CHAPTER 1
THE BASIC SYNTACTIC STRUCTURE
Introduction
Conventional theories of structure in tonal music concentrate either totally on root progression patterns (Rameau. Schoenberg, etc) or totally on voice leading. (Schenker etc) This book is the first to explain how root progression patterns and voice leading work together. This book is based on a systematic analysis of root progression patterns in a large number of tonal (and tonally influenced) pieces of music and shows how chord progressions create musical phrase structures similar to sentence structures in natural language.
Whilst voice leading principles are fairly well understood, what is new in this book is the explanation of how root progressions work in tonal music and how they interact with voice leading. When viewed from this perspective, it is possible to demonstrate that musical phrases are constructed in ways that show similarities with the way sentences are structured in natural languages. This makes it possible to explain every chord in its context within the musical phrase rather than just in terms of the chords surrounding it.
This book is about what is normally referred to as tonal music or music which is based on tonality. By tonal music I mean music that is composed in a recognisable system of scales and chord patterns as exemplified by the European classical tradition of the 18th and 19th centuries and to some extent the 20th century. Most of the music we listen to: classical, popular music, Jazz etc. is constructed to some extent along tonal lines. People are often puzzled about why this system, which at first sight, is so simple - just a scale of seven diatonic notes (plus 5 chromatic notes) arranged in different patterns - actually produces such a wealth of possibilities. What I hope to show is that what gives tonal music the ability to form these varied structures is, the way voice leading and root progression patterns work together and the way chord progressions are organised into musical phrase structures similar to language structures in natural languages.
Some writers such as Weber, Schoenberg, McHose and Piston have described chord progressions but in terms of tables of probabilities. However, these tables tell us nothing about the relationships between the chords themselves or between the chords and musical phrases. Schenker proposed a theory of musical structure based totally on voice leading but this does not adequately explain how root progressions work or how musical phrases are structured. Please refer to the outline thesis and the Q and A section of this site for further information on the history of such theories. A more complete history is being prepared for inclusions as chapter 10 (Historical Background) within this book summary. The outline thesis explains some of the evidence for the theory presented.
In demonstrating the role that chord progressions have in creating syntactic structures, the author does not intend to imply that other components of music do not also play a role. In later chapters, I will show the connection between grammatical structures and formal structures and the link between voice leading and motivic and melodic structures.
The Connection with Language
Language has evolved well organised structures because it gives human beings an evolutionary advantage. It allows us to communicate: - to pass information about our environment, about the location of food and warnings of danger. It enables us to agree plans and to pass traditions, ideas and techniques from person to person and from generation to generation. Because this is so important to our survival as a species it is an ability we have evolved over tens of thousands of years. It communicates messages, feelings and emotions and we enjoy the experience.
Based on the evidence collected about the patterns in chord progressions, it seems likely that the mind's innate ability to understand language structures has been transferred to the western system of music we describe as tonal music. This analysis has not been extended to non-western or non-tonal music. However, some tonally related music has been included in the analyses.
As tonal music evolved over several centuries, it seems that composers have subconsciously emulated the grammatical structures which exist in language. Because the underlying structures are common to all languages, these musical structures can be understood by anyone, anywhere in the world. Hence tonal music is accessible to many cultures and the harmonic structures in tonal music have influenced many other musical traditions. Composers have not planned things this way or designed the tonal system. It has evolved through a series of experiments and discovery that have gradually built on each other. This was necessary as western art music developed beyond accompaniment to song or dance into a self-contained art form with internal structures of its own.
Whilst Chord syntax and voice leading syntax are well documented and understood. What is missing is chord progression syntax. This theory is the first that attempts to accurately describe chord progression syntax. By filling this gap we can more fully describe the syntax of musical language.
In language, structures are formed in sentences made up of parts of speech. The joining of these parts of speech into sentences is governed by the rules of sentence syntax. For example, the basic structure of a sentence in the English language can be represented in a parsing diagram as follows:
This diagram indicates that a sentence is divided into two parts: the subject and the predicate. The predicate is itself divided up into two parts: the verb followed by the object. This represents the simplest complete sentence structure and although more complex structures are possible they all derive from this simple structure by further division of the branches. For example, the subject could be a noun or could be expanded into a pronoun + noun or further expanded to include a noun phrase or verb phrase.
These underlying principles also apply to musical structures, There is only one basic complete phrase structure in tonal music and all other complete phrase structures are expansions of this basic structure.
For further information about syntax in language please click here
For further information about the role of syntax in music click here
It might be assumed that the basic element of the syntactic structure in music is the chord, but in order to make the connection between the chord and the musical phrase an intermediate level is required. This is the syntactic element which is identifiable as blocks of harmony of one of two types: static harmony and dynamic harmony. (This analysis of harmony is anticipated by Schoenberg and others but they don't make the connection with the musical phrase.) Harmony that is static is made up of an oscillation of the tonic or dominant chord with other chords and harmony that is dynamic is made up of chord progressions. It is because chords can be formed into these two basic types of grouping that music can be formed into structures similar to language structures. Cadential patterns made up of the dominant and tonic chords, (chords V and I) complete the basic musical phrase structure.
