Perles of Wisdom [12-tone, 12-tET modulation]

Brief preface non-apologia:

I believe there should be no "apology" for discussions on the Tuning List
concerning music theory that are "structural," i.e. related to the actual
formal pitch systems that are employed and the choice of a composer to use
a particular tuning or system. Many of us on this list write music, and the
use of tuning systems and ratios *at the service* of an endproduct musical
goal is paramount. Therefore, I believe that such discussions are fully in
the realm of tuning. In fact, personally I believe they are the *most*
important discussions in the realm of tuning, perhaps *EVEN SURPASSING* the
exact numerical ratio of the phenomenal "high third."

Keith Grady. TD 548:20
>"What atonality did was end modulation (transposition being something
different) or at least postpone >it. The early minimalist avoided it."

Daniel Wolf TD 549:25
>In twelve-tone technique, transposition is a fundamental form of
modulation, by transposing particular >tri-, tetra- or hexachords, one is
able to recombine them in order to get varied row orders. I could >hardly
imagine another musical technique so heavily invested in continuous
modulation.

In this discussion, I believe scholars of 12-tone technique would tend to
side with Keith Grady. I have heard that the air surrounding the North
American Embassy at Anaphoria is extremely rarefied and lends itself
readily to "straight thinking." It seems some people who have made a
lifetime of studying 12-tone music, George Perle in particular, would have
to agree with the Grady view that transposition, rather than "modulation"
is the variational process of 12-tone music.

It seems the 12-tone system and even the "free atonal" system is so
different from the Riemann "functional harmony" paradigm that calling
12-tone transposition "modulation" is specious. This also applies to the
transposition of tri-, tetra-, hexachords, mentioned above, whatever. The
essence is that the system is such a *LINEAR* one, that such modulatory
distinctions essentially do not apply.

This, of course, all gets back to *definitions* again, but let us cite a
passage from George Perle's pearly wisdom in _Serial Composition and
Atonality._

Quote from Perle: _Serial Composition and Atonality_ Chapter V,
"Simultaneity."

..."The total content of the set is here the sole general criterion of
harmonic propriety. The Schoenbergian set, however, comprises *all* the
notes of the chromatic scale; its total content, therefore, *CANNOT SERVE
AS A MEANS OF DELIMITING HARMONIC POSSIBILITIES.* [JP caps] Instead, the
precompositional linear ordering is realized vertically through the
employment of successive groups of contiguous notes of the set as chords.

"But this device is only one basis of simultaneity. The *VERTICALIZATION*
of linearly ordered elements imposes certain compositional restrictions
that *QUITE PRECLUDE [Joey's caps] ITS EXCLUSIVE DETERMINATION OF HARMONIC
RELATIONS.* And even verticalization, the only harmonic procedure
ostensibly consistent with the premise of linear ordering, *DOES NOT
UNAMBIGUOUSLY REPRESENT* this ordering.

"In both diatonic tonality and the twelve-tone system a precompositional
harmonic criterion is assumed: in the former this is the triad; in the
latter it is *ADJACENCY OF THE ELEMENTS IN THE SET.* [JP caps] Every tonal
combination is either itself a triad or a component of a progression whose
origin and destination are triads. [JP -- he certainly seems to agree with
the Reimann paradigm here...] In twelve-tone music, however, *SIMULTANEITY
MAY OR MAY NOT* [JP caps] conform to the only ordering principle provided
by the system, and *WHERE IT DOES NOT DO SO* it bears *NO NECESSARY
RELATION* to this principle."

Unquote

To me, the above quotations seem to conform to the general Anaphorian view
that *TRANSPOSITION* is the guiding principle of 12-tone music, related to
*LINEARITY EVEN IN SIMULTENEITY* and the term *modulation* is truly not in
place here.

In fact, if I can sense the "bias" of some members of this tuning list,
modulation is possibly something lacking in systematic, 12-tET, 12-tone
music...

Yes, no, maybe, pooh...

___________________ ____ ___ __ _ _
Joseph Pehrson