WHAT CHILD IS THIS - WHAT INTERVAL WAS THAT - FAMILIAR TUNES AND MUSIC PERCEPTION IN NOVICE LISTENERS

In the laboratory, musical novices often seem insensitive even to basi c structural elements of music (octaves, intervals, etc.), undermining long-held theories of music perception, and threatening to leave curr ent theories applicable only to experts. Consequently it is important to demonstrate novices' basic listening competence where possible. Two experiments examined the perception of musical intervals (minor third s, major thirds and perfect fourths) by musical novices. Subjects rece ived either standard instructions or familiar folk-tune labels to aid performance. The folk-tune labels greatly improved identification perf ormance, producing expert-caliber performance by some musically inexpe rienced subjects. The effectiveness of the folk-tune manipulation was much more limited in a difficult discrimination task. The results sugg est that novices do have some basic competence when assayed appropriat ely, and that familiar musical tokens may be a critical element in suc h assays. Larger implications of the role of familiarity in novices' c ompetence are discussed, including those that relate to music cognitio n and aesthetics.