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Harmony Perception
Centuries after three-part harmony entered Western music, research is starting
ing your favorite college fight song ness or tenderness, plaints, and mourn We believe, however, that the dif
S or the United States national an
them to a suitable instrumental accom
ful songs."
The major/ minor distinction entered
ferent emotional responses to minor
and major have a biological basis. But
paniment, and the chances are that you Western music during the Renaissance before we venture into such controver
will hear lots of stirring major chords. era, as composers moved away from sial territory, we propose to answer a
The Star-Spangled Banner is a perfect the monophonic melodies and two simpler question first: Why do some
example: When you sing "Oh say, can part harmonies used, for instance, in chords sound stable and resolved, and
you see?" you are singing the three Gregorian chants and embraced har give a sense of musical finality, where
notes (one of them raised an octave) of mony based on three-tone chords (or as other chords leave us in the air and
a major chord. triads). Composers found that triadic expecting some sort of resolution?
Now think of a wistful, pensive harmony allowed them to tap a deep Psychophysical research has pro
song, and there is a good chance that er range of emotions, of conflict and vided part of the answer. More than
the mood will be set by minor chords. resolution. That is why, to the modem a century ago, Hermann Helmholtz
For example, in the Beatles' Yester ear accustomed to chords, Gregorian identified the acoustic basis of musical
day, when Paul McCartney intones chants sound curiously monotonous dissonance. There is more going on in a
"Why she had to go, I don't know, she and emotionally flat. triad than mere dissonance or conso
wouldn't say," the notes "why-had Major and minor chords remain ab nance, however; some relatively con
go" form a minor triad. solutely central to Western music, as sonant chords nevertheless feel unre
Music theorists were, of course, well as to non-Western traditions in solved. We have therefore developed an
aware of the different emotional reso which three-tone chords are not used, acoustical model of harmony percep
nance of major and minor chords long but short melodic sequences often im tion that explains harmony in terms of
before Sir Paul wrote his opus. Jean ply major or minor modes. And yet the relative positions of three pitches.
Philippe Rameau, the French compos the psychological effect remains unex In particular, we have identified two
er and author of an influential book on plained. Today, this question has some qualities that we call tension and valence,
harmony, wrote in 1722: "The major how become an embarrassment to the which together explain the perception
mode is suitable for songs of mirth and orists. For example, in a book on music of "stability" and explain how major
rejoicing," sometimes "tempests and psychology, John Sloboda makes brief chords differ acoustically from minor
furies," and sometimes "tender and reference to research indicating that the. chords. This model will give us a basis
gay songs," as well as "grandeur and major and minor modes elicit positive for speculating on the reasons for their
magnificence." The minor mode, on and negative emotions in both adults different emotional connotations.
the other hand, is suitable for "sweet- and children as young as three years,
but neglects to discuss this remarkable Upper Partials
fact (Exploring the Musical Mind, 2005). The scientific explanation of music be
Norman D. Cook is a psychologist interested In David Huron's Sweet Anticipation gins with the wave structure of tones.
in the higher cognitive functions of Homo (2006), the entire issue is relegated to Even a single isolated tone is more com
sapiens, notably music perception, speech a single footnote. Most theorists are plex than it appears, due to the pres
prosody, pictorial depth perception and the adamant that the association of ma ence of so-called upper partials (or high
reverse perspective illusion. He is a prOfessor jor keys with positive emotions, and er harmonics). This one fact of physical
of informatics at Kansai University, Osaka,
Japan. Takefumi Hayashi, who received his
minor keys with negative emotions, acoustics was unknown to Renaissance
PhD. in engineering from Nagoya University is a learned response. It is simply the theorists, but is easily studied today
in 1992, does research in human psychophysics "Western idiom," and pointless to ex with a laptop computer and appropri
and computer graphics. He is also a prOfessor plain in the same way that it is point ate software. The effects of the upper
of informatics at Kansai University. Address less to explain the conventions of Eng partials underlie many of the subtler
for Cook: cook@res.kutc.kansai-u.ac.jp lish spelling or grammar. phenomena of musical harmony.
