Proceedings paper Pitch-distributional effects on the perception of tonality Nicholas A. Smith Mark A. Schmuckler Division of Life Sciences, University of Toronto at Scarborough Tonality is an important structural property of music, and has been described by music theorists (Meyer, 1956; Lerdahl, 1988) and psychologists (Krumhansl, 1990) as a hierarchical ordering of the pitches of the chromatic scale such that these notes are perceived in relation to one central and stable pitch, the tonic. This hierarchical structure is manifest in listeners' perceptions of the stability of pitches in tonal contexts. For example, Krumhansl and Kessler (1982) had listeners rate how well each pitch of the chromatic scale fit into a variety of tonal contexts (e.g., scales, cadences) and found a consistent pattern of perceived stability; these ratings have come to be called a "standardized key profile." This profile, which appears in Figure 1 (with reference to a C major tonality) can be generalized to other keys by simply shifting the profile such that the tonic value is aligned with any of the twelve notes of the chromatic scale. Pitch-distributional effects on the perception of tonality file:///g|/Sun/Smith.htm (1 of 11) [18/07/2000 00:31:49]