Musical Example Research Articles

Mind the gap: formal structures and psychological processes in music

While there are increasing links between musicology and the psychology of music, the two disciplines nonetheless remain distinct in terms of their aims and hence their evaluation of different findings. This paper is concerned with the gap between formal treatments of musical structure and the approach of cognitive psychology, concentrating on the problems that are a consequence of both the failure to establish a rapport between the two approaches, and the somewhat unstructured conceptual leakage that can also be observed between the two. By means of a single concrete musical example, some general characteristics of cognitive and analytical approaches are examined, and certain recommendations made, concluding with the proposal that we need a description of musical events and the way they are performed, perceived and created by performers, listeners and composers which gives greater recognition to the mutual relationship that characterises an organism and its environment.

Clifford Davidson, C. J. Gianakaris, and John H. Stoupe, eds., The Drama of the Middle Ages: Comparative and Critical Essays. (AMS Studies in the Middle Ages, 4.) New York: AMS Press, 1982. Pp. xxi, 378; 4 black-and-white plates, 1 table, 1 musical example. $24.50.

Clifford Davidson, C. J. Gianakaris, and John H. Stoupe, eds., The Drama of the Middle Ages: Comparative and Critical Essays. (AMS Studies in the Middle Ages, 4.) New York: AMS Press, 1982. Pp. xxi, 378; 4 black-and-white plates, 1 table, 1 musical example. $24.50.

Tracing the dynamic changes in perceived tonal organization in a spatial representation of musical keys.

The cognitive representation of harmonic and tonal structure in Western music is investigated using a tone-profile technique. In this method listeners rate how well single tones (any one of the 12 tones of the chromatic scale) follow a musical element such as a scale, chord, or cadence. Very stable rating profiles reflecting the tonal hierarchies in major and minor keys are obtained, which, when intercorrelated and analyzed using multidimensional scaling, produce a four-dimensional spatial map of the distances between keys. The keys are located on the surface of a torus, in which the circle of fifths and the parallel and relative relations between major and minor keys are represented. In addition, single chords (major, minor, diminished, and dominant seventh) are found to be closely associated with the major and minor keys in which they play harmonic functions. The developing and changing sense of key during sequences of chords is traced by obtaining probe tone ratings following each chord in 10 different sequences, 8 of which contain modulations (changes) between keys. Modulations between closely related keys are found to be effected more immediately than are modulations between relatively distant keys. In all cases beyond the initial chord, the sense of the prevailing key is stronger than that produced by the last heard chord in isolation. Thus, listeners integrate harmonic functions over multiple chords, developing a sense of key that may need to be reevaluated as additional chords are sounded. It is suggested that the perceived relations between chords and keys and between different keys are mediated through an internal representation of the hierarchy of tonal functions of single tones in music. Music consists of tones varying in pitch, serve to highlight rhythmic patterns, further duration, loudness, and timbre, but the per- emphasize phrase structure, and distinguish ception of music extends well beyond the between tones constituting the primary meregistration of these physical attributes of lodic line and tones serving more ornamental the musical stimulus. Indeed, music contains or harmonic functions. Timbral characterconsiderable structure even in the relations istics may additionally provide important that obtain among the individual tones. For cues for the overall structure of the musical example, the durations are such that metri- composition.

Sets and Nonsets in Schoenberg's Atonal Music

A consideration of Schoenberg's atonal music ought to refer to a theoretical framework for atonal music in general. The present article, however, will not set forth such a framework, but will focus, instead, on an elementary problem in Schoenberg's atonal oeuvre,1 that of distinguishing compositional units or sets from secondary formations or nonsets.2 In order to concentrate on this aspect of Schoenberg's music and to avoid digressions into other interesting aspects, no effort will be made to show the function of sets in the music. No complete analyses will be presented, although every musical example quoted is extracted from a complete analysis-and, indeed, could not be convincingly and confidently presented to the reader otherwise. There will also be no comparison of Schoenberg's atonal and twelve-tone procedures. Schoenberg's atonal compositions exhibit a remarkable and innovational kind of structuring, one that cannot be characterized simply, although a matrix of two or more dimensions might serve as an adequate model. With one exception, this aspect of Schoenberg's music has not been documented in the literature.3 The components of these musical structures are pitch-class sets containing from four to eight elements, usually. For any given composition the stock of sets that have structural significance (to be discussed below) is relatively small. As some indication of number, Herzgewiichse, Op. 20, is constructed of exactly nineteen sets and their complements.4 An extreme case is the fourth of the Five

A Study Involving the Visual Arts in the Development of Musical Concepts

rr 1 ODAY ART AND MUSIC are associated in humanities and allied arts courses with increasing frequency, but not always to the advantage of the student. While legitimate association may enhance the student's understanding of one or both areas, the contriving of spurious relationships or, at the other extreme, treating art and music as totally unrelated entities (one for Tuesday, the other for Thursday), may bring about more misconceptions than realizations of aesthetic truth. Even in classes concerned solely witll music, some teachers have employed visual art examples as a supplement to listening, with only a hope that such practice may help to bring about better understanding of musical mood or style. It is generally agreed that music, because of its abstract and temporal nature, is difficult to study aurally, while the visual and plastic arts possess a more stationary existence, and therefore more readily lend themselves to analysis and intensive investigation. It is also recognized that common cultural influences affect both the artist and the composer in any given time and place, and such influences may tend to bring about expressions that are discernibly similar despite their divergent media. Therefore, it is certainly possible tllat concomitant use of the visual arts may enhance the aural perception and understanding of music in areas where legitimate commonality exists. The primary objective of this study was to investigate the efficacy of employing examples from the visual arts as an aid to the development of broad stylistic concepts in music. Stylistic concepts, frequently mentioned as a major goal of general music and appreciation classes, may be defined as ideas about the predominant musical characteristics of a given composer's work, of a style period, or of a musical era. In effect, these characteristics allow the hearer to relate a musical example to what it represents and belongs. TIle study was conceived to provide answers to the following questions: 1. Can visual arts exemplars be used to advantage in the development of the more abstract aural concepts concerned with musical style periods?

The Kodály Concept of Music Education

The recent issue in this country of a 36-page textbook entitled The Kodály Concept of Music Education by Helga Szabó, accompanied by a set of three LP records, prompts me to examine the place such a scheme might have in the schools of this country. Kodály's ‘Choral Method’ has of course been available in this country for some years, and is now in the process of being reissued with new and improved texts for English speaking children by Geoffry Russell Smith. Mme Szabó's clear and vivid exposition will help to increase appreciation of its value. The book and records trace the use of the method from pre-school music activities to music college level, and the emphasis throughout is squarely placed on the development of aural ability through the use of the voice and solfa. The first musical example, on Side A, is of a two-year-old Hungarian singing a nursery rhyme; the last, on Side F, is of Kodály's Hymn of Zrinyi, sung by the choir of the Central Ensemble of the Ironworkers' Union. Each record is adequately banded, so that it is easy to locate any example, and in addition to the detailed commentary in the text book, each example is announced helpfully before it is performed. The quality of recording is lively, although somewhat marred by echo and pre-echo, and the stereophonic balance is realistic, especially in the circular games on Side A.