The basic pitch of an isolated tone .dle-C on a piano, for example, sowld tal frequency is middle-C, then Fl is
can be described in terms of its "funda different from the same note played on an octave above middle-C (written C').
mental frequency" (denoted Fa, and ex a saxophone. In general, the upper par However, the next partial, F2, is between
pressed in terms of cycles per second, or tials become weaker and weaker and one and two octaves above middle-C,
hertz [Hz]). The Fa can be illustrated as can eventually be ignored, but at least because its frequency is only 3/2 the
a sine wave, as in Figure 3. Associated the first five or six partials have a signifi frequency of FI. In Western music, this
with the Fa are several upper partials cant effect on our perception. tone is called G'. Thus, as illustrated
Fl, F2, F3 and so on-which are sound The "upper partial story" would be in Figure 3, the middle-C on a piano
waves that vibrate at multiples of the easy if all of the partials were separated comprises a mixture of tones: C, C', G',
fundamental frequency. For example, if by octaves, but that is not the case, be C", E", and so on. This surprising fact
the Fa is middle-C (261 Hz), then Fl is cause pitch perception scales logarith makes the phenomenon of harmony
522 Hz, F2 is 783 Hz and so on. mically. That is, although the first upper more complex, but at the same time far
Any musical sound (other than a pure partial falls one octave higher than more musically interesting.
sine wave) will necessarily be a combi the fundamental frequency, further
nation of these partials. The number and multiples of the Fa fall at gradually Consonance and Dissonance
strength of the various partials give each smaller and smaller intervals above Like isolated tones, two-tone inter
note its unique timbre, and make a mid that (Figure 3b). Thus, if the hmdamen vals are normally described in terms
a b c
FO
II I I II nI I II .11.1 •.
mmJl!lI!ml
C C' G' Coo E"
tone 1: FO F1 F2 F3 F4 tone 1: FO F1 F2 F3 F4 F5F6
tone 2: FO F1 F2 F3 F4 F5F6
Figure 3. The fundamental frequency (FO) of a tone can be described as a pure sine wave (a). Above FO lie a number of upper partials with high
er frequencies (Fl-F4) that contribute to our perceptions of nearly all musical tones. F1lies one octave (double the frequency) above FO and, in
this case (b), is described as C'. F2, F3 and F4 are further multiples of FO, in this case G', C" and E". When two fundamentals are included (c), the
upper partials interact in complex ways. The relative strengths of tones and upper partials are shown by amplitude bars (C =red, F = blue).
Figure 4. Perception of a chord as dissonant or consonant depends on the intervals between tones and upper partials (a). In empirical tests, the
dissonance reported by listeners is greatest when two musical tones are separated by one or two semitones (the distance between two adjacent
piano keys, white or black). Dissonance also peaks at an interval of 11 semitones and, to a lesser extent, at 6 semitones. Plomp and Levelt's
model explained the perception of dissonance by taking the effect of upper partials into account. They postulated a theoretical dissonance
curve (b) that peaks at 1 to 2 semitones but does not exhibit the 6- and 11-semitone peaks. When the upper partials were added (c), however, the
result began to resemble the empirical curve. Dips in this curve (that is, particularly consonant intervals) lie at or near many of the intervals of
the diatonic scales (3,4, 5, 7, 9 and 12 semitones).
chords that lie in the gaps of this grid. and beauty, as well as certain chords Dissonance in Triads
(For example, Arabic and Turkish mu that are simply avoided in most types Structurally, each triad contains three
sic use a scale with 24 tones in an oc of music. distinct intervals, so the obvious first
tave, compared to only 12 in Western The triadic grid provides a useful step in trying to explain their sonor
music, and thus enjoy a greater variety framework for studying how the in ity is to add up the dissonance of
of possible harmonies.) clusion of the upper partials affects the these intervals to obtain the total dis
Figure 5 shows various inversions of .harmonic sonority of a 3-tone chord. sonance. Figure 6a illustrates the to
the major and minor triads, in which This framework will enable us to ad tal dissonance of all the triads on the
one or two notes are raised by an oc dress the two main questions we re triadic grid, taking into account only
tave. The six types of chords shown ferred to in the introduction: Why are the fundamental frequencies. The
in this figure provide the harmonic certain triads perceived as more or less figure shows two strips of relatively
framework for nearly all Western clas stable, and how can we account for strong dissonance, corresponding to
sical and popular music. The other the commonly perceived positive and triads that contain an interval of one
locations on the triadic grid include negative emotional valence of the ma or two semitones. An oblique view of
many other chords of varying utility jor and minor chords? the graph shows the dissonance even
5-3 5-4
5 4-5
4-3 (ii
~
Ql
~ 4
Qj
3:
.2 3
major (root) minor (first inversion)
2
o
o 2 3 4 5 6 7
upper interval
minor (root) major (first inversion)
Figure 5. Triads can be described as a pair of intervals on a grid. The interval between the two lower tones is plotted on the vertical axis and the
upper interval is plotted on the horizontal one. Thus a major triad (in root position) has a lower interval of 4 semitones and an upper interval of
3 semitones. A first inversion raises the lowest tone by one octave; a second inversion raises the lowest two tones by one octave. The six major
and minor triads provide the harmonic framework for nearly all Western classical and popular music.
