1 / 29

Schenkerien prolongation and the emotional connotations of major-minor tonality

Schenkerien prolongation and the emotional connotations of major-minor tonality. Richard Parncutt University of Graz, Austria ICME3, Jyväskylä Finland, 2013. SysMus Graz. Theses. A passage of MmT * is perceived as a prolonged background triad

asa
Télécharger la présentation

Schenkerien prolongation and the emotional connotations of major-minor tonality

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Schenkerienprolongation and the emotional connotations of major-minor tonality Richard Parncutt University of Graz, Austria ICME3, Jyväskylä Finland, 2013 SysMus Graz

  2. Theses • A passage of MmT* is perceived as a prolonged background triad • This prolonged triad is the origin of “major-minor = happy-sad” *major-minortonality

  3. Questionsarising • Does this background triad exist? • Why major=happy and minor=sad? More questions… • Why two triads? Why these two? • Why this specific mapping? • What about Leonard Meyer’s theory?

  4. Origins of… …emotion: evolutionarypsychology? …MmT: psychohistory?

  5. Evolutionaryfunctionaloriginsofemotion Arousal • High: energyavailableornecessary • Low: energyunavailableorunnecessary Valence • positive: clearsituation safety, confidence • negative: unclearsituation fearoranger

  6. PsychohistoricoriginofMmTFivepsychohistoricalsteps • Diatonicscales in ancientmusic • Leadingtones in medievalpolyphony • Importanceofmajorandminortriads • Impliedpitches in thesetriads • Noconsecutivesemitones in scales

  7. Major-minorTonality (MmT) Most musicin MmTcanbereducedtochordprogressions. Most chordscorrespondtooneofthesediatonictriads.

  8. Origin ofpentatonic, diatonic, chromaticscales • Pairs ofharmoniccomplextoneswithfrequenciesorpitches in common • Octave andfifthrelations • Circle offifths ethanhein.com Harmonics in common perceptualsimilarity

  9. Leadingtones in earlymusicGuillaume de Machaut (1300-1377). RondeauMa fin estmon commencementF# tonicizes G - C# tonicizes D

  10. Origin of leading tones?Consonance / prevalence of individual tones in chant Data Model A B C D E F G A B C D E F G Data: Counted in the Liber Usualis(DDMAL, Fujiniagaet al., McGill) Model: No. of harmonicpcs (P5, M3, m7, M2) atdiatonicscalesteps Comparison: df= 5, r = 0.90, p<.01 Finding: C (F) more prevalentthan B (E) origin of leadingtone? Cf. Parncutt, R. & Prem, D. (2008 ). The relative prevalence of Medieval modes and the origin of the leading tone (poster). International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition (ICMPC10), Sapporo, Japan, 25-29 August. Based on Bryden, & Hughes(1969). An index of Gregorian chant.

  11. Origin ofmajorandminortriads • The mostconsonantsetsof 3 pitchclasses • Include P5  high harmonicity • No m2 or M2 lowroughness • (Parncutt, 1988) • Onlytwochordssatisfythisconstraint! • Major andminortriadsdominateMmT • Ourattentionisdrawntotheirdifference

  12. Missingfundamentals in triads(Parncutt, 1988; Terhardt, 1982) Chord CEG hasmissingfundamentalsat A, F ChordCEbGhasmissingfundamentalsat F, Ab Why? e.g. E and G areharmonicsof A Mistuningof a ¼ - ½ tone? Noproblem in pitchperception Do thesemissingfundamentalsexist? • Empiricalevidence • E.g. C-major triadgoesbetterwith F than F# (Parncutt, 1993) • BUT: can also beexplainedbymusicalexperience • Logical argument • Brain triestolocatefundamentals in ambiguoussounds • Perceptionofmissingfundamentalsisinevitable

  13. Origin of major and minorscalesCompatible with major and minortriads (tonic triads) Krumhansl’s key profiles as pitch salience profiles of tonic triadsParncutt, 2011 • ∆ Krumhansl’s key profiles ▀ calc. pitch salience in tonic triad • evidence that tonic in MmT is a triad, not a tone

  14. Avoidingconsecutivesemitones Ifthereareconsecutivesemitones in a melody,  middle tone perceivedaspassing  middle tone not a scalestep  noconsecutivesemitones in (jazz) scales Pressing (1981) Common exceptions: #4-5-b6, #7-8-b9 This canexplainwhy C-major & –minorinclude D & not Db. Alternative explanations: • Chord V isimportant. It must have P5 tobeconsonant. • Useofstandarddiatonicscales

