Melody predominates over harmony in the evolution of musical scales across 96 countries

Abstract

The standard theory of musical scales since antiquity has been based on harmony, rather than melody. While recent analyses provide mixed support for a role of melody as well as harmony, we lack a comparative analysis based on cross-cultural data. We address this longstanding problem through a rigorous computational comparison of the main theories using 1,314 scales from 96 countries. There is near-universal support for melodic theories, which predict step-sizes of 1-3 semitones. Harmony accounts for the prevalence of certain simple-integer-ratio intervals, particularly for music-theoretic scales from Eurasian societies, which may explain their dominance amongst Western scholars. However, harmony is a poor predictor of scales measured from ethnographic recordings, particularly outside of Eurasia. Overall, we show that the historical emphasis on harmony is misguided and that melody is the primary determinant of the world's musical scales.