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History

Simon Palfrey and Tiffany Stern

in Shakespeare in Parts

This chapter introduces some of the basic things that all actors would look out for in their written part-texts. It then explores how Shakespeare adapts and transforms these widespread practices and ... More

This chapter introduces some of the basic things that all actors would look out for in their written part-texts. It then explores how Shakespeare adapts and transforms these widespread practices and expectations.Less

The Canon

David Huron

in Voice Leading: The Science Behind a Musical Art

A brief review is provided of sixteen core traditional rules of voice leading as formulated in the late Baroque period. These rules are typically taught as part of the core theory curriculum in ... More

A brief review is provided of sixteen core traditional rules of voice leading as formulated in the late Baroque period. These rules are typically taught as part of the core theory curriculum in conservatories and schools of music.Less

Direct Intervals Revisited

David Huron

in Voice Leading: The Science Behind a Musical Art

The Direct or Hidden Intervals rule has a special status in the voice-leading canon. It offers two lessons. First, the direct intervals rule provides a logical link between three perceptual ... More

The Direct or Hidden Intervals rule has a special status in the voice-leading canon. It offers two lessons. First, the direct intervals rule provides a logical link between three perceptual principles (harmonic fusion, semblant motion, and pitch proximity). The rule provides the glue that establishes a logical interconnection between the various rules of in the voice-leading canon. Said another way, the direct intervals rule points to the unity of the traditional part-writing rules. Second, perceptual experiments testing this traditional rule will lead us to question whether listeners hear nominally four-part harmony as truly evoking four independent lines. This observation leads us to consider possible hierarchical organization of auditory streams—which is the topic of the next chapter.Less

Types of Part-Writing

David Huron

in Voice Leading: The Science Behind a Musical Art

Four additional perceptual principles are described that are occasionally linked to the practice of voice leading: onset synchrony, limited density, timbral differentiation, and source location. ... More

Four additional perceptual principles are described that are occasionally linked to the practice of voice leading: onset synchrony, limited density, timbral differentiation, and source location. Composers appear to treat these additional principles as compositional “options” that shape the music-making in perceptually unique ways. It is suggested that the reason why these four principles are often ignored is that they easily conflict with other goals that composers commonly pursue. Other goals include the goal of ensemble balance, lyric intelligibility, harmonic clarity, and rhythmic uniformity. Depending on which auxiliary principles are followed, different textures arise—such as the distinction between homophonic and polyphonic part-writing. It is proposed that different textures, like close harmony, tune-and-accompaniment, and pseudo-polyphony, represent different combinations of concurrent musical goals.Less

Afterword

David Huron

in Voice Leading: The Science Behind a Musical Art

For those readers who teach voice leading and who would like to incorporate aspects of the pertinent research into their classes, this afterword offers some essential pedagogical advice.

The Feeling of Leading

David Huron

in Voice Leading: The Science Behind a Musical Art

A distinction is made between part-writing and voice leading. Even though music may exhibit correct part-writing, the music may nevertheless sounds like it is meandering aimlessly: voice leading adds ... More

A distinction is made between part-writing and voice leading. Even though music may exhibit correct part-writing, the music may nevertheless sounds like it is meandering aimlessly: voice leading adds the sense of tending, yearning, resolution, or momentum that contributes to the feeling of music “going somewhere.” Research on melodic expectation is summarized. When the music fails to conform to expected voice movements, the music is likely to evoke a wandering or purposeless quality. Predictability transforms good part-writing into good voice leading. Predictability is increased when musical patterns follow the norms and clichés of established styles. Familiarity with a given musical work also increases predictability. For unfamiliar works, predictability is increased when music makes use of recurring or imitative figures, themes, or motives.Less

Preference Rules

David Huron

in Voice Leading: The Science Behind a Musical Art

The six auditory principles described in chapters 4, 5 and 6 are used to provide the basis for a detailed explanation of the core rules of voice leading. In presenting this explanatory account, ... More

The six auditory principles described in chapters 4, 5 and 6 are used to provide the basis for a detailed explanation of the core rules of voice leading. In presenting this explanatory account, several novel preference rules arise that are not found in past writings on voice leading. These novel rules amount to theory-generated predictions. If the perceptual theory is correct and if past composers regarded the goal of perceptually independent musical lines as worthwhile, then we might expect composers to write in a manner consistent with these novel rules. Indeed, that’s what we find: music written by past composers proves to be consistent with the new preference rules predicted by the perceptual theory.Less

