This slideshow is taken from a conference presentation (somewhat modified). It summarizes the Temperley & Tan 2013 study, and also talks about some further work on the emotional connotations of modes. 1
Emotional Connotations of Diatonic Modes (collaborative work with Daphne Tan) David Temperley Eastman School of Music University of Rochester 2
It is well-known that scales can have strong emotional connotations. In classical music, major mode is happy and minor mode is sad and many experiments have confirmed this. Even small children can detect that the first melody below is happier than the second (Kastner & Crowder, 1990): & 8 6 J J j J J J j. ΠJ & 8 6 J b J j J J b J j. ΠL In this talk, I report on some research that explores the emotional connotations of diatonic modes. First, let s review the concept of diatonic modes... 3
A diatonic mode is a scale framework that uses the diatonic scale and selects a certain position in the scale as the tonic or tonal center. We can generate the seven diatonic modes by taking a diatonic scale such as the C major scale and locating the tonal center at different positions: Ionian Dorian Phrygian Ionian Dorian Phrygian & w w w w w w w & w w w w w w w & w w w w w w w Lydian Lydian & w w w w w w w Mixolydian Mixolydian & w w w w w w w Aeolian Locrian Aeolian Locrian & w w w w w w w & w w w w w w w 4
Another way to generate the modes is by starting with a major scale (such as C major) and raising ( # ) or lowering (b) certain notes by a halfstep. In this way the tonal center stays the same, but the scale changes. Lydian Ionian (major) Mixolydian Dorian Aeolian (minor?) Phrygian Locrian (rare and we ll ignore it) & w w w # w w w w & w w w w w w w & w w w w w w bb w & w w b w w w b b w b b b & w w w w & w w w & w b w b w w b w b w b w Similar to classical minor but not really the same; statistically, classical minor tends to use the harmonic minor scale (with 7 not b7) 5
The modes map very nicely on to the circle (or line) of fifths... Lydian Ionian Mixo Dorian Aeolian Phrygian & w w w # w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w F# B E A D G C F Bb Eb Ab Db Each mode spans a range of seven pitches on the line and the modes themselves reveal a natural line-of-fifths ordering. (Scale-degrees are lowered as you move to the right...) 6
It s been noted that modes are widely used in modern popular music. Many rock songs stay consistently in a single mode. Four examples (all with the same tonal center): & w w w # w w w w Ionian The Who, Kids are Alright Mixolydian Journey, Lights Dorian Pink Floyd, Another Brick in the Wall Part II & w w w w w w w & w w w w w w & w w w w w Aeolian Police, Walking on the Moon & w w w w & w w w Phrygian and Lydian are rarely used in rock. (Not all rock songs are modal. Many songs use other scales - e.g. pentatonic scales, blues scales, or combinations of these.) 7
Given the widespread use of modes in popular music, modern listeners should be quite familiar with them. But the emotional implications of modes (other than major and minor) have not been widely explored. The following experiment (in collaboration with Daphne Tan) investigates this (Temperley & Tan, 2013). 8
The emotional connotations of major and minor vary mainly on the valence dimension of emotion (Gabrielsson & Lindstrom, 2001). We assumed that this would be true of diatonic modes as well. Happiness is often taken to represent valence, and we will do so here. ACTIVITY/ AROUSAL ALARMED ' AROUSED. EXCITED ASTONISHED AFRAID TENSE DISTRESSED ANNOYED FRUSTRATED > ANGRY ' DELIGHTED GLAD HAPPY PLEASED SATISFIED CONTENT VALENCE MISERABLE, DEPRESSED SAD. SERENE * CALM. AT EASE RELAXED GLOOMY BORED DROOPY TIRED SLEEPY (Russell, 1980) 9
EXPERIMENT Participants 17 students at the University of Rochester (not music majors) We asked the participants what types of music listened to; they could name as many as they wished. Answers included rock (n=15), pop (n=7), R&B (n=6), classical (n=5), jazz (n=5). 10
Procedure Participants heard pairs of melodies. Each pair featured the same basic melody played in two different modes, always with a tonic of C. Participants had to judge which of the two versions was happier. 11
Sample melodies a basic melody in six different modes Lydian & 8 6 j Ionian & 8 6 j & 8 6 j Mixolydian Dorian & 8 6 j Aeolian & 8 6 j Phrygian & 8 6 j J J J J J b J J J b b J b b J b b J b J b j j #. j. j. j j b b b. b. b b. 12
Six basic melodies were used; each one was converted into all six different modes. All possible pairs of the six modes were used, yielding 15 mode pairs. 6 basic melodies 15 mode pairs = 90 trials. Each subject heard the trials in a different random order. (For each mode pair, within-trial ordering was counterbalanced: each ordering was heard equally often.) 13
RESULTS A highly significant effect of mode was found. The proportion of trials on which each mode was judged as happier: Proportion 0.9 0.8 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 Lydian (.58) Ionian (.83) Mixo. (.64) Dorian (.40) Aeolian (.34) Phryg. (.21) Mode All pairwise differences were also significant, except L-M, L-D, and D-A. 14
