The Effect of Scale Direction on Pitch Acuity in Solo Vocal Performance

Abstract

;3CALES, which are inferred from music performed for centuries, have merited the arduous study of musicologists who have conceIned themselves with the history of the development of our present diatonic scale. However, only casual mention is made in the literature regarding the performed direction of these scales. Although many attempts have been made to show that descending scale patterns were first used in primitive music, it appears that no author or investigator has conducted a study of the relationship between performed direction and specifically assigned pitches, i.e., intonation. Since the tonal element of music has been largely organized upon various scales, and because performers need to execute these scales with accurate intonation, it seems that an investigation should be made to determine the possibility of greater pitch acuity with respect to ascending or descending scale perfortnance. In reviewing the literature, it is found that while many historians believe descending scale patterns were first used in primitive music,3

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