CITATION — REFERENCE ENTRY
dual-senses · yust2024-tonality-racism
- Citation
- yust2024-tonality-racism
- Claim ID
- dual-senses
- Assertion
- Yust argues that tonality is perhaps the most important organizing concept in contemporary music theory. He distinguishes two senses of the term: a practical, historical one that separates tonal from post-tonal repertoire and curricula, and one that treats tonality as a musical property concerned with the perception of keys and tonics. He argues that the two senses are incoherent, that they perpetuate the term's racist origins, and that the term could be dropped from music theory without causing problems.
- Quote
Tonality may be the single most important organizing concept in contemporary music theory. ... The design of our music theory curricula and conference programs demonstrates that, structurally, the primary role of the concept of tonality is to segregate repertoire and analytical tools. ... This practical function of the tonality concept, with its historical orientation, contrasts with the idea of tonality as a musical property, having to do with the perception of keys and tonics. This essay explains how the dual senses of tonality are incoherent and serve to perpetuate the racist origins of the term. I also argue that, despite its ubiquity, dropping the term from our theoretical lexicon would not cause problems, and there is little downside and many benefits to doing so.
- Quote language
- en
- Locator
- page: 1 (preprint)
Available in