Given the extensive instrumental resources afforded by an orchestra, why would a composer elect to feature a single solo instrument? In this study we explore one possible use of solos—that of conveying or enhancing a sad affect. Orchestral passages were identified from an existing collection and categorized as solos or non-solos. Independently, the passages were characterized on seven other features previously linked to sad affect, including mode, tempo, dynamics, articulation, rhythmic smoothness, relative pitch height, and pitch range. Using the first four factors, passages were classified into nine previously defined expressive categories. Passages containing acoustic features associated with the “sad/relaxed” expressive category were twice as likely to employ solo texture. Moreover, a regression model incorporating all factors significantly predicted solo status. However, only two factors (legato articulation, quiet dynamics) were significant individual predictors. Finally, with the notable exception of string instruments, we found a strong correlation ( ρ = .88) between the likelihood that a solo is assigned to a given instrument and an independent scale of the capacity of that instrument for expressing sadness. Although solo instrumentation undoubtedly serves many other functions, these results are consistent with a significant though moderate association between sadness-related acoustic features and solo textures.

Although purely instrumental music is commonplace, much of the world’s most popular music is sung with lyrics. However, it is evident that listeners don’t always attend to lyrics and that those who do aren’t always successful in deciphering them. An empirical study is reported whose goal is to measure the intelligibility of lyrics in commercial recordings of music from a variety of genres. Thirty participants were exposed to 120 brief musical excerpts from twelve song genres: Avante-garde, Blues, Classical, Country, Folk, Jazz, Musical Theater, Pop/Rock, Rhythm and Blues, Rap, Reggae, and Religious. Participants were instructed to transcribe the lyrics after hearing each excerpt once. The transcribed lyrics were then compared to the actual lyrics and intelligibility scores calculated. The different genres were found to exhibit significantly different levels of lyric intelligibility, from as low as 48% for Classical music, to as high as 96% for Jazz, with an overall average of 72%. Intelligibility scores were positively correlated with listener judgments of the general importance of lyrics. In a second experiment, participants were allowed to hear excerpts five times. Improvements to intelligibility were modest but significant after the second and third hearings, but not on further hearings.

A large-scale study is reported whose purpose was to elucidate the historical development of the European major and minor modes. The study involved 455 musical works by 259 composers sampled across the years 1400 to 1750. Beginning with the period 1700-1750, a series of statistical studies was carried out on the distribution of scale tones, progressively moving backward in time. The method utilized a modified method of key determination – generalized to handle an arbitrary number of modal classifications. The results from cluster analyses on this data are consistent with the view that the modern major and minor modes have changed over time and were preceded by a system in which there were more than just two modes.

We conducted four tests of the conjecture that higher musical pitch coincides with faster musical speeds in composition and performance. First, a ‘notewise’ examination of Western musical scores tested whether longer (i.e., slower) notes tend to have lower pitches. Results were genre-dependent, with three of six sampled styles exhibiting the predicted effect. A second study considered an independent sample of Western music part-by-part and found that lower musical voices tend to have significantly fewer notes than higher voices. The third study used instrumental recordings to directly measure event onset densities in notes per second. A strong correlation ( r s = .74, p < .002) between performed note speed and an instrument’s pitch range ( tessitura ) was found. Finally, a fourth study indicated that Baroque ornaments are more likely to appear in higher musical parts. Considered together, these four studies suggest a pitch-speed relationship that is most evident when the methodology preserves the notion of musical ‘line.’ We outline several possible origins for the observed effect.

A. D. Patel and J. R. Daniele (2003) compared the rhythms of musical themes written by French and English composers. They found a significant difference that mirrors known prosodic differences in French and English speech. Specifically, Patel and Daniele found the note-to-note durational contrast to be higher in English music than in French music. Their study was based on 137 English themes and 181 French themes that were selected according to stringent criteria. Here we report a replication of Patel and Daniele with a greatly expanded sample of nearly 2000 themes.

The traditional rules of voice-leading in Western music are explicated using experimentally established perceptual principles. Six core principles are shown to account for the majority of voice-leading rules given in historical and contemporary music theory tracts. These principles are treated in a manner akin to axioms in a formal system from which the traditional rules of voice-leading are derived. Nontraditional rules arising from the derivation are shown to predict formerly unnoticed aspects of voice-leading practice. In addition to the core perceptual principles, several auxiliary principles are described. These auxiliary principles are occasionally linked to voice-leading practice and may be regarded as compositional "options" that shape the music-making in perceptually unique ways. It is suggested that these auxiliary principles distinguish different types of part writing, such as polyphony, homophony, and close harmony. A theory is proposed to account for the aesthetic origin of voice-leading practices.

In melodies from a wide variety of cultures, a large pitch interval tends to be followed by a change of direction. Although this tendency is often attributed to listeners' expectations, it might arise more simply from constraints on melodic ranginess or tessitura. Skips tend toward the extremes of a melody's tessitura, and from those extremes a melody has little choice but to retreat by changing direction. Statistical analyses of vocal melodies from four different continents are consistent with this simple explanation. The results suggest that, in the sampled repertoires, patterns such as "gap-fill," "registral direction," and "registral return" (L. Meyer, 1956, 1973; E. Narmour, 1990) are mere side effects of constraints on melodic tessitura.

