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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Drawn in by Charles' references to
"humour" and "loony" (Buffalo is close to the promised land, after
all), but mindful of the perils of email ( what I call the
"Alanis" conundrum), and hoping that my past utterances provide
some protection, I offer the following:<br>
<br>
1. Olii -- a little over-the-top (I have experience here . . . ),
apologize and move on<br>
2. Greg -- respectfully, get over it -- <br>
3. Charles -- you are our Gandolf (scary thought!) -- the
"thousands of years ago" ref is priceless -- kids, read the lit,
"It's all been done before" (I've said this already!)<br>
4. Romans -- please take your numerals back -- your time has come
and gone --<br>
5. Colleagues -- read Wallace Berry before using the word
"function" - esp. ch2 (my favorite! - harmony = texture)<br>
<br>
Dave Headlam<br>
<br>
On 4/22/13 3:09 PM, Charles J. Smith wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote
cite="mid:79129126-7D98-441E-B931-17B8C71730D7@buffalo.edu"
type="cite">
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In the recent Proctor/Väisälä exchange, we see the perils of
trying to have real discussions about serious and important topics
by list-serv. Perhaps this is a medium that has outlived its
usefulness? It certainly is a pale shadow of what it was a decade
or so ago, but that version (SMT Listserv 1.0?) was in some ways
even more irritating. So did it ever have any usefulness? Well,
not a whole lot perhaps, but there have fairly regularly been
posts (a couple every month) that I print up and file, as
something worth thinking about. They are usually the postings
about particular configurations in particular pieces, but that
might just be my particular take on things. It might be
interesting to find out how many of the younger generation of
self-described music theorists are subscribed; my sense is that
the numbers are dwindling, for a variety of reasons.<br>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>This last exchange puzzles me, however. I know Olii slightly
(we shared a ferry ride from Talinn to Helsinki a few years
ago); he reminded me that we had had a listserv run-in quite a
while back, so I dug up and reread those posts and it was indeed
an interesting disagreement about what counts as a "chordal"
sonority in chromatic music. He is a smart guy and had a point;
he didn't make me mad with his disagreement, and I hope I didn't
enrage him either. Perhaps we both learned something from the
exchange? What's the old saying?—I learn more from listening
than from talking...</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Gregory is, as most of know (or should know) is one of the
deepest thinkers about music out there. Someone whose every
utterance is worth careful scrutiny, no matter how loony it
might sound on the surface, if only because of all the brilliant
things he has already said, in so many contexts on so many
different subjects. So if he states that "inversion is overrated
in classical music", I am intrigued to try to figure out what
he meant. It is a statement that opens some interesting doors,
at least for me.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>My own theoretical and pedagogical inclinations have of late
been to mistrust Roman numerals (i.e. the whole apparatus of
roots and inversions) more and more. This is a long story, which
will soon be presented more fully in some other venue, but tonal
functionality seems to me to be better captured by describing
the functions of chords and their bass scale-steps, with
figured-bass symbols brought in when one needs to know something
about the particular chord-quality, whether there are sevenths
that need resolving, and so forth—and RNs hardly at all. (It was
quite gratifying a few years ago to find out that this approach
to harmony, in use at Buffalo for years, decades even, was
independently arrived at by Ian Quinn at Yale—another of those
thinkers who is always worth a careful listen.) In other words,
of the three established historical approaches to
harmony—function theory, thorough bass, and fundamental bass—the
first two are the more useful, and the third is only brought in
for relatively minor questions. (...no double meaning
intended...humour and irony being so treacherous to attempt in
email...)</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>So I'd be interested in discussing with Gregory a take on his
remarks that might well be completely opposite from what he
intended: namely that there is little need to talk about the
inversions of functional chords because there is little
theoretical need for the constant reference to chord-roots in
functional harmony. Put simply, if we don't know or care what
the root of a chord is, then we can hardly talk about its
inversion. On the other hand, I'd be hard-pressed to justify the
jettisoning of figured bass symbols—and this is perhaps what
Olii was saying. Once we have characterized a chord as, say, a
Dominant over ^2, the figured bass is essential for
differentiating between variants of that basic chord-type: a
6/4, a 6/3, a 6/4/3, and a 6/5/3. They all share a certain basic
functional behaviour; the differences between them are less
crucial matters of melodic support and voice-leading.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>What are roots and RNs useful for? That's another question,
with somewhat surprising answers, for another time.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>In the meantime, I recognize that this is a controversial
approach to functional harmony. If you think the basic approach
is absurd, well, fine...no need to waste bandwidth sharing your
opinion. It probably is absurd—Schluss, Amen! enough said. If
you have a constructive suggestion, I welcome it. And I
particularly invite Gregory to remain on the list and share his
thoughts: have I completely missed the point of his remark? Very
likely...I learned a long time ago that I'm not in his league.
