"Need for Resolution" Ratings for Harmonic Musical Intervals

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Abstract
Musical intervals, tonal dyads differing slightly in frequency ratio, have widely disparate psychological effects. Theorists attempting to account for this phenomenon of musical consonance, starting with Pythagoras, have tended to emphasize perceptual or physiological characteristics of the human listener as possible substrates. The present investigation examined the influence of culture on the perception of musical consonance. Maher and Jairazbhoy (1975) noted that the judiciously used musical intervals classed as extreme dissonances in the West appear to be used more freely in the classical music of India. Significant differences between Indians and Canadians in verbal responses to these stimuli supported the hypothesis that these cultural groups differ in their reactions to these elementary musical materials. The importance of attention to culture related variables in theoretical accounts of the origin of musical consonance was stressed.

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