Scene Setting

David Huron

in Voice Leading: The Science Behind a Musical Art

Musical passages exhibit a wide range of textures. These can include monophony, tune-and-accompaniment, homophony, close harmony, polyphony, pseudo-polyphony, heterophony, and a wealth of specially ... More

Musical passages exhibit a wide range of textures. These can include monophony, tune-and-accompaniment, homophony, close harmony, polyphony, pseudo-polyphony, heterophony, and a wealth of specially tailored arrangements with various hierarchical structures. Introductory music theory textbooks generally focus on Baroque voice-leading rules to the virtual exclusion of other types of part-writing. Although most music-making bears little resemblance to Baroque-style four-part chorale writing, there are excellent reasons why this particular practice has formed the core theory curriculum for so long. The evidence suggests that late Baroque practice most closely reflects known principles of auditory scene analysis. The perceptual principles underlying voice leading provide an important entry point for understanding any musical texture—no matter what the style, culture, or genre of music-making. Like a theatrical stage, composers set a “musical scene.” Auditory scene analysis is the process by which listeners subjectively apprehend that scene.Less

Introduction

David Huron

in Voice Leading: The Science Behind a Musical Art

A brief introduction to voice leading practice is provided, including a thumbnail history and two definitions of voice leading. The chapter discusses the role of rules in the art of composition and ... More

A brief introduction to voice leading practice is provided, including a thumbnail history and two definitions of voice leading. The chapter discusses the role of rules in the art of composition and considers three questions that can help evaluate the utility of any rule. The chapter ends with a description of the plan of the book, Voice Leading: The Science behind a Musical Art, including brief descriptions of the content of each chapter.Less

Connecting the Dots

David Huron

in Voice Leading: The Science Behind a Musical Art

This chapter considers how successive pitches can give rise to a sense of line. Three key concepts are described: acoustic continuity, pitch proximity, and pitch comodulation. Both pitch distance and ... More

This chapter considers how successive pitches can give rise to a sense of line. Three key concepts are described: acoustic continuity, pitch proximity, and pitch comodulation. Both pitch distance and tempo are shown to influence whether successive tones tend to be heard as a single stream. We always hear one stream when the amount of pitch change is small (within the trill boundary). We always hear two streams (beyond the yodel boundary) when a pitch/time trajectory violates Fitts’s law—a law of how things move. The sense of connectedness in a musical line is shown to share a close kinship with the perception of movement in vision, and how bodies actually move.Less

Conclusion

David Huron

in Voice Leading: The Science Behind a Musical Art

The main ideas of the book are briefly summarized. This concluding chapter also presents a refined and expanded canon of part-writing advice for advanced music students. The chapter closes by ... More

The main ideas of the book are briefly summarized. This concluding chapter also presents a refined and expanded canon of part-writing advice for advanced music students. The chapter closes by offering concrete tips for performers and conductors that arise from the science of voice leading.Less

Hierarchical Streams

David Huron

in Voice Leading: The Science Behind a Musical Art

Hierarchical streaming is discussed. Auditory scenes can exhibit different levels of organization. At the lowest level, individual partials may amalgamate to form auditory images corresponding to ... More

Hierarchical streaming is discussed. Auditory scenes can exhibit different levels of organization. At the lowest level, individual partials may amalgamate to form auditory images corresponding to distinct sound sources. At a higher level, these auditory images can combine together to form intermediate musical layers, dubbed textural streams. At the highest level, all of the sound sources may combine to form a unitary percept of the whole experience, dubbed a musical stream. The distinction between auditory streams and textural streams means that there is more to part-writing than simply writing parts; there is also the counterpoint of textural streams. This chapter also introduces scene analysis trees as a graphical analytic tool for better understanding different kinds of musical textures.Less

Pedagogy of Fundamentals and Diatonic Harmony

Jennifer Snodgrass

in Teaching Music Theory

The earliest levels of the undergraduate music theory core might be some of the more challenging courses to teach. Because students enter the undergraduate theory core with a variety of backgrounds, ... More

The earliest levels of the undergraduate music theory core might be some of the more challenging courses to teach. Because students enter the undergraduate theory core with a variety of backgrounds, experiences, and knowledge, instructors face the challenge of inspiring some students with new material while keeping the more experienced students involved. How can educators make this material both relevant and engaging for all students? Teaching the lower levels of written theory is more than just memorization of patterns and rules; it is an opportunity to engage students in creative music making from the very first day with an introduction that helps them understand why a certain element of music works. By participating in engaging and creative methods of learning scales, key signatures, intervals, triads, harmonic function, and voice leading, students are immersed in a music experience that is more than just printed notes on the page.Less

