Probabilistic models have proved remarkably successful in modeling melodic organization (e.g., Huron, 2006a; Pearce, 2005; Temperley, 2008). However, the majority of these models rely on pitch information taken from melody alone. Given the prevalence of homophonic music in Western culture, however, surprisingly little attention has been directed at exploring the predictive power of harmonic accompaniment in models of melodic organization. The research presented here uses a combination of the three main approaches to empirical musicology—exploratory analysis, modeling, and hypothesis testing—to investigate the influence of harmony on melodic behavior. In this study a comparison is made between models that use only melodic information and models that consider the melodic information along with the underlying harmonic accompaniment to predict melodic continuations. A test of overall performance shows a significant improvement using a melodic-harmonic model. When individual scale degrees are examined, the major diatonic scale degrees are shown to have unique probability distributions for each of their most common harmonic settings. That is, the results suggest a robust effect of harmony on melodic organization. Perceptual implications and directions for future research are discussed.
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April 2017
Research Article|
April 01 2017
Taking Harmony Into Account: The Effect of Harmony on Melodic Probability
Claire Arthur
Ohio State University
Claire Arthur, Music Technology Area, Schulich School of Music, McGill University, 555 Sherbrooke St. W., Montreal, Quebec, H3A 1E3. E-mail: claire.arthur@mcgill.ca
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Claire Arthur, Music Technology Area, Schulich School of Music, McGill University, 555 Sherbrooke St. W., Montreal, Quebec, H3A 1E3. E-mail: claire.arthur@mcgill.ca
Music Perception (2017) 34 (4): 405–423.
Article history
Received:
June 05 2015
Accepted:
August 20 2016
Citation
Claire Arthur; Taking Harmony Into Account: The Effect of Harmony on Melodic Probability. Music Perception 1 April 2017; 34 (4): 405–423. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/mp.2017.34.4.405
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