A similar experiment was also done with musicians (students at the Eastman School of Music) 1 0.9 0.8 0.7 Proportion 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 Nonmusicians Musicians 0 Lydian Ionian Mixolydian Dorian Aeolian Phrygian Mode...A very similar pattern of results. 15
How can we explain this pattern of results? Various theories have been put forth for why major is happier than minor. Let s consider how well these theories explain our results on diatonic modes. 16
Helmholtz (1877) suggested that major keys are happier than minor ones because the major triad is more consonant than the minor triad. This partly fits our data. But it cannot account for differences between majortonic modes, and between minor-tonic modes. & w w w # w w w w Lydian DATA (nonmusicians) PREDICTION & w w w w w w w & w w w w w w & w w w w w Ionian Mixo. Dorian & w w w w Aeolian & w w w Phryg & w w 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 happiness 17
Meyer (1957) argued that minor keys are less happy than major ones because the minor scale is more variable. There are different forms of the minor scale (with raised or lowered 6th degree, and raised or lowered 7th degree). Meyer suggested that this causes uncertainty and anxiety in the listener. But diatonic modes (at least in our experiment) are not variable; each mode has just one scale form. So this cannot explain the differences in perceived happiness between modes. 18
David Huron and colleagues (Huron, Yim, & Chordia, 2010) have suggested that scales with relatively higher scale-degrees are heard as happier, by analogy with speech. ( Sad speech tends to be lower in pitch.) This theory fits the data pretty well. With the exception of Lydian, modes tend to decrease in happiness as scale-degrees are lowered. Proportion 0.9 0.8 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 Lydian (.58) Ionian (.83) Mixo. (.64) Dorian (.40) Aeolian (.34) Phryg. (.21) 19
Two problems Huron s height theory: 1. Huron s theory associates the happiness of modes with their (relative) pitch height. But most studies have associated pitch height more with arousal than with valence (Gabrielsson & Lindstrom, 2001). 2. If the emotional associations of modes are due to their similarities to speech, this suggests that they should be universal. But they are not. Classical Indian music is built on the same 12-note chromatic scale as Western music, and it features many scales with strong expressive connotations. But the height of these scales does not correlate strongly with emotional valence. Some Indian scales with the major third have negative connotations, and some scales with the minor third have positive ones (Jairazhboy, 1971; Balkwill & Thompson, 1995). 20
What about familiarity? It can be seen that the happiness of each mode is inversely related to the number of notes that differ from major mode (Ionian): Num. diff. from Ionian & w w w # w w w w Lydian 1 & w w w w w w w & w w w w w w & w w w w w Ionian Mixo. Dorian 0 1 2 & w w w w Aeolian 3 & w w w Phryg 4 & w w 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 happiness 21
Could the emotional connotations of the modes be a simple matter of familiarity? Perhaps major is the mode that people hear most often, and are most comfortable with; they get less comfortable with modes as they get further away from major. Familiarity has been found to play an important role in emotional response to music (Gaver & Mandler, 1987; Szpunar et al., 2004; Huron, 2006). However, familiarity is generally thought to affect felt emotional rather than perceived emotion. Our study probed perceived emotion. (We asked How happy is this melody? not How happy does this melody make you feel? ) Still, the familiarity hypothesis might be worth exploring... 22
Remember that our subjects said they listened to rock more than any other style. In another project, Trevor de Clercq and I (Temperley & de Clercq, 2013) have gathered data about the pitch content of rock songs analyzing melodies and chord progressions in a corpus of songs from Rolling Stone magazine s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Could this data tell us anything about the frequency (and hence the familiarity) of different modes? 23
De Clercq and I did find that the seven degrees of the major scale were the most common ones in our harmonic data. (The same was true in the melodic data, except that b7 was more common than 7). And major was rated as the happiest mode in our experiment. 0.3 0.25 0.2 0.15 0.1 Rock harmony Rock melody 0.05 0 1 b2 2 b3 3 4 #4 5 b6 6 b7 7 24
In addition, the least common degrees in our corpus data are #4 and b2. Only Lydian uses #4, and only Phrygian uses b2, and these modes are both low in happiness, compared to adjacent modes on the circle of fifths. HAPPINESS #4 & w w w # w w w w Lydian & w w w w w w w & w w w w w w & w w w w w Ionian Mixo. Dorian & w w w w Aeolian & w b2 w w Phryg & w w 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 So this suggests that familiarity may offer at least a partial explanation for our results. 25
