THE EFFECTS OF MELODIC CONTEXTS ON THE PERCEPTION OF SCALE DEGREES

This experiment examined the perception of scale degrees in melodies. Four sets of seven-tone diatonic melodies were composed in which one of six scale degrees was located in position 4, embedded within one of four possible immediate melodic contexts. Tones 2 and 6 were selected to make the melodies musical and tonally strong, and tones 1 and 7 were the tonic. The second, third, and fourth sets of melodies were identical to the first set, except that tone 2, tone 6, and tones 2 and 6 were altered, respectively. The subjects (474 potential undergraduate music majors and 47 undergraduate nonmusic majors) heard two-melody trials in which the second melody was identical to the first, except for the target tone which was sharped 25 cents. Subjects then selected the tone that sounded out of tune. A two-way repeated measures ANOVA was conducted and significant differences (p