01-11-14 13:46 class9.scm Page 1 1 2 3 STRUCTURE AND INTERPRETATION OF MUSIC CONCEPTS 4 ______________________________________________ 5 ============================================== 6 7 CLASS 9: The Tonal System 8 _________________________ 9 ========================= 10 11 WHAT IS TONALITY? 12 The tonal system organizes notes into a "context" in which they have 13 ROLES and EXPECTED BEHAVIOR. For that purpose, music in the tonal 14 system is always related to a SCALE, which is the context object. 15 The role and behavior of notes in a tonal piece is determined by their 16 position (relative status) in the scale. 17 18 The central, most important role is "played" by the TONIC note of a 19 scale -- its first note: 20 "Tonic is the tone of ultimate rest, the other notes tend 21 to move toward the tonic" (L. B. Meyer 1956). 22 23 The definition emphasizes the expected behavior role, that the tonal 24 system attributes to its different notes. The behavior role is 25 classified as STABLE or DYNAMIC. The tonic is the most stable tone 26 in the SCALE. Usually it is the last note in a melody or music 27 piece. The tonic or the notes of the tonic triad are usually the 28 beginning notes. 29 30 A small experiment about the sense of tonality: 31 =============================================== 32 1. Listen to a "typical" tonal music piece and try to perceive the 33 feeling of tonality -- identify the tonic note. 34 Suggestion: The first movement of Mozart's "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" 35 (~5 min), 36 or, 37 the Minuet (only 2 melodic lines; 38 ~1 min. without the trio). 39 The end should feel like the (a?) ultimate rest of the piece. 40 41 2. The following example includes a small segment, with various ending 42 suggestions. 43 Rate the ending notes from 1 (most unstable) to 5 (most stable). 44 Do it fast and intuitively - only 2 seconds for rating between 45 the examples. 46 Repeat the process (for a refined rating). 47 Tonal-ending-1: Different endings. 48 49 3. Listen only to the first 4 bars of the first movement of "Eine Kleine 50 Nachtmusik" . 51 Try to answer the same questions as above. 52 Does it feels like we get to the (an?) ultimate rest? 53 54 4. Listen to the first 4 bars, as in (3), and to various ending 55 suggestions. 56 Rate the ending notes as in (2).01-11-14 13:46 class9.scm Page 2 57 Tonal-ending-2: (3) with different endings. 58 59 60 TONALITY -- A CIRCULAR VIEW: 61 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 62 * A tonal piece can be conceived as a scene whose meaning, 63 interpretation, content, and almost anything one would like to 64 attribute to it, derives from its CONTEXT (its scale, primary scale, 65 embedded scales, scale-inter-relations). 66 --> THE SCALE DETERMINES THE PITCH BEHAVIOR. 67 BUT: 68 * The context of a piece (scale) is defined by its pitch content 69 and its interaction with the rhythm dimension. 70 Pitch content -- simultaneous and sequential combinations, and their 71 interaction. 72 --> THE PITCH BEHAVIOR DETERMINES THE SCALE. 73 74 So -- indeed, any definition of tonality gets into that circular catch: 75 The tonality of a piece is defined by its pitch content which 76 is dictated by its tonality. 77 78 Examples of pitch behavior, as determined by context (scale): 79 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 80 1. Consider the behavior of G# and Ab (same music-level pitch class) 81 in C major. 82 G# will be usually part of a transposition to A major (A) or A 83 minor (Am), so it will function as a leading tone to A. 84 Ab will probably be part of a modulation to Fm or Eb. Therefore, 85 it will go down to G. 86 Ab and G# are not part of C, so they will point to some other 87 scale and behave according to there function in that context. 88 89 Another possibility: In a CHROMATHIC PASSAGE, the chromatic notes are 90 not assigned any harmonic function. In that case, an upward movement 91 is indicated by an uplifting alteration -- #, and a downward 92 movement is indicated by a downgrading alteration -- b. 93 94 2. Consider the two chord progressions in the note example (attached 95 to these class notes). 96 The first chord in both progressions consists of exactly the same 97 music-level pitch-classes (and music pitches as well). 98 However, they consist of different tonal-pitch-classes, which dictate 99 the difference in their behavior.100 In the first progression (A), the first chord functions as a101 seventh chord on the dominant (V) of F major, and is resolved into102 the tonic triad, with the Bb note (IV degree) being resolved into103 the III degree. The IV degree here plays a central role, since104 it implies that this is a dominant chord in F major, and being105 a DYNAMIC degree, it "requires" a resolution into the III degree.106 107 In the second progression (B), the first chord functions as a108 German chord (part of broader harmony repertoire of chords).109 It is interpreted as a subdominant chord (IV) within the context110 of the E or Em scales. Therefore, it is resolved to the dominance111 of E (a B major chord).11201-11-14 13:46 class9.scm Page 3113 114 A large part of the research in Music Cognition indeed concentrates115 on issues of the emergence of tonal sensation. Studies in music116 analysis, traditionally, deal with the understanding of the music117 content of a piece, with respect to its scale context.118 119 Given that circular characterization, all that is left is to dive120 into the components of the tonal system, and leave the philosophy121 of tonal sensation for later discussion.122 123 124 125 The TONAL DOMAIN OF NOTES126