1,000 words + musical examples
Providing examples from Bartók’s fourth of Ten Easy Pieces, ‘Sostenuto’, answer the following questions:
How has posttonal music continued the tradition of tonal music? In what ways does posttonal music depart from the tonal tradition?
Include musical figures. Each figure should have a clearly identifiable number and a corresponding caption (see below). The captions do not count as part of the word count.
Consider including examples from works not discussed in this module.
Each figure must be referred to in the body of the essay. (e.g. The first motive from Minuet in G (Figure 1) is in G major).
Include specific music-theoretical terminology; be as precise as possible in your explanation.
Consider aspects from the categories outlined in class: form, texture, line, and historical context.
While you are not required to refer to published literature, should you be inclined to refer to supporting sources, be sure to include the necessary citations according to the format outlined in the Music Department’s Guide to Writing and Presentation.
Take time to carefully structure your essay. You are strongly encouraged to draft an outline before writing the essay.
Note on Musical Figures: Figures must either be scanned in (not photographed) at a minimum of 300dpi or notated using software such as Finale, Sibelius (available on campus), or MuseScore (free download). All figures should include a describing caption, and must be referred to in the text. Figures must include clefs, key signatures, and time signatures where relevant (N.B. the piece below has no time signature). Consider adding your own annotations to the score such that your figure highlights the point you make in the essay.
Example:
Essay text: In the second movement, ‘Afternoon’ (Figure 3), we see an example of time-stretching and harmonisation that introduces a change of identity and an instance in which the fragmented voice alters the perceived number of speaking personae.
Barry Truax, Song of Songs, ii: ‘Afternoon’, systems 3-5.
Figure 3. Barry Truax, Song of Songs, ii: ‘Afternoon’, systems 3-5. This transcription shows the strongest sounding fundamentals in the bass clef, the time-stretched ‘fountain’ sounding in the ambiguous register, in a range around E-flat3, or 155.5 Hz. X’s on systems 3 and 5 indicate the distortion caused by harmonising the consonants ‘t’ and ‘n’. Oboe d’amore notated at concert pitch.
im from ireland, so it will be UK english, are you familiar with this? im hoping to get a 2:1 for this essay which is above 60% here in ireland…
when referencing its done by use of footnotes and a bibliography.