Chordal-Tone Doubling

David Huron

in Voice Leading: The Science Behind a Musical Art

The arcane rules of chordal-tone doubling are considered. For more than two centuries, there have been competing sets of doubling rules and an ongoing controversy about which rules are “correct.” ... More

The arcane rules of chordal-tone doubling are considered. For more than two centuries, there have been competing sets of doubling rules and an ongoing controversy about which rules are “correct.” This chapter reviews the most careful empirical studies that have addressed this topic. The results show that the competing sets of rules predict virtually identical outcomes, and so it matters little which rule set is used. Nevertheless, one set of rules is expressed in a way that is more consistent with the underlying auditory principles.Less

Ear Teasers

David Huron

in Voice Leading: The Science Behind a Musical Art

This chapter addresses the “what for” question regarding voice leading. Experiments show that listeners perceive adding streams to a texture as pleasurable. At the same time, increasing the textural ... More

This chapter addresses the “what for” question regarding voice leading. Experiments show that listeners perceive adding streams to a texture as pleasurable. At the same time, increasing the textural density makes it more difficult for listeners to parse an acoustic scene. This chapter suggests that the brain rewards itself for successfully parsing scenes and that the evoked pleasure is proportional to the scene’s complexity. Inspired by the concept of the brain teaser, this phenomenon is dubbed ear teasing. In addition to explaining why passages constructed according to voice-leading principles would be heard as sounding better, ear teasing also provides a plausible explanation of the preference for reverberant musical sounds (in contrast to speech) and stereo reproduction (in contrast to mono).Less

Auditory Masking

David Huron

in Voice Leading: The Science Behind a Musical Art

Auditory masking is described—the phenomenon by which sounds interfere with each other. A key concept is the notion of the critical band. Because masking reduces the effectiveness of the auditory ... More

Auditory masking is described—the phenomenon by which sounds interfere with each other. A key concept is the notion of the critical band. Because masking reduces the effectiveness of the auditory system, it also tends to lead to auditory irritation or annoyance. Masking helps explain three musical practices. First, it explains why chords tend to be spaced with wider intervals in the bass region. Second, due to sensory dissonance, it provides one account of why some harmonic intervals are favored over others. Third, it explains the high-voice superiority effect—suggesting why musicians in nearly every culture tend to place the main melody in the highest voice.Less

Embellishing Tones

David Huron

in Voice Leading: The Science Behind a Musical Art

Chapter 9 discusses embellishing tones—such as passing tones, suspensions, and appoggiaturas. Embellishments can serve a number of functions, including adding dissonance, creating or heightening ... More

Chapter 9 discusses embellishing tones—such as passing tones, suspensions, and appoggiaturas. Embellishments can serve a number of functions, including adding dissonance, creating or heightening expectations, drawing attention to neighboring structural tones, or simply adding interest to a musical texture. However, this chapter focuses on how the presence of embellishing tones can contribute to the perceptual independence of concurrent voices. It is shown that embellishing tones are deployed in ways consistent with five different techniques for enhancing voice independence.Less

The Cultural Connection

David Huron

in Voice Leading: The Science Behind a Musical Art

The disposition to parse auditory scenes is probably an evolved innate behavior. However, the means by which this is achieved likely involves a mix of innate and learned mechanisms. This chapter ... More

The disposition to parse auditory scenes is probably an evolved innate behavior. However, the means by which this is achieved likely involves a mix of innate and learned mechanisms. This chapter reviews research showing how the sonic environment plays a formative role in various aspects of auditory processing. What we commonly hear shapes how we hear sounds. For example, research shows that how musicians hear pitch is affected by what instrument they play. Even the language you speak has an impact on how you hear. It is wrong to assume that everyone parses an acoustic scene in the same way. In general, the research suggests that cultural background and individual experience may be directly relevant to our understanding of auditory scene analysis, and hence to voice leading.Less

Principles of Image Formation

David Huron

in Voice Leading: The Science Behind a Musical Art

An explanation is given for how the auditory system assembles resolved partials to form auditory images. A key concept in this process is the harmonic sieve. Two auditory principles are introduced: ... More

An explanation is given for how the auditory system assembles resolved partials to form auditory images. A key concept in this process is the harmonic sieve. Two auditory principles are introduced: harmonicity and toneness. The chapter discusses why certain kinds of timbres are better suited to creating musical lines than others, and why musical lines are best constructed using pitched rather than unpitched sounds. Finally, the chapter explains the “middleness” of middle C.Less