[Smt-talk] inability to perceive "Dominant" (was: Classical Form and Recursion)

[art samplaski]

While I've been staying out of this discussion, after
noting this exchangein the most recent digest between
Fred and Dmitri, replying, I feel compelled to add
one thing:
 
>> The study of musical tension is attractive partly because
>> intuitions about it are so spontaneous. The average listener cannot
>> name a V or a I chord but nevertheless responds to a progression in
>> terms of degrees of tension. Put another way, a chord has a
>> particular location in tonal space; the listener has implicit
>> knowledge of the space and feels motion and force as patterns of
>> tension.
>
> I think there's more of a difficulty here than you do. Consider:
>
[...]
> 2. We all agree that ordinary listeners cannot reliably name whether
> something is a V or I chord.
 
I agree with Fred's underlying principle, that "average
listeners" (here taken to mean, are untrained but have
listened to a fair deal of Western music) can distinguish
"dominant" because of tonal tension. I think the problem
is, both of them are getting caught in the trap (now
centuries-long) of conflating the _concept_ of "dominant"
and "tonic" with specific instantiations (I vs. V chords).
 
Years ago I was shown a trick apparently done at some
summer music camps of singing a popular song but with
the words one note off. Try singing the first verse of
"God Save the Queen" this way to some "ordinary
listeners":
 
Save our gracious Queen, Long
live our noble Queen, God
save the Queen...!!!!!!
 
ANYONE who knows that tune, whether in its original or
U.S.-filked lyrics, will go "Augh!" or something similar
when you stop one note short of tonic. Likely a lot of
folks will sing the missing note just to relieve the
tension. Ask them why, and you'll get a variety of answers
that boil down to something approaching, you stopped
short of home base and the resting point, leaving me
hanging; I *had* to finish it!
 
I submit that THAT is "knowing what dominant is,"
whether or not they've any capacity to "reliably
distinguish a I and V chord." They recognize something
in the music that creates a sense of being a step away
from home base and an imminent expectation of return
there. _That's_ "Dominant," not a V chord.
 
We need to unbundle/decouple our ideas of structural
function from specific pitch/chord instantiations.
Otherwise we'll never be able to explain how, e.g.,
something like an [0167] could act as tonic or dominant
in some piece. (And no, I neither know of any such piece
nor how to do it--a challenge for a better composer
than me.:)
 
Art Samplaski
Ithaca, NY
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