Lawrence M. Zbikowski
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195140231
- eISBN:
- 9780199871278
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195140231.003.0004
- Subject:
- Music, Theory, Analysis, Composition
This chapter focuses on conceptual models and theories. Jeanne Bamberger's research on children's representations of musical structure are analyzed, in particular her study of one specific ...
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This chapter focuses on conceptual models and theories. Jeanne Bamberger's research on children's representations of musical structure are analyzed, in particular her study of one specific eight-year-old boy. The part played by categorization and cross-domain mapping in the conceptual models involving this this boy used to come to terms with a musical environment is shown. How these models are combined to form a theory of music and how this theory changes in response to changes in the task at hand are also discussed. This close-up glimpse of the structure and role of conceptual models and theories leads to a more generalized characterization of these knowledge structures, which is linked to work on similar structures in artificial intelligence, cognitive anthropology, ethnomusicology, and developmental psychology. The chapter then returns to music theory and explores the role of conceptual models and theories (that is, theories framed relative to a cognitive perspective) in analyses by Jean-Philippe Rameau and Heinrich Schenker, two of the best-known music theorists of the last three hundred years.Less
This chapter focuses on conceptual models and theories. Jeanne Bamberger's research on children's representations of musical structure are analyzed, in particular her study of one specific eight-year-old boy. The part played by categorization and cross-domain mapping in the conceptual models involving this this boy used to come to terms with a musical environment is shown. How these models are combined to form a theory of music and how this theory changes in response to changes in the task at hand are also discussed. This close-up glimpse of the structure and role of conceptual models and theories leads to a more generalized characterization of these knowledge structures, which is linked to work on similar structures in artificial intelligence, cognitive anthropology, ethnomusicology, and developmental psychology. The chapter then returns to music theory and explores the role of conceptual models and theories (that is, theories framed relative to a cognitive perspective) in analyses by Jean-Philippe Rameau and Heinrich Schenker, two of the best-known music theorists of the last three hundred years.
Lawrence M. Zbikowski
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195140231
- eISBN:
- 9780199871278
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195140231.003.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Theory, Analysis, Composition
This introductory chapter begins with a discussion of two theories from Greek antiquity, the music theories of Pythagoras and Aristoxenus. These theories, and the music to which they refer, are ...
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This introductory chapter begins with a discussion of two theories from Greek antiquity, the music theories of Pythagoras and Aristoxenus. These theories, and the music to which they refer, are unfamiliar even to those who make music theory the focus of their research. However, the disorienting effect of this unfamiliarity also serves to loosen our notions about what a theory of music, or a theoretical construct, should be. It is argued that the music theories of Pythagoras and Aristoxenus belong to a world remote from our own. Not only did these theorists have to grapple with the most basic of principles, but also the music they would describe is microtonal, one that is primarily concerned with the successive notes of melody rather than the simultaneous notes of harmony. Despite this, Pythagorean and Aristoxenian accounts of musical organization provide us with a glimpse into how theories are formed and, more important, the cognitive processes that are basic to these theories. In particular, three cognitive processes can be seen at work: categorization, cross-domain mapping, and the use of conceptual models. An overview of the succeeding chapters is presented.Less
This introductory chapter begins with a discussion of two theories from Greek antiquity, the music theories of Pythagoras and Aristoxenus. These theories, and the music to which they refer, are unfamiliar even to those who make music theory the focus of their research. However, the disorienting effect of this unfamiliarity also serves to loosen our notions about what a theory of music, or a theoretical construct, should be. It is argued that the music theories of Pythagoras and Aristoxenus belong to a world remote from our own. Not only did these theorists have to grapple with the most basic of principles, but also the music they would describe is microtonal, one that is primarily concerned with the successive notes of melody rather than the simultaneous notes of harmony. Despite this, Pythagorean and Aristoxenian accounts of musical organization provide us with a glimpse into how theories are formed and, more important, the cognitive processes that are basic to these theories. In particular, three cognitive processes can be seen at work: categorization, cross-domain mapping, and the use of conceptual models. An overview of the succeeding chapters is presented.
