
rumba
as
Unit Groups
—
—
— w
— w
v-/
Handel's Dead March from Saul
and Chopin's Opus S3 the tremolo.
an example of the anapest.^^
Musical Rhythms
in
accented,
^
unaccented
Iamb
w
Trochee
v^
Dactyl
1^
1^ —
— w
'u Ky \j
- I
I
I
rhythmic units tends to possess
seems more
Dunlap
is
somber. 43
referring less to
Tremolo
Single Beat
According to the experimentalist Dunlap,
units
Anapest
Amphibrach
a
music with short
joyous quality and that with longer
It
would appear, however,
that
we
have
rhythm than
tempo, and
to
more
already noted that faster music seems
active or major, while
slower tunes appear inore somber or minor. The available evidence
indicates that the affects given
on either
culture
cultural
we do
not rush a corpse to
with measured tread.
funereal.
•
trochee
melody by rhythm depend very much
conditioning or personal experience.
grave, but carry
its
Hence, rhythms with
from those of
take on a
a
5"
2
have already
slowly and
single beat
may seem
march
flavor.
Other
illustrations of
would be somewhat
commented on
and
7
in the
our
different
the fact that
Western music has
on the rather simple rhythmic patterns
-beat, 3 -beat, 4-beat, and, to a lesser extent, the 6
and
8.
The
occur so rarely that laymen are usually ignorant of their
existence and
fail
to appreciate theiTi. These rarer rhythms do occur
Orient and could enjoy more use
were devised which forced movements
72
it
people of an alien culture.
specialized, so to speak,
the
our
Infantrymen usually favor one or the other foot, so the
may well
associations could be gathered, but they
We
In
in the
West
if
dances or
drills
in these patterns (p. 4).
MELODY
fortunate that the abiUty learned by one set of muscles "crosses
It is
over" in some degree to other
A rhythmic
sets.
one, learned through drill with the right hand,
by the entire organism. The
pattern, say a 5^-beat
is
in actuality learned
hand, either foot, or, in
left
any
fact,
mobile part of the body, can beat out the rhythm. After the pattern
has been thoroughly mastered
upon
a
Such
a superimposition
can be superimposed,
it
is
termed "subjective rhythm."
later in 4-beat can readily
that there
is
siderable
first
do
as
no rhythmic pattern
could not hear a
5^-beat
contact with
rhythm
5^-beat
in
if
the objective rhythm
is
person
when he knows
in the physical stimuli.
unless, of course,
But he
he had had con-
If a
melody
terms of that rhythm.
in
is
possesses a strong and
very weak, the listener
may
supply his
subjective rhythm.
A number
of the early missionaries to Africa brought back the
surprising tale that the natives
seemed poor
in
rhythms and often beat
randomly on their drums. Since drumming was
as
A
-beat rhythm, then in 3-
requested even
familiar objective rhythm, the listening
But
2
music or had been subjected to
laboratory drill with this rhythm.
own
were,
sequence of events which physically has only periodicity.
asked to hear a metronome beat
and
as it
a sort of telegraphy
well as musical behavior and so was a highly skilled activity, such
a report did not
seem very reasonable.
More
careful observations
proved the missionaries to have been quite mistaken. These
studies
showed the rhythmic patterns
to
later
be extremely precise but
too complicated for Western-trained laymen to follow. The African
drummers,
it
patterns, i.e.,
was found, were simultaneously tapping
2
against 3, 3 against 4,
Western music has not
2
against
in
D
against g, etc.
entirely neglected polyrhythms.
be observed, for instance, in MacDowell's
Chopin's Nocturne
3
Flat.
Certain
in several
Tragic
They can
Sonata
or in
modern composers, notably
Henry Cowell, have employed cross- or polyrhythms rather extensively,
and composers of "hot" jazz have traditionally superimposed
73
MELODY
rhythmic cycles of three beats on the fundamental rhythm of two or
four beats. 44 But the majority of conservatories and schools of music
offer
no
how
the student will be able to play these polyrhythms on the
special training for their mastery.
It is
assumed that some-
occasions he finds the need, 45
The schools
that
do teach the handling of polyrhythms employ one
some combination of
of two procedures or
procedure
is
the kinesthetic method, by which the hands (or feet)
are separately trained in
two or more rhythms. This
scheme featured by Jaques-Dalcroze
mies. 4^
The most obvious
these.
The method
is
also
in his
is
supposedly the
dance system of eurhyth-
used by the pianist Arthur Hardcastle,
w^ho on being tested by the author some years ago was found to be
very
A
Hardcastle could tap
skillful,
3 against 7,
and 4 against
7
with
2
against 3,
less
3
against 4, 3 against ^,
than a 10 per cent error.
second approach to the mastery of polyrhythms
oneself the least
common multiple
to be played. For example,
from
I
through
the other on the
i
and
by counting to
(or fraction of this) of the rhythms
in learning to play 2 against 3,
and taps with one hand on the
6
is
i
,
3
and
one counts
g,
and with
4,
Other Hand
One Hand
X
X
1
2
X
3
X
4
X
5
6
Where
When
the multiple becomes large,
playing
counts of the
against £,
3
first
it
can be
split into parts.
one hand taps on the
group of five, on the second and
first
fifth
and fourth
counts of the
second group, and on the third count of the third group. The other
hand
74
taps
on the
first
count of each group of
five.
MELODY
O THER Hand
One H AND
X
X
1
2
3
X
4
5
X
1
X
2
3
4
X
5
X
2
X
3
4
5
At Stanford University there has been devised
a third, or Gestalt,
procedure which appears to have an advantage over the other methods
in that
comphcated patterns can be learned almost
simpler.
The scheme
necessitates
pressing a phonograph record.
the
2
in
2-beat
the
cutting a player-piano roll or
In presenting the polyrhythms, say
against 3, the roll or record
middle C's
as readily as
rhythm and
is
made
to offer a succession of
a series of G's in 3-beat.
The
learner merely listens and attempts to duplicate the C's and G's at
some higher or lower piano
register.
If
the piano roll
is
employed,
the beginner has additional cues from watching the keys as they are
automatically depressed.
Harmony
Singing in unison
is
undoubtedly
and men, or w^omen and
men
as
old as music.
join in singing the
But when boys
same melody, the
make it easier for
The octave span was
natural differences in the lengths of the vocal folds
the
men
to sing an octave
below the
others.
75
MELODY
probably adopted for perceptual reasons
as well.
Its
two tones
fuse
so completely that the musically untutored often imagine the singing
to be
all in
unison. This confusion
less likely to
is
occur with any of
the other intervals.
Another early breakaway from unison singing came with the drone
bass.
Here, one tone
of the melody.
is
continuously sung or played for the duration
In effect, the
drone becomes
a
keynote which adds
greatly to the stability, i.e., to the tonality, of the musical structure.
At times the
or dominant,
sol,
Nowadays the drone
bass
is
is
most
the pipe organ has a place for
it
additionally
employed
as a
drone.
readily heard in bagpipe music, and
in the pedal, so called because the
foot sustains the drone.
Many
to
of the world's music systems went no farther along the road
harmony.
Their major innovations were often in rhythmic
development, an area in which Western music has done relatively
But the West, perhaps during the ninth century, took a logical
little.
next step in developing the organum in which there were
in addition to the octave, voices a fourth
moving
parallel to the
although one with
theme. Here, then,
is
finally
a type of
monotony of
moved
harmonizing,
parallel octaves, fifths,
in opposite directions.
the only intervals officially recognized
At
first
were the same three "perfect"
But since the very mechanics of opposing motion necessarily
ones.
created other intervals, thirds and sixths gradually
came
into vogue.
these innovations, simple parallel motion gradually dropped in
favor to the point
again dared
It is
where
later harmonists proscribed its use.
It
was,
not until the contemporary period that composers once
in fact,
employ
a fact of
become
76
both
drove composers to the scheme of opposing
motions, where two melodies
With
now added,
a fifth above,
little variety.
After several centuries the
and fourths
below and
it
to any considerable extent.
music that the composing habits of any era tend to
rigidly codified.
The
rules take
on the character of taboos
MELODY
which keep
all
but the braver composers from experimentation. Yet
each great composer establishes his
a
few of the
rules
own
school by breaking at least
which have fettered music up
process of breaking old rules and making
new
won
and gradually
a
is
several
Although poly-
homophony, appeared during the Renaissance
dominant position
entirely replaced polyphony.
music
which
in
melodic strands are simultaneously sung or played.
rival,
this
ones, simple opposing
motion gradually broadened into polyphony,
phony's great
By
to his time.
In fact, a
in
Western music,
it
never
good proportion of modern
quite polyphonic in character.
During the heyday of polyphony, any simultaneously sounded
interval or
chord was more or
less a fleeting, fortuitous affair
happened with certain juxtapositions of the several melodic
homophonic
which
lines.
In
became the focus of
writing, however, a single line
attention and the other parts took on a decidedly secondary aspect.
became the
These
latter
effect
was music
intervals
as
clothes, the ornaments, for the melody.
the present-day layman hears
became important
in their
own
right,
it.
The
Chords and
and arguments about
which ones were allowable were heard. But gradually the harmonic
rules changed until, as the reader well
has by
now had
its
knows, almost every chord
day of glory.
Summary
Although in the past
tonal pattern
was taught
that, to
be
a
proper melody,
must have inherent unity and coherence,
that the unity
the listener.
it
is
not in the tonal line at
It is
all
but
is
it
now appears
literally
naturally difficult to feel unity in patterns
virtually impossible to sing or play.
a
read in by
which are
Yet even such tonal contours,
if
heard sufficiently often, become increasingly familiar so that the
hearing of any one of the tones arouses the feeling that this should be
followed by the next tone in the sequence.
It is
this
expectancy,
77
MELODY
then, that characterizes our conception of melody. 47
phenomena which obey the
perceptual
Melodies are
far
more than
principles of learning.
familiar sequences of tones.
persons with "absolute pitch," a melody
characteristics
if
Melodies are
the pitch register
may appear
altered ever so
is
To
the few
to change
little.
its
But for
the great majority of the musical public, melodies can be modulated
freely without
much change
in psychological effect.
Relative and
absolute intensities, on the other hand, are important to almost
Since this
listeners.
is
so, it
is
unfortunate that the
all
staff signs for
loudness variations are extremely crude and that the control of
loudness changes by vocalists and instrumentalists
is
incredibly poor.
For loudness nuances may make just the difference between the
acceptance of a melody or
its
But perhaps in the years to
rejection.
come, musicians will develop symbols which
notation.
It
will permit
more
exact
should be noted that finer units of measurement, e.g.,
phons, already are available to the musician.
Pure tones have no place
features
of tonal
variety
a
vibrato), and noises
—and
Indeed, each musical culture
in music.
impurities
— timbres,
sonances
trains its public in their appreciation.
New timbre effects are accepted slowly and grudgingly.
this
now
(e.g.,
For centuries
conservatism in Western music could be readily excused.
that the innovator can
sources of
modern
The job
largely a
is
But
draw on the almost inexhaustible
electronics there
is
re-
less justification for timidity.
propaganda one of convincing the public that
all
worthwhile timbres were not discovered by the old masters.
The older person
heard them
often imagines that
phonograph he will hear
his radio or
if
he turns up the volume of
his favorite
when he was younger. But
melodies just
as
he
deafness tends to be selective,
with the higher registers affected earlier than the lower. Hence, the
elderly miss
as
having a
much
of the tonal complex and perceive their melodies
less rich
timbre.
in loudness sensitivity.
78
Deafness, then,
is
more
than a weakness
M ELODY
Tempo and rhythm
often cue the Hstener to the melody's function.
With one temporal arrangement a waltz is indicated, with another
a dirge. The proper use of syncopation can whet the auditor's
anticipations. Although certain other cultures have made great use
of rhythmic complications, the West has not. A few courageous
contemporaries have attempted to free their music from the tyranny
of the quarter-note by the use of polyrhythms; but music teachers
have made
little effort
to train their students in the execution
appreciation of such "novelties." They
fail
and
to realize that they are
bypassing a rich source of aesthetic enjoyment.
Slow though the Occident has been
rhythmic materials,
it has
the stage of unison singing, the
basses,
experimenting with
in
led the world in melodic improvisation.
West
slowly
moved
to the use of drone
theorganum, opposed motion, polyphony and
phony with its chordal structures
,
It
From
finally to
homo-
should be noted that music systems
do not necessarily evolve. The music of a people may remain relatively
static, it
may proceed
toward an
from
along one line or another, or
earlier set of forms.
satiation, a goal
we
may
turn back
The composer's task is to keep his public
which can be achieved
In the present chapter
it
in countless fashions.
have concerned ourselves largely with
the anatomical side of music, with
its
flesh
and bones.
We
shall
continue in the next chapter with our discussions of melody, but
there
we
shall
emphasize
its
more dynamic
aspects.
Several facets of
the language problem will interest us.
Notes
i]
G. D. Birkhoff,
in Aesthetic Measure,
Cambridge, Mass., Harvard U. Press, 1933, has
presented a mathematical formula for assessing unity and variety which at
first
glance
seems delightfully straightforward.
But even Birkhoff has been unable to apply
except the simplest materials,
present author found when, in the middle 1930's, he
sent
him
as the
several melodies to assess.
it
to any
Apparently Birkhoff derived his formula from the
practices of composers as described in the
harmony manuals.
79
MELODY
J.
G. Beebe- Center and C. C. Pratt, in "A Test of Birkhoff 's Aesthetic Measure, "J. Gen.
IJ (1937): 339-35^3, have been brave enough to try out the formula with simple
Psychol.
,
Although they expressed themselves
musical materials.
hopeful of the ultimate utility
as
of the Birkhoff scheme they have not published further in this area.
Another formalistic measure of beauty has been proposed by Cyril Burt
How
Psychology of Art" chapter of
D + /\-i
/
Burt's aesthetic index
is
differentiated,
is
|
exp
the
/ is
|
number
in "The
Mind Works, London, Allen and Unwin, 1933.
the
,
where D
is
the
number
of items into which the
of relations integrating the items, and S
is
work
the scope of
apprehension under the usual conditions.
2]
L. L. Thurstone,
3]
L. E.
"The Problem of Melody,"
Music. Quart., 6 (1920):
426-429.
Emerson, "The Feeling- Value of Unmusical Tone-Intervals," Harvard
269-274. The work of Emerson and the studies by
Stud., 2 (1906):
Psjchol.
Max Meyer, "Elements
of a Psychological Theory of Melody," Psjchol. Rev., 7 (1900): 241-273, and by W. V. D.
Bingham, "Studies in Melody," Psjchol. Monog., 12 (191 o): 1-88, are examples of the
excellent early American researches on melody.
H. Werner,
4]
in
"Musical
'Micro-scales'
and
'Micro-melodies'," J.
Psjchol.,
10
(1940): 149-156, has shown that after a sequence has once been accepted as a melody
it
much
can be drastically changed without
intervals proportionately until they
all
O. Ortmann, "On the Melodic
S]
1—47.
J. P. Guilford
See also
loss of identity.
were of microtone
His procedure was to reduce
size.
Short Musical Melodies," J. Exp. Psjchol., 16 (1933): 32-54;
Nelson, "Changes in the Pitch of Tones
Exp. Psjchol.,
6]
J.
P. Guilford
when Melodies Are Repeated," J.
19 (1936): 193-202; "The Pitch of Tones in Melodies
_/.
No.
Relativity of Tones," Psjchol. Monog., 35,
i
(1926):
and R. A. Hilton, "Some Configurational Properties of
as
Compared with
and H. M.
Exp. Psjchol.,
Single Tones,"
20 (1937): 309-335.
C. E. Seashore, D. Lewis, and
J.
G. Saetveit, Manual, Seashore Measures of Musical
Talents,
N.Y., Psychol. Corp., 1956.
7]
With an arrangement
similar to that found in the Seashore Tonal
Wunderlich ("The Recognition Value of the Steps of the Diatonic
Memory
test,
H.
Scale," Amer.J. Psjchol.,
S3 (1940): 579-582) studied the ease of identifying the scale steps, Theja and ti were
re, and la were readily
quite difficult to identify as having been altered while the do,
identified.
See also C. P. Heinlein's
Melodic Configuration
Memory
in
Tonal
"A
Memory
Brief Discussion of the Nature and Function of
with Critical Reference to the Seashore Tonal
Test, "J. Genet. Psjchol., 35 (1928), 45-61 and R. Frances' "Recherches Experi-
mentales sur
la
Perception de
la
Melodie,"
J.
Psjchol.
Norm. Path., 47-Sl
(i9S4):
439-4^78]
For a review of the literature on absolute pitch see D. M. Neu's "A Critical Review of
the Literature on 'Absolute Pitch'," Psjchol. Bull., 44 (1947): 249-266.
9]
10]
B. L. Riker,
No. 193 (1932).
80
"The
L. A. Petran,
Ability to Judge Pitch, "J. Exp. Psjchol.,
"An Experimental Study
36 (1946), 331-346.
of Pitch Recognition," Psjchol. Monog., 42,
M ELODY
1 1]
Building on the early
work
of
M.
F.
Meyer,
"Is the
Memory
of Absolute Pitch
Capable of Development by Training?" Psychol. Rev., 6 (1899), J14-J16, others have
found as he did that by dint of careful training, errors can be reduced to as small a figure
as 33 cents.
See Helen K. Mull's "The Acquisition of Absolute Pitch," Awer. J. Psychol.,
Psjchol. Bull., 3S
36 (192 j): 469-493, and C. H. Wedell's "A Study of Absolute Pitch,"
(1941): ^^47-548.
A. Bachem
12]
pitch
is
Amer.,
is
one of the research
1 1
of this area
who
is still
convinced that absolute
W.
J. Acoust. Sac.
(1940): 434-439; "Time Factors in Relative and Absolute Pitch Determination,"
]. Acoust. Soc. Amer.,
13]
men
an inherent type of behavior. ("The Genesis of Absolute Pitch,"
F.
26 (19^4),
75^1-75^3.)
Oakes, "An Experimental Study of Pitch Naming and Pitch Discrimination
Reactions," J. Genet. Psychol., 86 (i9SS), 237-2^9.
14]
Even when the cues do not directly benefit the performance their presence may give
M. Brammer found
the person confidence. Thus, L.
that the pitch-level scores of several
were no better when they were given the opportunity to tune their own violins
than when the experimenter tuned the instruments for them under their orders. Yet the
violinists
added kinesthetic cues the manipulation of their own
fiddles gave
them increased
their
confidence in their scores. ("Sensory Cues in Pitch Judgment," J. Exp. Psjchol., 41 (1951):
336-340.)
I
£]
Karl Eitz, Das Tonwort, Leipzig, Breitkopf u. Haertel, 1928.
16]
C. E. Seashore, "Acquired or Absolute Pitch," Mus. Ed. J., 26 (1940): 18.
17]
A. Bachem, op.
cit.
The tonal intervals were played on a Duo- Art reproducing piano. When the intensity
levers were set at "soft" the intervals termed "soft" were elicited. Other combinations of
the levers yielded the "medium" and "loud" intensities. See P. R. Farnsworth and
C. F. Voegelin, "Dyad Preferences at Different Intensities," J. Appl. Psjchol., 12 (1928):
18]
148— 1
19]
5^1
H. Fletcher, Newer Concepts oj
the Pitch, Loudness
and Timbre of Musical Tones, N.Y.,
Telephone, 1935; ^- Kohler, "Tonpsychologie," Handhuch
Berlin, Alexander u. Marburg, 1923, 419—464.
Bell
20]
J. S.
Hurley,
"A Study
der Neurologie des Ohres,
of Pitch Tendencies in Certain Phases of Singing as Measured
by the Conn Chromatic Stroboscope," Thesis, Syracuse U., 1940. The picture with bowed
tones is somewhat different. Here professionals tend to flat with increases in bow pressure
but to sharp with each
bow velocity. See R. J. Harrington, "The Influence of
Bow on Violin Intonation: A Stroboscopic Study," Master's
rise in
Pressure and Velocity of the
Thesis, Syracuse U., 1952.
21]
O. Ortmann, The
H. C. Hart, M.
Tone,"
W.
Phjsical
Fuller,
Basis
and
J. Acoust. Soc. Amer., 6
W.
of Piano
S.
Touch
and Tone, N.Y., Dutton,
Lusby, "Precision Study of Piano
192^;
Touch and
(1934): 80—94.
Touch and Damper-Pedalling in the
(1929): 462-469; "A Discussion of
the Nature of Pianoforte Damper-Pedalling together with an Experimental Study of Some
22J
C. P. Heinlein, "The Functional Role of Finger
Appreciation of Pianoforte Music,"
J. Gen. Psjchol., 2
MELODY
Individual Differences in Pedal Performance," ].
Ten
"Pianoforte Damper-Pedalling under
Gen.
Psychol.,
2
(1929): 489-508;
Different Experimental Conditions," j. Gen.
Psychol, 3 (1930): 511-^:28.
23]
One
researcher believes he has demonstrated the existence of undertones, which he
conceives as the inverse of overtones.
C. Revesz's Introduction
to the
But so
far,
few others accept their
Norman, U. of Oklahoma
Psychology of Music,
reality.
See
Press, 1954,
pp. 13-1424]
For an excellent account of the timbre of band and orchestral instruments see
Chapter 17 of C, E. Seashore's Psychology of Music, N.Y., McGraw-Hill, 1938.
2 £]
The mounting
of the
mute on the bridge of
a violin
overtones and makes the "shade" of the tone "darker."
produced by holding the mouth "long," and a
D. Preston, "Pitch Variations
dampens certain of the higher
A "dark" vocal tone can be
"light" tone
in the Singing of Specific
Using Bright and Dark Tones," Master's Thesis, Syracuse U.,
26]
Variability, a general fact of
Many men
in life.
life, is
by
a "short"
Vowels on
mouth.
See
Specific Frequencies
1945^.
well illustrated in the area of auditory sensitivity.
deafen early while others keep their sensitivity relatively intact until quite late
But the average changes in hearing
ability are as described above.
C. C. Bunch, "Age Variations in Auditory Acuity," Arch. Otolaryngol., Chicago, 9
(1929): 62^-636; H. C. Montgomery, "Do Our Ears Grow Old?" Bell Lab. Rec, 10
27]
(1932): 311-313; N. H. Kelley,
Age and
Its
29 (1939),
somewhat
Effect
i'o6-5'i3.
28]
Montgomery
slighter than does
the frequencies
"A Study
in Presbycusis:
Auditory Loss with Increasing
upon the Perception of Music and Speech,"
below 1024
P. R. Farnsworth,
Arch. Otolaryngol., Chicago,
pictures the hearing losses of the aging as being
Bunch. Kelley presents them
as still slighter, particularly for
d.v.
"Notes on 'Coldness'
in Violin Playing," J. Psychol.,
33 (1952):
41-4?.
29]
M.
Metfessel, "Sonance as a
Form
of Tonal Fusion," Psjchol. Rev., 33 (1926): 45^9—
466. See also O. Ortmann's "The Psychology of Tone Quality," 1939
Int.
Congr. Musical.,
1944, PP- 227-232.
30]
Research
men
of the Seashore laboratories at the University of Iowa have
excellent studies of certain of these phenomena.
The
made
interested student can refer to
C. E. Seashore's Psychology oj Music, Chap. 9, or to the following monographs by Seashore's
student associates for detailed pictures of the portamento and of typical attacks and releases
of vocal tones: D. Lewis,
M. Cowan, and G.
Fairbanks, "Pitch Variations Arising from
Certain Types of Frequency Modulation," J. Acoust. Soc. Amer., 9 (1937): 79; R. E.
Miller, "The Pitch of the Attack in Singing," la. Stud. Mus., 4 (1936): 15^8-171; H. G.
Seashore,
A. Small,
"An Objective Analysis of Artistic Singing," la. Stud. Mus., 4 (1936): 12-157;
"An Objective Analysis of Artistic Violin Performance," la. Stud. Mus., 4 (1936):
172-231
31]
32]
W.
W.
T. Bartholomew, Acoustics of Music, N.Y., Prentice-Hall, 1942, p. 159.
G.
244-259-
Hill,
"Noise in Piano Tone, a Qualitative Element," Music. Quart., 26 (1940):
MELODY
33]
34]
H. A. Block, and
P. R. Farnsworth,
W.
C. Waterman, "Absolute Tempo," J. Gen.
10 (1934): 230-233.
Psychol.,
M. Lund, "An
Analysis of the 'True Beat' in Music," Doctoral Thesis, Stanford U.,
19393
5^]
For a definition of takt and true beat see Glossary.
36]
G. Brelet, Le Temps Musical, Paris, Press. U. de France, 1949.
37]
M.
T. Henderson, "Rhythmic Organization in Artistic Piano Performance," U. of
la. Stud. Psjchol.
psychologists
Mus.,
who
4 (1936): 281-305. The work of Henderson and the other Iowa
have studied piano performance was made possible by
For more
designed camera.
detail
Musical Pattern Score of the First
U. of
38]
la. Stud. Psychol.
It
its
J.
"A
of the Beethoven Sonata, Opus 2J, No. 2,"
A
Study of Musical Rhythms,"
J.
Gen. Psjchol.,
20
should be noted that the jazz musician syncopates not only with
Possibilite
as well.
See also P. Fraisse and
de Syncoper en Fonction du
Tempo
S.
Ehrlich,
d'une Cadence," Annie
5S (19?^): 61-65.
Psychol.,
39]
la
specially
4 (1936): 263-280.
Music,
rhythmic beats but with melodic contours
"Note sur
a
use see L. Skinner and C. E. Seashore,
Movement
H. E. Weaver, "Syncopation:
(1939): 409-429.
on
Eggen, "A Behavioristic Interpretation of Jazz," Psychol. Rev., 33 (1926):
B.
407-409.
40]
Kate Gordon,
Esthetics,
N.Y., Holt, 19 13.
41] J. L. Mursell, The Psychology of Music, N.Y.,
reproduced here with the permission of the
42]
R.
W.
Norton, 1937, p. 177. Mursell's table
Co.
Lundin, An Objective Psychology oj Music, N.Y., Ronald Press, 1953, p. 95.
43]
K. Dunlap, A Sjstem oJ Psychology
44]
See Kitten on
the Keys
or
/
Cant
,
N.Y., Scribner, 191
2,
pp. 309—313.
Give You Anything But Love, Babj.
45]
P. R. Farnsworth, "Concerning Cross-Rhythms," Sch. Mus., 33 (1933): 11-12.
46]
E. Jaques-Dalcroze, Rhjthm, Music and Education, N.Y.,
47]
This
is
is
W. W. Norton
not to imply that expectancy
fortunately, there
is
no brief
treatise
would do well
i.
the only basic principle of learning.
on learning which can be read with
psychologically unsophisticated musician.
learning principles
is
Putnam, 192
profit
Un-
by the
Those who wish more acquaintance with
to devote the time necessary to reading the learning
sections of one of the elementary textbooks in psychology.
83
6-2
CHAPTER FIVE
Language Aspects of Music
VVe
have already seen that sometimes to some people a melody
presents at least a small message.
said that
answer
still
is
a language in
question
we must
a
any
mean by language and then examine
this,
all
strict sense of the
agree on what
first
eerie feeling,
march time, or com-
But, granting
other impressions.
music
this
may "talk about" an
an oriental atmosphere,
a restlessness,
municate
It
we
can
it
be
word? To
are going to
the research material of the area.
Desire Jor Communication
Before the language process can be said to exist, there must be
persons
this
who
desire to
communicate
were the only earmark of
many composers, convinced
religious,
economic, or
their thoughts and emotions.
a language,
that the
political
music would
world needs
ideologies,
feel
If
qualify, for
their favored
that they
must
medium of their musical creations.
be found who believes that he, too, has
share their beliefs through the
An
occasional performer can
a share in the
communication process through
handling musical materials.
His thoughts, he
modify what the composer has to
that the confidence of
they can do
84
is
say.
It
unique way of
insists,
add to or
should be noted, however,
in
what they think
that they can successfully
employ musical
composers and performers
no proof
his
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
elements
linguistic signs, that they can tell the stories they are
as
so anxious to
tell.
different problem,
The matter of
which
somewhat
success constitutes a
will be discussed later in this chapter.
Grammar
A
second major earmark of language has to do with the formal
relations
among
music, with
harmonic
its
signs.
Every language has
signs.
its
grammar.
detailed rules governing the use of
But no grammar
is
its
fixed once and for
So does
melodic and
all.
The use of
"none are" would have been banned without question by any editor
a
few years ago.
Now
this
phrase occasionally gets by on the
rationale that usage seems to be giving
rules of music.
viewed
it
support. Thus
it is
with the
What was not allowed some time ago may now be
And some of the presently accepted usages
as acceptable.
may be frowned on in a later period. It is clear, then, that the rules
of grammar change. But, even so, there has been a grammar for
every school of musical composition.
Meaning
Few
but professional musicologists take
grammar of music.
historically
for
It is
much
a highly specialized area to
minded. More attention
is
communication. What motivates
likely to
a
interest in the
be studied by the
be given the desire
composer
to
create or a
professional performer to reproduce music arouses a deep-seated
curiosity
vity
on the part of many of us. Yet even motivation and
do not,
as a rule, excite as
much
interest as does the
musical meaning, the story that music
It
problem of
tells.
has been suggested that the existence of a desire for
communica-
tion does not of itself guarantee the presence of meaning.
monkey may
creati-
A
hungry
wail and screech in his attempts to communicate with
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
mate
his
in a nearby food-filled cage.
While the
monkey may
first
interest the second with his antics, his vocalizations will not tell her
to give
him
food.
So
far as she is
concerned
his vocal behaviors are
not meaningful although he
is
obviously striving to
The problem now before
us
is
communicating and
like the
hungry monkey,
must somehow
are deluding themselves into believing that others
understand them. The remainder of
with
so.
what extent musicians are
to see to
what degree they,
in
make them
chapter will be concerned
this
meaning aspect of music.
this
Alleged Key effects
In Grecian times, long before the day of free
tempered
scales,
a
melody was supposed
psychological character of the
was
Dorian mode with
in the
whole
tones, a half-tone, and
mode
its
in
to
which
modulation and
reflect
the unique
was written.
it
If it
arrangement of a half-tone, three
two whole tones
G, A, B,
(as in E, F,
C, D, E), dignity, manliness, courage, and self-dependence were the
qualities
thought to be expressed. But
if
the Lydian
used,
melodic message was considered one of softness and
the
Because he believed that hearing the Lydian
indulgence.
be harmful to man's character, Plato banned
Republic."^
Lydian
It
mode
There
is
is
is
that of
no doubt
our current major
that there
i.e.,
no person of the present day
what
in this area as in
effects
many
him "hear" what he should
It
is
is
his "Ideal
it is
who imagined
effects.
But
it is
also
apt to be so affected unless
Man is
not much
he "should" hear.^
another, and
scholars
"meaning,"
clear that
told
from
self-
could
scale.
were ancient
he
is
it
mode
of interest that the internal arrangement of the
they heard these psychological,
highly suggestible
of a trick to
make
hear.
of considerable interest that this notion concerning modal
effects persisted
86
mode was
even after the modes had been shaken
down
to
two
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
the present-day major and minor.
In fact,
the idea was further
extended to the several keys of the major mode. Thus, the key of
F major was said to be the key of the pastoral
Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony); keys with
nine sharps
made men
idyll (for
seven, eight, or
five, six,
think of heavenly matters
example
while the keys of
;
F minor and F sharp minor were the tragic ones.
It
not
is
to speculate
difficult
on how, before the advent of
temperament, one key was associated with Heaven, another with the
farm, and
a
still
another with tragedy. For,
melody whose do
whose do—re
ratio
is
is
9
as
to re as 8:9 will not
:
i
o
sound precisely
would have been
It
.
was shown in Chapter
course, there
would come
school of thought.
in
2,
one
simple matter to
a
attach psychological qualities to these differences.
they attached would have been pretty
like
But whatever
much pure whimsey.
time a codification of the rules of
Of
this
Pastoral music must be written in the key of
F major, the rules would read, and tragic music in F minor or F sharp
And
minor.
effects
"sensitive" people
whenever they knew
may
It
who
all
strike the reader as
would begin
that the key of F
odd
try to find the "proper"
to "hear" pastoral
major was employed.
that even today there are
composers
key for their melodic message.
with equal temperament, where
do: re has the
same
But
ratio in every key,
there is little possibility that key differences of a psychological character
can
exist.
It is
know whether
true that the listener with absolute pitch (p. gS)
a
melody
is
being played in E or F, and
in these traditional expectancies he
different.
The only other
may
if
he
is
may
versed
feel that the keys are vastly
possible differences arise
from the
fact that
equal temperament is almost never quite secured, and from differential
fingering.
Weak fingers may be
blacknote keys.
But such
slight stimulus differences
expected to yield psychological
It
seems
safe to
from modal)
given too great a task in certain multi-
effects
such
as
those described above.
conclude, therefore, that no key
effects of
can hardly be
(as
distinguished
any importance exist for the modern listener.
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
Major and Minor Modes
We have already seen that intervals,
minor.
as such, are
to intervals of the
major and minor chords, where they remained
as
But with chords and melodies there
is
curiosities of nomenclature.
more reason
to apply these terms.
There are three positions of the major chord
they are C, E, G; E, G, C; and G, C, E
—and
all
—
the listener a happy
structure
what
G; E
flat,
mood. The three
flat,
were thought automatically
in
minor chord
—with
to elicit
C
their different
somber moods. But
in the structures allegedly causes these opposing feelings has
come from Meyer, 3 who
G)
the major (C, E,
One
is
to i) and to the
well balanced with
There
is
in that the
3
much
(15^
to
3
flat,
symbol structure of
G, or A, C, E) with
"points" both to the
15-
or
its
5^
5^
its
have been uncovered during
this
But two
5^
or
3
is
not nearly so
statements would have us believe.
between major and minor chords
(2)
is
The
The
common as
of
ability
the older
structural difference
not the only variable which
suggests "majorness" or "minorness" to the listener.
examine further the findings which
sets
century which lead to a some-
that of the earlier theorists: (i)
major from minor
g—^—i 5 has
(i^ to
to i).
of worth in Meyer's suggestion.
what broader view than
to distinguish
of the few helpful suggestions
points out that in the just-intoned scale
1—^—3, while the minor (C, E
more ambiguity
facts
flat
key of
which aroused
positions of the
G, C; and G, C, E
never been satisfactorily stated.
has
in the
were thought by the
early theorists to have something in their structure
C, E
neither major nor
Centuries ago these modal labels were erroneously attached
cast
Let us, then,
doubt on the invariance of
the correspondence between chordal structure and modal affect.
Shortly before
World War
I,
Valentine, an English psychologist,
began to question the idea that
a particular
chordal or melody
structure automatically called forth a particular modal name.'^
His
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
he found, made many errors in their attempts to separate
subjects,
the major from the minor.
showed
more
About
fifteen years later, Heinlein
much more
Heinlein's
a similar observation. 5
made
extensive research
that even his musically trained subjects labeled as
minor
than a third of the major chords he presented to them, and
labeled major approximately
12
Furthermore, Heinlein located
a
key which sounded minor to
which were reacted
number of compositions
his subjects,
and Anitra
s
Fifth Sjmphorry,
in a
major
and others in minor
mode
Thus, a Sousa performance of
to as major.
Handel's Largo from Xerxes and the
from Dvorak's
per cent of the minor chords.
first
both
in
theme of the
largo
movement
major keys, seemed minor;
Dance from Grieg's Peer Gynt
A
Suite,
written in minor
mode, was described
as bright
own
was labeled melancholy by many and cheery by
Caprice Viennois
many
others.
and happy.
Kreisler rendition of his
Hevner, however, found that her musically trained
group and even her relatively untrained subjects usually did rather
well in separating the major from the minor melodies
(as distin-
guished from simple chords).^
It
has been noted that both the whole-tone chord,
the chief Siamese chord (which
and minor) tend to be
is
C,E,
mood
and
about halfway between our major
classified incorrectlv as
minor. 7 There seems
to be a fairly widespread misconception that whatever
must be minor. So much, then,
G sharp,
is
not major
for the invariance of the structure-
relationship.
Modern
research has brought to light three other variables which
can affect the success with which people distinguish major from
minor. These are loudness, pitch, and tempo. Thus, Heinlein noted
that the louder and/or higher-pitched chords
seemed more major
and the softer and/or lower-pitched ones minor. ^
wobbling the thirds and sevenths are
later
popular music to induce minor
American Negro music
is
tricks
employed
effects.
Flatting and
in the blues
Characteristic of
the alternation of ordinary major
and
much
thirds and
89
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
sevenths with "blues" (shghtly flatted) thirds and sevenths.
Other
techniques to create a sad atmosphere are found in some jazz compoBeale Street
sitions
Mamma,
for instance
ance of the leading tone. The tonic
is
from below,
a blue third, the sixth
—where there
approached
or,
more
at a
is
an avoid-
cadence through
rarely, the blues third
and the second.
That tempo
is
an important variable can easily be demonstrated
the reader will simply drag the timing of
some otherwise major-
sounding melody, or play rapidly some typical dirge.
tion of what had been
a happy-sounding tune will
be minor, and of the erstwhile
We
dir2;e,
if
His
classifica-
now more
likely
major. ^°
conclude that the problem of identifying the major chord or
major melody
far
is
more complicated than was once
thought.
It is
admitted that major chords and melodies are typically employed, in
Western culture
is
by no means
at least,
invariant.
on joyful occasions.
Moreover, the
But the relationship
nullified
by
color) notes and a chromatic scale.
It
effect can
be
deliberate changes in loudness, pitch, or tempo.
Color-Tone Linkage
Music has chromatic
also has timbre,
which
(i.e.,
in
Music has color, then,
literal sense in
connection
German
is
Klangfarbe, that
in a figurative sense.
But
which color and tone are joined?
is
Is
between any particular frequency,
is,
sound-color.
there a further,
there a necessary
interval,
chord,
timbre, key, or melodic sequence on the one hand and some given
color?
Many
scientist
musicians and poets of the past and even an occasional
have thought
in the "fact" that
so.
colors had seven names.
known
as
90
that there
well have
The
great
Newton saw such
both the diatonic scale and
is
named
no
his
own
a connection
classification of
But since the days of Helmholtz
finite
number of
colors.
eight or only four colors.
it
has been
Newton might
just
Nevertheless, the idea
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
that there
is
some inherent connection between color and tone
number
persisted and has led to the construction of a
which "play" colors
In the table
(e.g., the clavilux),
and sometimes tones
below are contrasted the key-color
eminent Russian composers."
It
has
of instruments
as well.
associations of
two
should be noted that they agree but
slightly.
RiMSKY-KoRSAKOV
Key
SCRIABIN
C
G
major
major
Brownish-gold, bright
Orange-rose
D
A
major
Yellow, sunny
Yellow, brilliant
major
Red
White
Rosy, clear
Green
E major
B major
Blue, sapphire, sparkling
Bluish-white
F sharp major
Greyish-green
D
flat
major
Dusky,
A
flat
major
Greyish-violet
Purple-violet
E
flat
major
Dark, gloomy, bluish-gray
Steel-color with a metallic
B
flat
major
Somber, dark blue shot with
Bluish-white
steel
Bright blue
warm
Violet
luster
Steel-color with a metallic
luster
F major
It is
the general lack of agreement
associations
the
two
of the
Red
Green
which
senses.
members
because of
attests the
There
is
some
among
the associations
much agreement
can be expected
similarity
family experiences.
That color-tone associations are very
many
those having tone-color
absence of inherent connection between
often
of a family, but this
common
among
investigations. In
common
has been
shown by
one of Omwake's surveys of college students,
60 per cent reported that they had color-tone associations.^^ Less than
I
per cent of the general population has color imagery of hallucinatory
intensity when stimulated
this tiny fraction of
by particular tonal
signals. ^3
The behavior of
our population has been termed "colored hearing,"
or chromesthesia, one of several possible types of synesthesia.
If
one can
would appear
trust the introspective reports of chromesthetics,
that
some
see a colored haze
it
whenever they are
91
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
when
Stimulated by a particular auditory stimulus. Thus,
the nine-
teenth-century musician Joseph Raft heard a cornet, he viewed the
world through
a greenish haze; the flute
produced
in
him an
ex-
perience of azure blueness, and the hautboy, yellowness. The trumpet
called
up
scarlet, the
French horn purple, and the flageolet grey.
Chromesthetic behavior tends to run in families, but
necessarily imply biological inheritance.
most frequently
Chromesthesia
with vivid imagery, and
and the presence of certain drugs,
fatigue, shock,
The reaction
in persons
is
one-way,
i.e.,
this
does not
is
induced
facilitated
is
by
e.g., mescaline. ^'^
with color never calling up
a tonal
In chromesthesia, higher tones are usually tied to
hallucination.
As
brighter colors. ^5
of the peculiarity's
colored hearing
as
claim not to have
a rule, chromesthetics cannot recall the date
first
Hence, they tend to regard
appearance.
inborn and universal and to look upon those
it
as insensitive individuals
who
who
are not realizing
their potentialities.
So
far as the
writer knows, no one has ever been able to induce a
chromesthesia under controlled scientific conditions. Kelly did what
he could along
this
line,
even going to the extent of giving his
subjects peyote and physical shocks in the
stimuli might help elicit the effect.
after
that these
added
2000 associations of tone and color (even 3000 for one subject)
became
In
hope
But no one of his subjects even
^^
a
chromesthetic.
an ingenious experiment by Howells,
either a high or a
low tone along with
a
subjects
green or
a
red
were given
light. ^7
Most
of the time the high tone and green light were given together and the
low tone and the
the pairings.
The
red.
But occasionally the experimenter reversed
subjects
were
told that their jobs
depended on
doing well and so were strongly motivated. They kept their eyes
closed until the tones
quickly
named them. Of considerable
that there
92
were heard. Then they examined the
was
theoretical interest
a gradual increase in the
number
lights
is
and
the fact
of naming errors
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
made
at the
times of the unusual,
But whether
green pairings.
high-tone/red and low-tone/
i.e.,
this rise in the error
curve indicates
the creation of a chromesthesia or of only a pseudochromesthesia
is
problematical.
The reason
persons and
few
for the presence of chromesthetic behavior in a
its
absence in most others
is still
not known.
^^
Anato-
mical, physiological, and psychological theories have been suggested,
Of course, there is the
answer may involve more than one
but no one theory seems entirely satisfactory.
possibility
theory.
the correct
that
For example,
whose brain
it is
conceivable that the chromesthetic
is
one
structures and/or physiological functions are such that
he makes tone-color conditioned responses more readily than do
most of
But he would also need to be a person for
us.
whom some
accident of environment had allowed the tonal and color stimuli to
occur together so that the conditioning could take place and
tonal configuration could
then,
fact
is
come
to
"mean"
one hypothesis. But whether
it is
a certain color.
a given
Here,
correct or incorrect, the
remains that no aspect of tone has, per
se, a universal color-
meaning.
''The Language of the Emotions"
Perhaps
it
time to consider a warning sounded on several
is
occasions by C. C. Pratt, ^9 an aesthetician
ambiguity in the idea that "music
Pratt notes that to
many
To
who
sees a fundamental
the language of the emotions."
mean that
commotion within
writers this expression appears to
the emotional character of music
the listener.
is
is
a subjective
others, including Pratt, the emotional character
objective property of the music
Pratt, in that the
itself.
The confusion
an
arises, thinks
same words have quite properly been employed to
describe the objective as well as the subjective events.
Doe and
is
a certain musical
Both John
composition may seem agitated, or calm,
93
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
But in Doe's case the
or passionate, or sentimental.
moods and emotions,
music
a
it is
of kinesthetic-organic forms, while with the
matter of tonal form.
The attempts of the
mena
formalists to keep these
two
sets of
pheno-
separate should not deny the possibility that on occasion
agitated music
may
one of
affair is
may
somewhat superior
take a
The
stimulate agitation in the listener.
attitude and imply that the sophisticate
moods and emotions
does not allow his
formalist
to intrude while
But the rank and
listening to the "best" in music.
file
he
is
of us are not
know of many occasions
improved our mood or when a sad-
functioning at such an "elevated" level and
when joyous-sounding music
has
seeming composition has elicited
A
a sad effect.
danger greater than that of denying the possible influence of
music on
mood and
musical character
lies
in the
assumption that
moods and emotions whose names
they share. Psychiatrists and clinical psychologists would no doubt
rejoice if all they needed to cure the depressed or the maniacal were
access to a variety of compositions whose "moods" had previously
tonal forms invariably arouse the
been carefully catalogued. Therapy under such circumstances could
be administered
in truly engineering fashion
one disturbance and Y for another.
invariant,
and the listener
is,
But music's
after all,
personal, as well as a cultural, history
any piece of music, to some degree
—composition
effects are
no automaton.
which makes
at least,
He
X
for
not so
has a
his reactions to
unique and therefore
difficult to forecast.
Years ago the great
Thomas Edison was
so concerned at
what he
considered the whimsicalness with which composers titled their
compositions that he hired a panel of experts to catalogue his
available recordings according to
labeled
1 1
2
"true
mood
"mood." Out of
music. "^'^
Fifteen
5^89
these, the panel
were guaranteed
to
stimulate and enrich imagination, 14 to bring peace of mind, 10 to
make one joyous, and
94
8 to elicit
moods
of wistfulness.
Ten were kept
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
in the list for jolly
1 1
for love,
I
o for
of tender memory,
spirit,
No
and
1
moods and good fellowship, 9 for more energy,
moods of dignity and grandeur, 2 for the mood
i
1
3
for the
mood
of devotion, 9 for stirring the
6 to "catch the childish fancy
and make
it
merry with glee."
doubt hearing the Edison recordings worked wonders on the
more
suggestible.
Yet Anna Case's singing of Home, Sweet Home,
supposed by Edison's panel to bring peace of mind, might well have
made the homesick person more distraught. And while some of the
more religious-minded no doubt found Schubert's Ave Maria conducive to the peace of mind Edison had guaranteed, it is doubtful if
all
so benefited.
In fact
one could be almost certain that the forced
hearing of this composition would
make
communist
the confirmed
^^
more irascible.
The mood elicited by
^
the music will depend not only on the tonal
configuration the listener hears but also on a variety of factors
external to the music
itself.
Among
the
more important
just preceding the listening period, the
if
there
music
musical
is
in
word-meanings of the
held
libretto
one, and the attitudes built up in the listener toward
general and toward the piece in question.
Although
compositions can quite properly be placed into
categories, they will not invariably arouse the
which they have been described.
that
of these
mood
variables are the listener's personality structure," the
music can be regarded
as a
We
moods
mood
in terms of
are thus forced to conclude
language of
moods and emotions
in
a very limited sense only.
Adjective Lists for Classifying Music
Research by Schoen, Gatewood, Mull, and others has demonstrated
beyond the
possibility of
doubt that synonymous words will
be employed to describe the character of most music whenever the
listeners are
drawn from roughly the same subculture. ^3 The degree
9^
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
of agreement
is little
affected by differences in listener intelligence,
tested musical aptitude, musical training, or age level
sixth grade). ^4
As might be suspected,
where the concern
passages
is
with program
which are characterized
and "calm."^^ "Defiance"
A more
more
is
in
listener
music. ^5
It is
relatively
bit of
in terms of a profile of the eight clusters
regards as appropriate.
The
list
It
than any
contains 67
been assumed to be almost
Hence, the characterization of any
adjectives, although the listener
poor for
The mood quale expressed by the
adjectives within any one cluster has
made
greater
than "rage" or "fear."
used in the past has been developed by Hevner.^7
identical.
is
terms of "yearning," "tenderness,"
easily identified
in eight clusters.
above the
agreement
systematically constructed adjective check
words arranged
(if
is
music
is
typically
and not of the 67
urged to check every word he
clusters are arranged like the dial of a
clock on the supposition that as one proceeds from any given cluster
around the
dial,
opposite cluster
the mood-similarity steadily decreases until the
is
reached; from there back to the starting cluster
the resemblance increases.
The
utility of the
by data from the
files
check
list
for the aesthetician can be illustrated
of the Stanford Laboratory. In one experiment,
200 college students were asked to
patterns.
It
number of brief tonal
show the responses to two
listen to a
will sufKice for our purposes to
of these musical passages. Only the adjectives checked by one-half or
more
First
all
of the listeners will be listed.
Movement
For the
of Franck's Symphony
in
D
first
but one of the adjectives were from cluster
dark, solemn, and mournful.
Clair de Lune,
different.
For the
2
measures of the
first
2
—heavy,
gloomy,
26 measures of Debussy's
on the other hand, the adjectives checked were quite
Here, two were from cluster
were from 4
i
Minor (allegro non troppo)
—
delicate,
graceful,
5^,
one was from
3,
and two
dreamy, soothing, and serene.
These checkings were quite reliably and consistently made.
to be expected, of course, that the responses
96
It
is
would have varied
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
Hevner Adjective Check
List
6
bright
cheerful
happy
joyous
merry
7
8
emphatic
5
agitated
delicate
dramatic
fanciful
exciting
graceful
exhilarated
humorous
impetuous
light
passionate
playful
restless
quaint
sensational
sprightly
soaring
whimsical
triumphant
4
calm
exalting
leisurely
majestic
lyrical
martial
quiet
ponderous
satisfying
robust
serene
vigorous
3
1
awe-inspiring
dreamy
dignified
longing
lofty
plaintive
sacred
pleading
serious
sentimental
sober
tender
solemn
spiritual
2
dark
soothing
tranquil
yearning
yielding
depressing
doleful
frustrated
gloomy
heavy
melancholy
mournful
pathetic
sad
tragic
97
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
somewhat had there been changes
were played.
passages
one which allows
All in
all,
in the
manner
the technique
a reasonably clear picture to
is
in
which the
a fairly sensitive
mood
be drawn of the
character of the musical fragments.
M ODIFIED
A DJECTIVE Check
List
A
B
C
D
E
cheerful
fanciful
delicate
dreamy
longing
light
graceful
leisurely
pathetic
happy
quaint
lyrical
sentimental
plaintive
joyous
whimsic al
serene
pleading
bright
soothing
yearning
merry
tender
playful
tranquil
sprightly
quiet
G
H
I
J
dark
sacred
dramatic
agitated
frustrated
depressing
spiritual
F
emphatic
exalting
doleful
majestic
exciting
gloomy
triumphant
exhilarated
melancholic
impetuous
mournful
vigorous
pathetic
sad
serious
sober
solemn
tragic
Hevner's check
list
has
been recently revised with
of the adjectives so that the
mood
new
a
rearrangement
more
clusters have considerably
consistency than the older clusters had,^^ In the course of the
research
it
was found that one of the
adjectives, "pathetic," fitted
almost equally well two of the revised clusters. The adjective
"frustrated" did not
fit
any of the clusters and so stood alone.
It
was
found that neither the original Hevner nor the revised clusters could be
placed in exact clock-face arrangement although the
98
new
clusters
came
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
No
closer than the old to satisfying such a scheme. ^9
goes on this much-used Hevner
as
time
added to and further
will be
list
doubt
improved
Which Give Meaning
Variables
Of
the variables
experiments in
modality
this area,
is
descending carries relatively
words, the listener
plays the
on numerous
probably second in import-
Harmony and rhythm
meaning to the
little
tempo
has carried
and whether the melody
importance,
less
to music,
who
Pitch seemingly ranks third.
ance. 3*^
far
which give meaning
According to Hevner,
largest role.
Music
to
are of
ascending or
is
listener.
In other
most likely to change the affective terms with
is
which he describes what he hears whenever
its
tempo
is
appreciably
slowed or hastened. Other alterations of the musical matrix change
what he
less strikingly
The
table,
relative
enough
is
saying to him.
is
no need to consider here the
by which she derived her weights; for our purposes
The following example
For music described
variables appear to
indicates
as dignified
it is
importance of the
say that they indicate the relative
to
variables.
:
music
reproduced below. There
statistics
table
feels the
importance of these variables can be seen in Hevner's
how
to interpret the
and solemn the most important
be firm rhythm, slow tempo and low pitch.
Major mode, ascending melody, and simple harmony are of
little
importance.
Gundlach has made
which give meaning
from asking
melodies. 3^
to
listeners
Out
a
somewhat
music. ^^
to
different analysis of the variables
He
factor analyzed data obtained
characterize a considerable
of this process emerged a factor which dealt with
A
second factor had
do with orchestral range and the use of certain
intervals, particu-
tempo, smoothness of rhythms, and loudness.
to
number of
larly firsts
and seconds.
A
third factor was related to the use of large
99
7-2
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
Gundlach found music
intervals.
carried
by woodwinds to be
characterized by terms such as "mournful," "awkward," and "uneasy;" by brasses as "triumphant," and "grotesque;" by the piano as
"delicate," "tranquil," "sentimental,"
and "brilliant;" by strings
as
"glad."
Relative Importance of Six Variables
Musical
Dignijied
Sad
Factor
Solemn
Heavy
Mode
Tempo
Major
Dreamy
Minor
Slow
Minor
20
Slow
14
Slow
12
Pitch
Low
10
Low
19
Rhythm
Harmony
Firm
18
Firm
3
Simple
3
7
Simple
Melody
Ascending
4
4
Complex
—
Major
16
Slow
High
6
High
8
Flowing
9
Flowing
9
4
Simple
—
3
20
10
Ascending
Graceful
Happj
Exciting
Vigorous
Factor
Sparkling
Bright
Elated
Majestic
Major
Pitch
High
Rhythm
Harmony
Flowing
Melody
Descending
21
6
Fast
16
8
Simple
12
Major
24
Fast
20
Low
Flowing
10
Firm
Simple
16
Complex
—
3
High Pitch
Pitch
Wide Range
'Narrow Range
3
—
—
21
Fast
6
High
6
Fast
9
Low
13
2
Firm
10
14
Descending
Pitch, Range,
Fast
12
Musical
Mode
Tempo
Low
Serene
Gentle
Sentimental
7
Complex
8
Descending
8
and Tempo
European
sentimental, whimsical, animated, glad
Indian
happy love, recitative
European
mournful, somber, tranquil, dignified, grotesque
Indian
general war, organization of war party
European
uneasy, animated, grotesque, brilliant, glad
Indian
general war, organization of war party
European
tranquil, dignified, delicate, mournful,
Indian
healing, scout, warpath
European
brilliant,
animated, uneasy, glad,
awkward, somber
whimsical,
flippant,
grotesque
Slow
Indian
general war, organization for war
European
dignified,
somber,
delicate, sentimental
Indi
1
OO
in battle, sad love
tranquil,
melancholy,
mournful,
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
Two
by Gundlach seem worthy of reproduction
They contrast the connotation of certain
here.
style
tables constructed
music with those
in the
music of
a
variables in European-
number
of American Indian
tribes.
Rhythms and Intervals
Characterization
of
Factors
Many Rough
Rhythms
Many Uneven
Rhythms
Appropriate Situations for
>
'
European Folk songs
Indian Songs
Musical Phrases
grotesque
after killing warrior
victory
uneasy
scout song, victory
war march
delicate
disappointment in love
death of lover
sentimental
parting
description
dignified
happy love
song
of,
or
to, love
exalted
somber
Few Uneven
Rhythms
flippant
after killing warrior
animated
recitatives
grotesque
victory
victory
brilliant
Many Smooth
Rhythms
Many
Ists
and 2nds
Many
3rds
brilliant
war medicine
lonesome or sad
animated
parting
gay or playful
flippant
death of lover
glad
healing,
happy love
uneasy
war medicine
mournful
death of lover
awkward
healing, recitatives
warpath
absence or parting
triumphant
absence of lover
victory
after killing
sentimental or serious
love
lonesome or sad
warrior
war organization
Many Large
Intervals
glad, exalted
disappointment in love
gay or playful
delicate
lonesome, scout
lonesome or sad
death of lover, war
dirge
From
the
Harvard Laboratory of Social
interesting study in
semantics. 33
Relations
comes an
Metaphorical terms employed to
describe voice qualities were taken from the writings of George
Bernard Shaw and three contemporary music
critics.
These were
offered to musically naive subjects for use in describing nine operatic
lOI
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
There appeared to be
voices.
among
three categories
potency, and
termed
—one having
a third
with
lump the
to
descriptive terms into
do with evaluation, another with
The baritone voice was often
activity.
"dull," "coarse," "closed," "dark," "heavy," "rough," "hard,"
and "thick;" the tenor
soprano
as
"bright," "thin," and "light;"
as "coarse," "soft," "light,"
Another attempted use of factor
ful
better than chance agreement
far
the judges and a tendency to
and the
and "thin."
analysis for studying the
meaning-
elements of music can be seen in the researches of Henkin.34 The
items to be intercorrelated were the preferences of college students
who had
classic,
listened to ten pieces representative of (a) Baroque, pre-
and
classic, (b)
romantic, and
(c)
modern
styles.
Two
inde-
pendent, meaningful factors emerged, which Henkin designated
melodic and
a
rhythmic factor. There was
third factor, orchestral color.
When Henkin
as a
also the possibility of a
was deciding on
his ten
compositions, he searched for recorded music written in a "purely
harmonic idiom" but was unable to
find a single
lack of records with strong emphasis
a
harmonic factor from appearing
The
example.
on harmony, he
It
was
feels, that
this
kept
in his final data.
data of a slightly later study led Henkin to believe that the
melodic and rhythmic factors are independent both mathematically
and psychologically. These factors appeared to be relevant variables
in
eliciting the galvanic
skin response.
Musical
style,
orchestration, timbre, and other compositional variables
have no significant relationship with
this physiological
dynamics,
seemed
to
measure of
affective response.
The Expression of Tensions
A number
ings of
of researchers have
music solely
in
felt that to
characterize the mean-
terms of the Hevner mood-adjectives
oversimplify. These theorists prefer to describe
io2
what music
is
to
signifies
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
in the
framework of
conflict, of the arousal,
While granting
resolution of tensions.
no concrete goals and no
nates
growth, change, and
that unfamiliar music desig-
universally agreed-upon
specific,
it
can carry a message of goal-seeking, goal-
blocking, and goal-finding.
We have already seen an illustration of the
imagery, they hold that
resolution of tensions in the discussion of the keynote
(p. 41).^^
But these theorists are more concerned with larger segments of
behavior and feel that music can depict, though but vaguely,
fairly
extensive experiential episodes.
