source file: mills2.txt Date: Mon, 17 Mar 1997 10:28:07 -0800 Subject: Re: Milne/Wolf 4-5-6-7-8 and Gr Aug6th/Fr Aug6th chords From: alves@Orion.AC.HMC.Edu (Bill Alves) >These "chords" are the by-product of very nice chromatic voice-leading. >I.E., they are linear structures, not vertical sonorities. Our >traditional "music theory" courses (I prefer to call them "music systems" >courses, for they examine past, well-established practices, and really >do not address 'theory' at all) get too carried away with Harmony as the >primary structure, while linear melodic connections are actually the most >important area of construction. That's interesting. I think our traditional "counterpoint" courses get too carried away with linear melodic connections as the primary structure, ignoring harmony. Seriously, I think that one of traditional music theory's biggest mistakes is to teach that, for European music from at least the 16th to 19th centuries, it is possible to separate the "linear" from the "vertical" and judge their relative "importance" separately. A parallel development of theory and pedagogy in the two areas led to the odd state of affairs where we now have separate "harmony" and "counterpoint" classes. Certainly the augmented sixth chords developed through linear processes, as did sevenths, but the fact that they have an effect on the listener as sonorities as well cannot be denied. (Schoenberg took this reasoning even further, saying, "Non-harmonic tones form chords, hence they are not non-harmonic; the musical phenomena they help to create are harmonies, as is everything that sounds simultaneously.") There are plenty of possible "interim" chords formed by voice leadings, but only certain ones found a common place in common-practice theory. It seems to me that the use of the German augmented sixth as a pivot chord, equalling the dominant seventh in another key shows that, for the classical/romantic composers who used this technique at least, the German augmented sixth was no less a "passing" sonority than a dominant seventh. I have always scratched my head over those who claim that, because Bach used polyphony more commonly and prominently than Beethoven, he was a more "linear" composer. It suggests that Beethoven didn't care about voice leading or Bach about harmony, which is ridiculous. All of Bach's counterpoint results in beautiful triadic harmony, and Beethoven was just as careful as his predecessor about parallel fifths and proper resolutions and so on. In this style of music, harmony and counterpoint are part of the same fabric. Now, I'm not trying to put all of these arguments into the mouth of Dr. Belet, but he brought up an interesting topic that is important for tuning and composition as well. I sympathize with his impatience with traditional "music systems" instruction and its often one-dimensional perspective. Bill ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^ Bill Alves email: alves@hmc.edu ^ ^ Harvey Mudd College URL: http://www2.hmc.edu/~alves/ ^ ^ 301 E. Twelfth St. (909)607-4170 (office) ^ ^ Claremont CA 91711 USA (909)621-8360 (fax) ^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Received: from ns.ezh.nl [137.174.112.59] by vbv40.ezh.nl with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Mon, 17 Mar 1997 20:00 +0100 Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA03638; Mon, 17 Mar 1997 20:00:00 +0100 Received: from ella.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA29100 Received: from by ella.mills.edu via SMTP (940816.SGI.8.6.9/930416.SGI) id KAA10681; Mon, 17 Mar 1997 10:57:34 -0800 Date: Mon, 17 Mar 1997 10:57:34 -0800 Message-Id: Errors-To: madole@mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@ella.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@ella.mills.edu