An investigation into the development of melodic interval discrimination

Abstract

Trotter's “melometer” was used to investigate some proposals concerning melody discrimination. An analysis of covariance which controlled for scores on the “Wing Test of Musical Intelligence” showed that discrimination differed in artists, professional musicians and students. The significant difference between the groups indicated three levels of discrimination, one of which was attributed to musical training and the other to some underlying ability common to the Fine Arts. This finding was contrasted with some of Trotter's proposals, the method was evaluated and some possible limitations of the experiment given.