Steven Rings
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195384277
- eISBN:
- 9780199897001
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195384277.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Theory, Analysis, Composition, History, Western
This book employs transformational theory to illuminate the experience of tonal music. In addition to providing an accessible primer on transformational theory, the book introduces new theoretical ...
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This book employs transformational theory to illuminate the experience of tonal music. In addition to providing an accessible primer on transformational theory, the book introduces new theoretical constructs to model familiar tonal effects. Two effects are central: the infusion of sounding pitches with tonal qualities (or qualia) and the orientation of pitches toward a tonic. Tonal qualities are modeled via a Generalized Interval System (or GIS), while tonic directedness is modeled by oriented transformational networks. The arrows in such networks animate a special class of transformational action called tonal intention—the directing of the listener's awareness toward a tonal center. The book divides into two parts. Part I addresses theoretical and methodological issues, while Part II comprises four extended analytical chapters. The analytical chapters explore the E-major Fugue from Book II of the Well-Tempered Clavier; the aria “Un’aura amorosa” from Mozart's Così fan tutte; Brahms's A-major Intermezzo, op. 118, no. 2; and the slow movement from Brahms's String Quintet, op. 111. Analytical vignettes are present throughout Part I as well, demonstrating the efficacy of the book's theoretical ideas in music from Bach to Mahler. The analyses place the book's novel technologies in dialogue with existing methods for tonal analysis, including Schenkerian theory and neo-Riemannian theory.Less
This book employs transformational theory to illuminate the experience of tonal music. In addition to providing an accessible primer on transformational theory, the book introduces new theoretical constructs to model familiar tonal effects. Two effects are central: the infusion of sounding pitches with tonal qualities (or qualia) and the orientation of pitches toward a tonic. Tonal qualities are modeled via a Generalized Interval System (or GIS), while tonic directedness is modeled by oriented transformational networks. The arrows in such networks animate a special class of transformational action called tonal intention—the directing of the listener's awareness toward a tonal center. The book divides into two parts. Part I addresses theoretical and methodological issues, while Part II comprises four extended analytical chapters. The analytical chapters explore the E-major Fugue from Book II of the Well-Tempered Clavier; the aria “Un’aura amorosa” from Mozart's Così fan tutte; Brahms's A-major Intermezzo, op. 118, no. 2; and the slow movement from Brahms's String Quintet, op. 111. Analytical vignettes are present throughout Part I as well, demonstrating the efficacy of the book's theoretical ideas in music from Bach to Mahler. The analyses place the book's novel technologies in dialogue with existing methods for tonal analysis, including Schenkerian theory and neo-Riemannian theory.
Olga Panteleeva
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780691182711
- eISBN:
- 9780691185514
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691182711.003.0007
- Subject:
- Music, Opera
This chapter looks at St. Petersburg Conservatory and Soviet musicology. The St. Petersburg Conservatory bears Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's name not only on account of the composer's contribution to the ...
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This chapter looks at St. Petersburg Conservatory and Soviet musicology. The St. Petersburg Conservatory bears Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's name not only on account of the composer's contribution to the Russian classical music canon, but because he is perceived as a progenitor of the institutionalized study of music in Russia—both practical and theoretical. It is true that Rimsky-Korsakov played a leading role in shaping the first syllabi of music-theoretical courses at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. However, the lineage that connects these courses to the present-day curricula is by no means as direct as it is sometimes painted. The chapter then argues that under Rimsky-Korsakov, music theory was seen as the handmaiden to composition, which hindered the institutionalization of historical musicology.Less
This chapter looks at St. Petersburg Conservatory and Soviet musicology. The St. Petersburg Conservatory bears Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's name not only on account of the composer's contribution to the Russian classical music canon, but because he is perceived as a progenitor of the institutionalized study of music in Russia—both practical and theoretical. It is true that Rimsky-Korsakov played a leading role in shaping the first syllabi of music-theoretical courses at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. However, the lineage that connects these courses to the present-day curricula is by no means as direct as it is sometimes painted. The chapter then argues that under Rimsky-Korsakov, music theory was seen as the handmaiden to composition, which hindered the institutionalization of historical musicology.
