Name+That+Tune...Or+Concerning+the+Recall+of+Melodies


 * ===== M atthew Gutierrez-Rosa  =====

====Speech is similar to music-words are grouped together as notes are often grouped and linked with bars and separated by measures as commas and periods and so fourth divide speech. Words have stress and importance just as notes have articulation and strength whether it be a delicate pianissimo or the heavy loudness of forte indicators.==== ====I argue when subjects are presented with songs with original words/notes, recognizable accents and triad notes reasonably spaced, participants are likely to have enhanced melody recognition. These “triggers” are integral in melody recognition even where the melody is out of tune. As long as there are the familiar categories of spacing of particular notes with familiar rhythms, recollection can be achieved as well as recitation, conversely.==== ====When faced with melody recall or identifying a song in an experiment environment, variations by text or notation (notes) can alter the outcome of the level or correctness to identify the given melody. That is, some subjects may still be able to identify “Hey Jude” by The Beatles even if it is not played in the appropriate key or the song is played in reverse, or even if the lyrics have been altered. It should be important to note through the work of Robert G. Crowder in his publication on Melody For Text, Prosody, and Melody in Speech and Song “experiments on memory for songs have shown that melody recognition is enhanced when the melody is presented with its original words as opposed to when it its presented with different, but equally familiar words. New experiments have extended this finding to memory for the words and prosody of spoken sentences.”====

====M. Boltz highlights in his abstract Some Structural Determinants of Mental Recall ”Sophisticated musicians were asked to recall, using musical notation, a set of unfamiliar folk tunes that varied in rhythmic structure and referents of tonality. The results showed that memory was facilitated by tonic triad members marking phrase endings, but only when their presence was highlighted by a corresponding pattern of temporal accents”(Mem Cognit 193,239-251). Alternately, performance in these tests weakened when tonal emphasis was lessoned or absent. To retain an overall pitch scheme information or details at end phrase points had to be manipulated just as in conveying an idea in common speech with intonation. The results highlight a framework that link results with common melodic or rhythmic schemes.==== Although this schema provides research with a credible course for information there is much “messy” data born out of these types of experiments. As our friend Sloboda has said in his publication of Immediate Recall of Melodies “many subjects have no well-practiced response mode, have no instrumental skill, and may be totally inept at vocal techniques.” (6.147). Nevertheless Sloboda does emphasize the quality and quantity of data and its coherence obtained from committed “untrained subjects. In conclusion, the perception and ability to recognize or recall a melody can be achieved through enhancements and triggers or accents. The grouping of notes and rhythms when similar to the original composition tend to be recognized by the trained and non-trained listener. =Works Cited= Boltz, M. Some Structural Determinants of Melody Recall, Department of Psychology, Haverford College, Pa 19041 Mem Cognit 1991 May; 19(3):239-51 URL http://www.unboundmedicine.com/medline/ebm/record/1861610/abstract/Some_structural_determinants_of_melody_recall_ Crowder, Robert G. Memory for Text, Prosody, and Melody in Speech and Song (Dept. of Psychol.,Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520 URL http://scitation.aip.org/getpdf/servlet/GetPDFServlet?filetype=pdf&id=JASMAN0000880000S1000S90000005&idtype=cvips&prog=normal Sloboda, John A. and parker, David H.H. Immediate Recall of Melodies, from //Musical Structure and Cognition//,Howell and West (eds.) New York: Academic Press, 1985. Pp.143-167.