Rogge
is
who
one
become impatient with the
has
analytic studies of music's
possibility that
she
a
To
terms of human
potentialities.
linguistic
music can communicate
developed
in
experimental design.
clever
earlier, highly
Bloch's
tensions,
Schelomo,
Ravel's Daphnis and Chloe, and Stravinsky's L'Histoire du Soldat
chosen for study. She
college students
whom
who
first
were
played these pieces to a group of eighteen
differed
the compositions
the
test
were
somewhat
unfamiliar.
in musical training
and for
After these students were
carefully queried about their reactions to the music, the interview
material was analyzed to extract similarities in content.
Out of
the
content similarities, two different paragraphs were constructed for
each of the three pieces. These six descriptions were arbitrarily
termed the "correct" descriptions.
Other students were then
called in to read these six paragraphs
and to decide which of Hevner's adjectives most adequately characterized the three
mood
When
patterns. 3^
two new paragraphs were composed
from the "correct" descriptions
as
agreement was reached,
for each piece. These differed
to narrative, i.e., in concrete
imagery, but could be characterized by the same Hevner adjectives.
Hence, they were termed "correct
in
mood
only." This
meant
that
Rogge now had four paragraphs for each piece, two "correct" ones
made up from interview material, and two "correct in mood only."
To make the procedure clearer the four for Schelomo are given below. 37
103
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
Correct
He wants to see
He wants to see
her open her eyes, to see her looking at him.
remembers
that she
too.
Remembers
the
years they had been apart, searching, following one another
from border to border. He wants to see her remembering
now the last few years they've been together. If he could
whisper just once more
memory
is
cold.
return.
how much he
him
of her love for
Her eyes glass
Once again he
is
over.
is
He
alone.
how
loves her,
deep inside him.
the
Her forehead
cries out, begging her to
He
can't believe
Then
it.
holding her hand, he begins to feel the strength of their love.
He knows
it
will be strong
enough
to help
him go on
alone.
Correct
As he watches the shore fade away he wants to
He
deck and sob.
exiled.
Why
Forever.
sit
on the
can never return to that land he loves.
hadn't they believed him
He
is
when he had
pleaded? Had there been one voice to defend his act? No, not
one.
Now,
rail.
Had they
the shoreline
as
lies
dim on the water he
been blinded to
all
his love
by their
grips the
own
hate?
condemn them? Can
now, regret his love for his country? No,
for so long as he knows that what he has done was right, will
benefit his people, then he can somehow endure the coming
Persecuted, suffering; in loneliness, can he
he fear
his future
years.
Correct in
The pigeon
flies
passed, and she
she
is
is
mood
only
back through the cold gray sky. The storm has
anxious to return to the safety of her nest.
When
over a village she hears a bell tolling. She wants to stop, to
descend and
rest,
but more than anything else she wants to reach
home. She passes over another town searching for the building
where she knows her nest lies strong and secure, and as she sees
104
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
the chimney, she circles and begins to settle. As she alights on the
ledge, and folds her wings, she sees that the storm has dislodged
her nest and the three eggs.
Correct in
Mood Only
As he approached her house he wondered
that night
How
on the
would she
Oh,
if
as
still
He
the stooped old
This wasn't her.
table
steps he
remembered. Twenty
when
He
she'd see him.
held his breath. The door opened.
woman he closed his eyes. It
He wanted to open his eyes,
he'd been mistaken.
The
Oh, he wished she might
?
had that strong, direct warmth.
probably shout his name
steps inside.
she had forgotten
she was before, as she was that night on
Going up the
she
if
straightened his well-clad shoulders.
react to his success
open the door and be
the lake.
He
lake.
below
years.
She would
heard foot-
As he saw
can't be true.
telling himself
But his eyes refused to open.
indicates
how
a third
group of some ninety
students reacted to the descriptions while listening to the three
compositions. 3^ They had been asked to select the three descriptive
paragraphs which best matched the three pieces of music.
If
chance
RoGGE Data
Description
1
Bloch
**16
2
Ravel
1
1
1
•4
*3
3
6
**28
S
2
*1
6
*11
7
2
*3
3
4
Stravinsky
8
1
9
**25
10
1
••49
IS
**48
3
11
1
1
••27
12
*11
4
2
90
90
90
Total
^05
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
alone had operated, seven and one-half votes w^ould have been cast
But that the voting was not
for each of the twelve descriptions.
chance
affair
which indicate the "correct"
starred positions,
show
single stars
a
suggested by the concentrations at the double-
is
descriptions
descriptions.
which were "correct
mood
in
The
only."
These descriptions received relatively few votes.
Rogge
Naturally, the
be
criticized.
study, like
One wonders,
all
had three pieces more alike in
guess
would be
that
It is
how the votes would have
mood been selected. A good
for instance,
fallen
compositions.
pioneering experiments, can
Rogge maximized her
by her choice of
effects
also quite possible that the votes for the "correct-
in-mood-only" paragraphs might have been more numerous had the
mood been
judged directly from the music instead of from reading
the "correct" descriptions.
In spite of certain inadequacies in the
probably
safe
to
Rogge experiments,
conclude that unknown compositions
it
is
may be
described not only in terms of the Hevner adjectives but sometimes
also in the language of goal-striving, goal-blocking,
of tensions. 39
Of
and the resolution
course, a descriptive narrative with
its
specific
imagery may not be the same for any two persons. But any narrative
with patterns of
stress parallel to the tension episodes of the
music
will be appropriate to describe the musical action.
Music as a Universal Language
We
have seen that the major chord communicates
its
"proper"
message only under rather limited circumstances, and that while our
major
scale
affect us in
may have symbolized decadence
such a fashion.
to Plato,
it
does not
Although the Siegfried motive may be
perceived by the devotee of the Rin^ cycle in the approved Wagnerian
manner,
it
will have quite different
meanings to those
been taught Wagnerian symbolism.
106
who
have not
Are there, then, no musical
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
configurations
which have
similar meanings to people of widely
dissimilar culture?
After considering the data of his tables, presented in the preceding
Gundlach concluded
section,
similarity in the
there
that
some
least
at
is
slight
meanings the cultured European and the American
But whether
Indian attach to the musical variables he had studied.
the similarities are extensive enough to raise them significantly from
chance
is
a question,
Morey played Schubert's Doppelgdnger and the
members of the Loma culture in Liberia
love duet from Tristan to
and found these "emotionally charged" compositions to have
emotional effect on the African
made
that had
natives. 4°
little
Yet the argument has been
he played other sorts of European music he might
have stirred their emotions.
When Dartmouth
asked laymen to draw forms
psychologists
suggested by hearing a series of twelve short,
selections, there
simple,
clarinet
was more than chance similarity among the forms
produced under the stimulation of any one of the
selections. '^^
Cowles likewise found some agreement among subjects who had been
asked to select a particular picture to match a given musical selec-
And,
tion. 4^
found
reversing
the
experimental procedure,
degree of correspondence among musical themes composed
a
under the stimulation of four designs,
e.g., a
saw-toothed form. 43
The commonality of response which appears
can be explained, in part at
would hardly seem reasonable
least,
on purely
to expect a
She would be likely to employ
else she
in these
experiments
practical grounds.
mother
It
to scream a lullaby
which she might belong.
to her baby, regardless of the culture to
soft tones,
monotony, and anything
and other mothers the world over had learned was sleep
inducing.
tempo could
scarcely
with Pratt's argument
(p. 93),
Similarly, a piece of extremely fast
mean "march"
to any
one might hazard
and an
Willmann
Italian
human.
a small
In line
wager
that
were
a Chinese, a
forced to listen to a series of tones
all
Loma Negro,
of the same
107
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
pitch and then told to
draw whatever seemed appropriate, they
would be more
draw horizontal
likely to
lines than vertical or
wavy
ones.
Psychoanalytic Symbolism
The
early psychoanalysts claimed to have discovered a
which
made
universal in
is
its
sweep but unknown
manifest through psychoanalysis.
universality
symbolism
to the individual until
The force of the claim
was somewhat tempered, to be
sure,
by the
for
inability of
among themselves on what symbolizes what. Yet
this lack of agreement did not deter the bolder of them from extending their dogmas to embrace most if not all human activities. For
the analysts to agree
illustrative purposes, only a
few of the claims pertaining to music
need be given here, since very
scientific
little
has been done by
way of
check. Thus, Montani holds that minor modes containing
the diminished third express feelings of the suffering, chastisement,
and pain which characterize reactions to the castration complex. 44
According to Mosonyi primitive and noninstrumental music
narcissism, and "good" harmonies "mass
symbols reflect obvious associations,
ecstasy. "45
e.g.,
On
signifies
occasion, the
rhythm and sexual
inter-
course, and in other instances, only an analyst will see a logical
connection.
Altshuler4^ and Tilly 47 have also suggested that music possesses
sexual symbolism.
are,
to
However, these
some degree
interest in such
at least,
According to them,
a
"manly" patient
has emotional difficulties should be approached with music
different
from what must be employed with
personality.
In other
and other music
io8
recognized even by laymen. Their
symbolism stems from the belief that music can be
employed therapeutically.
who
theorists feel that the symbols
is
words, some music
"feminine. "4^
is
a
man
of more "feminine"
"masculine" in character
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
A number
of psychologists have attempted to set up experiments
with the aim of indicating to what extent music can be described
terms of a mascuhne-feminine continuum. 49
studies
it
seems clear
that, ifforced to
it,
As
in
a result of these
laymen and musicians will
agree in selecting certain composers as the creators of predominantly
masculine music and others
as the originators
of rather feminine
compositions. Thus, Wagner, Beethoven, Shostakovich, Bach, and
Rimsky-Korsakov are regarded by many
most of which was masculine
as
having created music
in character;
Debussy, Brahms, and Schubert are
R.
Strauss,
Chopin,
more
classified as writers of
feminine music. By and large, the march, loud music, and the music
of the drums, bass viols, trombones, and trumpets are thought of
as the
more masculine;
rendered by the harp are
"decorative" music, soft music, and that
classified as feminine.
These findings should not be taken to mean that certain musical
phenomena
necessarily function as sexual symbols. 5°
data appear to
individuals are
as
show
is
in
the American subcultures polled,
sometimes willing to use "masculine" and "feminine"
category headings
there
that,
Rather, the
if
these
names are suggested to them and
considerable consistency in the
that
way they employ them. But
the making of such forced choices should not be interpreted as
proving that Beethoven's music
is
inherently and universally mascu-
line in any true sense of the term.
The
associated loud and low-pitched tones with
with male
soldiers, soft
music with women,
raters generally maintain that they
raters
presumably have
men, marching rhythms
etc.
When
queried, the
would have much preferred
to use
other categories than those of "masculinity" and "femininity. "5^
Summary
Music has
a
grammar,
authors of music, often
And its composers, the orators and
have much to say. To this extent, then,
a syntax.
109
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
music behaves
But does music convey detailed
language.
a
as
messages which are understood similarly by large groups of listeners ?
This
is
Key
extended argument.
a question that has aroused
effects, at least for the
objective fashion.
many persons
Nor
is
modern
listener,
exist in any
there a natural tone-color linkage although
associate a particular color with
and a few have associations of hallucinatory
major and minor
do not
some pitch or timbre
intensity.
However,
Chordal
effects are real, at least in certain cultures.
structure, loudness, pitch, and
tempo each
its
part in eliciting
the words "happy" and "sad." Moreover, there are a
number of other
and tension responses which music can convey to the
affective
Some music can even be described
relatively unsophisticated listener.
as
plays
masculine or feminine, although
this sort
of categorization seems
would excite any
to have little significance and certainly
none
but the Freudians.
clear that the "messages" of
music are
All told, then,
it is
in the affective rather than the cognitive realm.
stimulates no detailed imagery of a sort that
music
language,
a
that
then,
is
is
Music
widely shared. To
to distort out of
all
call
proportion the
meaning of the term.
The paragraph given below illustrates rather well the fallacy in the
thinking of those who would make music a language in the sense that
English or French
of the Boston
These notes, taken from a program
a language.
is
Symphony Orchestra, describe some of
the varied
reactions to Beethoven's Seventh Symphony.
Mark what commentators have found in the Seventh
symphony: One finds a new Pastoral symphony; another a new
Alberti
Eroica.
Germany
is
sure that
saw
it is
a knightly festival.
a political revolution.
Marx
describes a Southern race,
ancient
I
lo
is
a description of the joy of
delivered from the French yoke.
in
it
it
Moors of
Spain.
An
is
Nohl shakes
Dr. Iken of
his
Bremen
head and swears
inclined to think that the music
brave and warlike,
old edition of the
such
as
the
symphony gave
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
programme: "Arrival of the Villagers; Nuptial Benediction;
The Wedding Feast." Did not Schumann discover in the second
movement the marriage ceremony of a village couple ? D Ortigue
this
'
found that the Andante pictured
a procession in
an old cathedral
more
cheerful person,
or in the catacombs; while Duerenberg, a
prefers to call
Finale has
The
the love-dream of a sumptuous odalisque.
it
many meanings
North returning
:
a battle of giants or warriors of the
to their country after the fight;
a feast of
Bacchus or an orgy of the villagers after a wedding.
Ulibichev
goes so far
as to say that
Beethoven portrayed in
this Finale a
drunken revel to express the disgust excited in him by such
popular recreations. Even Wagner writes hysterically about
symphony
this
as
who knows
"Stroemkarl" of Sweden,
a friend of the
variations,
"the apotheosis of the dance," and he reminds
eleventh belongs to the Night spirit and his crew, and
one plays
eleven
and mortals should dance to only ten of them: the
if
any
and benches, cans and cups, the grand-
tables
it,
mother, the blind and lame, yea, the children in the cradle,
to dancing.
fall
"The
last
movement
of the Seventh symphony,"
says
Wagner,
We
are forced to conclude that, ordinarily, the images music
"is this
eleventh variation. "5^
arouses are specific to the experiences of the listener. 53
school of imagery
the motive-hunting Wagnerians),
(e.g.,
images will, quite naturally, be more alike.
is
several
have had similar experiences, are trained in the same
listeners
there
If
more commonality
that, as Pratt phrases
it,
On
their
the affective side
of response, at least partly from the fact
music sounds the way the emotions
feel.
Music can be used to indicate the build-up and release of tensions.
It
to
can, of course, be given almost any desired
stamp
however,
in the
is
proper associations.
Such
meaning
if
time
is
taken
specificity of designation,
not generally encouraged, for to most people the real
essence of music
lies in
the fact that
it
gives each person an oppor-
tunity to project his private experiences through his
own
personal
III
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
images or even to listen without trying to
elicit
images of any sort. 54
Everyone can appreciate the grammar, the melodic and harmonic rules
of the school to v^hich the music of his immediate interest belongs.
But he
not listening to a language in the fullest sense of that term.
is
Notes
i]
One
2]
For an exception to
3]
M.
F.
4]
C.
W.
reminded of the
is
legislative threats against
this
Valentine,
'n' roll
during the
s
of
Arithmetic, Boston, Ditson, 1929.
"The Aesthetic Appreciation of Musical
Brit. J. Psychol.,
Intervals
among School
6 (1913): 190-216.
C. P. Heinlein, "The Affective Characters of the Major and Minor
g]
summer
statement, see the next section of this chapter.
Meyer, The Musician
Children and Adults,"
rock
Modes
in Music,"
Comp. fsychoL, 8 (1928): 101-142.
J.
K. Hevner, "The Affective Character of Major and Minor
6]
Psychol.,
Chords," J. Gen.
Comp.
).
03-1
Psychol.,
C. P. Heinlein,
8]
1
Modes
in Music," Amer. J.
18.
R. Farnsworth, "The Discrimination of Major, Minor, and Certain Mistuned
P.
7]
4J (193^):
Psychol., 8
1
(1928): 377-379.
"The Affective Characters of the Major and Minor Modes
(1928): 101-142.
in Music,"
L. Kaiser, in "Contribution to the Psychologic
and
Linguistic Value of Melody," Acta Psychol., 9 (19^3): 288-293, argues that falling intervals
lead to sad affects while rising intervals the size of the fifth are exhilarative.
9]
Note that it is not the blues third per se which yields a minor effect but rather the
melody in which the third is embedded. Intervals as such have no modal charac-
over-all
teristics (p. 40).
10]
For detailed material on the
effect of
tempo
see
M. G.
Rigg's "Speed as a Determiner
of Musical Mood," J. Exp. Psychol., 2J (1940): J66-571. Rigg has verified Heinlein's
work on the effect of pitch in "The Effect of Register and Tonality upon Musical Mood,"
]. Musical., 2 (1940),
"sad" music in
No.
1
1]
Taken from
L.
468-48
more
See also K. B. Watson's extensive
Omwake,
1
.
P. A. Scholes, The Oxford Companion to Music,
Press, 1943.
I
12
Psychol. Monog., £4,
It
second edition, London,
Reproduced by permission of the publisher.
"Visual Responses to Auditory Stimuli," J. Appl. Psychol., 24 (1940):
is a slight tendency for persons who are
has also been demonstrated that there
interested in color than in
form to prefer tone
"Colour Form Attitudes, an Analogue from Music,"
13]
work on "happy" and
(1942).
2
Oxford U.
12]
49-61.
"The Nature and Measurement of Musical Meanings,"
to form.
See
W.
Austral. J. Psychol., 5
C. E. Seashore, "Color Music," Mus. Ed. J., 2S, No.
2
(1938): 26.
A. McElroy,
(1953): 10-16.
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
14]
J.
Delay,
et
al.,
"Les Synesthesies dans I'lntoxication Mescalinique," Encephale, 40
(19^1): i-io.
I
The
s]
fact that synesthesias are
modalities
is
emphasized by D.
I.
not entirely chance associations between two sense
Masson
in "Synesthesia
and Sound Spectra," Word, 8
(195-2): 39-41.
16]
E. L. Kelly,
"An Experimental Attempt
Technique of the Conditioned Response,"
17]
Biol.,
J. Gen. Psychol., 3
M.
J. Zigler,
Color Hearing,"
"Tone Shapes:
A
No.
3
Brit. J.
Novel Type of Synaesthesia,"
(1930): 277-287.
i
(1954): 289-300. Essentially the same position
Chapter £ of Aesthetics and Language,
21]
in the Light of a Case of
C. C.Pratt, The Meaning of Music, 'N.Y.,McGra.w-Hi\\, 193
Aesth., 12,
2o]
Chromesthesia by the
IJ (1934): 315—341.
5 (1933): 15^5—211; L. A. Riggs and T. Karwoski, "Synaesthesia,"
2S (1934): 29-41;
Psychol.,
in
Artificial
34 (1944), 87—103.
O. Ortmann, "Theories of Synesthesia
Human
19]
Produce
T. H. Howells, "The Experimental Development of Color-Tone Synesthesia," y. £xp.
Psychol.,
18]
to
J. Exp. Psychol.,
W.
;
is
"The Design of Music, "y.
taken by O. K.
W. V. Bingham, Mood Music, Orange, N.J., Thomas A. Edison, 192 i.
A more recent study along the Edison lines is that of A. Capurso, et al..
Your Emotions, N.Y., Liveright,
Bouwsma
Elton, ed., N.Y., Philosophical Lib., 1954.
1952, pp. 56-86.
Music and
Sixty-one pieces were found which
provided listener agreement (1075 nonmusical students were the listeners) of £o per cent
or more when the task was to sort the compositions into six categories.
22]
Thus
S.
and R. L. Fisher,
in
"The
Effects of Personal Security
on Reactions to Un-
familiar Music," J. Soc. Psjchol.,
those
who
34 (1951): 265-273, report that a large percentage of
react to "dramatic" music with unusually extreme favorableness or unfavorable-
ness
seem to possess marked personal
23]
M. Schoen and
E. L.
N.Y., Harcourt, Brace,
Psychol.,
24]
insecurity.
Gatewood, Chapter
7 in The Effects of Music,
1927; H. K. Mull, "A Study of
Humor
in
M. Schoen,
ed.,
Music," Amer. J.
62 (1949): 560-566.
R. E. Dreher, "The Relationship between Verbal Reports and Galvanic Skin Responses
to Music," Doctoral Thesis, Indiana U., 1947.
25]
P.
J.
Hampton, "The Emotional Element
in Music," J. Gen. Psychol.,
33 (194^):
237-250.
26]
I.
G. Campbell, "Basal Emotional Patterns Expressible in Music," Amer.
J. Psychol.,
SS (1942): 1-17; B. Shimp, "Reliability of Associations of Known and Unknown Melodic
Phrases with Words Denoting States of Feeling," y. Musical., 1, No. 4 (1940): 22-35'.
27]
K.
Hevner, "Expression in Music:
A
Discussion of Experimental Studies and
Theories," Psjchol. Rev., 4J (1935): 186-204; "Experimental Studies of the Elements of
Expression in Music," Amer. J. Psychol., 48 (1936): 246-268. (The Hevner Adjective
Check
List
is
reproduced by permission of the
Psychological Review
Psychological Association). A. L. Sopchak, "Retest Reliability of the
to Music," 7. Psychol., 44 (1957): 223-226.
and the American
Number
of Responses
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OF MUSIC
28]
P. R. Farnsworth,
"A Study of the Hevner Adjective
List," J. Aesth.,
13 (195^4):
97-103.
29]
The mood expressed by the
of clusters B and
"frustrated" describes a
expressed with
30]
adjectives of cluster
and resembles
I,
little
least the
mood which
mood
A
resembles most closely the
only cluster F reflects, and even here the affect
is
precision.
K. Hevner, "Studies in Expressiveness of Music," Mus. Teach. Nat.
pp. 199—217.
mood
of clusters E and F. The adjective
Assoc. Proc.
1938,
See also Hevner's "Experimental Studies of the Elements of Expression in
Music," Amer.J. Psjchol., 48 (1936): 246-268; "The Affective Value of Pitch and
in Music," Amer.J. Psjchol.,
49 (1937): 621—630; "Expression
Tempo
in Music," Psychol. Rev.,
42
(193J): 186-204.
31]
are
The
tables that follow,
reproduced by permission of The American Journal of Psychology,
from R. Gundlach, "Factors Determining the Characterization of Musical Phrases,"
Amer.J. Psjchol., 47 (1935^): 624-643; "A Quantitative Analysis of Indian Music," Amer.J.
Psychol., 44 (1932): 133-145-. See also S. DeGrazia's attempted analysis of Shostakovich's
His descriptive categories are intra-opus repetition, short and sym-
Seventh Sjmphonj.
metrical themes, figurative background, simplicity of fugal form, regular chord progressions,
rhythmic
background,
and
correlative
description
("Shostakovich's
Seventh
Sjmphonj: Reactivity-Speed and Adaptiveness in Musical Symbols," Psychiat., 6 (1943):
1
17— I 22).
32]
Factor analysis
is
a
method
for resolving a set of interrelated variables or tests into a
few "factors" which are regarded
as
being the fundamental variables underlying the
original
complex of
variables.
R.
W. Brown,
R. A. Leiter, and D. C. Hildum, "Metaphors from Music Criticism,"
33]
J. Abn. Soc. Psjchol., 54 (19^7): 347-3?2.
34]
R.
43
35^]
Henkin, "A Factorial Study of the Components of Music, "y.
I.
161-181
;
"A Reevaluation of
(195^7):
a Factorial
Psjchol., 39 (i9SS)'Study of the Components of Music, "y. Psjchol.,
301-306.
R. V. Fay points out that music tensions are produced by "dissonance and diminution
of dissonance, intensification of a rhythmic pattern, intensification of a note or chord,
sequential building of phrases or motives, change in dynamics, alternation of unfamiliar
material with familiar material, enlargement and elaboration of material already presented,
addition of
new harmonies
Development
or of melodic and rhythmic counterpoints" ("Tension and
as Principles in
Musical Composition," J.
36]
Actually, only a portion of the
37]
G. O. Rogge, "Music
as
Hevner
list
Alusicol.,
5 (1947): 1-12).
was presented.
Communication, with Special Reference to
Its
Role
as
Content," Doctoral Thesis, U. of California at Los Angeles, 19^2, pp. 66—67.
38]
G. O. Rogge, op.
39]
A. Pepinsky, "The Contribution of the Frequency Factor to the Psychological State
cit.,
p. 76.
of Tension," yWu5. Teach. Nat. Assoc. Proc. 1939, pp. 134-143.
40]
114
R. Morey, "Upset in Emotions," J. Soc. Psjchol., 12 (1940), 333-3^6.
LANGUAGE ASPECTS OFMUSIC
T. F. Karwoski, H.
41]
II.
The Role of Form
L.
Omwake,
S.
Odbert, and C. E. Osgood, "Studies in Synesthetic Thinking:
Responses to Music, "J. Gen. Psychol., 26 (1942): 199-222;
"Visual Responses to Auditory Stimuli," J. Appl. Psychol., 24 (1940): 468—
in Visual
481.
42]
T. Cowles, "Experimental Study of Pairing Certain Auditory and Visual Stimuli,"
J.
J. Exp. Psychol.,
43]
Monog., 57, No.
Psychol.
44]
18 (1935'): 461-469.
R. R. Willmann, "An Experimental Investigation of the Creative Process in Music,"
i
(1944).
A. Montani, "Psychoanalysis of Music," Psychoanal. Rev., 32 (194^): 22^—227.
45]
D. Mosonyi, "Die irrationalen Grundlagen der Musik," Imago, 21 (193^): 207-226.
46]
I.
M.
Altshuler,
"The Case of Horace
F.," Mus. Teach. Nat. Assoc. Proc. 1946, pp.
368-
381.
47]
M.
Tilly,
"The Psychoanalytic Approach
and Feminine Principles in
to the Masculine
Music," Amer. J. Psychiat., 103 (1947): 477-483.
48]
The ancient
theorists of China also
saw sex
qualities in music.
In the Lin
Lun
system of approximately 2700 B.C. in the reign of Emperor Huang-ti there were the lu
or masculine family of scale notes and the
Handschin
49]
lui
or feminine.
See also the theories of
(p. 5^2).
P. R. Farnsworth,
Musical Phenomena,"
and Femininity
J.
C. Trembley, and C. E. Dutton, "Masculinity and Femininity of
J. MusicoL,
9 (19J1): 2^7-262; C. H. Rittenhouse, "Masculinity
in Relation to Preferences in Music," Thesis, Stanford U., i9i^2; P. R.
Farnsworth, "The Musical Taste of an American Musical Elite," Hinrichsen Musical Year
Book,
^o]
7 (19^2):
I.
1 1
2-1 16.
A. Berg, in "Observations Concerning Obsessive Tunes in Normal Persons under
Clin. PsjchoL, 9 (1953): 300-302, has made a study of clients who were
plagued by obsessive songs and song lyrics. Interestingly enough, he found that their
Stress," J.
conflicts,
while severe, were largely nonsexual. This was true even though the lyrics of
these obsessive tunes
were
filled
with what the Freudians traditionally term sexual
symbols, e.g., bananas, coconuts, pistols, and the like.
£i]
A
cleverly written article
Symbols
on
art
— Freudian and Otherwise,"
and Freudianism
J. Aesth., 12,
on the same general topic can be found
£2]
No.
is
i
that
by R. Amheim, "Artistic
(195^3): 93-97.
Other
articles
in this issue of the Journal of Aesthetics.
A. R. Chandler, Beautj and Human Nature, N.Y., Appleton-Century, 1934, p. 213,
by permission of the publisher.
5^3]
Thus, persons
who
of Walt Disney and his
possess tonal-visual associations
staff
may have found
which
his Fantasia
English, ''Fantasia and the Psychology of Music," J. Aesth.,
54]
The
Evidence
age
(J.
calling
is
at
up of imagery
hand that
is
markedly from those
differ
extremely distasteful (H. B.
7 (1943): 27-31).
certainly not essential to the musical
this generalization also
H. Higginson, "The Associational
enjoyment of adults.
holds true for children 10 to 14 years of
Aspect
of Musical
Response
in
School
Children," J. Educ. Psychol., 2J (1936): ^72-^^80.)
115"
8-2
CHAPTER
SIX
The Nature of Musical Taste
l\ PERUSAL
of the current definitions of musical taste would lead
one to believe that there
authoritative.
no definition which can be taken
is
Even Runes's
Dictionary
of Philosophy^
statements which are quite different in meaning.
faculty of judging art
perience."
The second,
artist in his
works of
rules,
His
offers
two
first is
"the
through sensation and ex-
"the ensemble of preferences
shown by an
choice of elements from nature and tradition, for his
art,"
would appear
broadened to include
The
without
as
all
to be acceptable
if
men making judgments
the term "artist"
is
in the field of art.
term "preferences" should not be limited
to
momentary
pleasures, but should refer to an over-all, average set of emotionally
oriented attitudes, even including the strivings for appreciations not
who is endeavoring to achieve an
appreciation of Bach's music, but who so far does not enjoy contrapuntal music, has taste different from that of his friend who casts
as yet gained.
Bach aside
Thus, the person
as the
mere creator of
tinkly sounds.
Musical taste can be very roughly described
attitudinal set
Note:
The
as
the
over-all
one has toward the phenomena which collectively
material in this and the following chapter
and revisions) from Musical
Taste
:
Its
is
reprinted (with adaptations
Measurement and Cultural Nature by Paul Randolph
Farnsworth with the permission of the publishers, Stanford University Press. Copyright
1950 by the Board of Trustees of Leland Stanford Junior University.
116
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
comprise music. The communication expectancies one
attitudes built
up
one toward modal,
in
effects, all quite clearly
chapter
we
shall
examine
an effort to understand
Whimsej
The
or
form
finality,
a part of musical taste.
has,
the
key, and other
In the present
this larger attitudinal picture called taste in
at least a little of its nature.
Law?
may
fact that several of one's friends
enjoy only jazz and other
colleagues receive their greatest pleasure from the music of Bach
is
often brushed aside with an airy "What's one man's poison, signor,
is
another's meat or drink."
statement that taste
is
The assumption seems
But the diametrically opposed view
is
that musical taste obeys
According to
this
some absolute and unchanging
low order;
friends have taste of a
who
Bach; and a
more
still
—the
taste."
the geniusare on their
One's jazz-loving
a higher order of taste
loves the music of
set of laws.
critics,
—have discovered, or
what constitutes "good
to discovering,
by the man
—and the more common one
view, the musically elite
composers, and the musicologists
way
implicit in this
whimsical, and so without pattern of any sort.
is
possessed
Mendelssohn but not that of
higher status has been reached by those
attracted to the
who
are
works of Bach than to those of Mendelssohn.
Laws can be either absolute,
and unchanging, or
eternal,
relative,
culturally derived, and stable for only limited areas and periods of
time.
The professor of music who attempted
to
keep
his students
from being "polluted" by the music of Mahler and Bruckner
really
happened
—was
following
the
absolutist's
—which
conception
of
musical taste. His colleague was more of a relativist when he said to his
students
:
"I
much
prefer the music of the early nineteenth century to
that of later periods
.
Yet it might be well
with music of later periods, since
this
who
if
you would become familiar
can
tell
what
level of regard
newer music will have achieved by the days of your grandchildren
.
117
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
The
absolutist in musical theory holds that musical creations are
good because they follow metaphysical
or are in line with
rules,
For
certain of the principles of natural science.
we
metaphysical approach,
five,
elements
who
were
five,
on the i^rounds
—metal,
and political relationships
social
sample of the
can refer to the classical Chinese,
justified their pentatonic scale
and only
a
that there
wood, water,
—
fire,
and earth;
five
father and children, husband and
wife, brothers, friends, and ruler and subjects; and five political
terms
—
king, official, people, governmental affairs, and wealth.^
own
Closer to our
Western European sixteenth-
culture was the
century taboo against music ratios employing prime numbers not in
the series i-6.3
The reason
space has six directions
To make
offered, as
—above,
we saw
in
below, fore,
Chapter
2,
after, right,
was that
and
left.
use of a prime not in this series was thought to be contrary
to the Will of
God. Even
in
that "good" aesthetic taste
our
own time there are many who believe
who happen to
inherent in those of us
is
have been born under a propitious sign of the zodiac, but these
astrology-lovers are often a
influential
predetermining
in
answer, however,
For
it
little
it
vague
taste.
as to just
which
Whatever the
sign
is
most
astrological
does not check with experimentally tested
facts.
has been demonstrated that the distribution of the birthdays
of the musically great
is
not different from that of the
In their birthdays, the artistic
and the
inartistic
less gifted.
have been favored by
the same astrological signs.
Although
it is
would believe
in
quite probable that only the
more credulous today
such metaphysical principles
as
that a law of physics or of
is
a
still
held by
number
many
some other
theorists.
have already noted
(p.
21) that
of the important textbooks persist in describing the scale
of just intonation
as
the scale of nature and our contemporary
equally tempered scale as a
former can be derived,
118
We
the above, the idea
natural science underlies taste
compromise
in theory at least,
affair,
simply because the
from the overtone
series,
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
while the latter cannot be so rationalized. These overtone enthusiasts
seem to forget
tempered
scales,
other cultures have enjoyed equally
that
some of them even
removed than ours from
farther
the possibility of such rationalization, e.g., the Siamese and the
Although the physics of horns, reeds, and
Javanese.
strings did help
condition the early use of the octave, and perhaps a few of the other
with simple
intervals
ratios,
it
seems unjustifiable to
restrict
our
explanations of present-day taste to physical principles.
Attention has already been called to the interesting neurological
speculations of
they relate to
Meyer and
to the theories of Mursell, particularly as
finality effects (pp.
42,
_5"3).
So long
are not formulated to exclude habituation they
as these theories
would not appear un-
tenable, although in the present primitive state of neurology they
not seem currently to furnish
nature of
A
taste.
much
firmer statement can be
made about
in
there are experiments to
show
for the diversities of true beat.
his
muscles react.
(p.
for
5"),
that the latter cannot possibly account
It is
obvious that the capacities of the
biological organism set the general limits within
and
the relation
music and body pulse-rate
between the true beat
do
help to the understanding of the
But that they can
which man's
affect his taste
ears
without the
mediation of cultural forces has never been demonstrated. All the
facts so far
seem
accumulated by the musicologists and
social scientists
to point in a different direction, toward a cultural explanation
of taste.
The hypothesis
large measure,
that
contemporary
culturally derived,
taste in
music
is,
at least in
can be demonstrated through
the data of anthropology, history, and experimental psychology.
has been
tuning,
shown
fixed
diatonic scale
tonal
is
It
that the Occidental love for simple rhythms, careful
steps,
harmonies,
the
not shared the world over.
tonic
As
effect,
we saw
and the
earlier, the
African predilection for complicated rhythmic patterns was so far
out of line with the taste and perceptual
abilities
of many of the early
119
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
missionaries that they
commonly reported
the Africans to be arhyth-
The Chinese often appear obUvious
mical.
music which has
little
harmony
in the
to mistunings; they love
Western sense of the word.
Yet Orientals can learn to love Occidental music and, indeed, with
come
continued residence in America
to appreciate
Western musical
principles, and gradually to develop facility in the perception of small
auditory differences.
Conversely, the people of the Western world
more com-
often learn to love alien music forms, and to master
plicated rhythmic patterns.
tuning, the
American slowly
When
constantly subjected to poor
loses his pitch sensitivity
and
his
need
for pitch exactitude.
It is
well
known
that the people of each culture area are likely to
regard their art forms
neighbors.
as
God-given and superior to those of their
But the theorist
who would
accept the mythology of
racism and believe that the composers of his group alone have
discovered the "true" standards of musical taste will receive no
support from the social sciences.
Some form
that the
of the absolutist view
among the
whimsey view of
musicians.
matter of
It is
fact,
is
often accepted by professional
relatively untutored,
taste
is
more
on the other hand,
likely to
be found.
As
a
the evidence which can be gathered supports neither
of these conceptions. But before indicating what theoretical position
the facts force us into, let us see
taste
is
without pattern.
to be found in
We
why we cannot
shall first
accept the idea that
note the degree of agreement
judgments on relative eminence.
Eminence
The most eminent composer
even the
man whose works
are
is
between these three categories
ference
I20
—
is
a close one.
not necessarily the best known, or
most preferred. Yet the relationship
— eminence,
knowledge, and pre-
Moreover, while eminent composers are
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
assumed to be geniuses or
create that
which
at least near-geniuses,
Only
be called eminent.
is
a
few
live
not
up to their
all
geniuses can
potentialities,
honored by their fellows. Others have
or
traits
of
character or are subjected to situational pressures which preclude
great achievement;
moments"
or perhaps they are not born at the "right
development of their
in the
art.^
We
can readily accept
the traditional, dictionary view of eminence as "an elevated condition
among men;
a place
elevated status
is
or station above
men
in general," adding that the
the result of social evaluations which are relative to
particular times and places.
The patience of the
classroom and
listener, along
lecture hall,
with the conventions of the
force each lecturer on music history to
confine his talk to an hour or two.
restricted to
reasonable
number
what the author and
number of pages. These
of composers
who
editor, if
work
written
Similarly,
no one
else,
is
consider a
limitations function to reduce the
can receive
critical attention,
and to
decrease the extent to which those of lesser importance can be
treated.
with
as
By these means, eminence hierarchies are
many such
Each scholar has
lists
appearing
as
in effect created,
there are musicologists at work.
his individual biases,
produced out of
national,
school, and teacher loyalties, and occasional illogical reasoning, to
mention what are perhaps the most obvious
a
measured entity
is
to have
stability,
influences. If eminence as
each selection of the eminent
must be balanced by the choices of many others.
polling
of individual
decisions
furnishes
just
Fortunately, the
such
mechanism, and cancels out many of the eccentricities
EMINENCE RANKINGS. The
just a
a
balancing
in the choices.
unsounducss of the view that taste
is
matter of whimsey can be demonstrated in a variety of ways.
Our first evidence
is
that the
Society, one group of elite,
in their selections of
members of the American Musicoloaical
agree among themselves extremely well
eminent musicians.
In 19^1 these specialists
111
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
were asked
to consider a long
to check the
list
of composers born since
names of the ten whose contributions
to be of greatest importance. 7
the second into pile
I,
two
piles of the
same
2,
first
the third into pile
ballot going into
etc.
i,
Thus, with
two rankings of eminence could be con-
size,
number of checks each composer received
structed by tabulating the
from the
ballots in each pile.
The
below shows
table
870 and
As the ballot sheets were received,
they were put alternately into two piles, the
pile
i
music appeared
to
that the first seven
two subgroups of musicologists were
identical.
names chosen by the
The eighth and ninth
Of
composers who
of the one subgroup were the ninth and tenth of the other.
course,
the table had been lengthened to include
if
received relatively few votes, the two columns would not resemble
each other quite
relish roast beef
as
much
they do now.
as
For just
as
almost
all
of us
and apple pie but disagree more with regard to tripe
and cottage-cheese pie, so practically
all
musicologists treat with high
regard Stravinsky and Bartok, but do not agree quite
as
well on the
importance of composers of the order of Mason and Lockwood.
First Nine Eminence Choices of Musicologists
Polled in 195^1
Composers Born Since
'k
Order
'Note:
122
1870
Pile
1
2
1
Stravinsky
^Stravinsky
2
Bartok
(Bartok
3
Hindemith
4
Ravel
Ravel
S
Schonberg
Schonberg
6
Prokofiev
Prokofiev
7
Vaughan Williams
Vaughan Williams
8
Copland
Rachmaninov
9
Britten
Copland
11
first
Pile
Rachmaninov
The name appearing below
Hindemith
1
Britten
the line in any one of the columns appears
nine in one of the other columns.
among
the
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
The musicologists were
also asked in 195^1
to scrutinize
lists
of
composers whose birth dates were before 1870. They were to check
the
2
£ they
deemed most worthy
to be called to the attention of their
When
children and their lay contemporaries.
the two-pile scheme
was employed, the top names were found to be the following:
Eminence Choices of Musicologists
Polled in 195^1
Composers Born Before 1870
First Nine
Rank Order
Pile
Beethoven
2
Bach
Bach
3
4
Haydn
Brahms
Mozart
5
Mozart
Haydn
6
Debussy
Schubert
Handel
Debussy
r Schubert
Handel
9
[ Wagner
Wagner
A
were
the American Musicological Society
1938 and were asked
musicians of history
Letters
Brahms
8
The members of
consulted in
2
Beethoven
7
to music. ^
Pile
1
1
whom
again sent to the
more
were placed randomly
that time to
as
in
into
AMS members
19^1.9
two
sets.
The
list
first
the ten
having contributed most
composers were named in
total of 92
already noted, once
at
they regarded
were
in
this survey.
1944 and,
as
we
ballots received in
have
1944
Special attention was paid to
the ranks achieved by the 92 names mentioned in the original (1938)
survey.
The
correlation {rho)
the high value of •97.^"
between the two-pile orders came to
The same technique employed on the
195^1
of -96 for those born since 1870 and '98 for those
data yielded
r/70's
born before
this date.
It is
thus apparent that even at the lower levels
of eminence there was considerable agreement
between the two subo
groups of contemporary musicologists. It can safely be said, then,
that the
some
judgments of
this
group of the musically
elite are
following
sort of principle or lawful pattern.
123
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
The reader may
say,
however, that
one thing to prove that
it is
among musical specialists, and
quite another to demonstrate it among lay groups. To answ^er this
reasonable objection, the procedures which were employed with the
considerable agreement in taste exists
musicologists
were used
from psychology
in
194^ with
senior high-school students, and with
fifth-graders.
students taken
25-0 college
with
classes at Stanford University,
Here, again, each group was
ballots cast for the 9
split into
composers voted
2
nearby
100 sixth-graders and 100
scheme was followed of correlating two eminence
from the
105^
as
two and the
lists
compiled
most eminent
in
1938. While no correlations quite as high as the -98 of the musicologists
appeared, the college value was found to be -9^, the high-
school -93, the sixth-grade -93, and the fifth-grade '87.^^
assumed that these groups are typical of
grade-school groups, even in California.
that since
other
all
the above groups
fairly similar lay
all
It
is
not
college, senior-high, or
But
it is
logical to believe
showed marked communality of taste,
groups would also show
fair
agreement among
themselves.
For
illustrative purposes,
number
the nine names receiving the highest
of college votes from a 195^3-^4 balloting are
shown below. ^^
First Nine Eminence Choices of 120 College
Students Polled
in 195^3-5^4
Composers Born Before
Rank Order
Pile
1870
Pile 2
1
1
Beethoven
Beethoven
2
Bach
Bach
J
3
(
Chopin
Chopin
4
i
Mozart
Mozart
Wagner
5
^
Tchaikovsky
6
r
Brahms
Brahms
7
[
Liszt
Tchaikovsky
8
r
Wagner
Handel
9
I
Schubert
Liszt
10
124
Handel
10-S
Schubert
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
The
grammar-school students agree so well
composers can only be interpreted
is
and even high- and
fact that musically elite, college students,
patterned and
is
as
eminent
this facet of taste
not a matter of whimsey.
Eminence hierarchies of great
stability also
similar culture are queried about the
The next
classics."
in their selections of
showing that
table
appear
when people
of
composers of the "popular
shows the top nine names given by two
college groups of approximately 40 each, questioned in 195^4.
subject had been given a
list
Each
on which were the names of 108
composers and had been told to rank the ten most eminent from
i
to 10.13
First Nine Choices of 80 College Students,
Polled in Summer of 19 ^4
Composers of "Popular Classics"
Rank Order
Pile
1
George Gershwin
George Gershwin
2
Cole Porter
Irving Berlin
3
Jerome Kern
Jerome Kern
4
Irving Berlin
Richard Rodgers
5
r
Richard Rodgers
Cole Porter
6
[
Stephen Foster
Stephen Foster
7
Hoagy Carmichael
8
S.
Romberg
9
J.
Strauss
10-5
Sir
CHANGES
folkways
Pile 2
1
it
IN
1^
Arthur Sullivan
Romberg
S.
(
10
EMINENCE RANKINGS.
Hoagy Carmichael
Sir
J.
Arthur Sullivan
Strauss
If tastc
bchavesas do Other
should be possible to perceive changes over the years.
That such changes do occur
is
shown by the
fact that
although the
eminence ranks yielded by the votes of the American Musicological
Society's
members
in 195^1 correlated '95^
with the ranks obtained
in
1944, they correlated only 'S^ with the 92 ranks derived from the
polling of
1938.
(The comparisons concerned the
1938 poll's
92 eminent names.)
12^
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
Eminence Ranks of the Musicologists
tk
193s
Order
1951
1944
Bach
1
Bach
Beethoven
2
Beethoven
Beethoven
Bach
3
Wagner
Mozart
Brahms
4
Mozart
5
Palestrina
Wagner
Haydn
Mozart
6
7
Haydn
Brahms
8
Monteverdi
Schubert
Handel
9
Debussy
Handel
Wagner
10
Schubert
10
Debussy
10
Palestrina
11
Handel
25
Monteverdi
IS
Monteverdi
r
(^
Haydn
Brahms
(
Palestrina
Stanford college students similarly polled
(^
Schubert
Debussy
showed the following
agreements: 1953 and 1945^, a rho of -88; 195^3 and 1938,
a rho
of '81.
Eminence Ranks of College Students
Rank Order
1938
i945
.
i953
1
Beethoven
Beethoven
Beethoven
2
Bach
Wagner
Bach
3
Wagner
Mozart
Chopin
4
Mozart
Bach
Mozart
Wagner
S
Brahms
Chopin
6
Tchaikovsky
Tchaikovsky
7
Schubert
Brahms
8
Chopin
Mendelssohn
Liszt
9
Mendelssohn
Schubert
Schubert
11
10
Liszt
reverence for the
remark that "the older
a
past.
Liszt
One
{
-!
1
17
Tchaikovsky
Brahms
Mendelssohn
occasionally hears a cynic
composition the more highly will
it
be
regarded," or, "Music of the quality of Mozart's compositions but
written in the twentieth century will not receive wholehearted
acceptance."
Unfortunately, the complete facts which could prove
or contradict these statements are not at hand. Yet data are available
126
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
which bear
to the
at least indirectly
on the problem. They
refer,
however,
eminence of composers rather than to the acceptability of the
compositions.
one pertinent study, the time which had elapsed since the birth
In
of each of the 92 composers mentioned
polling of the
lated. ^4
most eminent
as
American Musicological Society was
Xhe rank order which
in the
1938
carefully tabu-
these time periods yielded was then
correlated successively with each of
more
than 20 eminence ranks
obtained through a variety of methods. The coefficients of correla-
were found
tion
to range
—
coefficient falling at
zero.
•
from +*2i
a value
i 5",
— '36,
to
with the median
not significantly different from
Had time from death been used
in the tabulations instead of
time since birth, the values would have been almost precisely the
same, since the two time series correlate '99 one with the other.
The
picture,
over-all
between the
relative
then,
disclosed
no
eminence of the men
significant
relationship
in this highly selected list
and elapsed time since birth or death.
eminence was
In a second study, the relation of the year of birth to
observed by plotting the birth years of the 92 selected composers,
and then finding the central tendency. The median birth year was
found to
a larger
fall
in the
number
determine the
For
decade of the i72o's.^5 Next, the birth years of
of less rigidly selected musicians were analyzed to
effects of
this part of the
broadening the concept of "high eminence."
research the original
was expanded to include
by current musicologists
1 1
8
list
other composers mentioned
in their articles
birth year of this less highly selected group
the i8oo's.
still
of 92 composer names
Finally, to study the effect of
more, the birth years of
all
as
eminent
and books. The median
fell in
the
first
decade of
broadening the selection
the musicians mentioned in
current encyclopedias of music, the Oxford Companion
the International Cyclopedia of Music and Musicians,
to
two
Music and
were examined.
For these two large groups the median birth years were in the
late
127
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
i8 2o's and the early 185^0's, respectively.
mode was found
examined, the
to
In each of the four lists
several decades after the
fall
median.
Another view of the working of the same principles can be obtained by studying the birth dates of the hundred or so
who ranked
highest in the American Musicological Society's eminence
5"
persons
who
was 1770; for the top
1
75^6.
1
1
1809; top 2^, 181
15^,
3;
,
top 100, 1820. The
comparable medians compiled from the data of the
astonishingly similar: top g,
17^6; top 11,
top 2^,
I
The
the
hundred ranks because of the poorer
first
8 10;
top 100,
I
818.
The
944 survey were found to
For the top 1 the median figure
achieved top status in the
have a median birth year of
lists.
analyses
i95"i
survey were
1770; top
1797;
15-,
were not carried beyond
reliability of the
lower
rank positions.
From
the data of these researches
we
can conclude that, in con-
sidering musicians of great eminence, there
is little
or no tendency
bestow most honor on those who have been longest dead.
to
clear,
however, that the higher the selection of those
eminent, the greater the chance that they will not be of our
In fact, the data
show
that
it is
far
we
own
call
day.
easier for a composer of a century
or so ago to achieve a placement in a music encyclopedia than
for
It is
one born toward the end of the
last
century or
later.
it is
The com-
poser of recent years has not had the requisite time to become
familiar to his listeners, to build
of
far
many
centuries ago
removed,
is
up
a school of supporters.
also at a disadvantage, for his
stylistically,
His peer
works are too
from the contemporary scene. The
latter'
become
progressively slighter as his
birth date recedes farther and farther
from the 1700's. The most
chances of being rediscovered
honored, then, must be the between-groups, the composers of the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
128
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
Enjoyment
For those
is
who
beheve that the measurement of eminence
refuse to
an adequate measurement of contemporary taste, there
is
pertinent
information to be considered which concerns the closely related
variables of
enjoyment and knowledge.
ratings are positively correlated.
Enjoyment and eminence
But their degree of relationship
with the musical sophistication of the subjects.
varies
Data on enjoyment have been obtained from students of the San
Francisco City College. ^^ These subjects were asked to check a
of
22
5"
names and
to indicate the ten
most enjoyed. The
was
-66,
lower
showing
rho
fair
list
composers whose music they
between the rank orders of two subgroups
agreement.
It
should be noted that Bach
in this sort of ranking than in the
eminence
falls
listings.
First Nine Preferences of 126 Junior-College
Students Polled in
1^
Order
Pile
195^4
Vile 2
I
1
Chopin
Chopin
2
Beethoven
Beethoven
3
Tchaikovsky
4
Brahms
^Tchaikovsky
5
Mozart
1
6
Rimsky-Korsakov
7
Sousa
8
-
Schubert
Brahms
R. Strauss
Debussy
fSousa
[Bach
9
Mozart
|Foster
10-5
Foster
11-5
Debussy
12-5
Schubert
11-5
Bach
15-5
R. Strauss
15-5
Rimsky-Korsakov
The well-known West Coast
critic
Alfred Frankenstein has also
found Bach relatively lower in the enjoyment
interviewing
States.
many
lists
he assembled by
college students in different areas of the United
^7
129
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
As another example of how similar groups
will
show
similar
members of
Symphony Orchestra in
former symphony player. ^^ The
preferences, let us examine the ballots collected from
the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Boston
the early 1930's by Folgmann, a
members
of these orchestras were asked to exclude from their
preference ratings of composers any biases based on their knowledge
As can be seen from the
of the relative greatness of the composers.
accompanying
order
is
table, the first nine
somewhat
names are
dissimilar for the
identical, although the
members
of these two great
orchestras.
Preferences of Symphony Players
Rank Order
Boston
Philadelphia
1
Beethoven
Beethoven
2
Wagner
Brahms
3
Bach
Bach
4
Mozart
Mozart
5
Brahms
Wagner
6
Debussy
Schubert
7
Schubert
Haydn
8
Haydn
Schumann
Schumann
9
The enjoyment of
sections
Debussy
of compositions, ^9 of the simpler
phrases, and even of chords and intervals,
similar groups.
is
also rather consistent for
Let us compare the order of preference established
for college students at the University of Minnesota in the years
before 1929^*' with the order found at Stanford University in 1933.^^
While there
is
essential
regarded
Some
is
some
slight variation in the
agreement
as neutral,
as to
which
order of preference, there
intervals are preferred,
which are
and which are disliked.
years ago, while
making
studies of the Measure of Consonance
from Seashore's well-known music-test battery and of Kwalwasser's
Melodic and Harmonic Sensitivity tests,
"errors" made by two
130
an analysis was run of the
large groups of subjects. ^^
In these experi-
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
ments, the Measure of Consonance was treated
just as
as a
tonal-preference test,
were the two Kwalwasser records. The "errors"
(i.e.,
the
disagreements with the "correct" choices) of two groups of loo
subjects each correlated in this order: Consonance, -96; Melodic
Sensitivity, '98;
Harmonic
the Kwalwasser- Dykema
Sensitivity, '99.
Test
A
later, similar study of
of Melodic Taste yielded coefficients of
correlation of -78 for fifth-graders, '92 for eighth-graders, and -91
for college students. ^3
Dykema
Test
The corresponding
of Tonal Movement
Here again we
were
values for the Kwalwasser-
•91, •91, and -98, respectively.
see almost perfect agreements, this time in the liking
for intervals, for simple phrases, and for certain resolutions as well.
Preferences for Intervals
Rank Order
Minnesota
Stanford
Major Third
Major Third
Minor Third
Minor Sixth
4
Minor Third
Minor Sixth
Major Sixth
5
Fourth
Octave
6
Tritone
Major Sixth
7
Fifth
Tritone
8
Octave
Fifth
9
Major Second
Major Second
10
Minor Seventh
11
Major Seventh
12
Minor Second
Minor Seventh
Major Seventh
Minor Second
1
2
3
Fourth
Knowledge of Composers
Like enjoyment, knowledge of composers seems to be a factor in
known composers, however, do not always
appear at the top of the eminence listings, and when knowledge and
eminence ranks are correlated, the value may run as low as •65-. The
musical
taste.
The
best
next table shows the top nine composers
as
college ratings of professed knowledge.
considered, the rank orders of the
two
they appeared on certain
When
2
1
2
names were
piles correlated at 'JS-^'^
131
9-2
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
Familiar Names, Judged by 126 Junior-College
Students Polled in 195^4
mk
Order
Pile
1
Chopin
Pile 2
1
Chopin
Beethoven
2
Beethoven
3
Mozart
4
Schubert
Schubert
5
Brahms
Tchaikovsky
6
7
Tchaikovsky
8
Schumann
9
Bach
j
[
Brahms
R. Strauss
[
J
Schumann
Bach
(^Mendelssohn
Mendelssohn
10
Mozart
10
R. Strauss
Programs
By
this
time the reader may be saying to himself: "So
behavior under observation has been purely verbal.
taste
from the standpoint of action?
orchestras, for example, ignore
many
Why
far the
not discuss
Does any one of our great
of the
more eminent composers
and concentrate consistently on playing the music of certain others
Do
the programs of the several great
world tend
To
made
to
?
symphony orchestras of the
resemble one another?"
give a partial answer to the
first
of these queries a study was
of the frequencies with which the compositions of each of the
92 world-famous composers have been listed in the programs of the
Boston Symphony Orchestra. The tabulations, made by decades,
show rank-order
correlations from one decade to the next averaaino
in the nineties ('87 to '98).
In the table
below are given the names
of the nine composers whose music was played most frequently in
each of two decades.
names are
identical.
132
And
again
we
practicallv the same.
can
make
In fact,
the statement that the
the
first
ten names are
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
Program Choices of the Boston
Symphony Orchestra
ink
1925-1935
Order
1935-1945
1
Beethoven
2
Brahms
3
Wagner
j
Mozart
4
Bach
[
Sibelius
5
R. Strauss
R. Strauss
6
Ravel
Ravel
7
Mozart
8
Sibelius
1"
9
Stravinsky
(
Beethoven
Brahms
Wagner
Stravinsky
«
Tchaikovsky
10
Tchaikovsky
Bach
10
Furthermore, supplementary information shows that the programs
of the great orchestras
do resemble each other
Mueller and Hevner have constructed
the programs played
American symphony
during
a "popularity
1936-41
orchestras. ^5
in
large
part.
pyramid" from
by seven of our leading
Note
that nine of the top ten
names of their pyramiid appear among the ten played most often by
the Boston
Symphony Orchestra during the decade
starting in 1935".
Seven American Symphony Orchestras, 1936-1941
Rank Order
1
2
Brahms
3
Mozart
4
Wagner
5
Tchaikovsky
6
7
it
Sibelius
JR. Strauss
8
(Bach
9
|Ravel
10
Thus
Composers
Beethoven
(Schumann
appears that this operational or action aspect of taste show^s
consistencies just as does the
more
verbal side,
which
is
studied
through balloting.
133
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
To
music
learn
also
whether or not the broadcast programs of recorded
show
consistency, an analysis was
made by
the author of
the Pacific Gas and Electric Company's programs, which, for a
period of years, were broadcast nightly over
KYA
from 8.00
until
10.00 P.M. The years 1941, 1942, and 1943 were chosen for study. ^^
Ranks for each of these years were constructed by counting the
number of times
the works of the great composers were broadcast.
Great consistency was found, shown by the fact that the average of
the intercorrelations of the three ranks was "9^.
radio hours of this type
is
show
similar
If,
then, other
program hierarchies, and there
no reason to suspect that they do not,
it
can be said that the choice
of recorded music for broadcasting purposes also follows
some
sort of
lawful pattern.
Pacific Gas and Electric
Rank Order
Company Broadcasts
1942
1941
1943
1
Beethoven
Beethoven
2
Tchaikovsky
Tchaikovsky
Brahms
3
Brahms
Bach
Mozart
4
Mozart
Mozart
Bach
5
Sibelius
Brahms
Tchaikovsky
6
Bach
Sibelius
Wagner
7
Wagner
Schubert
8
Wagner
Schumann
Debussy
Sibelius
9
Schubert
R. Strauss
Debussy
Beethoven
11
R. Strauss
10
Schubert
10
Schumann
37-5
Debussy
11
Schumann
11
R. Strauss
CHANGES
clearly in
IN
PROGRAMS.
program trend
Fluctuations in musical taste Can be Seen
lines.
If taste
were
a
matter of the slow
discovery of absolute values, one might reasonably expect that the
great orchestras
works of
all
would show
would gradually discard from
their
programs the
but the "best" composers. This progressive elimination
itself in
upward swings on the curves of the chosen few.
However, when Mueller and Hevner examined the 1876— 194
134
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
programs of several of the great American symphony orchestras,
curve fluctuations and plateaus rather than persistent climbs or
seemed
to be the rule. ^7
flat,
who
Beethoven,
started at the top in favor,
dropped speedily
position, though his curve
and
now
had
a dip in the late i88o's,
has leveled
vs^as
falls
show^n to be
But the curves for Mozart and Bach were
slowly climbing in favor.
quite
true that Brahms
It is
Wagner
off.
at first,
is still
then
in this
less rapidly
started second in popularity, then
climbed back into second place with
peak about 19 lo, and since has
fallen
appeared to resemble Wagner's, but
a
markedly. Tchaikovsky's curve
at a
lower
level of popularity.