Craig H. Russell
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195343274
- eISBN:
- 9780199867745
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195343274.003.0009
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western, History, American
This Epilogue sums up the conclusions of the book and puts forward some closiing thoughts. The fundamental lesson that can be learnt from the music of the California padres and their choirs and ...
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This Epilogue sums up the conclusions of the book and puts forward some closiing thoughts. The fundamental lesson that can be learnt from the music of the California padres and their choirs and orchestras, populated by highly trained and impressive Native American artists, is that humble people are capable of astoundingly sophisticated artistry, the final chapter states. There is much we can learn about artistic beauty and the human condition from California mission music.Less
This Epilogue sums up the conclusions of the book and puts forward some closiing thoughts. The fundamental lesson that can be learnt from the music of the California padres and their choirs and orchestras, populated by highly trained and impressive Native American artists, is that humble people are capable of astoundingly sophisticated artistry, the final chapter states. There is much we can learn about artistic beauty and the human condition from California mission music.
Kevin Karnes
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195368666
- eISBN:
- 9780199867547
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195368666.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This book provides a first look at the ideological dilemmas and methodological anxieties that pervaded the discipline of musicology (in German, Musikwissenschaft, encompassing music theory, analysis, ...
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This book provides a first look at the ideological dilemmas and methodological anxieties that pervaded the discipline of musicology (in German, Musikwissenschaft, encompassing music theory, analysis, and the study of music history) at the time and place of its academic institutionalization. Engaging in close readings of key contributions by Eduard Hanslick, Heinrich Schenker, and Guido Adler, all leading pioneers in the field, it argues against the widely held assumption that German musicology of the period was characterized, first and foremost, by a positivist endeavor to transform the discipline after the model of the natural sciences. Instead, it suggests that the work of its three central figures was shaped not only by progressivist ideologies of scientific positivism but also, and just as profoundly, by the skeptical pronouncements of Richard Wagner, Friedrich Nietzsche, and other critical observers of modern culture. It furthermore suggests that some of the most pressing questions regarding musicology's disciplinary identities in the present day—about the relationship between musicology and criticism, the role of the subject in analysis and the narration of history, and the responsibilities of the scholar to the listening public—have points of origin in the discipline's conflicted and largely forgotten beginnings.Less
This book provides a first look at the ideological dilemmas and methodological anxieties that pervaded the discipline of musicology (in German, Musikwissenschaft, encompassing music theory, analysis, and the study of music history) at the time and place of its academic institutionalization. Engaging in close readings of key contributions by Eduard Hanslick, Heinrich Schenker, and Guido Adler, all leading pioneers in the field, it argues against the widely held assumption that German musicology of the period was characterized, first and foremost, by a positivist endeavor to transform the discipline after the model of the natural sciences. Instead, it suggests that the work of its three central figures was shaped not only by progressivist ideologies of scientific positivism but also, and just as profoundly, by the skeptical pronouncements of Richard Wagner, Friedrich Nietzsche, and other critical observers of modern culture. It furthermore suggests that some of the most pressing questions regarding musicology's disciplinary identities in the present day—about the relationship between musicology and criticism, the role of the subject in analysis and the narration of history, and the responsibilities of the scholar to the listening public—have points of origin in the discipline's conflicted and largely forgotten beginnings.
David Lewin
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195317138
- eISBN:
- 9780199865413
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195317138.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Theory, Analysis, Composition
This book is recognized as the seminal work paving the way for current studies in mathematical and systematic approaches to music analysis. The author, one of the 20th century’s most prominent ...
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This book is recognized as the seminal work paving the way for current studies in mathematical and systematic approaches to music analysis. The author, one of the 20th century’s most prominent figures in music theory, pushes the boundaries of the study of pitch-structure beyond its conception as a static system for classifying and inter-relating chords and sets. Known by most music theorists as “GMIT”, the book is by far the most significant contribution to the field of systematic music theory in the last half-century, generating the framework for the “transformational theory” movement. Appearing almost twenty years after GMIT’s initial publication, this Oxford University Press edition features a previously unpublished preface by the author, as well as a foreword by Edward Gollin contextualizing the work’s significance for the current field of music theory.Less
This book is recognized as the seminal work paving the way for current studies in mathematical and systematic approaches to music analysis. The author, one of the 20th century’s most prominent figures in music theory, pushes the boundaries of the study of pitch-structure beyond its conception as a static system for classifying and inter-relating chords and sets. Known by most music theorists as “GMIT”, the book is by far the most significant contribution to the field of systematic music theory in the last half-century, generating the framework for the “transformational theory” movement. Appearing almost twenty years after GMIT’s initial publication, this Oxford University Press edition features a previously unpublished preface by the author, as well as a foreword by Edward Gollin contextualizing the work’s significance for the current field of music theory.
