We investigated the effect of legato and staccato articulation styles on the perception of modulated tempos. Ninety music majors served as participants. Listeners heard music examples that had been selected from two pieces, each of which included staccato and legato passages. Excerpts were presented to listeners in three conditions of tempo…

Assesses musicians' perceptions of beat in monotonic stimuli and attempts to define empirically the range of perceived beat tempo in music. Subjects performed a metric pulse in response to periodic stimulus tones. Results indicate a relatively narrow range within which beats are perceived by trained musicians. (LS)

Presents a study which investigated the perception of music majors and nonmusic majors concerning their ability to discriminate the way in which altered musical excerpts differed in pitch or tempo (or both) from preceding presentations. Concludes that both groups responded similarly across conditions and replications, and that tempo changes were…

Investigated the tempo note preferences of 100 randomly selected college-level musicians using familiar orchestral music as stimuli. Subjects heard selections at increased, decreased, and unaltered tempi. Results showed musicians were not accurate in estimating original tempo and showed consistent preference for faster than actual tempo.…

Examines the relationship between home musical environment and musical attributes among 116 second-grade primarily Mexican-American children. Multiple regression analyses revealed no significant relationship between home environment and tonal or rhythmic perception. (Author/JDH)

Uses extant musical examples as stimuli in order to assess the effect of melodic rhythm as a determinant of relative tempo as perceived by college undergraduates and elementary students. Results indicate that subjects responded to the melodic rhythm as well as the beat when making tempo judgments. (LS)

Examines first-, third-, and fifth-grade children's ability to hear two simultaneous melodies. Finds that older children identify two melodies faster and more accurately than do younger children, and that register and timbre combinations affect which melody is identified first. Notes implications for elementary music education. (DSK)

Presents the results of a study designed to test ability to discriminate sound intensity modulations. Examines time required for making correct discriminations of stimuli that increased, decreased, or remained the same in intensity. Concludes that both musicians and nonmusicians perceive intensity decreases more easily than increases. (DK)

Measures the effects of cognitive-style field dependence/field independence on students' ability to discern form in music. Applies tests to 119 nonmusic majors enrolled in an introductory music course. Finds field-independent subjects scored significantly higher than field-dependent subjects. Identifies variables affecting learning for both…

Presents results of study of perception of beat across range of stimulus speeds. Finds that college music majors and graduate students perceived faster rates of presentation as subdivisions of slower beat tempi. Concludes that nonmusic subjects perceived stimulus tones as beats regardless of rate of presentation. Urges further research using…

Investigates the effects of field dependence-independence, gender, previous musical experience, and general music ability on music listening. College students recorded their observations about music excerpts. Weeks later they used these observations to identify the excerpts. Multiple regression analyses examined the contributions of subject…

Examines graduate and undergraduate music majors' ability to detect pitch and rhythm errors in various settings of textually contrasting musical excerpts. Students listened to intentionally marred excerpts and attempted to identify the errors. Analysis of variance revealed that the predictor variables did not function independently of each other.…