These researchers have conducted many other interesting studies on
taste,
among them an
analysis of the relative popularity of Beethoven's
nine symphonies as program material.
For
illustrative purposes, it
will probably suffice to describe the popularity curves of the Fifth
and Ninth. The former had
dropped
until
a bit in the late
World War
I,
i
fairly
high status in the earliest years,
88o's, climbed in popularity rather rapidly
and has since
fallen slowly
preferred to any of the other symphonies.
what below the
now
is
Fifth
and has rather steadily
it is still
much
Ninth started some-
fallen in
rank until
it
lowest in favor.
In the course of a later study,
show
though
The
Mueller assembled additional data to
the cultural nature of taste. ^^
strike different world areas at
Just as social attitudes tend to
somewhat different times,
so,
he finds, do
trends in musical taste. Thus, while Beethoven's curve of popularity
New York
orchestras, any given position on the curve is reached by the New York
is
much
the same whether plotted for the
orchestras approximately five years after the
London or the
London body. For Wagner
the lag appears to be in the same direction, but
We
is
fifteen years in length.
have seen that the relative frequencies with which the works
of eminent composers appeared on the programs of the Boston
Symphony Orchestra
for the decade beginning in
those for the next decade.
The
192^ are similar to
data of the following table indicate
13^
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
that
tend to be greatest between contiguous
the resemblances
decades.
The program
present.
The
slow and irregular, but definitely
shifts are
correlation values
shown below were obtained from
comparisons of the relative frequency of appearance of the works of
92 composers on the programs of
this orchestra.
Decade Intercorrelations for the Boston
Symphony Orchestra
Period
Decade
Starting in 1895
Decade
Starting in 1905
Decade
Starting in 1915
Decade
Starting in 1925
1905
1915
1925
1935
•87
•82
•81
•81
•92
•83
•83
•98
•90
•90
...
Space Allocations
Another operational or action aspect of
amounts of space allotted to composers
general and music encyclopedias.
As
concerns the relative
taste
in histories of
it
is
music and in
obviously out of the
question to permit the insertion in these books of articles of con-
on
siderable length
of the world's musicians,
all
selection in considering the composers to be
amount of space each composer
be informed about the
lives
Are selections inade, then,
it
is
to receive.
and works of
in
largely a matter of chance
all
there must be
mentioned and the
Our children cannot
who have composed.
accordance with soine principle, or
which
is
composers are included in a
history or an encyclopedia?
To throw
early 1900's
on
light
were
from 1920 on.
It
this
problem, histories and encyclopedias of the
studied, as well as others published in each decade
was found that the publications, some 22 or more
in each decade, agreed
among themselves
quite well, that
is,
they
devoted almost the same relative amounts of space to the musicologists'
favored
92
composers. ^9 The coefficients of correlation
ranged from -94 to -96, demonstrating considerable communality of
136
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
judgment. These high correlations along with the others reported
earlier
show
clearly that musical taste
concern, then,
is
is
not whimsical.
Our next
with the nature of the principle which governs
it.
Allocation of Space
Rank Order
Histories of the
1
2
C
1
930' s
Histories of the
Wagner
Beethoven
Beethoven
Wagner
Mozart
Mozart
4
Bach
Bach
Brahms
3
(
5
Haydn
6
Liszt
7
Handel
8
Schumann
Brahms
9
10
Schubert
f
1
Haydn
Liszt
(^Schubert
Schumann
10
Alusic Encyclopedias
oj the 1930'
of the 1940's
1
Wagner
(
2
Bach
[
3
Beethoven
Mozart
4
Schubert
Liszt
5
Mozart
Bach
6
Schumann
Schubert
7
Debussy
8
Brahms
r
9
Mendelssohn
\^
13-5
Liszt
General Encyclopedias
Kank Order
of the ip30's
9 40'
[Handel
Music Encyclopedias
Kank Order
1
Wagner
Beethoven
Mendelssohn
1
3
Schumann
Brahms
Debussy
General Encyclopedias
of the ip40's
1
Beethoven
Beethoven
2
Bach
Bach
Mozart
3
Wagner
4
Handel
Wagner
S
Schubert
Mendelssohn
Schubert
6
Mozart
7
Schumann
Schumann
8
Mendelssohn
Handel
9
Tchaikovsky
J
[Tchaikovsky
137
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
CHANGES
relative
similar
found,
We
IN SPACE ALLOCATIONS.
have just Seen that the
amounts of space given the eminent composers tended to be
from decade
it
to decade.
But although similarities are to be
should also be noted that these allocations, like other social
judgments, change slowly but perceptibly
vs^ith
time.
The rank order
or eminence (space-attention) for any one decade
is
found to be
most
is
shown by the
like those of the decades nearest
it
in time. This
fact that the correlation values in the table
below generally decrease
in
magnitude from
is
further evidence for the cultural determination of musical taste.
left to right
and from bottom to top. Here, then,
Intercorrelations
in Space
Allocations
Histories
of the
1920's
1930's
1940's
•90
-88
-78
•90
-88
Histories of the 1900's
Histories of the 1920's
•90
Histories of the 1930's
Music Encyclopedias of the
1920's
1930's
1940's
•77
-74
-72
•91
^89
Music Encyclopedias of the 1900's
Music Encyclopedias of the 1920's
Music Encyclopedias of the 1930's
•95
General Encyclopedias oj the
1920's
1930's
•90
-88
-88
•94
^91
General Encyclopedias of the 1900's
General Encyclopedias of the 1920's
1940's
•93
General Encyclopedias of the 1930's
Individual and Group Dijerences
In the earlier portion of this chapter, the similarities rather than
the differences
among
aesthetic responses
an emphasis does not need to be justified,
were
we
any given social pressure does not stimulate
138
stressed.
While such
should not forget that
all
people in the same
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
way. That
is,
even
musical taste obeys social principles, individual
if
differences of considerable magnitude will of necessity be present in
they are in
this behavioral area, just as
realms of
who
human
respond to
passivity
In any social
response.
other socially significant
all
group there will be those
a particular social pressure
with almost complete
Others will be more
and compliance.
resistant,
and
a
few
will be extremely unconventional.
Although the pooling of items
is
necessary
if
trends are to be
established,
this
process tends to mask whatever differences are
present, and
may
give an erroneous impression of the extent of the
agreement between people, books, programs, or whatever the items
may
be.
To
avoid
all
possibility of misinterpretation,
to study the diversity of the elements
To
illustrate this process,
were presented,
since i860.
late in
might be wise
it
which make up
a typical pool.
126 randomly selected college students
1946, with a
They were asked
list
to rank
on
of over 200 composers born
a scale
of 10 to
i
the names
of those they regarded as the ten leading composers. The response
were divided by simple
sheets
A
labeled
The
alternation into
two equal
and B.
table
shows the detailed distribution of the votes
of the twelve composers
The number
who
received the greatest
cast for each
number
of votes.
top of each column shows the ascribed rank, and
at the
the numbers below (opposite the names of the composers)
number
piles,
show the
of votes cast for each composer under each rank. Thus,
twelve of the students in Pool
rating of 9,
etc.
To
A
gave Debussy a rating of 10,
five a
number of
votes
figure the final ranks,
the
received by each composer was multiplied by the respective rankvalue, the products
were
totaled,
and the sums so obtained were
arranged in order of size and ranked.
figuring
times
proceeded
8, etc.
Note
as follows:
12 times 10 plus g times 9 plus 12
that even Debussy,
in each pool, received a
For Debussy (Pool A) the
number
who
of 4-,
achieved the top position
3-,
2-,
and
i
-order votes.
139
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
Thus the examination of the inner structure of the two pools reveals
enormous
among
individual differences
the judgments of the raters.
a
view of the two rank orders shows almost unanimity of opinion
when
the voters are considered as groups rather than as individuals.
Yet
Pool A
OF Choice
O RDER
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
Sums
Debussy
12
S
12
5
4
3
2
3
1
364
1
Kreisler
1
3
4
4
2
3
4
2
4
1
120
11
Sibelius
7
7
9
6
1
2
6
2
4
297
3
Ravel
1
8
3
2
2
4
4
2
176
9
R. Strauss
7
8
3
5
4
4
3
3
1
268
5
Paderewski
4
2
6
2
2
5
4
1
3
4
186
7
3
1
4
7
2
2
2
1
1
132
10
Composer
Prokofiev
1
Rank
Rachmaninov
7
12
6
11
5
2
1
3
2
358
2
Shostakovich
6
4
4
4
8
5
3
1
2
3
251
6
Stravinsky
2
2
3
5
5
1
4
8
4
3
Gershwin
7
6
7
1
4
5
3
4
3
5
1
I
4
4
1
3
2
3
2
1
Sums
Schuman,
W.
i
183
8
271
4
60
12
Pool B
O RDER OF Choice
Composer
Debussy
6
5
4
5
1
5
3
3
2
1
395
1
1
4
1
5
5
5
134
11
276
5
3
260
7
296
4
10
9
8
7
16
7
10
4
Kreisler
1
1
Sibelius
7
7
5
5
2
4
2
4
4
8
6
S
8
4
5
2
4
Ravel
9
R. Strauss
Paderewski
Prokofiev
1
7
5
5
2
4
2
4
8
8
7
6
3
1
1
6
5
3
6
7
3
1
2
2
3
14
8
8
4
10
2
3
2
5
5
3
5
6
5
9
3
Stravinsky
2
7
2
4
2
8
7
Gershwin
9
3
S
9
7
6
7
2
1
1
1
1
2
Rachmaninov
Shostakovich
Schuman,
It
W.
has just been
8
shown
4
229
8
177
10
1
393
2
1
2
264
6
2
5
2
225
9
3
2
1
334
3
3
4
3
72
12
that individual musical tastes differ
do other individual behaviors governed by
Rani
social pressures.
much
as
More-
over, characteristic differences as well as similarities also can be
140
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
detected
among
orchestras.
In
symphony
the programs of the leading American
their
of orchestral
study
careful
idiosyncracies,
Mueller and Hevner have given us a w^ealth of information, from
which are presented here
program
a
few
illustrations of the characteristic
have disclosed. 3^
styles their researches
During its years under Koussevitzky the Boston Symphony Orchestra
,
changed from lowest to highest place in the amount of Russian music
it
presented. But this great organization has never, except for a five-
year period under the batons of French conductors, favored French
music. Moreover,
prisingly
it
has given little attention to
enough when
its
foreign-born personnel
Wagner. And,
is
considered,
always been a proponent of American music Since 1920
.
outstanding leader in the presentation of music of the
it
Philharmonic Orchestra have reflected
it
has
has been an
modern period.
the programs of the
Since the time of Stransky,
sur-
less interest in
New
York
Russian music
than have the programs of the other leading American orchestras.
But they have indicated more than average interest in German music,
an interest held to throughout
World War
I.
French and American
music, on the other hand, have been rather neglected. The program
trends of the sister organization, the
are the
most irregular and
The programs of
this
orchestra have been
American music, but strong
The programs of
weak
in
German and
in French.
the Philadelphia Orchestra have reflected almost
an average interest in the music of
ties,
New York Symphony Orchestra,
difficult to characterize of the entire study.
with the exception of the
interest indicated for the
all
the chief Occidental nationali-
British.
There
is
less
than average
music of Beethoven, Mozart, Mendelssohn,
Handel (except from 192^ to 1930), Schumann, DTndy,
Rachmaninov (except from 191^ to 1920, 1925^ to 1930, and 1937
Liszt,
to 1940), Saint-Saens, Berlioz, and Glazunov.
average attention has been paid
to
In contrast,
more than
Haydn, Bach (up to
1936),
Brahms, Wagner, Debussy, Stravinsky, Sibelius, and Mahler.
141
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
The opera
two
these
in
New York
and Chicago also has been scrutinized by
researchers, with the result that certain characteristics for
each geographic area have been uncovered. This research on the
opera companies and that on the orchestras make
the hierarchy of composer prestige
it
clear that while
roughly similar from one
is
organization to another, conductors, directors, critics, and perhaps
others stamp their individualities on the programs.
Criteria
With
and Conditioners of Taste
C.
Seashore's dictum that beauty consists in artistic
E.
the regular or rigid no
deviations from
illustrations of this
phenomenon
one need quarrel, for
are legion in
all
of the
arts. 3^
The
painter never paints with completely photographic accuracy; the
vocalist
and the
regular
known
violinist
as
make
great use of that deviation from the
But
the vibrato.
if
one should desire to make
specific use of this generalization in forecasting
positions will be accepted and
it
of
little
help.
generation
For what
may not be
a deviation
is
which
will be rejected,
considered an
to
some
he will find
artistic deviation in
so regarded in another.
must be acceptable
which future com-
To be
one
called artistic,
particular culture group.
And the reasons for its acceptance may be difficult to ascertain.
Howes and others have maintained that taste in music is good
whenever one chooses the sincere; avoids the shallow, the
mental, and the cliche; and
emotions. 32
comes
Some
A
not deceived by base motives and
writers have implied that
to appreciate
develops good
is
fact,
142
the listener
and so eventually
taste.
shows that no one can ever
be absolutely certain of a composer's motives
life,
somehow
the composer's motives,
careful examination of this position
of his
senti-
and certainly not from
a
mere
—not even from
a study
scrutiny of his music.
the musical genius often does not understand his
own
In
impulses,
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
and
asked about them will answer with rationalizations of the most
if
unrealistic sort.
hoped
Was Wagner's music
democratic ideals?
Is
we
have with
who
are not of much help to one
And
as for
Wagner
his earlier
boogiewoogie shallow and sentimental per
or because of the associations
clear,
insincere because
would bring him fame, and because he forgot
it
the cliche,
it
it?
These terms,
se,
it is
desires to study taste.
need only be
said that
while there
is
a
tendency to eschew the hackneyed, cliches are matters of personal
may become
experience, and the cliche of one period
music
at
in the
next (and vice versa). Thus, parallel
one time, but became cliches
second period brought on
To
lifted.
a
is
only
now
this
being gradually
the listener born in this century, parallel intervals do not
constitute hackneyed material but
strange.
acceptable
were popular
Their excessive use in
later.
ban which
fifths
Thus Howes's
criteria,
In considering the
we
as alluring
it
and
are forced to conclude, are too
Only the cliche has
subjective for our purposes.
explanatory concept, and even
may be regarded
utility
an
as
has very definite limitations.
phenomena which
are basic to the appreciation
of music, E. H. Staffelbach has stressed the feeling tone he believes
to be implicit in rhythms and auditory sensations; the associations
formed between music and persons,
places, things,
and previously
expressed affective states; the lure of the familiar and the novel; the
stimulation of the imagination; the possibilities of self-expression;
and the pleasures to be derived from the genius and good craftsmanship of composers and performers,
works of these
what
artists,
artists are
from
facts
about the
and from the belief in one's
attempting to express.
33
lives
and
ability to interpret
C. E. Seashore, a pioneer
in the scientific study of music, has said:
Why
it
then do
because
it is
built
selves;
it
it
we
love music?
Among
other things
we
love
creates a physiological well-being in our organism;
from materials which are beautiful objects
carries us
in
them-
through the realms of creative imagination,
143
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
thought, actions, and feelings in limitless art forms;
it is self-
propelling through natural impulses, such as rhythm;
language of emotion, a generator of social fellowship;
us out of the
ideal;
it
isolation
humdrum
life
and makes us
live in play
it
the
takes
with the
our cravings for intellectual conquest, for
satisfies
in
of
is
it
the
of emotion,
attitude
artistic
and for
self-
expression for the joy of expression. 34
Whether or not we agree with
reasons for the love of music,
further review.
theories
It
is
it
all
of these carefully considered
should be clear that the topic needs
time, then, to examine in
which purport
some
to explain the reasons behind
current preferences. The facts of the situation are
still
detail the
some of our
quite unclear.
But sufficient data have already been assembled to prove the great
importance of both formal training and incidental learning
in the
building up of taste norms.
CULTURAL DERIVATIONS.
If taste is
Culturally derived rather
than innate, one would expect to find the taste of the child approxi-
mating more and more closely that of the adult
Such
a
as
he grows older.
convergence does occur in judgments of eminence.
In
one
study in which several groups had been asked to assess the relative
eminence of 92 composers,
only slightly with the
(a rho
of '3 3).
But
a
the musicologists in
more marked
for
a
group of fifth-graders was found to agree
members
of the American Musicological Society
group of sixth-graders was somewhat closer to
its
judgements
(rho of '^2); the similarity
some high-school students
Stanford University sophomores ('79).
(•68), and
still
more
was
for
Musicologists surveyed in
19^1 and college students polled in 195^4 agreed to the extent of a
rho of -77.
Here we see
the groups
become more
In
1
9
1
3
a steady
as
and in training.
Valentine reported on some of his experiments with
British school children. 35
144
climb in the degree of agreement
alike in age
He found
that by age twelve or thirteen
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
there tended to be a decided change in the preferences for tonal
by adults w^ere
intervals, so that the intervals preferred
Another psychologist,
by adolescents.
Dashiell,
also
enjoyed
observed that,
although kindergarten children did not have precisely the adult
preferences for the diatonic intervals, they already rated the thirds
high and the sevenths and seconds low.^^ Aizawa,
who had examined
the songs most enjoyed by Japanese school children, noted that
agreements
and adults increased
in preference of children
school year advanced, being particularly marked
among
as
the
children of
the upper classes. 37
The Kwalwasser-Dykema
of Melodic Taste, in
Test
which 20 items
are considered for their suitability as concluding phrases, can be
employed
yield data
to
While the college
which
reflect
the learning of folkways.
subjects in one study of this test
with the "correct" responses on
showed agreement
out of 20 items, eighth-graders
i£'4.
gave the "correct" responses 13 times, and fifth-graders only i2'2
times on the average.
of Harmonic Sensitivitj
Similarly,
when
were analyzed,
data of the Kwalwasser Test
was found that an unselected
it
group of college students averaged 2^*4 "correct" scores out of
a possible
ages
eighth-graders 24-1, and fifth-graders 2i'2.
35",
became more
similar the responses
became more
As the
like those of
more like the "correct" responses.
In the areas of tempo and rhythm, it is noteworthy that subjects
show consistent preferences, but differ considerably among them-
the experts,
selves. 3^
i.e.
Although
consistency"
is
mentioned data
one writer
feels
that
this
the result of inheritance, 39 there are the previously
(p. 9)
which
show
clearly
that
are in part functions of cultural conditioning.
recalled,
proceeds
"intra-individual
tempo preferences
Foley,
it
will be
found that subjects studying trades in which activity
at a
slow pace,
those working with
preferred a
e.g.,
dressmaking, favored andante tempo;
power machines,
fast allegro
a
slow allegro; while
his typists
bordering on presto. "^^ Other experimenters
14^
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
(p.
69) have found that college students prefer their waltzes to be
played at about the speed they have heard them rendered traditionally.
In fact, these students have demonstrated a sort of absolute
or positive tempo quite comparable to absolute pitch.
Somevs^hat similar to the w^ork of Foley, but broader in
was the study by Schuessler.^^
its
scope,
Eight phonograph recordings w^ere
played to large groups of subjects
who had been
occupation into six job
On
levels.
which Schuessler employed, great
divided according to
the live-point preference scale
differences of scores appeared.
CLIMATIC CYCLES AND TASTE.
According to one of the
climatic determinists, R. H. Wheeler, world climate fluctuates "in
rhythms within rhythms which tend to follow multiples of the sunspot cycle of II'
years. "4^
3
Whether long or
short, these
rhythms
"tend to follow a similar pattern of phase sequences, the phases
being cold-dry, warm-wet, warm-dry, cold-wet, then cold-dry again,
in that order."
Phases of
warm weather
are supposed to bring into
being musical taste for (and so creativity in the area of) the serious
opera, the symphony, the sonata, the concerto,
chamber music,
swing, jazz syncopation, masses, anthems, oratorios, dissonance, and
atonality.
Warm
weather
is
also said to
Cold
choruses, orchestras, and bands.
somehow put
operas,
be conducive to the
spells,
rise
of
on the other hand,
us temperamentally in tune with light and comic
program music, tone poems,
and counterpoint
—according
to the
folk music, ballads, madrigals,
Wheeler doctrine. During cold
periods occur the heyday of Castrati and musicology
"golden ages" of music were neither
warm nor
!
However, the
cold, but
were rather
periods of transition from cold to warm.
Wheeler holds
that
we
are
now
in a
cold-wet phase which
not leave until 2000 or 2010 except for
this
decade or the
1830; the
146
last
1
960's.
warm
Our
last
a ten-year
warm
we
will
period in
previous cold phase began around
period about 1900.
Since such swings are held
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
we need merely
by Wheeler to be the rule of nature, he beUeves that
to study weather cycles to forecast the taste of any future time period.
The only escape from
says, to
No
would seem, he
these predetermined swings
be in universal air-conditioning.
scientist
would dare
say that the
eventually be found to have
some very
surprising, to say the least,
if
changes the
vs^orld has
Wheeler doctrine may not
slight validity.
Yet
it
would be
the relatively insignificant temperature
endured during the past
few^ centuries should
have caused huge changes in aesthetic interests and taste while the
Minnesota and California are
far greater climatic differences of, say,
apparently unrelated to musical taste.
TASTE CREATED BY THE STATE.
It
is
popular to believe that good taste in music
becoming increasingly
is
indicated by special
Some
reverence for those compositions which mirror the times.
would go
so far as to say that
that type of music
"good" causes.
which has
Ordinarily,
good
a
taste insures the
honoring of only
propaganda value for the furthering of
little is
done to promote the acceptance
of compositions which are so regarded. In lands under police control,
however,
positions
this
doctrine
which are
is
often so rigidly enforced that only
felt to
com-
mirror the times or which follow the
state's
approved pattern can be heard. 43 The
fact that the leaders
may be
deluding themselves
or propaganda worth
as to the timeliness
of their approved compositions
beside the point.
is
musical works can be heard, and
it is
healthier to
to laugh at them, they will quite likely
masses. 44
This
TRAINING.
is
one way to create
Little
by
little,
come
to
If
only certain
honor these than
be accepted by the
taste.
data are being accumulated
which
demonstrate the potency of both auditory and visual training in the
creation of musical taste. 45 As Tyler 4^ and C. L. Stone 47 have shown,
we
are trained to think of music in terms of stereotypes.
Even the
147
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
been taught to
relatively unsophisticated college student has
names of Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert
position.
music he associates with the
Italian
The
chapters also
airy,
German music
studies reported in previous
of training in stereotyped thinkina.
tell
the
com-
and the
light
Russian music w^ith the somber and the gloomy, and
with the heavy and the philosophic.
tie
to certain styles of
For American
grade-school children surely have few facts to go on
when
Beethoven and Bach so high on their eminence
They answer not
from deep conviction, but rather
The
situation
Lincoln
J.
Stone
and
4^
W.
lists
Robinson
war music.
War, the
lists.
accordance with their teaching.
analogous to their placing of Jesus, Washington, and
the top of their
at
aspects of
Civil
is
in
of the most eminent
49
of
all
time.
have studied the sociopsychological
soldiers' songs reflected their
common
traditions and
Although noting that each war to some
extent mirrors the times, Robinson stresses the
wars sing about: bad food, insect
all
men
Stone points out that during the American
not their war alignments.
soldiers of
they place
common
subjects
war
terrors,
pests,
the enemy, sweethearts and other loved ones, and the desire to return
home.
Gardner and Pickford have demonstrated by experiment what
absolutists have difficulty in understanding: that perceived dissonance
varies
with (i) the listener's experience, training, and traditions,
and (2) the musical "intent" of the passage
as a
5°
(3) the physical composition of the chord.
listener's recent experiences
experiment
L' Histoire
in
du
sophomores.
on enjoyment has
which Beethoven's
Sold at
Fifth
were presented
to
whole,
The
also
as
well as
effect
of the
been shown
Symphony and Stravinsky's
several groups of college
When the playing of the Beethoven composition preceded
that of the Stravinsky, the professed enjoyment-ratings
and 27'4 respectively
enjoyment").
When
for the Stravinsky
148
in an
(a
were 73-8
rating of 100 equaled "greatest possible
the order was reversed, the values
number, and
79-
1
became
for Beethoven's Fifth.
34*5^
Note the
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
when it followed the better
latter when it was played second.
depressive effect on the less enjoyed
liked,
and the enhancement of the
Wiebe found
that the extensive playing of popular songs over the
radio did not appear to increase his student subjects' liking for them.^^
However, lack of "plugging" seemed
preference.
WNYC
have done
much
in a decrease
result
of
that the broadcasts of radio station
to develop an interest in
music among
its
and to establish taste norms. 5^ The broadcasts make music
listeners
more
Suchman concluded
to
accessible; they extend the range of musical experience; they
repeat the musical stimuli; they supply commentators and, on occasion,
program notes53 and other educational
liability
ment
which may be inherent
A
literature.
in radio taste training
is
possible
the develop-
of a dependent attitude of listening attentively only to
positions
com-
which are sponsored by the broadcasters of the favored
radio station.
A number
of researchers have attempted to telescope history by
forcing their subjects to hear the same musical stimuli
within a relatively short period.
several studies are not in
54
many times
Although the conclusions of the
complete agreement,
that a composition with little variety reaches
seems
safe to say
maximum
acceptance
it
quickly, and then as speedily declines in popularity.
Music with
more complexity tends to gain acceptance more slowly and to
become hackneyed less rapidly. In one paper it has been suggested
that the continuous repetition of musical material has a stronger
effect
on the
listener than
hearings. 55 Mull has
made
would the same number of well-spaced
the interesting discovery that the preferred
parts of musical compositions tend to
Since the spread of preference usually
become
is
larger
greater at the anterior end
of the focal region, Mull has suggested that this
a case of
"Might
it
what psychologists
on rehearing. 5^
phenomenon may be
call "goal gradient."
As she phrases
it:
not be that learning to like a composition has features
similar to those involved in an animal's learning to run a
maze
—
that
149
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
is
in the case of
to say,
our experiment, an original high spot
(corresponding to the maze goal)
may be
thereafter anticipated and
extend backward? Thus, pleasure would actually
a pleasure gradient
spread from a focus, rather than appear de novo.
reached, there would be relaxation of interest
Once the climax is
and some tendency
for the pleasure to drop off."
A
peculiar situation has developed in the area of phonograph and
radio listening, in
which tones of relatively "poor"
quality, i.e.,
timbres unlike those of the "live" instruments, are
at
with
present pre-
ferred to those of more realistic quality. Apparently, long-continued,
informal training
the responsible agent.
is
set of taste habits for listening to the
another to function
when
We
have developed one
phonograph and the
in the presence of orchestral instruments. 57
Chinn and Eisenberg, two of the investigators of
have shown that
this
type of preference
is
this
phenomenon,
found among the musically
sophisticated as well as the naive, and persists even
is
radio, and
when
the listener
told that a wider tonal band yields tones closer to the sounds of
real life. 5^
Until recently the lay preference has been for an un-
usually strong emphasis
from the
on the
bass.
Presumably
fact that the engineers early
this
preference arose
achieved reasonable realism in
the lower tonal ranges but have only recently brought in the very
high frequencies.
As
a
matter of
fact,
the early attempts of
RCA
Victor to produce "high fidelity" led to such poor audience response
that this manufacturer continued for
bass.
However, with "high
lovers,
years with an overloaded
now
an essential for
all
music
one might guess that there will shortly appear an equally
extreme
The
fidelity"
some
taste for
an overloaded treble.
Hi-Fi Hall, with
its
incredibly short reverberation time,
necessitates further taste adjustments. 59
Long accustomed
deadening effects of most auditoriums, the listener
to react to greater brilliance, to tone that
While the
hi-fi
is
is
to the
here called upon
"acoustically naked."
enthusiast has little difficulty in learning to appreciate
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
persons
this "drier" effect,
^
somewhat
at first
Some
can
call
more attuned
more
up than to the music
said to
^'^
Schoen terms
if
there
is
its
this
group into
great concern with the objective features of
moods,
the attention
if
changes within the listener's
own
is
on
real or apparent
body, and "character,"
if
the
music
itself.
divides this group into "sensorial" and "perceptual."
While
listener imputes
these classifications
may
traits,
to
and
activities to the
some readers look
suspiciously like fixed
clearly not the intent of these theorists to create typo-
types,
it is
logies.
They
are, rather,
emphasizing the different things people have
learned to "see" in music and they realize
listeners
sort
Such persons are often
have taste of a high order. Myers subdivides
Ortmann
extreme
Myers "associative,"^^ and Ortmann
calls "intrinsic" listeners.
the music, "intrasubjective,"
We
this
Those who pay more attention to the music than to
Schoen
"objective,"
sets are
attention to the associations music
itself.
of response "extrinsic" listening,
"imaginal."^^
home
startled, to say the least.
of us learn to pay
associations
to the older
full
well that few
if
any
belong to a single category.
hardly need proof to be certain that taste develops out of
experiences gained in home, church, club, and school, and out of
contacts with the concert stage, recordings, the radio, and the printed
page. These agencies of education, propaganda, and censorship force
us to revere certain composers and their compositions, and to take less
seriously other
men and their works. We come to have several standards
of taste: for the concert stage, for the dance hall, ^3 for church, and for
school
—
to
mention some of the more important. Age,
and special training are important variables
formation. ^4 But
it is
difficult to
be
specific
intelligence,
in this process of taste
about
all this
since there
seems to be a great difference between taste as it is observed in everyday
life
If
and the sort of
we
taste
people are willing to admit they possess. ^5
take as our aim the inculcation in our children of the
standards of taste that adults of our culture regard as "good," checks
^S^
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
on the success of
endeavor with groups of children can be made
this
through the use oftaste and attitudinal tests, interviews, and operational
methodologies. Care should be taken, however, that the standards
set
up are not made too narrow, and
absolute and unchangeable.
toward the widening of the
For
that they are not thought of as
training
if taste
is
to be directed
enjoyment of music,
possibilities for the
it
would seem obvious that a standard of taste which embraces only a few
composers of top eminence will be
less effective
standard which leads to an interest in
many
than a
styles of
more
catholic
composition.
Summary
The
first thesis
considered in this chapter was,
matter of whimsey or
clear
—
taste
is
it
is
lawful.
It
in
"Is
musical taste a
some way lawful?" The answer was
was noted that the musically
have
elite
surprisingly similar tastes in their selections of eminent composers.
Even more surprising
exist
among
shared,
elite
also
and the
as
the high agreement on eminence found to
lay public alike.
forming
at least
must be mentioned
And,
if
knowledge of composers
one facet of musical
as lawful,
taste,
is
of other similarly chosen samples.
is
knowledge
man known well
be equally well known
for a
segment of the population tends to
members
Enjoyment, too,
the music of certain composers given top billing by the
vs^ith
accepted
is
college and high-school groups.
to
one
to the
Analyses of musicians'
nonverbal behavior further attest to the fact that musical taste
is
not
whimsical. Thus, the composers whose works are most recorded
and appear most often on the programs of symphony orchestras
with few exceptions, those regarded
they are likely to be the
as
most eminent.
men whose biographical
are,
Moreover,
sketches occupy most
space in histories of music and in general and music encyclopedias.
The second question
the chapter posed was that of learning whether
the laws oftaste are absolute or relative.
1^2
Here, too, the answer was
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
unequivocal. Taste follows no absolute, metaphysical rules.
even
as
if
they
among
natural science variables are
may
well be
—
the determiners of taste
must be
their importance
And
slight at best.
All
the evidence so far gathered points rather to the rejatiyity of taste,
to the fact that
it is
culture-bound, not culture-free. The descrip-
tions sociology gives of
mores
most
taste
fit
Change with
exactly.
'
training and individual differences in the acceptance of standards,
both characteristics of musical
folkways.
The teaching of
taste,
are earmarks of
then,
taste,
is
mores and
essentially a process of
indoctrination, and the material to be learned differs
somewhat from
culture to culture and from period to period.
Notes
i]
D. D. Runes, ed., The Dictionary of Philosophy, N.Y., Philosophical Library, 1942.
2]
M.
F.
Meyer, The Musician's
Arithmetic, p.
3]
Ibid., p. 81.
4]
P. R. Farnsworth, "Aesthetic Behavior
109.
and Astrology," Char, and
Person.,
6 (1938):
33J-340S]
The reader who enjoys
interesting articles by
speculations based on physics and neurology
N. Rashevsky, "Suggestions for
a
is
referred to the
Mathematical Biophysics of
Auditory Perception with Special Reference to the Theory of Aesthetic Ratings of
Combinations of Musical Tones," Bull. Math. Biophjsics, 4 (1942): 27-32; "An Alternate
Approach to the Mathematical Biophysics of Perception of Combinations of Musical
Tones," op.
cit.,
pp. 89—90.
6]
See Chapter 4 of A. Einstein's Greatness
7]
P.
in Music,
N.Y., Oxford U. Press, 1941.
R. Farnsworth, "The Musical Taste of an American Musical Elite," Hinrichsen's
Musical Year Book, 7 (19^2): 11 2— 116.
8]
P.
R. Farnsworth, "Stereotypes in the Field of Musical Eminence," Genet. Psychol.
Monog., 24 (1941): 347-381; "Musical Eminence," Sch. and Soc, £0 (1939): 1^8-160.
9]
I
o]
P. R. Farnsworth, Musical Taste, Stanford, Calif., Stanford
When it is
ments, each
is
U. Press,
desired to find the degree of correspondence between
ranked and an index of relationship
is
i9i'o.
two
figured. This value
sets of
may
measure-
vary from
I* 00 (which shows the rank orders to be identically arranged) through o (where there is
no correspondence) to — i-oo (where the two rank orders are inversely arranged; the
highest name in one array is lowest in the other). The rho of -97 indicates that the two
1^3
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
piles
were ordered very
regarded
1
1]
Unless otherwise designated the
similarly.
Unless otherwise stated,
it is
to be
method was employed, and
1938 survey formed the
list
2]
3]
all
to be
that the 92
names mentioned
in the
of items to be correlated.
names are offered with no thought that the number nine
The number is kept constant only for the sake of uniformity.
In these tables, the nine top
has any particular significance.
I
are
assumed that wherever coefficients of correlation
are mentioned the rank
1
r/io's
as positive.
For a discussion of
how
jazz experts regard the
music, see the annual polls in Down Beat (the
first
contemporary performers of
jazz
of which was in 195^3), or Metronome'
"All-Star" polls.
14]
R. Farnsworth, "Musical Eminence and Year of Birth," J. Aesth., 4 (1945):
P.
107—109.
I
j]
When
the birth years of a group of composers are arranged in order from
remote to most recent, the middle birth year
is
any other contains birth dates of composers
the mode.
16]
is
the median. That year
most
which more than
These data were gathered through the courtesy of Dr R. Granneberg, of the San
Francisco City College.
17]
Alfred
Chronicle,
Frankenstein,
February
"What People Think They Should Think," San
During the spring of 1947 A.
1941.
2,
F. Michaelis, the
Francisco
program
manager of the (California) Standard Oil Company's "The Standard Hour," conducted a
survey
among
the listeners to this regular
NBC
Sunday evening broadcast. The 8000
who
returned their questionnaires voted Beethoven the most popular composer. The next
few
in
descending order of popular regard were Tchaikovsky,
Wagner, and Johann
Gershwin's Rhapsodj
Strauss.
in Blue.
by Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker
18]
E.
Chopin,
Suite
and Chopin's Polonaise
Militaire.
E. E. Folgmann, "An Experimental Study of Composer- Preference of Four
Outstanding Symphony Orchestras,"
19]
Gershwin,
The most frequently requested of all compositions was
Beethoven's Fifth Symphony came a close second, followed
y. Exp. Psychol.,
16 (1933): 709-724.
H. K. Mull, "Preferred Regions in Music Compositions and the Effect of Repetition
J. Psjchol., S3 (1940): 5^83-^:86; G. Marill and H. K. Mull, "A
Further Study of Preferred Regions in Musical Compositions and the Effect of Repetition
upon Them," Amer.
upon Them,"
20]
W.
S.
y4mer. J. Psjchol.,
Foster and
SS ('942): iio-iii.
M. A. Tinker,
Experiments in Psychology, rev. ed., N.Y., Holt, 1929,
p. 316.
21]
P.
R. Farnsworth, "Studies in the Psychology of Tone and Music," Genet. Psjchol.
Monog., IS, No.
i
(1934): 24-30.
See also O.
W.
Eagleson and L. E. Taylor,
Group of Negro Women," J. Exp.
and "The Preference of Twenty-five Negro College Women
of Chord Preference in a
J. Exp. Psjchol.,
22]
i
28 (1941): 439-442.
P. R. Farnsworth,
"An
Kwalwasser Test Battery,"
1^4
"A Study
26 (1940): 619—62
for Major and Minor Chords,"
Psychol.,
Historical, Critical, and Experimental Study of the SeashoreGenet. Psjchol. Monog., 9,
No.
^ (193 i):
291—393.
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
P. R. Farnsworth, "Studies in the
23]
Monog., IS, No.
The
24]
subjects
Psychology of Tone and Music," Genet. Psychol.
(1934): 50-84.
i
were asked
to
check
all
names they were certain they recognized. The
number of
scoring was the simple procedure of tabulating the
25]
votes each
name
received.
H. Mueller and Kate Hevner, "Trends in Musical Taste," Indiana U. Publ.,
J.
Humanity
Ser.,
See also
Press.
No.
J.
8
(1942), p. 59. Reproduced by permission of the Indiana University
H. Mueller's The American Symphony
Orchestra, a Social History of Musical
Bloomington, Indiana U. Press, 1951, and D. Nash's "The Construction of the
Taste,
Repertoire of a Symphony Orchestra," Thesis, U. of Washington, 1950.
These broadcast programs were obtained through the courtesy of R. R. Gros, an
26]
official
27]
of the company.
J.
H. Mueller and Kate Hevner,
op.
cit.
28] J. H. Mueller, "Methods of Measurement of Aesthetic Folkways," Amer. J. Social., 57,
No. 4 (1946): 276—282. See also the more recent orchestral data in Chapter 4 of Mueller's
The American Sjmphonj Orchestra.
Kaplan, "Telopractice:
For data on social roles within the orchestra see M.
A Symphony
Orchestra
as
It
Prepares for a Concert," Soc. Forces,
33 {^9SS)- 3S^-iSSIn the case of certain of the histories
29]
where the space technique could not be
number of page mentions the composer
followed, the score was based on the relative
received.
30]
J.
H. Mueller and Kate Hevner, "Trends
Musical Taste."
in
Further data can be
obtained in Mueller's article, "Methods of Measurement of Aesthetic Folkways."
C. E. Seashore, Psychology oj Music, N.Y., McGraw-Hill, 1938, p. 267.
31]
According
to L. Vernon, pianists play at least one-half of their chords asynchronously ("Synchronization of Chords in Artistic Piano Music," U. of
W.
See also
la. Stud. Psychol.
H. Lichte's "One Man's Preferred
Mus., 4 (1936): 306-345).
Fifth," Amer. J.
Psychol.,
68 (1955):
312-315.
32]
F.
33]
E.
Howes, The Borderland of Music and
Psychology,
London, Kegan Paul, 1926.
H. Staffelbach, "The Psychology of Music Appreciation," School Musician,
2<)
(1928): 9-13.
34]
C. E. Seashore,
35]
C.
W.
and Adults,"
36]
J. F.
Why We
Love Music, Philadelphia, Ditson, 1941, p. 9.
Valentine, "The Aesthetic Appreciation of Musical Intervals
Brit. J. Psychol.,
among Children
6 (1913): 190-216.
Dashiell, "Children's Sense of
Harmonies
in
Colors and Tones," J. Exp. Psychol.,
2 (1917): 466-47^37]
1 1
M. Aizawa, "The Musical
38]
T.
W.
Harrell, "Factors Influencing Preference and
J. Gen. Psychol., IJ (1937):
39]
1
Taste of School Children," Tohoku Psychol. Folia, 6 (1938):
1-126.
I.
Memory
for Auditory
Rhythm,"
63-104.
Frischeisen-Kohler, "The Personal
Tempo
and
Its
Inheritance," Char, and Person.,
(1933): 301-313-
^55
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
40]
/.
Foley
J. P.
41]
K.
Jr.,
"The Occupational Conditioning of
12 (1940):
Soc. Psychol.,
I
Background and Musical Taste," Amer.
F. Schuessler, "Social
330—33^. For
Preferential Auditory
Tempo,"
21-129.
the preference for popular music during 1942, see
Music," in Radio Research 1^42-43, P.
J.
Social. Rev.,
13 (1948):
and urban-rural differences in
a study of age, sex, regional, educational
G. Peatman, "Radio and Popular
Lazarsfeld and F. Stanton, eds., N.Y., Duell,
F.
Sloan and Pearce, 1944.
42]
R. H. Wheeler, "Climate and
Human
Behavior," in P.
L.
Harriman, ed..
The
N.Y., Philosophical Library, 1946, pp. 78-86; R. H. Wheeler
and T. Gaston, "The History of Music in Relation to Climatic and Cultural Fluctuations,"
Encyclopedia of Psychology
in Mus.
43]
,
Teach. Nat. Assoc. Proc. 1940, pp.
An example
number
"advice" given a
432-438.
of a governmental determination of taste can be seen in the
of the leading composers of the
USSR, February
lo,
official
1948.
pronouncement and the composers' answ^ering statethe American Russian Institute's pamphlet, On Soviet Music, published in
Translations of the governmental
ments appear
May
44]
in
1948, in Hollywood.
The
task of an officially constituted
committee on musical standards
the tendency of the masses to accept what the "experts" claim
experiment on the
effect of expert opinion
on musical
M.
J.
Keston and
easier
by
H. T. Moore, "The
Psychol.,
32 (192
1):
16—20.
Pinto, "Possible Factors Influencing Musical Preference,"
"An Exploratory Study
L. E. Tyler,
Psychol.,
M.
made
86 (19^5): loi — 113.
J. Genet. Psychol.,
46]
I.
is
"good music." For an
taste see
Comparative Influence of Majority and Expert Opinion," y4mer. J.
4^]
is
of Discrimination of
Composer
Style," J. Gen.
34 (1946): 153-163.
47]
C. L. Stone, "Identification of Nationality in Music," Psychol. Bull., 35 (1937): 7^6.
48]
J.
Stone,
"War Music and War Psychology
in the Civil
War,"y. Abn.
Soc. Psychol.,
36
(1941): 543-560.
49]
W.
U. of
50]
Robinson,
Calif. Press,
P. A.
"War
Songs of America," in Writers Congress, Proceedings, Berkeley,
1944, pp. 284-304.
Gardner and R.
W.
Pickford, "Relation between Dissonance and Context,"
For a study of the
Nature (London), 1^4 (1944): 274-275.
playing Bach and jazz in the
effects
same program see G. D. Williams, "The
Appearance on the Appreciation of Musical Selections,"
J.
Gen.
on appreciation of
Effect of
Psychol.,
Order of
2J (1942):
295-310.
51]
G. Wiebe, "The Effect of Radio Plugging on Students' Opinions of Popular Songs,"
]. Appl. Psychol.,
52]
E. A.
24 (1940): 721-727.
Suchman, "Invitation
to Music:
by the Radio," in Radio Research 1941, P.
A
Study of the Creation of
F. Lazarsfeld
and
New Music
F. Stanton, eds.,
Listeners
N.Y., Duell,
Sloan and Pearce, 1941.
53]
For an experiment on the effectiveness of program notes see G. D. Williams, "The
Effect of
Program Notes on the Enjoyment of Musical
(1943), 261-279.
iS6
Selections," J. Gen. Psjchol., 29
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL TASTE
^4]
H. T. Moore, "The Genetic Aspect of Consonance and Dissonance,"
IJ (1914): 1-68; M.
F.
Washburn
"The
et al.,
Effects of
Psychol. Monog.,
Immediate Repetition on the
Pleasantness or Unpleasantness of Music," in The Ejfects of Music, N.Y., Harcourt, Brace,
1927, Chap. 10; A. R. Gilliland and H. T. Moore, "The Immediate and Long-time Effects
of Classical and Popular Phonograph Selections," J. Appl. Psjchol., 8 (1924): 309-323;
H. E. Krugman, "Affective Response to Music as a Function of Familiarity," J. Ahn. Soc.
38 (1943): 388-392; J. E. Downey and G. E. Knapp, "The Effect on a Musical
Progrannme of Familiarity and of Sequence of Selections," in The Effects of Music, Chap, 2
H. K. Mull, "The Effect of Repetition upon the Enjoyment of Modern Music, "J. Psychol.,
Psjchol.,
i
;
43 (1957): i?5-i62.
£S]
M. Verveer,
E.
"Change
et al.,
in Affectivity
with Repetition,"
Arner. J. Psychol.,
45
(1933): 130-134^6]
H. K. Mull, "Preferred Regions
upon Them," Amer.
conception
as it
in Musical
Compositions and the Effect of Repetition
S3 (1940): 5^83-^86. For further data on the gradient
applies to music, see G. H. S. Razran's "Studies in Configurational
J. Psjchol.,
Conditioning. VII: Ratios and Elements in Salivary Conditioning to Various Musical
Intervals," Psychol. Rec, 2 (1938):
Sj]
This suggestion
acoustic
filter
370—376.
supported by a study by H. F. Olson,
is
who found
that
when
was placed between sound and audience the preference was for
frequency range. ("Frequency Range Preference for Speech and Music,"
an
all-
a full
J. Acoust. Soc.
Amer., 19 (1947): SA9-SSS-)
58]
H. A. Chinn and P. Eisenberg, "Tonal Range and Sound-intensity Preferences of
Broadcast Listeners,"
Radio Eng., Proc, 33 (194^), ^71-581.
Inst.
j9]
"The new sound,"
60]
M. Schoen, "The
Time, 66,
No. 26 {1955): 40.
Aesthetic Attitude in Music," Psjchol. Monog., 3g (1928): 162-184.
See also P. E. Vernon, "The Phenomena of Attention and Visualization in the Psychology
of Musical Appreciation,"
61]
C.
S.
21 (1930): 50-63.
Brit. J. Psjchol.,
Myers, "Individual Differences in Listening to Music,"
Brit. J.
Psychol.,
13
(1922): 52-71.
62]
O. Ortmann, "The Sensorial
Basis
of Music Appreciation," J.
Comp.
Psjchol.,
2
(1922): 227-256.
63]
J.
E.
Eggen, "A Behavioristic Interpretation of Jazz," Psjchol. Rev., 33 (1926)
571-581.
64]
G. Rubin-Rabson, "The Influence of Age, Intelligence, and Training on Reactions to
Classic
and Modern Music,"
J. Gen. Psjchol.,
Experimental Study of the Factors Involved
Thesis,
Columbia U., 193
i
M.
;
J.
Keston,
22 (1940): 413-429; E. G. Plotkin, "An
in the Appreciation of Standard Music,"
"An Experimental Evaluation of the
Efficiency
Two Methods
of Teaching Music Appreciation," J. Exp. Ed., 22 (1954): 215-226. For
an experiment on increasing tolerance with age, see P. R. Farnsworth, "Changes in
of
Musical Taste," J. Musical.,
65]
1
(1939): 1-4.
R. L. Fisher, "Preferences of Different Age and Socio-economic Groups in Un-
structured Musical Situations," J. Soc. Psychol., 33 (1951): 147-152.
iS7
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Measures
We
have seen that
siderable stability.
like other social
of Musical Taste
taste,
Moreover,
A
its
it
several manifestations, has con-
has been
shown
that taste behaves
phenomena of our culture and not
obeying some absolute law.^
ment
in
It is
now
were
as if it
time to consider the measure-
of taste, the problem of the current chapter.
Variety of Measures
Experience has shown that no one measure of musical taste can
hope
to tap the
ensemble or
totality of preferences.
Several pro-
cedures, then, are needed, each to paint a partial picture.
the measures
we
many
are about to describe are of
Though
different types,
they can for convenience be divided into two main categories
(i) the formal tests, and (2) the approaches
such standardized procedures. The
which do not employ
tests, in turn,
auditory and the purely paper-and-pencil types.
can be
The
less
split into
the
standardized
—the
methods include the techniques discussed in the previous chapter
interview and the counting of ballots, the measurement of space
allocations,^
and the analysis of programs
phonograph record
1^8
listings.
—
as
well as the tabulation of
THE MEASURES OF MUSICAL TASTE
Auditory Tests
One
of the earliest of the standardized music tests was Columbia
record number
A 7^39,
designed by C. E, Seashore as a measure of
the "sense of consonance," rather than
as a test
of taste. 3
However,
the directions proved to be impossible of execution, and the term
"consonance" was seen to be so ambiguous that the
from the
later revision of the Seashore battery.
test
The record
been more suitably employed by some researchers
test for tonal intervals.
was dropped
as a
has since
preference
In giving the test, go sets of simultaneous
dyads are presented in pairs, with the second of each pair to be
judged
as "better"
measure
of
'65"
is,
by
or "worse" than the
first.
As the
reliability of the
a very conservative estimate, only in the
for adults and considerably
be limited to group work. 4
reliability figure,
low
It
lower for children,
neighborhood
its
use should
should be noted, however, that
as it is, at least equals the values
this
reported for a
number of the other tonal appreciation tests.
The early Kwalwasser battery consists of two tests of 35^ items
each. The Melodic Sensitivity Test presents two-measure melodic
progressions, and the Harmonic Sensitivity
progressions of three chords each.
The
Test presents
harmonic
stimuli are to be rated as
"good" or "bad."
Bad melodic progressions result from the following: bad
resolutions, incompatible tones,
awkward rhythms,
failure to
turn after a wide skip, lack of design or purposiveness, distorted
balance, incompleteness of
melody or rhythm,
etc.
Authorities
agree that bad harmonic effects result from parallel
octaves,
wrong
doublings, bad-sounding voice
fifths
and
movement, bad
part omissions, digressions, unprepared modulations, unresolved
dissonances, voice distribution over too
wide
a range, etc.
Scores on these two Kwalwasser tests intercorrelate best at the
fifth-grade level
with
a value of '40.
The corresponding value
for the
i5"9
THE MEASURES OF MUSICAL TASTE
eighth grade
•42
-29, and for college, '24.
is
and -21
(adult level),
these
two
With
reliabilities of
must be rated
tests
only
as
questionable value, except possibly for studying group trends.
of
The
have the disadvantage of offering stimuli which are completely
tests
out of musical context and of scoring the answers on the basis of
rules
other
from
a
past.
To
a greater or lesser extent
many
of the
described below suffer similarly.
tests
The
now
day
Kwalwasser-Dykema battery has among
later
appear to be directly concerned with
The
taste.
its tests
two
that
Melodic Taste Test
measures, "on the basis of general music appeal, sensitiveness to
structure, balance, and phrase compatibility."^ Each test item consists
of two melodies of two phrases each.
two melodies
latter are to
The
are identical, but the
be compared for their
test has only 10 items.
allow the test
The second
much
test
As
this
The opening phrases of the
second ones are unlike. The
suitability as
number
concluding phrases.
of stimuli
reliability, its usefulness
is
is
too small to
definitely limited,
having to do with taste, the measure of Tonal
Movement, offers 30 patterns, each consisting of four tones.
patterns are incomplete melodically, and
mentally a
below
it.
fifth
With
statistically
tone, reporting whether
its
reliability
the best of the
K-D
th,e
it is
above the fourth tone or
for adults in the -So's,
battery.
There
is
One
this
test
tests,
and the
show only chance resemblances.
of the earliest tests of appreciation which employed music
the one by Courtis, in which the child
is
asked to recognize
and rhythmic movements. Typical of the directions
is
160
how
the music says John
felt.^
is
moods
the following:
It was Saturday morning and the sun was shining.
John's
mother gave him a pail and sent him into the woods to pick
berries. The music will tell you how John felt about going.
Listen to the selection and underline the words which best
express
is
a correlation of '40
between the scores of college students on the two K-D
scores of grade-school children
The
must supply
listener
THE MEASURES OF MUSICAL TASTE
After listening to approximately 30 seconds of Victor record
number 747 11
745"8
1
(Serenade Melancolique)
(Perpetual Motion), the child states
felt glad, sorry, angry, or busy.
However,
little reliability.
The
or
seconds of
25^
whether he thinks
test
is
number
that
John
very short, and so has
for training purposes
it
may have
a real
function.
A
somewhat the same
higher-level test with
Schultz Test of Listening Power
test, it calls for
in Music.^
basic idea
Admittedly more than
the playing of phonograph discs followed by
choice questions similar to those in achievement
range from 7 ^ for junior high-school students to
•
Another
•
8
of tonal-rhythmic configurations,"
is
the
multiple-
tests. Reliabilities
for college adults.
i
along these lines, which "seeks to show.
test
3 2
is
a taste
.awareness
.
the Gaston Test of Musicalitj^^
Themes from 20 selected w^orks constitute the Gernet Music
The compositions include both "serious" music and
Preference Test.^^
jazz.
The
electrically transcribed stimuli are arran2;ed in pairs for
simple preference judgments, forming a test which has a reported
reliability oi
'
££.
Themes from 20
Musical Moods
selected
Test.'^^
The items of
seventh- and eighth-graders,
whose answers
No
little relation to
A
similar
also the
elements of the Bower
which was arranged
this test,
were prejudged by
1
7
more
sets of adjectives
reliability data are
for
music instructors,
are assumed to be the correct ones.
designate the one or
the themes.
works are
The
task
is
to
which describe each of
reported for
this test,
which has
the so-called "tonal capacity" tests,
measure
is
the Keston Music Preference
Test, in
which 120
musical excerpts, 4^ seconds in length, are arranged for judging in
groups of four. ^3 Twelve "music authorities" decided the relative
worth of each excerpt.
As was to have been expected, the twelve
rated the "serious classics" as best and the swin^ as worst.
Keston Music Recognition Test, the subject
is
asked to match
In the
a list
of
34 composers with 30 snatches of "serious" music.
161
THE MEASURES OF MUSICAL TASTE
The
Adler Music Appreciation Tests present compositions by Brahms,
Chopin, Mozart, Rameau, Ravel, and Weber, recorded on playerpiano rolls /4
Besides the original version of each piece there are
three distorted forms
The
.
—
a sentimental, a dull,
and
a chaotic version.
subject indicates w^hich are his most and least preferred versions,
and attempts to guess the names of the composers.
Phonograph records give the stimuli for the Mohler
Measuring Judgment of Orchestral Music.
and serious music, prejudged
as
^^
assembled into groups, whose small
more than
-^i.
The measure
is
Semeonoff, following the
has also offered sets of
preference judgment, ^^
In
were
of historic interest only, as
several of the record discs are unavailable.
Mohler procedure,
critics,
precludes a reliability of
size
now
for
Sixteen compositions of jazz
merit by 368
to
Scales
one study he
phonograph records for
also asked his subjects to
check from four possible interpretations the
mood
intended by the
composer.
An
ambitious attempt to measure musical taste has been
made by
R. B. Cattell and D. R. Saunders. ^7 Snatches of 120 compositions,
averaging 20 seconds in length, were given to 188 persons confined
to a mental hospital and to 196
data
were
factor
who were assumed
to be normal.
analyzed and eleven factors were teased out.
Unfortunately, the phonograph recording was badly done.
can be assumed that
this
subjects' judgments, and
of interest.
One
factor
structure,
But
if it
many will
have meaning, the data become
can be further granted
all
(as
was found to concern liking for popular
rhythmical
emphasis,
fast
tempo,
individual
interpretation, discordant harmonies, and joyful but agitated
A
if it
imperfection did not unduly affect the
not grant) that the emerging factors
jazz-like
The
second factor apparently involved "an attachment to
mood,
classical
music, of a sentimental, introspective but cheerful nature, with a
tendency to color harmonies,"
liking for
162
"warmth and
Another factor seemed to
stress a
gentleness," and another a preference for
THE MEASURES OF MUSICAL TASTE
"lush, romantic, fairly conventional harmonies,
nature of
The
with a flourish." The
other additional factors was not entirely clear.
still
easier of the Oregon Music Discrimination Tests (constructed
Kate Hevner and
J.
L. Landsbury) can
by
be used to learn whether or
not a subject can differentiate between short musical compositions
deemed
with
to possess merit, and versions of these compositions
distorted melody, rhythm, or harmony.
^^
The
of "meritorious" and altered compositions.
test consists of 48 pairs
Scoring credit
given
is
for recognition both of the unaltered versions and the type of
distortion to the altered version.
The
reliability of this
ranges from '47 for children of the
fifth
and sixth grades, to -63 for
measure
junior high-school groups, -78 for pupils in the senior high-school,
and '86 for
A
adults.
each of which contains
and
his
more difficult test comes in two forms,
40 items. The subject indicates his preferences
second,
degree of confidence, the latter being taken into account in
the scoring.
The
been found to
test's reliability has
borhood of '80 (college population).
odds the best of the formal auditory
fall
Both of these
tests
tests are
by
Test
for Musical
comprehension of compositions
complete wholes. ^9 While hearing a rendition of Tchaikovsky's
Symphony,
for
example,
original
as
Sixth
the listener answers a set of true-false
questions of this type: "The melody of the middle section
from the
all
of taste so far developed.
Hevner has constructed another measure, the
Concepts, to assess the subject's
in the neigh-
theme;
it is
varied,
however, and
is
is
taken
played in faster
tempo." After three hearings of the symphony, the listener checks
one statement
to do with
which run
Wing
in
each of four pairs of statements which have largely
mood.
as
Preliminary forms of this test have reliabilities
high as -Si.
has devised four tests
which have
to
do with judging the
appropriateness of the style of playing a tune.^°
recorded tune
is
In each test a
repeated either in identical or altered
notes played by the
left
hand
in the
"harmony"
test
may
style.
or
The
may not
163
THE MEASURES OF MUSICAL TASTE
be altered during the second rendition. The subject must
listen for
the possibility of a change, and then decide which of the
two
more appropriate. In the
test of "rhythmic accent" the accents may or may not fall in a
different place in the second rendition. The possibility of change and,
if there is a change, the more appropriate style of playing are to be
checked. The two other tests in this series concern loudness patterns
and phrase groups. The four tests are individually not very reliable.
But when they are taken as a battery and combined with several other
harmonizations
tests of
music
achieved.
