Auditory Complexity and Musical Ability

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to relate complexity preference to the choice of music as a vocational area. There were 3 groups of Ss: 67 non-musician psychology students, 46 high school music majors, and 24 professional musicians. Ss rated 15 musical chords of varying complexity on a 7-point scale. The older professional musicians were better able to discriminate chord groups than the other Ss.