Tonality and Racism — Journal of Music Theory

Claims

1. dual-senses
   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.

   "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."

   Locator: page: 1 (preprint) · Quote language: en
2. function-common-practice
   Harmonic function is specific to certain styles, sometimes called the common practice (roughly eighteenth- and nineteenth-century European concert music), and to later music that draws on its harmonic practice. Yust describes it as a tool that evolved in eighteenth-century Europe to make long-form dramatic instrumental music possible.

   "Harmonic function is therefore peculiar to certain styles of music, what is sometimes called music of the “common practice” (roughly eighteenth- and nineteenth-century European concert music) and later music that draws upon its harmonic practice. It is a tool that evolved in eighteenth-century Europe to make long-form dramatic instrumental music possible."

   Locator: Section on harmonic function (preprint) · Quote language: en
3. key-profiles
   Much empirical research on music cognition, including work by Krumhansl, Temperley, Aarden and Sapp, treats the distribution of pitch classes in a passage as the essential defining feature of keys. Pitch-class vectors are a common tool for automatically detecting the key of a piece. The resulting profiles are often described as tonal hierarchies that sort pitch classes into non-scale tones, scale tones outside the tonic triad, and members of the tonic triad.

   "Most germane to the present discussion, pitch-class vectors are a common tool for automatically detecting the key of a piece of music. Much empirical research, including well-known and influential work of Krumhansl (1990), Temperley (2001), Aarden (2003), and Sapp (2011), treats macroharmony as the essential defining feature of keys, and by extension tonality. ... are often characterized as “tonal hierarchies” in the sense that they assign pitch-classes to three or four categories: non-scale tones, scale tones not in the tonic triad, and members of the tonic triad"

   Locator: Section on macroharmony (preprint) · Quote language: en
4. origin-fetis
   Alexandre-Étienne Choron and François-Joseph Fétis introduced tonalités as a way of sorting and valuing ancient and modern music through an evolutionary lens; the term first appears in print in Choron and Fayelle (1810). Most music theorists know Fétis as the originator of the concept of tonality. In his Histoire générale de la musique (1869) Fétis tied his concept of tonality explicitly to biological racism and white-supremacist thought.

   "Before there was a concept of atonal music, and hence of tonality as a means of sorting classical and modern music, Alexandre-Étienne Choron and François-Joseph Fétis introduced “tonalités” as a way of sorting and valuating ancient and modern music with an evolutionary lens. ... The term first appears in print in Choron and Fayelle 1810 ... Fétis linked biological racism with his concept of tonality most explicitly in his last major project, the multivolume Histoire générale de la musique (Fétis 1869). ... While most music theorists know Fétis as the originator of the concept of tonality, his racism (unlike Heinrich Schenker's) is less discussed."

   Locator: page: 1-3 (preprint) · Quote language: en
5. pop-tonic-ambiguity
   In loop-based popular music, competent listeners can hear different notes as the tonic of the same song, as discussed by Mark Spicer and Mark Richards. Yust argues that this implies hearing a specific tonic is not part of competency in at least some popular styles.

   "Mark Spicer (2017) discusses this and many other rock music examples in which competent listeners can hear different tonics, and Mark Richards (2017) identifies a specific chord loop (the “axis progression”) that gives rise to many similarly ambiguous examples. The phenomenon is clearly relatively common in recent popular music, which implies that hearing a specific note as tonic, at least for some kinds of popular songs, is not a part of competency in the style."

   Locator: Section (2) Tonic, tonal center, centricity (preprint) · Quote language: en