(if
there are two)
is
the
neighborhood of -90
is
be having considerable use
in
a reliability in the
ability,
The Wing battery appears
to
Great Britain.
Lowery,"
Tests of taste have been constructed by Schoen,^^
Drake, ^3 and others. ^'^
Schoen's
Tonal
Sequence
supposedly
Test
reveals the listener's sensitivity to the fitness of the tones of a melody.
For
fitness,
Schoen suggests
balance,
criteria:
five
"belonging-
In the test, each phrase
togetherness," unity, variety, and finality.
is
followed by four terminal phrases, which must be assigned values of
Lowery's Cadence
o, 2, 4, or 6 for fitness.
In
pair of cadences heard
must be judged
Drake's
probes for the
Test of Intuition
unfinished themes. This ability
is
Test,
the second of each
more or
less
complete.
ability to supply
endings to
as
thought to be concerned with
phrase-balance, key-center, and time-balance.
The
listener judges
whether or not the second phrase of each stimulus pair makes
satisfactory ending to the first phrase.
have constructed other measures of
a
Lowery, Drake, and Schoen
abilities
which border on the
area of taste.
Practically nothing
is
known about
the degree of overlap
the areas covered by these formal, auditory
tests.
among
However, with the
stimuli often quite divergent and the test philosophies occasionally
rather dissimilar,
correlations
164
it
would be
were found
surprising
if all
to be very high, i.e., for
of the test interall
of the tests to
THE MEASURES OF MUSICAL TASTE
be measuring very similar
remembered
Moreover,
variables.
be
should
it
that the criteria of the tests for "correct" answers are
based on social judgments.
Naturally,
then,
fraction
a
of the
"correct" ansv^^ers of today will be "incorrect" tomorrow.
Paper-and-Pencil Tests
On
the theory that general musical information should be related
to appreciation, Kwalwasser has published a Test of Music Information
and Appreciation.^^
Its
arrangement
is
that of the typical school-
com-
subject achievement test, with queries about composers and
by orchestral instruments,
positions, the production of tone
The
requires
test
some 40 minutes
by M.
structed
etc.
administration.
its
Its
been found to be approximately -84 for
reliability for adults has
Stanford students.
for
A more
Young, ^^
form of
difficult
this test has
been con-
and another modification of
it
by
is
Semeonofif.^7
A
novel sort of measure, with
a reliability
of Musical Taste developed by Vernon.
around '85,
Here the subject
^^
is
is
the Test
asked to
record his reactions to 30 wholly imaginary programs of music.
the assumption that the experts
Vernon
On
has chosen to prejudge the
prograins possess taste (he has chosen as experts a panel of six
musicians),
the
score
is
defined
in
terms of the resemblances
between what the subject records and what the experts have
previously checked as the ideal.
Using
a slight
modification of the Thurstone
struction of attitude scales, Kate
developed
a Test of Attitude
subject
is
is
it
for the con-
Hevner and R, H. Seashore have
Toward Music.^9 While
strictly speaking, a test of taste,
lem. The test
method
this
measure
is
not,
bears rather closely on the prob-
composed of statements about music with which the
asked to agree or disagree.
acceptance would indicate
An example
of an item
a fairly favorable attitude
whose
toward music
is,
16^
THE MEASURES OF MUSICAL TASTE
"I
believe strongly in the beneficial and pleasurable effects of music,
but do not care to take an active part in
myself." As each test item
it
has been prejudged by a large group of people, and so
on an
may be
placed
continuum, the testee's verbal attitude can readily
attitudinal
be assessed by
this
college students
is
instrument. 3°
The
reliability as
reported for
exactly '90.
Self-rating scales have
been developed to measure interests
An
"serious" music and in several sorts of "popular" music. 3^
portant feature of these scales
in
im-
the placing of prejudged behavioral
is
characterizations along the rating lines as points of reference. Thus,
in the case of
one
"extreme
left indicates
"strongest
24 cm. in length, where a check at the extreme
scale
possible
dislike of
interest
in
characterizations are, "I listen to
make me
teachers
and,
(placed
scales,
2 1' 3
music,"
my
the
music only
listen to it" (placed 2-7
spend most of
"1
music" and one
end
at the right
two most extreme
when my
parents or
cm. from the extreme
left)
free time listening to or playing music"
cm. from the
left
end).
In an assessment of
seventh-graders and their mothers were asked
one of the
check
to
independently the musical interests of the former. The coefficient of
correlation between the ratings of the mothers and their children
was found
scale.
It
to be 'So,
indicating a fair degree of validity for the
should be added, however, that the mothers believed their
children to have
more
interest in
music than the
latter
admitted to
having.
Another, more informal measure of
list
to be assessed are given this
most eminent
the ordering
list
made by
the
becomes out of date
reflect
contemporary
is
It
of the American Musicological
should be noted that any such
course of time.
attitudes.
taste
The extent of the agreement with
members
in the
whose
with the request that they check the
ten, fifteen, or so.
Society determines the score.
166
taste involves the use of the
of 200 composers described in Chapter 6.32 Those
To be
of worth
it
list
must
THE MEASURES OF MUSICAL TASTE
The more formal tests are obviously concerned with individual
taste. With their reliabilities and validities generally mediocre or
poor, they would appear to have a rather limited future. So
seem
to have stimulated little interest or research.
next to be discussed are in no sense
what might be termed
rivals, for
far,
they
The techniques
they aim to measure
"collective" taste.
Polling
This book has already considered at
through polling, which
is
some length
data obtained
obviously not the perfect psychological
Samples polled in past studies have sometimes proved to be
tool. 33
but poor representatives of the populations with which the researcher
was
really
have
all
too often been shown to be ambiguous or impossible to
And
answer.
data.
concerned. The questions which have at times been asked
pollsters have occasionally misinterpreted their
These are among the most frequently encountered
w^here polling
are, have
taste as
is
own
difficulties
used. Yet, polling data, inaccurate as they sometimes
been found to yield roughly the same picture of contemporary
have the more operational procedures. Polling would appear
to possess, then, a degree of validity and research utility.
Orchestral Programs
Attention has been called to the fact that the Boston Symphony
Orchestra favors approximately the same composers decade after
decade.
It
is
of interest, too, that this orchestra's top choices 34
tend to be the ones also favored by the musicologists
(r/io 35
of -Si in
1944, 'jg in i95"i) and by a group of presumably typical Stanford
sophomores
the ones
(rho of '79).
who
These same composers
are,
by and
large,
have received the greatest amount of attention in the
music encyclopedias of the 1940's,
in the general encyclopedias of
167
THE MEASURES OF MUSICAL TASTE
The rho^s here run
Had the orchestral choices been
would have been even higher.
the same decade, and in the histories of music.
•82, '73, and 'jg, respectively.
limited to the 1940's, the rho's
Musicologists' and Boston Symphony's
Favorites Compared
Order of
Boston Symphony
Choice
Orchestra
0951)
Bach
Beethoven
2
Brahms
Beethoven
Bach
3
Wagner
Mozart
Brahms
4
Mozart
5
R. Strauss
Wagner
Haydn
Mozart
6
Bach
Brahms
Debussy
7
Sibehus
Palestrina
Schubert
8
Tchaikovsky
Handel
Handel
9
Debussy
Schubert
Wagner
Haydn
11
Haydn
10
Debussy
10
13
Schubert
13
Tchaikovsky
18
R. Strauss
16
Handel
20
R. Strauss
19
Tchaikovsky
66
Palestrina
30-5
Sibelius
30
Sibelius
Note:
first
Musicologists
(1944)
Beethoven
1
*
Musicologists
The names appearing below
Palestrina
the line in any one of the columns appear
among
the
nine in one of the other columns.
Unusual features of the Boston Symphony's order of favorites are
the high status of R. Strauss and Sibelius, and the low position of
Palestrina.
The idiosyncrasies of the Boston Symphony's list, however,
are relatively few.
Hence,
of taste, particularly
if
we
appear to have
at
hand
a fair
barometer
the data gathered from this organization are
pooled with those from the other leading orchestras of the land. 3^
Broadcasts of Recordings
When
the Pacific Gas and Electric Company's broadcasts (p.
i
34)
were analyzed in an effort to learn whose compositions were most
often played,
168
it
was found
that the favorites over a three-year period
THE MEASURES OF MUSICAL TASTE
coincided remarkably well with those of the Boston Symphony
Orchestra (rho of •90). Here, again, Sibelius achieved unusually high
Status.
Tchaikovsky's broadcast rank was the most markedly out of
line (using the musicologists' ballots as the
frame of reference). The
rank order of composers favored in the broadcast programs correlated
fairly
well (rho of '8^) with the eminence ranks established from the
votes of the musicologists (1944) but
somewhat
less
well (rho of 'yi)
with the eminence ranks derived from the ballots of
Stanford sophomores.
The
a
group of
hierarchies based on the relative amounts
of attention paid the musicologists' 92 composers in the histories and
in the
music and general encyclopedias of the 1940's yielded
•81, '81, and -68
from the
utility
when
of
correlated against the rank order derived
company's programs. Thus,
will give approximately the
inspection of
r/jo's
a
glimpse at the table
same picture of current
taste as will
an
some of the other barometers.
Pacific Gas and Electric Company's Broadcasts
I94I, 1942
AND
1943
Order of
Frequency
Composers
1
Beethoven
2
Tchaikovsky
3
Brahms
4
Mozart
5
Bach
6
Sibehus
7
Wagner
8
Schubert
9
Schumann
Record Listings
The composers favored
in the
programs of the Boston Symphony
Orchestra and the Pacific Gas and Electric
also to
Company
broadcasts tend
be the ones with the most recordings to their credit. Thus,
169
THE MEASURES OF MUSICAL TASTE
the rank order of the record-Usting frequencies of the early 1940's
correlates -SS with the symphony's rank order, and •91 with that of
the utility company's broadcasts.
When compared with the
eminence
ranks obtained from the histories, the music encyclopedias, and the
general encyclopedias of the 1940's, the correlation values were found
to be '87, '88, and -69, respectively.
extent of a rho of '90,
The
The musicologists agreed
to the
but the college students' value was lower, 'jg.
scores for the disc listings
distribution of recordings
were obtained by noting the
mentioned
used in counting the discs were
I.
in
each of four books. Those
Kolodin's A Guide
to
Recorded
Music (1941), D. Hall's The Record Book (1943), B. H. Haggin's Music
and The Gramophone Shop Encyclopedia of Recorded
Music (1942). The four books agree very well among themselves on
on Records (i943),37
the
number
of recordings associated with the 92 composers.
pool of any two of the book
yields
a
rho
lists
against the pool of the other
of approximately -9^.
Incidentally,
The
two
the agreement
between the 1936 and 1942 and between the 1942 and 1948 editions
of the Gramophone Shop Encyclopedia
of magnitude.
well a
number
Here, then,
we
is
roughly of the same order
have a reliable index which checks
of the other barometers of taste.
Scholarly Texts
Since histories of music and encyclopedia articles on the com-
posers are written by musicologists or their peers,
it is
to expect that the allocations of space in scholarly
works
the taste patterns of the authors' cultures.
Of course,
not too
much
will follow
the editors of
encyclopedias must usually limit the over-all space, and this necessity
must
in turn lead to a restriction of the
names can appear
in
such publications.
number of composers whose
But the relative amounts of
space devoted to the names which do pass the selection will tend to
reflect cultural attitudes.
1
70
THE MEASURES OF MUSICAL TASTE
It
must be granted, of course,
than
taste.
The
who composes
perfectionist
important composer whose life-span
space than they deserve,
character, particularly
may both
short
is
the data of
and the
receive less
the controversial and notorious
vs^hile
blessed with a long
life,
may
receive unarticle
may
own
vs^hich at
times can reach serious proportions.
many
histories
and encyclopedias are pooled, the
possess biases of his
if
relatively little
Moreover, the author of the history or
deserved space.
But
if
more
that the allocations will mirror
author-biases will tend to cancel, or at least will distort the picture
less.
Before the turn of this century,
space-allocation
eminent
men
method
in an
because no
now
be determined,
Webers and
some of the composers
Mozart
is
list.
the
first
Of
who
may be guessed
it
to aid in distinguishing
that the
may
or
in his
which of
Hence
Strausses Cattell intended.
bear these names
may not have
those whose identities cannot be questioned,
musician, with a rank of 93 in the general array
(Napoleon topped the
list
with
a rating of
i
).
of 220, Handel 261, Haydn 300, Rossini 326,
sohn 404, Palestrina 471, and Bach
appeared among the
It
employed the
There are some ambiguities
were given
initials
the several famous
in the
Cattell
attempt to discover the thousand most
Encyclopaedia Britannica was one.
been
McKeen
of history. 3^ Although the names of the encyclopedias
he used cannot
list
J.
first
475^.
Beethoven had
Wagner
No
rank
a
337, Mendels-
other composers
^00.
was to have been expected that the editors of the general
encyclopedias would allocate less space to composers than to the
military heroes and to the eminent of certain other fields.
the absolute ranks of these musicians
that these nine
tell
composers received the
us very
little.
Hence,
Yet the
fact
lion's share of attention
is
surely indicative of their relative status during the period just prior
to that of Cattell's researches.
It is
of interest that
all
with the exception of Rossini's, appear high on the
of these names,
later lists
com171
THE MEASURES OF MUSICAL TASTE
The space devoted
piled by the present author.
to this ItaUan
com-
poser has decreased slowly but steadily in both the music and general
source books written in the English language during
this century. 39
Rossini was not mentioned by a single musicologist in the 1938
survey and received few votes from the 1944 and 195^1 memberships.
Bach, on the other hand, improved in status rapidly and soon became
one of the top-ranking masters.
In the allocation studies reported in this book, the pooling of
several
works published
in
each time span has been the practice. The
general encyclopedias under scrutiny
numbered
for each period except for the 1940's, for
employed.
five
standard works
which only three were
Seven standard music encyclopedias were examined for
the period 1900-19, six for the decade of the 1920's, and five each
for the 1930's
and 1940's. Ten to twelve histories of music were
studied for each of these same periods.
Although an eminent composer
is
normally discussed in but one
section of any given encyclopedia,
number
histories
typically
mention
a
of composers on a single page and repeat mention of the
same composer on
a
number
of widely separated pages. Hence, space
measurements are usually not possible
in
work on
histories,
only practical technique so far found to be serviceable
tabulation of page-mentions.
Fortunately,
the
is
and the
that of the
number
of page-
mentions and the amount of space have been found to correlate so
highly
(r/70's
in the •90's) that for
sidered as a single technique.
It
most purposes they may be con-
4"
has already been deiTionstrated that the rankings of composers
determined on the
basis of
space-measurement and page-mention
frequencies are quite similar to the eminence rankings obtained from
the ballots of musicologists and college students, to the preference
orders taken from the programs of the Boston
Symphony Orchestra
and the Pacific Gas and Electric Company, and to the order of
frequencies secured from record listings.
172
Furthermore, the three
THE MEASURES OF MUSICAL TASTE
sorts
—the
scholarly endeavor
of
the
music
— devote rather
similar
of music,
histories
encyclopedias, and the general encyclopedias
amounts of attention to our group of 92 composers.
of the
1940's
considered,
is
histories correlates '81
When the decade
the rank order obtained from the
and -70, respectively, w^ith those constructed
from the music and the general encyclopedias. The ranks secured
from the two kinds of encyclopedias agree to the extent of
•77.
The
a rho
of
between the data of the other time periods
intercorrelations
have been found to be of approximately the same order of magnitude.
While these space
chapter are not
as
values and the related ones described in this
high as might be desired,
it
would appear
consider the space- and page-mention procedures
good picture of
taste at
safe to
as yielding a fairly
any given place and time.
Boredom
While no one
taste
has probably ever attempted seriously to measure
by testing for musical boredom, the New York Herald Tribune,
during March of 195^4, asked
its
readers to
they regarded as most boring. 4^
It
name
the ten compositions
would seem, however,
that the
New York list is unique,
that
one assembled either
Minneapolis or in San Francisco since local
in
it
should in
all
probability not resemble
conditions would be quite dissimilar in these three locales.
area
would have
its
own
particular irritations, brought
on
Each
in part
by
the too-frequent hearing of certain pieces and by the fact that other
compositions may have recently been badly played.
But one wonders
not a relatively small number
if it is
react so strongly to cliches and nuances of rendition.
Alfred Frankenstein says in the April 4,
Francisco Chronicle, there
passive followers and
is
a considerable
i9 5"4,
group of
who would
As the
issue of the San
listeners
honor what they have been taught
For them, boredom, even
if
present,
would have
critic
who
are
to honor.
little effect
on basic
173
THE MEASURES OF MUSICAL TASTE
Only the sophisticated
taste.
Of
listeners
might be seriously affected.
course, most persons tire rather rapidly of jazz pieces and other
examples of
less serious
And Rachmaninov's
music.
shelved occasionally to keep
Prelude
But such reac-
reasonably in favor.
it
tions to specific compositions have relatively little to
musical
Any school
related to taste.
it is
in favor at
against itself.
w^ith basic
is
a
it
of musical composition, no matter
is
how
any one time, sooner or later begets a reaction
Although
modified form,
Here
do
taste.
somewhat broader sense of the term, how^ever, boredom
In a
much
must be
must
it
may
later return to favor,
at least in
pass through a period of partial eclipse.
phenomenon found in all but the most static cultures, a sort
The sociologist W. I. Thomas has called this
of collective boredom.
human tendency
"the wish for
new
experience."
was
first
called to the formal tests and to
Summaij
In this chapter attention
the fact that, in general, they measure individual taste with relatively
poor
reliability
and
validity.
To
disclose the taste of classes and
interest groups, other techniques have
polling,
tions
program
among
and examina-
the relative amounts of attention paid composers in
into
scholarly
been more successful. Thus,
analyses, the counting of recordings,
works 4^ on music
all
have disclosed similar group favorites
the composers. These barometers have been found to be
internally consistent.
as it exists
They furnish ways of studying
here and elsewhere, and even
collective taste
as it existed
decades ago.
Notes
i]
Hungerland has reviewed the problem of aesthetic standards
and has offered
book.
a relativistic
view which
is
in the field of painting
consonant with that expressed throughout
this
See Helmut Hungerland, "Suggestions for Procedure in Art Criticism," 7. Aesth.,
THE MEASURES OF MUSICAL TASTE
5,
No.
A more
(1947): 189—195.
3
recent rejection of the absolutistic position can be
seen in T. Munro's "The Concept of Beauty in the Philosophy of Naturalism," Rev.
(i9SS)'- i-43-
Intern. Phil., 31
2]
The page-mention method can be considered
of the measure of space
as a variety
allocations.
3]
C. E. Seashore, Manual of Instructions and Interpretations Jor Measures oj Musical Talent,
N.Y., Columbia Graphophone, 1919.
4]
The
reliability of a test
is
degree of self-consistency, the extent to which
its
uninfluenced by factors intrinsic to or associated with
reliability
£]
6]
J.
J.
Tests
Kwalwasser and
I
low
in the high -So's or
Kwalwasser,
1930, p.
7]
one
is
induce boredom or fatigue)
as to
it
•90's.
tends to
and Measurements
P.
As
it
is
For most purposes, a reasonable
a test is
become more
in Music,
W. Dykema,
it.
lengthened (but not so
much
reliable.
Boston, Birchard, 1927, p. 26.
Manual of
Directions,
K-B
Tests,
N.Y., Fischer,
8.
The authors
realize that a lo-item test tends to have
poor
reliability
and suggest a
repetition under conditions such that the subjects believe they are hearing a 20-item test.
But even with 20 items the
8]
S.
test is quite unreliable.
A. Courtis, Courtis Standard Research
1922, p.
£.
Tests, Series
M, Music, Detroit,
S.
A. Courtis,
Before the days of formal psychological tests an even earlier attempt to study
music moods was that by B.
J.
Oilman, "Report on an Experimental Test of Musical
Expressiveness," Amer. J. Vsychol., 4 (1892): 42—83; 5 (1893): 55'8— 587.
9]
E. J. Schultz, "Testing Listening
Power
in
Music," Mus. Superv. Nat. Conf. Yearb.,
1933, 306-312.
10]
E. Gaston,
A
of Musicalitj, Manual of Directions, 2nd ed., Kansas City, Streep,
Test
1944.
11]
S.
K. Gernet, Musical Discrimination
at
Various Age
and Grade
College Place,
Levels,
Washington, College Press, 1940.
12]
L. B.
13]
M.
J.
Bower, "A Factor Analysis of Music Tests," Thesis, Catholic U., 1945.
Keston and
J. Genet. PsjchoL,
14]
M.
J.
M.
Pinto, "Possible Factors Influencing Musical Preference,"
1
01 — 113.
Adler, "Music Appreciation:
Arch. Psychol., IJ,
15]
I.
86 {13 ss):
M. R. Trabue,
An Experimental Approach
to
Its
Measurement,"
No. iio (1929): 1-102.
"Scales for Measuring
Judgment of Orchestral Music, "J.
Educ. Psychol.,
14 (1923): 545-?6i.
16]
B. Semeonoff,
"A
New
Approach to the Testing of Musical
Ability," Brit. J. Psychol.,
30 (1940): 326-340; "Further Developments in a New Approach to the Testing of
Musical Ability, with Special Reference to Groups of Secondary School Children," Brit.
J. Psychol., 31 (1940):
17]
145-161.
R. B. Cattell and D. R. Saunders, "Music Preferences and Personality Diagnosis,"
J. Soc. PsjchoL,
39 (1954): 3-24; R. B. Cattell and Jean C. Anderson, "The Measurement
THE MEASURES OF MUSICAL TASTE
of Personality and Behavior Disorders by the
18]
Music Preference Test," J. Appl.
P. A. T.
I.
37 (19^3): 446-4^4-
Psychol.,
John H. Mueller,
et al.,
"Studies in Appreciation of Art," U. Oregon Publ., 4, No. 6
(1934): 11J-130.
31-137.
19]
Ibid.,
20]
H. Wing, "Tests of Musical Ability and Appreciation,"
1
Monog. Suppl.,
Brit. J. Psychol.,
No. 27 (1948).
21]
M. Schoen,
"Tests of Musical Feeling and Musical Understanding," J. Comp. Psychol.,
5 (1925): 3i-?222]
H. Lowery, "Cadence and Phrase Tests
Music,"
in
Brit. J. Psjchol.,
IJ (1926): 11 1-
118.
23]
M. Drake, "Four New
R.
136-147; Drake Musical Aptitude
24]
The
between
difference
Tests of Musical Talent," J. Appl. Psjchol., ij (1933):
Tests, Chicago, Science Research Associates, 19^4.
a test of taste
and one of musical "capacity"
slight.
See Chapter 9 for a discussion of the latter type of measure.
2^]
J.
Kwalwasser,
26]
M. Young, "A Study of
Tests
and Measurements
and the Construction for
in Music,
is
sometimes
90—98.
the Kwalwasser Test of Music Information and Appreciation,
More
this Field of a
Reliable and
Advanced Test," Master's
Thesis, Stanford U., 1932.
27]
B. Semeonoff, op.
28]
P. E.
cit.
Vernon, "A Method for Measuring Musical Taste, "J. Appl.
Psychol.,
14 (1930):
3^5-362.
29]
John H. Mueller,
30]
The
et al.,
scale value of the
"Studies in Appreciation of Art," pp. 138-142.
example
just given
unfavorable end of the continuum and
31]
i
was found to be 4-2 where
1
1
is
the most
the most favorable.
R. Farnsworth, "Rating Scales for Musical Interests," J. Psjchol., 28 (1949):
P.
24S-253.
32]
P. R. Farnsworth,
Musical Taste,"
33]
"Agreement with the Judgments of Musicologists
J. Psjchol.,
as a
Measure of
28 (1949): 421-42^.
Q. McNemar, "Opinion- Attitude Methodology,"
Psjchol. Bull.,
43 (1946): 289-374.
34] These values were obtained through a tally of the musical items listed in the "Boston
Symphony Orchestra Programmes" for the seasons 1895-96, 1904-5 through 1907-8,
191 2-1
35]
3
through
1
91 8-1 9, and 1920-21 through 1944-45.
This rho and those which follow have as their
number
by the members of the American Musicological Society
36]
programs, "J. Abn.
Soc. Psjchol.,
"On
the
p.
(in a
123).
mathe-
Dynamic Structure of Concert-
41 (1946): 25-36.
Because of the peculiar arrangement of the Haggin book,
employ the page-mention technique.
176
1938 poll (see
For extremely interesting program analyses which are too technical
matical sense) for review here, see G. K. Zipf,
37]
of items the 92 names offered
in the
it
proved necessary to
THE MEASURES OF MUSICAL TASTE
38]
J.
McKeen
3^9-377.
Cattell,
Cattell's data
"A Statistical Study of Eminent Men," Pop. Sci. Month., 62 (1903):
were gathered many years before they were published.
Under the direction of R.
39]
ments have been taken from
different language.
2 2-
J in Mejers Lexikon.
that Rossini
Siecle, a
encyclopedias.)
When
Stempel combined
From
regarded far more favorably in
40]
It
who
(G. H. Stempel,
largest
amount of
has reported these studies, has found that
was seventh
(Note that
in space allocation.
completely out of line with what Rossini
is
placement was seventh.
countries.
was given the second
eighth place in Enciclopedia Universal (Spanish),
rank of 18 in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, and one
G. H. Stempel,
in the Encyclopedia Americana Rossini
allocation
of the University of Indiana, space measure-
of general-interest encyclopedias, each written in a
He achieved
rank of 8*^ in Larousse du XX"
of
Tangeman
worth noting
It is
space in Enciclopedia Italiana.
a
S.
five sets
is
this
given in other English-language
with those of Tangeman, Rossini's
comes the hint that Rossini may be
and Spain than in Germany and the Anglo-Saxon
his data
these data, then,
Italy
"C Sharp Minor,"
The Bloowington [Ind.] Star, August 6, 1943.)
can be taken as axiomatic that the greater the variability in the lengths of the
encyclopedia articles the
expressed.
If it is
more
exact will be the differences in eminence that can be
found that the largest encyclopedias possess
articles
with the greatest
would seem to follow that these massive treatises can supply the most
adequate material for work on eminence. Support for this possibility can be seen in the
rho of -^4 which obtains between the sizes of the encyclopedias and the spread in the
range in length
it
lengths of the articles.
41]
From most
Scheherezade,
to least boring these compositions
Missa Solemnis, Brahms's German Requiem, Dvorak's
Sjmphonj, Wagner's Tristan und
42]
were
said to be:
Cesar Franck's Symphony, Ravel's Bolero, Wagner's
Isolde,
Rimsky-Korsakov's
Parsifal,
Tchaikovsky's
Eijth
Symphony.
That the music encyclopedias make more reliable barometers of
general encyclopedias has recently been demonstrated by the author.
show
taste.
that
Beethoven's
New World Symphony, Beethoven's Ninth
taste
than the
His researches
the Encyclopaedia Britannica no longer keeps abreast of changes in musical
See "The Limitations of Cattell's Space
Method
of Studying Eminence," J. Psychol.,
44 (i9S7): 169-173-
177
CHAPTER EIGHT
The Nature of Musical
In
Abilities
the preceding chapters, the notion of capabihty has been freely
employed but
intervals,
to
in
rather loose fashion.
differentiate
To
discriminate between
major from minor, to sense
strain
or
relaxation in a melody, or even to develop a taste for a particular kind
of music, presupposes musical abilities of
some
sort.
But whether
these capabilities are largely inborn and whether only one general
ability or several
must be assumed are questions which have
not been considered.
It is
so far
time, then, that these and other important
about the functioning of our musical capabilities be
questions
examined.
Ability
—
In their
an Appropriate Descriptive Term
work
of describing musical capabilities, the psychological
testers have
employed
as to exact
meanings.
a variety of
To some
terms without complete agreement
authorities musical talent has
innate capability for musical performance.
Others have used the
term more broadly to include musical appreciation. Talent
latter
area
has
meant
in this
sometimes been called "musicality." The term
"capacity" also seems to bear the connotation of innate ability.
Capacities, of course, are never directly observed, but are inferred
from behavioral manifestations such
178
as
test
scores.
The term
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
"aptitude"
is
is
somewhat
the inferred ability
less controversial in that
assumed to be only in part innate.
tends to imply potentiality
It
rather than achievement, ability undeveloped before formal training
The term
has taken place.
power
"ability," suggesting the
to act but
indicating nothing about the hereditability or congenitalness of the
inferred potentiality
we
for as
jointly,
and
is
soon
shall
it is
the broadest and safest of
see,
erroneous to say that any act
either the one or the other.
all
of these terms
nature and nurture invariably function
Hence,
is
the sole result of
in the discussions of the present
chapter, conservative usage will be followed and musical ability will
be the focus of attention.
Generality of Ability
Almost everyone who has attempted
has
met persons who show
and extreme weakness
to forecast musical success
great promise along
in other areas.
Here
is
some musical
lines
who
memory
a sixth-grader
scored in the top percentile on standardized tests of tonal
and of pitch and intensity discrimination but had only chance scores
A monotone
on measures of time and rhythm.
came
to the laboratory for aid in
overcoming
to score quite well on time, intensity, and
of mature years
his disability
rhythm
who
was found
tests.
But his
pitch weakness was so complete that he could detect only a slight
difference
between the highest and lowest tones of the piano. And
the vocalist Galli-Curci, while proficient in most musical endeavors,
had such
a
poor "musical ear" that she needed an accompanist
who
could be called upon to transpose at a moment's notice. There also
are weaknesses in the affective realm, e.g., a kettle
of America's great
he abhorred
all
music
called into action.
which
early led
symphony orchestras who
It
him
in
which the
was
to
his
kettle
drummer
in
one
privately admitted that
drums were not frequently
abnormally strong interest in rhythms
work with
the percussion choir.
Cases such
179
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
would seem
as these
to yield evidence for the existence of several
rather independent musical abilities rather than a single all-em-
bracing one.
Certain of the statistically minded have attempted to answer the
question of the generality of ability through recourse to tables of
intercorrelations and to the findings of factor analysis.
out that most music tests
Hence,
indeed.
if it
now
at
They point
hand intercorrelate very poorly
can be assumed that the tests are valid measures
of musical capabilities, this evidence also
tells against
the notion of a
single musical ability.
The
more deeply
factor analysts have tried to probe
problem.
factor
into the
Unfortunately, however, the several different methods of
analysis
now
available
are
based on somewhat dissimilar
philosophies and therefore do not always lead to identical conclusions.
hardly an exaggeration to say that the English,
It is
prone to believe
in the existence of general factors,
who
are
tend to find them
in almost every set of test intercorrelations, while the Americans,
w^ith their different theories,
factors but
when he
general musical factor
tonal
memory,
general
music
find several
group
Wing
While
40 per cent of the
also
a
studied tests covering the areas of
rhythm,
pitch,
intelligence.^
tests.
factors,
more commonly
no general one. Thus, the British-trained Drake found
tonal
intensity,
scrutinizing
his
movement, and
own
English-made
found a general factor which accounted for
total variance.^
There were two additional group
one being bipolar and apparently having to do with
analysis
and synthesis, and the other concerned with harmony and melody.
Another Briton, McLeish, who gave both the Wing and the Seashore
music batteries to some
cognitive factor in each. 3
American-built
(p.
237) have
tests
little
to
Manzer and Marowitz
180
100 students,
Still
found the same general
another Briton, Vernon,
feels that the
of Seashore which stress sensory capabilities
do with music
ability. 4
to bolster this view. 5
He quotes the data of
He himself has studied
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
tests
such
163) which
the Hevner-Landsbury (p.
as
make use of
actual musical materials. These, he thinks, test a general factor,
Vernon's attitude toward the sensory
Franklin,
who
A
some
Wing,
tests
and
visual perceptual tests,
of intelligence and vocabu-
his
own music
study of the factors which emerged convinced
ability has
shared by
partly
is
has recently factor analyzed a battery of tests including
several of the Seashore, the
lary,
tests
two
aspects,
test (p. 246).
him
that
music
one being the mechanical-acoustic
(e.g.,
on
pitch, timbre, time, and intensity discrimination) and the other,
far
its
a
higher level, he terms the judicious-musical. The latter reaches
highest levels in creative musical talent.^
The most extensive study of basic music
has been that of Karlin, an American,
found eight group
factors. 7
No
abilities so far
who
The most important
manipulations.
memory
for musical passages as a whole,
A
still
factored 32 tests and
general factor emerged from the
statistical
musical elements.
undertaken
factors involved pitch,
and
recall for isolated
American study by Bower
later
also dis-
closed no huge general factor but rather three group factors.^
Bower's
first
memory,
factor
was
complex one w^hich had
a
do with tonal
pitch discrimination, melodic taste, and rhythm discrimi-
Her second concerned mood,
nation.
to
Her
nation.
third
loudness, and time discrimi-
rhythm
featured
discrimination
and
tonal
memory.
The reader
analysis
will probably agree that conclusions based
must be quite
tentative.
the tests used. Therefore,
if
there
on factor
Factors are obviously products of
is
no
test
covering some important
area of musical activity, the picture disclosed by the factor analysis
will reflect this imbalance.
of tests,
it is
For, after
economy
all,
a
When two
studies
employ
different sets
quite possible that they will report different factors.
factor analysis
is
only a
matrix of correlations.
way
of describing with
some
Since the factors depend upon
the measures used, they will be meaningful only as the tests are
181
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
With present-day music
meaningful.
tests still in a primitive state, it
follows that factor analysis can yield no definitive answers.
left,
are
and with the notion that there probably are
tional analyses can yield,
music
several poorly correlated
Ability in Music
and
abilities.
the Other Arts
Another aspect of the problem of general musical
with the hypothesis that there may exist
embraces
aptitude and
found that
Interest
taste
tests,
is
Morrow
could find no correlations of
art
measures. 9
Although Strong
score as measured by his well-known Vocational
artist
Test correlates
•
£j with musician score, he also noted that
the former correlates higher with a
number
of other occupational
with mathematician, -62 with dentist, -70 with
-Gi
interests:
which
ability
In an extensive study with a variety of special
between the music and
size
do
ability has to
broad
a
But here again, the experimental evidence
the arts.
all
largely opposed.
any
We
then, with whatever conclusions case studies and intercorrela-
psychologist, '79 with physician, '84 with author-journalist, and
Music interest correlates -60 with
•8£ with architect.
interests in
both psychology and the ministry.^" White, in a study of the versatility
of 300 eminent men, could find no general aesthetic type of interest
or ability."
One
small area in
average length of
life
which musicians do resemble
of their eminent fellows.
span for both musicians and
6y £
7
2*
5-
over
years. '^
7
1
,
Just
and for educators
why
artists
182
life
it
was somewhat more than
and musicians should be alike and
two occupational groups have
certainly no
the
was found to be approximately
musicians and educators different in this regard
fact that
artists is in
one study, the
That of eminent engineers, on the other hand, was
years.
slightly
artists
In
is
not clear. But the
similar longevities
justification for hypothesizing a
is
most
commonality of abilities.
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
Academic Intelligence and Musical Ability
It
has been argued that academic inteUigence
component of musical
abiHty.^3
that the musically great
average intelligence.
men
J. S.
At
is
least the fact has
an important
been established
of history possessed far better than
Bach, for example, had an estimated i.q.
somewhere between i 2^ and 140, Beethoven's was between i 35^ and
140, Haydn's between 120 and 140, Handel's between i^g and 155,
and Mozart's between 1^0 and
i^'^^.^'^
show children with high music-test
music
it
tests,
must be
when
there are studies which
scores to be significantly brighter
than their low-scoring colleagues. ^5
argument,
And
But, for the other side of the
said that scores
on the better-standardized
given to groups of limited age range,
show
little
correlation with those on tests of academic intelligence, although
the slight correlations which are found are usually positive. ^^
It
should also be noted that children of high i.q. tend to yield music
test scores appropriate to their chronological ages
but not to their
i.Q.'s.^7
Other evidence
against the notion that intelligence and musical
ability are invariably related
can be seen in data gathered on those
peculiar individuals, the idiot savants. Traditionally this term has
been applied to persons who
some well-developed
who
test
low
in intelligence but
special ability. Typical
is
who
possess
an idiot of four years
could barely articulate "papa" and "mama" but was able to sing
over ^o melodies.
earlier to
first
now
believed that
many
of the cases thought
the idiot-savant classification could better be called
fit
schizophrenics.
than had
It is
Others have been found to be
been estimated, ^^ while
intelligence, have
relative sense.
still
much
others, admittedly
been shown to be musical or
That
is,
artistic in
low
in
only a
they were imbeciles or idiots, perhaps, in
academic intelligence but morons or border-line
ability,
higher in i.q.
in
the special
not really superior. There seem, however, to be
at least a
183
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
few
who come
cases
When
savant.
Rife and Snyder addressed inquiries to
institutes for the
who
tives
ability.
close to fitting the classical picture of the idiot
5^^
American
feeble-minded they unearthed eight mental defec-
appeared to show somewhat better than average musical
^9
True
idiot savants, while small in
number, are
sufficiently
numerous
to refute the hypothesis that better-than-average musical ability
must
we
have
invariably be
And,
accompanied by high intelligence.
as
seen, the music test data indicate that within the range of school
populations, academic intelligence and the several tonal abilities have
at best
if
one
only a slight positive relationship.^" Yet the fact remains that
is
to reach the highest level of musical success
intelligence considerably above that of the average.
one needs an
^^
The Hereditability of Musical Abilities
The present-day formulation of the nature-nurture
relationship
is
not one which would have appealed to the extremists of a few
decades ago.
Whether they were
hereditarians or environmentalists,
older theorists blinded themselves to
the
the
attempts to maintain their one-sided positions.
neither nature nor nurture can alone
make
obvious in their
now
It is
a musician.
clear that
Both must be
present before musical and other abilities can emerge. The person
who
has excellent tonal and rhythmic sensitivities but
unmusical surroundings will not be
as likely to
will another with similar sensitivities
propitious
environment.
who
They are
as
meaningless
of a particular automobile
the
make of
car, or
attributable to
184
its
is
in
finds himself in a
more
Questions which ask for the relative
potencies of nature and nurture in creating
able.
who
achieve in music as
is
as
a
musician are unanswer-
how much of the speed
gasoline and how much to
questions on
due to the
what percentage of the area of
length and what percentage to
its
a rectangle
width.
is
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
more
Certain people seem to be so constructed that they react far
positively than
must be
most
of environment
fertility
But even for these cases there
to tonal stimuli.
the early interest
if
Erwin Nyiregyhazi,
turned in other directions,
a
not to be
is
prodigy
vs^ho
was
studied most carefully by Revesz, sang melodies before he could
speak and began to improvise during his third year.^^ Yet he has not
achieved the renown which might reasonably have been forecast
But Mozart,
for him.
composed
little
who
"learned" the clavier before age four and
more
pieces at age five, although perceptibly no
precocious, reached musical heights almost no one else has attained.
The
differences in the successes of Mozart and his fellow prodigy
be due,
A
at least in part, to dissimilarities in
warning should be given on the possibility of confusing musical
ability with motor skills
excellently
formed
.
History reveals youngsters whose hands were
for piano
long hours and so mastered
had parents or teachers to
and
must
environmental pressures.
how
work, who were willing to practice
many
tell
to vary their playing
difficult
them
who
and when
piano techniques, and
precisely
what
to play
from the mechanically exact. These
children admitted to no real love of music or yearning to perform or
to compose.
not their
The "performance expressiveness" of
own
their playing
but was imposed on their playing by others.
these children musical geniuses, then, or
of unique build on
whom
tonal abilities
Were
were they merely persons
optimal pressures from the surrounding
environment led to the development of remarkable motor
The more
was
^3
skills
?
appear in the child at an earlier age than
do the rhythmic. ^'^ With practice, preschool children make spectacular gains in singing tones, intervals, and phrases, but less improve-
ment
in time-keeping.
Greatly enhanced
skill in
the
last
mentioned
appears with training at a somewhat later period, as soon as better
motor coordination permits.
growth,
then,
is
Some
of the unevenness in musical
apparently due to
differences
in
maturational
readiness for the activities in question.
i«ir
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
It is
know that pitch sensitivity can be improved by
Wyatt and a number of others have shown that enormous
reassuring to
training.
changes can be produced by the use of proper training procedures, ^5
After training, Wyatt' s music-school students had
moved on
the
Seashore pitch norms
decile.
(p. 2^5) from the seventh up to the second
Her subjects who were not enrolled in a music school had
with pitch training risen from the seventh decile to the third or
growth
fourth. This
was apparent
But
is
the
was not
in sensitivity
at tonal ranges
improvement
where no
training had
the Seashore thesis
I.Q.,
were
valid,
mere
a
limits as Seashore has maintained, ^^ or
enhanced
upping; of cognitive
something more basic?
is it
one would expect children of high
with their better powers of concentration, to score higher than
more normal fellows on tonal
noted, the two groups make similar
their
scores. ^7
assume that the
It
might, of course, be added that even
effects of pitch training
we
But, as
tests.
to
Hence,
have already
it
seems
safe
on
ability are rather basic.
if
sensitivity changes
not been demonstrated so dramatically there would
to
but
been attempted.
so far demonstrated a matter of
attention and mental concentration,
If
just a coaching effect
still
had
be no reason
suppose that training methods developed later might not be
effective.
The view of nature and nurture
have led us
is,
in brief, that
interplay of heredity and
facilitates
which our considerations
is
environment.
From
these
two
facilitations abilities develop.
The organism
less
sets
limits
or
of interacting limitations and
Musical
inherited than abilities in
abilities
to a limited extent.
seem
many other
MUSICAL ABILITIES AND FAMILY LINES.
186
so far
always the resultant of the
achievement in many ways. The environment likewise aids
or inhibits.
more nor
to
an ability
in general
no
areas.
Like begcts like Only
But even where the offspring closely resemble
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
the progenitors in
causes of the resemblance.
little
impossible to determine the exact
abilities, it is
D.A.R.-like studies of family stock are of
or no value to the problem of unscrambling the roles played by
heredity and environment in the creation of musical abilities. ^^
should
come
v^ives,
only one of
as
no surprise to
whom
was musical,
resemble, on the average, their
his
two
has had
two broods of children
own mothers more
But whether the resemblance
mothers.
man
find that w^here a
It
is
than their step-
due to the biological
inheritance of ^enes transmitting musical potentiality, to a complex of
mother
fixations or
of biological
disclose. ^9
ability
is
stepmother rejections, or to some combination
and sociopsychological causes,
Whether
wholly
a
training he can be
a
person
is
wedded
cannot
the analyses
to the idea that musical
matter of inheritance or entirely due to excellent
made happy by
the same family line analyses.
If
the
genealogical research proceeds far enough back in time, the musician
who
believes in heredity can always find a musical ancestor
whom
from
may have come, while the environmentalist
absence of musical abilities among his immediate
his musical ability
can relish the
ancestors and point to
some unrelated musician or teacher
as
the
"source" of the environmental pressures which have antedated the
musical achievements.
The musical Bachs and the members of other
families of
famous
virtuosos have been carefully counted generation after generation but
with no great benefit to science. 3^ For
who
can
tell
whether the
eventual eclipse of certain of these families was due to dilution of the
musical heritage; to changes in the social, economic, and political
made other occupations more attractive to the members
of later generations; or to some combination of biological and economic forces? Genealogical research may indeed be quite necessary
milieu which
for those
light
who
crave to belong to the socially elite.
on the problem of the origin of
But
it
throws no
special abilities.
187
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
Abilities
Much
and Body Structures
of the folklore about the effects of physique on ability
outgrowth of "common sense" and primitive
folktale
is
that angular ears predispose
logic.
owner
the
is
One
3^
to
an
such
unmusical
existence since sound waves are not angular but curvilinear.
A
person fortunate to be gifted with long, thin, muscular fingers and
wide hand-span
has,
per
se,
—or
the ability to be a violinist, a pianist
Extremely even front teeth and certain textures of
a thief.
allegedly related to the ease of playing
one or more
lip
sorts of
are
wind
instruments.
So
far
no one has bothered
to
check on the relation of ear shapes
But work has been done on finger length and
to musical abilities.
slenderness, tooth evenness, and thickness of lips. 3^ Admittedly
it is
easier to play the violin or the piano if the hands are "properly"
Yet no
constructed.
between
violins, horns,
of
correlations
finger, lip, or tooth
or clarinets.
moment
have been found
measurements and
Although the
pianists
master
ability to
and
violinists of
college age so far examined do have slightly wider than average hands
and longer
younger
fingers, 33 a study of still
pianists
beginners to have shorter than average fingers. 34
dedicated musician like the ^reat violinist Ysaye,
stubby fingers, simply works harder
reach
skills
as
at his task
showed these
Apparently a
who had extremely
and may manage to
great as those his better-fingered colleagues
more
easily achieve.
The
racial
abilities. 35
.Ordinarily Nordic-lovers,
grant the Alpines,
Negroes prominence
Mediterraneans,
in
as
say
about musical
they have been willing to
Semites,
and sometimes the
arts
because
belonging to a higher order of
creativity than capability in music,
racists base
to
one or more of the nonliterary
they regard ability in literature
Most
much
determinists have had
painting,
and the other
arts.
any alleged superiority on obscure elements of
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
physique presumably caused by differences in genetic structure.
A
very few have offered sociopsychological explanations, e.g., the
musical achievements of the Negro and the
tions for their
unhappy minority
would seem wise
It
to
check on the
true, of course, that
places,
and has withered
there
if
But
is
of any particular race ?
The question would have more meaning
what constitutes
times and
other periods and in other areas.
fall
as to
"racial" group.
at certain
the blossoming correlated with the rise or
ment
before searching
some one
music has blossomed
at
are overcompensa-
facts of race
for reasons for the supposed superiority of
It is
Jew
status.
were general agree-
After decades of argument, the
a race.
physical anthropologists are in the process of discarding the term
except, perhaps, for use in separating Caucasians, Mongoloids, and
Negroids. The ancestry of most Europeans and Americans shows such
diverse strains that
cultural unities.
"X
is
that
it
To
can be described only in terms of national and
explain a person's musical abilities by saying
musical because he
is
a Slavic
Jew" can mean
X probably came from a culture area where
teachers and
where music was
especially
little
there
more
than
were excellent
honored and furnished one
of the few outlets for occupational success. 3^
As was mentioned
little
worth
earlier, research in
music testing has proved of
for "racial" assessments, 37 even for the comparisons of
whites and Negroes. 3^
In the several studies
on
racial difference,
sometimes one and sometimes the other of these two American
groups has achieved the higher mean
said
is
that whatever the
be due largely
if
mean
test score.
The most
that can be
score differences are, they appear to
not entirely to factors of the testing situations and
not to basic differences associated with
racial stock.
The explanation of sex differences in musical ability is much the same
as that for "racial" differences
difficulty
except, of course, that there
with the term. Music
the higher
mean
tests
cannot be guaranteed to
score consistently to either sex. 39
On
is
less
award
the achieve-
189
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
ment
side there
almost
all
is
prizes.
no question but that the male has so
In a
man's world
this
is
hardly to be
far
taken
wondered
at,
for the environmental pressures to succeed are largely exerted in his
direction. Such observations, however, have not dissuaded Vaerting,'*°
Schwarz,"^^ and others
creative and
is
the
bases for
from the thought
that
inherently defective in whatever
several
musical
adored
"Woman's fundamental urge
person; man's urge
as a
The statements of the
any strength.
Far
is
is
is
may be
naturally less
the biological
Moreover, the eminent
abilities.
psychologist and determined hereditarian
claimed:
woman
Carl
Seashore has de-
to be beautiful, loved, and
to provide and achieve in a career. "'^^
hereditarians are not backed by evidence of
more
must be gathered before sex
basic data
And, unfortunately, these
differences can be properly explained.
cannot be gathered until there emerges a culture in which the two
sexes have equal opportunity and equal motivation to achieve in the
arts.
It
Then and only then
will the
comparisons have real meaning.
probably would not occur to most musicians that there might be
a connection
between handedness and musical
psychiatrist
Quinan has maintained
the normal
amount of
abilities.
that musicians display
Sikes, a
sinistrality. '^3
Yet the
more than
music teacher, has
also
considered the presence of left-handedness a cue for the prognostication of later musical achievement, in this case success with the
piano. 44
However, there
Sikes's theory
affected
students.
.45
by the
is
support from piano teachers for
There was the feeling
skillful
left-hand
In piano playing the left
carry, a fact
which most beginners
ambidextrous person or one
his left
little
who
that Sikes
work
may have been unduly
more promising
of her
hand has an important load to
fail
to realize.
A more
nearly
early recognizes the inadequacies of
hand and assiduously practices
this
weaker member would have
an advantage although he was not left-handed. 4^
There
I
90
is
the implication in the writings on sinistrality that
left-
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
handedness
is
associated with mental and emotional abnormality and
that musicians have
behavior.
It
more
than their proper share of such deviant
may assume
true that an occasional musician
is
a
Hollywood-like personality which has many deviant elements, but
there
is
no reason to believe that one must have an unstable nervous
system before he can achieve in music. 47 In one study, elementaryschool children were rated by their teachers and music supervisors
for promise in music, handedness, and speech adequacy. 4^
showed
The
data
most musical possessed only the normally
that those rated as
expected number of speech troubles and amount of left-handedness.
In another, unpublished study of college students, the
most musical
and most unmusical were compared on standard personality
Here, again, there was no evidence that musical
way
tied to mental or emotional abnormality.
of Miles and Wolfe on the early
life
tests.
abilities are in
any
Moreover, the work
histories of fifty of the great
geniuses of history discloses no unusual concentration of mental or
emotional abnormality. '9
Keston has recently compared the personality profiles of students
who
score high on a music preference test of his
with others
made
quite
who
score low. 5°
similar
mean
men
ficantly higher than did their less musical fellows
scores (F, Mf, Sc, and Ma).
looked upon
men
show
with
in
America
as a relatively
feminine interest area only
slightly deviant personality patterns
It
is
But even
if
they do
musicians
as
it
enough
is
can be expected to
too early to
further researches along the line of Keston' s
deviations will be large
scored signi-
on four of the sub-
Keston speculates that with music
great interest in this art.
findings.
construction
on the Minnesota Multiphasic
scores
But his more musical
Personality Inventory.
own
His two groups of female subjects
work
know whether
will yield similar
not to be expected that the
to justify
the branding of male
psychoneurotics.
191
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
Adlerian Views on Ability
well
It is
known
that defects often spur an individual to extra-
The
ordinary achievement.
became
that
a
Demosthenes of antiquity
stuttering
famous orator. The illegitimate Smithson showed the world
though he suffered from
social inferiority
majority of his generation in
partially deaf
many
he was superior to the
And
areas of achievement.
Beethoven, perceiving that
the
was progres-
his affliction
sive,
composed
own
compositions before complete deafness could overtake him.
The
at a faster
and
faster rate in an
attempt to hear his
more dedicated
theories of at least a few of the
followers of
Alfred Adler go beyond the simple idea described above. 5^
granted that
man may be
But instead of seeing
It
is
new heights.
many wellsprings
spurred by his inferiorities to
mechanism
this
of virtuosity, these Adlerians see
as
it
as
one of the
one of few, often
as the
Jew as possessing
hearing and becoming through
major
wellspring. Thus, Rosenthal views the
a "racial
tendency" toward defective
his over-
compensation to
looked upon
And
as
the deafness
antedating
all
Needless to
Moreover,
it
is
say,
Beethoven
his
is
Had he not been
a musical giant, these extremists
Rosenthal's "proofs" are of the anecdotal
quite well demonstrated that Beethoven w^as
well on the road to musical success
difficulties.
more musical than
of the genius
signs of his musicality.
would not have become
deaf he
declare.
sort.
this sort of inferiority far
Gentile. 52
fellow
when
infection led to his hearing
53
Apparently there has so
far
been but
little
experimentation on
the subject of the Adlerian theory of musical ability. 54
In
1937
comparisons were made of the auditory acuities of two groups of
school children chosen by their teachers
the most unmusical of a group of
at
169.
The
the most musical or
acuities
were measured
seven pitch levels, for each ear alone, and for both ears together.
Of the
192
1
as either
21 comparisons, only one, that for the right ear at
1900 d.v.,
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
was what one might regard
as a really significant difference
favored the Adlerian formula, that
more
is,
the unmusical group
acuity for this pitch with the right ear.
parisons showing insignificant differences
it
some
years
later. 5^
better acuities.
At
were
this
tested at the
age the
all
other com-
same seven pitch
more musical had
fell at
The
(p.
levels
consistently
Along with the acuity tests, the students
who
showed
similar acuities. 55
given the older Seashore battery of music measures
acuities of those
this
was concluded that these
two groups of young children had very
acuities of college students
With
and
were
also
The
235").
67 percentile or above on the Seashore
were compared with the hearing scores of those who scored
33 percentile or lower.
Except
in the areas of
at
rhythm and con-
sonance the higher Seashore scorers had the better acuities.
A
similar study of junior high-school students but undertaken in a
different context
was
that
by Bower. 57 She
states:
"There
is
some
evidence here that those with superior and average hearing did better
in the tests of pitch,
rhythm, and tonal
memory
than those with
defective hearing."
The
data gathered in these studies are not incompatible with the
notion that occasionally a somewhat deaf person
in a musical direction.
(or "races"
which show
But
this
is
not to say that
more musical
musical persons
felt
auditory defects.
More
possess the better acuity.
Jungian Views on Ability
A onetime collaborator of Freud,
sively of
all
a high incidence of musical achievement) are
musical because of overcompensations to
often the
may overcompensate
C. G. Jung, has written exten-
what he has termed "archetypes." These are primordial
images, psychic residua of experiences which have happened not to
the individual but to his remote ancestors. These psychic residua act
as
unconscious forces which are basic to the appearance of musical
193
13
FSP
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
and other
artistic abilities, say
the Jungians.5^ Unfortunately for the
Jungians, the theory of the collective unconscious
out of line with
is
the thinking of all present-day biologists, except perhaps those in the
USSR,
since
involves the concept of the inheritance of acquired
it
In other words,
characteristics.
it
can be subsumed under the
now
discredited Lamarckian theory of evolution.
It
was Jung who gave the world the terms "introvert" and "extro-
vert."
with
The
his
more
introvert
own
is
attitudes
He
introspective.
tends to be preoccupied
and mental processes. The extrovert attends
to external events and objects, according to the definition.
These terms have had
a difficult history,
them
psychologists are employing
Europeans
who
think
more
and contemporary American
less
and
But the
often.
less
terms of typologies have seen the
in
several artistic abilites as closely linked to mental
musical although he
may
possess a
Here the more musical college students they
ten American composers
than were the
less
as well,
were found
picture of the extrovert.^^ They find
preferring popular to serious music.
between research
findings
measures of extroversion
other.
to be
is
at least in
tested,
still
Such
a
and
a different
him not unmusical per
se,
but
marked disagreement
when
the various
available agree so poorly
with each
not surprising at a time
now
rarely
more extroverted
Keston and Pinto paint
musical.
is
good sense of motor rhythm. 59
Gross and Seashore found quite the reverse to be true,
America. ^°
Thus,
types.
Szucharewa and Ossipowa hold that the extreme extrovert
What is really needed is a better way of describing personality.^^
Freudian Views on Ability
Music has received
sister arts,
less attention
from the Freudians than have
throughout the aesthetic
fields.
The perplexing problem of the
Freudian symbol was considered in Chapter
194
its
but the basic psychoanalytic assumptions seem similar
£.
The other elements of
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
Freud's system are equally difficult to handle. ^3
Little
is
described in
an operational form which would permit of ready experimental
verification. Explanations in
terms of instincts tend to be tautological,
and Freud's explanations seem to be no exception. Moreover, such
concepts
as
sublimation are slippery. ^4 Xhe Freudians, and everyone
but in explaining
else for that matter, can see sex in the cancan,
dance form there
sex
is
is
no need for the concept of sublimation. Where
not obvious,
basically sexual
the only "proof" that the energy source
comes from the process of psychoanalyzing.
unfortunately, the psychoanalytic interview
mind of
analyst later takes out as his proof.
course, adds up to no proof at
present stage,
may have
all.
the analysand
Such a process, of
So, w^hile psychoanalysis, at
therapeutic utility,
it
is
And,
in great part at least,
is,
a process of indoctrination, a putting into the
what the
this
its
has not as yet provided
a consistent set of scientifically verified explanations for the origin of
the several artistic abilities.
largely
on
It
must,
if it is
to be accepted,
be taken
faith.
Imagery as a Source of Abilities
Sir Francis Galton,
one of the
to
first scientists
work with mental
imagery, thought he had discovered pure image types.
But
later
researches convinced the psychological fraternity that most persons
all
sense fields, with the
most
vivid in the auditory.
have images of considerable strength in
strongest in the visual area and the next
Musicians, of course, tend to have
more
intense auditory images than
do the unmusical and may be above average
thetic areas as well. ^5
Von Weber,
in the tactual
for example,
was
extraordinarily strong visual and auditory imagery.
One
that
a
and kines-
musician with
^^
of the most extensive comparative studies of imagery has been
by Agnew
who
has carefully rated the "mind's ears" of
many
run-of-the-mill musicians, psychologists, and children, ^7 as well as
13-2
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
of great composers. ^^
She has developed an imagery questionnaire
which has enjoyed some
The German
use.
scientists, particularly,
have noted the existence of
imagery of hallucinatory intensity, w^hich they have termed "photographic" or "eidetic."
almost
Imaginal material appears to the eidetiker
normal perception. Virtually unbelievable
as in
told of the abilities of eideiikers
who, by reading
a
tales
have been
book or
a score
only once, or by listening to one rendition of a symphony, could then
without obvious cues reproduce the material
rehearing. ^9
tikers,
and so presumably
Cowell.7°
Sistine
as
if
rereading or
Mozart, Gounod, and Berlioz were undoubtedly eideis
the contemporary composer
Henry
Mozart's famous "theft" of the Miserere after visiting the
Chapel only twice was accomplished through the aid of his
eidetic imagery.
The
early appearance of strong auditory imagery in the child
may
serve as a predisposing factor to subsequent ability with, and interest
in,
tonal materials.
The evidence
so far collected indicates that
images can be cultivated and that the absence of a functional sense
organ, e.g., as in complete deafness,
imagery in that sensory area.
more common among
is
always paralleled by absence of
Eidetic images are
children than
among
adults,
known to be far
many of the latter
having lost their eidetic potentialities through lack of practice.