However, we think there are reasons to doubt that the results of our study are only due to familiarity. In a more recent experiment (Tan & Temperley, in press), we gave subjects melodies in different modes. Each melody had an ending that could be in the same mode as the rest of the melody or a different mode, and we asked them how well the ending fit the melody. Example: A Mixolydian context melody... with a Mixolydian ending with an Ionian ending (They would also hear the Ionian version of the context, with both endings) The overall fit of endings in different modes (both same-context and different-context) can be taken to indicate the familiarity of the mode. 26
The top graph shows the fit of endings in the different modes. Notice the strong peak at Ionian observed in our happiness data. Notice also the low values for Lydian and Phrygian, also observed in our happiness data. So far so good... 7 Familiarity data 6 5 4 3 2 L I M D A P Happiness data 0.9 0.8 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 Lydian (.58) Ionian (.83) Mixo. (.64) Dorian (.40) Aeolian (.34) Phryg. (.21) 27
However, it can be seen that Aeolian endings were felt to fit better than Dorian endings. This suggests that Aeolian is more familiar than Dorian though in our happiness experiment, it was judged as less happy. 7 Familiarity data 6 5 4 3 2 L I M D A P Happiness data 0.9 0.8 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 Lydian (.58) Ionian (.83) Mixo. (.64) Dorian (.40) Aeolian (.34) Phryg. (.21) 28
Going back to our corpus of rock melodies: Suppose we just look at minor melodies those in which b3 is more common than 3. Now we find that the b6 degree is more common than the 6. This suggests that Aeolian is more common than Dorian in popular music, and should have been more familiar to our subjects. (This is only for fairly recent songs since 1980. Before 1980, Dorian is more common than Aeolian!) 0.3 0.25 0.2 0.15 0.1 0.05 0 1 b2 2 b3 3 4 #4 5 b6 6 b7 7 29
So both our familiarity experiment and our recent corpus data suggests that Aeolian is more familiar to modern listeners than Dorian. 7 6 5 4 3 2 L I M D A P And this casts doubt on familiarity as an explanation for our happiness data. 0.9 0.8 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 Lydian (.58) Ionian (.83) Mixo. (.64) Dorian (.40) Aeolian (.34) Phryg. (.21) 30
Perhaps, then, our happiness data reflects two factors: - a familiarity factor, and - a sharpness factor, which implies increasing happiness as scaledegrees are raised. L I M D A P + L I M D A P = L I M D A P 31
Is there a sharpness factor in the connotations of modes? (Do modes with higher degrees sound happier for some reason?) If so, where does this come from? As noted earlier, Huron argues that modes with higher pitch tend to sound happier, by analogy with speech. But this implies that the higher=happier connotation should be universal, which it is not. L I M D A P Perhaps the sharpness factor in the connotations of modes is just a historical accident a convention that developed over time in Western culture. 32
A brief word about Phrygian Phrygian the least happy mode in our data is rare in popular music generally, but it is common in one kind of pop music, namely heavy metal. (An example Megadeth s Symphony of Destruction. ) In heavy metal, despite its common usage, Phrygian generally carries very negative connotations (Walser, 1993, Moore 2009) again arguing against a familiarity explanation. Phrygian and especially the b2 scale degree also has very negative connotations in Western classical music, suggesting grief and tragedy (Cooke, 1959). In other cultures, however, it often does not have this meaning (Moore, 2009). 33
Conclusions Our experiments show a very strong and consistent pattern of emotional connotations for diatonic modes. We considered various theories to explain this pattern. Helmholtz s consonance theory and Meyer s variability theory do not seem to explain the pattern. L I M D A P 34
Familiarity seems to offer a partial explanation for the pattern. We performed experiments and corpus analysis to explore this further. - Corpus data and our familiarity experiment both suggest that major is the most familiar mode, and that Lydian and Phrygian are least familiar. - But familiarity (as reflected in our familiarity experiment and in corpus data drawn from recent popular music) seems to predict a peak at Aeolian, which is not found in the happiness data. (It also predicts a much lower value for Lydian than found in our happiness experiment.) L I M D A P 35
Perhaps, then, the happiness of modes is affected by familiarity, but also by another factor that predicts increasing happiness as scaledegrees are raised. This sharpness factor could be explained by a height account, relating scale happiness to pitch height. But the fact that the heighthappiness relationship is culture-dependent seems to argue against this theory, suggesting that it may simply be a cultural association that arose over time. L I M D A P 36
Thank you for your attention! And thanks to my collaborators Daphne Tan Indiana University Trevor de Clercq Middle Tennessee State University And thanks to Jeremiah Goyette for technical assistance. 37
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