Neurobiological Foundations for the Theory of Harmony in Western Tonal Music

Tramo, MJ, Cariani, PA, Delgutte, B, Braida, LD.
2001. "Neurobiological Foundations for the Theory of Harmony in
Western Tonal Music." Annals, New York Academy of Sciences, vol 92,
pp. 92-116.

http://homepage.mac.com/cariani/CarianiWebsite/TramoCarianiNYAS2001.pd
f

or

http://tinyurl.com/yph6x

wallyesterpaulrus wrote:
> Tramo, MJ, Cariani, PA, Delgutte, B, Braida, LD.
> 2001. "Neurobiological Foundations for the Theory of Harmony in
> Western Tonal Music." Annals, New York Academy of Sciences, vol 92,
> pp. 92-116.
> > http://homepage.mac.com/cariani/CarianiWebsite/TramoCarianiNYAS2001.pd
> f
> > or
> > http://tinyurl.com/yph6x

There's a lot of waffle in there, and support for things we (or most of us, anyway) already knew. There's this little quote on p.18:

"When the upper pure tone of a repeating harmonic interval was flattened by one-fourth of a semitone, infants could detect the change if the interval was a fourth but not if it was a tritone."

Presumably, the "tritone" is exactly 600 cents, making the flattened one 575 cents. The just tuning for 7:5 is 582.5 cents. So this result doesn't even tell us that the babies aren't hearing 7-limit harmony, although it may appear to. The 500 cent fourth is, of course, much closer to JI.

Anyway, the general message is that there's more to harmony than roughness.

Graham