Developing Abilities
It is
possible for the organism to respond to sudden, loud noises
even thirty days before birth.
where the
Several instances have been observed
foetus has jerked convulsively
were sounded
close to
the mother.
when
tones of high intensity
Unless there
is
anatomical
impairment, the child normally shows considerable sensitivity to
tone shortly after birth, and by the eighth day he will usually stop
feeding at the sound of a gong.7i
196
Quite naturally, the small infant's
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
depend
reactions to tone will
condition of the moment,
The
first
e.g.,
to
some extent on
two-note cadences sung by the very young child tend to
be descending fourths and major thirds,
Werner
his physiological
whether or not he is sleepy or hungry. 7^
according
to
Piatt. 73
agrees that the early cadences are the descending ones but
minor third appears
feels that the
first. 74
The octave
is less
frequently
attempted and the ascending and other descending cadences are tried
As the child matures and
less often.
sions and chord figures, he learns the
than he does the
age employ
them
mean
presented with scale progres-
former with
far greater facility
latter. 75
When singing voluntarily,
for
is
children four and a half to eight years of
pitch levels significantly lower than those arranged
in their
song books; the mean of their voluntary pitch
range, approximately
9*5"
semitones,
is
smaller than that
of them by their printed songs, which average about
But, without
much
strain,
young children can,
cover a considerably greater tonal span,
as
i
if
o*
demanded
7^
g semitones.
they really try,
Froschels has shown. 77
His four-year-olds had a range of eight semitones, his five-year-olds
ten semitones, his six-year-olds eleven, his seven-year-olds fourteen,
and
his
eight-year-olds sixteen semitones.
found even higher values
—age
Jersild
and Bienstock
four, thirteen semitones; age five,
seventeen; ages six and seven, twenty-two; and age eight, twentyfour semitones. 7^ These researchers report that with
some practice
there can be expected at least a 30 per cent gain in the
number
of
tones three-year-olds can sing. 79
Outstanding musical
age seven.
In fact
Brown ^^ would
abilities are often
lead one to suspect that by age seven the typical child
has matured to the point
begun.
noted considerably before
the studies of Garrison, ^° Cochran, ^^ and of
Unusual
where piano
lessons
may be
profitably
ability in painting usually appears at a later age,
presumably because the motor
skills
necessary for handling art tools
are not sufficiently developed until after the seventh year.
197
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
The
show
a
decided preference for the traditional concordances, and then only
if
must be nearly nine before he
typical child
will
he has been subjected to some Western subculture. ^3 But
old he needs to be before he will get the
minor dichotomy
delights
is
not clear. Walker,
complicated typologies,
in
full
who
has
just
how
import of the major-
like
many
drawn
Continentals
most involved
a
picture of the growth of the modal discriminatory powers. ^4
data at least
make
it
clear that the child only gradually develops a feel
Particular trouble
for these affective associations.
minor, which
pleasant.
His
seems merely dull and perhaps
at first
Only much
comes with the
later does
it
slightly un-
begin to take on a clearly sad
affect.
That the growing child steadily improves his discriminatory powers
in the several tonal areas
C. E. Seashore found
music
In his earlier
it
is
shown by the
fact that
music
testers like
necessary to offer several sets of age norms.
test battery.
Seashore presented separate norms
for the fifth grade, for the eighth grade, and for adults. ^5 His current
battery offers one set of norms for the fourth and
for the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades, and
nine through sixteen.
fifth
still
grades, another
another for grades
^^
Attention has already been called to the peculiarly thin tone of the
preadolescent male soprano, a tone with
The female appears
to pick
up
this
less
than normal vibrato.
ornamentation
much
earlier than
the male, possibly because she matures faster than he does. ^7 In both
sexes there
is
a
change in tonal quality and
a
widening of the pitch
range at the time of puberty, slight in the female and quite marked in
the male.
It
goes almost without saying that puberty in the male
period of considerable musical
less
strain.
Not only
is
his voice
a
under
firm control as he shifts from a higher to a lower register but his
status has changed.
He
has
begun to assume an adult role and will
from now on be compared with other
suffer
from
this shift in
adults.
Prodigies particularly
frame of reference and many such exceptional
children leave the musical spotlight shortly after this period.
198
is
For
it
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
is
one thing to be compared with other child performers but quite
something
be rated on
else to
continuum along with
a
a Heifetz or a
Kreisler.
Training Methods: General Problems
Musical learning might be expected to follow in general the rules
of
all
learning.
Questions regarding whole versus part learning,
motivation, overlearning, prestudy and mental rehearsal, distributed
versus massed practice, beta learning, and retroactive inhibition, are
encountered here
as
In addition, there are other pro-
elsewhere.
blems met solely within the music
Under what
conditions,
sections
example,
for
is
whole
more
learning
Should one go over the material
efficient than part learning?
whole, time after time, or
area.
it
is
wiser to break
with practice restricted pretty
much
it
up into smaller
to
these
smaller
portions ? Research on music materials checks rather well the
in other learning areas.
Where
as a
work
the material to be learned seems very
long to the memorizer so that he tends to become discouraged and
lose morale, the part
method
is
superior. ^9 But
where the
learner's
method and he is not overawed by the length of the score he must learn, the whole method
wins out. 90 The student's aim, then, should be to work with as large
prior habits are not too tied to the part
a portion of his score as
makes
persons this means that
as
a
manageable unit for him. For most
learning proceeds, longer and longer
scores can be treated as a single unit.
The
literature reveals but
one experimental study
in the musical
area on motivated versus unmotivated music learning, and this one
would appear
to be quite limited in applicability.
In each section of
the Rubin- Rabson study one of three different sorts of incentives was
operative. 9 1
In the first of the experimental situations the only
incentive was what the learning process itself provided.
No
verbal
199
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
encouragement or other goad was employed.
In a second, there
were many exhortations from the experimenter.
there was promise
of
money payment
if
And
in a third,
improvement became
Rubin-Rabson's data revealed no differences among
especially good.
number of trials needed to bring
agreed upon level of achievement.
the three stimulus situations in the
the
It
skill
up
to a previously
should be noted that the Rubin-Rabson study does not prove that
learning efficiency will be the same irrespective of the type of
incentive.
What
does demonstrate
it
is
that rather forceful incentive
changes must obtain before the slope of the learning curve will be
much affected, more forceful than any that Rubin-Rabson employed.
One is reminded of an adult monotone who was being taught to
His improvement had been unmistakable and
discriminate pitches.
remained exasperatingly slow until
was
quite steady, but
it
knocked from
head during the singing of the national anthem. At
his
his hat
this
point his learning curve swept sharply upwards and maintained
for
some time much of
its
new
standing can undoubtedly recall
slope.
Any music
somewhat
teacher of long
similar instances
her pupils where spurts in learning speed occurred
"proper" incentives were
To
as
among
soon
as
come upon.
learn an act, say the educational psychologists, practice should
be continued beyond the
trial
where the material can
for the first
time be reproduced correctly. The material, in other words, must be
overlearned. Valid as this principle
seems to be
in
most
hold in the extensive musical studies of Rubin-Rabson,
her subjects to practice
5^0,
it
did not
who
forced
areas,
100, and even 200 per cent
more
than
was necessary for bare learning. 9^ Nothing was measurably gained by
all this
added
effort.
notion that while
favorably sheer
it
Rubin-Rabson explains her
is
200
with the
conceivable that overlearning might affect
motor performance on the piano,
affect the learning of piano
a
finding;
it
music since the activity here
matter of meaning and insight.
should not so
is
much more
Consequently, once memorization
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
is
achieved,
"needs only to be restored to
it
original clarity
its
on
subsequent occasions. "93 With no other studies to contradict those
her conclusions must be
of Rubin-Rabson,
at
least
tentatively
accepted.
Although Kovacs,
as early as 1915',
attempted to ascertain whether
keyboard practice actually takes
careful inspection of a score before
place might not benefit the subsequent learning of the score, his
experimental controls were so poor that no generalizations could
safely
be drawn. 94 Hence,
Rubin-Rabson
rely again
upon the researches of
no other psychologist or educator has worked
The questions Rubin-Rabson attempted
this area. 95
in brief, (i)
(2) if
as
we must
mental prestudj of benefit to subsequent learning, and
is
will mental rehearsal
it is,
in
to answer w^ere,
be of value
learning process? Affirmative answers
at
other periods in the
were found
to
both questions.
The best period for mental rehearsal was found to be a time roughly
midway among the keyboard practice sessions. Thus, it would appear
that the ambitious piano student should not only analyze and study
his scores before
he
starts his
formal keyboard practice but should
take off time considerably before his top
skill is
reached to rehearse
mentally what has been going on.
The work of Rubin-Rabson must once
on the problem of massed versus
generalizations
With
again be
all
to
one continuous session or to
several sessions?
For the learning of
educational psychologists favor
some
split
for
distributed practice.^^
limited time to spend on learning something,
allocate
employed
is
it
wiser to
the effort between
but the easiest material,
all
sort of distribution or spreading
of the practice
trials,
and Rubin-Rabson' s data on the learning of
piano music
in line
with their generalization. She
fall
of one hour betw^een
trials
vals
far
more than two time
must be experimented with before
allocation
is
an interval
group of students and
for her first
24 hours for the second. Admittedly,
set
best for any given situation.
it
can be
said just
inter-
what
But with some labor,
a
201
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
music Student can,
sort of material
Common
he
if
will, find the
optimum time spread
for each
he desires to master.
sense warns against the practicing of one's mistakes.
Repeated again and again, these errors will grow into habits and
become
But
eradicate.
difficult to
is
this belief in the
power of
practice really sound?
Would
almost
a matter not of avoiding but of repeating
all
practice
mistakes ? For
The
if
is
it
not be more accurate to say that
an act can be done perfectly,
fact that practice
is
why
skills
at all
it
?
being
made
as associated
with
needed shows that errors are
even though the learner may not recognize them
the individual
practice
still
he wishes to acquire. In ordinary learning, then,
there is practice of errors along with a rehearsal of the correct elements
Why not force the practicer to become acutely aware of his errors?
asks the psychologist Dunlap.97 Why not have the learner single out
his mistakes
and rehearse them alone but do so with the ever-present
desire that they can and should be
Dunlap
calls beta learning in
eliminated? This procedure
contradistinction to the
more
ordinary
form, where the learner does not restrict his practice to his errors
but
drills
himself on a medley
mistakes in the
hope
While McGeoch and
made up
of both correct acts and
that the latter will gradually
be eliminated.
Irion categorically state that beta learning has
proved effective "in correcting errors
studies to support their
contention. 9^
in piano-playing," they cite
no
Moreover, the only published
report of the use of the beta technique in the entire music area, that
by Wakeham on the elimination of errors
only of
its failure. 99
It
might be added that the present writer has
twice tried beta practice on musicians
persistent performance errors and
instances.
carry out
Perhaps
some
Wakeham and
detail of
performance errors
in
who were bothered by
was quite unsuccessful
in
both
the author unwittingly failed to
Dunlap 's methodology.
Or
it
may be
that
music are somehow unlike typing errors where
the scheme has proved so successful.
202
in organ-playing, tells us
But, in any event, there
is
no
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
reason
as yet for
replacing the
more ordinary procedures with
the
beta variety.
There
is
the distinct possibihty that the learning process
thrown badly out of gear should the learner practice two
or
less
Evidence from
concomitantly.
that this possibility
becomes
The
tasks are quite similar.
number
practically a certainty
learning of the one
learning of the other task, a
It
a
phenomenon
of areas suggests
whenever the two
somehow
To
may prove
inhibits the
called retroactive inhibition.
behooves the musical educator, then, to ascertain
this principle
how
important
to be for keyboard learning.
obtain at least a partial answer, Rubin-Rabson observed the
behaviors of i8 highly trained musicians in a
number
of situations.
Happily, no important inhibitory effects were detectable
tasks
may be
more
tasks
when two
were learned concomitantly. To quote Rubin-Rabson:
[My] conclusions are not unexpected. The experimental pro-
cedure was only a repetition of
had long since
many
a learning situation familiar to
The mechanics of piano study
accustomed them to learning much new music
these subjects for
concomitantly while
various degrees.
No
years.
retaining
material
already
learned
to
confusion develops transferable from one
learning to the other because the organizational skill of these
learners
bits of
is
highly trained and specific and because rarely are
two
music so similar in key, rhythm, melodic or structural
details as to
make
involuntary transfer feasible. There
is
here,
furthermore, a favorable task-set engendered by the prestige
factors implicit for musicians in a music-learning situation. ^°°
It
would be
a bit
premature to suggest that the Rubin-Rabson
research has completely settled the problem. While
will
most probably be found
generally, they
at this
final
may
or
may not
lower proficiency
its
conclusions
to hold for well trained musicians
apply to beginners.
level, then,
Further research
must be undertaken before
a
answer can be given.
203
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
Training Methods: Special Problems
While
will, to
has long been
it
some
known
that practice with the right
hand
extent, also train the left hand, this fact has certainly
led no one to limit his practice to his right hand. Yet certain music
teachers have believed that practice
would
the other
with one hand and then with
first
result in quicker learning than drill
with the two
hands in coordination. The notion seemed to be that while one hand
was resting
it
would be absorbing more
practicing than
rested with
are at least
the
it.
two
if it
unilateral.
^^^
continued to practice with
However, the
facts
studies available
superiority
The
from the hand that was
skill
of the
do not support
mate and then
this idea.
There
which demonstrate beyond question
coordinated
student, then,
its
is
technique
as
opposed to the
advised to attempt hand coordina-
tion from the very beginning of practice.
Proper imagery
is
most important
needed for "good" voice quality
is
for
particularly difficult to achieve but,
according to Bartholomew, training in
The
and "image" of
"feel"
resonance
at 5^00
this area
tonal quality represented by strong
violinist,
vocalist.
particularly
Good kinesthetic imagery is
when he begins to practice
double stops. ^°3 At
this stage in his learning,
longer
guide
as effective a
a single string.
can be effective. ^°^
and 2800 cycles are essential for the male singer and
around 3200 for the female
needed by the
a
music training. The imagery
For in
as
it
auditory imagery
is
no
was when he was learning to play on
his earlier practice
on the
single string
he
could by careful listening almost instantly adjust his finger position
whenever
it
it
becomes
rely
was incorrect. But with two
difficult to
know which
fingers breaking the strings
finger to change.
on kinesthetic images which refer
So
now he must
specifically to a single finger.
Too much emphasis, however, must not be placed on imagery.
Indeed, direct sensory cues are often more essential. Thus, beginners
on the piano learn more slowly if they are kept from looking at their
204
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
hands and the keyboard than
if
allowed to look where they will/"'^
This finding follows the basic learning principle which states that,
other things being equal, the
more
the sensory cues available the
faster the learning/^5
Several excellent studies
on
sight reading are available to
the reader.
Although space here allows for but few comments, the serious
student will find an examination of the original articles cited in the
references of the next
fev^^
pages most w^orthwhile.
The exposure of
musical material on cards offers one approach to the study of sight
reading, and photography of eye fixations furnishes another excellent
source of data.
moving hands and the
In certain of the studies, the
hammers within
the piano have been photographed.
Bean warns piano teachers to allow their pupils to gain reading
speed in the early stages of learning even
errors.
^°^
He
finds all too
to single notes
that
is,
when
many persons
at the
expense of occasional
reading slowly and attending
they should be attending to musical patterns,
to short phrases.
Reading individual notes
to individual letters while reading, and this
is
is
akin to attention
behavior typical of
extremely poor readers. By the judicious use of flash cards the reading
of most students can, Bean says, be speeded up appreciably and be made
considerably
more
who knows what
accurate.
Ortmann
points out that the teacher
her pupils' eyes can and cannot do will be better
equipped to suggest proper training methods. ^°7
As
a result of their researches,
Lannert and Ullman believe that the
piano student should be early taught to read ahead of the measure
being played and should be forced into considerable sight-reading
practice. ^^^
known
The arrangement of
that little visual attention
the keyboard
need be paid
must become
it.
so well
Lowery also stresses
the great need for sight-reading practice and the early achievement of
smooth eye-hand coordinations. ^°9 He notes
far
more complicated than
that reading
music
is
reading print, since musical symbols are
not arranged on lines or columns but are scattered both horizontally
20^
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
and
vertically.
between
The eye often
staves.
on
fixates
Music reading
areas
between notes or even
made even more
is
difficult
of our unscientifically arranged staff and symbols.
because
The work of
Wheelwright, "° for example, clearly shows that the spaces between
notes and rests should, for purposes of better reading, be proportional to the represented time values.
A
wealth of material on the reading and playing of music can be
found
in
the excellent reports of Weaver,"^ of
Weaver, ^^^ and of
While these
Jacobsen.-^^^
Van Nuys and
studies
were not
primarily oriented toward training procedures, they do offer helpful
suggestions for the
improvement of
will be given here, however, since
extended coverage of
that
all
Only
practice.
this
book
is
a
few samples
not the place for an
might be found helpful to the music
teacher.
The reading of music should
start
with chromatics and accidental
perceive.
much
in the bass clef
which are very
and that written on leger
difficult to
lines cause
reading difficulty which can only be overcome by extensive
practice.
often
Music
with diatonic intervals and not
signs,
Surprising as
more needed by
it
may seem,
practice on reading
words
is
the beginning music student than practice on
note reading. Immature students should be introduced rather early
to scale runs and only
much
later to arpeggios.
Emphasis should be
on speed reading rather than on accuracy since the habit of slow
reading
is
difficult to break.
reader, not the slow one,
his advice
who
On
is
with the pessimistic
material for beginners
is
the average,
more
comment
the
it
is
accurate.
the
fast
music
Jacobsen ends
that inuch note-reading
not well adapted to their reading level and
should be replaced by scores better geared to their perceptual
capacities.
206
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
Creativity
No
as
one
really understands the intricacies of the creative processes
they function in any particular composer, not even the composer
himself. This fact, however, has not stopped several musicians
from
introspecting and retrospecting on these interesting processes.
For
example, the modern composer Henry
psychologist-mentor, L.
how
M. Terman,
Co well,
stimulated by his
has described in
and for a time having
little
detail
access to musical instruments, Cowell
diligently practiced imagining the timbres
finally getting
imagined
in the traditional
effects
manner.
he had been imagining.
string
massage,
many
different timbres,
not offered by any instrument played
Later,
Cowell, he experimented with
He was
imagery. With
he had heard.
aided in this labor by the possession of eidetic
practice, he put together in his "mind's ear"
his
some
he believes he composes. "4 Early deciding to be a composer
it
when
to elicit
In this fashion
a piano
some
was available to
of the bizarre effects
were born
his
tone clusters,
and the other Cow^ellian timbre
novelties.
Whenever Cowell was commissioned to compose, he employed
effects which seemed to him appropriate to the occasion, realizing,
however, that he was offering
his
listener
no clear-cut musical
message.
Research which many composers might not consider entirely
realistic
was that performed by Benham when,
in the interests of an
experiment, he composed a series of nine-measure melodies (average
time between 60 and 70 seconds). -^^5
strongest
at
the
He found
emergence of each musical
his auditory
idea.
imagery
During the
development there were motor sensations and other types of
imagery. The major danger in this and other similar experiments, of
course,
is
that the overly analytic mental set, necessitated
experiment,
may have
by the
interfered with the experimenter's creative
powers or have given them rather
different qualitative flavor.
207
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
Benham were made by
well-known European com-
Observations somewhat similar to those of
Bahle,
who
sent questionnaires to 32
posers in an effort to learn
replies
by
a
were
later
number of
In
centuries.
how
they believe they composed. ^^^ Their
checked against autobiographical documents
left
the greatest European composers of the past three
one of
his
many
studies
on the problem of
creativity,
Bahle asked his composer respondents to set poems to music and to
introspect and retrospect on the process.
Unfortunately his data,
extensive as they are, have led to few generalizations which could
made before
not have been
problem was
respects Bahle' s
the reasons for their long
that are aired
—yet
life.
were undertaken.
In
some
like that of asking centenarians
about
the studies
Many and
varied are the convictions
no one knows with certainty the degree of
one of the theories offered to explain either the
validity of any
longevity of an individual or his creativity.
By comparing better and poorer students of composition, Gross
and Seashore have helped validate the commonly held belief that
composition comes in part
facility in
at least froin toil
and sweat. ^^7
Formal and informal training and knowledge of good work habits
appeared in
this
study as extremely important for
compose. Whittaker and
reflect
the
creations
particular
were shown
folk art of the
the
life
who would
found compositions to
composer's informal
training. ^^^
Musical
to be generally in line with the traditional and
immediate culture and the rather narrow interests of
community
The
his associates also
all
in
which the composer
sociologists Lastrucci"9
lived.
and Becker "° have studied the way of
of dance-band musicians and the effects on creativity and per-
formance which stem from their extremely atypical living habits Dance
.
musicians feel forced to compose and perform in idioms and manners
appreciated by their audiences. Such pressures from the "ignorant" lay
public they often resent and compensate for by striving to produce,
at least in
208
jam
sessions,
what they regard
as
higher level material.
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
It
is
popular nowadays to point to a reified unconscious
major wellspring of
Max
logist
Graf
artistic inspirations.
Thus, the great musico-
asserts that the greater part of musical
takes place in the unconscious mind,
entity that science cannot
as the
which
to
him
is
formation
a mystical
measure or explain/^^ Graf does admit,
however, that the composer's childhood memories and
his life-long
environmental pressures affect his style of composition.
Jancke makes the point that most
not
creativity
is
by psychological tensions which are often unconscious.
^^^
if
all
preceded
In
some
degree the act of composing relieves these tensions. To the com-
more than to the listener, music is autistic and
personal. Hence, when the composer listens to one of his own
earlier compositions, it may take on a quite different meaning from
poser, then, even
what
it
originally
what
is
perhaps a rather different tension.
To make
his
had for him, since
own
unconscious
deliberately fatigued himself and
at this
at least
time
it
serves to lessen
somewhat recordable, Loar
went without
his
normal
sleep. ^^3
Then he attended concerts where he drowsed. When Loar
attempted to record
his
dreams and reveries he found that no
repressed wish or inhibited desire could be recognized
Instead, there appeared in fictionalized
fantasies.
which Loar had formed from
times.
However,
his reading of the
in fairness to analytic theory,
that Loar's technique
later
among
composer's
it
his
form memories
life
and
must be admitted
was not one which could uncover repressed
wishes.
Why
some composers
beautiful"
is
create "beautiful" music and others "un-
explained by Ehrenzweig on a Gestalt-psychoanalytic
basis. ^^4 Aesthetically
good
Gestalts, i.e., beautiful tonal materials,
belong to the surface layers of the mind. The "depth mind" or unconscious, on the other hand,
is
"Gestalt free."
Hence
it is
from the
unconscious that the poor Gestalts, the ugly and the distorted, come.
Although the modern composer's unpleasant music may seem highly
209
14
FSP
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
sophisticated, his art, thinks Ehrenzweig, represents a retrogression
to the least differentiated
modes of
The composer may honestly
to
infantile "thing perception."
believe his compositions to be novel,
be born from an unconscious that has had
or no
little
the music of his contemporaries or of the past.
But the
with
traffic
fact
that
is
the composer forgets the origins of much of the material he will later
come from
use in his creations. This material has
and
is
unconscious in the sense that
As time goes on
later
it
will
a variety of sources
not immediately recallable.
it is
be elaborated into the form
be produced. But just
how much
goes on below the verbal threshold
which
will
it
of the rearrangement of items
not known.
is
amount must often be considerable
in
as
However, the
Haydn
certain composers,
and Schumann, for instance, seem to have done their creative work
without
much
effort.
But others, like
J. S.
and erased and followed extremely rigid
to be a continuum, then, along
"intuitive" at the
Bach, typically scratched
rules.
There would appear
which composers
one end and the "non-intuitive"
fall
—with
at the other,
the
with
the former yielding his finished product almost without considered
thought and the latter only after
much
careful deliberation and
conscious elaboration.
Biographical studies of the great composers usually stress their
personality structures, their psychological abnormalities and sociological uniquenesses, as well as the cultural forces
been
in part responsible
embraced and
both for the
for the fact that they chose
Luck, special body build, extreme
standingly
style of
relatives or friends, high intelligence,
facility, vivid
imagery, abnormally fine
as a career. ^^5
and joy of
health,
for
2IO
living,
pressures
out-
from
extreme tonal and rhythmic
memory,
past suffering,
greater than average ambition and persistence, ability to
work on
to have
composition they have
composing
vitality
good or extraordinarily poor
which seem
make
much
others
one's behalf, poorly controlled emotions, inherited talent
composing,"^ readiness to forgo present pleasures for future
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
and even willingness to be a melody thief have
gains,
mentioned by one or another biographer
Biographical research
genius.
is
necessary for creative
as
fascinating w^ork,
pay big dividends in the years to come, yet
at
conclude that some one of
his
which may indeed
present
too crude to allow for valid generalizations.
likely to
A
many
its
methods are
biographer
and emphasize
this item.
It
too
is all
biographical items has
great causal significance simply because his biases encourage
select out
been
all
him
to
can be expected, perhaps, that
over the years biographer biases will in some degree cancel each
But until that happier day arrives, only hunches and very
other.
tentative conclusions can be safely
material.
It
is
drawn from
this
type of research
^^7
when neurolowas found by Lehman to be
interesting to note that the period of
muscular coordinations are
at their best
life
when eminent composers of the past were at the peak of
creativity. ^^^ Of course, temporal coincidence does not neces-
the time
their
sarily indicate causality.
maximum
so
many
creativity
areas
—
and philosophy,
Yet the correspondence between decade of
and years of best motor coordination
well as musical composition
considerable significance.
motor
skill
as
simply do not have
as
much
is
to
Wayne Dennis
somehow
men,
Hence, the date of
work
maximum
available time.
seems to find that topflight workers
Lehman and Ingerham
that
related, asks us not to
keep producing to an advanced age with surprisingly
In a study by
may have
it
particularly those in academic
some extent determined by
^3^
that
free time to devote to creative
do their younger brethren. ^^9
creativity
—
However, Bjorksten, while agreeing
and creativity must be
forget that middle-aged and older
life,
mathematics,
athletics, painting, writing, science,
as
exists in
who
live
And
long
little letup.
of the compositions of eminent
deceased musicians, the half-decade from age thirty-five to thirtynine was shown to be the most productive for grand operas, cantatas,
and orchestral and symphonic works of "superior" quality. ^3i
21
14-2
I
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
This research team continued
its
study with contemporary American
composers, but apparently met with great difficuhy in deciding what
compositions should be placed in the "superior" category.
this uncertainty
makes
less
meaningful the
creative half-decade for this group
from
in
fifty
to fifty-four.
The peak
both studies to come
It
for
fell
later
peak
—
in the years
music of high quality was found
earlier than that for sheer quantity.
inust be admitted that the above discussions of creativity leave
us with a deplorable lack of closure.
answers sought in
this area
sometimes proved to be
menon
It is
have been
quite possible that the
bound
is
they have
as unrealistic as
in certain other areas.
Rarely
of nature found to have a single cause.
question
is
much
Perhaps
that the
finding;
If
is
a
pheno-
the process in
broad in scope and appears in many different contexts,
to be related to a host of variables.
We now
know,
it
for
example, that the several sorts of leadership demand different psychological qualities, although for years researchers sought a single set of
psychological characteristics that
would be
typical of
doubt the creative processes, too, show multiple
blossoming of creativity
is
all.
Without
causality.
^3^
The
surely dependent in considerable part
on
circumstances unique to particular situations. The trigger which
actually sets off the creative process in
similar
from
that
one
man may
needed for another, particularly
different personality or school of composition,
be quite
if
he
is
dis-
of a
or from another
culture or age.
Summarj
The layman
often speaks of his friends as extremely musical, as
moderately musical, or perhaps
that there
is
as
not
at all musical.
one general musical or even broader
one may possess to
a greater or lesser degree.
implies
art ability
which
The evidence, however,
points to a contrary conclusion, to the existence of a
2X2
He
number of
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
semi-independent musical
music, just
a
most other
as in
no one of Avhich seems particu-
abilities
other
larly related to abilities in the
While top achievement
arts.
in
academic intelligence of
areas, calls for
high order, the correlation in the school years between music test
scores and i.q.
who
is
slight.
much
few very stupid persons have been
In fact a
less stupid in
the musical realm. These are the
In the main, spectacular musical
achievement seems unrelated to
located
are
idiot-savants.
anomalies of gross body musculature. This should not be taken to
mean
that there are not neural constitutions admirably suited to
musical endeavor.
Yet these constitutions are largely wasted
proper environmental pressures are not operative.
aware of the constitutional
musical accomplishment.
prodigies
who
who
misfits
But
we
are
all
if
well
struggle in vain toward
are less apt to note the
numerous
sooner or later drop out of the musical picture because
of the infertility of their musical surroundings.
modern
We
It
is
the view of
science that the course of development of neither group can
be predicted from scrutinies of their family
weaving of nature and nurture
is
far
Indeed, the inter-
lines.
too complicated for the successful
use of such a simple device as genealogical analysis. Achievement and
no means identical, and the fact that one man has
more in music than another, or men in general more than
women, or members of one national or racial group more than
potentiality are by
achieved
another cannot be transcribed into capacity terms.
A
wide range of
achievement can be derived from similar potentialities.
To
describe a person as "arty"
psychoneurotic.
who
It is
is,
in
some
circles, to
as
true, of course, that history reveals musicians
have been neurotic or even psychotic.
between musicality and abnormality,
slight.
brand him
if
there
But the connection
is
one,
is
extremely
Standard personality tests and ratings disclose no relationship
between the two.
A
possible exception to this generalization con-
cerns the jazz performer,
whose way of
life
typically encourages
213
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
unstable relations with his family and other deviant behaviors as
well.
In this chapter, the claims of Adler, Jung, and
scrutinized for their bearing
on musical
abilities.
Freud have been
It
was concluded
that while auditory insufficiencies can facilitate musical creativity,
such weaknesses are not essential to composition and performance of
high order, even though the Adlerian extremists would have us
Jung's view that abilities arise as psychic residua of
think so.
ancestral experiences
was dismissed
Lamarckian notion of the inheri-
logical belief, being a variant of the
And
tance of acquired characters.
out of line with current bio-
as
the extraversion concept was held
to be too poorly defined for purposes of quantification.
notion of sublimation was also regarded
What
as
of
little
The Freudian
explanatory aid.
are needed are operationally sound hypotheses susceptible to
eventual verification.
Sublimation seems not to be a concept of this
sort but rather something to
While
be accepted
as
an act of
musicians have auditory imagery of
all
faith.
more than average
strength, a few, the eidetikers, possess auditory pictures of halluci-
natory intensity.
Such imaginal
enter a musical career.
He might
possession of eidetic imagery
By and
skill
is
could well encourage a child to
enter anyway, however, for the
not
a sine
large, the rules of learning as
qua non of musicality.
formulated by the educational
psychologists are found to hold for the learning of musical materials.
But each
field of learning has its
exception.
learning as
unique problems, and music
Overlearning, for example,
it
has been found to be in
because the activities here are
more
a
than of sheer motor performance.
facilitated
by proper increases
slighter goadings
214
is
not
as beneficial to
many other
areas,
is
no
music
presumably
matter of insight and meaning
Music learning
is
of course
in motivation although not
by the
found of value in many other sorts of learning. Beta
learning, the intentional practice
on
the elimination of typing errors,
fails
errors,
which works so well
with musical materials.
in
And,
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
at least
with well-trained musicians, retroactive inhibition does not
appear to be the hazard
in
it is
some
fields
of learning.
Students of musical creativity are gradually giving up the idea that
come from
the abilities of the composer
authorities have so far gotten little
common
a
beyond the
stage of enumerating
up
possible essentials to creativity and of playing
favorites.
The more mystically minded
creativity
at least a
is
is
now
are techniques
all
now
and
consider
problem
Gradually, however,
later yield a clearer
Introspection, retrospec-
available.
treatment of age data
statistical
our concern with precocity and creativity
number
those
as special
—here
being used.
forget that every musician
ficiency in a
few
the receptacle from
few data are being assembled which may
tion, biographical analysis,
With
as
alleged to spring full blown.
picture of creativity than
a
theorists sidestep the
with their positing of the unconscious mind
which
wellspring and
Unfortunately, however, most
are independent of the social setting.
must reach
of basic abilities.
capabilities
at least a
In
we
our next chapter
assumed to be needed,
measurement has long been one of the
should not
minimum
of pro-
we
since
shall
their
tasks of the psychological
aesthetician.
Notes
i]
R.
M. Drake,
"Factorial Analysis of
Technique," J. Musical.,
that his early conclusions
to musical ability
l
were
—-music
Music Tests by the Spearman Tetrad-difference
(1939): 6-16.
in error.
Over the
He now
memory and rhythmic
years,
Drake has convinced himself
two important
facets
See Drake Music Aptitude
Tests,
feels that there are
ability.
Chicago, Science Research Associates, 19^4.
2]
H. D. Wing, "A Factorial Study of Musical Tests,"
3]
J.
McLeish
U. Press,
Brit. J. Psjchol.,
in The Fourth Mental Measurements Yearbook,
New
31 (1941): 34i-3i'S'.
Brunswick, N.J., Rutgers
i95'3.
4]
P.
Vernon, The
£\
C.
W. Manzer
Structure of
and
S.
Human
Abilities,
N.Y., Wiley, 19^0,
p. 93.
Marowitz, "The Performance of a Group of College Students on
the Kwalwasser-Dykema Music Tests," J. Appl. Psychol., 1^ (i93f): 331—346.
21^:
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
6]
Franklin,
E.
Gumperts
7]
J.
Tonality As a Basis for the Study of Musical
"A
Karlin,
E.
Talent,
Goteborg, Sweden,
Forlag, 195^6.
Factorial Study of Auditory Function," Psjchometrika, 7
2^1-279; "Factor Analysis in the Field of Music,"
J. Musicol., 3
8]
L. B.
Bower, "A Factor Analysis of Music Tests," Thesis, Catholic U.,
9]
R.
Morrow, "An
S.
Mechanical Abilities,"
10]
K. Strong,
E.
Analysis of the Relations
J. Psychol., 5
1945'.
Tests of Musical, Artistic, and
(1938): 2^3-263.
Manual Jor Vocational
Jr.,
Among
(1942):
(1941): 41-5^2.
Blank Jor Men,
Interest
Stanford,
Calif.,
Stanford U. Press, 194^'.
11]
R. K. White, "The Versatility of Genius," J.
12]
C. Alexander, "The Longevity of Scientists," J. Soc. Psychol., sp (19^4): 299—302.
13]
M. Schoen,
14]
C. Cox, Genetic Studies of Genius, vol.
i^]
C. F. Lehman,
the
16]
W.
(1931): 460-489.
The Psychology of Music, N.Y., Ronald Press, 1940.
2,
Stanford, Calif., Stanford U. Press, 1926.
"A Study of Musically Superior and
Kwalwasser-Dykema Music
R.
Soc. Psychol., 2
Tests," J. Educ. Res.,
Inferior Subjects as Selected by
4s (19^2): 517—5^22.
Lundin, "The Development and Validation of a Set of Musical Ability Tests,"
Psychol. Monog., 63,
No. 10 (1949).
For a resume of the studies in
this area see J. L.
Mursell, "Intelligence and Musicality," Education, 59 (1939): SS9~S^^17]
L. S. Hollingworth,
J. Educ. Psychol.,
18]
"The Musical
Ehrsam, "Uber den
E.
Sensitivity of Children
Who
Test Above
i
3^ i.Q.,"
IJ (1926): g^^- 109.
Fall einer einseitigen
Kindes bei hochgradigen Leistungsriickstand,"
musikalischen Begabung eines blinden
Neurol. Med. Psychol., Leipzig,
Psychiat.
7
(19^^): 149-1^419]
D. C. Rife and
S4-7~SS9-
^^^ ^ls°
L.
in Human Inheritance," Hum. Biol., 3 (193 i):
Owens and W. Grimm, "A Note Regarding Exceptional
H. Snyder, "Studies
^-
^-
Musical Ability in a Low-grade Imbecile,"
20]
Of
average.
J. Educ. Psychol.,
32 (1941): 636-637.
from high schools sometimes show music students to be brighter than
data
I.Q.
course this finding could conceivably
mean
that
music students per
se
have
higher than average i.Q.'s.
More
and that
not the rule (D. K. Antrim, "Do Musical Talents Have Higher
this superiority is
Intelligence?"
21]
Etude, 63 (194^):
The claim
ability
is
has
been made
plausible
is
the hypothesis that the surveys
were
selective
127-128).
that
it is
not academic intelligence per se to which musical
related but rather mathematical ability.
To check on
this persistent belief,
G. Revesz has surveyed both mathematicians and musicians and has found no unduly large
number
of musical mathematicians or mathematically
the Psychology
oj Music,
Norman, U. of Okl.
Press,
minded musicians
{Introduction to
135^; "Beziehung zwischen mathe-
matischer und musikalischer Begabung," Schweiz. Z. Psychol. Anwend., 5 (1946): 269—281).
22]
G. Revesz, The Psychology of a Musical Prodigy, N.Y., Harcourt Brace,
1925-.
See also
C. Stumpf, "Akustische Versuche mit Pepito Areola," Zsch.f. Ang. Psychol., 2 (1909):
i-ii;
F.
Baumgarten, "Der Werdegang eines Wunderkindes," Zsch.f. Ang.
(1932): 473—498.
216
It
is
Psychol.,
41
of interest that there have been virtually no child prodigies in
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
'cello, clarinet, flute,
conductors.
or voice, and but few in composition. The style
most
In the past the
fertile areas for prodigies
N. Slonimsky, "Musical Children, Prodigies or Monsters?"
23]
R. Updegraff, L. Heiliger, and
J.
were
Etude,
now
violin
is
for prodigy
and piano. See
66 (1948): 591-592.
Learned, "The Effect of Training upon the Singing
Ability and Musical Interest of Three-, Four-, and Five-year-old Children," U. of la. Stud.
Child Welf., 14 (1938): 83-131 A. T. Jersild and S. Bienstock, "A Study of the Development of Children's Ability to Sing," J. Educ. Psychol., 2S (1934): 481—503; M. S. Hattwick
and H. M. Williams, "The Measurement of Musical Development, II," U. of la. Stud.
Child Welf., 11 (1935): i-ioo; G. E. Moorhead and D. Pond, "Music of Young Children,"
Pillsburj Found. Stud., 1941, 1942; E. N. Drexler, "A Study of the Development of the
Ability to Carry a Melody at the Preschool Level," Child Bevel., 9 (1938): 319-332.
;
24]
H. Christianson, Bodily Khjthmic Movements of Young Children in Relation to Khythm in
Educ, No. 736, N.Y., Teachers College, Columbia U.,
Music, Teach. Coll. Contrib.
1938; A. T. Jersild and
S.
Bienstock, "Development of
Rhythm
in
Young Children,"
Child Devel. Monog., 22 (1935).
25]
R. F. Wyatt, "Improvability of Pitch Discrimination," Psychol. Monog., ^8, No.
2
(1945); A. A. Capurso, "The Effect of an Associative Technique in Teaching Pitch and
Appl. Psychol., 18 (1934): 811-818; E. Connette, "The
Knowledge of Results," J. Educ. PsjchoL, 32 (1941): 523—532;
H. Pyle, "An Experiment in Individual Training in Pitch-Deficient
Interval Discrimination," J.
Effect of Practice with
M. Wolner and W.
Children," J. Educ. Psychol., 24 (1933): 602-608; G.
M. Whipple,
"Studies in Pitch
Discrimination," Amer. J. Psychol., 14 (1903): 289—309; R. H. Seashore, "Improvability
of Pitch Discrimination," Psychol. Bull., 32 (1935): 546. For training data on other music
abilities see
Psychol.,
G. M. Gilbert, "Sex Differences in Musical Aptitude and Training," J. Gen.
26 (1942): 19-33.
26]
C. E. Seashore, Psychology of Music, N.Y., McGraw-Hill, 1938, p. 57.
27]
See L.
135 i.Q."
28] H.
S.
Hollingworth, "The Musical Sensitivity of Children
J. Educ. Psychol.,
Koch and
F.
Who
Test above
ly (1926): 95—109.
Mjon, "Die Erblichkeit der Musikalitat," Zsch.J.
Psychol., 121
104—136; H. Stanton, "The Inheritance of Specific Musical Capacities,"
(193 i):
Psychol. Monog.,
31 (1922): 157—204; V. Haecker and T. Ziehen, "Beitrag zur Lehre von der Vererbung
u.s.w.," Zsch.J. Psychol., 1931, 121, i— 103; R. S. Friend, "Influences of Heredity and
Musical Environment on the Scores of Kindergarten Children on the Seashore Measures of
Musical Ability," J. Appl.
N.Y., Stokes, 1939.
29]
J.
Psjchol.,
23 (1939): 347-357; A. Scheinfeld, You and Hereditj,
Mjon, "Zur Erbanalyse der musikalischen Begabung,"
Hereditas,
7 (1926): 109-
128; G. Voss, "Die Familie G.," Dtsch. Zsch.J. Nervenhk., 83 (1925): 249-263.
30]
C. Terry, The Origin oj the Family oj Bach Musicians, London, Oxford U. Press, 1929;
K. Geiringer, The Bach Family, N.Y., Oxford U. Press, 1954.
31]
at
In the category of folktales
is
the belief that music ability arises through being
an astrologically propitious time
(p.
118).
There
is
one
folktale
which
bom
says that
musicians do not enjoy normal longevity and another which states that they live beyond
217
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
their "proper" span. These notions, however, have
statisticians,
who
find the Uves of musicians to
been disproved by the insurance
be of normal length. See
W.
Schweisheimer,
"Do Musicians
Live Longer Than Others?" Etude, 6j (1949): 54.- ss; A. H. Whittaker,
"Occupational Diseases of Musicians" in Music and Medicine, N.Y., Schuman, 1948. Note
(p. 182),
however, that musicians enjoy
less
musicians but the difference
Some
is
not
Differences
Physiological
whose
longevity than educators,
above average. The blood pressure of musicians
is
slightly
life-span
is
lower than that of non-
statistically significant (L. F.
Sunderman, "A Study of
between Musicians and Non-Musicians:
L
Blood-
pressure," J. Soc. Psychol., 23 (1946): 20^-2 1^).
32] C. J.
Lamp and N.
Keys, "Can Aptitude for Specific Musical Instruments be Pre-
dicted?" J. Educ. Psychol., 26 (1935^): S^l—S3^33]
J.
H. Taylor, "The Relation between Finger Length, Hand Width and Musical
Ability," 7. vlppi. Psychol.,
34]
S.
Graf,
20 (1936): 347-3i'2.
"Measurements of Hand Length, Muscular Control, and Motility Related to
Handedness," Master's Thesis, Syracuse U., 195^2.
35]
E.
Bauer, E. Fischer, and F. Lenz,
Human
Heredity,
N.Y., Macmillan, 193
1;
R.
Breithaupt, "Pianistic Talent and Race," Etude, 42 (1924): 4^5-4^6; E. Kretschmer, The
Psjchology of
is
that of S.
Men oj
Genius,
Giinther.
N.Y., Harcourt, Brace, 193
Western music,
says he,
is
i.
A
typical racist generalization
better integrated than that of the
Dinaric people but lacks the empathic or emotional potential of the latter ("Rassenseelen-
kundliche Beitrage zur musikalischen Stilforschung," Arch. Musikjorsch
.
,
3 (1938):-
^8g-
427). E. Rittershaus maintains that most creative musicians of the nineteenth century had
Nordic features ("Die Vererbung musikalischer Eigenschaften," Arch.
Rass.- u. Ges.-BioL,
29 (193^): 132-1^2).
36]
R. Braine, "The Making of a Virtuoso Violinist," Etude, 43 (192^): 1^7-158.
Sward, "Jewish Musicality in America,"
that in
Keith
IJ (1933): 675^-712, points out
1932 one-half of American violin virtuosos, maestros, and first violinists of
J. Appl. Psychol.,
symphony orchestras were of Jewish descent. Ten per cent of American composers were
also Jewish.
Yet ten- and eleven-year-old Jewish and gentile youngsters score similarly
and intensity discrimination, tonal movement, and tonal memory. It
would appear, then, that the presence of so many Jews in American musical life must be
due to economic and social factors rather than genetic causes.
on
37]
tests of pitch
G. B. Johnson, "Musical Talent of the American Negro," Mus. Superv.
J.,
is (1928):
81, 83, 96.
38] The study of D. Van Alstyne and E. Osborne, "Rhythm Responses of Negro and
White Children Two to Six," Monog. Soc. Res. Child Devel., 2 (1937): 4, is almost the only
research where Negro superiority has seemingly been found. Negro children appeared to
be markedly better in motor rhythm, the superiority being greatest for the simplest
rhythms and the youngest subjects. But whether these data are to be explained on genetic
grounds, are due to errors of selection, or may be attributed to the Negroes being less
inhibited or receiving more musical encouragement is not clear. Other studies, e.g., that
of R. L. Streep, "A Comparison of White and Negro Children in Rhythm and Con-
218
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
sonance," J. Appl. Psychol., IS (1931): ^3— 7I) have found slight Negro superiorities but
never differences of such impressive magnitude.
39]
G. M. Gilbert, "Sex Differences in Musical Aptitude and Training," J. Gen.
Psychol.,
26 (1942): 19-3340]
M.
Vaerting, "Die xnusikalische Veranlagung des Weibes," Zsch.J. Psjchother. Med.
Psychol.,
41]
y (191 y): 120—127.
H. D.
Schv^^arz,
"Die Kunst
als
seelische Kraftquelle
fiir
die Frau," Psychol. Rundschau,
3 (1931): ^2-^342]
C. Seashore,
43]
C. Quinan,
of Beauty in Music, N.Y., Ronald Press, 1947, p. 367.
In Search
"A Study of
Sinistrality
workers and Others," Arch. Neur. and
and Muscle Coordination in Musicians, Iron-
Psjchiat.,
J (1922): 3^2; "The Principal
Sinistral
Types," Arch. Neur. and Psjchiat., 24 (1930): 3^-47.
44]
M.
45]
P. R. Farnsworth, "Musical Talent and the Left hand," Sch. Mus., 32 (1932): 11.
46]
For data which picture the ambidextrous
J.
L. Sikes, "Musical Talent
Kwalwasser, Exploring
47]
M.
E.
the Musical
East, "Insanity
J. P. Foley, Jr.,
J. Gen. Psychol.,
and the Left hand," Ped. Sem., 30 (1923):
than average in tongue-agility see
Mind, N.Y., Coleman-Ross, i9SSy P- 132.
and Genius,"
"A Survey
as better
56-161.
1
J. Hered.,
of the Literature
2S (1941): 111-142;
on
2^ (1938): 2y£-^j9; A. Anastasi and
Abnormal, I,"
Artistic Behavior in the
"II," Annals,
N.Y. Acad. Sc, 42 (1941): 1-112;
Monog., S^ (1940):
1-71; "IV," J. Gen. Psychol., 2S (1941): 187-237.
P. E. Vernon believes that composers of the romantic school tend to have been more
Psjchol.
"III,"
neurotic than those of the classical school ("The Personality of the Composer," Music and
11 (1930): 38-48).
Letters,
48]
P.
R. Farnsworth, "Ratings in Music, Art, and Abnormality in the First Four
Grades," J. Psjchol., 6 (1938): 89-94.
49]
C. C. Miles and L.
S.
Wolfe, "Childhood Physical and Mental Health Records of
Historical Geniuses," Psychol. Monog.,
47 (1936): 390-400.
A
study by R. V. Burton
("Are Musicians Normal?" Overture, 3S, No. £ (195s)' ^°) on approximately one-third
of all musicians employed in the motion picture studios of the Los Angeles area revealed
no unusual amount of emotional abnormality. The
Zimmerman Temperament
50]
M.
J.
Keston,
testing device
was the Guilford-
Survey.
"An Experimental
Investigation of the Relationship
between the
Factors of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory and Musical Sophistication,"
Amer. Psjchol., 11 (i95'6): 434.
5-1]
A. Adler, "Character and Talent," Harpers, 1S5 (1927): 64-72.
£2]
H. Rosenthal, "Die Musikalitat der Juden,"
I
22—1
53]
Int.
Zsch. J. Indiv.-psychol., 9 (193 1):
3 I.
P.
C. Squires, "The Problem of Beethoven's Deafness," J. Abn. Soc. Psychol., 32
(1937): 11-62.
54]
P. R. Farnsworth, "Auditory Acuity and Musical Ability in the First Four Grades,"
J. Psychol.,
6 (1938): 95-98.
219
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
5^]
weakness among artistic and
what might have been expected from
In a parallel study S. Atwell looked for evidence of color
Her
inartistic children.
findings
the Adlerian doctrine in that
it
were contrary
was the
artistic
to
youngster
who
tended to possess slightly
better color vision ("Color Vision in Relation to Artistic Ability," J. Psychol., 8 (1939):
P.
56]
Psychol,
R. Farnsworth, "Further Data on the Adlerian Theory of Artistry," J. Gen.
24 (1941): 447-4 i^oBower, "A Factor Analysis of Music Tests," Thesis, Catholic U.,
57]
L. B.
58]
M. Bodkin, "Archetypal
1945^.
Patterns in Tragic Poetry," Brit. J. Psychol., 21
(1930):
183-202.
59]
G. Szucharewa and
S.
Ossipowa, "Materialen zur Erforschung der Korrelationen
zwischen den Typen der Begabung
u. d. Konstitution," Zsch. ges. Neurol, u. Psjchiat.,
100
(1926): 489-^26.
60]
B.
Gross and R. H. Seashore, "Psychological Characteristics of Student and Profes-
sional Musical
61]
M.
J.
Composers, "y. Appl.
Keston and
J. Genet. Psychol.,
62]
A number
I.
M.
Psychol.,
25 (1941): 1^9-170.
Pinto, "Possible Factors Influencing Musical Preference,"
86 (195^): loi — 113.
of researchers have attempted to study personality variables through the
construction of a tonal equivalent of the famous Rorschach Ink-Blot
elicit
imagery and attitudinal
sets
which are interpreted more or
Test.
Music
is
used to
less in the fashion
of the
O. Grimmett, "Personality Diagnosis
through Music," Master's Thesis, Stanford U., 195^0. Personality has also been studied by
Rorschach. For one of the studies in this area, see
J.
the aid of musical preference tests.
63] S. Freud,
A General
Introduction to Psychoanalysis,
N.Y., Liveright,
H. Racker, "Contributions to Psychoanalysis of Music," Awer. Imago,
1935'.
^^^ ^l^o
8 (195^1):
129-163.
For a discussion of the Rankian adaptation of Freudianism see A. Michel, Psychoanalyse de
la Musique, Paris,
U. de
Paris, 19J1.
Michel connects the oral stage of sex development
with the use of the piano, the anal with the trumpet, and the phallic with the
flute.
64] For an attempt to link Mozart's creativity with sublimation see A. H. Esman,
"Mozart, a Study of Genius," Psjchoanal. Quart., 20 (195-1): 603-612.
65]
A. Hartmann, "Untersuchungen uber metrisches Verhalten in musikalischen Inter-
pretationsvarianten," Arch. Ges. PsjchoL, 84 (1932): 103—193; K. L. Bean,
Visual, Auditory,
and Kinesthetic Imagery
in the
Piano Keyboard," y. Educ. Psychol., 30 (1939): 5^33-^41;
Factors in the Recall of Musical Experience,"
66]
P. C. Squires,
"The Use of
Transfer of Musical Notation to the
J-
Brit. J. Psychol.,
Mainwaring, "Kinaesthetic
23 (1932): 284-307.
"The Creative Psychology of Carl Maria von Weber," Char, and
Pers.,
6 (1938): 203-217.
67]
M. Agnew, "A Comparison
of Auditory Images of Musicians, Psychologists, and
Children," Psychol. Monog., 31 (1922): 268-278.
68]
M. Agnew, "The Auditory Images
279-287.
220
of Great Composers," Psjchol. Monog., 37(1922):
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
69]
R. Kochmann,"Uber musikalische Gedachtnisbilder,"Z5c/i.J~. Ang.
Psychol.,
23 (1924):
329-35-1; T. Zaworski, "Akustyczne wyobrazenia ejdetyczne," Kwart. psychol., 13 (1947):
156-203.
70]
H. Cowell, "The Process of Musical Creation,"
3J (1926): 233-236.
ylmer. J. Psychol.,
Forbes and H. B. Forbes, "Fetal Sense Reaction: Hearing," J. Comp. Psychol.,
7 (1927): 353—355; K. Fleischer, "Untersuchungen zur Entwicklung der Innerohrfunktion," Z. Laryngol., 34 (1955): 733-740.
71]
H.
72]
M. W.
S.
Haller,
Pure Tones, "y.
73]
W.
Pets.,
74]
Piatt,
"The Reactions of
Genet. Psychol.,
Infants to
Changes in the Intensity and Pitch of
40 (1932): 162-180.
"Temperament and Disposition Revealed
in
Young Children,"
Char, and
2 (1934): 246-251.
H. Werner, "Die melodische Erfindung im friihen Kindesalter,"
Klasse
Phil. -Hist.
182 (19 17); T. F. Vance and M. Grandprey, "The Evaluation of the
Musical Capacity of Nursery School Children," Proc. la. Acad. Sci., 36 (1929): 321-328.
Sitzungsberichte,
For further data on the music of preschool children see M. G. Colby, "Instrumental
Reproduction of Melody by Preschool Children," J.
75]
Composed
M.
Bull.,
30 (1933): 21-23; D- Doig, "Creative Music: Music
for a Given Test," J. Educ. Res.,
S.
3S (1941): 263-275; 35 (1942): 344-355.
Hattwick, "The Role of Pitch Level and Pitch Range in the Singing of Pre-
school, First-grade, and Second-grade Children," Child Bevel.,
also
in
H. M. Williams, "Immediate and Delayed
Tonal Sequences," U. of
77]
47 (1935): 413—430.
A. Wells, "A Comparison of Chord Figures and Scale Progressions in Early School
Music Learning," Peabodj
76]
Genet. Psychol.,
E. Froschels,
la. Stud.
"Untersuchungen
Memory
4 (1933): 281-291. See
of Preschool Children for Pitch
Child Welf., 11 (1935): 85-94.
iiber die
Kinderstimme,"
Zentralbl.
f.
Physiol.,
34
(1920): 477-484.
78]
A. T. Jersild and
F.
S.
Bienstock,
"A Study
of the
Development of Children's
Ability to Sing," J. Educ. Psychol., 2^ (1934): 481-503.
79]
A. T. Jersild and
S. F.
Bienstock, "The Influence of Training on the Vocal Ability of
Three-year-old Children," Child Bevel., 2 (1931): 272-290.
80]
K. C. Garrison, "Psychology of Special Abilities," PeatoJ;'
Re/?ector,
12 (1939):
1
1-13.
See also R. Leibold, "Kind und Metronom," Zsch. Pddag. Psychol., 3J (1936): 317-322;
M. Varro, "The Musical Receptivity of the Child and the Adolescent," Mus. Teach. Nat.
Ass.
Proc, 1943, 77-88.
81]
M. Cochran,
82]
R.
"Kinesthesis and the Piano," Austral. J. Psjchol., 8 (1930): 205-209.
W. Brown, "The
Relation between Age (Chronological and Mental) and Rate of
Piano Learning," J. Appl. Psjchol., 20 (1936): 511-516.
83]
C.
W.
Valentine, "The Aesthetic Appreciation of Musical Intervals
Children, and Adults,"
84]
Brit. J. Psychol.,
among School
6 (19 13): 190-216.
E. Walker, Bas musikalische Erlehnis und seine EntwicMung, Gottingen,
Vanderhoeck
u.
Ruprecht, 1927.
221
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
8j]
C. E. Seashore, Manual of Instructions and Interpretations of Measures of Afusical Talent,
N.Y., Columbia Graphophone, 19 19.
86]
C. E. Seashore, D. Lewis, and
J.
G. Saetveit, Manual, Seashore Measures of Musical
Talents,
N.Y., Psychol. Corp., 1956.
87]
For a genetic study of the voices of 44 choir boys see
F. J. Hell, "Physiologische
und
musikalische Untersuchungen iiber die Singstimme der Kinder," Arch. Ges. Thonel., 2
(1938): 6^—102. Another study which compares the musical productions of children from
by A. Nestele, "Die musikalische Produktion im Kindes-
preschool to adolescence
is
alter," Beihefte z. Zsch.
f.
Ang. Tsychol.,
that
1
£,
No. ^2 (1930). For
M. Van
musical abilities of the adolescent see
still
another study of the
Briessen, Die Entwicklung der Musikalitdt in
den Reifejahren, Langensalza, Beyer, 1929.
88]
The
reader
material of this section
who would know how
learning
is
referred to the text by
Silver Burdett,
195^1.
Music,PaTtl,"
199—213.
Brit. J.
Still
work of
largely limited to the
J. L.
psychologists.
The
Mursell, Music and the Classroom Teacher, Boston,
which show the
Articles
psychologist are those by
is
the professional educator regards the problems of music
insights of
both the educator and the
Mainwaring, "Psychological Factors in the Teaching of
J.
Educ. Psychol., 21 (19^1): loj-i
another publication worth reading
is
2
i
;
that
"Part
Applied Musicianship,"
II.
by M.
Wilson, How
E.
to
Help
Your Child with Music, N.Y., Schuman, 19^1.
89]
C. C. O'Brien, "Part and
Tsychol.,
90]
R.
Whole Methods
in the
Memorization of Music,"
W.
Brown, "A
Comparison of the
Methods of Learning Piano Music,"
'Whole,'
y. Exp. Psychol.,
11
and
'Part,'
L.
E.
Whole and
Eberly,
Approach,"
Part
"Part versus
Columbia U., 192
91]
the
J.
Whole Method
Educ.
in
Psjchol.,
Memorizing
'Combination'
235-247; G. Rubin-
(1928):
Rabson, "Studies in the Psychology of Memorizing Piano Music,
of the
J. Educ.
34 (1943): jf2-^6o.
31
III:
A Comparison
(1940):
Piano
460-476;
Music,"
Thesis,
i
G. Rubin-Rabson, "Studies
in the
Psychology of Memorizing Piano Music, IV: The
Effect of Incentive," J. Educ. Psjchol., 32 (1941): 45-54.
