An Investigation of Adult Listeners’ Conservation of Melody Under Harmonic Deformations

Abstract

This study extends Zimmerman’s research on children’s music conservation to adult listeners, investigating participants’ ability to conserve melody under different harmonic conditions. Specifically, I investigated whether listeners in the study could identify melody when primary, diatonic, and secondary chords were added (Task 1) and when melody was harmonized differently (Task 2). Additionally, could they dissociate melody from harmony (Task 3)? Participants ( N = 80) listened to 34 pairs of examples and identified if the melody was the same or different in each pair. Results indicated that (a) listeners could conserve melody with addition of harmony regardless of harmonic conditions, (b) they could conserve melody when harmony was changed but were significantly better conserving melody when harmony was changed from primary to diatonic chords than from primary to secondary chords, and (c) they could dissociate melody from harmony but were significantly better with diatonic chords than secondary chords. As Task 3 was the reverse of Task 1, the finding that adult listeners conserved in one direction (Task 1) but not necessarily in the opposite direction (Task 3) and vice versa may suggest the existence of musical reversibility.