Demonstrations of
Auditory Illusions and Tricks
2nd Edition
III. Abstraction of Musical Melodies
<12> Successive Piano Tones
In pattern (a), a musical scale is played on
the piano with short overlaps between the neighboring tones.
Despite the physical overlaps, the listener hears
a coherent musical scale.
In pattern (b), the whole waveform is
reversed in time, and the listener
can hear the overlaps more easily.
Kuwano, S., Namba, S., Yamasaki, T., & Nishiyama, K. (1994).
Impression of smoothness of a sound stream in relation to
legato in musical performance.
Perception & Psychophysics, 56, 173-182.
<13> Successive Piano Tones
with the Sustaining Pedal
In pattern (a), a musical scale is played on the
piano using the sustaining pedal continuously.
Decaying piano tones are simply added up.
Still the listener hears a coherent
musical scale.
In pattern (b), the whole waveform is
reversed in time, and the listener hears the concurrence
of the tones more clearly. However, the pattern gives a
more complex perceptual impression.
<14> A Melody of Silences
In a continuing sequence of seven tones, C5, F5, G5, A5, Bb5,
C6 and D6, which are played simultaneously, short temporal gaps
make a familiar melody.
This may seem a reversal of figure
(sounds) and ground (silences).
In fact, the listener hears a clear melody, picking up not
the beginnings but the ends of the silences
(the onsets of the tones).
Each tone of the melody is perceived as continuing
just until the onset of the next tone, although
there is no direct acoustic cue to end the tone.
Kubovy, M. & Daniel, J. (1983).
Pitch segregation by interaural phase, by momentary
amplitude disparity, and by monaural phase.
Journal of the Audio Engineering Society, 31, 9, 630-634.
