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This study was generated from a previous analytical study, the results of which provided evidence to suggest that redundancy in rhythmic sequences is a variable between musical styles if not between compositions. The purpose of the present study was to determine if the same factor (i.e., distributional redundancy) would have an influence on preference and interest responses for rhythmic sequences. Subjects were presented with pairs of rhythmic sequences in which all factors except level of distributional redundancy had been randomized or held constant. Subjects were asked to choose the sequence most preferred (Experiment I) or most interesting (Experiment II). The results of the study suggest: (1) the beginning of a curve showing preference to be an inverted U-shaped function of the amount of distributional redundancy in rhythmic sequences; and (2) that interest responses appear to be an increasing monotonic function of distributional redundancy in rhythmic sequences. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The problem of this study was to determine if melodic complexity, defined as number of different pitches or melodic redundancy, influences preference responses of school-age subjects. The test melodies presented to the subjects consisted of nine original, randomly-generated, 48-pitch melodies in which all musical elements (except number of different pitches and redundancy) had been held constant or randomized. Subjects indicated their responses to these melodies on a seven-point response scale.The results indicate that the two melodic complexity factors of number of different pitches and melodic redundancy do influence preference responses of school-age subjects to a statistically significant degree when highly controlled melodies are employed. No interaction effect between these two complexity variables appears to be present. Melodies generated from five or seven different pitch alphabets are preferred to a statistically significant degree over those generated from twelve different pitch alphabets; and melodies containing low or intermediate levels of redundancy (as designated in this study) generally are preferred to a statistically significant degree over highly redundant melodies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]