In this way, the phrase in music is the equivalent of the sentence in language. The basic syntactic structure for tonal music is as follows:
As a short example, of this simple structure, let's examine the following 8 bar phrase from the Scherzo of Haydn's Sonata in F major, Hob XVI: 9:
We know that this is a complete musical phrase because it starts at the beginning of the melody and ends with a perfect cadence (chord V to chord I). From bar 17 to bar 21, the phrase is composed of tonic harmony (F major) with just one movement to a dominant chord (C major) at bar 19 and back to the tonic at bar 20. As the harmony just oscillates around the tonic there is no sense of movement and consequently the harmony is static harmony .
At bars 22 to 24, in contrast, the harmony changes to a chord progression as follows: I (F major) to II (G minor) to V (C major) to I (F major). There is a clear root movement here. The chord root rises a singe step from F to G, then rises three steps, from G to C, then rises a further three steps from C to F. This creates a sense of movement up to and including the V - I cadence. This is dynamic harmony.
This switching between static harmony and dynamic harmony happens in all tonal music and the simple structure above is the basis of all chord progression syntax in tonal music. In conventional theory chords are classified in terms of their function in relation to keys. This tends to disguise underlying progressions when they go across key structures. This topic is further discussed throughout the remainder of the book. For further examples of simple harmonic structures then please refer to the animated demonstrations. Longer phrases will have longer static elements made up of larger numbers of oscillations between the tonic and other chords or they may contain longer dynamic harmony patterns made up of longer series of chords. More complex musical phrases can be explained as expansions of this basic structure. The possible expansions include the embedding of incomplete phrase structures into the basic structure and the extension of the tonic or dominant chord of the cadence. These structures are all nevertheless expanded versions of the same fundamental syntactic structure.
As a longer example of the simple structure, let's examine the 32 bar main theme from Strauss's The Blue Danube Waltz. This is a good example of a longer simple structure:
The musical phrase commences with an opening section (bar 1 to bar 16) made up exclusively of a single alternation between chord I and chord V. Since the harmony does not move but merely oscillates between chord I and chord V the harmony is static. The second section is made up of a chord progression as follows: I to II7 to V7 to I to II7 to V and consequently the result is dynamic. The dynamic harmony ends with a V to I cadence which completes the syntactic structure.
The reader will at this point no doubt be asking the question: 'Well, if this is so simple why has no one ever noticed this before?' One reason for this is because most theories of musical structure concentrate totally on voice leading or assume that root progressions can be explained without any reference to voice leading. Another way of understanding this is by what I will refer to as functionality. In more complex examples, in order to establish the true chord progressions, whether static or dynamic, it is necessary to determine which chords are significant (or functional) in the progression and which chords are passing in nature (non-functional). These non-functional chords arise out of voice leading patterns just as the surface detail of the music does. Whilst in many examples (including the ones above) there are no non-functional chords to muddy the waters sometimes they disguise the underlying static and dynamic structures and so a method is required to determine which chords are functional and which are not.
Some people would argue that the analysis of root progressions is a futile exercise; that it is not always easy to determine what the correct root of a chord is and that for some note combinations it is not possible to determine roots at all. Schenker believed that all chords arise from counterpoint and he gives particular importance to the role of the linear progressions in creating chord sequences. The correct analyses of chord progressions depends on decisions about what vertical note combinations are significant in the analysis and what note combinations don't constitute chords. Given this necessary selection process, the suspicion may be that in finding patterns in chord progressions, the theorist has in some way selected chords and progressions that fit the theory and has rejected note combinations that do not fit the desired results. (In fact, this is one of the principle objection to Schenker's fundamental structure - that the means of its derivation are not independent of the results themselves.(1)
To overcome this problem, the selection of note combinations must be applied in a consistent manner and in such a way that is independent of the end result. In other words, the reduction of music to an harmonic outline that lends itself to adequate root progression analysis, must be carried out by a system of rules that is as objective as possible. These are based on the well established principles of voice leading (or more correctly "divisions"). This is explained more fully in chapter 3. By working this way, it will be shown that chord progressions show clear patterns and that these patterns are similar to the grammatical structures in language.
Summary
This hypothesis may be summarised as follows:
All phrases in tonal music are organised into syntactic structures, similar to those in language. These are constructed in three levels: The phrase, the syntactic elements (made up of static harmony or dynamic harmony) and the chords. Complete phrases usually terminate in a chord V to I perfect cadence. Static harmony is made up of prolongations of the tonic chord by repetition or oscillations between the tonic chord and other chords. Dynamic harmony is made up of chord progressions constructed mainly from strong root progressions (rising 4th, falling 3rd and rising 2nd). This selection of progressions for dynamic harmony I will refer to as the polarisation of chord progressions. In order to make visible the underlying chord progression the surface voice leading must be first accounted for. This involves removing some chordal formations which are not significant in the root progression analysis which must be eliminated by applying the concept of functionality. These non-functional chords include passing chords and chords which do not have clear roots such as the diminished seventh chord.
The basic syntactic structure may be extended by the further expansion of one of the syntactic elements in the basic structure. For example, the cadential V chord my be extended by dominant static harmony to form a dominant prolongation and the cadential I chord may be extended by tonic static harmony to form a static coda.
Complete and incomplete structures may also be conjoined into larger structures in a similar way to the way this is done in language structures.
(1). Narmour, Beyond Schenkerism