Michael Tenzer
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195177893
- eISBN:
- 9780199864843
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195177893.003.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Theory, Analysis, Composition
This introductory chapter provides an overview of music analysis and theory in universal and cross-cultural contexts, including: Analysis: Definitions and Perspectives; Choosing Perspectives for this ...
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This introductory chapter provides an overview of music analysis and theory in universal and cross-cultural contexts, including: Analysis: Definitions and Perspectives; Choosing Perspectives for this Book; World Music as a Context for New Music; Categorizing Music; Periodicity and the Composer's Toolbox; Qualities of Periodicity; and Universals and a Future Music Theory.Less
This introductory chapter provides an overview of music analysis and theory in universal and cross-cultural contexts, including: Analysis: Definitions and Perspectives; Choosing Perspectives for this Book; World Music as a Context for New Music; Categorizing Music; Periodicity and the Composer's Toolbox; Qualities of Periodicity; and Universals and a Future Music Theory.
Craig H. Russell
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195343274
- eISBN:
- 9780199867745
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195343274.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western, History, American
Music in the California missions was a pluralistic combination of voices and instruments, of liturgy and spectacle, of styles and functions—and even of cultures—in a new blend that was nonexistent ...
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Music in the California missions was a pluralistic combination of voices and instruments, of liturgy and spectacle, of styles and functions—and even of cultures—in a new blend that was nonexistent before the friars made their way to California beginning in 1769. This book explores the exquisite sacred music that flourished on the West Coast of America when it was under Spanish and Mexican rule; it delves into the historical, cultural, biographical, and stylistic aspects of California mission music during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Aspects of music terminology, performance practice, notation, theory, sacred song, hymns, the sequence, the mass, and pageantry are addressed. The book explores how mellifluous plainchant, reverent hymns, spunky folkloric ditties, “Classical” music in the style of Haydn, and even Native American drumming were interwoven into a tapestry of resonant beauty. The book examines such things as style, scribal attribution, instructions to musicians, government questionnaires, invoices, the liturgy, architectural space where performances took place, spectacle, musical instruments, instrument construction, shipping records, travelers' accounts, letters, diaries, passenger lists, baptismal and burial records, and other primary source material. Within this book one finds considerable biographical information about Junípero Serra, Juan Bautista Sancho, Narciso Durán, Florencio Ibáñez, Pedro Cabot, Martín de Cruzelaegui, Ignacio de Jerusalem, and Francisco Javier García Fajer. Furthermore, it contains five far-reaching appendices: a Catalogue of California Mission Sources; Photos of Missions and Mission Manuscripts (with more than 150 color facsimiles); Translations of Primary Texts; Music Editions (that are performance-ready); and an extensive bibliography.Less
Music in the California missions was a pluralistic combination of voices and instruments, of liturgy and spectacle, of styles and functions—and even of cultures—in a new blend that was nonexistent before the friars made their way to California beginning in 1769. This book explores the exquisite sacred music that flourished on the West Coast of America when it was under Spanish and Mexican rule; it delves into the historical, cultural, biographical, and stylistic aspects of California mission music during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Aspects of music terminology, performance practice, notation, theory, sacred song, hymns, the sequence, the mass, and pageantry are addressed. The book explores how mellifluous plainchant, reverent hymns, spunky folkloric ditties, “Classical” music in the style of Haydn, and even Native American drumming were interwoven into a tapestry of resonant beauty. The book examines such things as style, scribal attribution, instructions to musicians, government questionnaires, invoices, the liturgy, architectural space where performances took place, spectacle, musical instruments, instrument construction, shipping records, travelers' accounts, letters, diaries, passenger lists, baptismal and burial records, and other primary source material. Within this book one finds considerable biographical information about Junípero Serra, Juan Bautista Sancho, Narciso Durán, Florencio Ibáñez, Pedro Cabot, Martín de Cruzelaegui, Ignacio de Jerusalem, and Francisco Javier García Fajer. Furthermore, it contains five far-reaching appendices: a Catalogue of California Mission Sources; Photos of Missions and Mission Manuscripts (with more than 150 color facsimiles); Translations of Primary Texts; Music Editions (that are performance-ready); and an extensive bibliography.
