Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0008144
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dc.titleA biological rationale for musical scales
dc.contributor.authorGill K.Z.
dc.contributor.authorPurves D.
dc.date.accessioned2019-11-07T08:15:21Z
dc.date.available2019-11-07T08:15:21Z
dc.date.issued2009
dc.identifier.citationGill K.Z., Purves D. (2009). A biological rationale for musical scales. PLoS ONE 4 (12) : e8144. ScholarBank@NUS Repository. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0008144
dc.identifier.issn19326203
dc.identifier.urihttps://scholarbank.nus.edu.sg/handle/10635/161823
dc.description.abstractScales are collections of tones that divide octaves into specific intervals used to create music. Since humans can distinguish about 240 different pitches over an octave in the mid-range of hearing [1], in principle a very large number of tone combinations could have been used for this purpose. Nonetheless, compositions in Western classical, folk and popular music as well as in many other musical traditions are based on a relatively small number of scales that typically comprise only five to seven tones [2-6]. Why humans employ only a few of the enormous number of possible tone combinations to create music is not known. Here we show that the component intervals of the most widely used scales throughout history and across cultures are those with the greatest overall spectral similarity to a harmonic series. These findings suggest that humans prefer tone combinations that reflect the spectral characteristics of conspecific vocalizations. The analysis also highlights the spectral similarity among the scales used by different cultures. � 2009 Gill, Purves.
dc.rightsAttribution 4.0 International
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.sourceUnpaywall 20191101
dc.subjectarticle
dc.subjectaudiometry
dc.subjectauditory stimulation
dc.subjectcontrolled study
dc.subjecthearing
dc.subjectmusic
dc.subjectperception
dc.subjectpitch
dc.subjectrating scale
dc.subjectvocalization
dc.subjectHumans
dc.subjectModels, Biological
dc.subjectMusic
dc.subjectPitch Perception
dc.typeArticle
dc.contributor.departmentDUKE-NUS MEDICAL SCHOOL
dc.description.doi10.1371/journal.pone.0008144
dc.description.sourcetitlePLoS ONE
dc.description.volume4
dc.description.issue12
dc.description.pagee8144
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