Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Finding Your Own Voice; Tonality, Post-Tonality, and the Composer's Toolbox

We had a discussion yesterday morning (Feb 8, 2016) in our composition seminar about topics that I suspect most composition students think about from time to time, such as:
  • Why are students restricted to writing post-tonal music?
  • If the music nearest and dearest to a student's heart is tonal, then shouldn't the student be writing tonal music?
  • If a composer (or any artist) is obliged to be true to themselves, shouldn't they be free to express themselves in any way they wish?
I have written about this before – please visit the links below, if interested – so I am repeating myself to some degree, but here are my thoughts on these questions:
  1. Every university course that I know of has content restrictions. Here are just a few examples from Memorial University's music course offerings:
    • Renaissance counterpoint;
    • Baroque counterpoint
    • The four-semester sequence of Harmony & Part-writing courses (which we call "Materials of Music").
    • Jazz Theory and Arranging.

    The stylistic restrictions in these courses are fairly strict, but, in my experience, students do not typically question why they are not allowed to write country, rock, or hip-hop songs, for example, in Renaissance Counterpoint, or Jazz Theory. I think song-writing courses covering country, rock, hip-hop, death-metal, or any of the myriad of sub-genres of popular music would be great to have, and they already exist in many universities. I'd love to see them at ours, but the point is that any course is circumscribed in some way.

    Students usually understand that stylistic restrictions are inherent to course content, and, ideally, their desire to take the courses listed above is motivated by a desire to learn how to write music under such restrictions.

    More pragmatic motivation can also be a factor in course choices, such as the course being required for our programme of study, or the course is in a convenient time slot, or all other theory electives were full, so we had to take the only one that wasn't full, etc.

    But here is a potential flaw in the above argument: If a student takes "Renaissance Counterpoint," they fully expect that the style of music they will study is renaissance counterpoint, since it is plainly stated in the title. But if someone takes "Composition Seminar," there is no stylistic restriction in the course title, so it would not be unreasonable for a student to expect to have the option of writing any style of music, including tonal music.

    This is a fair point, but keep reading for more on courses whose stylistic focus is not in the course title.
  1. There are, however, courses in which stylistic restrictions are not explicitly stated in the title or calendar description. One is "Materials of Music," cited above. Looking at the Memorial University 2015/2016 calendar, other examples include:

    • "Principal Applied Study requires one hour per week of individual instruction (vocal or instrumental)." This refers to weekly private lessons. No stylistic focus is specified.

    • "Functional Keyboard I is an introduction to practical keyboard skills for students whose Principal Applied Study is not piano or organ. Functional accompaniment, transposition and score reading are emphasized." 

    • "Chamber Music requires the ensemble to prepare and perform a recital of x-y minutes of music. Each ensemble receives z hours of coaching in preparation for the performance."

    • … and many, many others, such as Small Ensemble, Wind Ensemble, Instrumental Ensemble, Chamber Orchestra, AccompanimentContemporary Music/Improvisation Ensemble ("contemporary" could mean "any music of our time," but it actually means, "classical music of the fairly recent past," in which "fairly recent" is open to interpretation by the course instructor), etc.

  2. Despite the unspecified stylistic restrictions in the above course titles and calendar descriptions, students taking these courses probably understand that they carry with them some stylistic restrictions, because our School focusses mostly on classical music in the broadest sense of that term (which includes contemporary classical music).

  3. Another course in which stylistic restrictions are not explicit in the title and course description is composition, whose calendar description is as follows: "Composition Seminar provides intensive composition study for students whose Major or Minor is Composition."

    So, while it is possible to deduce from this description that any style or genre of composition is fair game, I would just point out that this is not the case in any of the other courses mentioned above; students taking Principal Applied Study, for example, usually understand and accept that they will be more likely to learn the music of J.S. Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Brahms, Rachmaninoff, Clifford Crawley, etc., than country, rock, death-metal, etc. music as part of their performance studies. Again, this is not to suggest that non-classical music has no value, because it obviously does; it is a reflection of the stylistic focus at our School of Music, which is primarily music of the classical tradition. However, we also have a thriving ethnomusicology programme, as well as some courses in popular music, but I would very much like to see more offered in the future. This may even come to pass in the near future, because our newly-appointed (starting Fall, 2016) Canada Research Chair in Ethnomusicology, Dr. Harris Berger, is among other things, a leading scholar in the area of heavy metal and rock music.