But the list-serv will be the poorer for his absence, even if
all he chooses to do is read in silence...</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Best wishes to all,</div>
<div>Charles<br>
<div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div>I knew people would choose to miscast my remarks. I
should know better by now that lists like these have sunk
bit by bit to the level of comments on political blogs. I
give up. Goodbye list. <br>
________________________________________<br>
From: <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:smt-talk-bounces@lists.societymusictheory.org">smt-talk-bounces@lists.societymusictheory.org</a>
[<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:smt-talk-bounces@lists.societymusictheory.org">smt-talk-bounces@lists.societymusictheory.org</a>] on behalf
of Olli Väisälä [<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:ovaisala@siba.fi">ovaisala@siba.fi</a>]<br>
Sent: Sunday, April 21, 2013 2:35 AM<br>
To: <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:smt-talk@lists.societymusictheory.org">smt-talk@lists.societymusictheory.org</a><br>
Subject: Re: [Smt-talk] ABSENCE OF LEAD SHEET<br>
<br>
Gregory Proctor wrote:<br>
<br>
<blockquote type="cite">Since I have been teaching
graduate students primarily in the past<br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite">few years, I find myself using
lead sheet notation more and more.<br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite">It is especially helpful in
reminding them that what "inversion" a<br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite">chord is in is usually
insignificant compared to its nature (triad,<br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite">added sixth, seventh)<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
and<br>
<br>
<blockquote type="cite">I meant to assert thaqt our
notation is silly and that inversion is<br>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite">overrated in classical music.<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
"Inversion is overrated in classical music." What
interesting<br>
assertions we encounter in this e-mail list!<br>
<br>
Indeed. Just think of all those stupid classical composers
who<br>
bothered themselves with those overrated inversions and
bass lines<br>
(if the composers of the ludicrous figured-bass tradition
even<br>
realized they were writing "inversions"). Just imagine
what a<br>
marvellous repertoire they MIGHT have created, if they
only had had<br>
the wisdom presented above.<br>
<br>
Olli Väisälä<br>
Sibelius Academy<br>
University of the Arts, Helsinki<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:ovaisala@siba.fi">ovaisala@siba.fi</a><br>
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<div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++</div>
<div><br class="khtml-block-placeholder">
</div>
<div>Charles J. Smith</div>
<div>Slee Chair of Music Theory & Director
of Graduate Studies</div>
<div>Department of Music, 220 Baird Hall</div>
<div>University at Buffalo</div>
<div>Buffalo, NY 14260</div>
<div>U.S.A.</div>
<div>716-645-0639 [academic office]</div>
<div>716-645-3824 [fax]</div>
<div><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:cjsmith@buffalo.edu">cjsmith@buffalo.edu</a></div>
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<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Dave Headlam
Professor of Music Theory
Eastman School of Music 585-274-1568
Joint Professor of Electrical and Computer
Engineering University of Rochester
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:david.headlam@rochester.edu">david.headlam@rochester.edu</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://theory.esm.rochester.edu/dave_headlam">http://theory.esm.rochester.edu/dave_headlam</a></pre>
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