melodic limen

Thanks for your comments on the melodic limen, and on the importance of
distinguishing between the melodic limen and the ornaments of certain
musical traditions. I yesterday posted some comments on this, which I
hope will be of assistance.

Seashore and Jenner did some work on the melodic limen in the 20's, as
did Pratt. These remain the most objective and careful measurements ever
taken, so far as I can discover. The Journal of Music Theory has some
articles on this, especially back in the 60's, which you may wish to
consult. This subject has never drawn as much interest as it deserves,
however. Also, quite of the few studies seem to be tainted by 12-tone
equal bias, e.g. Szasz.


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From: Gregg Gibson
Subject: Liminatory Fulminations
PostedDate: 13-12-97 21:52:27
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Gregg Gibson wrote:
>More than casually related to the question of the melodic limen is the
>determination of how many distinct pitches (or pitch classes) human
>subjects can remember in a given melody. This number is finite, and
>almost certainly lies between 5 and 9, apparently influenced by the
>musical culture. The weight of the evidence favors a value of 7 or 8. I
>trust I need not dig out the references to this experiment from my files
>- it is a locus classicus. The human mind possesses marvelous powers of
>discrimination, but the musician who continually demands that listeners
>stretch their discriminatory powers beyond what is pleasurable (or
>possible) for them will pay for his folly.

Mr. Gibson, you've obviously given a lot of thought to these issues, so I
think I must not be understanding what you're saying here. Consider this:

Much of the popular American music from the first half of this century is
based on "Dixieland" chord changes. The 7 notes of the diatonic major scale
are used, of course, but the progressions often include a circle of fifths
starting on the third note of the scale. In C this is E7 - A7 - D7 - G7.
This addition of G#, C# and F# brings the total number of notes used to 10
per octave. The Fm is also used frequently, adding an Ab to the mix for a
total of 11.

Somehow I doubt that Hank Williams' "Lovesick Blues" stretched the
discriminatory powers of his audience much, if at all. It was his biggest
hit.

Obviously I'm missing your point somehow.

-b0b-
-----
quasar@wco.com (Bobby Lee)
http://wco.com/~quasar/


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From: "Bob Lee"
Subject: Notation
PostedDate: 15-12-97 03:26:24
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>...several persons have...asserted that people can be
>trained to make essential melodic distinctions as fine as 10-20 cents.
>I do not believe this for a moment. Were this so, then even the simplest
>of our melodies would disintegrate into unrecognizable, essentially
>different melodies every time a different singer rendered them.

It sounds like you're confusing different melodies with tuning subtlties.

Suppose you were to listen to me on my soprano saxophone right after
I've warmed up and started playing some piece I'm working on. Then suppose
you were to hear me play that same piece after an hour and a half when my
lips have the saxophonist's equivalent of a charliehorse.

Assuming that I execute that melody note-for-note correctly both times,
the chances are that you'll notice two things:
1. It's the same melody.
2. It sure as heck was better in tune the first time!

Certainly you'll identify it as the same melody both times, but equally
certainly you'll identify it as sounding different.

Are those 10-20-cent differences musically significant? Well, they are
very clearly audible, so it's pretty hard to deny that have at least the
potential to be musically significant.


SMTPOriginator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu
From: Gregg Gibson
Subject: 19-tone Equal Notation
PostedDate: 16-12-97 06:33:28
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