  4. Another factor in this discussion of stylistic restrictions is that they are to some degree a reflection of the professor's areas of expertise. Ideally, teachers teach what they know, and, for most of our professors, what they know is primarily classical music. Of course, teachers can be adaptable as well, and if I were told to teach a course on a topic beyond my comfort zone, like writing a Broadway musical, I'd take what I already know about writing for voice, writing for orchestra or band, combining voice(s) with instruments, setting text expressively, etc., and learn everything I could about the structure and conventions of Broadway musicals (about all I know at this point is that they generally have two acts, and that the first usually ends with an unresolved conflict of some sort), and then do my best with the course, hopefully learning more along the way.

  5. In all courses at our university, professors must distribute a course outline or syllabus during the first week of classes. In addition to communicating the marking scheme and general structure of the course, these usually contain more information about course content and objectives than is found in the university calendar. This is where you would learn, for example, that our study of baroque counterpoint focusses primarily on the music of J.S. Bach, with occasional references to other baroque composers. You would also learn that there is, unsurprisingly, no way to master the compositional styles of J.S. Bach in a one-semester course, and so the objectives are more a matter of trying emulate specific aspects of his style, such as binary dance-suite compositions, inventions, and fugues. 

  6. For our course, Composition Seminar, my course outlines state that the focus will be on writing "post-tonal" music. My reasons for this include the following:

    • For most of the past century, the majority of highly-regarded classical composers (and yes, "highly-regarded" is a problematic term, since informed scholars can disagree as to the relative merits of any given composer; I am referring to the composers we learn about in textbooks and more recent composers who do not yet appear in textbooks, but whose music is widely played and celebrated) have been writing post-tonal music, and, since this is a composition course for contemporary classical music, I strongly believe that students should learn explore at least some of the many techniques for writing post-tonal music;

    • The requirement to explore post-tonal techniques often results in students moving beyond their personal comfort zones, meaning that for many, writing tonal music is comfortable and safe, while writing post-tonal music is less so. I believe that moving beyond our comfort zones in a safe, supportive environment is where we often learn the most.

    • It also seems likely that, if students were not challenged to move beyond their personal comfort zones, then some would be unlikely to explore post-tonal techniques, which I would regard as a glaring omission in their development of composition skills.

    • I think many, possibly most, students may not fully understand what is meant by "post-tonal" music, and think the term is the same as "atonal," or even "12-tone" music. It is much, much more than this; it is a remarkably open category; the only thing it isn't is tonal

      • I pasted below a sampling of scales, techniques, and idioms associated with post-tonal music; the options are both plentiful and varied. Not only that, but the list is in no way complete; there are many other approaches to post-tonal composition beyond those listed. In addition, there are approaches that haven't been conceived yet, just waiting for someone like you to think of them.


    • I am of the firm conviction that writing post-tonal music can improve the quality of any tonal music students may write in the future. For students that embrace the challenge of writing post-tonal music, it opens their creative options to include techniques and sonorities that they otherwise might not have considered when writing tonal music.

    • Many composition students have indicated a desire to write music for film or video games. For such students, the more techniques they know, the more effectively they will be able to score for film (or video games, although I confess to not knowing much about this genre of music).

    • I have tried different approaches to the teaching of composition over the past 30 years, and this method works, if students are willing to buy into it.

    • There are over 20 student comments on a previous blog entry I wrote on this topic, all of which are positive. Many express an initial discomfort with trying to write post-tonal music, but conclude with views similar to this one: "Intro to composition has completely opened up my ears to accepting tonalities that I otherwise would not have heard beauty in!"
    • One of the most compelling reasons I advocate writing post-tonal music is that when I have allowed tonal composition, the results have generally been disappointing, albeit with some exceptions along the way. Possible reasons for this include the following:

      • It is very hard to write tonal music that (a) sounds original, and (b) doesn't sound like a poor imitation of some tonal music composer.

