[Smt-talk] quick query

[Joel Galand]

With the exception of a few analytical forums that used to be included in JMT years ago, few  of us do analysis anymore (except privately perhaps), if the bar includes reproducing an entire score.  And the end--even in those analytical forums where an article was devoted entirely to one piece--was never only, or even principally, exegesis of the piece itself but rather to demonstrate the analytical potential of one theory or another.  Or, if one takes up an eclectic mode of analysis, then that too is usually the main point--to show how useful it can be to look for "du sens" rather than "le sens" (alluding here to a distinction Roland Barthes once made).  

So I like to interpret the term "analysis" generously.  

 Joel Galand
Associate Professor of Music Theory
Associate Director for Academic Affairs and Director of Graduate Studies
School of Music
Florida International University

________________________________________
From: smt-talk-bounces at lists.societymusictheory.org [smt-talk-bounces at lists.societymusictheory.org] on behalf of Matthew Royal [mroyal at brocku.ca]
Sent: Thursday, February 14, 2013 12:44 PM
To: smt-talk at lists.societymusictheory.org
Subject: [Smt-talk] quick query

as several people have noted, Burmeister's is usually given as the
first published music analysis.  Tinctoris does talk about the
modality of Dufay's "Le Serviteur," but this is not normally
identified as an analysis proper.  This, of course, raises the
question of how we define analysis within a theoretical treatise.
Some related questions are:

Must the passage contain the score of the piece? (Or, if it doesn't,
is it just a commentary?)
How long must the excerpt be? (There are many 16th-century examples of
snippets of pieces, or very short pieces).
Must exegesis of the piece be the end in itself? (Again, there are
numerous 16th-century  examples of pieces cited to illustrate some
point of theory, rather than to elucidate the pieces themselves).

Best

Matthew

Dr. Matthew S. Royal
Associate Professor and Chair
Department of Music
Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts
Brock University
500 Glenridge Avenue
St. Catharines, Ontario
Canada L2S 3A1
Tel: (905) 688-5550 x5377
Fax: (905) 984-4861

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