92]
G. Rubin-Rabson, "Studies
A Comparison
in
the Psychology of Memorizing Piano Music,
VI:
Two Forms
of Mental Rehearsal and Keyboard Overlearning," J. Educ.
Psychol., 32 (1941): 593-602; "VII: A Comparison of Three Degrees of Overlearning,"
of
J. Educ. Psjchol.,
93]
32 (1941): 688-696.
Rubin-Rabson,
G.
"Mental
and
Keyboard Overlearning
in
Memorizing Piano
Music," y. Musical., 3 (1941): 33-40.
94]
1
I
95]
S.
Kovacs, "Untersuchungen iiber das musikalische Gedachtnis," Zsch. J. Ang. Psjchol.,
(1916): 113-135.
G. Rubin-Rabson, "The Influence of Analytic Prestudy
Arch. Psychol., 31,
Piano Music, V:
32 (1941
222
):
A
loi-i
I
in
Memorizing Piano Music,"
No. 220 (1937): 1-5^3; "Studies in the Psychology of Memorizing
Comparison of Prestudy Periods of Varied Lengths," J. Educ. Psjchol.,
2.
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
G. Rubin-Rabson, "Studies in the Psychology of Memorizing Piano Music,
96]
Comparison of Massed and Distributed Practice,"
97]
K. Dunlap, Habits: Their Making and Unmaking, N.Y., Liveright, 1932.
98]
J.
McGeoch and
A.
II:
A
270-284.
y. Educ. Psychol., 31 (1940):
A. L. Irion, The Psychology oj Human Learning, N.Y., Longmans
Green, 1952.
99] G.
Wakeham, "Query on 'A
Science,
Law
Revision of the Fundamental
of Habit Formation',"
68 (1928): 13 i'— 136.
G. Rubin-Rabson, "Studies in the Psychology of Memorizing Piano Music,
100]
The
Same and of Different Degrees of Learning," J.
Inhibitory Influence of the
VIII:
Musical., 5
(1947): ^S-
W. Brown, "The
R.
loi]
Two Methods
Relation between
of Learning Piano Music,"
16 (1933): 43^-441; G. Rubin-Rabson, "Studies in the Psychology of
Memorizing Piano Music, I: A Comparison of the Unilateral and Coordinated Approaches,"
J. Exp. Psychol.,
J. Educ. Psychol.,
W.
102]
30 (1939): 321-34^.
T. Bartholomew, "Imagery in Voice Pedagogy," Peahodj Bull., 31
20—28; "The Paradox of Voice Teaching," J.
103]
P. R. Farnsworth,
104]
R.
W. Brown, "A
Acoust. Soc. Amer., 11 (1940):
(1934):
446-4^0.
"Psychology and Double Stops," Sch. Mus., 2J (1926): 21.
Preliminary Study of the Touch
Method of Learning Piano
Music, "J. Appl. Psychol., 18 (1934): ^16-527.
To
loj]
tie
imagery to action rather than to tones,
F.
Fredrich (Plajing by Seeing,
Medino, Ohio, Lynne, 19^0) suggests the use of note pictures where sketches of the
piano keyboard are placed over the staff and lines are drawn from the piano keys to their
staff notes.
K. L. Bean,
106]
No.
SO,
"An Experimental Approach
6 (1938);
to the Reading of Music," Psychol. Monog.,
"Reading Music Instead of Spelling
"The Use of Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic Imagery
It," J.
Musicol.,
in the Transfer of
1
(1939): i-j;
Musical Notation
to the Piano Keyboard," J. Educ. Psjchol., 30 (1939): ^33-^41107]
O. Ortmann, "Span of Vision
in
Note Reading," Mus.
Educ. Nat. Conf. Yearb., 1937,
88-93.
108]
V. Lannert and
Psychol.,
109]
M. Ullman,
"Factors in the Reading of Piano Music," Amer. J.
s8 (1945): 91-99-
H. Lowry,
"On Reading
Music," Diopt. Rev. and
Brit. J.
Phjsiol. Opt.,
I
(1940):
78-88.
1
10]
L. F.
Wheelwright, An Experimental Study of
Symbols, Teach. Coll. Contr.
the Perceptibility
and Spacing of Music
Educ, No. 77^, 1939, N.Y., Teachers
College, Columbia
U., 1939.
Ill]
H.
E.
Weaver, "A Survey of Visual Processes
Musical Selections," Psychol. Monog., S5, No.
i
in
Reading Differently Constructed
(1943): 1-30.
112] K. Van Nuys and H. E. Weaver, "Memory Span and Visual Pauses
Rhythms and Melodies," Psjchol. Monog., SS, No. i (1943): 33-50.
in
Reading
223
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
113]
O.
I.
Jacobsen,
"An
Analytic Study of Eye-movements in Reading Vocal and
Instrumental Music," J. Musical., 3 (1941): 1-32, 69-100, 133-164; 3 (1942): 197-226.
114]
H. Cowell, "The Process of Musical Creation," Awer.
J. Psychol.,
37 (1926): 233-
236.
115]
E.
Benham, "The Creative Activity,"
Brit. J. Psjchol. (Gen.
Sec), 20 (1929): ^9—6^.
For somewhat similar research on children eight to eleven see the
D. Doig. Of special interest
entitled "Creative Music" by
number
is
2
series of articles
which
is
to be
found
J. Educ. Res., 36 (1942): 241-253.
116]
J.
Bahle, Der musikalische Schajfensprozess, Leipzig, Hirzel, 1936.
117] B. Gross and R. H. Seashore, "Psychological Characteristics of Student and Professional Musical
118]
W.
Composers," J. Appl.
G. Whittaker,
W. O.
Psychology of Music and Painting,"
119]
I
20]
Psychol.,
2^ (1941):
Brit. J. Psjchol.,
i
W.
Hutchison, and R.
59-170.
Pickford,
"Symposium on the
33 (1942): 40—57.
C. L. Lastrucci, "The Professional Dance Musician." Thesis, Stanford U., 1941.
H.
S.
Becker, "The Professional Dance Musician and His Audience," Amer.J.
Sociol.,
57 ( 1 9 5 1 ): 1 3 6— 44. A somewhat similar study is being made of contemporary American
composers of "serious" music by D. Nash ("Challenge and Response in the American
1
Composer's Career, "J.
121]
Max
Aesth.,
Graf, From Beethoven
14 (1955): 116— 122).
to
Shostakovich; the Psychology oj the Composing Process,
N.Y.,
Philosophical Library, 1947.
122]
J.
Jancke, "Das Spezifisch-Musikalische und die Frage nach
Musik," Arch.
123]
L. Loar,
Ges. Psjchol.,
dem
Sinngehalt der
J 8 (1930): 103-184.
"An Adventure
in Musical Psychoanalysis," J. Musical., 2,
No.
i
(1940):
15-23.
124]
Anton Ehrenzweig,
The
aj Artistic
Psjcha-analjsis
Vision
and Hearing,
London,
Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1953.
125]
M. L
126]
G. Revesz,
Press,
Stein, "Creativity
and Culture, "J.
Psychol.,
36 (1953): 311-322.
in his Introduction to the Psychology oJ Music,
1954, maintains that there
is
a single
manifests itself in very young children
homogeneous
much
less
Norman, U. of Oklahoma
composing which
talent for
often than does the reproductive-
interpretative talent.
127]
Biographical studies by psychologists are the following:
J.
Bahle, Eingehung und Tat
im musikalischen Schajfen, Leipzig, Hirzel, 1939; H. Jancke, "Beitrage zur Psychologie der
musikalischen Komposition," Arch. Ges. Psjchol., 66 (1928): 437-492; R. Schramek,
(1934): 45—84; P. C. Squires, "The Creative
Psychology of Cesar Franck," Char, and Pers., 7 (1938): 41—49; P. C. Squires, "The
"Franz Liszt," Arch. Ges. Psjchol., g2
Creative Psychology of Chopin," J. Musical., 2, No.
i
(1940): 27-37; P. C. Squires,
"Peter Ilich Tschaikowsky (a psychological sketch)," Psjchaanal. Rev., 28 (1941): 445—
465; P. C. Squires, "The Creative Psychology of Carl Maria von Weber," Char, and Pers.,
6 (1938): 203-217; P. E. Vernon, "The Personality of the Composer," Music and Letters,
II (1930): 38-48.
224
THE NATURE OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
H. C. Lehman, "'Intellectual'
128]
vs.
'Physical Peak'
Performance,"
Sci.
Month., 61
(194J): 127-137.
Bjorksten, "The Limitation of Creative Years,"
129]
J.
130]
W.
Month., 62 (1946): 94.
Dennis, "Predicting Scientific Productivity in Later Maturity from Records of
Earlier Decades," J. Gerontol., 9 (19^4):
H. C. Lehman and D.
131]
Sci.
W.
46^-467.
Ingerham, "Man's Creative Years in Music,"
Sci.
Month.,
48 (1939): 431—443; H. C. Lehman, Age and Achievement, Princeton, N.J., Princeton U.
Press, 19J3.
132]
Most
authorities find
no evidence for
a
unitary creative ability in the arts.
Rev.
J. P. Guilford, "Creative Abilities in the Arts," Psychol.
15
FSP
64 (1957): 110-118.
See
CHAPTER NINE
The Measurement of Musical
Abilities
IVlusiCAL
can be measured in a variety of ways.
abilities
For
persons already proficient in some phase of music, achievement tests
are appropriate. These
may be measures
of appreciation (see Chap. 7),
before the person to be tested has had
In the latter,
are the aptitude tests.
either of verbal knowledge,
or of nonverbal musical
much
music
is
skills.
For use
formal training, there
usually
broken into
various components and tests are constructed in each of these
ponent
areas.
In a sense, aptitude tests are also
ment, although they aim to
its
com-
measures of achieve-
test informal learning
and potential
ability
rather than the effects of formal training.^
Tests
of Verbal Knowledge
Music achievement
geared
to
school
tests
based on verbal knowledge are generally
performance
and
attempt
to
well certain musical abilities have been taught. They
measure
tell
how
us nothing
about what should be taught and so do nothing toward altering
Achievement
the musical status quo.
tests
typically
possess
high
reliability.
The
earliest published tests of verbal
Standardized Music
Tests,
which cover
There are parts devoted
226
a
knowledge are the Beach
wide area of musical
abilities.^
to notation, to the elements of "time
and
THE MEASUREMENT OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
tune both in isolated form and in melodies," recognition of funda-
mental structural elements, pitch differences, memory, sight singing,
and to the writing of music. The
title is
spmething of
a
misnomer
as
the battery has not been well standardized.
Beach's
battery was followed
by the Musical Achievement
developed by Gildersleeve and Soper.3 This has
designed to
five parts
measure recognition of compositions from notation and
Test
as
played by
the examiner; ability to detect changes in pitch, meter, key signature
and meter signature; knowledge of instrumentation, theory, history,
note values, time signatures, and transpositions from one clef to
another; and ability to use accidentals, to locate
keys, and to write key signatures.
eight,
it
The
la in six different
Designed for grades four through
has a reliability of over -90 at each age-grade.
Torgerson-Fahnestock Music Test
ment measures. 4
A
Part
taps
is
another of the older achieve-
knowledge of note and
rest values,
signatures, pitch and syllable names, expressive marks,
minor key
time
major and
signatures, repeat bars, slurs, do placements, clefs, and
natural and harmonic
minor
Part B tests ear training through
scales.
four subparts which are concerned with the writing of syllable
names, time signatures, and notes,
as
well
as
with the detection of
pitch and time errors.
The most used of the
early
achievement measures was the
Kwalwasser-Ruch Test of Musical Accomplishment.^ This battery attempts
to test the following phases of public-school music
from grades four
through twelve: knowledge of musical terms and symbols, pitch and
letter
names
in bass
and treble
clefs,
time signatures, key signatures,
note values, rest values, and familiar melodies from notation; and
detection of pitch and time errors in a familiar melody.
An
achievement measure very similar in most respects to the
Kwalwasser-Ruch
is
the Strouse Music
areas except for detection of pitch
pitch height and time length.^
Test,
which covers the same
and time errors and adds
The Strouse measure
tests of
takes longer to
227
15-2
THE MEASUREMENT OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
administer and must be accompanied by a piano or singer. There are
three forms which can be used in grades four through twelve.
Number
of the Hutchinson Music
i
Tests
a
is
measure of tonal
Snatches from ig well-known melodies are presented
imagery. 7
along with the names of these and of 2^ additional songs.
purpose of Hutchinson's measure
Norms
recognition."
The Knuth
"silent
test
reading and
are available for grades seven through twelve.
Achievement Tests in Music are well characterized by their
"For
subtitle,
to
is
Recognition
of
Rhythmic
Certain
and
Melodic
Aspects."^ In presenting the stimuli for the test, the examiner
represent one of the four scores the student has in his hands.
five
first
chord to sound the key and then plays four measures which
strikes a
Knuth
The
The
has three levels, one for grades three and four, another for
and
six,
and the third for grades seven through twelve.
The McCaulej Experiment
four through nine,
Soper, but so
is
in Public School
much
Music, arranged for grades
by Gildersleeve and
like the older test
much longer that
it
takes
more than one
There are measures of knowledge of syllable and
session to give.
letter
names, of note
and rest values, meter and key signatures, chromatics, sight and aural
identification of melodies,
types of compositions, musical instru-
ments, famous names in music, and musical terms.
A somewhat more
in Music. '^^
Its
limited measure
key signatures, measure signatures,
bass-staff syllables,
rivals, it
is
the Providence Inventory Test
ten sections have to do with naming notes, note values,
rest values, syllables, melodies,
and symbols; and placing
has but one form.
It is
do.
Like most of
its
intended for grades four through
nine.
A
rather different kind of achievement test
lary list
developed by
L.
C. Pressey."
The
vocabulary" words appear in capital letters,
mentary words
in italics,
found in textbooks are
228
is
the musical vocabu-
so-called "fundamental
fairly
important supple-
and words of no great importance but often
in ordinary type.
THE MEASUREMENT OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
Ear
Tests in
Harmony are measures suitable for use in any standard
course in harmony. ^^ They test "active musical experience in the
world of sound." Sound combinations of many
sorts including the
rather unusual are treated in this battery.
Among
the
more
recently published achievement batteries
devised by Kotick and Torgerson.^3 Their Diagnostic
Tests
ment in Music are intended for grades four through twelve.
covered include diatonic
syllable,
chromatic
syllable,
one
is
of Achieve-
The
topics
and number
names; time signatures; major and minor keys; note and rest values;
names;
letter
A
signs
and symbols; key names; and song recognition.
contemporary measure which
Tarnum Music Notation
sented by means of
a
Test.^^
is
enjoying some success
is
the
Forty four-measure melodies are pre-
phonograph record. The student follows along
with a printed score and selects for each melody the one measure in
which the
norms are
pitch, rhythm, or time
is
handled differently.
available for grades seven, eight,
The
sexes separately.
Sets of
and nine, and for the two
test correlates appreciably
with
a
number of
the standard measures of musical aptitude and with scores on certain
instrumental performance scales.
Another contemporary measure
Test,
whose
is
the
Aliferis
Music Achievement
tonal stimuli can be given either by piano performance or
tape recording. ^5 Intended for use at the college freshman level, this
test has
melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic sections. The total test
said to correlate
reliable
with music grades in the
'^^o's
and
•6o's.
It is
is
quite
and has been extremely well standardized with separate
T-scores for each of the four major geographical sections of the
United
In
1
9
States.
5" I
a
much used
music achievement
test
was added to the well known and
Graduate Record Examination, Advanced. ^^ Achievement
is
measured from the senior year of college through graduate school.
Since this battery
is
part of the Institutional Testing Program,
available for general use
it is
not
and cannot be described here.
229
THE MEASUREMENT OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
Tests
The
of Nonverbal Musical
Skills
earliest of the semistandardized tests of musical
performance
(1923) was the Hillbrand Sight-Singing
Test,
a
fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade pupils/7
The
test contains six songs
which the student
studies for a
few minutes and then
The examiner
help or accompaniment.
measure devised for
listens
wrongly pitched, to transpositions, notes
without
sings
with an ear to notes
notes sharped,
flatted,
notes omitted, errors in time, extra notes, repetitions and hesitations.
Hillbrand' s scale was followed
Individual Singing. ^^
Twelve
two
years later by the Mosher Test of
exercises, arranged in order of difficulty,
are presented and sung back by the pupil.
measures
rendered tonally and
Mosher was co-author of
a
The score
rhythmically
is
the tally of the
correct.
In
0-M
Sight-Singing Test.^^ This
one.
The items "progress through most of the major keys and
measure
is
structurally like the earlier
duce the minor mode. Some of the exercises
test
1932
second performance scale entitled the
intro-
in the latter part of the
begin on scale steps other than the tonic." The test has high
reliability
(odd-even) and
two examiners
reasonably objective in the sense that any
is
will agree fairly well
on the
ratings
which should be
given.
Watkins's A Performance
a scale
Test
for the Cornet or Trumpet consists in
of fourteen melodic exercises.^"
obtained, one as the test
is
Two
scores are usually
administered to the pupil
at sight,
and the
other after he has had a week's time to practice the material. The
scores are built up from a tabulation of pitch, time, change of tempo,
expression, and slur errors; and the mishandling of rests, holds,
pauses, and repeats.
cornet or trumpet
latter
may be used
An
is
adaptation of this performance scale for the
Watkins-Farnum Performance
The
for any
Scale."^^
This
band instrument. The fourteen exercises
are so graded that while the
first is
intended for those
who
have had
lessons for approximately three months, the fourteenth will be found
230
THE MEASUREMENT OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
difficult
by the student
reliability
is
good
who
as is also
the correlation with teacher ratings.
Relatively unstandardized achievement tests keep appearing
time to time.^^
A few
of these
owe
construct
test battery,
music achievement
tests
do not meet the standards of good
fluid
and uncertain
music has made the task of devising
o achievement
difficult
than
there will be
in, say,
more
the scientific areas.
tests in
Perhaps
at
When
this
test
state of school
music more
some
later date
general agreement on what children should
about music by the end of each grade.
first-rate tests
profit
although at present the majority of
Without doubt the
construction.
too local to justify
still
Hence, each large school system can with
own
its
from
their birth to the idea that the
music curricula of the public schools are
national norms.
The
has studied for several years.
know
time arrives, really
can be devised for the area of music.
Unstandardized Aptitude Tests
We
have seen that the music achievement
current curriculum practices and give
basic musical abilities.
little
tests largely reflect
help in isolating the
Attention must be shifted, then, to the
musical aptitude tests in the hope that they
may
yield
more
pertinent
information.
Stumpf was one of the
basic musical abilities. ^3
first
psychologists to interest himself in the
In his
work with
the young genius Pepito
Areola, he stressed the following: possession of absolute pitch;
unusually good pitch and timbre discrimination; excellent musical
memory;
ease in judging pitch intervals; and ability in transposition,
in improvisation, and in producing dissonant chords and series of
"unmelodic" tones. Stumpf saw four basic
tell
whether
a clang
abilities in musicality: to
was composed of one or two tones, to discrimi-
nate pitch differences, to judge degrees of consonance as to pleasantness,
and to sing correctly.
Pear modified Stumpf's ideas very
231
THE MEASUREMENT OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
slightly
by testing for pitch aptitude,
a clang,
ability to sing, ability to analyze
and consistency in reporting the clang analyses. ^4
number of ingenious devices to assess
musical talents. ^5 His "obe-imeter" measures "how echotheratic
(sound-hunting) the subject is." The task in this test is to listen for
Meyer
has developed a
not easily
an auditory stimulus w^hich
is
masked by other tones and
noises.
follovv^ed since it
is
partially
The "concertometer" shows how
well a musician can play with other musicians in concert. The
"rhythmometer," which resembles the motor rhythm
Seashore independently developed
person can follow
a
(p.
23^), measures
rhythmic pattern and reproduce
it.
test
R. H.
how
well a
The "terpo-
meter" presents major, minor, and mistuned chords which are to be
classified as either active, sad,
battery, the
"hymnometer,"
is
or neutral.
The
in essence a tonal
the "terpometer" and the "hymnometer"
member of the
memory test. Both
last
make
use of a specially
devised quarter-tone reed organ.
During
his early research,
Revesz appeared to regard absolute
Chord and
pitch as the most important element of musicality.
interval recognition; ability to
and keen
memory were
also
compose, improvise, and to transpose;
deemed
to be basic musical abilities.
of these Revesz found to be present
child Nyiregyhazi (p. 185-),
Psychology of a Musical
Prodigy. ^^
do with
fitness for
In
talents, for
more recent
(a) aptitudes
some
talent
The
latter
type
is
subdivided into
and talent for conducting.
have
refer to
Musical
instrumental-
Revesz would
tests
now
of rhythmic
regional pitch, ability to analyze two-tone clangs and
chords, and ability to grasp and sing a melodic line.
232
feels
which
special field. ^7
measure the "lower grades of musicality" through
sensitivity,
theorizing
which he
(h) talents
in The
him, are of two distinct types: creative and reproductive-
interpretative.
virtuoso
his
performance and
capacities far above the average in
All
an early age in the wonder-
whose achievements he described
Revesz has differentiated between
to
at
For the "higher
THE MEASUREMENT OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
grades of musicality" he
and
give tests suited to the
melodies from memory.
ability to play familiar
For Rupp the
measurement
harmonic apprehension and response, creative
of relative pitch,
fantasy,
would
of basic abilities included: interval recognition,
list
absolute pitch, chord analysis, harmonic feeling, melodic recognition
and reproduction, and
Billroth
^9
ability to
sensitivity to
rhythms and time differences.^^
and von Kries^^ had briefer
lists.
The former's included
remember, recognize, and reproduce short melodies. The
contained sense of rhythm, musical memory, and musical ear.
latter's
For Mjon the
five
most important
abilities
appeared to be: to com-
pose, to possess absolute pitch, to play by ear, to improvise a second
voice, and to sing a second voice. 3^
Haecker and Ziehen obtained the bulk of their data on musical
abilities
by sending out ii,ooo questionnaires. 3^ Exceptional tonal
memory seemed
less
them
to
more from
best to distinguish their
musical respondents.
An
excellent prognostic sign for later
musicality turned out to be precocity in things musical.
vocal
skill, a
skills, e.g.,
motor
ability, to
and
be
little
tests,
one of musical memory, another
must be decided which of two cadences
it
They found
related to the several sensory
pitch discrimination.
Low^ery has devised three
which
their
a phrase test in
which the problem
phrase has been repeated. 33
Ortmann
is
to tell
is
in
more complete,
whether or not
a
has a battery of seven tests
at the Peabody Conservatory of Music. 34 The
memory, rhythm memory, melodic memory,
which has enjoyed use
members
are: pitch
harmonic memory, fusion, pitch discrimination, and time discrimination.
Schoen, too, has offered a battery of
the measurement of relative pitch,
difference in distance
tests. 35
These are for
where one must judge the
between two successive pitch
intervals; tonal
sequence, in which four two-phrase melodies are given with alternative endings; and
rhythm discrimination, where
either be repeated or reappear in
somewhat
a
rhythm may
altered form.
A
tonal
233
THE MEASUREMENT OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
movement
test of considerable
five unfinished
the best
final
promise
is
Franklin's
TMT. Twenty-
melodies are presented to the testees with requests for
Retest and split-half reliabilities in the
tone for each.
•8o's are reported for an adult music student population.
of the
TMT
it is
poorer students
Among
aptitude
those
is
at a level considerably better
a
than chance. 3^
who have used achievement tests as measures of
who has made an extensive study of the ability
Madison,
to discriminate intervals. 37
all
By the use
apparently possible to select the better from the
musical perception,
it
most important musical
Since interval discrimination
would seem
ability.
that
Scores on Madison's measure have
aptitude by
Lamp and Keys
way of achievement. They
brass
in theory at the
and from "39 to 'ji with indices of musical
at the secondary-school level.
weeks on
basic to
Madison has specialized on
been found to correlate from -46 to 'ji with grades
Juilliard School
is
3^
ability
have also studied
trained pupils for several
then on woodwinds, and later on
instruments,
After these weeks of training, ratings
strings (the
order varied).
were made
for achievement
on each family of instruments. The
authors hoped through such ratings to learn which of the three sorts
of instruments was best suited to the aptitudes of each of their pupils.
They appeared
to enjoy mild success in their prognostications.
These
teachers also attempted, without success, to forecast later achieve-
ment through
analyses of tooth evenness, lip thickness, and length
and slenderness of fingers
No
(p.
188).
well standardized tests have so far been developed to measure
control of pitch intonation, loudness, time, or rhythm.
But a record
of pitch control can be obtained through the use of instruments such
as the
tonoscope39 and other standard stroboscopic devices 4°
the market
which show
instrumental attempts.
dynamic control are
now on
visually the accuracy of a person's vocal or
Intensity meters and instruments to study
available. 4^
Ability to control time and
rhythm
can be studied through the Meyer "rhythmometer," mentioned
234
THE MEASUREMENT OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
above, or by means of R. H. Seashore's "rhythm meter," which
phonograph with contacts imbedded
A number
points. 4^
subject,
is
a
in the turn-table at various
of different rhythms can be provided for the
who must make his
on
taps
a telegraph
key coincide with the
he hears.
clicks
C. E. Seashore and his students have felt that the ability to imagine
tonal material
is
an important aspect of musical aptitude. 43 Their
of testing imagery
will
Naturally, their
adults.
is
images
elicit
The
to present
in
list
subjects,
the
of questions which,
lists
eight
it is
most important sensory
for children differs
from
way
hoped,
areas.
that appropriate to
whatever their age, must introspectively evalu-
ate the strengths of their images
on
a seven-point scale.
The Original Seashore Battery
The
first really
standardized aptitude tests
C. E. Seashore. 44
menon
were those devised by
Seashore argued that since music was a pheno-
of tones, times, and rhythms, discrimination tests in these
areas should
make
possible to pick out the potentially musical,
it
with those having the best acuities being expected to give the
Seashore believed that his tests tapped
greatest musical promise.
basic physiological capacities
influenced by training.
that there
were other
He
which were inborn and could not be
admitted that his
capacities he
test battery
was limited,
was not measuring.
number of
Many psychologists and musicians have condemned its
and unmusical orientation. 4^ They have emphasized that the
Seashore's test philosophy has been criticized on a
counts. 45
atomistic
Seashore tests get at psychophysiological, and not necessarily at
musical, differences.
What
is
the good, they say, of a performer's
being able to discriminate pitches which differ by
listeners can only discriminate pitches
cycle
if his
more
cycles apart?
If
the performer
is
a pianist,
as little as
which are
one
five
or
why need he bother
23^
THE MEASUREMENT OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
with differences smaller than a half-tone? Other psychologists have
been made unhappy by the Seashore claim that
improved by practice. 47
native capacity and cannot be
proved possible to entice
hereditarian camp.
test scores reflect
music
all
testers aw^ay
It
pure
has not
from Seashore's
But there has been amassed an impressive array
of data which demonstrate beyond the possibility of doubt that the
Seashore scores can be enormously improved
procedures are employed
The
if
proper training
i86).
(p.
original Seashore Measures of Musical Talent offered scores for
sense of pitch, sense of intensity, sense of time, sense of consonance,
and auditory
memory
span (tonal memory). 4^ Six years later a sense
Because of the many criticisms of
of rhythm measure was added.
the sense of consonance test was later dropped (p. 49).
each
member
of the battery were
eighth-graders, and for fifth-graders,
made
Norms
available for adults,
who were
it,
for
for
thought to be the
youngest age group which could properly attend to the tonal stimuli
of the
tests.
There have been
a
number
of attempts to improve the battery.
Several have found that the norms, at least for the intensity test,
vary
somewhat with the type of phonograph employed. Others have
advocated simplifying the directions, which are quite
fifth-graders to
comprehend. 49 Salisbury and Smith have modified
the pitch test so that
difficult, instead
all
of the items are scaled from less to
of from less to
original measure. 5*^
the aim of adapting
more and then more
Hattwick has
it
dropped the most
changes did improve the
tests are
test
tests
grades.
were too
items of these
5^
with
Gaw,
difficult for
tests. 5^
These
somewhat, although the Gaw-modified
easy. 53
have been developed, since
make
236
now a little too
tests
memory
difficult
first five
more
to less as in the
also modified the pitch test
to children of the
deciding that the time and tonal
fifth-graders,
difficult for
California adult
it
norms for the rhythm
West Coasters
do lowans.54 O'Connor
has been found that
better scores on this measure than
THE MEASUREMENT OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
would modify the
difficulty,
memory
tonal
by (i) better scaling of item
test
(2) greater temporal spacing between items, and (3) the
use of the whole-tone as the minimal interval. 55
Tilson-Gretsch Test for Musical Aptitude
Created to replace or
at least to serve as a
second form of the
original Seashore battery, the Tilson-Gretsch tests played into
in appearing shortly after the revised
bad luck
(1939) Seashore battery. 5^ The
Tilson-Gretsch presents tests in the areas of pitch, intensity and time
sensitivities,
and tonal memory.
records whereas
recorded on two phonograph
It is
older rival was spread over
its
six.
considerably more communicable than Seashore's but
easy.
fifth-
Its reliabilities
are approximately the
same
directions are
Its
its
items are too
as Seashore's at the
and eighth-grade levels but are considerably poorer in the adult
range. This battery
1^39
now
has
little
excuse for continued existence. 57
Edition of the Seashore Measures
oj Musical Talents
Only minor changes
in
this
newer
"talents."
in the Seashore test philosophy are reflected
battery. 5^
Musical
is
measure consonance. The term "intensity"
appropriate "loudness."
sufficient
it.
importance to
become musical
no longer an attempt to
is
replaced by the
Sensitivity to timbre
is
recognized
justify the construction of a test to
more
as
of
measure
But the bulk of the objections raised in connection with the
earlier edition
still
pertain.
Two
forms of the battery,
constructed, one an easier and the other a
Form B was
are
has
"talent"
As was mentioned above, there
now
later
withdrawn from
available for
Form A
—
sale.
more
Three
A
and B, were
difficult series,
sets
but
of centile norms
for the fourth and fifth grades, for
the sixth, seventh, and eighth, and for grades nine through sixteen.
237
THE MEASUREMENT OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
The
basic tones of the pitch test are set at ^oo cycles. 59
the go items in the test consist of
pitch.
is
The
subject's task
17 cycles,
finally to
moves
2
The
first.
to differences of
The
cycles.
Brown) ranges from
differ only in
whether the second of each pair
to state
is
higher or lower than the
two tones which
Each of
i
test
opens with differences of
cycles, then to 8, g, 4, 3,
2
and
by Spearman-
reliability (odd-even, raised
'79 in the lower grades to '88 for adults.
The go items of the loudness
test are also
Here
arranged in pairs.
the subject must decide whether the second tone of each pair
weaker or stronger than the
is
from four decibels
in the
first.
The range of loudness
to a half-decibel.
lower grades to '88
The
is
at the adult level.
more
The time
•
3
is
about equally reliable
Each item of the rhythm
first.
second, the test becomes progres-
difficult: "2, -i^, '12^, -lo, 'Oj g,
test
whether the second
held a longer or shorter time period than the
Starting with differences of
sively
differences
run from '79
reliabilities
Similarly, in the time test the subject judges
tone of each pair
is
and
finally 'o^^
second.
at all ages ('76).
test consists in
two patterns which may
have either identical or different rhythms. With only 30 true-false
items, the reliability of this test
the poorest of
is
junior-high-school levels (-62 and '69) and
is
all at
the adult and
second lowest
at the
grade-school level ('73).
The measure of timbre
more
also uses the same-different
items than the rhythm
To change
test.
scheme but has
the timbre, the intensity
of the tone's fourth partial was increased and that of the third partial
w^as
decreased by an amount necessary to keep the total intensity
constant. In the
The changes
^•5-,
and
first fifth
in the
finally
more
of the go items this change
difficult
of 4-0 decibels.
The measure of tonal memory
choice plan.
Hence,
items are
The
first
of
is
of i o decibels.
8' g,
reliability ranges
then of 7*0,
from -69 to -77.
has 30 items and follows a multiple-
its reliability is
high (from '84 to -SB).
Short
series of tones are given and then repeated with one of the tones of
238
THE MEASUREMENT OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
each series changed in pitch.
One-third of the series are three-tone
sequences, another third are four-tone, and the remaining third are
While the Seashore
five-tone.
independent of one another,
tests
the
are,
tonal
in the main,
memory
test
relatively
correlates
appreciably with the others.
VALIDITY OF SEASHORE BATTERIES. The majority of the
many validity studies on these widely used tests have been concerned
with the
against
set of records Seashore
which the Seashore
tests
brought out in 19 19. The criteria
have been measured are several, with
teacher ratings and grades in music appearing in perhaps most of the
studies.
Where
—and occahave been reported— they tend
correlations of any size have been found
sionally values in the •6o's
and 'yo's
to be the highest for the tonal
memory and
pitch tests ^° and for the
battery considered as a single measuring instrument. ^^
In
one of the
few studies of the 1939 tests. Manor found that fourth-grade work
instrumental music could be forecast by the pitch test with
coefficient of correlation of -49
and by the measure of tonal
in
a
memory
with a correlation value of '32.^^
Intelligence tests have
been found to be of more worth than the
Seashore tests in forecasting music grades in academic classes, e.g.,
more
more the classes are tonally conducted, e.g., classes in
harmony. ^3 Members of musical organizations make, in the main,
higher than average Seashore scores. ^4 High scorers show a greater
history and appreciation of music, while the Seashore are of
value the
preference for "classical" music than do the lower scorers says one
study, ^5 while, a.ccording to another, their preferences l5an
toward the "romantic
Persons
who
classical" (as
regard themselves as
opposed to
more
"light classical"). ^^
more musical than
average tend to
achieve significantly higher music test scores, particularly in tonal
memory, than those who think of themselves
as
below the musical
average. ^7
239
THE MEASUREMENT OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
From
have
the discussion so
at
least
some
far, it is
vaUdity.
apparent that the Seashore
tests
Further support comes from data
gathered at the Eastman Conservatory of Music, ^^ w^here the music
tests (19 19 edition)
were added
to a
measure of academic inteUi-
gence, a case history, and a test of tonal imagery, and the combined
scores w^ere used for selection purposes.
studied.
was found
It
1
7
per cent of the bottom
In a slightly later study at Eastman,
as successful.
that course grades in musical theory correlated
scores. ^9
were
that 60 per cent of the persons in the top fifth
succeeded in graduating, but only
were
Five levels of scores
•
5^9
it
fifth
was shown
with Seashore
Less success was achieved with these music tests at the
College of Music of Cincinnati, which concluded that although
music
tests are of
some
use, they should always
junction with academic intelligence
tests. 7°
be employed
in con-
McLeish, a British
psychologist, suggests that appreciation tests should also be used
along with the Seashore battery. 7^
Kwalwasser-Dykema Music
The Kwalwasser-Dykema
only serious
It
rival,
Tests
battery, for a long time the Seashore's
attempts to do
all its
competitor does and more.?^
has measures for the Seashore-tested areas of pitch, intensity, time,
quality (timbre), rhythm, and tonal
appreciation
Chap.
7).
— melodic
taste
memory. There
are
two
tests
and tonal movement (described in
In addition, there are tests of pitch
and rhythm imagery,
which are measures of achievement rather than of aptitude. The
are
much briefer than
of
the Seashore, the test items seem
tests
more musical,
and the directions are easier to follow. But, except for the measures
of tonal
memory and
tonal
movement, the
reliabilities
are very
low. 73 This poor reliability accounts in part for the fact that only the
tonal
memory
The
240
test correlates at all
well with
its
Seashore counterpart.
structural arrangement of the individual tests
is
as follows.
THE MEASUREMENT OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
The measure
of tonal
memory
consists of
2
5^
pairs of patterns
which
range in length from four to nine tones. The patterns are repeated
either in original or in altered form, and the subject responds with
the words "same" or "different."
presents 30 items, each
The
test of quality discrimination
composed of two tones played on some
instrument and then repeated on that or a different
particular
Like the previous
instrument.
the responses "same"
test, it calls for
or "different." The stimuli of the time-discrimination test were
recorded from a player-piano
Twenty-five tones lasting from
roll.
•03 to -30 second are repeated unchanged or with a different dura-
rhythmic patterns repeated in the same or in an
tion. Twenty-five
form make up the rhythm-discrimination
altered
test.
The K-D
intensity-discrimination test offers 30 tones and chords and then
repeats
them
at different intensities.
strengths of the second
members
nation test there are 40 items.
3
seconds, rises or
falls
in pitch
imagery and rhythm-imagery
hear with what
items
is
subjects judge the relative
of the pairs.
In the pitch-discrimi-
Each tone, held for approximately
and then returns to
The pitch changes range from
position.
25-
The
tests,
'6 to
5-0
its
original pitch
d.v.
In the pitch-
the subjects compare what they
on the printed blanks supplied them. Each of the
to be described as "same" or "different. "74
is
Several persons have been disturbed by the fact that only one set of
norms
is
that
persons, eight or eighty, trained or untrained, score similarly.
all
offered for this battery. 75 Apparently the test designers feel
But that several
who
is
The
sets of
at all familiar
reliabilities of
norms are needed should not
with the area of aptitude
surprise anyone
testing.
approximately half of the members of the
battery have been materially improved by Holmes,
who
K-D
has changed
the plan of the tests from true-false to multiple-choice. 7^ This he did
solely
by altering the directions for administering the several
measures.
memory
Thus,
test
the subject taking the
Holmes-modified tonal-
must not only decide whether there has been
a
change
241
16
FSP
THE MEASUREMENT OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
in pattern but, in addition,
of each item
is,
if
possible
responses
"equal,"
"different,"
for
the
"different,"
quality-discrimination
as last
The
are
now
test
of intensity discrimination
"different
they are
and weaker," and "different and
stronger;" for the tonal-movement measure,
"same
first.
and heavier," and "different and
"different
For the measure
lighter."
"equal,"
must check whether the second pattern
changed, higher or lower than the
"down," and
"up,"
note actually heard;" for the measure of time discrimi-
nation, "equal," "different," "different and longer," and "different
and
shorter;"
for
the
test
of rhythm
discrimination,
"equal,"
been changed,"
"different," "different because the time values have
and "different because the accent has been changed;" for the pitchdiscrimination measure, "equal," "different," "different and higher,"
and "different and lower;" and for the melodic-taste
test,
"B better," and "equally good." With these changes, the
the battery
now
There are
employed
training,
a
"A
better,"
reliability of
reaches '91 (high-school level).
number
of studies in which the
K-D
battery has been
to forecast teacher ratings and grades in sight-singing, ear-
and in
"all fine arts"
courses.
In
some
instances there has
been little or no success reported, but in one study the astonishingly
high correlation value of '83 has been claimed. 77 Perhaps the modal
forecast value for the battery as a
hood of
whole would
lie in
the neighbor-
'40, with that for the individual tests being considerably
lower.
Kwalwasser Music Talent Tests
In
195^3
there appeared a
new Kwalwasser
requires only ten minutes to take. 7^
more
norms
difficult
Accompanying Form A, the
of the test's two phonograph records,
for junior-high-school students
high and college groups.
242
aptitude test which
Form B
is
and another
is
one
set of
set for senior-
for grades 4, ^, and 6.
Form A
THE MEASUREMENT OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
"consists of ^o three-tone patterns
in
which are repeated with
one of the following respects:
(J) loudness."
The pitch
tempo changes from 40
(a) pitch,
differences range
(b) time,
from
5^
rhythm,
to 70 cents, the
to g per cent of the standard
marking of 90 to the quarter-note, and loudness
(c)
variation
varies
metronomic
from 10 to
2
The rhythmic changes become more
decibels from the standard.
difficult as the test progresses.
The corresponding
values for the
40-item Form B are: pitch, 15^—70 cents; time, 15^—40 per cent; and
loudness, 3—10 decibels.
The rhythms proceed from more
changes in pattern.
difficult
to less
Kwalwasser, a staunch hereditarian and
student of C. E. Seashore, closes his eyes to the research literature
and maintains that training can have
made on
his test.
little
or no effect on the scores
Kwalwasser has violated approved
test practice
by
publishing a commercial test without reliability data of any kind.
The Drake Tests
Drake offered the musical world four partially standardized
In 1932
aptitude
tests. 79
memory),
These covered the areas of musical
interval discrimination, retentivity
memory (melody
(memory
for isolated
tones), and intuition (key center, phrase and time balance).
he replaced these with two well standardized
tests,
one
In 195^4
in the area
musical
memory and the other to forecast rhythmic ability. ^° The
memory test has two equivalent forms, A and B, and the
rhythm
test has
of musical
an easier
Form A and
musically nai've are tested on
or
more
rhythm
all
a
more
difhcult
B.
The
four forms, but subjects with five
years of musical training need take only
test
Form
Form B
of the
and either form of the measure of musical memory. The
two new Drake
tests intercorrelate
With reliabilities in
scores. Norms for them
only slightly.
the high -So's or low •90's, they yield stable
are available for music and non-music students, and for ages 11, 12,
and 13; 14,
I
^,
and 16; 17, 18, and 19; 20, 21, and 22; and 23 and
243
16-2
THE MEASUREMENT OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
over.
Sex differences in scores and those associated with
cultural
background are
test
and
be negligible.
said to
The musical memory
racial
made up
is
composed
of especially
melodies, which are either repeated or changed with respect to time,
The rhythm
key, or note.
test presents the
sound of
a
metronome
beating at a certain rate and a voice which counts "one," "two,"
"three," and "four."
at a different rate
The voice then
His score
original rate until told to stop.
the
metronome
beat
Drake reports
number and
a coefficient
scores on his measure of
discrimination.
either stops counting or proceeds
while the subject continues to count silently
his
is
own
the difference between
silent count.
of correlation of only
rhythm and on the Seashore
The two memory
tests,
similar variables and intercorrelate
at the
•
1
test
7
between
of rhythm
however, are tapping more
at -^^^
(from unpublished data
gathered at Stanford University). Drake's recent studies suggest that
his
new
tests
the fact that
have considerable
when
validity.
He draws
his
support from
correlations are run aaainst
teacher estimates of
O
musical talent, the values are generally above -^8 and have run
high
as
as '91.
Whistler-Thorpe Musical Aptitude Test
The developers of the
Whistler-Thorpe Musical Aptitude Test pride
themselves on presenting musical, not just tonal, stimuli (piano
music). ^^ The test has two "same-different" sections dealing with
rhythm recognition, one
more
difficult.
fairly
easy,
and the other considerably
The "same-different" pattern
melody-recognition portion.
is
also followed in the
In the pitch-discrimination section,
chords are given and then are repeated either with precisely the
same structure or
test
higher or lower pitch level. The section of the
devoted to pitch recognition
pitch
244
at a
is
is
the most novel.
strongly emphasized. Then there follows
Here
a
a particular
melody of four
THE MEASUREMENT OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
measures of 13 quarter-notes. The subject's task
is
to count the
number of times the previously emphasized pitch has appeared.
The Whistler-Thorpe has a reported reUabiUty of '93. It claims to
correlate at '78 with teacher estimates of vocal talent.
Lundin Tests
measure musical behaviors not considered by the
In an effort to
Lundin devised
earlier testers,
of these measures
is
five rather different tests. ^^
in the area of interval discrimination.
ascending and descending intervals
either repeated without
rendition.
is
in
make up
first
Fifty
the stimuli, which are
change or are modified in the second
The responses of
Lundin battery are
The
this
and the other members of the
terms of "same" or "different." The
reliability
reported to be in the -yo's.
The melodic-transposition
test offers 30
the second rendition the key alone
by "same." But
response
is
if
simple melodies.
If
on
changed, the subject responds
is
both the key and the melody are altered, the proper
"different."
The
reliability
is
said to
be -6^ for musicians
and -72 for unselected college students.
Mode
discrimination
of chords.
is
"same."
"different."
If
the pair
But
if
When
the
is
tested through the presentation of 30 pairs
members are in the same mode, the response
mode is changed, the subject responds with
employed on unselected students,
the poorest reliability of any
For musicians the
member
reliability value
is
this test has
of the battery (one of -lo).
in the
middle
Each of the 30 items of the melodic-sequences
•6o's.
test contains three
melodic groups which follow the same melodic order.
group may or may not follow
this pattern.
The
A
fourth
reliability of this
measure
falls
member
of the battery, the measure of rhythmic sequences, except,
in the •70's.
This test sets the pattern for the
last
of course, that in the latter test rhythms and not melodies are
24^
THE MEASUREMENT OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
For musicians the rhythm
involved.
unselected college students the value
is
reliability coefficients for the battery as a
In
one study by Lundin, when
for forecasting pooled ratings
correlation
values
The corresponding
-72.
whole are '89 and
total battery scores
made by
emerged:
rehabiUty of -60; for
test has a
-Sg.
were employed
six professors, the following
melodic
dictation,
harmonic
-70;
dictation, '70; written harmonization, -43; general ability in theory,
•63; performance, -^i; and
sum of
Seashore pitch, rhythm, and tonal
memory measure
(original
Wing Standardized
A British flavor can
Lundin found the
ratings, '69.
memory
tests
and Drake's musical
form) to forecast these
criteria less well.
of Musical Intelligence
be seen in the Wing tests, although the
measures are not so different from the much condemned American
tests as one might guess from a perusal of the Wing monograph. ^3
Tests
Recorded on ten records are seven
range
low
as
Five-step
as -Gg,
norms
seventeen.
The
Although their
tests.
the battery reliability
is
are available for each year
selection of the tests
studying
and
who had
at
or so.
from age eight through
was based on factor
That the battery has considerable validity was shown
333 adolescent boys
reliabilities
a satisfactory '93
analyses.
in a study of
one time studied or were
some musical instrument. Wing gave
classified their scores into three classes.
still
his tests to these lads
He found
that
40 per
cent of the below-average group had already given up studying. The
comparable values for the average and above-average groups were
27 and
2
percent, respectively.
Wing's chord-analysis
number
test
requires
the
subject
of notes in a series of single chords.
to
In the
count the
measure of
pitch change, chords are played and repeated either with exactly
similar structure or with
The memory
246
some one note pitched higher or lower.
measure presents tunes which are either repeated or
THE MEASUREMENT OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
altered.
If
they are modified, the subject must
In the test of
altered notes.
which are the
tell
rhythmic accent, melodies are either
repeated in identical form or with the accents rearranged. The
subject notes the changes,
The
the tune.
except that
any, and states
which versions better
fit
intensity and phrasing tests are similarly arranged
it is
The harmony
if
now
the intensity or the phrasing which
test presents tunes
altered.
is
which are either repeated exactly
or altered. Each item must be assessed for identity or else a decision
must be made
as to the better
of the
two
versions.
Strong Vocational Interest Test
A
rather different sort of test and one
aptitude measure
known
is
is
only in part an
the Strong musician scale. ^4
Strong's well-
set of questions
men whose
which
on
interests has for
some time had
composed of 2^0 musicians,
criterion group was
symphony performers. Their average age was 32*6 and
schooling i2'4.
The
a scale for
scale's reliability
is
-87.
The
largely
their years of
test score indicates
the degree of resemblance between the answer profile of the person
tested and that of the criterion group.
Judged by the high
that the Strong scales achieve in other areas
where
validity
tively easy to ascertain, e.g., life insurance, Strong's
validity
rela-
is
musician scale
merits respectful attention.
During 1952, the Music Journal gathered data for four other Strong
musician
scales.
It
men
tested ^00
schooling, 17*0) to form one of
another 4^0
performer"
men
its
(average age, 41*4;
two "music teacher"
years of
scales
and
(average age, 36*4; education, 13*6) for a "music
scale.
In an
the Journal tested 4.^0
attempt to build parallel scales for women,
women
years of schooling,
16' g)
years of schooling,
i^''^^).
music teachers (average age, 43*8;
and 290 performers (average age, 34*2;
Although the project
is
not
as yet
com-
pleted, the scales are available to anyone interested.
247
THE MEASUREMENT OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
The Future of Music Aptitude Tests
It
would be
music
foolish to attempt too precise a forecast of the course
tests will take in the
the testers will
make
next few years.
But
it
seems clear that
increasing use of musical materials and that
their tests will not be as atomistic as are the Seashore measures.
More
cast
than a half-century ago, the intelligence testers tried to fore-
achievement by the use of simple items
They then moved
i.Q.
tests,
and
omnibus or buckshot approach with
to an
later
still
at the sensory level.
worked out
sort
a
their
of compromise of
these extremes with their measures of primary mental abilities.
The music
The progressive
sensory materials.
demned
did
this
little
began their labors with the aid of simple
testers, too,
to
educators, in particular, con-
approach and argued for the omnibus stand; yet they
make
model. The philosophy of the more
tests in this
recent testers, however, would seem to allow as test items at
least a
modicum
of sensory material as well as bits of real musical
behavior.
Musical
memory
has
come
to be the one area
agree merits the most careful attention.
may not be important
earlier, the violinist
Other
all
testers
ability areas
may or
As was mentioned
to the potential performer.
needs
which
far better pitch discrimination
than does
the pianist, yet neither instrumentalist should necessarily score near
the top of the Seashore range.
Music
testers
must get away from the
philosophy of "better score, better musical potential." They should
follov^ the course blazed
more
by the college aptitude
minimum
intensively the
the several kinds of musical
testers
and study
levels necessary for later success in
skills.
More and more
they can be
expected to add to their batteries measures of academic aptitude,
interest,
personality,
and perhaps even
base to their forecasting efforts.
and
248
less
attention
to
It is
taste,
to give a broader
likely that they will pay less
the nature- nurture problem.
Instead,
the
THE MEASUREMENT OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
emphasis will be turned toward the practical issue of deciding
which persons
will profit most, given a
minimum
of practice oppor-
tunities.
Notes
i]
A number
of paper-and-pencil tests in music give no publication dates.
interest of uniformity,
2]
no dates will be given here even when
Beach and H. E. Schrammel, Beach Standardized Music
F. A.
Hence,
in the
available.
Emporia, Kans.,
Tests,
Bureau of Ed. Meas., Kansas State Normal School.
3]
W.
G. Gildersleeve and
Soper, Music Achievement
Tests,
N.Y., Bureau of Publications,
Teachers College, Columbia U.
4]
T. L. Torgerson and E. Fahnestock, Torgerson-Fahnestock Music
Test,
Bloomington,
111.,
Public School Publ.
^]
J.
Kwalwasser and G. Ruch, Kwalwasser-Ruch
of Musical Accomplishment, Iowa City,
Tests
Iowa, Bureau of Ed. Res. and Serv., State U., Iowa.
6]
C. E. Strouse and H. E. Schrammel, Strouse Music
Test,
Emporia, Kans., Bureau Ed.
Meas., Kansas State Teach. Coll.
7]
H. E. Hutchinson, Hutchinson Music
8]
W.
9]
C.
Tests,
Bloomington,
111.,
Public School Publ.
E. Knuth, Knuth Achievement Tests in Music, Philadelphia, Ed. Test Bureau.
McCauley, McCauley Experiment
J.
in Public School Music,
Knoxville, Tenn.,
J. E.
Avent.
10]
R. D. Allen,
W.
H. Butterfield, and M. TuUy, Providence
Inventory Test in Music,
Yonkers, N.Y., World Book.
11]
L. C. Pressey, The Specialized Vocabularies of the Public School Subjects,
111.,
Public School Publ.
12]
C. P.
13]
M.
Wood,
L.
Ear
Tests in
Bloomington,
Harmony, N.Y., American Book.
Kotick and T. L. Torgerson, Diagnostic
Tests
of Achievement in Music, Los
Angeles, Calif. Test Bureau.
Famum, Farnum
Music Notation
14]
S. E.
i^]
Aliferis, Alijeris Music Achievement Test,
J.
Test,
N.Y., Psychological Corp.
Minneapolis, U. of Minnesota Press.
16]
Graduate Record Examinations, Advanced Music
17]
E. K. Hillbrand, Hillbrand Sight-Singing Test, Yonkers, N.Y.,
18]
R. M. Mosher, Mosher
Test
Test,
Princeton, N.J., Ed. Test. Service.
World Book.
of Individual Singing, Teach. Coll. Contrib.
Educ, No.
194,
N.Y., Bureau of Publications, Teachers Coll., Coliambia U.
19]
A.
W.
Otterstein and R.
M. Mosher, 0-M
Sight-Singing
Test,
Stanford,
Calif.,
Stanford U. Press.
249
THE MEASUREMENT OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
2o]
J.
G. Watkins, Objective Measurement of Instrumental Performance, Teach. Coll. Contrib.
Publications, Teachers Coll., Columbia U.
Educ, No. 860, N.Y., Bureau of
21]
G. Watkins and
J.
S.
E.
Farnum, The Watkins-Farnum Performance
Scale,
Winona,
Minn., Leonard Music.
See,
22]
for
Achievement
Tests,
example,
Plymouth
Educational
Tests,
Chicago,
Plymouth Press; Music
Baltimore, Dept. Ed.; Krone Recognition, Tonal and Rhjthmic Dictation
Test,
Indianapolis,
M.
T. Krone, Butler U.; Mosher Group
Educ. No. 194, N.Y., Columbia U.
Tests,
Teach. Coll. Contrib.
See also A. Roe, "A Study of the Accuracy of
Perception of Visual Musical Stimuli," Arch. Psychol., 1^8 (1933); F. S. Salisbury and
H. D. Smith, "Prognosis of Sight Singing Ability of Normal School Students," J. Appl.
(1929): 42^-439; T. G. Stelzer, "Construction, Interpretation, and Use of
Psychol., 13
Sight Reading Scale in
Organ Music, with an Analysis of Organ Playing
Abilities," J. Exp. Ed.,
7 (1938): 35'-43;
S.
into
Fundamental
T. Burns, "The Value of Prognostic Tests for
Instrumental Pupils," Sch. Mus., 31 (193 i): 6—9.
23]
C. Stumpf, "Akustische Versuche mit Pepito- Areola," Zsch. f. Ang. Psychol., 21
(1909): i-ii.
24]
T. H. Pear, "The Classification of Observers as 'Musical' and 'Unmusical',"
J. Psychol.,
2j]
M.
F.
4 (191
1
):
Brit.
89—94.
Meyer, "Special Ability Tests
as
Used
in Missouri; Including a
Demonstration
of a Typical Test," Psychol. Bull., 21 (1924): 114-116.
26]
G. Revesz, The Psychology of a Musical Prodigy, N.Y., Harcourt, Brace, 192^.
27]
G. Revesz, Introduction
28]
H. Rupp, "Uber die Priifung musikalischer Fahigkeiten," Zsch.
to the
Psychology of Music,
Norman, U. of Oklahoma
f
Press,
Ang. Psychol., 9
(1919): 1-76.
29]
T. Billroth, Wer
30]
J.
31]
J.
Psychol.,
32]
ist
von Kries, Wer
musikalisch?
ist
musikalisch?
Gebriider Paetel, 1898.
Berlin, Springer,
1926.
A. Mjon, "Zur psychologischen Bestimmung der Musikalitat," Zsch. f.
27 (1926): 217-273.
Ang.
V. Haecker and T. Ziehen, Zur Vererbung and Entwicklung der musikalischen Begabung,
Leipzig, Barth, 1923.
33]
1 1
H. Lowery, "Cadence and Phrase Tests
in
Music,"
Brit. J.
Psychol., IJ
(1926-27):
i-i 18.
34]
O. Ortmann,
Tests
of Musical Talent, Baltimore, Peabody Conservatory of Music,
unpublished.
3j]
M. Schoen,
"Tests of Musical Feeling and Musical Understanding," J. Comp. Psychol.,
5 (192^): 31-52.
36]
E. Franklin,
Gumperts
2^0
Tonality as a Basis for the Study of Musical Talent,
Forlag, 19^6.
Goteborg, Sweden,
THE MEASUREMENT OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
37]
T. H. Madison, "Interval Discrimination as a Measure of Musical Aptitude," Arch.
No. 268 (1942).
Psychol,
38]
C.
J.
Lamp and N.
Keys, "Can Aptitude for Specific Musical Instruments Be Pre-
dicted?" J. Educ. Psychol., 26 (1935^): ^87-596.
39]
C. E. Seashore, "The Tonoscope and
Musician, 11
(1906):
(1928): 166—170; P.
J. Gen. Psychol., 2 (1929):
40]
41] O.
I.
Use
in the Training of the Voice,"
The
S5^~SS^-
Kwalwasser, Exploring
J.
Its
331-332; E. W. Scripture, "Das Strobilion," Zsch.J. Psychol., 59
R. Famsworth, "Two Independent Developments of the Strobilion,"
the Musical
Mind, N.Y., Coleman-Ross, 19^5^, Chap. 10.
Jacobsen, "Dynamic and Temporal Control in Music," j. Gen. Psychol., 1£
(1936): 171-190.
42]
R. H. Seashore, "Studies in Motor Rhythm,"
la. Stud. Psychol.,
9 (1926): 142-199;
"A Study in the Seashore Motor Rhythm Test," Psychol. Monog., 40 (1930):
J.
74-84. For a note on the Sievers rhythm test see H. M. Williams, "A Study in the
Prediction of Motor Rhythmic Performance of School Children," J. Genet. Psychol., 43
T. Nielsen,
(1933): 377-388.
43]
C. E. Seashore,
Chap.
1
The Psychology of Musical
Talent,
Boston, Silver,
Burdett,
19 19,
See also G. H. Smith, "Auditory Imagery in Music Reading," Thesis, Stanford
1.
U., 1947.
44]
C. E. Seashore, Manual oj Instructions and Interpretations Jor Measures of Musical Talent,
N.Y., Columbia Graphophone, 19 19.
45^]
H. Lowery,
1-14;
"On
the Integrative Theory of Musical Talent," J. Musical., 2 (1940):
Erit. J. Educ. Psychol., IJ
Mainwaring, "The Assessment of Musical Ability,"
J.
(1947): 83-96.
46]
The
leader of this group was J. L. Mursell.
See his The Psychology of Music, N.Y.,
Norton, 1937.
47]
R. Wyatt, "A Note on the Use of 'Omnibus' Training to Validate Seashore's
Capacity Hypothesis," Amer.J. Psychol., S2 (1939): 638-640.
48]
C. E. Seashore, Manual of Instructions and Interpretations Jor Measures of Musical Talent,
N.Y., Columbia Graphophone, 19 19. For a survey through 1930 of the research articles on
this first set of
Seashore measures see P. R. Farnsworth,
"An Historical,
mental Study of the Seashore-Kwalwasser Test Battery," Genet.
