Looper's Delight Archive Top (Search)
Date Index
Thread Index
Author Index
Looper's Delight Home
Mailing List Info

[Date Prev][Date Next]   [Thread Prev][Thread Next]   [Date Index][Thread Index][Author Index]

Re: Chords (was Adrenalinn)



At 12:43 PM +0100 4/9/02, Jimmy Fowler wrote:
>are you referring to music such as perotin or gesualdo (a bit 
>later)?  in those instances, the composer may have focused less on 
>the outcome but wouldn't the "lines/counterpoint" still be a 
>function of the harmony, although it may be incidental.
>
>i have a hard time believing that the end result (i.e. the harmony) 
>was happen-stance, not that i disagree with anything that's been 
>said; rather, personally i have a difficult time understanding 
>writing a "line" that doesn't take into consideration the "chord" it 
>forms with other instruments playing different "lines".

Polyphonic composition doesn't disregard the harmonic implications of 
the pitch simultaneities, its just that the primary interest is in 
the harmonic lines and the dynamic relationships between them.

Gesualdo is interesting because he did use harmony in deliberate ways 
to underscore the meaning of the text. Some of his "chords" were 
quite dissonant when used to illustrate passion or heartbreak. But 
they tended to be coloristic devices rather than functional harmony.

Your line of argument seems to spring from a harmonic bias (you're a 
guitarist, right?), with such statements as "wouldn't the 
'line/counterpoint' still be a function of the harmony" or "the end 
result (i.e. the harmony)." In discussing polyphonic music I'm more 
inclined to say that "the harmony is a function of the polyphony" or 
the end result is "a polyphonic fabric given support by careful 
attention to the harmonic implications of the voice leading."

But then, I was a singer before I was a guitarist.
-- 

______________________________________________________________
Richard Zvonar, PhD
(818) 788-2202
http://www.zvonar.com
http://RZCybernetics.com
http://www.cybmotion.com/aliaszone
http://www.live365.com/cgi-bin/directory.cgi?autostart=rz