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Articles 1 - 3 of 3
Full-Text Articles in Musicology
The Federal Music Project: An American Voice In Depression-Era Music, Audrey S. Rutt
The Federal Music Project: An American Voice In Depression-Era Music, Audrey S. Rutt
Musical Offerings
After World War I, America was musically transformed from an outsider in the European classical tradition into a country of musical vibrance and maturity. These great advances, however, were deeply threatened by the Wall Street crash of 1929 and the consequent Great Depression. The nation that, for the first time, was developing an international reputation in the arts now faced a crisis of how to support them. Government sponsorship of the arts through the New Deal Federal One projects allowed struggling artists to survive economically during this era. In the realm of music, however, the Federal Music Project (FMP) had …
The Battle Between Impeccable Intonation And Maximized Modulation, Timothy M. True
The Battle Between Impeccable Intonation And Maximized Modulation, Timothy M. True
Musical Offerings
Equal temperament represents a way of completing the musical circle, and systematically compensating for the Pythagorean comma. Pythagoras discovered this acoustical problem around 550 B.C., and since that time music theorists have debated how to deal with it. The problem is that no perfect solution exists—something must be compromised. As musical styles developed, specific factors and harmonic tendencies led to the gradual adoption of equal temperament. Early in music history, theorists preferred systems which kept acoustical purity relatively intact. Pythagorean intonation and just intonation serve as two examples. However, the move from modality to tonality decentralized the melody as the …
The Unifying Strands: Formalism And Gestalt Theory In The Musical Philosophies Of Aristoxenus, Descartes, And Meyer, Amanda N. Staufer
The Unifying Strands: Formalism And Gestalt Theory In The Musical Philosophies Of Aristoxenus, Descartes, And Meyer, Amanda N. Staufer
Musical Offerings
In every age, philosophers deal with inquiries concerning musical meaning and the effect of music on the listener. Instead of answering the formidable question of musical meaning, this essay demonstrates the parallel aspects of three musical theories from ancient, Enlightenment, and modern times. Using the two criteria of musical formalism and Gestalt Theory, this essay systematically connects the philosophies of Aristoxenus of Tarentum, René Descartes, and Leonard Meyer. Musical formalism holds that music’s nature is innate, self-evident, able to be systematically deduced, and rational. According to formalism, musical meaning is defined by things objectively ‘there’ in the music, musical experience …