Sometimes, the basic chord progressions are extended by the use of passing chords, auxiliary chords and appoggiatura chords. For further information on these see book Chapter 3. Also, the examples chosen are short examples of the basic structure. These have been chosen because they are brief enough to fit onto one screen. Syntactic structures are often longer than those given and can be extended, just as sentences in language can be extended by the use of subordinate clauses or phrases. See book chapter 5 for extensions within the basic structure. Chapter 6 will also contain further examples of extensions to the basic structure.
When I analyse music, chord successions don't appear to look like these 'static' and 'dynamic' patterns.
The examples chosen, in the main, use only functional chords. These chords can be further elaborated by by: passing chords, auxiliary chords and appoggiatura chords as well as linear progressions. When analysing root progression these have to be disregarded in the root analysis. There are some examples of these in the demos but you can also see more about these in book chapter 3 and chapter 4 and in the example harmonisation section.
This is all too simple, it can't be true!
The best theory is the theory which explains the data by the simplest number of rules. This theory is empirically based. i.e. it is based on the analysis of data from many pieces of music. See the outline thesis for more information on the way this has been done.
If this is so simple, why has no-one thought of it before?
Individual components of the theory have been anticipated by several musical theorists:
The 19th century theorist Richter discusses passing chords as a concept and this is taken up by theorists such as Schoenberg.
Linear progressions are introduced by Schenker.
The idea that music alternates between chord oscillation and chord progression is anticipated by Schoenberg and others.
The idea that music can be represented by parsing diagrams is introduced by theorists such as Lerdahl and Jackendoff.
However, this is the first theory that links all of these ideas together in such a way that demonstrates that each chord in a musical phrase can be interpreted in terms of its place syntactically in the musical phrase.
In what way is this theory useful?
This theory is useful in three main ways.
1. It helps us understand how music is structured. It explains the function of every chord in its context in the whole musical phrase rather than just in relation to its preceding and succeeding chord.
2. Students of music often find the process of harmonising a melody difficult because with current theories there is no simple way of determining which chords might be appropriate at any particular place in a musical phrase. This theory helps by breaking down a musical phrase into structural elements so that appropriate patterns fall into place naturally. See the example harmonisation
3. This theory does not work in isolation. It brings together: basic theory, formal theory, analysis and linguistic models of music.
When I listen to music I don't hear it in this way. I am supposed to listen for syntactic structures?
No. Just as when you listen to language you are not consciously listening for grammatical structures, you should not listen for these in music. The demonstrations are intend to aid understanding in a way that brings the theory to life. They are not intended as a way of training the ear to listen in a particular way.
Ver. 2.3.