The purpose of the study was to investigate discrimination in tone quality and intonation. Four-hundred-eighty (480) music and nonmusic graduate and undergraduate subjects checked good and bad quality/intonation classifications by listening to each of twenty-four oboe and flute duet performances. The duets were unaccompanied and performed either with good or bad quality and close to equal temperament or were adjusted 50 cents sharp between one instrument and the other. Results of the study indicated that there was a significant difference between the music and nonmusic majors across categories, with the music majors making more correct discriminations than nonmusic students. A significant difference in subjects' indications of total intonation performance errors showed 38% “sharp” responses and 62% “flat” responses. This finding, while somewhat surprising, is consistent with prior research. Subjects perceived more intonation errors (although incorrectly) than tone quality errors. When indicating a preference for tone quality subjects were actually responding to intonation variables as opposed to quality variables throughout almost all of the com parisons.
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