Michael Tenzer (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195177893
- eISBN:
- 9780199864843
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195177893.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Theory, Analysis, Composition
Combining the approaches of ethnomusicology and music theory, this book offers perspectives for thinking about how musical sounds are shaped, arranged, and composed by their diverse makers worldwide. ...
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Combining the approaches of ethnomusicology and music theory, this book offers perspectives for thinking about how musical sounds are shaped, arranged, and composed by their diverse makers worldwide. Eleven in-depth explanations of Iranian sung poetry, Javanese and Balinese gamelan music, Afro-Cuban drumming, Shanghai opera, flamenco, modern American chamber music, Central African group singing, Bulgarian dance tunes, South Indian song, and a Mozart piano concerto create a diverse compendium of music analyses. Through description of contexts of performance and creation, and especially compositional and formal construction, each chapter proposes stimulating ways to hear, conceive, and imagine these repertoires. Selections on the companion recordings are carefully matched with extensive transcriptions and illuminating diagrams in every chapter. Opening rich cross-cultural and comparative perspectives on music, this volume addresses the practical needs of students and scholars in the contemporary world of fusions, contact, borrowing, and curiosity about music everywhere.Less
Combining the approaches of ethnomusicology and music theory, this book offers perspectives for thinking about how musical sounds are shaped, arranged, and composed by their diverse makers worldwide. Eleven in-depth explanations of Iranian sung poetry, Javanese and Balinese gamelan music, Afro-Cuban drumming, Shanghai opera, flamenco, modern American chamber music, Central African group singing, Bulgarian dance tunes, South Indian song, and a Mozart piano concerto create a diverse compendium of music analyses. Through description of contexts of performance and creation, and especially compositional and formal construction, each chapter proposes stimulating ways to hear, conceive, and imagine these repertoires. Selections on the companion recordings are carefully matched with extensive transcriptions and illuminating diagrams in every chapter. Opening rich cross-cultural and comparative perspectives on music, this volume addresses the practical needs of students and scholars in the contemporary world of fusions, contact, borrowing, and curiosity about music everywhere.
Robert Bagley
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197263518
- eISBN:
- 9780191734021
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197263518.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
This lecture discusses the prehistory of Chinese music theory. The earliest texts about the music theory in China are the inscriptions of the musical instruments found inside the tomb of Marquis Yi ...
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This lecture discusses the prehistory of Chinese music theory. The earliest texts about the music theory in China are the inscriptions of the musical instruments found inside the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng. The lecture describes these inscriptions and tries to identify what sort of musical development lies behind them. It determines that bells were the main influence on Chinese music theory. Bells introduced Chinese theorists to the chromatic scale and made absolute pitch important.Less
This lecture discusses the prehistory of Chinese music theory. The earliest texts about the music theory in China are the inscriptions of the musical instruments found inside the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng. The lecture describes these inscriptions and tries to identify what sort of musical development lies behind them. It determines that bells were the main influence on Chinese music theory. Bells introduced Chinese theorists to the chromatic scale and made absolute pitch important.
Nicholas Cook
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195170566
- eISBN:
- 9780199871216
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195170566.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Ethnomusicology, World Music
Today we think of Heinrich Schenker, who lived in Vienna from 1884 until his death in 1935, as the most influential music theorist of the 20th century. But he saw his theoretical writings as part of ...
