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Chordal roots, Klangverwandtschaft, euphony and coherence : an approach to ostensibly 'atonal', 'non-tonal' or 'post-tonal' harmonic technique

thesis
posted on 2023-06-09, 13:03 authored by Barnaby Paul Hollington
My harmonic approach is founded on two premises, pertaining especially to chordal spacing. First, that for each of the 4,096 possible sets of pitch-classes within equal temperament, without exception, certain spacing principles and techniques, if consistently applied, will generate clear, or relatively clear chordal roots. Typically, the resulting sonorities will possess more than one root – that is, be heard as polychords. Second, that one may control the level of inherent sensory dissonance of any given set of pitch-classes, presented as a chord, through register. These two factors combine to induce both harmonic coherence and euphony. For most listeners, rightly or wrongly, these are not qualities normally associated with music written using the 4,096 – that is, ostensibly ‘atonal’, ‘non-tonal’ or ‘post-tonal’ music. Through my harmonic method, since chordal roots are consistently clarified, one may compose progressions of chordal roots – an asset on which the coherence of diatonic tonality also fundamentally depends. Within a non-diatonic context, the expressive and technical consequences are far-reaching. The following textual commentary demonstrates all of the above, supported by analyses of numerous musical extracts. These are drawn primarily from four of the compositions included in the portfolio – Madame de Meuron, The Art of Thinking Clearly, Velvet Revolution and Nevermore.

History

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  • Published version

Pages

188.0

Department affiliated with

  • Music Theses

Qualification level

  • doctoral

Qualification name

  • phd

Language

  • eng

Institution

University of Sussex

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  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2018-04-24

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