Siravs, Jesepn WV. Diricodtuction +> Fost - Tora Theors, Upper Sadie Rec: eorson Predtice Hall, 200s, Fev} Introduction to Post-Tonal Theory third edition Joseph N. Straus Graduate Center City University of New York Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458sor Chapter 1 Basic Concepts and Definitions Octave Equivalence sxe called by the same name because they sound so auch alike and because Western music usually weats them as functionally equivalent. [Equivalence is not the same thing as identity. Example I-1 shows a melody Example 1-1 Two equivalent melodies (Schoenberg, String Quartet No, 4), ‘The two versions are difforent in many ways, particularly in their chythm and range. “The range of the second version is so wide that che frst violin cannot seach all ofthe 12 Basic Concepts and Definitions notes; the cello has to step into help. At the same time, however, it is easy to reeog- nize that the same melody-—in other words, that they are octave 1a Example 1-2, the opening of Schoenberg's Piano Piece, Op. 11, No 1 com= pare the fst tee now of the melody with the sustained notes in measures 4-5, Bea ae Piano Pe = oe Basic Concepts and Definitions 3 Pitch Class ‘We will distinguish berween a pitch (a tone with a certain frequency) and pitch class (a group of pitches with tho samo name). Pitch-class A, for example, contains all the pitches named A. To pat it the other way around, any pitch named A is a mem- speak about specific pitches; st other times 6 = asc, bt ecco consis the Example 1-2 Two equivalent mica es (Schoenberg, Plano Piese, Op. 1,No 1). Le ee eee ae dace a pic tro octaves higher than te illed-innotshea). ‘There ae many ferences betwoon the two collections of notes regis, aca basic equivalence also. ‘They are equivalent because they baad be be by ie ta be be ‘Violin fips ae = ebecbecke Ye SSS i == RRR R Ry : Piano fe —= = Example 1-3 Two equivalent musical ideas (Webern, Movements for String, ‘Quartet, Op. 5,No. 2 ‘When we assert octave equivalence, and other equivalences we will discuss Jeter, our abject is not to smooth out or dismiss the variety of the musical surface. Rates, we set uoner the reaonsip tat ont te rice end uy and coherence to musical works. [Example [4 Many pitehes, bat only three pitch classes: Fi, G, and Ab Feldman, Durations Ul, No.3. Enharmonic Equivalence 1h common-practice tonal music, a Bs is not the same as an Af, Even on an equl- ‘tempered instrument like the piano, the tonal system gives Bb and Af different fnc- tions and different moanings, representing different degrees ofthe scale, In G major, for example, At is #3 whereas Bt is 3, and scale-degrees J and 3 have ‘musical roles both melodically and hafmonically. These distinctions ae largely4 Basic Concepts and Definitions abandoned in post-tonal music, however, where notes thet are enharmonically equiv- alent (like Bs and At) are also functionslly equivalent. Por example, the passage in Example 1-5 involves three repetitions: the A returns an octave higher, the B resurns {wo octaves lower, and the Ab returns three octaves higher as a Gl. Ab and GP are enharmonically equivalent, iliac stant o = ryt == be 4. af of F [Example 1-5 Enharmonic equivalence (Stockhausen, Klavierstuck Il). ‘There may be isolated moments where a composer notates a pitch in what seems like a functional way (sharps for ascending motion and flats for descen {or example), For the most part, however, the notation ig Functionally arbitrary, ience and legibility. The melodies in Example 1-6 are ‘monically equivalent (although the first one is much easier to sead). Example [-6 Enharmonic equivalence, Integer Notation ‘Octave equivalence and enharmonic equivalence leave us with only twelve different pitch clases, All the Bis, Cs, and Dis are membors ofa single pitch class, 2s ae all the Cis and Dis, all the Css, Ds, aad Bs, and go on. We will often use integers froea 0 through [1 to refer tothe pitch classes. Figure 1-1 shows the twelve difereat pitch classes and some ofthe contents ofeach. Basic Concepts and Definitions 5 integername —_pltch-class content . Bi, C, Db ESoetausence @ @ ae ore eee Sir enp inte eae ea ees aoe oem iy eae hen reenact See