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Dimitar Ninov writes that "the term 'predominant' ...
has been in use mostly in Schenkerian theory or in theoretical
formulations
influenced by Schenker and his followers."
<br>
<br>
To the extent that one can objectively refute such a
statement, I believe the evidence shows no particular affinity
between Schenkerians
and the term "predominant" (or "pre-dominant" as it is
sometimes rendered).
<br>
<br>
You will not find the term used at all in certain
Schenkerian textbooks that have been published in the past 30 years,
including
those of Forte & Gilbert, Porter, and Pankhurst. Cadwallader
& Gagné
(3rd ed.) accept it as a surrogate for "intermediate harmonies" (see
p. 46), but they prefer and use the latter term. Neumeyer &
Tepping do use
it briefly (just 2 or 3 times), making them the textbook authors who
arguably
embrace it the most (meager though their uses are). To go back a bit
further,
it should be noted that Salzer didn't use it in <i>Structural
Hearing</i>, either.
<br>
<br>
As for harmony textbooks influenced by Schenker, well, those
are legion by now, so obviously some of them will use the term. But
if you look
at some of the first in this category, they didn't use the term
either (see,
e.g., Forte's <i>Tonal Harmony in Concept and Practice</i>, and
Aldwell & Schachter's
<i>Harmony and Voice Leading</i>). And again, if we want to go back
to even older
works (such as Mitchell's <i>Elementary Harmony</i>, or Sessions' <i>Harmonic
Practice</i>),
it won't be found there, either.
<br>
<br>
So the take-away is that while some recent textbooks authors
(and article authors) may use the term "pre(-)dominant" while
speaking of Schenker, there is no real legacy of this, as your
statement
suggests.
<br>
<br>
<br>
David Carson Berry
<br>
Associate Professor of Music Theory
<br>
University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music
<br>
<br>
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