Tonal Orientation
Units and Polarized Neo-Riemannian Tonnetz: Two Didactic Tools for Extended
Tonality
Analysis teaching in French music schools is still
today heavily influenced by the theory of fundamental bass and the 19th
century’s classifications of harmony. However this legacy, resulting from
successive stacked uses, has been called into question for some two decades,
particularly – although not only – in the study of extended tonality. These
questionings may concern the concepts of chord and tonality, as well as these
of degree and tonal function. They generate new theoretical approaches which
are disputing the validity of traditional models based on the only triad and
the intervallic distance calculation between this triad and the even more
pre-accessed tonic degree. These new visions explore new fields like voice
leading, the links between degree and function, the concept of harmonic
progression. This way, they may lead to the extension of tonality, as well as
the development of advanced procedures and tools appropriate to its
description. This lecture is proposing an exploration of two
fundamental aspects and an application to the music by Gabriel Fauré.
First, we focus on defining the tools of tonal
identification, as well as the mechanisms which could allow this
identification. Then, the first part aims to reach functional and tonal
analysis of the work in small or medium scale. Secondly, we widen the scale of
observation to demonstrate that the study of the relationship between tonal
distance and tonal direction may shed light on the meaning of tonal structure
as a significant discursive component. The second part aims to define and model
the path of tonalities of a complete work or movement.
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