  15. Psychohistoricoriginofmajorandminorscales • Diatonicscales in ancientmusic • Importanceofmajorandminortriads  CEG, CEbG • Leadingtones  CEGB, CEbGB • Impliedpitches in thesetriads  CEFGAB, CEbFGAbB • Noconsecutivesemitones  CDEFGAB, CDEbFGAbB

  16. Claim: The tonic in MmTis a triadnot a singletone! Corollary: • Anypassage in MmTisperceivedas a prolongationofitstonictriad Evidence: • Qualitative • SuccessofSchenkerianapproach • Quantitative • Correlationbetweenpitchsalience in tonictriadandstability in scale • Transition probabilities in melodies

  17. Transition probabilitiesbetweenscalesteps in major-mode melodies(Huron, 2006, 2012) Whyisthetransitionbetweenscalesteps 6 and 7 avoided?

  18. “Huron’s stereotype” 5 3 1 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 • Music theory: Embellishmentoftonictriad • Arpeggiation • Passingnotes • Neighbornotes • Psychological basis: Auditorysceneanalysis • Harmonicity • Pitch proximity

  19. Pitch rangeofmajor-keymelodies The lowestscaledegreeisoften 1 or 7. The highestisoften 6.

  20. A classicalexample Openingthemesof 10 out of 18 Mozart piano sonatasconformtoHuron‘s stereotype: KV 279, 280, 281, 283, 284, 310, 331, 332, 333, 545

  21. Schenker’sUrsatz “Great music” (Bach, Beethoven, Brahms…) is a prolongation (elaboration, embellishment, Auskomponierung, Auswicklung) of the Ursatz. • TheUrsatz (background) prolongs the tonic triad. • The Ursatz is elaborated  middleground • The middleground is elaborated  foreground  The whole piece prolongs the tonic triad

  22. Prolongation of prolongation?  Not only “great” music Is all music in Mmt is a prolongation of the tonic triad?  Not only music analysis Does chord prolongation have a psychological basis?

  23. Major-minorandvalencesomebasicfacts • Positive valence • happiness, contentment, serenity, grace, tenderness, elation, joy, victory, majesty… • Negative valence • sadness, anger, fear, tension, solemnity, lament, tragedy, pathos, mourning, melancholy, frustration, depression, gloom… • Major-minor effect can be overridden by tempo • E.g. fast, happy minor or slow, sad major • Applies to tonalities not individual chords • A major triad in a minor key can sound sad • A minor triad in a major key can sound happy

  24. Leonard B. MeyerEmotion andmeaning in music(1956) • Minor tonality is more ambiguous • Two versions of scale degrees 6 and 7 • Extreme example: Carmen’s Habanera (“scandalous”: Susan McClary, 2005) • Uncertainty  negative emotion • measured by information theory

  25. SadspeechandmusicHuron‘sapproach. Somesalientstucturalfeatures: • Meanpitchislowerthanaverage • Smallerpitchintervalsbetweensuccessivesyllables • Lowersoundlevel • Slower Myhypothesis: • Only 1 canexplainoriginofminor-sad • Other areconsequences

  26. Whyismajor happy? • Most musicis happy • (births, weddings, feasts, preparationfor war, entertainment, relaxation) not sad (funerals) • Most musicismajor • Major keys/chordmorecommonthanminor • Modulation to relative major; major dominant triad • Reason: moreconsonant? (higherharmonicity, lessambiguity) • Minor keys  the tonal Other • Unhappy music  the Other musical emotion

  27. Analogousasymmetries In everyday life and music, • Positive valence is normal • Negative valence is abnormal (emotional Other) In music, • Consonance is normal • Dissonance is abnormal (needs resolution) Consonance includes smoothness, harmonicity, diatonicity, familiarity; major is more consonant

  28. Whyisminorsad?Twotheories – competingorcomplementary? 1. Structural ambiguity (LB Meyer) • Minor: root of tonic and tonic of scale are more ambiguous Is this dynamic (higher-arousal) negativity?afraid, angry, tense, frustrated… 2. Expected pitch in speech (Huron) • Minor: 3rd and 6th scale degrees are lower than expected Is this static (lower-arousal) negativity? sad, solemn, gloomy, melancholy, depressed, lamenting, mourning, tragic, pathetic… In both cases, • association between music and situation/speech • role of duration &prolongation: keys not chords

  29. Theses • A passage of MmT is perceived as a prolonged background triad. • The prolonged triad is the ultimate origin of “major-minor = happy-sad”. Read all about it! Latest issue of Empirical Musicology Review Special thanks to David Huron and Matthew Davis for their study on mean interval size, which inspired this study

More Related