<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:12pt"><div><span>Mitch Ohriner and Eliot Handelman refer to motor activity (tapping and conducting) with regard to metre. Can there be metrical perception without motor activity? E.g., can one hear (or even imagine) pairs of onsets as time-intervallically the same without an intervening motor response?</span></div><div><span><br></span></div><div><span>Jay Rahn, York University </span></div><div><br><blockquote style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(16, 16, 255); margin-left: 5px; padding-left: 5px;"><div style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; "><div style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'times new roman', 'new york', times, serif; "><font size="2" face="Arial"><hr size="1"><b><span style="font-weight:bold;">From:</span></b> Eliot Handelman <eliot@colba.net><br><b><span
style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b> smt-talk@lists.societymusictheory.org<br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Tuesday, October 25, 2011 2:25:24 PM<br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b> Re: [Smt-talk] Pieces with improvisatory openings<br></font><br><div id="yiv302431466">
<title></title>
<div>
On 24/10/2011 4:43 PM, Mitch Ohriner wrote:
<blockquote type="cite"><br>
<br>
Tapping or conducting along with a performance of the G-minor
Ballade can be very difficult at the beginning and is usually much
easier after m. 9.<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
That depends on the performance, no? Or are you saying that the
notated music implies a certain kind of performance,<br>
in which case, again, the question would be, what (notational)
features imply such a performance, where the toe-tappers<br>
would be disappointed?<br>
<br>
<blockquote type="cite">
<br>
This is the feature that makes the opening of the Ballade seem
improvisatory to me. To say that the opening is improvisatory is
of course fictive. </blockquote>
<br>
Ok. I don't find the word "improvisatory" very helpful, either.
Improvised music isn't supposed to sound<br>
improvised. "Improvisatory" might then point to a defect in the
music, "fingers idly wandering over the keys," <br>
music doesn't go anywhere. Second, what these old guys may have
considered to be improvisation is either<br>
represented in their music or we don't know what it is. Is <span class="yiv302431466st"><i>Träumerei </i></span>improvisatory? By
accounts, it seems<br>
it was so intended, but it's doubtful anyone now hears it this way.
Perhaps the idea in the opening of the <br>
Ballade is to evoke a kind of emptiness and doubt -- if one can ever
get the historical semiotics of this right --<br>
a trope of the hapless artist awaiting the inspired moment. There
may have been that kind of self-reflection in Schumann,<br>
but in Chopin?<br>
<br>
-- eliot<br>
----<br>
Eliot Handelman<br>
CIRMMT<br>
<br>
<br>
</div>
</div><br>_______________________________________________<br>Smt-talk mailing list<br><a ymailto="mailto:Smt-talk@lists.societymusictheory.org" href="mailto:Smt-talk@lists.societymusictheory.org">Smt-talk@lists.societymusictheory.org</a><br><a href="http://lists.societymusictheory.org/listinfo.cgi/smt-talk-societymusictheory.org" target="_blank">http://lists.societymusictheory.org/listinfo.cgi/smt-talk-societymusictheory.org</a><br><br><br></div></div></blockquote></div></div></body></html>