Some Major Theoretical Problems concerning the Concept of Hierarchy in the Analysis of Tonal Music

Abstract

Level-analysis in the field of music theory today is rarely hierarchical, at least in the strict sense of the term. Most current musical theories view levels systemically. One problem with this approach is that it usually does not distinguish compositional structures from perceptual structures. Another is its failure to recognize that in an artifactual phenomenon the inherence of idiostructures is as crucial to the identity of an artwork as the inherence of style structures. But can the singularity of an idiostructure be captured in the generality of an analytical symbol? In music analysis, it would seem possible provided closure and nonclosure are admitted as simultaneous properties potentially present at all hierarchical levels. One complication of this assumption, however, is that both network and tree relationships result. Another is that such relationships span in both "horizontal" (temporal) and "vertical" (structural) directions. Still another complication is the emergence of transient levels. In this paper, a tentative solution to these problems is offered by invoking a hypothetical theory that relies on the cognitive concepts of return, reversal, and continuation (i.e., similarity) as regards the parameters of melody, harmony, and duration. Applied to the theme of Mozart's Piano Sonata, K. 331, this analytical theory is contrasted with several systemic analyses of the same theme by the theorists DeVoto, Lester, Schenker, and Meyer. In conclusion, the hierarchical analysis of the Mozart theme gives way to a synthesis as the melody's various levels are rendered into rankings of pitch shown on one level only.

The Feeling of Music Past: How Listeners Remember Musical Affect

“…In order to bring this simultaneous presentation of temporal frames into the realm of more traditional music analysis, one could translate these representations into music notation. This idea derives from Narmour's (1984) decision to represent hierarchical levels (or, more appropriately, ranks) by sizes of noteheads. Similarly, one could represent more important affective events with bigger noteheads.…”

“…Just as music psychologists have tended to concentrate on either moment-to-moment experience of emotion or memory of emotion, music theorists have largely focused on either the formation of musical structure and affect (e.g., Hasty, 1997;Meyer, 1956Meyer, , 1973Narmour, 1984Narmour, , 1990Narmour, , 1991Narmour, , 1992Narmour, , 1996Narmour, , 1999 or the final state of a listener's experience (e.g., Lerdahl & Jackendoff, 1983). Theories that attempt to capture how listeners derive musical relationships, aesthetic responses, and affective reactions in the moment-what are often called diachronic models-do not consider the erosive or distorting force of memory.…”

Local versus global processing of harmonic cadences in the solution of musical puzzles

“…Authentic and half cadences are the most important cadences in the Western musical tonal system. The authentic cadence functions as a sign of a de®nitive ending, and the half cadence acts as a sign of a temporary ending that implies the appearance of an authentic cadence later on (Meyer, 1956(Meyer, , 1973Narmour, 1983;Rosner & Narmour, 1992). According to several theories (Schenker, 1979;Lerdahl & Jackendo, 1983), all the other events of the piece are more or less directly anchored to one or other of the cadences.…”

Levels of structure in the organization of musical time

“…Reference to apparently single structural levels must therefore be understood as a necessary simplifying idealization. Berry (1976) and Narmour (1983) contain more extended discussions of these and other features of structural levels in music.…”