Yes, perhaps abritraray and capricious. As are all other attempts to resolve this "tonal/non-tonal" dichotomy. Good thing that good/great music doesn't have to pass any theory exams.
Aaron J. Rabushka [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://users.waymark.net/arabushk ----- Original Message ----- From: "dhbailey" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <finale@shsu.edu> Sent: Sunday, May 27, 2007 5:47 PM Subject: Re: [Finale] OT: John Cage's first national TV appearance (1960) > Aaron Rabushka wrote: > > Perhaps it may be a geeky pecadillo on my part, but "tonal" requires that > > the tonal center (or the tonal center of the moment, as it may be) be > > established by it's own dominant and leading tone (thank you IU theory > > department!). So modal (including the pentatonic modes with no 7th and the > > hexatonic with a flatted 7th) doesn't qualify. And of course (and > > fortunately) it is not necessary to agree with this (or even understand it) > > to enjoy the music. > > That seems to be a totally arbitrary distinction, since lots of songs > which can be harmonized very easily with typical I and IV and V chords > don't use the leading tone at all, not even a flatted 7th. > > Does that make them nontonal when they don't include a chordal > instrument and tonal when they do? > > I would think that tonal music would be music where anybody could easily > point to the tonic and say "That's the tonic." > > And non-tonal music would be where nobody could point to such a thing. > > -- > David H. Bailey > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > _______________________________________________ > Finale mailing list > Finale@shsu.edu > http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale > _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
