Qualia structure of musical scale notes.

Western tonal music gives each scale note a distinctive qualia, defined by its relationship to the tonic (Do). We measured these qualia using Arthur’s (2018) rating scheme to characterise their structure and how it changes with music training. Term 1 yielded three findings: relative-pitch training modifies the qualia structure; absolute pitch breaks key-invariance, making qualia depend on the absolute key; and the auditory P2 component tracks the tonic’s special status as the referece pitch. Term 2 will consolidate these results, extend the work to music-major students, and open a new question — the qualia structure of triads.