UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO Absolute Pitch and Related Abilities A dissertation ...

140 Pages·2011·1.59 MB·English

UC San Diego
UC San Diego Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Title
Absolute pitch and related abilities
Permalink
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7j46q4z5
Author
Dooley, Kevin David
Publication Date
2011

Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation
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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO

Absolute Pitch and Related Abilities

A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor
of Philosophy

in

Psychology

By

Kevin David Dooley

Committee in charge:
Professor Diana Deutsch, Chair
Professor Stephan Anagnostaras
Professor Stuart Anstis
Professor F. Richard Moore
Professor Miller Puckette

2011
©
Kevin David Dooley, 2011
All rights reserved
The Dissertation of Kevin David Dooley is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and
form for publication on microfilm and electronically:

Chair

University of California, San Diego
2011
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EPIGRAPH

Writing about music is like dancing about architecture.
Martin Mull

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Signature Page…………………………………………………………………….…iii
Epigraph……………………………………………………………………………...iv
Table of Contents……………………………………………………………………..v
List of Figures ……………………………………………………………………..…vi
Acknowledgments……………………………………...……………………………vii
Vita……………………………………………………………………………………ix
Abstract………………………………………………………………………………..x
Chapter 1 Introduction…………………………………………………..…………….1
Chapter 2 Absolute pitch and musical dictation……………………………………...32
Chapter 3 Absolute pitch and intervals……...……………………………………….51
Chaper 4 Songs, cell phones, & absolute pitch……………………………………...77
Chapter 5 Discussion…………………………..………………………………...…101
Glossary…………………….....…..………………..…………………………..…..115
References…………………….….………………...……………………………….116
v
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 2.1……………………………………………………………………………49
Figure 2.2……………………………………………………………………………50
Figure 3.1……………………………………………………………………………72
Figure 3.2……………………………………………………………………………73
Figure 3.3……………………………………………………………………………74
Figure 3.4……………………………………………………………………………75
Figure 3.5……………………………………………………………………………76
Figure 4.1……………………………………………………………………………97
Figure 4.2……………………………………………………………………………98
Figure 4.3……………………………………………………………………………99
Figure 4.4………………………………………………..…………………………100
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank Professor Diana Deutsch for her invaluable guidance and
support as my mentor and friend and, along with her husband Tony, generously providing
a warm and welcoming home away from home. I would also like to thank the rest of my
committee- Professor Stuart Anstis, Professor Stephan Anagnostaras, Professor Miller
Puckette, and Professor F. Richard Moore- for their expertise and their patience in
helping me through this process.
In addition, I must acknowledge the diligence and hard work of all my
undergraduate research assistants over the years, and of course the vital contributions of
the many research participants who shared their time and talents. Finally, a heartfelt
thank-you to all my friends, family, and teachers who have not only supported me
throughout this process but helped me to reach this point. In particular, I wish to thank
my parents for providing the combination of genes, environment, and most of all years of
love and wisdom that carried me this far.
Chapter 2, in full, is a reprint of the material as it appears in Journal of the
Acoustical Society of America 2010. Dooley, Kevin; Deutsch, Diana, Acoustical Society
of America, 2010. The dissertation author was the primary investigator and author of this
paper.
Chapter 3, in part, has been submitted for publication of the material as it may
appear in Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 2011. Dooley, Kevin; Deutsch,
Diana, Acoustical Society of America, 2011. The dissertation author was the primary
investigator and author of this paper.
vii
Chapter 4, in part, has been submitted for publication of the material as it may
appear in Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 2011, Dooley, Kevin, Springer, 2011.
The dissertation author was the primary investigator and author of this paper.
viii
VITA
2002 Bachelor of Music, University of Southern California
2004-2011 Teaching Assistant, University of California, San Diego
2005 Master of Arts, University of California, San Diego
2011 Doctor of Philosophy, University of California, San Diego

PUBLICATIONS
Deutsch, D., Dooley, K., & Henthorn, T. (2008). Pitch circularity from tones comprising
full harmonic series. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 124, 589-597.
Deutsch, D., Dooley, K., Henthorn, T., & Head, B. (2009). Absolute pitch among
students in an American music conservatory: association with tone language
fluency. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. 125, 2398-2403.
Dooley, K. & Deutsch, D. (2010). Absolute pitch correlates with high performance on
musical dictation. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 128, 890-893.

FIELDS OF STUDY
Major Field: Experimental Psychology (Music Perception)
Professor Diana Deutsch, Supervisor
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