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Scale Step
In Schenkerian theory, a scale-step (german: Stufe) is a triad (based on one of the diatonic scale degrees) that is perceived as an organizing force for a passage of music (in accordance with the principle of composing-out). In ''Harmony'', Schenker gives the following example and asserts that A scale-step triad is designated by an uppercase Roman numeral representing the scale degree of the root, much as in traditional "harmonic analysis" (see chord progression). Thus, in the above example (which is in G major), the G major triad that Schenker claims we perceive through the first two measures would be labelled "I". However, unlike traditional harmonic analyses, Schenker's theory is not concerned with the mere labelling of such chords, but rather with discerning hierarchical relationships among tones. For Schenker, the chords occurring in a passage need not be of equal import. As he explains: Furthermore, in terms of Schenker's mature theory, the question of whether a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Schenkerian Analysis
Schenkerian analysis is a method of analyzing tonal music based on the theories of Heinrich Schenker (1868–1935). The goal is to demonstrate the organic coherence of the work by showing how it relates to an abstracted deep structure, the ''Ursatz''. This primal structure is roughly the same for any tonal work, but a Schenkerian analysis shows how, in an individual case, that structure develops into a unique work at the "foreground", the level of the score itself. A key theoretical concept is "tonal space". The intervals between the notes of the tonic triad in the background form a ''tonal space'' that is filled with passing and neighbour tones, producing new triads and new tonal spaces that are open for further elaborations until the "surface" of the work (the score) is reached. The analysis uses a specialized symbolic form of musical notation. Although Schenker himself usually presents his analyses in the generative direction, starting from the fundamental structure (''Ursatz ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Triad (music)
In music, a triad is a set of three notes (or " pitch classes") that can be stacked vertically in thirds.Ronald Pen, ''Introduction to Music'' (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1992): 81. . "A triad is a set of notes consisting of three notes built on successive intervals of a third. A triad can be constructed upon any note by adding alternating notes drawn from the scale.... In each case the note that forms the foundation pitch is called the ''root'', the middle tone of the triad is designated the ''third'' (because it is separated by the interval of a third from the root), and the top tone is referred to as the ''fifth'' (because it is a fifth away from the root)." Triads are the most common chords in Western music. When stacked in thirds, notes produce triads. The triad's members, from lowest-pitched tone to highest, are called: * the root **Note: Inversion does not change the root. (The third or fifth can be the lowest note.) * the third – its interval above the root being a minor t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diatonic
Diatonic and chromatic are terms in music theory that are most often used to characterize scales, and are also applied to musical instruments, intervals, chords, notes, musical styles, and kinds of harmony. They are very often used as a pair, especially when applied to contrasting features of the common practice music of the period 1600–1900. These terms may mean different things in different contexts. Very often, ''diatonic'' refers to musical elements derived from the modes and transpositions of the "white note scale" C–D–E–F–G–A–B. In some usages it includes all forms of heptatonic scale that are in common use in Western music (the major, and all forms of the minor). ''Chromatic'' most often refers to structures derived from the twelve-note chromatic scale, which consists of all semitones. Historically, however, it had other senses, referring in Ancient Greek music theory to a particular tuning of the tetrachord, and to a rhythmic notational conventi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scale Degrees
In music theory, the scale degree is the position of a particular note on a scale relative to the tonic, the first and main note of the scale from which each octave is assumed to begin. Degrees are useful for indicating the size of intervals and chords and whether an interval is major or minor. In the most general sense, the scale degree is the number given to each step of the scale, usually starting with 1 for tonic. Defining it like this implies that a tonic is specified. For instance, the 7-tone diatonic scale may become the major scale once the proper degree has been chosen as tonic (e.g. the C-major scale C–D–E–F–G–A–B, in which C is the tonic). If the scale has no tonic, the starting degree must be chosen arbitrarily. In set theory, for instance, the 12 degrees of the chromatic scale usually are numbered starting from C=0, the twelve pitch classes being numbered from 0 to 11. In a more specific sense, scale degrees are given names that indicate their par ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Composing-out
