source file: mills3.txt Date: Mon, 15 Dec 1997 03:23:04 +0100 Subject: Re: Liminatory Fulminations From: "Bob Lee" 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/ SMTPOriginator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu From: "Bob Lee" Subject: Notation PostedDate: 15-12-97 03:26:24 SendTo: CN=coul1358/OU=AT/O=EZH ReplyTo: tuning@eartha.mills.edu $MessageStorage: 0 $UpdatedBy: CN=notesrv2/OU=Server/O=EZH,CN=coul1358/OU=AT/O=EZH,CN=Manuel op de Coul/OU=AT/O=EZH RouteServers: CN=notesrv2/OU=Server/O=EZH,CN=notesrv1/OU=Server/O=EZH RouteTimes: 15-12-97 03:24:25-15-12-97 03:24:26,15-12-97 03:24:06-15-12-97 03:24:06 DeliveredDate: 15-12-97 03:24:06 Categories: $Revisions: Received: from ns.ezh.nl ([137.174.112.59]) by notesrv2.ezh.nl (Lotus SMTP MTA SMTP v4.6 (462.2 9-3-1997)) with SMTP id C125656E.000D361B; Mon, 15 Dec 1997 03:26:14 +0100 Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA15419; Mon, 15 Dec 1997 03:26:24 +0100 Date: Mon, 15 Dec 1997 03:26:24 +0100 Received: from ella.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA15418 Received: (qmail 10997 invoked from network); 14 Dec 1997 18:26:21 -0800 Received: from localhost (HELO ella.mills.edu) (127.0.0.1) by localhost with SMTP; 14 Dec 1997 18:26:21 -0800 Message-Id: <01bd0900$602aa760$LocalHost@default> Errors-To: madole@mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu