Conference proceeding
On the Emergence of the Major-Minor System: Cluster Analysis Suggests the Late 16th Century Collapse of the Dorian and Aeolian Modes
Proceedings of the 12th International Conference of Music Perception and Cognition, pp.44-53
2012
Abstract
A large-scale study is reported whose purpose was to attempt to elucidate the emergence of the European major-minor system from the earlier system of modes. The study involved 455 musical passages by 259 composers sampled across the years 1400 to 1750. Beginning with the period 1700-1750, a series of statistical studies were carried out on the distribution of scale tones, progressively moving backward in time. The method utilized a modified version of the Krumhansl-Schmuckler method of key determination – generalized to handle an arbitrary number of modal classifications. The results from cluster analyses on this data are consistent with the view that the modern minor mode emerged from the amalgamation of earlier Dorian and Aeolian modes, with the collapse being completed around the late sixteenth century.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- On the Emergence of the Major-Minor System: Cluster Analysis Suggests the Late 16th Century Collapse of the Dorian and Aeolian Modes
- Creators
- Joshua Albrecht - The Ohio State UniversityDavid Huron - The Ohio State University
- Resource Type
- Conference proceeding
- Publication Details
- Proceedings of the 12th International Conference of Music Perception and Cognition, pp.44-53
- Publisher
- Thessaloniki, Greece
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 2012
- Academic Unit
- School of Music
- Record Identifier
- 9985219828602771
Metrics
1 File views/ downloads
1 Record Views