Sentence model (music)
A combination of common features of sound connections that can be considered an element of the musical language of a composer or an epoch is called a sentence model in music theory . Such polyphonic constructs include a. all kinds of cadences , sequences , canons and other sentence structures determined by a relatively simple principle, as well as other expressions that are more often used for specific purposes such as B. a modulation , the opening of a section or the announcement of a deal can be used. The increased attention to sentence models in music theoretical discourse has contributed to a changed understanding of creative processes such as improvisation and composition and of aesthetic ideas such as tonality and originality, as well as to the development of new teaching methods.
Use of terms, definition
The term has been popular in German-language music theory since the 1980s at the latest. Before and since then, terms such as 'sentence pattern', 'formula', 'sentence type', 'type' or ' topos ' have been used as synonyms . The first attempts at a definition have been made recently. Oliver Schwab-Felisch refers to the model theory of Herbert Stachowiak and defines sentence models as musical models that
- determined by the aspect pitch and
- are polyphonic,
- presuppose the rule system of counterpoint ,
- are based on relationships between different pieces (" intertextuality "; motivic relationships within a piece do not justify sentence models),
- based on a sufficiently large number of such pieces and not too individual similarities (otherwise a quotation or a loan would be available),
- can be diminished (in the sense of: played around ),
- can only be related to parts of a composition, not to a composition as a whole (“local expansion”).
In Anglo-Saxon music theory, the term schema is particularly widespread through Robert Gjerdingen . This term comes from psychology and focuses on perceptual and epistemological aspects of musical models in general and those of sentence models in particular:
“Schema is thus a shorthand for a packet of knowledge, be it an abstracted prototype, a well-learned exemplar, a theory intuited about the nature of things and their meanings, or just the attunement of a cluster of cortical neurons to some regularity in the environment. Knowing relevant schemata allows one to make useful comparisons or, as the saying goes, to avoid 'comparing apples with oranges'. "
In order to narrow down the majority of the 50 or so schemes that Robert Gjerdingen describes in his book Music in the Galant Style more precisely to this very general model term, David Temperley introduced the term " scale degree schemes " for them , since Gjerdingen carried out most of them defines the location of their structural tones on the respective underlying major or minor scale .
Examples
- Fauxbourdon / sixth chord chain
- Folia
- Fonte
- Horngang
- carousel
- Lamento bass
- Monte
- Motivo di cadenza
- Octave rule
- omnibus
- parallelism
- Passamezzo antico
- Fifth rise sequence
- Rhythm changes
- Romanesca
- Voglerscher Tonkreis / Teufelsmühle
Distinctions
The extent to which sentence models should be differentiated from one another and in which way they should be classified depends on the respective purpose that is to be associated with a differentiation or classification. In some situations it will be sufficient to classify the following example as a fifth case based on the keynote sequence cfhe -... In other situations, on the other hand, it can make sense to distinguish this sequence pattern as a '2-6 sequence' from the '7-7 sequence', as shown e.g. B. Georg Friedrich Handel in his figured bass exercises (implicitly) does:
literature
- Hans Aerts: ›Model‹ and ›Topos‹ in German-speaking music theory since Riemann . In: Journal of the Society for Music Theory 4 / 1-2 (2007), pp. 143–158, ( online) .
- Hartmut Fladt : typesetting topoi . In: Journal of the Society for Music Theory 2 / 2-3 (2005), pp. 189–196, ( online) .
- Robert Gjerdingen: Music in the Galant Style . Oxford University Press, Oxford 2007, ISBN 978-0-19-531371-0 .
- Ludwig Holtmeier , Johannes Menke , Felix Diergarten: Solfeggi, Bassi e Fughe. Georg Friedrich Handel's exercises in sentence theory. Wilhelmshaven: Florian Noetzel Verlag 2013, ISBN 978-3-7959-0906-2 .
- Markus Jans : All against one. Sentence models in note-against-note sentences from the 16th and 17th centuries. In: Basler Jahrbuch für Historische Musikpraxis 10, Winterthur: Amadeus Verlag 1986, ISBN 3-905049-41-4 , pp. 101–120.
- Ulrich Kaiser : ear training. Sentence theory, improvisation, hearing analysis. Bärenreiter, Kassel 1998, vol. 1 ( basic course ) ISBN 3-7618-1159-4 , vol. 2 ( advanced course ) ISBN 3-7618-1160-8 .
- Ulrich Kaiser : What is a musical model? In: Journal of the Society for Music Theory 4/3 (2007), pp. 275–289, ( online) .
- Oliver Schwab-Felisch: Outline of a general concept of the musical sentence model . In: Journal of the Society for Music Theory 4/3 (2007), pp. 291-304, ( online) .
- Oliver Schwab-Felisch: Art. Sentence model . In: Lexicon of Systematic Musicology. (= Handbook of Systematic Musicology 6), Laaber: Laaber-Verlag 2010, ISBN 978-3-89007-566-2 , pp. 415-419.
- David Temperley: [Review by Robert Gjerdingen: Music in the Galant Style ]. In: Journal of Music Theory 50, 2006, pp. 277-290.
- Journal of the Society for Music Theory . Issue of typesetting models 4 / 1-2 (2007), ISSN 1862-6742 ( online) .