[Smt-talk] Fwd: First Species Question

[Richard Hermann]

Dear SMT-Listians,

Another mildly related situation occurs with dyadic definitions of dissonance such as "The Perfect 5th is a consonance." However, in a six-five chord a perfect fifth usually represents the dissonant chordal seventh in 18th- and 19th-century music. Atomistic and rigid definitions and perceptions seem  to run into difficulties when applied to phenomena in the wild. They do have the mixed blessing of being easy to teach and learn.

Best,

Richard Hermann, Prof. of Music
University of New Mexico




On Jul 7, 2010, at 8:15 AM, Dunsby, Jonathan wrote:

> ...fifths are (and sound like) fifths, no matter what registers... 
>> Best regards,
>> Donna Doyle
>> 
>> Aaron Copland School of Music
>> Queens College
>> 65-30 Kissena Blvd.
>> Flushing, NY  11367
>> 
>> Well you say that, but almost as another thread I'm wondering just how and where, from a theory-building point of view, the illusion of 'part' integrity kicks in or doesn't? When e.g. a voice actually dips under the piano bass line in a 19C Lied, how come we don't hear it as the 'bass' (shades of Dichterliebe No. 2, of course, beloved of us theorists, but such happens all over Western art music, here and there)? My teacher always said "because that's what Messiaen taught us". But is there a history-of-theory etiology to this issue or perhaps non-issue? (Obviously, fifths with the 'bass' and fifths entailing only inner parts are not, in general, the same thing....)
>>  
>> Jonathan
>> ______________
>> Jonathan Dunsby
>> Chair, Music Theory Department
>> Professor of Music Theory
>> Eastman School of Music
>>  
>> http://www.ithaca.edu/music/mtsnys/officers.html
>>  
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