Harmonic Function as Situated Cognition in Debussy Performance

PracticeDaniel Shanahan

Ohio State University

Kurth on Impressionism

§ “if the theoretical approaches were to search for distinctly defined technical characteristics in an attempt to comprehend the entirety of this phenomenon, they would run a risk similar to that present if one were to shine a light into a haze in order to better discern it.” (1920; p.357)

Functional ambiguity in mm.5-6.

Functional ambiguity in mm.5-6.

2. 3. 1. 1 Untitled_1#03 1 7. 2. 0. 106.

A Situated Psychology of

Hearing

§ “…the music-analytic act is commensurate with a situated psychology of hearing: galant schemata are proffered as a means of ‘hear[ing] this music more as a Mozart might have.’”

§ Byros (2012, p.278), discussing Meyer (1989, p.452))

Today’s Questions

§ Do performers of Debussy’s piano music treat harmonically ambiguous passages differently over time?

§ If there are changes, what can they tell us about the changing understanding of ambiguity, function, and performance practice over the course of the 20th

century?

Preview of Bibliography § Byros, V. (2012). Meyer’s Anvil: Revisiting the Schema Concept. Music Analysis, 31(3), 273–346.

§ Cook, N. (2013). Beyond the Score: Music as Performance. OUP USA.

§ Day-O’Connell, J. (2009). Debussy, Pentatonicism, and the Tonal Tradition. Music Theory Spectrum, 31(2), 225–261.

§ Dodson, A. (2008). Performance, Grouping and Schenkerian Alternative Readings in Some Passages from Beethoven’s “Lebewohl” Sonata. Music Analysis, 27(1), 107–134.

§ Granovetter, M. S. (1973). The Strength of Weak Ties. The American Journal of Sociology, 78(6), 1360–1380.

§ Katz, A. T. (1946). Challenge to Musical Tradition: A New Concept of Tonality.

§ Ohriner, M. S. (2012). Grouping Hierarchy and Trajectories of Pacing in Performances of Chopin’s Mazurkas. Music Theory Online, 18(1)

§ Ohriner, M. (2014). Listener-Performer Synchronicity in Recorded Performances of Chopin’s Mazurkas. Empirical Musicology Review: EMR, 9(2).

§ Ohriner, M. (2018). Expressive Timing. In Alexander Rehding And (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Critical Concepts in Music Theory. Oxford University Press.

§ Repp, B. H. (1996). Pedal Timing and Tempo in Expressive Piano Performance: A Preliminary Investigation. Psychology of Music, 24(2), 199–221.

§ Repp, B. H. (1996). The dynamics of expressive piano performance: Schumann’s “Träumerei” revisited. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 100(1), 641–650.

§ Repp, B. H. (1999). Control of Expressive and Metronomic Timing in Pianists. Journal of Motor Behavior, 31(2), 145–164.

§ Rings, S. (2008). Mystéres limpides: Time and Transformation in Debussy’s Des pas sur la neige. 19th-Century Music, 32(2), 178–208.

Data Collection

from Shanahan and Ai (in progress)

§ Collected tap tempo data for performances of seven Debussy Préludes:

1. Des pas sur la neige (n = 40)

2. Feuilles mortes (n = 40)

3. Bruyeres (n = 40)

4. La fille aux cheveaux de lin (n = 40)

5. Minstrels (n = 40)

6. General Lavine (n = 40)

7. Les sons et les parfums dans l’air du soir (n =103)

Data Collection

from Shanahan and Ai (in progress)

§ Collected tap tempo data for performances of seven Debussy Préludes:

1. Des pas sur la neige (n = 40)

2. Feuilles mortes (n = 40)

3. Bruyeres (n = 40)

4. La fille aux cheveaux de lin (n = 40)

5. Minstrels (n = 40)

6. General Lavine (n = 40)

7. Les sons et les parfums dans l’air du soir (n =103)

Getting “tap tempo” data (from Sapp’s demo)

Some Context

• Performances get slower

• Performances become less “flexible”

• There is (possibly) a greater tendency toward an “average”, prototypical performance

p < .03; r2= .12

Performances become slower

over time.

Performances become less

“flexible” over time.

(image taken from Eric Grumin’s work, as cited in Cook, 2014; p.148)

Performances become more “prototypical”

over time.

• The consolidation effect of media?

• A shift from a “read/write” to a “read only” culture? (Cook, 2014; see also Lessig, 2008)

• “Culture is increasingly structured around ownable commodities (in the case of music, works), which are more or less passively consumed by a paying public.” (2014, p.132)

• “It was also under the [read only] regime of modernism, particularly after the Second World War, that the whole idea of arrangement fell into disrepute. Musical participation did not cease, of course, but it was massively deflected into popular musical genres.” (p.133)

R2 = .23; p < .001

La fille aux cheveaux de lin

(Préludes, I, 1910)

Graph of “La Fille” opening taken from Day-O’Connell (2009, p.250)

Durand Edition (1910)

Durand Edition (1910)

Positive means the first cadence was approached with a slower tempo than the last.