~
than two semitones. The remainder 2: 8
Q)
of the triadic grid is a valley of con C
7
;;: 5
Q)
7
~
in general cannot rely solely on the to Qj
;;:
tal dissonance of triads, because such a .2
5
~\~
4
Z>~
view would imply that all of the com
3
~ ~
monly used triads have more or less '6l't.\
\
2
Q)
;;: 5
"
interval 2 interval 1
"
interval 2
Figure 7. Certain triads invoke tension, which is definitely not consonance but also not exactly
dissonance. It is a feeling the listener hopes will be resolved to stability. Tension is enhanced
when the intervals in a triad are equal. In example a, the augmented chord has lower and up
sequence of two independent acoustical
factors. The first is intenral dissonance
and has been acknowledged to be an
important part of music perception at
least since Helmholtz's experimental
per intervals of 4 semi tones. A minor chord (b) has intervals of 3 and 4, whereas a major chord
work in the 19th century. The second
(c) has intervals of 4 and 3. (Adapted from Cook 2002.)
factor is triadic tension, which is explic
itly a three-tone effect (Meyer, 1956).
Tension in Chords a psychophysical model of Meyer's Going one step further, we can es
If 2-tone dissonance does not com theory by defining an abstract tension timate the total harmonic instability
pletely explain the sonority of a triad, curve for triads (Figure 7). The curve of any triad by adding together the
the next step is to examine the 3-tone has a peak when the two intervals in dissonance and tension factors, while
configurations of chords. In his classic the triad are equivalent. When one in gradually including the effects of more
book, Emotion and Meaning in Music, terval is greater than the other by at and more of the upper partials. Figure
psychologist Leonard Meyer suggest least a full semitone, breaking the sym 9 shows the results for 3-tone chords
ed that the tension in certain chords metry, the tension drops to zero. with up to four partials. Again, we see
arises from the equivalence of the two The original version of Meyer's the that the major and minor chords lie
intervals contained within them (for ory seems to have one flaw in it. Be in regions of relative stability, in all
example, 3-3, 4-4 or 5-5 semitone sides the augmented chord shown in of their inversions and when played
spacing). According to Meyer, when Figure 7, many other triads also have over one or two octaves. The other, less
a chord or short melody of three notes an unsettled, tense character-for ex commonly used chords lie on ridges or
contain.s two neighboring intervals of ample the so-called inversions of the peaks of instability.
precisely the same size (in semitone diminished chords. Yet these triads do This model implies that the Renais
units), the tonal focus becomes am not appear to satisfy Meyer's descrip sance musicians of the 14th century
biguous and the music takes on an tion of intervallic equivalence. were not simply the lucky inventors
unsettled character. In other words, The resolution to this puzzle begins of a musical idiom that proved to be
the listener perceives tension because to become apparent when we bring popular. On the contrary, they were
it is tmclear how to group the equal the upper partials into consideration. discoverers-musicians who were sen
ly-spaced tones. In contrast, when a In Figure 8, we have plotted the "to sitive to the symmetry or asymmetry
3-tone combination has two unequal tal tension" in each chord, using the in the acoustical patterns of th.ree-tone
intervals and no dissonance (that is, theoretical tension curve from Figure configurations, whereas their medieval
3-4, 4-5, 5-3, 4-3, 3-5, 5-4 semitone 7. When we compute the total tension predecessors had remained enthralled
spacing), the listener hears stability. using only the fundamental frequen by lower-level interval effects.
