Image by Shane RosarioDifferent music encourages different frames of mind
Jun 24, 2014 |By Daniel A. Yudkin and Yaacov Trope

Hum the first two notes of “The Simpsons” theme song. (If you’re not a Simpsons fan, “Maria” from West Side Story will also do.) The musical interval you’re hearing—the pitch gap between the notes—is known as a “tritone,” and it’s commonly recognized in music theory as one of the most dissonant intervals, so much so that composers and theorists in the 18th century dubbed it diabolus in musica (“devil in music”).

Now hum the first few notes of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, or, if you prefer something with a little more street cred, the “I’m sorry” part in Outkast’s “Ms. Jackson.” This is the “perfect fifth.” It’s one of the most consonant intervals, used in myriad compositions as a vehicle of resolution and harmony.

READ MORE from Scientific America

ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S)

Daniel Yudkin is a doctoral candidate in social psychology at New York University and a jazz pianist. He graduated from Williams College, was a Fellow at Harvard University, and once attempted an eleven-country European busking tour funded entirely by street-coins. More here.

Yaacov Trope is a Professor of Psychology at New York University. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan and is a member of the American Association for Arts and Sciences. He has edited several books, including Dual-Process Theories in Social Psychology (1998), Self Control in Society, Mind, and Brain (2010), and Dual-Process Theories of the Social Mind (2014). His general areas of interest are social cognition, motivation, and self-control.

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Joanne Kee
http://www.jazz.org.au
Editor of Jazz Australia, formerly contributor to Sydney Morning Herald and Women's Money MagazineMusic programmer and producer

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