Non-coinciding Sequences
Adam Ricci · Music Theory Spectrum · 2011
This study considers a largely overlooked phenomenon in tonal music, the simultaneous pairing of two melodic sequences having different intervals of transposition; I term this phenomenon a non-coinciding sequence (in contrast to the more common coinciding sequence). In this essay I develop a typology of non-coinciding sequences and scrutinize numerous examples of them in art and popular genres. Extending Allen Forte's linear intervallic pattern, which models coinciding sequences, I group non-coinciding sequences by their configuration, an ordered list of their harmonic intervals, e.g., . Configurations that permute (with certain restrictions) the same set of harmonic intervals belong to a single configuration class. I consider excerpts from the music of Rick Astley, Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, Dvořák, Billy Joel, Nelly, Johann Strauss, Jr., Gwen Stefani, and Wagner to demonstrate the interaction of non-coinciding sequences with coinciding sequences and to identify suggestive connections between non-coinciding sequences and double counterpoint.