Re: Up-down pitch perception (Alexandra Hettergott )

Subject: Re: Up-down pitch perception
From:    Alexandra Hettergott  <a.hettergott(at)WANADOO.FR>
Date:    Fri, 4 Jun 1999 19:29:24 +0200

Kevin Austin wrote:
>Thank you for the summary of responses. Most interesting.

I join the thanks, to me this was also of particular interest.

>I have found that up to about 10% of students in my courses, at some tim=
e
>(and sometimes regularly), demonstrate up/down discrimination
>difficulties. The circumstances can either be intervals played in
>isolation, or within melodic passages. Since my findings are shown in th=
e
>form of 'writing' rather than 'asking' which is higher (and given that
>the students are spending 10 or more hours per week studying music), I
>have come to accept that up-down pitch perception is a serious problem,
>sometimes, for some students (and is a complex matter).

How "pure" are the signals you are testing ? Sine tones, too ? or mixture=
s ? gotten
from acoustic instruments, like the piano (real or synthetic) ? or even a=
ll or
nothing of this ?
>
>It is also my experience that many people 'from the general population'
>hear sound the way color is perceived as an un-categorized continuum ...=
 so
>which "is" higher, red or green? (except in traffic lights).

Well, as to me my modest experiences I would agree: untrained listeners g=
et more the
"whole" of a, lets say, impressionist painting, while the trained listene=
rs look also
for the stroke of the brush; so people with (long-term) ear training woul=
d listen for
(musical) interval relations rather, I would guess, even in tasks dealing=
 with very
complex sounds. (So this might be a little, too, in the direction of
synthetic/analytic listening behavior.)


Sincerely,
Alexandra Hettergott.

_______________________
Alexandra Hettergott
1, avenue des Gobelins
   /bo=EEte 23
F-75005 Paris/France
T=E9l/fax:   +33-(0)1-43 31 41 27
M=E9l:        a.hettergott(at)wanadoo.fr
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/a.hettergott/

... la noche,
peque=F1os ruidos
... sombra y espacio, tierra
y tiempo,
algo que corre y cae
y pasa ...
   (Pablo Neruda)
(and thanks for the "little beyond the scope of this thread" ; btw I didn=
't really
convince you re the "oxymoron" recently, n'est-ce pas ?  ;-).