Critical,
and Experi-
Psychol. Monog.,
9 (193
i):
291-393.
49]
E.
M. McGinnis,
"Seashore's Measures of Musical Ability Applied to Children of the
Pre-school Age," Amer.J. Psychol., 40 (1928): 620-623.
£o]
F. S. Salisbury
and H. B. Smith, "Prognosis of Sight Singing Ability, "J. Appl.
Psychol.,
13 (1929): 42^-439£i]
M.
S.
Hattwick, "Manual of Instructions and Interpretations for
tion Test for
£2\
E. A.
Young Children,"
Gaw, "Five
U. of
la. Stud. Child.
Welf., 11
a Pitch
Discrimina-
(1935): 69-74.
Studies of the Music Tests," Psychol. Monog., 39 (1928): 14^-1^6.
2^1
THE MEASUREMENT OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
Psychology of Tone and Music," Genet. Psychol.
P. R. Farnsworth, "Studies in the
^3]
Monog., IS (1934): 4^—49; "Further Notes on the Seashore Music Tests, "J. Gen. Psychol.,
18 (1938): 429-431.
M.
^4]
E.
Brown, "A Note Concerning the Seashore Measures of Musical Talent,"
Sch.
and Soc, 30 (1929): 274-27^.
££]
J.
O'Connor, "Steps toward the
Hum. Engng.
L.
56]
M.
Isolation of Tonal
Memory
as a
Mental Element,"
Lab. Tech. Rep., 21 (1938).
Tilson, The Tilson-Gretscb Musical Aptitude Test, Chicago, Publ. Sch. Music Dept.,
Fred Gretsch Mfg., 1941.
R. Farnsworth, "Data on the Tilson-Gretsch Test for Musical Aptitude," J.
P.
£j\
4 (194^): 99-102.
Musical.,
C. E. Seashore, D. Lewis, and
^8]
J.
G. Saetveit, Manual, Seashore Measures of Musical
Talents,
N.Y., Psychol. Corp., 19^6.
^9]
G. Saetveit, D. Lewis, and C. E. Seashore,
J.
Revision of the Seashore Measures of
Musical Talent, Iowa City, U. of Iowa Press, 1940. Several researchers have adapted portions
of the Seashore battery for their own, nonmusical purposes.
Pitch-Memory Selection Test," OSRD
"A Revision of
Base,
60]
New
F.
S.
the
F.
March, 1944;
Navy Pitch-Memory Test," Med.
London, Conn., 9
See A. Ford, "The
J.
Lab., U.S. Naval
Res.
UCDWR
D. Harris and D. Charney,
Submarine
(195^0): i-io.
Salisbury and H. R. Smith, "Prognosis of Sight-Singing Ability of
School Students,"
61]
Report,
J. Appl. Psjcbol., 13
Normal
(1929): 42^-439.
A. Wright, "The Correlation between Achievement and Capacity in Music,"
J. Educ. Res.,
IJ (1928): 5^0-^6.
62]
H. C. Manor, "A Study
63]
P.
R.
in Prognosis," J. Educ. Psychol., 41 (19^0):
Farnsworth, "Are Music Capacity Tests
More Important
31— jo.
than Intelligence
Tests in the Prediction of Several Types of Music Grades?" J. Appl. Psychol., ig (193^):
347-3^064]
C. H. Lawshe,
Jr.,
and
W.
Wood, "Membership
F.
in
Musical Organizations as a
Criterion of Talent," Amer. J. Psychol., 60 (1947): 2^0-25^3.
65^]
P.
J.
Fay and
W.
C. Middleton, "Relationship between Musical Talent and Preferences
for Different Types of Music," J. Educ. Psychol., 32 (1941):
66]
E. C. Dunlevy, "Musical Training and
J73-5'83.
Measured Musical Aptitude,"
J. Musical.,
4
(1944): i-^.
67] P. R. Farnsworth,
"The Relation of the Auditory Capacities to the Feeling of Being
Musical," J. Musical., 2 (1941):
68]
la.
69]
1
19-122.
H. M. Stanton, "Measurement of Musical Talent: The Eastman Experiment," U. of
Stud. Psjchol. Alusic, 2 (i93i^):
W.
S.
i
— 140.
Larson, "Practical Experience with Music Tests," Mus. Ed. J., 24 (1938): 31.
See also R. C. Larson, "Finding and Guiding Musical Talent," Mus. Ed.
22-2S.
J.,
42 {13 £s):
THE MEASUREMENT OF MUSICAL ABILITIES
M.
E.
70]
"A Study
Taylor,
in the Prognosis of Musical Talent," J. Exp. Ed., 10 (1941):
1-28.
71]
J.
McLeish, "The Validation of Seashore's Measures of Musical Talent by Factorial
Methods,"
72]
J.
Brit. J. Psychol., Stat. Sect., 3
(19^0): 129-140.
W. Dykema,
Kwalwasser and P.
Kwalwasser-Bjkema Music
Tests,
N.Y., Fischer,
1930.
73]
P. R. Farnsworth, "Studies in the Psychology of
Tone and Music,"
Genet. Psjchol.
Monog., IS (1934): Sect. 9.
74]
For descriptions of the
Chapter
K-D measures
of melodic taste and tonal
movement
see
7.
7S] G. M. Gilbert, "'Aptitude' and Training: A Suggested
K-D Music Test Norms, "y. Appl. Psjchol. 25 (1941): 326-330;
,
Restandardization of the
P. R. Farnsworth, op.
cit.
76] J. A. Holmes, "Increased Reliabilities, New Keys, and Norms for a Modified
Kwalwasser-Dykema Test of Musical Aptitudes," J. Genet. Psychol., 8s (i95'4): 65-73.
77]
M.
T. Whitley,
"A Comparison of
the Seashore and
Kwalwasser-Dykema Music
Tests," Teach. Coll. Rec, 33 (1932): 731-751.
78]
J.
79]
R.
Kwalwasser, Kwalwasser Music Talent
M. Drake, "Four New
Test,
N.Y., Mills Music, 1953.
Tests of Musical Talent," J. Appl. Psjchol., ij (1933):
136-147.
80]
R.
M. Drake, Drake
81]
H.
S.
Calif.
82]
Tests,
Chicago, Science Research Associates,
Whistler and L. P. Thorpe, Whistler-Thorpe Musical Aptitude
R.
W.
Los Angeles,
Lundin, "The Development and Validation of a Set of Musical Ability Tests,"
No. 10 (1949).
H. Wing, "Tests of Musical Ability and Appreciation,"
No. 27 (1948); "Some Applications of Test Results
Psychol., 24 (1954): 161-170.
84]
Test,
Test Bureau, 1950.
Psjchol. Monog., 63,
83]
Musical Aptitude
E. K. Strong, Jr.,
Stanford U. Press,
teachers, see
M.
Vocational Interest Blank for Men, Revised Form
1938.
Kleist, C.
Interest Scales for
Brit. J. Psjchol.
For
a further
Monog. Suppl.,
to Education in Music," Brit. J. Educ.
M, Stanford,
Calif.,
attempt to construct Strong scales for music
H. Rittenhouse, and
P. R. Farnsworth, "Strong Vocational
Music Teachers," Occupations, 28 (1949):
1
00-101.
2^3
CHAPTER TEN
Applications of Music to Therapy
and Industry
Increasingly
over the years, music
therapy for the emotionally
output.
already
ill
and
as a
is
as a
Indeed, the job of furnishing music to shops and stores has
become
a sizable
and lucrative business. Yet the student
asks for proof of the medical and industrial
he will recognize
little that
likely
being employed both
goad to increase industrial
as
worth of music
having scientific validity.
he will be fed anecdotes and legends,
is
who
offered
More
than
e.g., the Bible story of
the mentally disturbed King Saul listening to young David's harp
playing.
He may be shown
improvement
in
learns that the
data
which demonstrate unmistakable
work output or emotional
adjustment.
music was given along with
a host of
or changes in industrial atmosphere and he
part music
may have
is left
But then he
other therapies
puzzling over the
played in the process, wondering
if it
was
really
the music that induced the changes.
o
Physiological Changes
As
a preliminary step
toward getting
a
clearer picture of the
it may be well to
human physiology. The
and modify moods needs no further
potential role of music in therapy and industry
examine what
thesis that
is
music can
defense (p. 94).
2^4
known
of
its
elicit
power
to affect
But can tone and rhythm affect blood pressure,
APPLICATIONS OF MUSIC TO THERAPY AND INDUSTRY
pulse,
man's
respiration rate,
processes?
life
may be
It
and other physiological manifestations of
categorically stated that music can
markedly
affect the
bodily processes. Yet the effects are not so striking as was once
thought.
It
was believed at one time, for instance, that the heart would,
within limitations, accommodate
its
beat to the pulse of the music
being heard. By the use of better apparatus and controls, however,
it
has been possible to re-examine the
data.^
Of
problem and
the subjects so far studied, only one
collect additional
showed any tendency
for synchrony of heartbeat and musical pulse, and even here the
correspondence was so
slight that it
may have been a matter of chance.
combed the experimental
Diserens and Fine, after having carefully
literature
up through the middle 1930's
on physiological processes,
Music
.
.
.
increases
its
regularity
.
.
.
offer the following conclusions:
.
.
.
.
increases
or
de-
accelerates respiration and decreases
produces marked but variable effect on volume,
.
.
modes.
stimuli of different
With some
.
.
pulse and blood pressure
still
metabolism
bodily
creases muscular energy
for studies of musical effects
.
.
lowers the threshold for sensory
.influences the internal secretions.^
rephrasing the conclusions of Diserens and Fine can
be accepted.
It is
reasonably clear that music has on occasion
increased the bodily metabolism of a certain few people and has
affected their muscular energy, respiration, and/or circulation.
generalization in this area
matons reacting
in a
is
But
dangerous since humans are not auto-
pushbutton fashion to music.
Nor
is all
music
the same, and the effect of one composition does not necessarily
resemble that of another. The idea that music can lower thresholds
(raise acuities) in
other sensory areas
experimenters. 3
However,
this
Dannenbaum, who found the
significantly impaired,
is
held by contemporary Soviet
notion has been questioned by
visual acuity of
each of his subjects
not improved, by the presence of music. 4 But
APPLICATIONS OF MUSIC TO THERAPY AND INDUSTRY
whether or not music can improve
visual acuity as such,
it is
able,
according to Lovs^enstein,5 to restore the size of eye-pupils w^hich
have been experimentally fatigued by
thus reduced in
size.
It
many exposures
to light and
should be added, however, that Lowenstein
obtained this effect with "very musical people" only.
He
is,
therefore,
inclined to think that this "restitution phenomenon," as he calls
it, is
not
a function of tonal stimuli per se but rather of psychological stimuli,
i.e.,
of stimuli which have real musical significance to the listener. At
any rate, here
An
an example of the fatigue-reducing capacity of music.
unpublished study by Dreher^ showed that the unmusical
well as the
more musical
exhibit galvanic changes
7
the
unmusical subjects.
There was
direct
a
as
while listening to
much weaker
But these electrical changes were found to be
music.
in
is
correspondence
between the degree of galvanic change and the importance of music
in the life of the listener.
Thirty-six students, randomly selected by Ellis and Brighouse from
volunteers in undergraduate psychology,^ listened to three recordings
—
and
Hall's Blue Interval, Debussy's Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun,
Liszt's
Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2
—while records were made of
their heart and respiration rates. Physiological records
were
also
kept
for several minutes before, and for as long as five minutes after, the
playing of the music. These experimenters report that no statistically
significant changes in heartbeat
in respiration rate
were found
were apparent
at
any time. But increases
in almost all subjects, particularly
during the playing of the Liszt and Hall numbers.
that
no respiration change
It is
of interest
lasted for longer than five minutes after
the cessation of the listening session, a finding which offers
encouragement to the music
It
therapists.
goes almost without saying that the findings of the Ellis-Brig-
house experiments might have been greatly different
if
either the
extremely musical or monotones had been tested, or
if
quite dis-
From what
is
known
similar compositions had
2^6
little
been presented.
of
APPLICATIONS OF MUSIC TO THERAPY AND INDUSTRY
we
psychology
should expect enormous individual differences to
And contemporary
exist in physiological responses to music.
ments bear out
experi-
In fact there are persons so readily
this expectation.
affected by music that listening to certain compositions leads to
And
epileptic attacks. 9
who
deaf,
can get
little
at the
other extreme there are the pitch-
or nothing from music except through the
kinesthetic and tactual senses.
The
on
physiological effects of music
the listener will be large or small, depending on the nature of the
composition which
A number
being heard.
is
of variables are of
importance here, including, among others, the presence or absence
of abrupt tempo changes, the acceptability or unacceptability of the
composition, and the personal associations the music has for the
As Miles and
listener.
Tilly have demonstrated,
the chief cause of respiratory changes.
^°
change in tempo
While tempo change
a factor in altering circulation, the attitude of the listener
composition seems to be a
far
more important
principles hold both while the listener
As the music becomes more
tized.
is
alert
familiar,
is
is
also
toward the
variable.
and while he
is
These
hypno-
more "understood" and
become more marked.
appreciated, the physiological changes tend to
How
The
extensive, then,
answ^er
music
is
elicits,
is
music's
power
to affect
body processes?
not an easy one to make. For the physiological changes
while substantial and varied in certain musical persons,
are relatively insignificant in the unmusical and appear to be shortlasting at best.
By and
large, the effects are greater the
music has "meaning" for the
may
call
That
is,
a given
the
composition
forth one set of effects in a musical person and quite
different changes in
differ
listener.
more
from one time
one not musically inclined.
to another in the
Or
the effects
same person depending on the
on the
training the individual has received in the meantime,
tions he has picked up, and
from these
facts that
on
his changes in
no composition
may
mood.
would follow
It
will be found
associa-
which can be
guaranteed to produce identical or even nearly identical physiological
17
FSP
APPLICATIONS OF MUSIC TO THERAPY AND INDUSTRY
changes
among
members
the
One
of any sizable population.
likely to find any considerable degree of generality of
is
not
body change
except perhaps where the effects are elicited through the hearing of
most of us have known well since
national and church hymns, music
With music which
early childhood.
common
of the
less a part
is
heritage, the chances of securing identical effects are slighter.
The Present Status of Music Therapy
Since music can undeniably alter both
physiological processes of
for therapy."
It
has,
and the physically
then, are
partial
its
ill
many
we know,
in
it
moods and some basic
may have some potential
long been used to treat the mentally
both preliterate and civilized cultures." Why,
medical qualities not more easily demonstrated?
answer can be found
hospitals.
persons,
It is
in the
way therapy
is
employed
want
natural that the psychiatrists should
mental health to the point where their patients can be
Most mental
speedily returned to their homes.
fully
in
to
A
mental
improve
safely
and
hospitals are dread-
crowded, and many more emotionally disturbed persons are
usually waiting to enter than can be accepted.
Under such
pressures, a research
program on musical or any other
kind of therapy can be only incidental,
a
must be
a
at best.
"buckshot" policy must be followed. That
tried
on each patient
in the
hope
combination of treatments will effect
of therapies makes
it
impossible to
tell
On
the curative side,
is,
a variety of therapies
that
some one of them or
a cure.
But
which one
this multiplicity
is
mainly respon-
when the patient improves, if he does improve. As a matter of
fact, it may sometimes be that no one therapy by itself contributes
very much to the subsequent "cure." The active agent may be the
friendly attention the patient has been receiving, or there may
sible
perhaps be some dynamic personality change which would have
occurred even though no therapy
2^8
at all
had been attempted.
APPLICATIONS OF MUSIC TO THERAPY AND INDUSTRY
With
the situation so beclouded, the one clear fact
is
that definitive
statements about the medical value of music must await the establish-
ment
another can be put through
some
where
of research-oriented hospitals
years away.
And
until
But
paces.
its
it
this
comes, there
research-heaven
winnow
Music
in Physical
is still
one can do but
is little
examine the anecdotes which abound and the
accept and from them try to
one therapy and then
first
beliefs the specialists
at least a
few grains of
fact. ^3
Therapy
Boring indeed are the exercises that the muscle- and joint-injured
must practice day
become,
able.
fit
if
It is
But
after day.
not actually enjoyable,
relatively easy to find
the needs of each patient.
encouraged.
piano.
if
set
at least
to music,
the exercises
considerably
more endur-
music with tempos and rhythms to
For leg injuries dancing
Finger exercise needs
may
call for
is
often
the playing of the
and throat muscles need to be strengthened, the
If facial
playing of brass or
wood-wind instruments may be
the leg-injured patient
who
possesses
For
appropriate.
no musical or dancing
skill,
pumping of a small organ may be prescribed. Time seems to
more quickly when music accompanies the therapeutic exer-
the foot
pass
cises,
and patient morale tends to be better maintained. This type of
musical therapy
is
usually administered in hospitals but
reasonably beneficial in the home,
benefit derived
Music
in
from seeing others
it
be
although here the additional
also exercising
is
missing.
Mental Therapy
When
ESTABLISHING CONTACT WITH THE PATIENT.
patient has
will
withdrawn
into a
world of daydreams, an early step
to re-establish the patient's contact with the
therapy
is
reality.
Often the psychotic will not
talk or take
much
the
in
world of
interest in
25-9
17-2
APPLICATIONS OF MUSIC TO THERAPY AND INDUSTRY
his surroundings.
Yet the patient
who
earUer had a deep love of
music and no frustrations associated with
to
melody and rhythm when he
principle.
to
match
patient.
drawn,
The music
is
sometimes respond
as to
be isomoodic and isotempic,
mood
and "mental tempo" of the
chosen so
so far as possible the
Thus, quiet, unobtrusive music
lively
is
selected for the with-
music for the maniacal, "feminine" music for one of
feminine mentality,
and held,
will
In such cases, Altshuler suggests the use of his "iso"
stimulation.
^4
it
will not react favorably to verbal
etc.
Later, after the attention has been aroused
a gradual shift in
type of music
is
engineered in the hope
that the patient's mental and physiological states will also change.
PLEASANTNESS AND THE FEELING OF BEING RESTED. Many
more alert and rested after listening to our favorite compositions.
A somewhat similar situation exists among those in
mental hospitals. But among the hospitalized, listening to music has
of US feel
the additional advantage of helping to pass the time, which can drag
frightfully.
Research has shown that a
between the
fairly
feeling of restfulness and the pleasantness of
between tiredness and unpleasantness).
.
strong relationship exists
^5
music (or
During the course of
life,
become associated. We should keep the fact of
mind and not listen to strange, and so potentially
pleasantness and rest
this association in
unpleasant, music at a time
when we
to understand the unfamiliar
is
feel
mentally fatigued. Striving
not a restful undertaking.
MUSIC AS A SOCIALIZING AGENT. The psychotic can be
regarded as a person who is poor in his interpersonal adjustments. He
badly needs music or some other resocializing agent. To supply such
a need, unison group singing and dancing are encouraged in the more
therapeutically oriented of our mental hospitals. These activities take
a
minimum
of alertness. Yet they bring about vitally needed inter-
personal contacts, they break the
260
monotony of institutional life, and,
APPLICATIONS OF MUSIC TO THERAPY AND INDUSTRY
for a short time at least, they
may
patient.
singing, the patient
once again
is
dissipate the personal worries
While engaged
which have beset the
a
member
in dancing or
group
of a functioning group.
THE SENSE OF ACHIEVEMENT AND PRESTIGE. Music
IcSSOnS
are often given in mental hospitals so that the patient can feel that he
is
achieving a real
skill,
leaves the institution.
comes the opportunity
or with vocal
one that he can continue to enjoy
With
skill in
playing a musical instrument
to perform in the hospital's orchestra or band,
place in the chorus. Such ensemble
skill a
he
after
a sense of achievement,
work
brings
bestowes prestige on the performers, and
aids in the process of socialization.
OTHER ATTEMPTS TO USE MUSIC.
With
SO
many
physicians
and musicians convinced of the existence of large physiological
from music,
hospitals
active,
it
and
effects
was inevitable that music should have been used
clinics to quiet the apprehensive, to
in
calm the hyper-
to stimulate the depressed, to reduce accidents, ^^ and to
distract
those
about to undergo dental work or surgery.
The
reported successes of such uses of music vary with the enthusiasms
Sad to relate, therapy data are rarely recorded in
of the therapists.
terms which mean
perceived benefit
is
much
to
the scientist.
more properly
To what
extent the
attributable to the attention the
patient gets than to the music cannot at present be figured.
may be an appreciable
remains,
fraction of the therapeutic effect.
however, that there are patients
apprehensive,
less
who
are
The
But
it
fact still
visibly
less
maniacal, or less depressed after sessions with
musical therapy.
the"musicopoeia."
Although normal persons and psychotics
of like subculture react in a fairly similar fashion to music, there
seems to be enough dissimilarity to
justify the rule that all
music to
261
APPLICATIONS OF MUSIC TO THERAPY AND INDUSTRY
be employed with psychotics should be pretested on psycho tics /7
This rule appears to be followed rather religiously in
while in others the therapist's
own
some quarters
feelings or those of his friends
furnish the guide for his selection of the compositions he will use.
If
he
is
patients
psychoanalytically oriented, he
on simple
may
Each musical therapist seems to have
"^^
his favored list of musical
compositions. Thus, for relieving serious headaches
Rhapsody
No.
1,
Mendelssohn's
Prince Igor; "popular"
Suite
Paris;
in
Brown
offers
includin^r such old "classics" as Liszt's Hungarian
ones like Grofe's
and "moderns"
and Copland's Lincoln
Portrait.
like
Don
Mozart's
Elijah,
Offenbach's Tales of Hojfmann, Beethoven's
American
"seem
folk tunes, following the theory that these
to resupply or reactivate the mother-child complex.
some 40 pieces
convalescing
start his
Fidelio,
Mississippi
Giovanni,
and Borodin's
and Gershwin's
Khachaturian's Masquerade
^^
Arrington suggests the following "reassuring" compositions for use
just before electroshock treatment:
Beethoven's
First
Piano
/kfoonii^ Ac Sonata,
Concerto
Largo from Bach's Concerto
Brahms's Intermezzo
(Second
Movement),
in
E
Flat,
in A,
Chopin's
Mendelssohn's
Italian
Symphony (Second Movement), and Rachmaninov's Second Concerto
(Second Movement).
During the awakening period Arrington con-
siders these as appropriate: Kern's
Look Tonight,
Chopin's Waltzes
Album, and Adamson's Time on
Show Tunes, Fields's The Way You
in
A and
Mj
Hands.
C,
Berlin's Eddie Duchin
To Arrington
are musical tonics: Tchaikovsky's Sixth Symphony (Third
these eight
Movement),
Beethoven's Egmont Overture, Chopin's Prelude, Opus 28 No.
Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2, Bizet's
Marches, Offenbach's Gaiete
Toreador'' s Song,
Parisienne,
1, Liszt's
Sousa's Military
and Bach's Prelude and Fugue
in
E Minor; and these nine are musical sedatives: Mascagni's Cavalleria
Rusticana (Intermezzo), Schubert's Ave Maria, Saint-Saens's The Swan,
Brahms's LuUahj, Beethoven's
Chopin's Nocturne
262
in
G
Sixth
Symphony (Second Movement),
Minor, Debussy's Clair de Lune, Schubert's
APPLICATIONS OF MUSIC TO THERAPY AND INDUSTRY
Quartet
Sonata.
B
in
and
(Andante),
Minor
Flat
Beethoven's
Moonlight
^°
Sugarman attempts to lower "emotional high blood pressure"
through renditions of a variety of compositions which include:
Bach's Concerto
Bruckner's Mass
of the
D
in
E
in
Minor for
Bartok's Sonata for Piano,
Sjmphony No.
3,
Dead, and Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake Ballet
among which
eating he suggests 20 pieces,
Violin,
Ravel's La
and
Rachmaninov's
Isle
To accompany
Suite.
are Bartok's Sonata for
Debussy's Children's Corner
Valse,
Concerto No. 2 in A,
To
Violin,
Minor, Ives's
Ives's Sonata No. 2 for Violin
Suite,
and
Liszt's
Piano.'^^
replace jealousy and suspicion with contentment, Hillard offers
Anthiel's
Quartet No. 5,
Bach's
4,
Chopin's Nocturne
and Ravel's Quartet
mentions
No.
Sonata
Piano
Bach's
in
F To
.
Italian
in
D
Cantata
Flat,
No.
Milhaud's
21,
Suite Frangaise,
relieve chronic hatred this
Concerto,
Haydn's
Bartok's
same author
Sjmphony,
Clock
and
Sibelius 's Finlandia.^'^
Girard
claims
to
reduce
Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata,
anger with
Bach's
Grofe's Aviation
Sonata in D, and Franck's Sjmphonj in
D
Minor.
Cantata
Suite,
To overcome
Girard would play Chopin's Mazurkas and Preludes,
Waltzes, Nevin's
The
lists
literature. ^4
Narcissus,
and Rubinstein's Melody
above are typical of what one
finds
in
f
in
No.
2,
Prokofiev's
the
anxiety,
Strauss
.^3
the current
Quite clearly they are the resultants of "rule of thumb"
rather than scientific procedures.
changes both in
mood and
It is
very probable, of course, that
in overt activity have
sometimes occurred
following the playing of these and other musical compositions, but
the causal connections between the music and the behavioral changes
are obscure.
Moreover,
at this stage in the history of the institu-
tional use of music, little or
venture to another
is
no generalization from one therapeutic
warranted. The reader should not conclude,
however, that music has no future
may demonstrate
in therapy.
Indeed, later research
large benefits attributable to the music alone.
At
263
APPLICATIONS OF MUSIC TO THERAPY AND INDUSTRY
the very least,
it
would seem
morale
that the
many
lift
patients
receive from this kind of treatment amply justifies the effort involved.
And
surely
The
no great harm
Effects
is
likely to
come from
of Music on Achievement
MUSIC AND ACTIVITY.
Although many of the phenomena of
the laboratory cannot be replicated in "real"
carry over or at least can be
may
facilitate later
work
made
sway of people
who were
life
many
life,
others
to yield cues and principles
v^ill
which
outside the laboratory. Thus, Husband's
finding, that several rather different sorts of
applicable to
the use of music.
attempting to stand
generally. ^5
music
still,
all
increased the
would seem
As might have been guessed,
caused greater sway than music of other
styles.
Work
at the
to
be
jazz
Stanford
University laboratories has carried the Husband study farther to
show
that even thinking of jazz
music can increase sway. That
is,
more while they
rhythmical music than when they imagined
subjects told to stand as quietly as possible swayed
imagined hearing strongly
themselves studying in an easy chair.
It
would seem,
then, that the
activation of either the ear or the "mind's ear" can lead to slight
body movements which are of measurable
size.^^
Diserens and Fine report a series of laboratory experiments on the
As pioneer work their research
influence of music on behavior.
should be commended.
the present day
it
However, viewed
inust be said that the study generalizes too freely
and concerns too few subjects.
show the
froin the vantage-point of
variety of areas
it
Its
conclusions are given here only to
encompassed.
Music tends to reduce or delay fatigue and consequently
increases muscular endurance. Music has no definite effect on
precision or accuracy of movement,
to the
rhythm of the work.
It
if
the rhythm
reduced accuracy
and handwriting, the result being shown
264
in
is
not adapted
in typewriting
an increased
number
APPLICATIONS OF MUSIC TO THERAPY AND INDUSTRY
of errors.
vs^riting
Music speeds up such voluntary
and handw^riting.
It
increases the extent of muscular reflexes
Music reduces normal
dravs^ing, etc.
activities as type-
also accelerates respiration.
employed
Music
in writing,
except in
suggestibility,
the case of direct suggestion involving color, in which case
suggestibility
produce
is
Music seems to have
increased.
a shift in
a
tendency to
normal preference for chromatic and achro-
matic impressions, the change being toward the blue end of the
spectrum and the white end of the achromatic
series.
Music
has a tendency to reduce the extent of illusion by acting as a
distracting factor.
of the
human body
Music influences the
as
electrical conductivity
manifested by increased fluctuations in the
psychogalvanic reflex. ^7
TYPING, MEMORY, AND READING.
effects of jazz
no
effect
errors.
and dirges on
on the speed of
is
his subjects' typing,
seemed to have
did increase their
Dirge
Jensen's findings appear reasonable.
obviously not in synchrony with good typing speed.
work accuracy would very
environment which,
likely
like jazz,
found by Whitely to have
insignificant,
compete
for attention.
might not have appeared
might be
fitting to
Music was
a very small detrimental influence
however, that with
And
be affected by factors of the
learning and retention of verbal material. ^9
It
jazz
it
Dirges, on the other hand, decreased the typing speed but
had no effect on errors.
time
Jcusen has Studied the
Although
typing. ^^
slightly
The
effects
on the
were
so
changed conditions they
at all.
describe here
some experiments
at
Stanford
University in which subjects were engaged in pursuit and codelearning tasks while in the presence of attention-getting noise
approximately the 70-decibel
level. 3°
After a
half of the subjects continued their tasks
in their ears while the other
number
with the noise
group proceeded
of
trials,
still
at,
one-
booming
in relative quiet.
It is
of interest that no consistent or significant differences appeared
26^
APPLICATIONS OF MUSIC TO THERAPY AND INDUSTRY
between the performances of these two groups during any of the
Here
trials.
organism
is
an example of the fact that
who
will
learn
and
man
a rather adaptable
is
under
retain
extremely
trying
circumstances.
Although learning can proceed reasonably well
one might think would be
in the face of
what
a considerable distraction, there are limits
beyond which the disturbance becomes
a real
detriment to learning.
Thus, Fendrick showed that music could be a serious distraction to
persons reading very difficult material. 3^
It
may be
that psychologists are minimizing the distracting eff^ects
of music through their almost exclusive use of college students as
subjects.
If
persons
fifty
years of age or
more were
to be tested, the
data might look quite different, for these older persons learned to
read and study without the blaring of radio or phonograph. For them
music
and
is
not an integral part of the reading process.
his colleagues
slightly the
had no
Henderson
demonstrated that popular music lessened only
paragraph comprehension of their college subjects and
harm vocabulary
did not
When
effect
learning at
and that
all,
on either of these aspects of reading
"classical"
skill,
music
they were
presenting data which perhaps relate solely to college populations. 3^
The
fact that
of music and
is
some of
still
these latter claimed to study without the "aid"
were not bothered by the music of the experiment
of interest but cannot be taken at face value.
atypical students are far
come from homes
more
So
have
noisy with music from phonograph or radio.
read in the sanctuary of a quiet study
modern
For even these
likely than are their elders to
is
To
not characteristic of the
youth.'
far the discussion has
centered on music
as a distraction.
It
might be expected, however, that readers can sometimes benefit
from background music, particularly
tomed
True
266
if
they are young and accus-
to the simultaneity of such auditory and visual stimulation.
to expectation, examples of actual gain in reading speed can be
APPLICATIONS OF MUSIC TO THERAPY AND INDUSTRY
seen in the data of Freeburne and Fleischer
sitions to college subjects as they
had
Hall, too,
a facilitating effect.
reading of some persons. 34
school group
studied. 33
made higher
may have
music
played jazz compo-
other sort of music
found music beneficial to the
Almost 60 per cent of
scores
on the
Nelson Silent Reading Test
on
effect
facilitating
a
his junior-high-
Mikol and Denny demonstrate
while hearing background music.
that
who
No
rotary
pursuit
performances. 35
The
data so far considered indicate that for
hearing of music during study hours has
and study
for
is
still
many persons the forced
little
or no effect on reading
For others there may be adverse consequences and
habits.
others there may be measurable benefit.
The type of music
that
heard, the difficulty of the material to be read, and the study and
reading habits of the person being tested appear to be the pertinent
variables
which account
for the diversity of effects so far reported.
REPETITIVE WORK.
The proof of music's
usefulness for in-
dustry has been best demonstrated for repetitive work. This
surprising
when
world over have
not
Negro stevedores and laborers the
recalled that
it is
is
work
typically synchronized their
speeds to the
tempos of music and have derived much benefit therefrom. Their
morale has been
lifted
smoother and more
Modern
and their work movements have been made
efficient
shops, too, have
by the directing force of group singing.
work which
for these factory workers that
them music
highly repetitive, and
it is
played.
For
in industry
number of possible benefits
smoother motor performance. 3^
has a
and make for
the daydreams which occupy
in this class of labor.
to hear
is
most music
much
has his interests at heart and
conditions. There
may
is
It
of the mental
Moreover, the
music while laboring may
It
:
may relieve fatigue
may supply food for
life
fact that the
signify to
him
is
of those engaged
worker
that the
is
allowed
management
attempting to improve his working
be, then, a considerable raising of morale.
267
APPLICATIONS OF MUSIC TO THERAPY AND INDUSTRY
NONREPETiTiVE WORK.
requiring
With
little intellectual effort
may prove
of music each day
siderable intellectual effort
is
nonrepctitive
the introduction of several periods
quite
worker
But where con-
worth while.
involved music
and may have a harmful effect on output.
feeling the
work
factory
It
is
may have
has for the music
less
often beneficial
should be noted that the
do with
little to
its
He may desire it and be quite certain that it is
work when in reality it is not. In those fewer instances,
value to his work. 37
aiding his
usually in offices,
who
where music
uses his brain
more
than his hands, the type of music found to be
appropriate resembles but
the labor
found to be of benefit to the worker
is
little
the kind used for
more manual. As might be
is
far softer, less regularly
workrooms where
guessed, office music must be
rhythmic, with fewer dynamic changes, and
without words.
OTHER CLAIMS FOR MUSIC.
Proponents of industrial music
have at one time or another maintained that, by the proper use of music
absenteeism and personnel turnover can be reduced; and physical
health, punctuality and plant safety can
students of plant music, however,
So
far,
have not found these
effects.
these alleged benefits have not been reported in the better
controlled studies. Yet
it
occasion. For might not
a
be improved. There are other
who
a
is
conceivable that they could occur on
worker be
company which brought music
become more punctual and
less
so filled with
to
its
good
will
toward
workers that he would
prone to "play" sick or
to quit his
job?
THE FORMULAE FOLLOWED.
in
complete agreement
The
in their musical prescriptions.
however, that care should be taken
beginning of recess periods. That
just before
268
authorities are
time to stop work,
by no means
They do
agree,
lest
music be conditioned to the
if
music were played each day
is,
its
presentation
would
give the
APPLICATIONS OF MUSIC TO THERAPY AND INDUSTRY
workers
home" cue which obviously would not
a "going
lead to
enthusiasm for work.
Some
students of industrial music take great pains to give the
workers exactly what they want to hear while others
much
preference aspect has been
overemphasized. These latter assert
that research attention should rather
But where preference
feel that the
be focused on output changes.
emphasized, folk music and operas are often
is
played to the foreign-born workers. The female voice
much
often than the male, since
less
appreciated.
The
British, as a
its
is
broadcast
higher register
matter of fact, rule out
all
is
not so
vocal music
because they have noticed a tendency for the laborer to stop work
and write down the
lyrics
he particularly enjoys. Sex differences for
the sort of music most preferred seem few in number.
differences
loom
larger,
Generation
with the older workers preferring, on the
whole, quieter and more serious music.
In
one extensive study of factory music, the optimum
when music
output was found to occur
time for the day
shift
Muzak Corporation,
i
2
effect
on
per cent of the
and go per cent for the night crew. 3^ The
the leading firm devoted to supplying music to
industry, has a rule of not
eight-hour workday.
played
v^^as
more than three hours
A common
formula
is
of music for each
to have ten to fifteen
minutes of music each half-hour in factories and ten to twenty
minutes each hour in those
offices
where music seems
to be favorably
received.
LIMITATIONS OF CONCLUSIONS. We have seen that the
made on behalf of industrial music largely await validation.
claims
Perhaps the most promising area
is
that of
worker morale,
factory workers playing an ever growing role in plant
worker morale
cerned.
With
so
is
for with
management,
becoming of increasing importance
to
all
con-
But even here definitive experiments have yet to be made.
many workers
calling for
music
in their factories,
it
is
269
APPLICATIONS OF MUSIC TO THERAPY AND INDUSTRY
probable that management will continue to provide for
this desire,
thus giving further opportunities for the gathering of sound data.
Eventually, then, a
more adequate assessment
may
of industrial music
be forthcoming. 39
Notes
D. M. Johnson and M. Trawick, "Influence of Rhythmic Sensory Stimuli upon the
i]
Heart-Rate,"
6 (1938): 303—310.
M. Diserens and H.
C.
2]
y. Psychol.,
A Psychology of Music, Cincinnati, pubUshed by the
Fine,
authors, 1939, p. 25^3.
D. London, "Research on Sensory Interaction
I.
3]
in the Soviet
Union,"
Psychol. Bull.,
51 (i9?4): Si^-S^^-
A. Dannenbaum, "The Effect of Music on Visual Acuity," Sarah Lawrence Stud., 4
(194-S)- 18-26.
4]
O.
^]
Lowenstein,
M. Grunewald
Der psychische
RestitutionseJJekt,
in Music Therapy, E. Podolsky, ed.,
Basel,
Schwabe,
See also
1937.
N.Y., Philosophical Library, 1954,
241-2^1.
R. E. Dreher, "The Relationship between Verbal Reports and Galvanic Skin Responses
6]
to Music," Thesis, Indiana U., 1947.
The
7]
galvanic skin response refers to the fact that the electrical resistance of the skin
measurably decreased whenever, during emotional
is
the skin surfaces; R.
j. Psychol.,
8]
D.
I.
S. Ellis
and G. Brighouse, "Effects of Music on Respiration and Heart-Rate," Amer.
6s (19^2): 39-47; also published
Philosophical Library, 195^4, 1^8-169.
M.
produced on
44 (1957): 111-127.
J. Psychol.,
9]
states, perspiration is
Henkin, "The Prediction of Behavior Response Patterns to Music,"
"Two
Critchley,
(1942): 182-184;
S.
in Music Therapj, E. Podolsky, ed.,
N.Y.,
Cases of Musicogenic Epilepsy," J. Royal Naval Med. Serv., 28
Taylor, "Musicogenic Epilepsy: Case," J. Kojal 'Naval Med. Serv.,
28 (1942): 394-39S.
10]
J.
Gazette,
1
1]
R. Miles and C. R. Tilly, "Some Physiological Reactions to Music," Guy's Hospital
4^ (193^): 319-322.
Music therapy
of the therapists
I
2]
F.
3]
now
denotes
a
very young but growing profession. The house-organ
the Bulletin of the National Association for Music Therapj.
Densmore, "Importance of Rhythm
American
1
is
That music therapy
is
in its infancy
270
Songs for the Treatment of the Sick by
can also be seen in the fact that the
course designed to create specialists in this
institution
in
Indians," Sci. Month., 79 (1954): 109-112.
which
started the curriculum
field
was not introduced
was Michigan
first
until
State University.
four-year
1944.
The
APPLICATIONS OF MUSIC TO THERAPY AND INDUSTRY
14]
M.
I.
Altshuler, "Rational Music-Therapy of the Mentally
Assoc. Proc,
i^]
W.
C. Middleton,
et al.,
H.
S.
Mus.
Nat.
Teach.
"The Effect of Music on Feelings of Restfulness-Tiredness,
and Pleasantness-Unpleasantness,"
16]
111,"
1939, 15^3-15^7.
J. Psjchol.,
IJ (1944): 299—318.
Whiting, in "Effect of Music on Hospital Accident Rate," Amer.
J. Ment. T)ef.,
SI (1947): 397—400, maintains that music played over the radio in a hospital for mental
defectives can produce a drastic reduction in the
number
of accidents on the wards.
For
further material on music in hospitals for mental defectives see A. Wendelin and T. L.
Engle, "A Survey of Musical Activities in Institutions for the Mentally Deficient," Amer.
J. Ment. Dejic,
17]
B. Simon,
S9
{^9S4-)'-
et al.,
206-209.
"The Recognition and Acceptance of
Patients, "J. Nerv. Ment. Dis.,
18]
G.
W.
Mood
in
Music by Psychotic
II4 (1951): 66-78.
Ainlay, "The Place of Music in Military Hospitals," Etude, 63 (1945^): 433,
468, 480.
19]
M. Brown
L.
in Music Therapj, E. Podolsky, ed.,
N.Y., Philosophical Library, 19^4,
13^-138.
20]
G. E. Arrington,
I9j'4,
2^2-287. See
Jr., in
Music Therapy, E. Podolsky, ed., N.Y., Philosophical Library,
also the longer lists
from the chapter by H. G.
Price,
et al.,
in the
same book, pp. 95^—100.
Sugarman
in Music Therapy, E. Podolsky, ed.,
N.Y., Philosophical Library, 19^4,
21]
P.
22]
B. Hillard in Music Therapy, E. Podolsky, ed., N.Y., Philosophical Library,
I
1954,
21-1 29.
23]
J.
Girard in Music Therapy, E. Podolsky, ed., N.Y., Philosophical Library,
195^4,
loi— 106.
24]
For further references on music therapy, see L. Gilman and
Your Emotions, N.Y., Liveright, 19^2, 24-^^;
S.
H. Licht, Music
F. Paperte,
in Medicine,
Music and
Boston,
New
England Conservatory of Music, 1946; D. M. Schullian and M. Schoen, eds., Music and
Medicine, N.Y., Schuman, 1948; D. Soibelman, Therapeutic and Industrial Uses of Music,
N.Y., Columbia U. Press, 1948;
and Therapy," Mus. Teach. Nat.
25]
R.
W.
de Wall, "Functional Use of Music in Industry
Proc, 1944, 147-IJ3.
Husband, "The Effects of Musical Rhythms and Pure Rhythms on Bodily
Sway," J. Gen.
26]
W. Van
Ass.
Psychol., 11
(1934): 328-336.
That music can stimulate compensatory movements which can aid one's sense of
balance has been demonstrated by
W.
Lavere in "The Influence of Musical Training and
Musical Accompaniment on the Sense of Equilibrium," Master's Thesis, Syracuse U., 19^0.
27]
C.
M. Diserens and H.
Fine,
A Psychology of Music, Cincinnati, published by the
authors, 1939, pp. 273-274.
28]
M.
B. Jensen,
"The Influence of Jazz and Dirge Music upon Speed and Accuracy of
Typing," J. Educ. Psychol., 22 (1931): 4^8-462.
271
APPLICATIONS OF MUSIC TO THERAPY AND INDUSTRY
29]
"The Influence of Music on Memory,"
P. L. Whitely,
J. Gen. Psychol.,
10 (1934):
137-15130]
P. R. Farnsworth,
J. Genet. Psychol.,
31]
P. Fendrick,
Res., 31
32]
M.
traction
33]
"Continued Training with the Omission of Certain Nebenreize,"
SO (1937): 277-282.
"The Influence of Music Distraction upon Reading Efficiency,"
J. Educ.
(1937): 264-271.
T. Henderson, A. Crews, and
on Reading
J.
Barlow, "A Study of the Effect of Music Dis-
Efficiency," J. Appl. PsjchoL, 29 (1945):
313-317.
C. M. Freeburne and M. Fleischer, "The Effect of Music Distraction upon Reading
Rate and Comprehension,"
J. Educ. Psychol.,
43 (19^2): loi — 109.
"The Effect of Background Music on the Reading Comprehension of 278
34]
8th and 9th Grade Students," J. Educ. Res., 45 (19^2): 4(^1-45^8.
J. C. Hall,
l^]
B.
Mikol and M. R. Denny, "The Effect of Music and Rhythm on Rotary Pursuit
Performance," Percep. Mot.
36]
Skills,
According to E. Podolsky
1945^,
5 {i9Ss)'- 3-6.
as
reported in Music for Your Health, N.Y., Ackerman,
almost any musical rhythm can be employed in factories since the rhythm of the
worker's task
is little
affected by the
claim which needs verification.
rhythm of the music he
hears. This
is
an astonishing
See also "Soap Wrappers' Jig," J. Amer. Med. Assoc,
1
SJ
(i9SS)- 1329-133037]
W. McGehee
Psychol., 2
38]
and
J.
E.
Gardner, "Music in a Complex Industrial Job," Personnel
(1949): 405-417-
H. C. Smith, "Music in Relation to Employee Attitudes, Piecework Production, and
Industrial Accidents," Appl. Psychol. Monog.,
39]
No. 14 (1947).
For a most optimistic report of British industrial music see L. Kaplan and R. Nettel,
"Music in Industry,"
Biol.
Hum.
Ajfairs,
London, 13 (1948): 129— 13
j.
For a discussion of
Muzak in getting music to industry see E. M. Werner, Work Music by
Muzak, N.Y., Muzak Corp., 1948. See also R. L. Cardinell, "Music in Industry," in
Music and Medicine, D. M. Schullian and M. Schoen, eds., N.Y., Schuman, 1948, 3^2-366.
the part played by
272
Epilog ue
IVl usic has been variously
called the
most mathematical of the
the purest, and the least universal. That
it is
highly mathematical
have already seen, particularly in the data of Chapter
in the book, how^ever, has there
arts,
In
2.
been the suggestion that
we
no place
a satisfactory
mathematical formula for forecasting musical taste or beauty has been
or
likely to
is
be discovered. Since there
is
no
invariant relationship
between musical stimuli and human responses,
toward the same stimuli change with the
since
attitudes
years, such a formula
be unthinkable. The mathematics of the Lydian
mode
would
has not been
altered over the years since Plato banned this arrangement of tones
as
harmful to man's character.
porary Western world
this
But to many people of the contem-
sequence has become the only "proper"
scale.
Music
nature.
is
pure in the sense that
Music
each listener
is
tells
it
only rarely copies the sounds of
no clear-cut story with universal meaning. Yet
trained to read local meanings into
what he
He recognizes a Wagnerian motive, a needed resolution,
hymn and thus sharesin the enjoyment of his associates.
ever, the very paucity of these local meanings
opportunity to implant in the music his
associations.
fantasy
Thus
this art
medium
own
which
hears.
or a church
It is,
gives
how-
him the
personal images and
serves as an important aid to his
life.
273
18
FSP
EPILOGUE
The
acceptability of any musical
Listener satiations gradually build
Sometimes the changes are
form grows, but
later diminishes.
up and eventually
lead to change.
in the direction of innovations, while at
other times they point back toward what was acceptable at an earlier
time.
If
the
new forms
differ too
achieve general acceptance.
rule and
A
apt at first to
is
major
must look
thesis
for
its
this
explanations far
It is
change
L at every
seem undesirable
developed in
to physical science.
markedly from the old they do not
book
more
a violation of
is
some
to the conservative.
the notion that music
is
often to social science than
granted that the very beginnings of music
are tied to man's physical surroundings, to the presence of instrument-
building materials,
and to the physics of simple
ratios.
Man's
psychophysiological potentialities also affect music's development.
But the
fact that the
music of one culture has gone through certain
phases that are not duplicated in another culture must be explained
largely
on the
basis of sociopsychological
and historical factors, not
Music's changes, like style changes
physical or physiological factors.
generally, are lawful, not in an absolutistic or metaphysical sense,
but in the
way
that other social
phenomena
This book has attempted to uncover a
are lawful.
number
psychological variables behind music change.
to
come many other
factors will
be
isolated.
described here should lead to greater, not
for
it
seems to be
a
fairly
274
it.
less,
doubt
in the years
Research of the sort
musical enjoyment,
general principle that the
understands the complexities of a
takes in
No
of the socio-
phenomenon
the
more
more man
delight he
APPENDIX
I
1 N Chapter 6
it
The Musical Taste
American
.
was noted that
of an
Elite'
1938 the members of the American
in
Musicological Society had been sent questionnaires through which
was hoped
in
a
1944 and
measure of their musical
still
later in 195^1 the
taste
might be obtained. Again
members
were interrogated. At the time of the
it
last
of this elite organization
data-gathering, the 37^
who
cooperated were given two questionnaires, one containing 11 £
names of composers born before 1870 and the other listing 249
born since 1870. There were two
tasks.
The
was for the
first
musicologist-respondent to check in each of the two questionnaires
the ten musicians he felt had
composed music most
vs^orthy to
be
called to the attention of his children and his lay contemporaries.
As
a
second task he was to consider
all
474 names and, with the same
criterion in mind, was to choose the top
The
first
of the tables below gives the £o
frequently chosen
among
second table gives the
lists.
Note
25".
i
o
i
the
who were
composers born since
selected
the most
1870.
most often from the combined
that 24 of the first table appear also in the second.
a finding gives
The
no support to the notion so commonly held
Such
that the
musically elite honor neither their contemporaries nor those recently
deceased.
i]
See P. R. Farnsworth, "The Musical Taste of an American Elite," Hinricbsen's Musical
Year Book, J (i^ ^2):
18-2
ii2— ii6.
THE MUSICAL TASTE OF AN AMERICAN ELITE
Composers Born Since
Rank Order
1870
Rank Order
29-5
Barber, S.
4S-S
Malipiero, G.
2
Bartok, B.
36
Martinu, B.
49
Bax, A.
20
Menotti, G.
12
Berg, A.
13
Milhaud, D.
43
Berlin,
I.
23
Piston,
11
Bloch, E.
27
Poulenc, F.
9
40
Britten, B.
6
Chavez, C.
10
Rachmaninov,
Copland, A.
4
24
M.
Reger, M.
25-5
Respighi, O.
8
32
Dohnanyi, E.
16
Falla,
14
Gershwin, G.
4S-5
Grainger, P.
M. de
4S-S
5
W.
Prokofiev, S.
Romberg,
S.
Schonberg, A.
W.
29-5
Griffes, C.
49
Schuman,
29-5
Hanson, H.
21
Scriabin, A.
Sessions, R.
2S-S
3
33-S
S.
Ravel,
Harris, R.
29-5
Hindemith, P.
15
Shostakovich, D.
Hoist, G.
49
Sowerby, L.
18
Honegger, A.
40
Ibert, J.
1
Stravinsky,
I.
45-5
Thompson, R.
42
Varese, E.
17
Ives,
37
Khachaturian, A.
33-5
Kodaly, Z.
19
40
Kreisler, F.
22
Walton,
35
Krenek, E.
38
Webern, A.
C.
7
Vaughan Williams,
Villa-Lobos, H.
W.
Eminent Composers of all Time
Rank Order
nk Order
88-5
Bach,
J.
2
Bach,
J. S.
59-5
Britten, B.
41
Bruckner, A.
71
Bach, K. P. E.
52
Buxtehude, D.
16
Bartok, B.
27
Byrd,
1
Beethoven, L.
72
Berg, A.
21
Berlioz,
55-5
Bizet,
66
Bloch, E.
3
276
C.
H.
G.
Brahms,
J.
100
W.
Chausson, E.
11
Chopin,
47
43
40
Copland, A.
6-S
F.
Corelli, A.
Couperin the Great
Debussy, C.
R,
THE MUSICAL TASTE OF AN AMERICAN ELITE
Rank Order
Rank Order
92
Donizetti, G.
10
Palestrina,
82-5
Dowland,
80
Pergolesi, G.
36
Dufay, G.
78
Dunstable,
38
100
J.
G.
74
Perotinus
88-5
Piston,
Dvorak, A.
34
Prokofiev, S.
Elgar, E.
45-5
Puccini, G.
76
Falla,
61-5
J.
M. de
W.
H.
20
Purcell,
Faure, G.
55-5
Rachmaninov,
97
Foster, S.
49
Rameau,
28-S
Franck, C.
26
Ravel,
S.
J.
M.
53-5
Frescobaldi, G.
85-5
Respighi, O.
45-5
Gabrieli, G.
44
Rimsky-Korsakov, N.
58
Gershwin, G.
59-5
Rossini, G.
85-5
Gesualdo, D.
74
Saint-Saens, C.
66
Gibbons, O.
69
Scarlatti,
A.
28-5
Gluck, C.
35
Scarlatti,
D.
84
Gounod, C.
22
Schonberg, A.
66
Gregory the Great
48
Grieg, E.
12
Schumann, R.
8
Handel, G.
31
Schutz, H.
100
Hanson, H.
94-5
Scriabin, A.
Haydn,
57
Shostakovich, D.
4
F. J.
6-5
Schubert, F.
23
Hindemith, P.
30
Sibelius, J.
80
Honegger, A.
82-5
Smetana, B.
77
Ives, C.
97
Sousa, J
33
Josquin des Pres
51
Strauss, J. Jr.
88-5
Landino, F.
18
Strauss, R.
25
Lasso,
13
Stravinsky,
32
Liszt, F.
92
Sullivan,
O.
74
Lully, J.
66
MacDowell,
42
38
I.
A.
94-5
Sweelinck,
19
Tchaikovsky, P.
Machaut, G.
92
Telemann, G.
Mahler, G.
50
Vaughan Williams, R,
97
Massenet,
14
Verdi, G.
17
Mendelssohn,
61-5
Victoria, T.
80
Menotti, G.
88-5
Villa-Lobos, H.
70
Milhaud, D.
38
Vivaldi, A.
15
Monteverdi, C.
24
Moussorgsky, M.
5
66
Mozart,
E.
J.
W.
Ockeghem,
F.
J.
53-5
Wagner, R.
Weber, C. M. von
63
Wolf, H.
9
J.
277
APPENDIX
2.
Glossary'
Skill
ability.
of any sort; relative importance of inheritance and
environment not considered
(cf. capacity, talent).
Ability to locate a pitch without the need
absolute or positive pitch.
of a reference tone; the allowable error
less
Signs indicating sharps,
accidental signs.
flats,
very slight, perhaps
flats,
double sharps, double
naturals.
arpeggio.
Tones of
atonality.
Absence of key
Throbbing
beats.
is
than lo cents.
a
chord played
in
in rapid succession.
music.
effect elicited
when two
tones very close together
in pitch are simultaneously sounded.
beta learning.
Negative practice, that
is,
the errors are deliberately
practiced.
cadence.
Melodic or harmonic figure which has come to have an
association with the ending of a phrase, a section, or
compo-
sition.
capacity.
cent.
* This
Basic potentiality; importance of heredity
Tonal span of
stressed.
200 of an octave.
glossary attempts to define psychological terms for the musician and musical terms
for the psychologist.
It is
of his craft described in
278
i/i
is
to be expected that the psychologist will prefer to see the terms
more
exact language, as will the musician
his.
GLOSSARY
chromesthesia
Visual image of hallucinatory intensity aroused by
.
some auditory stimulus
coefficient
(cf. synesthesia).
Measure of correspondence between two
of correlation.
sets
ofmeasurements; values vary from i-oo (perfect correspondence)
through zero to
—
i-oo (completely inverse relationship).
Logarithmic unit of intensity so chosen
decibel.
as to
be equal, under
certain conditions, to one just-noticeable difference in loudness.
Tone sometimes
difference tone.
pitch are
in
elicited
simultaneously
when two
sounded;
its
tones separated
frequency
is
the
difference of the frequencies of the other two.
double stopping
Fingering two strings of a bowed instrument at once
.
double vibration (d.v.).
a sound-giving
A
drone.
Frequency (number of cycles) with w^hich
body
is
vibrating.
tone held for the duration of a melody or
at least for a
considerable period of time.
as
though
who attends more to external events and
own attitudes and mental processes.
objects
Imagery so intense that the person behaves
eidetic imagerj.
he were directly perceiving the music.
A
extrovert.
person
than to his
factor analysis.
Method of
resolving a set of interrelated variables
or tests into a few "factors" which are regarded as being
the fundamental variables underlying the original complex of
variables.
Span of
fifth.
fourth.
7
semitones.
Span of g semitones.
fugalform.
A
round; each
galvanic skin response.
new
Change
voice chases the preceding one.
in the electrical resistance of the skin
whenever, during emotional
states, perspiration
is
produced on
the skin surfaces.
279
GLOSSARY
Change
goal gradient.
harmonics.
with distance to a goal.
Cf. overtones.
Music
homophonj.
idiot
in degree of motivation
in
which the voices move
who
Person of very low i.q.
savant.
in step, e.g.,
has
hymn.
above average
achievement in some specialized area.
Pitch span between
interval.
two notes played simultaneously or
successively.
augmented.
Perfect or major increased by a semitone.
diminished.
Perfect or minor decreased by a semitone.
Spans of
major.
semitones (second, third, sixth, or
2, 4, 9,
or
i, 3, 8,
or 10 semitones (second, third, sixth, or
1 1
seventh).
Spans of
minor.
seventh).
Span separating two melodies which are identical but
parallel.
in different registers.
perfect.
Spans of
g, 7,
or 12 semitones (fourth,
Person preoccupied with his
introvert.
own
fifth,
attitudes
or octave).
and mental
processes.
principle.
iso
Notion that
should match the
a patient's
mood
mood
and "mental tempo"
and tempo of the music.
Family of tones held together by their relation to a tonic from
kej.
which the key
named.
Lowest and principal note of
key-note.
leading tone.
up
is
a scale; the tonic.
Major seventh or subtonic, so-called because
it
leads
to the tonic.
leger lines.
Additional short lines added above or below the
notes than cannot be
accommodated on the
staff for
staff.
major.
chord.
Three simultaneously or successively played notes com-
prising intervals of a major third plus a
280
minor
third.
GLOSSARY
Cf. interval.
interval.
Cf. mode.
mode.
Span of
second.
2
semitones,
Span of 9 semitones.
sixth.
Span of
seventh.
1 1
semitones.
Span of 4 semitones.
third.
Concentration of time devoted to learning with
massed practice.
between successive practice
little interval
Series of successively
melody.
sounded tones
sessions.
felt to
possess internal
organization.
Scale step smaller than a semitone.
microtone.
minor.
Three simultaneously or successively played notes com-
chord.
prising intervals of a
minor third
Cf. mode,
mode.
Span of
second.
Span of
sixth.
Span of
third.
8
i
semitone.
semitones.
Span of 10 semitones.
seventh.
3
semitones.
Forerunner of the key;
mode.
plus a major third.
Cf. interval,
interval.
differs in that the
mode
possible
arrangements of scale steps,
semitone
steps, or 2, 1,2, 2, 2, 1,2 steps, etc.;
e.g.,
2, 2,
now
has several
1,2,
2,
2,1
only two:
major and minor.
modulation.
Transition of a melody from one key up or
down
to
another key.
monotone.
Person so weak in pitch sensitivity that he cannot
recognize or carry a tune.
noise.
octave.
Complex
of sounds in
which no
definite pitch can
be detected.
Span of 12 semitones.
281
GLOSSARY
Theme with
organum.
moving
overlearning
parallel to
other voices a fourth below or a
material can for the
Tone
overtone.
elicited
practice
first
beyond
the
trial
where
the
time be reproduced correctly.
by the vibration of some fraction of the
major vibrating body,
e.g., 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, etc.