The theoretical and experimental literatures pertaining to pitch-related accent are reviewed. From these literatures, eight competing notions of melodic accent are identified. All eight conceptions of melodic accent were investigated through correlational studies of three contrasting samples of music. Statistical correlations were calculated for each accent type with respect to the corresponding metric position or with respect to the syllabic/melismatic status of associated sung text. The results for all three studies are most consistent with a perceptual model of melodic accent developed by Joseph Thomassen (1982). The remaining conceptions of melodic accent receive little or no empirical support. In addition, this study reveals an endemic use of text-melody displacement in a sample of Gregorian chant—suggesting that the chant melodies were constructed so as to avoid strong rhythmic stresses.

An analysis of reaction time data collected by Miyazaki (1989) provides additional support for absolute pitch as a learned phenomenon. Specifically, the data are shown to be consistent with the Hick- Hyman law, which relates the reaction time for a given stimulus to its expected frequency of occurrence. The frequencies of occurrence are estimated by analyzing a computer-based sample of Western music. The results are consistent with the view that absolute pitch is acquired through ordinary exposure to the pitches of Western music.

Pitch-class sets (such as scales) can be characterized according to the inventory of possible intervals that can be formed by pairing all pitches in the set. The frequency of occurrence of various interval classes in a given pitch-class set can be correlated with corresponding measures of perceived consonance for each interval class. If a goal of music-making is to promote a euphonious effect, then those sets that exhibit a plethora of consonant intervals and a paucity of dissonant intervals might be of particular interest to musicians. In this paper, it is shown that the pitch-class sets that provide the most consonant interval-class inventories are the major diatonic scale, the harmonic and melodic minor scales, and equally tempered equivalents of the Japanese Ritsu mode, the common pentatonic scale, and the common "blues" scale. Consonant harmonic intervals are more readily available in these sets than in other possible sets that can be drawn from the 12 equally tempered pitch chromas.

Experimental evidence has shown that the perceptual segregation of concurrent auditory streams is enhanced when tone onsets are asynchronous rather than synchronous. Previous research has shown that the amount of onset synchrony is significantly less for polyphonic works than for homophonic works. In this study, an analysis of 15 polyphonic works by J. S. Bach shows that the amount of onset synchrony is significantly less than would be expected by chance, and so suggests that synchronous onsets are intentionally minimized by the composer. The results are consistent with the objective of maintaining the perceptual independence of the polyphonic voices.

In the notation of vertical sonorities, it is well-known that composers space chordal tones using wider interval sizes in the bass region. A classic study by Plomp and Levelt (1965) argued that the organization of vertical sonorities in music is related to the phenomenon of critical bands. A replication of Plomp and Levelt's work shows that their demonstration was confounded by an unfortunate artifact and that their results did not support the conclusions drawn. Using a different method, a comparison of actual music with a control sample of "random" music shows that musical practice is consistent with the compositional pursuit of a greater uniformity of spelling with respect to critical bands. Although these results are consistent with conclusions given in Plomp and Levelt, the methods used here avoid the difficulties evident in the earlier study.

Research on physiological aspects of attention has shown an asymmetry in neurological arousal with respect to the direction of stimulus change. Increases of stimulus intensity level are more effective than equivalent decreases in evoking listeners' attention. Where musical resources limit a continual escalation of intensity level over the course of a work, it is theoretically possible to maintain attention by structuring the work as a sequence of stimulus "ramps"—where intensity increases are small and incremental, but stimulus decreases are large and abrupt. Scorebased studies of dynamics in homophonic music and voice entries and exits in polyphonic music show such an asymmetry. It would appear that for a large body of works of western art music, compositional practices are consistent with a theoretical strategy for maintaining passive auditory attention.

An analysis of a sample of polyphonic keyboard works by J. S. Bach shows that the prevalence of different vertical intervals is directly correlated with their degree of tonal consonance. A major exception to this pattern arises with respect to those intervals that contribute to tonal fusion. The prevalence of the latter intervals is negatively correlated with the degree to which each interval promotes tonal fusion. Bach's avoidance of tonally fused intervals is consistent with the objective of maintaining the perceptual independence of the contrapuntal voices. In summary, two factors appear to account for much of Bach's choice of vertical intervals: the pursuit of tonal consonance and the avoidance of tonal fusion.

A number of experimental studies have demonstrated that the perceptual tracking of auditory streams is confounded when streams cross with respect to pitch. A study of part-crossing in 105 polyphonic works by J. S. Bach shows a marked reluctance to have parts cross—even when the effects of pitch distribution (tessitura) are controlled. Moreover, when the textural density increases beyond two concurrent voices, Bach becomes more vigilant to avoid part-crossing even though an increase in part- crossing is preordained. In light of evidence that perceptual confusion increases with the number of concurrent voices, these results are consistent with the hypothesis that Bach endeavors to minimize perceptual confusion as the density of auditory images increases.

Existing research has shown that single-voice entries in polyphonic music are more easily perceived than single- voice exits. A study of 195 assorted musical works reveals a marked asymmetry between voice entries and exits. Specifically, voices tend to be added one at a time, while voice exits tend to occur several at a time. This practice is consistent with the hypothesis that voice entries and exits are perceptually important points in musical works and that composers avoid single- voice exits because they are less likely to be perceived.

A study of 32 piano sonatas by Beethoven reveals a significant asymmetry between increasing and decreasing dynamics. Specifically: (1) crescendos are more frequent than diminuendos, (2) crescendos tend to last longer than diminuendos, (3) large changes of dynamics tend to involve reductions in loudness, and (4) crescendos will more commonly follow low dynamic levels than will diminuendos follow high dynamic levels. These results support a "ramp archetype" of musical dynamics in which the music tends to build in a gradual way, but tends to subside relatively quickly. The results parallel a previous study showing an identical textural asymmetry in the evolution of polyphonic sonorities.