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Today we think of Heinrich Schenker, who lived in Vienna from 1884 until his death in 1935, as the most influential music theorist of the 20th century. But he saw his theoretical writings as part of a comprehensive project for the reform of musical composition, performance, criticism, and education — and beyond that, as addressing fundamental cultural, social, and political problems of the deeply troubled age in which he lived. This book aims at an understanding of Schenker's project through reading his key works within a series of period contexts. These include music criticism, the field in which Schenker first made his name; Viennese modernism, particularly the debate over architectural ornamentation; German cultural conservatism, which is the source of many of Schenker's most deeply entrenched values; and Schenker's own position as a Galician Jew who came to Vienna just as traditional anti-semitism was becoming fully racialized. As well as presenting an unfamiliar perspective on the cultural and political ferment of fin-de-siècle Vienna, this approach reveals how deeply the social and political were thought into Schenker's theory. It also raises issues concerning the meaning and value of music theory, and the extent to which today's music-theoretical agenda unwittingly reflects the values and concerns of a very different world.Less
Today we think of Heinrich Schenker, who lived in Vienna from 1884 until his death in 1935, as the most influential music theorist of the 20th century. But he saw his theoretical writings as part of a comprehensive project for the reform of musical composition, performance, criticism, and education — and beyond that, as addressing fundamental cultural, social, and political problems of the deeply troubled age in which he lived. This book aims at an understanding of Schenker's project through reading his key works within a series of period contexts. These include music criticism, the field in which Schenker first made his name; Viennese modernism, particularly the debate over architectural ornamentation; German cultural conservatism, which is the source of many of Schenker's most deeply entrenched values; and Schenker's own position as a Galician Jew who came to Vienna just as traditional anti-semitism was becoming fully racialized. As well as presenting an unfamiliar perspective on the cultural and political ferment of fin-de-siècle Vienna, this approach reveals how deeply the social and political were thought into Schenker's theory. It also raises issues concerning the meaning and value of music theory, and the extent to which today's music-theoretical agenda unwittingly reflects the values and concerns of a very different world.
Adam Ockelford
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199607631
- eISBN:
- 9780191747687
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199607631.003.0002
- Subject:
- Psychology, Music Psychology, Developmental Psychology
This chapter considers the place of zygonic theory in the broader field of music theory and analysis, and notes that it is ‘psychomusicological’ in nature. The zygonic conjecture is introduced by ...
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This chapter considers the place of zygonic theory in the broader field of music theory and analysis, and notes that it is ‘psychomusicological’ in nature. The zygonic conjecture is introduced by considering how language functions as a medium of human communication, and then noting the differences and similarities between this and music. The perceived capacity of musical sounds for self-imitation lies at the heart of the theory, and this is placed within a broader framework, which takes into account the wider environment in which music-structural cognition resides. This enables a definition of ‘music’ to be generated, which underpins the thinking in the chapters that follow, in which the theory is applied in educational, therapeutic, and psychological contexts.Less
This chapter considers the place of zygonic theory in the broader field of music theory and analysis, and notes that it is ‘psychomusicological’ in nature. The zygonic conjecture is introduced by considering how language functions as a medium of human communication, and then noting the differences and similarities between this and music. The perceived capacity of musical sounds for self-imitation lies at the heart of the theory, and this is placed within a broader framework, which takes into account the wider environment in which music-structural cognition resides. This enables a definition of ‘music’ to be generated, which underpins the thinking in the chapters that follow, in which the theory is applied in educational, therapeutic, and psychological contexts.
Craig H. Russell
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195343274
- eISBN:
- 9780199867745
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195343274.003.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western, History, American
This Introduction tells the story of how the author came to ponder the questions raised in this book. The Introduction goes on to discuss the scope of the book, which is to travel on two journeys: a ...
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This Introduction tells the story of how the author came to ponder the questions raised in this book. The Introduction goes on to discuss the scope of the book, which is to travel on two journeys: a biographical one and a musical one. Finally the Introduction outlines the purpose and aims of the book.Less
This Introduction tells the story of how the author came to ponder the questions raised in this book. The Introduction goes on to discuss the scope of the book, which is to travel on two journeys: a biographical one and a musical one. Finally the Introduction outlines the purpose and aims of the book.
