Effect of Music Complexity on Nonmusicians' Focus of Attention to Melody or Harmony

Abstract

This study is a replication and extension of a previous study to investigate the effect of musical complexity on nonmusicians' focus of attention to melody or harmony. The research questions addressed were as follows: (a) Is there a difference in focus of attention among levels of melodic complexity and harmonic complexity? (b) Is there a significant difference in focus of attention between melodic complexity and harmonic complexity? (c) Is there a significant difference between focus of attention responses and perceived focus of attention to melody or harmony? Participants ( N = 126) were drawn from university nonmusic majors attending a large, comprehensive university in the Midwest. The music complexity variable consisted of four levels of melodic complexity and four levels of harmonic complexity each paired for a total of 16 possible combinations. Participants indicated their overall perceived focus of attention for melody and harmony. Significant differences were found for demonstrated focus of attention and perceived focus of attention. Overall, data showed that nonmusicians tend to focus attention on melodic elements. Implications for the findings and further research are discussed.