Phrase Formation in Post-Tonal Music
Christopher F. Hasty · Journal of Music Theory · 1984
Musical works are customarily regarded as wholes composed of interrelated parts. Because the parts themselves must exhibit some sort of unity and may in turn be composed of smaller parts, the distinction of whole 'and part is replicated on different levels. In the following pages we shall attempt to understand why and how such differences of level occur in post-tonal music. This investigation will reveal that various constituent levels are differentiated qualitatively as well as quantitatively. That is, some laws of formation appear to be specific to particular constituent levels, at least among those levels which I will consider. These differences of level, I shall argue, correspond to differences of perceptual span posited by experimental psychology. In our attempt to present an analysis of formal constituents two possibilities present themselves-either we may begin with the entire composition and divide it into progressively smaller parts, or we may proceed in the opposite direction, synthetically, from smaller to larger units. The latter alternative has the advantage of allowing us to proceed chronologically, as the work presents itself to us. There is an additional advantage to this approach. By investigating the ways in which elements are joined to form larger units we can focus our attention on the internal coherence of the part and not merely on its articulation.