PLATE V.
THE FEELING-VALUE OF UNMUSICAL TONE-INTERVALS
BY L. E. EMERSON
Modern theories of melody start always with the presupposition that the scale must be composed of tones having the simple mathematical relation to one another of 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 (and by Meyer 7) and their multiples in order to give pleasant combinations of successive tones. But the question arises whether other tone-combinations which given together appear disharmonious may not, by their mere acoustical difference, similarity, and contrast, awake definite feelings of pleasure. And if such feeling-tones exist independently from harmony it is evident that they would enter into every melody in addition to the strictly musical feelings of harmony and that they deserve consideration as a factor of music. It would not even appear impossible that if every successive tone-distance has its particular natural feeling-character, the distances of successive harmonious tones might be only through secondary factors as habit and training preëminent among the various possibilities of combinations. A tone-consciousness, which under the guidance of experiences of harmony has been trained in our musical tone-relations, must give instinctive preference to such successions as our melodies offer. But if we artificially inhibit the conscious relation to our musical system by introducing a continuous tone-series, or at least one of steps much smaller than musical intervals, do we destroy the possibility of pleasure, and if not, do we find the pleasure in the musical interval stronger than that in other instances? That even the musical subject introduced into the realm of smallest tone-steps can easily forget and inhibit his normal standards is well known; the whole acoustical perspective seems changed by the new intervals, and the subject begins at once to build up a new temporary system of relations. The experiments in Wundt's laboratory have shown that in such cases the theoretical judgment of distances is indeed quite different from the standardized one; the octave may appear equal to the higher fifth. I wanted to study in a similar way the feeling-value in such a state of musical disorientation, when all imaginative representations of our musical intervals are inhibited.
The instrument I used was an Appun Tonmesser giving reed-tones from 128 to 512 vibrations in intervals of 4 vibrations between adjacent tones. The intervals with which I experimented varied from 4 to 88 vibrations in steps of 4. The observers were all experimental psychologists, and varied in musical discrimination from a very low to a very high degree of natural ability and skill.
The observer reported his pleasure in the progression given, in the traditional grades of 1 to 7, where 1 represents the greatest degree of pleasure, 2 means very pleasant, 3 pleasant, 4 indifferent, 5 unpleasant, 6 very unpleasant, and 7 most unpleasant of all.
The immediate problem was: What is the relation between the width of interval used and the pleasure got by hearing the motive a-b-a and b-a-b, where a is always the lower tone. The method of procedure was to take a fixed tone (460 vibrations in the first case) and get a series of observations on successive progressions b-a-b where a differed from b by 4, 8, 12 ... 56 vibrations. The greatest difference thus is approximately a musical whole tone. Then a series of observations was taken on a-b-a where a similarly differed from b by 4, 8, 12 ... 52 vibrations. The progressions were given in irregular order, that there might be no chance of the observer getting into a fixed habit of replying. The intimate relation between the pleasure in successive musical tones and the pleasure in musical harmonies suggested naturally the question whether the feeling-value of these unmusical progressions was not somehow dependent upon the affective character of the simultaneous presentation of the same tones. Therefore after a progression had been given once and judgment recorded, the two tones used were given as a "harmony," that is simultaneously, and a judgment taken as to its agreeableness. This was immediately followed by the same progression, thus giving opportunity to observe the relation between the feeling-tone of the interval as it appeared in successive and in simultaneous presentation.
The results of this part of the investigation are graphically represented in the following plates. Tables I and II indicate the feeling-value of a-b-a where a, the lower tone, is 460 vibrations, and b is from 4 to 56 vibrations in addition, and the feeling-value of b-a-b where b, the higher tone, is 460 vibrations and a is from 4 to 56 vibrations less.