I sent the following e-mail to my freshman harmony classes, who (presumably) are diligently preparing for their final exam. I have been very frustrated grading their homework lately: their work has been very inconsistent with many (I hope) careless mistakes. In an effort to reconcile what I'm seeing on paper with what may be going on in their heads, I present the following:
Thoughts?
Hello,N.B. They just performed "On the transmigration..." this weekend as part of our big gala scholarship concert.
I'd like to pose the following rather philosophical questions to you in preparation for the exam. If there is a consensus, we can discuss them in class tomorrow; otherwise, we can find an alternate way to discuss them (perhaps extra credit for thoughtful responses?)
1. What is the purpose of inverted chords? For years, theorists did not recognize a similarity between a chord and its inversion: the "chord of the fifth" (root position) was a distinct entity from the "chord of the sixth" (first inversion). What might have accounted for this?
2. John Adams's "On the transmigration..." begins with parallel fifths. Why can he do it and you can't? (BTW, congratulations to those of you who performed--I saw the Saturday night performance) Assuming you're not John Adams, what are some strategies for avoiding parallel perfect consonances (i.e., parallel fifths and octaves)?
4. What is the function of embellishing tones? Note that they are sometimes referred to as "non-chord tones" or "non-harmonic tones." Why privilege one term over the other?
5. Is music composed horizontally (i.e., harmonically) or vertically (i.e., melodically)? Is music experienced horizontally or vertically?
6. How does the work we do in theory class relate to your daily lives as performing/teaching musicians? Put another way, what do you study when you study music theory?
7. What do Roman numerals tell us? What don't they tell us?
Thoughts?