[Smt-talk] I-II-IV as a progression

[Daniel Wolf]

On Mon, 31 Aug 2009 02:01:44 +0200, Dmitri Tymoczko <dmitri at princeton.edu>  
wrote:

> Or if we really want to be responsible, we could even propose that the  
> progression works for any number of different reasons, all of which  
> might have contributed to its acceptance by musicians and listeners.
>

It's very good to hear this.  Acknowledging multiple reasons is not just  
being responsible to alternative paths to acceptance by listeners and  
musicians, but also being responsible toward a real design feature in  
music.  In our rage for definition, we tend to play down tonal music's  
capacity for ambiguity, punning, and vagueness.  I think that Tovey, as  
usual, got it right when he wrote that “Theorists are apt to vex  
themselves with vain efforts to remove uncertainty just where it has a  
high aesthetic value.”

Daniel Wolf
composer
Frankfurt am Main