Cf. overtone,
partial.
Unit of loudness in which the value
phon.
above
it.
Continuing
.
fifth
of decibels a tone of 1000 d.v.
when judged
is
is
equal to the
number
above the reference intensity
equal in loudness to the tone in question.
Applied to music in which several melodies are played
polyphony.
simultaneously.
poljtonality
Presence of several simultaneous keys in a musical
.
composition.
The carrying on of the tone from note
portamento.
gaps (voice and
Pragnanz, law
of.
bowed
to note without
instruments); half-staccato (piano).
Persons tend to perceive objects in the simplest
arrangement possible.
Pitch level.
register.
reliability.
is
Degree of self-consistency; extent to which the measure
uninfluenced by factors intrinsic to or associated with
retroactive inhibition.
something very
Impairment of learning by the
later learning of
similar.
Type of correlation
rho.
it.
coefficient obtained through the handling
of rank differences,
rhythm
objective.
polyrhjthm.
subjective.
Periodicity with one element regularly emphasized.
Complex of several simultaneously played rhythms.
Rhythm read into sheer periodicity or into weak
objective rhythm.
282
GLOSSARY
Series of tones arranged in order of pitch and
scale.
employed
as
the
accepted notes of some system.
The twelve-semitone
chromatic.
Seven-note scale in the
diatonic.
scale of
white and black notes.
major or minor mode.
Where chromatic steps are all equal
Where the ratios use only the primes
equally tempered.
just-intoned.
i
Compromise
mean-tone.
scale
some
with
,
in ratio.
3
and
^.
which
tempering
allowed for a degree of modulation,
Pythagorean.
whole-tone.
Where the
Where each
ratios use only the
step
is
primes
i
whole tone from
a
and
its
3.
nearest
neighbor.
score.
Sum
mean.
of
all
the scores divided by the
number
of cases.
Middle value.
median.
Most frequently occurring
modal.
score.
sensations.
Those
kinesthetic.
arising
from the stimulation of receptors
in
muscles, tendons, and joints.
Those
organic.
arising
from the stimulation of receptors
in the
internal organs.
Degree to which one can distinguish stimuli which
sensitivity.
very
sonance.
differ
slightly.
Qualitative
effects
due
to
progressive
("horizontal")
changes and fusions, e.g., vibrato.
sostenuto
pedal.
Pedal found mainly on American and Canadian
pianos which maintains raised dampers.
stroboscope.
Instrument for observing the successive phases of
a
periodic motion by means of a light periodically interrupted.
Cf. tonoscope.
syncopation.
Placing an accent
where there would normally be no
accent.
283
G
LOSSARY
Image of hallucinatory intensity in one sensory area
synesthesia.
aroused by
a stimulus
from some other sense modality.
Cf.
chromesthesia
Cf. true beat.
takt.
talent.
Usually taken to
tempo.
Rate of speed
mean high capability;
at
which
allegro.
Lively tempo.
andante.
Slow tempo.
heredity
a musical passage
is
emphasized.
moves.
Quick tempo.
presto.
tests.
Tests taken to measure
achievement.
what has been learned.
Tests used to forecast whether or not training in a
aptitude.
particular area will be profitable.
Inverse of sensitivity (as used in this book).
threshold.
Effect
timbre.
due to the constellation of
partial
tones present;
"vertical" quality.
Tones
tone clusters.
fist, flat
tone symbol.
elicited
by depressing the piano keys with the
of the hand, or with the forearm.
Tonal ratio with powers of
2
extracted.
Cf. key-note.
tonic.
Stroboscope which gives a visual picture of a vocal or
tonoscope.
instrumental tone.
tremolo.
Vibrato with abnormally wide pitch span; also used to
describe a rhythmic unit with three unaccented elements.
Rapid oscillation of two tones which are perceived
trill.
as
two
tones.
tritone.
true beat.
Span of
six semitones.
Pulsations
which underlie phrase rhythms irrespective of
time signatures or number of notes
284
in the phrase.
GLOSSARY
validity.
Extent to which a
test
is
measuring what
it
claims to be
measuring.
vibrato.
Periodic oscillations of the vocal or instrumental tone in
pitch, intensity, and
6' ^
sometimes
in quality; rate
is
approximately
per second.
whole learning.
Material to be learned
ning to end,
i.e., is
not broken
is
down
gone through from begininto parts
which are
to
be
learned separately.
28s
APPENDIX
3.
Key
to Reference Abbreviations
Acta Oto-laryngologica , Stockholm
Acta Oto-laryng
Acta Psychologica
Acta Psychol.
American Imago
Amer. Imago
American Journal of Mental Dejiciencj
Amer. J. Ment. Defic.
American Journal of Psjchiatrj
Amer. J. Psychiat.
American Journal of Psychology
Amer. J. Psychol.
American Journal of Sociology
Amer. J. Sociol.
American Psychologist
Amer. Psychol.
American Sociological Review
Amer. Sociol. Rev.
Annals of the
New
York Academy of Sciences
Annals, N.Y. Acad. Sc.
Applied Psychology Monographs
Appl. Psychol. Monog.
Archiv fur die Gesamte Phonetik
Arch. Ges. Phonet.
Archiv Jur die Gesamte Psychologic
Arch. Ges. Psychol.
Archiv Jur Musikforschung
Arch. Musikforsch.
Archiv Jiir Rassen- und Gesellschajts-
Arch. Rass.-
Biologie, Einschliesslich Rassen-
u.
Ges. -Biol.
und
Gesellschajts-Hygiene
Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry
Arch. Neur. and Psychiat.
Archives of Otolaryngology, Chicago
Arch. Otolarjngol.
Archives of Psychology
Arch. Psychol.
Australian Journal of Psychology
Austral. J. Psychol.
Beihefte zur Zeitschrijt Jiir Experi-
Beihefte z. Zsch.J.
mentelle und Angewandte Psychologic
286
Psychol.
Ang.
KEY TO REFERENCE ABBREVIATIONS
Bell Laboratories Record
Biology and
British
Human
Affairs,
Bell Lab. Rec.
London
Journal of Educational
Hum.
Biol.
Ajfairs
Educ. Psychol.
Brit. J.
Psychology
British
Journal of Psychology
British Journal
of Psychology, General
Brit. J. Psychol.
Brit. J. Psychol.,
Gen. Sec.
Brit. J. Psychol.,
Monog.
Section
British
Journal of Psychology
Monograph Supplement
British Journal oj Psychology, Statis-
Suppl.
Psychol., Stat. Sec.
Brit. J.
tical Section
Math. Biophysics
Bulletin of Mathematical Biophysics
Bull.
Character and Personality
Char, and Person.
Child Development
Child Devel.
Child Development Monographs
Child Devel. Monog.
Deutsche Zeitschrift Jiir Nervenheil-
Dtsch. Zsch.J. Nervenhk.
kunde
Dioptric Review and British Journal of
Diopt. Rev. and Brit. J.
Physiol. Opt.
Physiological Optics
Genetic Psychology
Monographs
Genet. Psychol.
Harvard Psychological Studies
Harvard
Human
Human
Biology
Human
Engineering Lahoratorj
Hum. Engng.
Technical Report
Indiana University Publications,
Humanity
Institute
Psychol. Stud.
Biol.
Lab., Tech.
Rep.
Indiana U. Publ., Humanity
Series
of Radio Engineers, Proceedings
Monog.
Ser.
Inst.
Radio Eng., Proc.
International Congress of Musicology
Int.
Congr. Musicol.
Internationale Zeitschrift Jiir Individual-
Int.
Zsch.J. Indiv. -Psychol.
Psjchologie
Journal of Abnormal and Social
J.
Abn. Soc. Psychol.
Psychology
287
KEY TO REFERENCE ABBREVIATIONS
Journal of the Acoustical Society of
J. Acoust. Soc.
Amer.
America
journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism
J. Aesth.
Journal oj the American Medical
J. Amer.
Med.
Assoc.
Association
journal of Applied Psychology
J. Appl. Psychol.
Journal of Clinical Psychology
J. Clin. Psychol.
Com p.
Journal of Comparative Psychology
J.
Journal of Educational Psychology
J. Educ. Psychol.
Journal of Educational Research
J. Educ. Res.
Journal of Experimental Education
J. Exp. Ed.
Journal
erf
Experimental Psychology
Journal of the Franklin
Psychol.
J. Exp. Psychol.
J. Franklin Inst.
Institute
Journal of General Psychology
J. Gen. Psychol.
Journal of Genetic Psychology
J. Genet. Psychol.
Journal of Gerontology
J. Gerontol.
Journal of Heredity
J. Hered.
Journal of Musicology
J. Musi col.
Journal of Nervous and Mental
J. Nerv.
Ment. Dis.
Disease
Journal of Psjchology
J. Psychol.
Journal de Psychologic Normale
et
J. Psychol.
Norm. Path.
Pathologique
Journal of the Royal Naval Medical
J. Royal
Nav. Med. Serv.
Service
Journal of Social Psychology
J. Soc. Psychol.
Kwartalnik Psychologiczny
Kwart. Psjchol.
Medical Research Laboratory
,
U.S.
Med.
Res. Lab.
Naval Submarine Base, New London
Monographs of
in
the Society Jor Research
Child Development
Music Educators fournal
288
Monog.
Soc. Res. Child
Devel.
Mus. Ed. J.
KEY TO REFERENCE ABBREVIATIONS
Music Educators^ National Conference,
Mus. Educ. Nat. Conf. Yearb.
Yearbook
Music Supervisors Journal
Mus. Superv. J.
Music Supervisors National Conference,
Mus. Superv. Nat. Conf.
Yearbook
Yearb.
Music Teachers National Association,
Proceedings
Proc.
Musical Quarterly
Office
of
Mus. Teach. Nat. Assoc.
Music. Quart.
Scientific Research
and
OSRD
Report
Development, Report
Veabodj Bulletin
Peabody Bull.
Research Studies in Music, Peabody
Peabody Cons. Mus. Res.
Conservatorj oj Music
Stud.
Pedagogical Seminary
Ped. Sem.
Perceptual and Motor Skills
Percep. Mot. Skills
Personnel Psychology
Personnel Psychol.
Philologisch-historische Klasse,
Phil. -hist. Klasse Sitzungs-
Sitzungsberichte
berichte
Pillsbury Foundation Studies
Pillsbury Found. Stud.
Popular Science Monthly
Pop. Sci. Month.
Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Science
Psychiatric, Neurologic,
and Medizinische
Psychologic, Leipzig
Proc. la. Acad. Sci.
Psychiat. Neurol.
Med.
Psychol.
Psychiatry
Psychiat.
Psychoanalytic Quarterly
Psychoanal. Quart.
Psychoanalytic Review
Psy choanal. Rev.
Psychological Bulletin
Psychol. Bull.
Psychological Monographs
Psychol.
Psychological Record
Psychol. Rec.
Psychological Review
Psychol. Rev.
Psychologische Rundschau
Psychol. Rundschau
Public Health Reports, Washington
Publ. Hlth. Rep.
Monog.
289
19
KEY TO REFERENCE ABBREVIATIONS
Public Opinion Quarterly
Publ. Opin. Quart.
Revue Internationale de Philosophic
Rev. Intern. Phil.
Sarah Lawrence Studies
Sarah Lawrence Stud.
School Musician
Sch. Mus.
School and Society
Sch.
Schweizerische Zeitschrijt Jiir Psychologie
Schweiz. Z. Psychol. Anwende.
und
ihre
Scientijic
and
Soc.
Anwendungen
Monthly
Sci.
Month.
Smith College Studies in Social Work
Smith Coll. Stud. Soc. Wk.
Social Forces
Soc. Forces
Teachers College Contributions to
Teach. Coll. Contrib. Educ.
Education
Teachers College Record
Teach. Coll. Rec.
Tohoku Psychologica Folia
Tohoku Psychol. Folia
University of Iowa Studies, Studies in
U. ojla. Stud. Child WelJ.
Child Welfare
University of Iowa Studies, Studies in the
U. of
la. Stud. Psjchol.
Mus.
Psychology of Music
University of Oregon Publication
Zeitschrijt Jiir Experimentelle
und
U. of Oregon Publ.
Zsch.J. Ang. Psjchol.
Angewandte Psychologie
Zeitschrijt JUr Laryngologie, Rhinologie, Otologic,
Zsch.J. Larjngol.
und ihre Grenzgebiete
Zeitschrijt Jiir Pddagogischc Psychologic
Zeitschrijt Jiir Psychologic
Zsch. Padg. Psychol.
und Physiologic Zsch.J. Psychol.
der Sinncsorgane
Zeitschrijt Jiir Psychotherapie
und
Medizinischc Psychologie
Zentralblatt Jiir die gesamte Neurologic
und Psychiatric
Zentralblatt Jiir Physiologic
290
Zsch.J. Psychother. Med.
Psychol.
Zentralbl. ges. Neurol, u.
Psychiat.
Zentralbl.
f.
Phjsiol.
Subject Index
(See also entries in Glossary beginning on page 280.)
ability, musical, see
beta learning, 202
musical ability
10—2
absolute pitch, 5^9—61, 78, 87, 231
biographies, musical,
accidentals, 20, 29
"blues" singers, 89—90
achievement, effects of music on, 264—270
bodily metabolism, music and, 2j^
body structures, and musical ability, 188—
music and, 264—26^
adaptation, in consonance perception, 48
adjectives, mood, 96-99, 102
Adler Music Appreciation Tests, 162
Aeolian Corporation, The, 69
activity,
aesthetics, experimental,
2
193
Boston Symphony Orchestra,
13^:.
African drums, rhythmic patterns
in,
iio,
program choices
133, 167—168
of,
Test, 161
73,
cadence
119
test,
164
age, and hearing ability,
Caprice Viennois, Kreisler, 89
Aliferis
cent, in scale nneasurement, 2^, 32
6^
Music Achievement Test, 229
American Musicological Society, 121, 123,
127—128, ly
aptitude tests, unstandardized,
see also
art, vs.
centitone, 2^
child prodigies, 198
2 3
1-2
3
j
musical aptitude tests
psychoneuroses, 209, 213
atonal music, 29,
children, musical ability in, 197
Chinese melodies,
finality in,
Chinese music, mistunings
4^—46
chordal structure, iio
attention and learning, principles of, ^7—58
chord-analysis test, 246
Ave Maria, Schubert, 9j
Bach family, 187
bagpipes, timbre of, 6^
baroque organ, 6^
basic abilities, 231-233
baton movements, £
Beach Standardization Music Tests, 226
Mamma, 90
beat, true, 4-5^
beat-instants,
and baton movements, ^-6
beauty, defined, 142
Seashore's rule of, 67
in,
43
120
chord recognition, 232
chromatic
Beale Street
130,
141
Bower Musical Moods
7—13
1
90
scale,
chromesthesia, 91-93
Cincinnati College of Music, 240
Clair de Lune, Debussy,
clarinet,
timbre
of,
96
64-65-
"classical music,"
layman's reaction to,
climatic
musical taste and,
cycles,
1
146-
147
college aptitudes, "critical levels" of,
1
color-tone linkage, 90-93
common
sense, unreliability of,
communication, desire
for,
3
84—85
291
19-2
SUBJECT INDEX
composers,
ranking
all-time,
of,
276-
277
modulation and, 32
biographical studies of, 210
born since 1870, ranking of, 276
eminence rankings of, 1 21-126, 276-
knowledge
of,
originality of,
i
expectancies, and tonalities, 45
factory work, music and,
211
of,
falling inflection,
Minor,
J. S.
Farnum Music Notation
Bach,
i
conductors, baton performances
^-6
264
and drum, 65
fatigue,
fife
fifth, in finality effect,
Fifth
9—10, 66
Fifth
interval and, 41
flute,
1
i
Dictionarj of Philosophy, 116
fusion, theory of, 48
dissonance, 47-48
dodecuple, 29, 32
dominant, 41, 76
Don Giovanni, Mozart, 262
Ganda
eight-string harp, 27
Gaston Test of Musicality, 161
German music, 141
Gernet Music Preference Test, 161
Doppelganger, Schubert, 107
Dorian mode, 86
bass,
64
French music, 141
French pitch,
frequency, law of, 57
frequency span, 38
diatonic scale, 18, 31
drone
36
flute tones, purity of,
decitone, 2^
deviation, artistic, 142
tests,
of thirds and sevenths, 89
flatting,
deafness, age and, 65, 78
Drake
41
Symphonj, Beethoven, 135, 148
Sjmphonj, Dvorak, 89
finality effects, 51
dance rhythms, unit groups in, 72
dance tempo, 69
Daphnis and Chloe, Ravel, 103
2
Test, 229
i
of,
consonance and dissonance, 47-^:1
creative process, 209—212, 215'
rationalization of,
267-268
42
male, 65
falsetto,
136-138
violins,
7—13
factor analysis, in musical ability, 180
210
space allocations for, in music histories,
D
in,
31-136
productive years
Cremona
Eroica Symphonj, Beethoven, 70, iio
experimental aesthetics, research
277
Concerto in
equal temperament, 25, 31, 87
as frame of reference, 28
Gestalt psychoanalysis, 209
243-244
76—79
grammar, musical language and, 85, 109
Gramophone Shop
Duo-Art player piano, 69
Music,
Guide
to
I
Encyclopedia
of Recorded
70
Recorded Music, A, 170
Ear Tests in Harmony, 229
Eastman
Conservatory
of
Music,
240
eminence, musical, and musical
taste,
11,
i
128
year of birth and, 127, 276-277
eminence rankings, 121 — 126, 276—277
changes in, 125—128
emphasis, law
of,
taste and,
epileptic attacks, 257
292
i
163, 181
high fidelity, and musical tastes, 150
57
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 171
enjoyment, musical
20-
harmonic sensitivity, test of, 145
harmonic series, 3 i
harmony, melody and, 75-77
in musical meaning, 99
stress on, in Western music, 21
Harvard Laboratory of Social Relations, o i
Hevner-Landsbury
discrimination
test,
i
29-1 31
Hindu
scale, 30
Home, Sweet Home, 95
SUBJECT INDEX
homophony, 77, 79
"hot jazz," 73-74
keyboard practice, 201
key-color associations, 91
see also color-tone linkage
Hutchinson Music Tests, 228
"hymnometer," 232
key-effects,
alleged,
and music language,
86-87
imagery, and musical abihty, 19^—196
and musical training, 204, 214
industrial music,
267-269
keyless music,
see
atonal music
keynote, 76, 103
defined, 41
inflection, falling, in finality effects, 42
kinesthetic imagery, 204
inhibition, retroactive, 203
Klangfarbe, 90
"instinctive" rhythm,
4
intelligence, and musical ability,
intensity,
183-184
and rhythm, 70—71
and Musi-
International Cyclopedia of Music
127
36-ji
apparent pitch of, 38-40
consonance and dissonance
cians,
interval,
in,
47-50
Knuth Achievement Tests in Music, 228
Kwalwasser Music Information and Appreciation Test, 165
Kwalwasser Music Talent Tests, 242
Kwalwasser-Dykema Test of Melodic Taste,
131, 145, 159-160, 240-242
Kwalwasser-Ruch Test of Music Accom-
plishment, 227
distinctive quality of, 36
falling inflection in,
finality effects
major-minor
language aspects of music, 84—1
42
and, 41
adjective
effects and,
i
major and minor scales, 88-89
music as language of emotions,
3
232
of, 37,
simultaneous, 47-50
size of,
and
finality effects,
stability of,
tonality and,
42
1
45-46
interval change, 32
learning, attention and,
interval distortion, 26
interval preference, loudness and, 62
57—58
function of, 58
musical, 199—203
learning efficiency, 200
44
interval tolerance, 36
L'Histoire du Soldat, Stravinsky, 103
interval uniqueness, 50
Liberia,
introvert-extrovert types,
Iowa, University of,
1
2
composers, 183
music, 148
i
3
5
melody and, 61—64
unit of, 63-64
rhythm and, 71, 73-74
loudness control, in musical instruments,
JuUiard School of Music, 234
just intonation, scale of, 21, 3
culture in, 107
loudness, 17, 89
and interval preference, 62
Javanese scale, 25—26
jazz,
Loma Negro
Lipps-Meyer law, 42, 44
listening power, test of, 161
London Philharmonic Orchestra,
94
I.Q., of great
Italian
93—
95
music as universal language, 106-108
psychoanalytic symbolism in, 08-1 10
"large" and "small," vs. major-minor, 40
26-27
interval resolutions,
2
1
95-99
color-tone linkage, 90—93
expression of tensions and, 102-106
and musical meaning, 10
recognition
for classifying,
alleged key effects, 86-87
40
melody hunting and, 40
preferences for,
lists
1
,
43
62-63
loudness losses, age and, 65-66
Keston Music Preference Test, 1 6
Keston Music Recognition Test, 161
Lundin Tests, 245—246
Lydian mode, 86
293
SUBJECT INDEX
"magnet tone," 41
major chord, three positions of, 8 8
major-minor effect, 40, £i, 109
major-minor modes, 88-90
major mode, "happy" nature of, 89—90,
major scale, 29
major sixth, stability of, 36
marijuana,
minor seventh, dissonance
and
"feminine"
1
10
need
Mohler
23—24
for,
Scales for
Measuring Judgment of
Orchestral Music, 162
composers,
monotones, human, 3-4
mood-adjectives, 96—99, 102—105
mood
108-109
meaning, in musical connmunication, 8^-86
mean-tone temperament, 24
Measure of Tonal Memory, £j
measurement of musical ability, 226-249
Drake tests, 243-244
Kwalwasser-Dykema tests, 240—242
Kwalwasser Music Talent Tests, 242-243
Lundin tests, 245-246
Seashore aptitude tests, 235-240
Strong Vocational Interest Test, 247
Tilson-Gretsch Test, 237
music, 94
Moravian music, 30
motor activity, rhythm and, 71
motor skills, and musical ability, 185
music, adjectives for classifying, 95-99
applications of, to therapy and industry,
254-270
chromesthetic behavior
91—93
in,
"classical" vs. "popular,"
1
144—146
cultural derivations,
distracting effects, 266
early history of,
231-23^
verbal and nonverbal skills, 226-231
Whistler-Thorpe test, 244-245
Wing standardized tests, 246-247
unstandardized aptitude
tests,
Measures of Consonance, 130
melodic taste, test of, 131, 145, 160
melody, 55-79
46
on achievement, 264-270
factor analysis in, 99-102
effect of,
grammar
of, 85
Grecian modes, 86
language aspects
of,
84-1
1
2
language of emotions, 93-95
love of, 143-144
as
mathematical
defined, ££
harmony and,
as
75—77
loudness and, 61—64
"meaning"
"microscopic," ^6
noise and, 67—69
psychological approach to, 1-14
art,
273
effects of, 86
psychoanalytic symbolism in, 108
physiological changes
pitch and, 58-61, 78
wrought by, 254-
258
rhythm and, 70—74
sonance and, 66—67
tempo and, 69—70
timbre and, 64—66
melody hunting, 40, 50
"purity" of, 273
memory,
sexual symbolism of, 108
reading
261
as socializing agent,
29,
In-
variables that give
88-89
"sadness" of, 90,
meaning
to,
99-102
musical ability, academic intelligence and,
ventory, 191
minor mode,
Personality
260—261
sound patterns in, 17
tone elements in, 17-18
as universal language, 106-108
millitone, 25
Multiphasic
205—206
260
and sense of achievement and prestige,
musical, 231, 244, 265-267
Minnesota
of,
rest and,
mental therapy, music in, 250-264
metabolism, effect of music on, 2^5
microtone, 29, 32
294
47
modality, in musical meaning, 99
modulation, in equal temperament, 32
3
"masculine"
of,
mistakes, "practising" of, 202
1
10
183
basic,
230-233
SUBJECT INDEX
training and, 147
whimsical or absolute nature
musical ability (cont.)
and body structures, 188-193
of,
117-
120
children and, 197
creativity and, 207—212
Music Journal, 247
178-179
development of, 196-199
and family lines, 187
Freudian view of, 194-1 9 j
generality of, 179-182
inheritance of, 184-187
imagery as source of, 19^-196
Jungian view of, 193-194
measurement of, see measurement of
defined,
musicologists, eminence ranks of, 126
"musicopoeia," 261
music
159-165
measurement of musical
tests,
see also
ability;
musical aptitude tests
music therapy, list of compositions favored
for, 202-263
present state
258-259
of,
Muzak Corporation, 269
musical ability
nature
178-21^
of,
and other
national anthem,
182
arts,
"natural" scale,
methods and, 199-203
training problems, 204-206
musical aptitude tests, 11, 226-249
future of, 248-249
see also measurement of musical ability
training
musical capacities, innate,
i
taste,
boredom
culture in
Nelson Silent Reading Test, 267
New
York Herald Tribune,
73
i
New York Philharmonic Orchestra, 135,141
New York Symphony Orchestra, 141
D
Chopin, 73
Flat,
noise, defined, 68
nomenclature
of,
142-152
cultural derivation of, 119
1
of, 3
Loma Negro
Liberia,
melody and, 67—69
and, 173—174
and conditioners
defined,
see also
Nocturne in
auditory tests for, 15^9-16^
climatic cycles and, 146
criteria
Negroes, tonal sensitivity
Ninth Sjmphonj, Beethoven, 135
i
musical learning, 199-203
musical
3
i
Nazi music, 10— 1
racial characteristics and, 188
"musical ear,"
3
difficulties,
70
nonrepetitive work, music and, 268
nonverbal musical
skills, tests of,
230-231
16
eminence of composer and, 120—128
enjoyment and 1 2 9- 1 3 i
"obe-imeter," 232
fluctuations in,
octave pattern, 20
,
34
individual and group differences
1
in,
i
38-
octave, 18-20
opera, musical taste
in,
142
orchestral color, and musical meaning, 102
142
knowledge of composers and, 131-136
of, 158-174
nature of,
16-153
orchestral programs and, 167-168
paper-and-pencil tests for, 165-167
organum, 76—79
polling of, 167
Oriental
measures
1
Oregon Music Discrimination
"beating" effects in, 68
electric, 68
and record broadcasts, 168—169
music,
lack
Western tones
scholarly texts on, 170—173
overtone,
space allocated to composers and, 136—
Oxford Companion
138
state creation
of,
Pacific
test for, 131,
145
147
Tests, 163
organ, baroque, 65
Gas
3
of
in,
sensitivity
for
45
1
&
to
Music, 127
Electric
Company
broadcasts,
134, 168—170
^95
SUBJECT INDEX
past,
reverence for, 126-128
prime numbers,
Peabody Conservatory of Music, 233
pedals, proper use of, 63
Peer Gynt Suite, Grieg, 89
pentatonic scale, 29, 32
Philadelphia Orchestra, 130, 141
1
10
psychological research, causal function in,
9—10
Philharmonic pitch, 17
phon, loudness unit, 63—64
listing,
1 1
Providence Inventory Test in Music, 228
psychic residua, in musical ability, 193
psychoanalytic symbolism, music and, 108-
Pastoral Symphony, Beethoven, 87, iio
phonograph
scale of, 22
taboo against, in music ratios,
pastoral music, 87
descriptive function in, 7—8
forecasting function, 7, 10— ii
musical taste and, 1^0—
Psychology oj a Musical Prodigy, 232
psychomusical investigators, limitations
physical therapy, music in, 2^9
see also
music therapy
psychoneurosis,
physiological changes, music and, 25-4—258
phonograph records, music
tests and,
1
59-
pure tones, 5, 78
Pythagorean scale, 21, 26, 31
piano lessons, beginning age for, 197
piano techniques, ability in, 185
quale, distinctive, of intervals, 36
quarter-note, tyranny of, 79
quarter-tone organ, 232
pitch, absolute, see absolute pitch
of intervals, 38
and major-minor modes, 89
and musical meaning, 100
quarter-tone scale, 30, 32
periodic changes
racial assessments, in
in, 8
Philharmonic, 17
musical ability, 188-
189
racism, musical, 120
233
pitch-deafness, 257
radio listening, musical tastes and,
pitch discrimination, 27
see also absolute pitch
range, and musical meaning,
pitch level,
polyrhythm
recordings, broadcasting of, 168
record
in, 6
studies,
research,
psychological,
resolution, of intervals,
composers
of,
psychological
44
1
resonance areas, in instruments, 66
"restless" or unresolved effects,
2," in finality effects,
keyboard, mass
vs.
43
distributed,
retroactive inhibition, 203
rhythm, defined, 70
precocity, 211, 215
melody and, 70-74
motor activity and,
primacy, law
"subjective," 73
201
of,
see
see also finality effects
i
positive pitch, 59
practice,
169-170
research
25
"popular music," layman's reaction to,
"power of
listings,
rehearing, and musical taste, 149
repetitive work, music and, 267
75
polyrhythms, 63-64, 79
polytonal music, 29, 46
classics,
57
51
of, 57
Record Book, The, 170
polymodality, 46
polyphony, 77
popular
1
recency, law
player piano, 69, 162
in
49-1
00-101
measurement, units of, 25
reading achievement, music and, 265—267
pitch wobble, 8
loudness differences
1
ratio
melody and, 58-61
pitch sensitivity, training and, 186
296
209, 213
vs. art,
psychotic, music therapy for, 259, 262
pulse rate, music beat and, 1 19
piano, loudness control in, 62-63
162
relative,
of,
6-7
71
44
SUBJECT INDEX
rhythm (cont.)
tempo and, 79
Stanford University Psychological Laboratory, 58-59, 96, 130, 244,
unit groups in, 72
rhythm discrimination, 232, 241-244
rhythmic ability, forecasting
"rhythmometer," 232, 234
rhythm preferences, 14^
Roth Quartet,
Rubin-Rabson
5
study,
of,
Strong Vocational Interest Test, 247
test, 227
subdominant, in finality effects, 41
243
Strouse music
sublimation, in musical ability, 195
in D Minor, Franck, 96
199-201
Symphony
symphony
minor
sadness, and
scale,
88—90
130
173
San Francisco City College, 129
synesthesia, 9
scale, diatonic, see diatonic scale
taste, musical, see
tempering, of intervals, 20
pentatonic, 29
psychological considerations of,
i
3
2 2
18—20
Power
in Music,
161
Seashore battery of music measures, 193
23^-237
239-240
Seashore Measures of Musical Talent, 236
1939 edition, 237—240
original,
validity of,
semitone, 25, 30
semitone steps, 20
variation in, 9
tensions, expression of,
Test of Musical Taste, 165
see also musical taste, measures of
therapy, music applications to, 254—270
music therapy
see also
237
sexual symbolism, of music, 108
Siamese chord, 89
Siamese scale, 25—26
timbre, 17, 78, 102
color and, 90
defined,
64
melody and, 64-66
timbre discrimination, 231
time signatures, "instinctive" rhythm
Siegfried motive, 106
205
as criterion
of consonance, 47
sonance, 78
melody and, 66
in,
4
tonal abilities, 185
musical ability
see also
tonal imagery, test for,
1
tonal impurities, 78
of,
64
physiological
tonal interval,
experiments
tonality,
see
interval
45—46
in atonal music,
by, 25^
space allotments, for composers, 136—138,
tonal
tonal
172
spans, absolute size of,
102—106
Test of Attitude toward Music, 165
Test for Musical Concepts, 163
Sense of Consonance Test, 49
Union,
of
Tilson-Gretsch Test for Musical Aptitude,
Seventh Symphony, Beethoven, iio
Soviet
meaning
melody and, 69—70
rhythm and, 79
tempo preferences, 145
Schultz Test of Listening
song "plugging," 149
soprano voices, purity
in
and major and minor modes, 89
Schelowo, Bloch, 103
smoothness,
of,
music, 99
types of, 17-32
sight reading,
importance
tempo,
scale changes, tolerance for, 32
scales, ancient,
musical taste
temperament, mean-tone, 24
2
scale of nature,
composer preferences
players,
of,
San Francisco Chronicle,
of just intonation,
264-265
stimulus configuration, 58
Stradivarius violin, 10
1
46
memory, 233
movement, measurement
test of,
of,
160
131
297
SUBJECT INDEX
of,
variables,
tone-word method, 61
37-38
and voice,
defined,
violin
MacDowell, 73
general problems
199-203
special problems of, 204—206
tremolo, defined, 37—38
trill, defined, 37-38
Tristan and Isolde, Wagner, 107
methods,
tritones, identification of, 37
4—^
see
pitch
typing, music and,
26^-267
5,
8
of well-known singers, 8
vibrato rate,
Tragic Sonata,
true pitch,
and musical meaning, 99—102
vibrato, 67, 78, 142
Torgerson-Fahnestock Music Test, 227
tragic music, 87
true beat,
toward,
verbal knowledge, tests of, 226-229
1
tonic, defined, 41
training
tendency
39
tones, duration of, 17
loudness
movement,
upward
tonal pattern, orientation of, 39
tone, pure vs. impure, g
tone color, 1 1 o
i
of,
Wagnerian symbolism, io6
war music, 148
weather, and musical
taste, 146—147
Western music, equal temperament in, 2j
stress on harmony in, 21
Whistler-Thorpe
Musical
244-245
whole-tone scale,
29, 32
Wing
Ability
Test,
Standardized Tests of Musical
Intelli-
gence, 246—247
unison singing, 75-76
University of Minnesota,
worker morale, music and, 268-270
i
30
Xerxes,
298
Handel, 89
Name
Adler, A.,
M.
Adler,
Bauer, E., 218
219
14,
2
Baumgarten,
17
J.,
Agnew, M., 220
Ainlay, G. W., 271
Aizawa, M.,
£g
i
Alchin, 40, ^2
Aldrich, C. K., 14
Alexander,
Aliferis, J.,
C,
1
1
Sir
109,
87,
123,
124,
30,
132,
260, 271
Bunch, C. C., 82
29,
1
Benham,
Areola, Pepito, 231
Berlin, Irving, i2j, 262
Aristoxenus, 20
Berlioz, Hector, 141, 196
Arnheim, R., 11^
Bienstock,
Jr.,
Berg,
271,
262
Atwell,
Avent,
E., 208,
S.
J.
E., 249
F.,
197,
I
5-6,
24,
I
W.
Campbell,
2^0
V.
D.,
80,
37, 141
,
Barlow,
J.,
6j, 109,
Bjorksten,
Case, Anna, 95
26,
Block, H. A., 83, 103
I
29,
148, 168, 169,
81
W.
J.,
211, 225-
T., ^, 14,
82, 204, 223
Bartok, Bela, 122, 263
Cattell,
Bodkin, M., 220
J.
McKeen,
Cattell, R. B., 162,
Bouvvsma, O. K., 113
Cazden, N., 49, 54
Chaliapin, Feodor, 8
Bower,
L. B., 175^, 181, 216,
122, 123,
I
3°,
169
I
I
24,
33-" 34,
171,
177
Borodin, Alexander, 262
220
Brahms, Johannes,
272
Bartholomew,
G., 112
Carmichael, Hoagy, 125
Caruso, Enrico, 8
1
171, 183, 262, 263
Bachem, A., 61,
Bahle, J., 224
I.
Capurso, A., 113, 217
Cardinell, R. L., 272
Bizet, Georges, 262
1
130- 132, 133-134, 13?,
I
W. H., 249
Buxtehude, Dietrich, 16
Butterfield,
217,
113
Bach, Johann Sebastian,
119, 123,
T., 25-0
Burton, R. V., 219
Birkhoff, G. D., 79
16, 20, 49,
S.
Burt, Cyril, 80
221
Bingham,
220
Burns,
224
A., 11^
I.
Billroth, T., 233,
S.,
Brown, L. M., 262, 271
Brown, M. E., 2j2
Brown, R. W., 114, 197,
182, 262, 263
1
133-134, 13s, 137, 141,
j,
Brighouse, G., 2j6, 270
148, 1^4, 168, 169, 171
26,
Anderson, Jean C, 17^
Antheil, George, 263
Antrim, D. K., 216
Arrington, G. E.,
56,
Brelet, G., 83
221, 222, 223
Bruckner, Anton, 117, 263
Bugg, E. G., J4
1
108,
M., 81
Britten, Benjamin, 122
G., 80
J.
Thomas, 70
Beethoven, Ludwig van,
70,
M.,
L.
Beebe-Center,
249
I.
Brammer,
Breithaupt, R., 218
Allen, R. D., 249
Altshuler,
Braine, R., 218
216
F.,
Beach, F. A., 249
Bean, K. L., 205-, 220, 223
Becker, H. S., 208, 224
Beecham,
216
Index
Chandler, A. R.,
^6,
I
26,
HI,
109,
I
29,
168,
1
1
17^
i'
Charney, D., 2^2
Cheslock, L., I
5^
Chien Lohtze, 29
Chinn, H. A., 50
i
299
NAME INDEX
Chopin,
109,
Frederic,
I
24,
72,
73,
26, 129, 132,
I
262
M., 219
East, E.
Thomas
Edison,
Christiansen, H., 217
Edmunds,
Cochran, M., 197, 221
Colby, M. G., 221
Connette, E., 217
Copland, Aaron, 122, 262
Eggen,
Corso,
Ehrsam, E., 216
J. F.,
i^,
5^3
Frances, R., 80
Eberly, L. E., 222
E.
Franck, Cesar, 96, 263
A., 94,
i
13
M., 37, 52
J. B., 83, 1^7
Ehrenzweig, Anton, 209—210,
Frankenstein,
Alfred,
1^4, 173
Franklin, E., 53,
Courtis, S. A., 160, 17^
Einstein, Albert, 1^2
Cowan, M., 82
Eisenberg, P., ijo, 156
Friend, R. S., 217
Cowell, Henry, 68, 73, 196,
221, 224
Cowles, J. T., 107, 115^
Eitz, Karl, 81
Frischeisen-Kohler,
Cox, C, 216
Crews, A., 272
Critchley, M., 270
Dannenbaum,
Dashiell,
Debussy, Claude, 29, 96, 109,
123,1 26, I 29, I 30, I 39,
168, 2^6, 262-263
De
14
M. W.,
Fuller,
W., 113
Galton, Sir Francis, 19^
Gardner,
English, H. B., 115-
Gardner, P. A.,
Esman, A. H., 220
Garrison, K.
Gatewood,
R.,
35-,
34,
Gaw,
E. L., 9^, 112
E. A., 251, 236
Gei^er, T.,
114, 115, IJ2, 1^4, iss,
Geiringer, K.,
57,
I
j6
197, 221
Gaston, E., 174
Gaston, T., 15-6
Fahestock, E., 249
Fairbanks, G., 82
I
i
C,
^2, ^3, 81, 82, 83, 112,
Denny, M. R., 267, 272
Densmore, F., 270
148, 272
J. E.,
113
J.,
15^^
81
Engle, T. L., 271
Dennis, Wayne, 211, 22
Delay,
I.,
Galli-Curci, Amelita, 8, 179
L. E., j6, 80
Farnsworth, P.
Grazia, S., 114
2
Froschels, E., 197, 221
53
D. S., 2^6, 270
Elman, Mischa, 66
Elton,
1^6
J. F.,
220,
Ellis,
Emerson,
A., 2^j, 270
I.,
216,
181,
2(^o
Fredrich, F., 223
Freeburne, C. M., 272
Freud, Sigmund,
194—19^,
224
Ehrlich, S., 83
Elkus, A.
129,
76, 177, 2 19, 220,
Gernet,
S.
i
£
2
17
K., 175
Farnum,
Gershwin, George, i2j, 140,
15^4, 262
Fay, P. J., 2^2
Fay, R. V., 114
Gigli,
Fendrick, P., 266, 272
Gilbert, G. M., 217,2 19, 25-3
Doig, D., 221, 224
Fine, H., 2^^^,
Gildersleeve, G., 227, 249
Downey,
Fischer, E., 218
223, 2JI, 2J2, 25^3, 272
S. E., 248, 2^0
D'Indy, Vincent, 141
Diserens,
C. M.,
25^,
264,
270, 271
Disney, Walt,
1
J. E.,
1
i
£
£y
Drager, H. H., 34
Drake, R. M., 164, 176,
21^^,
202, 223
Dunlevy, E. C, 2^2
Dutton, C. E., 115^
Dvorak, Anton, 89
P.
W.,
264
17^, 2^3
O. W.,
Easeley, E., i^
300
15-4
8
Fleischer, K., 221
Gilman, B. J., 174
Gilman, L., 271
Fleischer, M., 272
Girard,
i
^7
J., 271
Glazunov, Aleksandr, 141
Fletcher, H., 81
Fokker, A. D., 3^
Foley,
J. P., Jr.,
1^6,
2
9, 15,
14^,
19
Folgmann, E. E., 130, 154
Forbes, H. B., 221
Forbes, H. S., 221
Ford, A., 2^2
Foster, Stephen, i2y, 129
Eagleson,
Beniamino,
Gilliland, A. R., 1^7
Fisher, R. L., 113,
253
Dreher, R. E., 112, 256, 270
Drexler, E. N., 217
Dunlap, K., ^2, ^4, 72, 83,
Dykema,
Giese, F., 14
Foster,
W.
J.,
Fraisse, P., 83
i
54
Gordon, Kate, 83
Gounod, Charles Francis, 196
Graf, Max, 209, 224
Graf, S., 218
Grandprey, M., 221
Granneberg, R., 154
Greene, P. C, 28, 34
Gregory the Great, Pope
33
Gretsch, Fred, 2^2
St.,
NAME INDEX
Grieg, Edvard, 89
Higginson,
Grimm, W., 216
Hildum, D.
Grimmett,
Hill,
O., 220
J.
Grofe, F., 262
Gros, R. R.,
I
W.
C,
Keston, M.
14
1
J. P., 80, 22^
Gundlach, R., 99-101, 107,
Hitler, Adolf, 10
114
Gunther,
Hollingworth, L.
Hodgson, Walter, 14
M.
Hollinshead,
^7, 17^,
S.,
M., 253
Knapp, G. E., i ^7
Knuth, W. E., 249
Koch, H., 217
Kock, W. E., i^
Kichmann, R., 221
Kleist,
Hindemith, Paul, 122
218
i
Keys, N., 218, 234, 2 ji
Khachaturian, Avram, 262
Hillbrand, E. K., 249
Hilton, R. A., 80
Guilford,
j6,
i
J.,
191, 219, 220
G., 82
Hillard, B., 263, 271
^^
Gross, B., 220, 224
Grunewald, M., 270
S.,
Kern, Jerome, 12^, 262
H., 11^
J.
216, 217
R., ig
W.,
Holmes,
J.
Haba, 30
Haecker, V., 217, 233, 2^0
Haggin, B. H., 170, 176
Homer,
8
Hall, D., 170
Himgerland, Helmut, 174
Hurley, J. S., 81
Husband, R. W., 264, 271
Kovacs,
Friedrich,
Hutchinson, H. E., 249
Hutchison, W. O., 224
126,
Huygens, Christiaan, 35
Kries, J. von, 233, 2^0
Krone, M. T., 250
Kruger, F., 47, ^3
Krugman, H. E., 1^7
Kwalwasser, J., 130, i6(^, 175,
176, 219, 249, 2JI, 253
Hall, J.
Haller,
C,
256, 272
M. W.,
Hampton,
221
P. J., 113
George
Handel,
72, 89,
137, 141
Handschin,
123,
,
124,
115
J., ^2, 5^3,
Harrington, R.
J.,
Kotick,
Koussevitzky, Serge, 70, 141
F.,
I
^^
Ingerham, D. W., 211, 22^
Irion, A. L., 202, 223
D.
B.,
Ives, Charles,
^4
263
O.
Jacobsen,
Hartmann, A., 220
Hattwick, M., i j, 217, 221,
Jancke, H., 224
236,
I
25-1
Joseph,
26,
I
I.,
206,
224,
Kretschmer, E., 218
137,
123,
30, 141, 168, 171,
183, 210
Jancke,
J.,
218, 234,
J.,
W.
i£2
S.,
Lavere,
W., 271
Jaques-Dalcroze, E., 74, 83
Jensen, M. B., 271
Lawshe, C. H.,
Jeritza, Maria, 8
Learned,
Jersild, A. T., 197, 217, 221
Lehman, C.
Lehman, H.
Jr.,
J.,
217
F., 211,
C,
Jesus Christ, 148
Heiliger, L., 217
Johnson, D. M., 270
Johnson, G. B., 14, 218
Leibold, R., 221
Jung, Carl, 193-194, 214
Lenz, F., 218
5-4,
63, 80,
81, 89, 112
Hell, F. J., 222
Helmholtz, H. L.
252
Lazarfeld, P. F., 15^6
Heifetz, Jascha, 66, 199
Heinlein, C. P.,
224
Lastrucci, C. L., 208,
209, 224
25^1
J. L., 163
Lannert, V., 205, 223
Larson,
2^1
249
201, 222
S.,
Landsburg,
Harris, J. D., 252
C, 81
L., 229,
Kreisler, Fritz, 89, 199
Lamp, C.
81
Hart, H.
Haydn,
M.
Howells, T. H., 92, 113
Howes,
Irvine,
156
L.,
81
Kolodin, Irving, 170
168, 171, 183
Hardcastle, Arthur, 74
Harrell, T. W., 155
Harriman, P.
Kohler,
A., 241, 25-3
216
225-
Leiter, R. A., 114
Lewis, D., IS, 80, 83, 222,
F., 34, 47,
Henderson, M. T., 83, 266,
272
Henkin, R. I., 102, 114, 270
Hevner, K., 96, 97-99, 102,
103, 112, 114, 134, 141,
i^^, 163, 16^
Kaiser, L.,
5^2,
112
2^2
Kant, Immanuel, j8
Kaplan, I., 272
Licht, S. H., 271
Kaplan, M., i££
Lincoln, Abraham, 148
Karlin, J. E., 181, 216
Karwoski, T., 113, 114
Linder, F. E.,
Kelley,
N. H., 82
Kelly, E. L., 92, 113
Lichte,
W.
H., i^j
i
^
Lipps, T., 42, 48, S2, S4.
Liszt, Franz, 124, 126, 141,
137, 2^6, 262
301
NAME INDEX
Ortmann, O.,
Loar, L., 209, 224
Miller, R. S.,
London, I. D., 270
Lowenstein, O., 2^6, 270
Lowery, H., 164, 176, 205^,
Milstein, Nathan, 66
80,
Mjon,
I
223, 233, 2^0, 2^1
i
<^
217, 233, 2^0
J.,
Montani, A., 108, 115^
Monteverdi, Claudio, 126
Lund, M., 14, 69, 83
Lundin, R. W., ^4, 72, 83,
Montgomery, H. C,
Moon, P., 34
216, 253
Lusby, W. S., 81
Moore, H. T., 48,
Moorhead, G.
McAllester, D. P., ^3
McCauley, C. J., 249
82
25^3
McNemar, Q., 176
Palestrina,
Marx, Karl,
1
Pear, T. H., 231, 25^0
Peatman,
J. G., i j6
Pepinsky, A., 114
183, i8j, 196, 262
Pickford,
H.,
J.
1
34-1
35-,
141, ^55, 176
Mull, Helen K., 81, 95, 113,
L.,
J.
83,
71,
Pinto,
Piatt,
I.
R.W., 148,1^6, 224
M., 156, lyg, 220
W., 197, 221
W., 197, 221
Plotkin,
Plotkin, E. G., 156
32,
3^, ^3,
216, 222,
119,
Pond, D., 217
Ponselle, Rosa, 8
W., 34
Poole, H.
2^1
Myers, C.
S.,
54
J.,
Podolsky, E., 270, 271, 272
T., 17 j
Mursell,
180, 21 j
10
148, 171
Paperte, F., 271
Petran, L. A., 80
149, ij4, IS7
S.,
W., 249
A., 216
Peterson,
Munro,
Marill, G., 1^4.
W.
141, 148, 168, 169, 171
Maltzew, C. V., 37, 52
Manor, H. C, 239, 2^2
Manzer, C. W., 180, 215^
Marowitz,
Owens,
123,1 24, I 26, I 29, I 30,
132, 133-134, ns, 137,
Mueller,
iji, 15-7
Porter, Cole,
i
C,
Pratt, C.
Nash, D.,
Masson, D. L, 113
Mendelssohn, Felix, 117, 126,
132,1 37, 141, 171, 262
Nelson, H. M., 80
Pressey, L.
Nestele, A., 222
Preston, D., 82
Nettel, R., 272
Prokofiev,
Nevin, Ethelbert, 263
New, D. M., 80
263
Ptolemy,
Newton,
Pyle,
Metfessel, M., 15, 66, 82
Meyer, Max,
14,
4,
20,
33,
34, 42, 52, 80, 8i, 88,
224
93, 107, III, 113
90
Sir Isaac,
Nickerson,
J. F.,
Mezzrow, M., 14
Nielsen,
T., 2^1
Michaeles, A. F., 154
Michel, A., 220
Nyiregyhazi, Erwin, 185, 232
Michelman,
J.,
Oakes,
Middleton,
W.
112, 119,
Si, 232, 2^0
I
i
5
C., 252, 271
J.
W.
28, 34
Milhaud, Darius, 46, j
Miller, R. E., 82
Omwake,
Miles,
302
C.
J.
C.,
191,
R., 270
219,
L., 91, 112,
228, 249
Serge,
2
122,
140,
i
H., 217
Pythagoras, 18, 28
Quinan,
C,
190, 219
Sergei,
122,
140, 141, 174
J., 236—237, 2^2
Odbert, H. S., 114
Offenbach, Jacques, 262
Ogden, R. M., 48, ^4
Olson, H. F., I £j
Miles,
W.
C,
Rachmaninov,
F., 81
O'Brien, C. C., 222
O'Connor,
Mikol, B., 267, 272
2^
26, 34, ^4, 80,
Mascagni, Pietro, 262
15-,
iji,
Paderewski, Ignace Jan, 140
Giovanni,
126,
217
S., 216
Mosher, R. M., 249
Mosonyi, D., 108, 115
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus,
Madison, T. H., 234, 2ji
Mahler, Gustav, 117, 141
Mainwaring, J., 220, 222,
113,
sj, 205-, 223, 250
Otterstein, A.
ij6,
5^4,
Morrow, R.
McGehee, W., 272
McGeoch, J. A., 202, 223
82,
Osborne, E., 218
Osgood, C. E., 114
Ossipowa, S., 220
Morini, Erika, 66
MacDowell, Edward, 73
McElroy, W. A., 112
McGinnis, E. M., 251
McLeish, J., 180, 2ij,
E.,
37, ^2, ^7, 62,
81,
115
Racker, H., 220
Raff, Joseph, 92
Ramon, K. M., 14
Rashevsky, N., 1^3
Ravel, Maurice, 103,
133-134, 140, 263
122,
NAME INDEX
Razran, G. H.
Regner,
Rethberg, Elizabeth,
Revesz,
Schuessler, K. P., 146,
1^7
S.,
N., 15
S.
G.,
8
216,
82,
224,
Rife,
D. C., 216
Rigg,
M.
I
Rimsky-Korsakov,
Nicolai,
115^,
253
Rittershaus, E., 218
Robinson, W., 148, i j6
Rodgers, Richard, 12^
Roe, A., 2^0
Rogge, G. O., 103, 10^, 114
Romberg, Sigmund, 12^
C,
34
Rosenthal, A., 219
Rossini,
Ernestine,
16
1
130,
,
171,
177
Rothschild, D. A., 15
Rubin-Rabson, G., 157, 199-
Stone,
W., 2ji
Seashore, Carl E.,
262
2, 8 n.,
142, 143, ^SS, 1^9, I7S,
180, 190, 193, 198, 2 17,
222,
219,
23J,
240,
243, 244, 2J2
Seashore, H. G., i j
R. H.,
i6j,
217,
220, 224, 232, 23J, 2JI
Semenoff, B., 174, 176
Shaw, George Bernard, 10
Shimp,
112
B.,
14,
Dmitri,
109,
140
Sibelius, Jan,
J.,
148,
Strauss,
Stravinsky,
Igor,
Strong, E. K., Jr., 216, 2^3
Strouse, C. E., 249
Stumpf, C., 33, 38, 39, 48,
52, Si, 216, 231, 2JO
Suchman, E. A., 149, i j6
Sugarman, P., 263, 271
Sullivan, Sir Arthur,
66
Szucharewa, G., 220
Szigeti, Joseph,
133-134, 141,
168, 169, 263
M.
L., 190,
2
19
Talley, Marion, 8
Simon, B., 271
Simonton, T. E., 27
Tangeman, R.
Sjostrom, L.,
Taylor,
i
j
Small, A.,
iji,
216,
1^7,
2
113,
164,
176,
JO, 271, 272
Schonberg, Arnold, 46, 122
Scholes, P. A., I J, 113
Schramek, R., 224
Schrammel, H.
Schubert,
E.,
9^,
109, 123, 124,
130,
132,
I
26,
137,
168, 169, 262
W., 37, j4
Smith, G. H., 236, 2ji
Smith, H. B., 2ji
J.
H., 218
107,
I
29,
148,
Smith, H. R., 2j2
Smith, M. E., j2
Soibelman, D., 271
Sopchak, A. L., 113
Soper,
Sousa,
W.,
J. P.,
i
54
Peter
I.,
124,
227, 249
89,
I
US,
137,
1^4,
168, 169, 262
163,
Terry, C., 217
Thompson, A.
Smith, H. C., 272
Smith, H. D., 250
Snyder, L. H., 216
249
Franz,
177
126, 129, 132, 133-134,
J
Smith, P.
9^,
15^,
I
S.,
Taylor, E. M., 2^3
Tchaikovsky,
M.,
12 j
Sunderman, L. P., 218
Sward, Keith, 218
Slonimsky, N., 217
Schoen,
122,
103,
Streep, R. L., 218
Saunders, D. R., 162,
Scheinfeld, A., 217
129,
133, 140, 148
Taylor, L. E.,
i ^^
154
109,
•32, 133-134, 140, 168
Skinner, L., 83
Saunders, P. A., 9,
56
Richard,
Salisbury, F. S., 250, i£i, 25^2
175^
I
Strauss, Johann, i2j,
49,
52, 54, S7, 61, 67, 80,
81, 82, 83, 112, 130,
Sikes,
Saetveit, J. G., 80, 222, 2^2
Camille,
Saint-Saens,
141,
Stempel, G. H., 177
Scriabin, Aleksandr, 29, 91
1
Runes, Dagobert, 116, 1^3
Rupp, H., 233, 2 JO
224
2jo
I.,
Stevens, S. J., 33
Stone, C. L., 147, ij6
Shostakovitch,
201, 203, 222, 223
Ruck, G., 249
M.
Stelzer, T. G.,
Schwartz, H. D., 219
Schweisheimer, W., 218
Seashore,
Gioacchino,
1 1
j6
i
2J2
Stein,
Scripture, E.
29
Rittenhouse, C. H.,
Roncalio, A.
Stanton, H. M., 11, 16, 217,
132, 137, 141; 169, 210
112
J,
Riker, B. L., 80
I
Stanton, P.,
Schuman,W., 140
Schumann, Robert,
G., 10,
91, 109,
Staffelbach, E. H., 143, ijj
8,
Riggs, L. A., 113
Squires, P. C., 219, 220, 224
Schultz, E. J., 17
Schumann-Heink,
232, 250
Richardson, E. G., ij
j6
i
Schullian, D. M., 271, 272
29
S., 54
Thorpe, L. P., 2^3
Thurstone, L. L., 80, i6j
Thus, S., 113
Tibbett, Lawrence, 8
Tiffin, J., 12, 16
Tilly, C. R., 108,
Tilly,
M.,
Tilson, J.
270
2J7
M., 252
1 1
J,
303
NAME INDEX
Tinker,
M.
Voegelin, C. P., 3^,
A., 1^4.
Tolmie, J. R., 1 ^
Torgerson, T. L., 229, 249
Toscanini, Arturo, 70
Totenberg, Roman, 66
Trabue, M. R., 175
Trembley, J. C,
Tully, M., 249
11 j
81
^^3,
i
Wachsmann, K. P., 27
Wagner, A. H., ^
Wagner, Richard, 109,
Whittaker,
124,
Wakeham,
126,
iii,
130,
G., 202, 223
Updegraff, R., 43, ^3, 217
Walker, E., 198, 221
Washburn, M. P., 1^7
Washington, George, 148
Vaerting, M., 190, 219
Waterman,
W.,
Valentine, C.
112,1
Van
Van
^£, 22
39, j2, 88,
Briessen, M., 222
Vance, T. F., 221
Van de Wall, W., 271
Van Nuys, K., 206, 223
I
Williams,
Ralph,
22
Vernon, L.,
Vernon, P.
ids,
'
1
££
E.,
76,
13,
I
224
Verneer, E. M.,
304
16,
1^7,
80, 21^, 219,
i
s7
J.
W.
G., 224
83
G., 2^0
i j6
Williams, G. D., 156
Williams, H. M., 217, 221,
2JI
Willmann, R. R., 11^
Wilson, M. E., 222
Wing, H. D., 176, 180,
215-,
2^3
Wolfe, B., 14, 191
Wolfe, L. S., 191 219
Wolner, M., 217
,
Wood, C. P., 249
Wood, W. P., 252
Wright,
P. A.,
2^2
Wunderlich, H., 53, 80
Wyatt, R. P., 217, 2^1
Wells, A., 221
Varro, M., 221
Vaughan
Watkins,
W. C,
Watson, K. B., 112
Watt, H. J., 39, ^2
Weaver, H. E., 83, 206, 223
Weber, Carl Maria von, 19 j
Wedell, C. H., 81
I
Alstyne, D., 218
T., 253
Wiebe, G., 149,
i
143, 1^4, 168, 169, 171
Ullman, M., 2oj, 223
271
S.,
Whittaker, A. H., 208, 218
123,
^6
M.
Whitley,
133-134, 135, 137, 141,
Tyler, L. E., 147,
Whiting, H.
Voss, G., 217
Wendelin, A., 271
Werner, E. M., 3o, 221, 272
Wheeler, R. H., 146, 156
Wheelwright, L. P., 223
Whipple, G. M., 217
Whistler, H. S., 2^3
White, R. K., 216
Yasser, J., 34
Young, M., i6j, 176
Whitely, P. L., 265, 272
Zipf, G. K., 176
Zaworski, T., 221
Zener, K. E., 42, j2
Ziehen, T., 217, 233, 2jo
Zigler,
M.
J.,
113
DATE DUE
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Paul
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The social psychology of
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