Joseph N. Straus
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199766451
- eISBN:
- 9780199895007
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199766451.003.0007
- Subject:
- Music, Popular, Philosophy of Music
Prevailing music theoretical models imagine a work of music as a metaphorical body susceptible to disabling conditions of one kind or another. These theories set themselves the task of normalizing ...
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Prevailing music theoretical models imagine a work of music as a metaphorical body susceptible to disabling conditions of one kind or another. These theories set themselves the task of normalizing non-normative events within a subsuming explanatory framework. In the process, entire repertoires (such as atonality) may be characterized as disabled in some respect. Hepokoski/Darcy and formal “deformation”; Schenker and normalization (motion and “paralysis”); Lewin and symmetrical balance.Less
Prevailing music theoretical models imagine a work of music as a metaphorical body susceptible to disabling conditions of one kind or another. These theories set themselves the task of normalizing non-normative events within a subsuming explanatory framework. In the process, entire repertoires (such as atonality) may be characterized as disabled in some respect. Hepokoski/Darcy and formal “deformation”; Schenker and normalization (motion and “paralysis”); Lewin and symmetrical balance.
David Lewin
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195182088
- eISBN:
- 9780199850594
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195182088.003.0004
- Subject:
- Music, Theory, Analysis, Composition
The overtly phenomenological study of music in Edmund Husserl's sense begins with the man himself, who made central to his theories of perception a famous analysis for perceiving a sustained tone. ...
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The overtly phenomenological study of music in Edmund Husserl's sense begins with the man himself, who made central to his theories of perception a famous analysis for perceiving a sustained tone. That analysis is highlighted by Izchak Miller in a recent philosophical commentary. Miller also devotes much attention to “Husserl's Account of Perceiving a Melody.” This discussion, which includes an account of listening to the opening theme from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Clarinet Concerto, does not itself invoke sophisticated music-theoretical apparatus. Thomas Clifton also explored the phenomenology of music theory. It is not clear what a “theory of music” might be, or even a “theory of modern Western art-music,” but it so far includes a theory of musical perception and people's “musical behavior,” a category that includes competent listening to be sure, but also competent production and performance.Less
The overtly phenomenological study of music in Edmund Husserl's sense begins with the man himself, who made central to his theories of perception a famous analysis for perceiving a sustained tone. That analysis is highlighted by Izchak Miller in a recent philosophical commentary. Miller also devotes much attention to “Husserl's Account of Perceiving a Melody.” This discussion, which includes an account of listening to the opening theme from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Clarinet Concerto, does not itself invoke sophisticated music-theoretical apparatus. Thomas Clifton also explored the phenomenology of music theory. It is not clear what a “theory of music” might be, or even a “theory of modern Western art-music,” but it so far includes a theory of musical perception and people's “musical behavior,” a category that includes competent listening to be sure, but also competent production and performance.
James Hepokoski and Warren Darcy
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195146400
- eISBN:
- 9780199850983
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195146400.003.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Theory, Analysis, Composition
There is no consensus regarding the manner in which sonata form in the decades around 1800 is to be grasped. Analysts are confronted with a clutch of diverse approaches with differing emphases, ...
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There is no consensus regarding the manner in which sonata form in the decades around 1800 is to be grasped. Analysts are confronted with a clutch of diverse approaches with differing emphases, interests, and terminologies. At the same time we propose a new genre-based perspective, along with useful ways of formulating analytical questions and moving on to productive hermeneutic endeavors. Musicology and music theory have often pursued distinct paths that generate different questions and answers. Studying and teaching musicology and music theory in the 1960s to 1980s, most authors absorbed in such views and previous textbooks invited a too rigid understanding of sonata form. By midcentury, it had become a scholarly point to declare war on the textbooks on the limitations of classifying schemes in general.Less
There is no consensus regarding the manner in which sonata form in the decades around 1800 is to be grasped. Analysts are confronted with a clutch of diverse approaches with differing emphases, interests, and terminologies. At the same time we propose a new genre-based perspective, along with useful ways of formulating analytical questions and moving on to productive hermeneutic endeavors. Musicology and music theory have often pursued distinct paths that generate different questions and answers. Studying and teaching musicology and music theory in the 1960s to 1980s, most authors absorbed in such views and previous textbooks invited a too rigid understanding of sonata form. By midcentury, it had become a scholarly point to declare war on the textbooks on the limitations of classifying schemes in general.
