Present‐Day Preferences for Certain Melodic Intervals in the Natural, Equal‐Tempered and Pythagorean Scales Free

The chromatic steps of a piano from F₂ to C₄ were tuned successively to natural, equal‐tempered and Pythagorean scale values. With each tuning a phonograph record was made of certain melodic and harmonic intervals in the major scale. This preliminary report presents the expressed preferences of a group of observers for the ascending and descending forms of the melodic major third (on C) and diminished fifth (on B) as given by these three tunings. A paired‐comparison technique was employed in obtaining judgments.