1.13 Summary: a quick guide for listening

Music is a time-art. It is abstract and non-verbal: its sounds do not have literal or fixed meanings. Amusical performance generally flows unstoppably and cannot be interrupted. In general, composers intend for a musical work toexpress itself fully through its own sounds, without the need for supplementary explanations. Under these conditions, repetition is the basis of musical intelligibility. Pop music tends to rely onliteral repetition, because intelligibility is most immediate, whereas art music focuses on varied and transformed repetition.[] How Music Makes Sense

Musical emphasis may created in four main ways:

• The primary means of emphasis is duration : Because music is a time art, if you want to emphasize something, make it last .
• Change —such as change of speed, register, texture, etc.—is another means of emphasis. The greater the change, the stronger the emphasis.
• Extremes —such as loudest and softest, highest and lowest, densest and sparest, fastest and slowest—are a third means of emphasis.
• Rhetorical reinforcement occurs when emphases of duration, change and extremes are aligned to create a well-marked structural landmark. Strong rhetorical reinforcement promotes clarity . Weak rhetorical reinforcement—when the structure is not supported by coordinated emphases—promotes ambiguity .

A climax is a work’s maximum emphasis , created by the reinforcement of extremes. Highly unrhetorical works tend not to have a climax, because their emphases are out-of-phase from each other. [] Musical Emphasis

Form describes the layout of a composition as divided into sections. There are two main types of form. An A-typeform consists of a single section; it focuses on continuity . An A/B-type form consists of multiple sections; it focuses on contrast . [] Musical Form

Expository statements establish the identity of musical material. Developmental passages put musical material into action . The balance between the expository and the developmental is a crucial expressive feature: The greater theamount of exposition, the greater a work’s repose; the greater the amount of development, the greater a work’s flux.[] Expository and Developmental

The overall destiny of a piece of music is a comparison of how the end relates to the beginning. There are three possible destinies: a strong roundtrip, in which the music returns with confidence and security to its origin; a weak roundtrip, in which the music’s return is insecure or incomplete; or a one-way progression, in which the music ends in a far different place than it began. Grasping the overall destiny helps you to understand details within the context of the work’s larger trajectory. [] Overall Destiny

When a musical idea or section returns in a composition, it may return identically, in which case time has not had an effect: A literal return speaks to the material’s stability and endurance. On the other hand, if the idea or section is variedor transformed, time has had an effect: The return speaks to the material’s evolution and progress. When transformations occur, you may evaluate whether they strengthened or weakened the material. [] Time's Effect On the Material

Advice for listening

First hearings

Be self-reliant

The purity and integrity of your personal responses to a piece of music are impossible to recover once you have read or heard someone else’s thoughts about it. If possible, avoid reading the program or liner notes for a work you’re hearing for the first time. Allow yourself to experience the music directly, without an intermediary. After you know the piece well, you will find reading about it even more enjoyable, because you will be able to measure other perspectives against your own. Writings and talk about music can be revelatory; but, ultimately, art is meant to be experienced as directly and personally as possible.