ee oct ees her traditional Jette notation or ite petioular context Mod 12 sey pic beng ono ee eke pede ater menor fe se pi : ve mid (eam ich cis 3 goa resents, We eo ma hc In ober 7 > wars or classes, 3 + 12 = 15 =3. quently will ‘amod 12 sys pon metic modal 2 for which md 2s a abet. Framer 12 = 3a soon, ini, 13,-1, 23, and 35 areal6 Basic Concepts and Definitions quien 011 ond ach ther bec hy are relat 11 (a cate) Oy eng or abating 1 Tes easiest to understand thse (and ote) mod 12 relationship by envision ‘ing a circular clockface, like the one in Figure 1-2 Peete Bers ger han 1 for expe, en dssing th sone Dower idly = o gener! we yl sos such mbes neu of etme ices inn extended ich spe, ranging in gual tempted tone: vest to the highest audible ea. ‘and piteh-elass space, Intervals Because of enharmonic equivalence, we will no longer need different nemes for intervals with the same abs iminished fourths and major Is are defined and named an interval that spans three A major third is eonso- doesn’t use diatonic seales nant, while diminished fourth i. Basic Concepis and Definitions 7 cumbersome and even misleading to use tradiional ‘and more accurate musically just to name intervals. inninis ‘putin this musical context it is clear tha all seven intervals are to ‘be understood as enharmonically equivalent. Example 1-7 Enharmonically equivalest intervals (Carer, Sting Quartet No. 3, sum. 245-62), iguse 1-3 gives some traditional interval names and the number of semitones they contain, 0 major 6th, diminished 7 9 1 augmented 6th, rainor 7h 10 2 major 7h u 3 octave 2 4 minor 9h B augmented 3, perfect 4th 5 major Sth 1" augmented 4th, diminished Sch 6 minor 10th 15 perfect Sth, diminished 6th 7 major 10% 16 augmented Sth, minor 6th 88 Basic Concepts and Definitions Pitch Intervals A pith interval is simply the distance between two pitches, measured by the mumber ‘of semitones between them. A pitch interval, which willbe abbreviated ip, is created ‘when we move from pitch to pitch in pitch space. team be as lage asthe range of our bboaring or as small as « semitone. Sometimes we will be concerned about the diteo- tion of the interval, whether ascending or descending. In that case, the number wil be preceded by either plus sign (to indicate an ascending interval) or a minus sign (eo indicate a descending interval). Intervals with a plus or minus sign arecaled directed or ondered intervals. At other times, we will be conceraed only with the absolute space between two pitches. For such unordered intervals, we will jusc provide the ‘number of semitones between the pitches. ‘Whether we consider the interval ordered or unordered depends on our particu- ‘ar analytical interests atthe time, Example 1-8 shows the opening melody from ‘Schoenberg’s String Quartet No, 3, and identifies both its ordered and unordered pitch interval, Geena” ws 4 1 wos 10 Basic Concepts and Definitions 38 interval between Bs and Fi, for example, ‘2 Be and count the number of semitones tothe nearest available F (4), Example 1-9a (again the opening melody from Schoenberg's String Quertet ‘No. 3), the first interval s ordered piteh-class interval 11, to be abbreviated as i11, ey ee VW NS 2S a ee NE Example 1-9 Ordered and unordered pitchclass intervals (Schoeuberg, String QuarteeNo. 3) = That's hecanse to move fiom B to Bs one moves -1 ots mod 12 equivalent, i11. tame for descending semitones or ascending major sevenths or thei compounds. If the Bb had come befors the B, the interval would have been i, which 4s the name for asconding semitones or descending major sevenths oF thei com Pounds. And thats the interval described by the two subsequent melodie gestures, (CD and F-Pt As ondered pitch-class intervals, the fs i diferent from the second dered pitch-class interval, all tree are equivalent. In Example atements of id are bulanced by a concluding i8; all three represent nh-classmerval 4. Interval Class ‘An unordered pitch class interval is also called an interval class. Just as each piteh ‘lass contains many individual pitches, so each interval class contains many individ ual piteh intervals. Because af octave equivalence, compound intervalsintervals larger than an octave—are considered equivalent to their counterparts within the ‘octave, Furthermore, pitch-class intervals larger than six are considered equivalent to ‘heir complements mod 12. 