Steve Reich
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195151152
- eISBN:
- 9780199850044
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195151152.003.0056
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
This chapter presents Reich's thoughts about Arnold Schönberg. He cites the main problem with Schönberg's musical thinking: The reality of cadence to a key or modal center is basic in all the music ...
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This chapter presents Reich's thoughts about Arnold Schönberg. He cites the main problem with Schönberg's musical thinking: The reality of cadence to a key or modal center is basic in all the music of the world (Western and non-Western). This reality is also related to the primacy of the intervals of the fifth, fourth, and octave in all the world's music as well as in the physical acoustics of sound. Similarly for the regular rhythmic pulse. Any theory of music that eliminates these realities is doomed to a marginal role in the music of the world. The postman will never whistle Schönberg.Less
This chapter presents Reich's thoughts about Arnold Schönberg. He cites the main problem with Schönberg's musical thinking: The reality of cadence to a key or modal center is basic in all the music of the world (Western and non-Western). This reality is also related to the primacy of the intervals of the fifth, fourth, and octave in all the world's music as well as in the physical acoustics of sound. Similarly for the regular rhythmic pulse. Any theory of music that eliminates these realities is doomed to a marginal role in the music of the world. The postman will never whistle Schönberg.
David Lewin
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195317121
- eISBN:
- 9780199865451
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195317121.003.0002
- Subject:
- Music, Theory, Analysis, Composition
This chapter focuses on the forms of one pentachord ubiquitous in Stockhausen' Klavierstück III. It develops a special group of transformations, one suggested by the musical interrelations of the ...
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This chapter focuses on the forms of one pentachord ubiquitous in Stockhausen' Klavierstück III. It develops a special group of transformations, one suggested by the musical interrelations of the pentachord forms. All pentachord forms of the music are arranged into a spatial configuration that illustrates the network structure for this particular phenomenon, over the entire piece. The temporal progression of pentachord forms through that spatial structure suggests formal assertions about the piece. The process of network formation is compared with observations by Jeanne Bamberger on how children arrange bells to play a familiar tune.Less
This chapter focuses on the forms of one pentachord ubiquitous in Stockhausen' Klavierstück III. It develops a special group of transformations, one suggested by the musical interrelations of the pentachord forms. All pentachord forms of the music are arranged into a spatial configuration that illustrates the network structure for this particular phenomenon, over the entire piece. The temporal progression of pentachord forms through that spatial structure suggests formal assertions about the piece. The process of network formation is compared with observations by Jeanne Bamberger on how children arrange bells to play a familiar tune.
Rolf Inge Godøy
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199553792
- eISBN:
- 9780191728617
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199553792.003.0069
- Subject:
- Psychology, Music Psychology, Cognitive Psychology
The links between musical sound and various body movements are so numerous and robust that researchers have come to believe that sensations of body movement are integral to musical experience as ...
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The links between musical sound and various body movements are so numerous and robust that researchers have come to believe that sensations of body movement are integral to musical experience as such, or to put it differently, that the perception and cognition of music is a fusion of auditory and motor sensations. In the context of music and consciousness, one consequence of this auditory-motor fusion is the belief that awareness of musical sound can be understood as an awareness of various sound-related actions. For this reason, this chapter focuses on sound-action awareness in music. It presents a spectrum of research that may shed light on this as well as some ideas on how sound-action awareness might encourage us to revise established ways of thinking in Western music theory.Less
The links between musical sound and various body movements are so numerous and robust that researchers have come to believe that sensations of body movement are integral to musical experience as such, or to put it differently, that the perception and cognition of music is a fusion of auditory and motor sensations. In the context of music and consciousness, one consequence of this auditory-motor fusion is the belief that awareness of musical sound can be understood as an awareness of various sound-related actions. For this reason, this chapter focuses on sound-action awareness in music. It presents a spectrum of research that may shed light on this as well as some ideas on how sound-action awareness might encourage us to revise established ways of thinking in Western music theory.
