This is a Plain English Papers summary of a research paper called Melody outweighs harmony in shaping the world's musical scales. If you like these kinds of analysis, you should join AImodels.fyi or follow me on Twitter.

Overview

• The standard theory of musical scales has historically been based on harmony rather than melody.
• Recent analyses support both harmony and melody as potential determinants of musical scales.
• This study provides a rigorous, computational comparison of the main theories against a large cross-cultural dataset of 1,314 musical scales from 96 countries.

Plain English Explanation

The way we understand and explain musical scales has long been dominated by the idea that they are primarily shaped by harmony - the combination of different notes played together. However, some recent research has suggested that melody - the sequence of individual notes - may actually be the more important factor.

This study set out to rigorously test these two competing theories against a large dataset of musical scales from all around the world. The researchers analyzed 1,314 scales from 96 different countries to see which theory best explained the patterns they observed.

The results strongly supported the melodic theory - the way the individual notes in a scale relate to each other in terms of small step sizes seems to be the primary driver of how musical scales are structured globally. While harmony can account for some common interval ratios, especially in music theory from Eurasian societies, it does a poor job of predicting the scales found in real-world ethnographic recordings, particularly outside of Eurasia.

In other words, the long-held emphasis on harmony as the foundation of musical scales appears to be misguided. Melody is likely the more fundamental and universal principle shaping the world's musical scales.

Technical Explanation

This study conducted a rigorous, computational comparison of the main theories of musical scale formation - harmony and melody - against a large cross-cultural dataset of 1,314 scales from 96 countries.

The researchers first gathered a comprehensive dataset of musical scales from ethnographic recordings and music theory sources around the world. They then developed computational models to quantify the degree to which each scale aligned with the predictions of harmony-based versus melody-based theories.

The harmony-based theory posits that scales are primarily shaped by the prevalence of simple integer-ratio intervals, such as the perfect fifth. In contrast, the melody-based theory suggests that scales tend to have step sizes of 1-3 semitones, reflecting the cognitive and motor constraints of human melody production.

The results showed overwhelming support for the melodic theory. Scales from the dataset, both from ethnographic recordings and music-theoretic sources, strongly conformed to the predicted 1-3 semitone step sizes. While harmony could account for some common interval ratios, especially in Eurasian music theory, it performed poorly at predicting the scales found in real-world ethnographic data, particularly outside of Eurasia.

These findings challenge the long-standing historical emphasis on harmony as the primary determinant of musical scales. Instead, they suggest that melody is the fundamental organizing principle underlying the diversity of scales found across human cultures.

Critical Analysis

The study's authors acknowledge several caveats and limitations to their research. First, the dataset, while comprehensive, is still limited in its geographic and cultural coverage, with some regions underrepresented. Additionally, the analysis focused on scale structure alone, without considering other important musical factors like rhythm, timbre, or social-cultural context.

Furthermore, while the results strongly support the melodic theory overall, the authors note that harmony may still play an important role in certain musical traditions, particularly those with well-developed music theory. The study does not fully resolve the long-standing debate between these two perspectives, but rather suggests that melody is the more universal and primary principle.

Future research could explore the interplay between melody and harmony in shaping musical scales, as well as investigate how other cognitive, environmental, and cultural factors may influence scale formation. A more nuanced understanding of these complex dynamics could lead to valuable insights about the origins and diversity of human music.

Conclusion

This study provides compelling evidence that melody, rather than harmony, is the primary determinant of the world's musical scales. By analyzing a large cross-cultural dataset, the researchers found near-universal support for melodic theories, which predict step sizes of 1-3 semitones.

While harmony can account for some common interval ratios, especially in Eurasian music theory, it performs poorly at predicting the scales found in real-world ethnographic recordings, particularly outside of Eurasia. This challenges the long-held emphasis on harmony as the foundation of musical scales and suggests that melody is a more fundamental and universal organizing principle.

These findings have important implications for our understanding of the origins and diversity of human music. They encourage us to reevaluate our historical assumptions and consider melody as a crucial factor shaping the musical expressions of cultures around the world.

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