Of course, most people do not con cies, as in Figure 8a, we see a ridge of Questions concerning the relative in
sciously think about the relative spacing high tension that corresponds to all fluence of intervals and chords in mu
or "grouping" of tones. Nevertheless, the symmetric chords. The augment sic are still debated passionately today,
the human auditory system has evolved ed chord (A), one of the diminished but it is clearly a misunderstanding
the ability to notice it subconsciously. In chords (d) and one of the suspended to maintain that either effect alone ex
the conclusion of this article, we will fourth chords (5) lie on this ridge; on plains harmony. When music employs
discuss one possible reason why. the other hand, inversions of the di intervals, consonance is the most im
Inspired by Plomp and Levelt's ap minished and suspended fourth lie in portant issue, and the tuning should
proach to dissonance, we developed the blue valley of low tension. This seek the sweetest, most consonant com
13
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11 'iii
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6
Q)
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Q
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1 upper interval
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10111213
a upper interval
13 . c
12 o
'iii
11 c
2
10 13~_
9 11
(ij
8 _9
2: (fJ
OJ 7 2:7
.~ 6
.2
.£5
Q)
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13
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1
upper interval
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10111213
b upper interval
c
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c
2
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11
19~~~"~
.37
c
;:-5
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23
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
upper interval
123 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10111213
c upper interval
Figure 8. The theoretical tension of triads with equal intervals is high on a simple diagonal (red) when only the fundamental frequencies are
considered (a). This explains the unsettled character of some of the suspended (S), augmented (A) and diminished (d) chords. When both the
fundamental and the first upper partials are included (b), further intersecting lines of tension appear, accounting for the high tension of the
other suspended and diminished chords. Note also the peaks in the three-dimensional view. When the fundamental and four upper partials
are considered, the "map" becomes more complicated (c) but the S, A and d chords still occupy high-tension zones. These added demarcations
also bound areas of low tension, where the major (M) and minor (m) chords lie.
We have seen that the relative size (blue) valence at all of the major and
12
of the two intervals was the key to lm minor triads. The tension chords (d, A,
11
derstanding triadic tension. Moreover, S), on the other hand, fall in between
10
9
from a state of "intervallic equiva the regions of positive or negative mo
lence" (with its inherent perceptual dality, as would be expected from tra
~8 tension), there are only h.vo directions ditional harmony theory.
~7
c
": 6 of pitch movement that can reduce the Thus, among the upper partials of all
Q)
tension. Either the lower interval can of the major chords, there is a predom
~ 5
-4 be made greater than the upper inter inance of triadic structures where the
3 val, in which case the chord resolves to lower interval is one semitone larger
2 a major triad, or the lower interval can than the upper interval. Minor chords
1 be made smaller, which corresponds to show the opposite structural feature.
o a minor triad. The brain could, in theory, identify the
o 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 1213 This reasoning suggests that we major or minor nature of a chord sim
a upper interval should reformulate the tension mod ply by summing the valences of all
el so that the direction of motion away the possible three-tone combinations
13,.....,..........,~......
10
9
Thus, in Figure lOa, we propose a Now that we have a model of how lis
modality curve to distinguish the two teners identify a chord as major or minor,
~8
~ 7
types of resolution. The horizontal we may take the final step and speculate
c
": 6 axis shows the difference between the as to why the acoustical valence carries
Q)
two intervals in the chord, in semitone an emotional valence as well.
~ 5
-4 units. When there is no difference, the We contend that the emotional sym
3 chord is ambiguous, and its "valence bolism of major and minor chords has a
2 score" on the vertical axis is zero. The biological basis. Across the animal king
1 valence score rises or falls to a maxi dom, vocalizations with a descending
o mum or minimum when the difference pitch are used to signal social strength,
o 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 1213 between the intervals is exactly 1.0 or aggression or dominance. Similarly, vo
b upper interval -1.0 semitone (points a and b). The va calizations with a rising pitch connote
lence score falls to zero again if the dif social weakness, defeat or submission.
13 .--.---:-:-
ference is two or more semitones. Of course, animals convey these mes
12
As in the dissonance and tension sages in other ways as well, with fa
11
models, considering only the funda- cial expressions, body posture and so
10
on-but all else being equal, changes in
9
Figure 9. The total harmonic instability of the ftmdamental frequency of the voice
~8 any triad can be shown by adding together have intrinsic meaning.
~ 7
c dissonance and tension factors. Once again, This same frequency code has been
": 6
Q) the picture is relatively simple when only FO absorbed, though attenuated, in hu
~ 5 and Fl are included (a), with major and mi
- 4 man speech patterns: A rising inflec
nor chords lying in low dissonance/tension
3
areas (blue). But when four upper partials
tion is commonly used to denote ques
2
are added to the picture (b), major and minor tions, politeness or deference, whereas
1
chords continue to congregate in low zones, a falling inflection signals commands,
o whereas suspended (5), augmented (A) and statements or dominance. How might
o 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 1213 diminished (d) chords (c) lie in areas of high this translate to a musical context?
c upper interval instability (red). If we start with a tense, ambiguous
Bibliography
Cook, N. D. 2002. Tone of Voice and Mind. Am
sertdam: Benjamins.