In music theory, prolongation is the process in tonal music through which a pitch, interval, or consonant triad is considered to govern spans of music when not physically sounding. It is a central principle in the music-analytic methodology of Schenkerian analysis, conceived by Austrian theorist Heinrich Schenker. The English term usually translates Schenker's ''Auskomponierung'' (better translated as "composing out" or "elaboration"). According to Fred Lerdahl, "The term 'prolongation' ..usually means 'composing out' (Schenker's own intention for the term is open to debate)." Prolongation can be thought of as a way of generating musical content through the linear elaboration of simple and basic tonal structures with progressively increasing detail and sophistication,William Drabkin. "Prolongation." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. 2 Aug. 2011 . and thus analysis consists of a reduction from detail to structure. Important to the operation of prolongation is the hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harmony (Schenker)
''Harmony'' (german: Harmonielehre, or "Theory of Harmony") is a book published in 1906 by Heinrich Schenker. It is the first installment of Schenker's three-volume treatise on music theory entitled ''New Musical Theories and Fantasies''; the others are '' Counterpoint'' and ''Free Composition''. Schenker's name did not appear on the original edition of the work – the author was listed simply as "an artist". ''Harmony'', which was Schenker's first major book-length theoretical writing, is notable for defining the theoretical agenda that Schenker was to carry out over the subsequent three decades. Schenker makes a careful distinction between the theories of ''harmony'' (which for Schenker is concerned with relations among scale-steps) and ''counterpoint'' (which deals only with voice leading); he argues that other theorists have confusingly mixed these two concepts. He introduces the principle of repetition, which gives rise to the concept of the motive. Schenker also strongly hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heinrich Schenker
Heinrich Schenker (19 June 1868 – 14 January 1935) was a Galician-born Austrian music theorist whose writings have had a profound influence on subsequent musical analysis. His approach, now termed Schenkerian analysis, was most fully explained in a three volume series entitled ''Neue musikalische Theorien und Phantasien'' (''New Musical Theories and Phantasies''), which included '' Harmony'' (1906), '' Counterpoint'' (1910; 1922) and ''Free Composition'' (1935). Born in Wiśniowczyk, Austrian Galicia, he studied law at University of Vienna and music at what is now the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna where his teachers included Franz Krenn, Ernst Ludwig, Anton Bruckner and Johann Nepomuk Fuchs. Despite his law degree, he focused primarily on a musical career following graduation, finding minimal success as a composer, conductor and accompanist. From the 20th-century on, Schenker increasingly directed his efforts towards music theory, developing a syst ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Root (chord)
In music theory, the concept of root is the idea that a chord can be represented and named by one of its notes. It is linked to harmonic thinking—the idea that vertical aggregates of notes can form a single unit, a chord. It is in this sense that one speaks of a "C chord" or a "chord on C"—a chord built from C and of which the note (or pitch) C is the root. When a chord is referred to in Classical music or popular music without a reference to what type of chord it is (either major or minor, in most cases), it is assumed a major triad, which for C contains the notes C, E and G. The root need not be the bass note, the lowest note of the chord: the concept of root is linked to that of the inversion of chords, which is derived from the notion of invertible counterpoint. In this concept, chords can be inverted while still retaining their root. In tertian harmonic theory, wherein chords can be considered stacks of third intervals (e.g. in common practice tonality), the root ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chord Progression
In a musical composition, a chord progression or harmonic progression (informally chord changes, used as a plural) is a succession of chords. Chord progressions are the foundation of harmony in Western musical tradition from the common practice era of Classical music to the 21st century. Chord progressions are the foundation of Western popular music styles (e.g., pop music, rock music), traditional music, as well as genres such as blues and jazz. In these genres, chord progressions are the defining feature on which melody and rhythm are built. In tonal music, chord progressions have the function of either establishing or otherwise contradicting a tonality, the technical name for what is commonly understood as the " key" of a song or piece. Chord progressions, such as the common chord progression I–vi–ii–V, are usually expressed by Roman numerals in Classical music theory. In many styles of popular and traditional music, chord progressions are expressed using the name and " ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
G Major
G major (or the key of G) is a major scale based on G, with the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F. Its key signature has one sharp. Its relative minor is E minor and its parallel minor is G minor. The G major scale is: Notable compositions Baroque period In Baroque music, G major was regarded as the "key of benediction". Of Domenico Scarlatti's 555 keyboard sonatas, G major is the home key for 69, or about 12.4%, sonatas. In the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, "G major is often a key of chain rhythms", according to Alfred Einstein, although Bach also used the key for some -based works, including his third and fourth '' Brandenburg Concertos''. Pianist Jeremy Denk observes that the ''Goldberg Variations'' are 80 minutes in G major. Classical era Twelve of Joseph Haydn's 106 symphonies are in G major. Likewise, one of Haydn's most famous piano trios, No. 39 (with the ''Gypsy Rondo''), and one of his last two complete published string quartets (Op. 77, No. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
