Subject: Melodic consonance .... From: KEVIN AUSTIN <KAUSTIN(at)VAX2.CONCORDIA.CA> Date: Wed, 5 Jul 2000 23:18:51 -0400Regarding ordering melodic intervals, perhaps _consonance_ is a poor term. Maybe 'pleasantness' (or possibly something resembling 'stability' or 'weight') could be considered more appropriate. I also count 25 within-octave melodic intervals (ascending and descending having very different characteristics). There may also be the consideration as to (in western music [sic]) how the interval functions within tonality ... as for example, the descending major third of the Beethoven Fifth Symphony (^5, ^3), creates in the educated ear a different sense of 'stability', than does the ^8 ^b6 interval, and while both are major thirds they appear to have different 'weight'. There may also be an element (in western music) of 'diatonic identity', eg the 5th and 6th notes of the Beethoven Fifth might appear to have the same 'type' of weight (even though they are a minor third), as the first two. I have also noted with some students who have perfect pitch, that the concept of 'intervalic identity' is weak, compared to those (most of us) who have only relative pitch. These comments have no formal scientific basis, just observation of classes over several decades. Best Kevin kaustin(at)vax2.concordia.ca -------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------- Professor K Austin EuCuE - Department of Music / Departement de musique universite Concordia University 7141, rue Sherbrooke o Montreal, QC H4B 1R6 CANADA -------------------------------------------------------------- tel: (1) 514 - 848 - 4709 FAX: (1) 514 - 848 - 2808 Vous pouvez ecrire en francais ou en anglais. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- >At 15:36 20.06.00 +0200, you wrote: >>Hi, >> >>Does someone know how to order the 13 within-octave MELODIC intervals >>(prime, minor 2nd,... octave) as a function of consonance. I believe to >>know that there are more than one different possible orderings, in >>dependence of the theory on consonance (psycho-acoustical, mathematical, >>... theory). Thanks in advance for any help! >> >>Piet V. >> >>Piet G. Vos >>section Perception NICI, U. Nijmegen >>P.O.Box 9104 >>6500 HE Nijmegen NL >>tel: +31 24 36126 31/20; fax: +31 24 361 60 66; vos(at)nici.kun.nl >>home-page: http://www.nici.kun.nl/~vos