Mel and Musical Intervals

An actual keyboard is isomorphic to a log frequency scale (the physical distance of an octave is the same at high and low frequencies).

Figure 3: How musical interval sizes change across mel scale.

The mel scale reflects that the perceived difference between notes decreases at the extreme ends of the keyboard.

The mel scale DOES NOT reflect that there is a constant nature to musical intervals:

• a minor third is that same interval no matter where it exists on the keyboard.

This suggests 2 different kinds of pitch:

• mel scale measurements
• musical (melodic) pitch