PSYC 212 Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Auditory Cortex, Register Key, Major Scale

• School: McGill University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 212
• Professor: Mathieu Roy

Document Summary

Scales and key scale= a particular subset of the notes in an octave key= the scale that functions as the basis of a musical composition. Eg. a composition in the key of c major contains notes mostly from the c major scale. The major and minor scales are differentiated by the pattern of intervals (number of semitones) between successive notes; for the major scales the pattern is 2-2-1-2-2-2-1 and for minor scales its 2-1-2-2-1-2-2. Major scales sound more happy, minor scales sound more sad. Notes sound more pleasant when played in the right key. The root note of the key (the tonic) acts as a gravity point of the key/composition. Musicians create tension by moving away from the tonic and then will resolve the tension at the end of the melody by moving back towards it. Melody= a sequence of notes or chords that are perceived as a single coherent structure.