11,2 10,3=9,4=8, 527,66). Thus, for Basic Concepts and Definitions " ‘and 1 ere ll members of interval class 1. Figure 1-6 fal classes and some of the contents of each. iorval class pitch inervals 2 13 | 2.10.14 Figure 1-6 ‘We thus bave four different ways of talking about intervals: ordeved pitch inter- val, unordered pitch interval, ordered piteh-class interval, and unordered pitch interval. If in some piece we come across the musical figure shovin in Example 1 swe can describe itn four different ways. —— crdered pte orrval: +19 ‘ordered pitch interval: 19 condered pitch else inurl: 7 snordered ptch-classimteral: 5 1-10, describing an interval. specifically, conveying both the size of ‘more concrete ‘others are more general and abstract. Which one we use will, ip we aze uying 10 describe, (Our different ways of talking about intervals will give us the Nexibilty to describe many different kinds of mosical relationships. Interval-Class Content ly summarized by listing all the intervals it ‘contains depends on the number of distinct pitch classes in the sonority. The moreBasic Concepts and Definitions n Basic Concepts and Definitions bitch classes, the grester the nuunber of interval classes, Figure 1-7 sumunarizes the ‘number of interval tt ‘That because al fie itrvals entibute tothe overall sound : Example 1-12 Inerabclass content of a tree-no® motive (Stavinky, The Example I-11 eferstothe sume pstage and hesametireenaecononig de, Fate's Progress. Ast, cused balen Example 12 ® @ ® den (NDOT OF Fe ES a lve ae f T) =k“4 Basic Concepts and Definitions Interval-Class Vector Interval-class content is usually presented as 9 sing of six numbers with no spaces intervening. This is called an interva-clase vector The ftst aumber in an interval- lass vector gives the number of occurrences of interval class 1; the second gives forthe sonority in Example 1-L1 is 101100, the Juterval-lss vector fr the sono. for sonorities of any size or shape. A tool nearly so necessary for talking about tadi- tional tonal music. ‘There, only afew basic sonorties—four kinds of triads and five ‘kinds of seventh chords—are regulaely in use, In post-tonal music, however, we will confront a huge variety of harmonies. The interval-class vector will give us a eoave- ‘nient way of summarizing their basic sound. ‘Even though the interval-class vector is not as necessary tool for tal music ‘Example 1-14 Intecval-class vector for the major sale Basic Concepts and Definitions 15 ‘Notice oar methodical process of extracting each interval class. First, the intervals formed with the fst note are extracted, thon those formed withthe second note, and s0 on, This ensures that we find all the intervals snd don't overlook uny. As wich any sever-note collection, there nre 21 intervals in all. Certain intervllie properties of the major scale are immediately apparent from the interval-class| ‘has only one tritone (fewer than any other interval) and six occurrences of interval-class 5, which contains the perfect fourth and filth (ore than any other interval). This probably only confirms what we already knew about this scale, but the interval-class vector makes the same kind of information available about less familiar collections, The interval-class vector of the major scale hhas another interesting property—it contains a diferent number of occurrences of ‘each of the interval classes. This is an extremely important and rare property (only threo othor collections have it) and it is one fo Which we wall return. For now, the ‘important thing is the idea of describing © sonority in terms of its interval-class content. BIBLIOGRAPHY ‘The metecal presented in Chaptor 1 (and in much of Chapters 2 and 3 as well) is Haver Yale University Frees, 1987); and Robert Moris, Composition with Pich Exercises THEORY I. Integer Notation: Any pitch class can be represented by un integer. In the com- moaly used “xed do" notation, C=0, i= 1, D=2,ands0 on. 1. Represent the following melodies as stings of integers: