Statistics about the frequency of different type of intervals
Do you know if any statistics about the frequency of different type of intervals in music (of a certain period or by a specific composer) exist?
For instance, suppose you have this piece of music in c major:
(c' is c upper octave)
c d e g c' g c'
Then we have these intervals:
c d
d e
e g
g c'
c' g
g c'
The interval that occurs more frequently is g c'.
Thank you.
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A recent study that I haven't had a chance to check out yet can be found here. In the abstract the authors say that they "statistically quantify note usage with respect to pitch class and intervals," and they go on to say that "[i]nterval usage predicts individual composer identity at levels above chance."
And if you're interested in doing this type of work yourself, definitely check out music21; such a study would be very easy to do with this framework.
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