Negative means the first cadence was approached with a faster tempo than the last.

Positive means the first cadence was approached with a slower tempo than the last.

Negative means the first cadence was approached with a faster tempo than the last.

Preferring to de-emphasize the global key:

Preferring to emphasize the global tonic:

Undecided voters:

The Opening of “La Fille”: A Summary

§ Performers seem to increasingly be choosing to emphasize the cadence on the relative minor more than the tonic.

§ We might wonder if the varying approaches might signify some sort of pattern of influence?

§ Are certain performers simply more influenced by (for example) Cortot than they are of Gieseking?

§ Is this evidence of performance schools?

Sapp’s Performance-Scapes (see mazurka.org.uk)

The Strength of Weak Ties

(see Granovetter, 1973)

Positive means the first cadence was approached with a faster tempo than the last.

Negative means the first cadence was approached with a slower tempo than the last.

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he fi

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d w

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negative valuepositive value

Modes of hearing (from Rings, 2008)

• A temporally congruent hearing

• The events or processes depicted in the piece occur in order and occupy the same duration as the piece itself.

• A chronologically ordered but variably paced hearing

• The chronology of the musical discourse follows the chronology of the story, but at variable rates (in a temporally stretchable or compressible way).

• An anachronous hearing

• The events depicted in m. n +1 of the Prélude need not necessarily occur after those depicted in m.n in the real world.

Modes of hearing (from Rings, 2008)

• A temporally polyphonic hearing• This hearing recognizes the possibility that the music might

present incommensurate temporalities unfolding at the same time.• Different contrapuntal strata of the music, for example, might

enact events in the imagined world that unfold at different rates.

• An instantaneous hearing• This hearing suggests that the Prélude depicts no passage of

time at all. • In this hearing the ostinato as iconic not of footsteps but of

footprints, we might be led to this mode of temporal understanding and treat the Prélude as a snapshot of a frozen expanse, which we may survey, but which itself does not evolve in time.

• A temporally indeterminate hearing• The proponent of this hearing recognizes that the piece

unfolds in time, but argues that it is inappropriate to try to be too specific about just how the music’s temporality relates to the time of some depicted world and its events.

A “Proustian Hearing” (from

Rings, 2008)• Rings argues that there is a certain point in the piece that

brings out a Proustian moment bienheureux (a felicitous moment).

• m.21 precipitates the flood of memories, namely the the memory of G-flat, which now comes rushing back and makes so much of the rest of the piece make sense.

To Sum Up

§ There seems to be a move away from placing an emphasis on a global tonic toward an emphasis on the temporally immediate.

§ We might draw some lines between the performers of most influence and this change, but it’s not always a direct line.

§ It’s most likely that there is an element of “strength of weak ties” at play.

§ This seems to be repeated across a number of instances by the same group of perfomers.

Thank you

Bibliography § Byros, V. (2012). Meyer’s Anvil: Revisiting the Schema Concept. Music Analysis, 31(3), 273–346.

§ Cook, N. (2013). Beyond the Score: Music as Performance. OUP USA.

§ Day-O’Connell, J. (2009). Debussy, Pentatonicism, and the Tonal Tradition. Music Theory Spectrum, 31(2), 225–261.

§ Dodson, A. (2008). Performance, Grouping and Schenkerian Alternative Readings in Some Passages from Beethoven’s “Lebewohl” Sonata. Music Analysis, 27(1), 107–134.

§ Granovetter, M. S. (1973). The Strength of Weak Ties. The American Journal of Sociology, 78(6), 1360–1380.

§ Katz, A. T. (1946). Challenge to Musical Tradition: A New Concept of Tonality.

§ Ohriner, M. S. (2012). Grouping Hierarchy and Trajectories of Pacing in Performances of Chopin’s Mazurkas. Music Theory Online, 18(1)

§ Ohriner, M. (2014). Listener-Performer Synchronicity in Recorded Performances of Chopin’s Mazurkas. Empirical Musicology Review: EMR, 9(2).

§ Ohriner, M. (2018). Expressive Timing. In Alexander Rehding And (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Critical Concepts in Music Theory. Oxford University Press.

§ Repp, B. H. (1996). Pedal Timing and Tempo in Expressive Piano Performance: A Preliminary Investigation. Psychology of Music, 24(2), 199–221.

§ Repp, B. H. (1996). The dynamics of expressive piano performance: Schumann’s “Träumerei” revisited. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 100(1), 641–650.

§ Repp, B. H. (1999). Control of Expressive and Metronomic Timing in Pianists. Journal of Motor Behavior, 31(2), 145–164.

§ Rings, S. (2008). Mystéres limpides: Time and Transformation in Debussy’s Des pas sur la neige. 19th-Century Music, 32(2), 178–208.