Cook, N. D. 2007. The sound symbolism of
major and minor harmonies. Music Percep
tion 24(3):315-319.
Cook, N. D., and T. X. Fujisawa. 2006. The psy
chophysics of harmony perception: Harmo
ny is a three-tone phenomenon. Empirical
Musicology Review 1(2):106-126.
2 3 4 5 6 7 o
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 111213 Cook, N. D., T. X. Fujisawa and K. Takami.
d upper interval e
upper interval 2006. Evaluation of the affective valence
j
of speech using pitch substructure. IEEE
Figure 10. Interval dissonance and triad tension separate chords into categories but fail to Transactions on Audio, Speech and Language
explain why major and minor chords don't sound similar. The authors propose that the direc Processing 14:142-151.
tion of motion away from interval symmetry <tension) determines the degree to which a chord Helmholtz, H. L. F. 1877. On the Sensations of
is "majorish" or "minorish." If the two intervals of a triad are equal, both the difference in Tone as a Physiological Basis for the Theory or
intervals and the "valence score" (vertical, or modality, axis) are zero (a). As the lower interval Music. Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications,
minus the upper interval approaches +1, the modality approaches +1, or major. As the lower 1954.
interval minus the upper interval approaches -1, the modality approaches -1, or minor. When Kastner, M. E, and R. G. Crowder. 1990. Per
only the fundamentals of the triad are considered, the valence values are as shown in (b) and ception of major / minor: IV. Emotional con
(c), and only four of the six major and minor chords have appropriate valence scores. But when notations in young children. Music Percep
F1 is added (d), all of the minor triads have negative valence scores and all of the major tria~s tion 8:189-202.
have positive valence scores (red). On the expanded triadic grid, when Fo-F4 are included (e) Meyer, L. B. 1956. Emotion and Meaning in Mu
all 12 of the major and minor chords have positive and negative valence scores, respectively. sic. Chicago: Chicago University Press.
Narmour, E. 1990. The Analysis of Cognition of
Basic Melodic Structures. Chicago: Chicago
chord-for example, the augmented have taken this historical trend to its University Press.
chord containing two 4-semitone in logical extreme, and produced music Plomp, R., and W. J. M. Levelt.1965. Tonal con
tervals-and decrease anyone of the that fanatically avoids all indications sonances and critical bandwidth. Journal of
three fundamentals by one semitone, of consonance or harmonic resolution. the Acoustical Society of America 35:548-560.
the chord will resolve into a major Such surprisingly colorless "chromat Roberts, L. 1986. Consonant judgments of mu
key. It will then have a 5-4, 3-5, or 4-3 ic" music is intellectually interesting, sical chords by musicians and untrained
listeners. Acuslica 62:163-171.
semitone structure. Conversely, if we but notably lacking in the ebb and
Sethares, W. A. 199. Tuning, Timbre, Spectrum,
resolve the ambiguous chord by rais flow of tension and resolution that Scale. Berlin: Springer.
ing anyone of the three fundamen most popular music employs, and that
tals by a semitone, we will obtain a most listeners crave. Whatever one's
minor chord. The universal emotional own personal preferences may be for
response to these chords stems, we be dissonance and unresolved harmonies,
lieve, directly from an instinctive, pre some kind of balance between conso
verbal understanding of the frequency nan.ce and dissonance, and between
code in nature. One of us (Cook) has harmonic tension and resolution,
explored this in more detail (see the seems to be essential-genre by genre, For relevant Web links, consult this
bibliography). and individual by individual-to as issue of American Scientist Online:
Individual tastes and musical styles sure the emotional ups and downs that http://www.americanscientist.orgl
vary widely. In the West, music has make music satisfying. Issue TOC/issue/11 01
changed over the centuries from
styles that employed predominantly Acknowledgement
the resolved major and minor chords Thanks for critical comments on the visual
to styles that include more and more display of harmony go to the participants
dissonant intervals and unresolved at the Image and Meaning Workshop 2.4
chords. Inevitably, some composers at Harvard, October 26-27, 2007.