[Smt-talk] You say structure I say structuralism lets

[Phillip Dineen]

Oh those stretch Continentals. What a hangover.

Presumably the structuralists were looking at some kind of structure. Perhaps historically the functionalists -- Radcliffe Brown, Propp? -- stopped at that point, and concerned themselves with only the function of (structural) elements within a system. (Perhaps as theorists we're functional.) But following the insights of Saussure (or his students), some folks took that a little further, suggesting that the nature of the functional elements determined the structure (not vice versa, or maybe vice versa, or probably both -- I'm simplifying here).

I don't think most music theorists have gone that far, although it comes to mind that articles by Roland Jackson (ITO, mid 80's) and the late Chris Lewis (19thCM) might have touched upon structural thought. (I'm forgetting others, memory being a thing of the past.)

Cleaning the Derrida out of the way so I can get at the coffee.

Murray (dineen)
University of Ottawa
murraydineen at uottawa.ca


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