The factors governing the degree of difficulty in memorizing melodies by absolute pitch possessors.

Yoko Okumiya & Kengo Ohgushi

abstract

Absolute pitch possessors memorized a tonal melody and a non-tonal melody. The aim of this study is to investigate the factors governing the degree of difficulty in memorizing each note of melodies. In both melodies, serial position, scale degree(or note name in the non-tonal melody), note value, interval, and difference between white-key and black-key were examined. It was found that serial position and scale degree(or note name) governed mainly the degree of difficulty in memorizing each note of the tonal melody as well as the non-tonal melody. It seems that subjects adapted to the non-tonal melody by replacing it to particular key. Result of the analysis by the quantification method of the first type showed that in the tonal melody, serial position and scale degree explain 81% of difficulty in memorizing each note. In the non-tonal melody, two factors explain 84% of difficulty in memorizing each note.