Pitch-class prevalence in plainchant, scale-degree consonance, and the origin of the rising leading tone
Year: 2019
Type: article
Abstract: The most common tones in Medieval plainchant were G and D; the least common, B. I propose that individual scale degrees differed in perceived consonance depending on the number of audible partials (harmonics) corresponding to scale degrees. The first ten harmonics of G correspond to scale degrees (G, D, B, F, A), but not those of B (B, F#, D#, A, C#). More consonant tones were sung more often and became more stable (reference pitches). Tones C and F (fa) were sung more often than B and E (mi). The melodic semitone became psychologically associated with a difference in stability.
Source: Journal of New Music Research
Author: Richard Parncutt
Institution: University of Graz
Language: English
Subfield: Music
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W2963003368