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<TITLE>Re: [Smt-talk] Clarification of previous post</TITLE>
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I’m all for selling the practicality of theory as Eric describes — here are a few of my more effective pitches.<BR>
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1) hypermeter<BR>
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Already a post on this, no surprise to me as this connects so directly with performance concerns. Five-bar hypermeasures are nice in that they offer a choice of where in the hypermeasure to put the secondary weight, bar 3 or bar 4. Some cases are kind of obvious (second hypermeasure of Mozart clarinet qn slow mvt, first of Chopin etude op. 10 no. 3, the latter being a nice ex though in that all weak measures feature syncopations of melody and harmonic rhythm). But the five-bar hypermeasure that concludes the A section in Mendelssohn’s SwoW op. 19 no. 1 can really go either way. I like to use this example especially because I’ve got a recording (Martin Jones I’m pretty sure) that’s very clear in making the choice that tends to be less popular with my students. It also involves the question of making a big deal out of the cadence vs. letting it play out as the inevitable consequence of what’s come before – and raising that question helps guard against some of the scary versions of what a theory-informed performance might entail. <BR>
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I’ve got some more examples, as well as some tools that help students navigate some of these things, in lecture notes on phrase expansions and hypermeter on my theory website: <a href="http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/johnito/music_theory/Form/Form2ExtElsn/Form2ExtElsn.html">http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/johnito/music_theory/Form/Form2ExtElsn/Form2ExtElsn.html</a><BR>
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The opening melody of the spring sonata provides another nice example similar to one used in the notes (though a bit more complicated), and a few more that I’ve used in the classroom should appear in an article on hypermeter sometime in the next academic year, assuming late stages of editing go smoothly.<BR>
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2) does the movement end with an authentic or a half cadence? (Brahms pno qn, scherzo)<BR>
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I’ll quickly sketch some stuff that I’ve worked out as a teaching example. I seem to have reinvented a wheel, as I came across a reference to a similar analysis by (I think) Peter H. Smith in Ryan McClelland’s Brahms Scherzo book.<BR>
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All (or just about all) cadences in the movement are HC’s, and the theme that ends the movement has previously been heard circling around scale degree 5. Is this a plagal cadence with a picardy third in (the prevailing key of) C minor, or a half cadence in F minor (the key of the work and of the following mvt)? Nice in that the question gets answered two ways by two different continuations, by C maj trio and by F minor finale. Especially if you do aural skills in a way that emphasizes scale degree, this should be a salient difference in hearing that would lead to rather different performances. It’s also nice in that it suggests that Brahms heard the parallel between dominant key and dominant chord that so many of us lay so much stress on, even across movements. (You’ll just need to help a bit with chromatic harmony, as the cadential chord is approached either by a plagal neapolitan with +6 extra color or by a +6 with very unusual bass motion.)<BR>
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3) which tones answer which? (compound melody, more a freshman theory example)<BR>
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1st real theme of Mozart K. 397 (after the arpeggios), first four measures. I start by asking them to pick just one melody note per measure, and to give reasons for their choices. In discussion, this then works through to seeing that voice leading suggests that the two viable options per measure should be heard as soprano and alto voices going through a double-neighbor figure in parallel thirds. The interesting feature is that the even-numbered measures are antiparallel to the odd-numbered measures in the metrical deployment of the voices. I then have them sing the reduction while I play the original, to make sure they’re hearing it. There’s not so much ambiguity here, but there is a hidden perspective that many of them find compelling, and that opens a lot of possibilities in terms of how the hearing might be reflected in performance — in particular, how to connect soprano note at the start of the odd measure to its continuation at the end of the following even measure. As an extra bonus, it reinforces an aural understanding of the need of a seventh to resolve.<BR>
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John<BR>
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On 7/5/12 4:54 PM, "Eric Knechtges" <<a href="eric.t.knechtges@gmail.com">eric.t.knechtges@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<BR>
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</SPAN></FONT><BLOCKQUOTE><FONT FACE="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:11pt'>I have already gotten some fantastic replies both publicly and privately to my previous post -- thank you!! Perhaps I need to clarify what I'm looking for and why.<BR>
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___________________________________<BR>
John Paul Ito<BR>
Assistant Professor of Music Theory<BR>
School of Music<BR>
Carnegie Mellon University<BR>
5000 Forbes Ave.<BR>
Pittsburgh, PA 15213<BR>
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412.268.1246<BR>
412.268.1431 (FAX) <BR>
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