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The authors evaluate the performances of 11 AGCMs that participated in the Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project II (AMIP II) and that were run in an AGCM-alone way forced by historical sea surface temperature covering the period 1979–99 and their multimodel ensemble (MME) simulation of the interannual variability of the Asian–Australian monsoon (AAM). The authors explore to what extent these models can reproduce two observed major modes of AAM rainfall for the period 1979–99, which account for about 38% of the total interannual variances. It is shown that the MME SST-forced simulation of the seasonal rainfall anomalies reproduces the first two leading modes of variability with a skill that is comparable to the NCEP/Department of Energy Global Reanalysis 2 (NCEP-2) in terms of the spatial patterns and the corresponding temporal variations as well as their relationships with ENSO evolution. Both the biennial tendency and low-frequency components of the two leading modes are captured reasonably in MME. The skill of AMIP simulation is seasonally dependent. December–February (DJF) [July–August (JJA)] has the highest (lowest) skill. Over the extratropical western North Pacific and South China Sea, where ocean–atmosphere coupling may be critical for modeling the monsoon rainfall, the MME fails to demonstrate any skill in JJA, while the reanalysis has higher skills. The MME has deficiencies in simulating the seasonal phase of two anticyclones associated with the first mode, which are not in phase with ENSO forcing in observations but strictly match that of Niño-3.4 SST in MME. While the success of MME in capturing essential features of the first mode suggests the dominance of remote El Niño forcing in producing the predictable portion of AAM rainfall variability, the deficiency in capturing the seasonal phase implies the importance of local air–sea coupling effects. The first mode generally concurs with the turnabout of El Niño; meanwhile, the second mode is driven by La Niña at decaying stage. Multimodel intercomparison shows that there are good relationships between the simulated climatology and anomaly in terms of the degree of accuracy.

The present paper develops an integral view of the year-to-year variability across the entire Asian–Australian monsoon (A–AM) system, which covers one-third of the global tropics between 40° and 160°E. Using season-reliant empirical orthogonal function (S-EOF) analysis, the authors identified two major modes of variability for the period 1956–2004. The first exhibits a prominent biennial tendency and concurs with the turnabout of El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO), providing a new perspective of the seasonally evolving spatiotemporal structure for tropospheric biennial oscillation. The second mode leads ENSO by one year. The remote El Niño forcing, the monsoon–warm pool ocean interaction, and the influence of the annual cycle are three fundamental factors for understanding the behavior of the first mode. The monsoon–ocean interaction is characterized by a positive feedback between the off-equatorial convectively coupled Rossby waves and the underlying sea surface temperature (SST) “dipole” anomalies. Since the late 1970s the overall coupling between the A–AM system and ENSO has become strengthened. The relationships between ENSO and the western North Pacific, East Asian, and Indonesian monsoons have all become enhanced during ENSO’s developing, mature, and decaying phases, overriding the weakening of the Indian monsoon–ENSO anticorrelation during the developing phase. Prior to the late 1970s (1956–79), the first mode shows a strong biennial tendency, and the second mode does not lead ENSO. After 1980, the first mode shows a weakening biennial tendency, and the second mode provides a strong precursory signal for ENSO. These interdecadal changes are attributed to increased magnitude and periodicity of ENSO and the strengthened monsoon–ocean interaction.

Computational models of key estimation have struggled to emulate the accuracy levels of human listeners, especially with pieces in the minor mode. The current study proposes a new key-finding algorithm, which utilizes Euclidean distance, rather than correlation, and is trained on the statistical properties of a large musical sample. A model was trained on a dataset of 490 pieces encoded into the Humdrum “kern” format, in which the key was known. This model was tested on a reserve dataset of 492 pieces, and was found to have a significantly higher overall accuracy than previous models. In addition, we determined separate accuracy ratings for major mode and minor mode works for the existing key-finding models and report that most existing models provide greater accuracy for major mode rather than minor mode works. The proposed key-finding algorithm performs more accurately on minor mode works than all of the other models tested, although it does not perform significantly better than the models created by Aarden (2003), Bellman (2005), or Sapp (2011). Finally, an algorithm that combines the Aarden-Essen model (2003) and the proposed algorithm is suggested, and results in significantly more accurate key assessments than all of the other extant models.

In this experiment, participants (nonmusicians) heard pairs of melodies and had to judge which of the two melodies was happier. Each pair consisted of a single melody presented in two different diatonic modes (Lydian, Ionian, Mixolydian, Dorian, Aeolian, or Phrygian) with a constant tonic of C; all pairs of modes were used. The results suggest that modes imply increasing happiness as scale-degrees are raised, with the exception of Lydian, which is less happy than Ionian. Overall, the results are best explained by familiarity: Ionian (major mode), the most common mode in both classical and popular music, is the happiest, and happiness declines with increasing distance from Ionian. However, familiarity does not entirely explain our results. Familiarity predicts that Mixolydian would be happier than Lydian (since they are equally similar to Ionian, and Mixolydian is much more common in popular music); but for almost half of our participants, the reverse was true. This suggests that the “sharpness” of a mode also affects its perceived happiness, either due to pitch height or to the position of the scale relative to the tonic on the “line of fifths”; we favor the latter explanation.

In this paper, we introduce a small family of novel bottom-up (sensory) models of the Krumhansl and Kessler (1982) probe tone data. The models are based on the spectral pitch class similarities between all twelve pitch classes and the tonic degree and tonic triad. Cross-validation tests of a wide selection of models show ours to have amongst the highest fits to the data. We then extend one of our models to predict the tonics of a variety of different scales such as the harmonic minor, melodic minor, and harmonic major. The model produces sensible predictions for these scales. Furthermore, we also predict the tonics of a small selection of microtonal scales—scales that do not form part of any musical culture. These latter predictions may be tested when suitable empirical data have been collected.

The concept of geographical scale, despite being one of geography's foundational concepts, has been undertheorized compared to other core concepts such as environment, space and place. Two aspects of the concept of geographical scale (size and level) are relatively well recognized. A third aspect (scale as relation) is not. In this exploratory paper, the implications of the metaphors conventionally used to think and write about scale are considered, and some musical metaphors of geographical scale are used to sketch out the importance of scale as a relation.

This article aims to demonstrate the importance of the Lydian scale in Frank Zappa’s modal diatonic music by introducing the concept of a “Lydian system,” loosely adapted from George Russell’s seminal jazz theory known as the “Lydian chromatic concept.” A Lydian system contains a limited series of diatonic modes linked through the Lydian scale. Through analysis of representative passages in Zappa’s music, I examine different ways that the modes of the Lydian system reveal their indebtedness to Lydian, first in their musical realization as static “blocks” and later in the form of pedal substitutions, chord progressions, and modulations between different systems.

Aural skills with a theremin are discussed.

Essential features of a stairway are shown in figure 1 , a representation of the stairway in photograph 1 . The place on which one stands before taking the first step up we will call the first-floor level. The top of the first step we will call the second-floor level. The difference in height between the first-floor level and the second-floor level we will call the rise