This study proposes a primarily esthesic, listener-oriented approach to discussing music that is "out of tune" or discordant. The paper is divided into two main sections: in part one I work to define discordance as a type of qualia experienced when a hypothetical listener perceives something as "out of tune." I then present a classification scheme for categorizing different varieties of discordance qualia, based on the perceived intentionality behind discordant events. This system details three primary categories of discordance: 1) incidental, whereby discordance is introduced via a performer's mistake or oversight; 2) expressive, which includes discordances introduced intentionally by a performer; and 3) structural, whereby the discordance is systemic, resulting from factors outside the control of any individual performer. In part two, I present an analytic essay on a movement from Easley Blackwood's 1980 Twelve Microtonal Etudes, a work that invokes structural discordance qualia in listeners enculturated in twelve-tone equal temperament. This analysis explores Blackwood's attempt to mimic functional tonal syntax in nineteen-tone equal temperament, and describes the impact of the structural discordance qualia on familiar varieties of tonal ambiguity. / text
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UTEXAS/oai:repositories.lib.utexas.edu:2152/26420 |
| Date | 09 October 2014 |
| Creators | Cox, Daniel Nathan |
| Source Sets | University of Texas |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
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