Average Pitch Height and Perceived Emotional Expression Within an Unconventional Tuning System

Abstract

Prior research has amply documented that happy music tends to be faster, louder, higher in average pitch, more variable in pitch, and more staccato in articulation, whereas sad music tends to be slower, lower, less variable, and more legato in articulation. However, the bulk of existing studies are either correlational or allow these expressive cues to covary freely, thereby making it difficult to confirm the causal influence of a given cue. To help address this gap, we experimentally assessed whether the average height (F0) of a pitch gamut independently impacts the perceived emotional expression of melodies derived from the gamut. Study participants rated the perceived happiness/sadness of a set of isochronous and semi-random tone sequences derived from the Bohlen-Pierce scale, an unconventional scale based on pitch intervals that do not appear in common practice music. Results were consistent with the notion that higher average pitch height communicates happiness and/or that lower pitch height communicates sadness. Moreover, they suggested that the effect is: (1) sufficiently robust to be detected using rudimentary melodies based on an unconventional musical scale; and, (2) independent of interval size.

Perception of affect in unfamiliar musical chords

“…Another notable finding of this study is the strong effect of average pitch height in both models, supporting the theory that high pitch is associated with positive affect, with positive applying to both pleasantness and happiness [28,51–52,31]. These correlations may partly be explained by the relationship between music and vocal affect expression [35,72–73].…”

“…Several studies have found inverse relationships or an inverted-U- shaped function between preference and pitch height (see [53] for an overview of those studies), but it is important to note that the range of frequencies used is often larger in the studies reporting an inverse relationship or an inverted-U-shape. In the previously discussed study by Friedman et al [28], the positive relation between average pitch and happiness ratings was found despite the unconventional nature of the scale and was independent of interval sizes, which is suggestive of it being a robust effect.…”

“…In a recent study, Friedman et al [28] used isochronous and semi-random tone sequences from the BP system to test the theory that average pitch height is correlated with happiness/sadness. Similar to the aim of the current experiment, by using tone sequences from an unfamiliar musical system, the effect of average pitch height on perceived valence could be assessed independently from previous exposure to a well-known musical system.…”

“…Similar to the aim of the current experiment, by using tone sequences from an unfamiliar musical system, the effect of average pitch height on perceived valence could be assessed independently from previous exposure to a well-known musical system. As well as finding an association between pitch height and valence, Friedman et al [28] also tested whether average pitch height had a stronger effect than average interval size, as melodies containing larger intervals have been found to be associated with happy music and melodies containing small intervals with sad music. In their experiment, 114 participants were asked to rate happiness/sadness of a set of the BP tone sequences in two different conditions (Congruent Pitch Height/Interval Size and Incongruent Pitch Height/Interval Size).…”

“…This is desirable because we are interested in assessing the effects on ratings of the different chord types independently from their overall pitch. A few experimental studies have tested the effects of average pitch height on perception of happiness/sadness and their results consistently show a positive relationship between pitch height and valence; where higher pitch accords with happy and lower with sad [28,51–52,31]. The association between preference and pitch height is not as robust in the general music perception literature.…”