Submitted by Peter Harrison on Wed, 21/08/2024 - 19:25
We are pleased to share a new paper entitled 'Consonance in the carillon', just published in the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. This paper grew out of an undergraduate dissertation by James MacConnachie. Well done James!
The paper explores an interesting phenomenon whereby the idiosyncratic frequency spectrum of the carillon bell alters the usual hierarchy of consonance and dissonance, making the ordinarily consonant major third and minor sixth intervals dissonant. This effect is measured empirically with a rigorous behavioural experiment, and interpreted using competing psychoacoustic models of musical consonance. The results suggest that the effect derives primarily by interference between partials (e.g., beating), but that preference for harmonicity is also necessary to produce an accurate overall account of participants' preferences.
See the paper for more details! Link below.
Harrison, P. M. C., & MacConnachie, J. M. C. (2024). Consonance in the carillon. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 156(2), 1111–1122. https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0028167
Image credit: RuED, CC BY-SA 3.0