      • Despite having taken four semesters of tonal harmony and analysis before starting the first semester of composition seminar, as well as one semester of counterpoint for some, many students who have chosen a composition major did not do particularly well in these tonal-practices courses, and, unsurprisingly, their tonal writing has often been problematic (forbidden parallels, poorly resolved sevenths, doubled tendency tones, odd chord progressions, clearly wrong notes that the student was apparently unable to hear despite playing the file numerous times in Finale or some other music notation programme, etc.).

      • Our ears are so accustomed to tonal music of the highest quality that when we write tonal music of significantly lower quality (as our first attempts almost invariably must be), it just does not sound very good. Again, to be fair, there have been exceptions, but not very many.

  7. None of this comes from an elitist, "Who Cares if You Listen," antipathy towards tonality and love of "academic" music, whatever that might be. I grew up playing rock and folk music, then studied jazz guitar for a few years, and only began studying classical music in my 20s. One thing led to another, and I eventually got a doctorate in composition and became a professor, but I never lost my love of rock and many other kinds of music as well. I remember very well my first reactions to Schoenberg, Webern, Boulez, and even Bartok… Much like the protagonist in Dr. Seuss's famous book, Green Eggs and Ham, I did not like them, Sam-I-Am!

    Fortunately, I had teachers that (a) helped me to better understand the music I didn't like, so that I grew to not only gain a better appreciation of that music, but to actually enjoy it as well, and (b) exposed me to compositional approaches that I either knew little or nothing about. Therefore, as I see it, an important part of my role as a composition teacher/facilitator is to challenge students to consider compositional techniques, approaches, and possibilities that they may never have tried before. Usually, in trying these new things, students find some they like, but whether they like them or not, they can develop a better understanding of new (to them) techniques.

    This is where the "composer's toolbox" analogy comes in; the more you know, in terms of compositional techniques and approaches, the better equipped you will be to express your uniqueness through music, and the better equipped you will be to write for stage, film, television, or video games, should you ever have that opportunity.

    Most of us want to express something deeply personal through our music; we are better able to do this with a wide array of compositional techniques and approaches in our toolboxes than a limited selection. If you were a writer but your vocabulary had only 100 words, it seems likely that you would find this limiting your ability to express the subtleties and deep thoughts you might wish to express; if you had a vocabulary of 60,000 words, it seems likely that you would be better able to express yourself in an effective and nuanced way.

    Most of the music I have written in about the past twenty years is in some way tonal, with a number of exceptions as well. It is clearly where my heart lies, but I don't think I would find it very interesting to only write tonal music. Moreover, I could not have written any of the tonal-based compositions that I really like unless I had spent years developing skills in a variety of post-tonal techniques.

    Most students have little interest in my music – not complaining, just observing – but if you would like to listen to a few of the tonality-based compositions I wrote just to see where I am coming from, here are a few links:

    Dream Dance (A wild, virtuosic, perpetual motion joyride; 2007)
    Domenico 1° & 2° (Two sonatas inspired by Scarlatti; 2009)
    Last Dance (Juno nominated slow tango, called "haunting and beautiful" by Jon Kimura Parker; 1999)
    iPad Riff Recontextualized (Based on a Steve Reich riff appropriated by Apple for an iPad commercial, 2010)



A student in our class made a great point yesterday about uniqueness not being something we need to strive for, because we are already unique; what we need to strive for is mastery of a sufficiently-large selection of skills so that our uniqueness is not restricted by our lack of skill.

Here's what I wrote about uniqueness in "If you can name it, don't use it" (3; my take), a blog post from May of 2014:
It is often said that no two people (or snowflakes) are exactly alike, which suggests that the combination of qualities that make up your personality is unique. I believe this to be true, but I think it is also true that we all share many individual qualities, and thus it seems to me that while everybody is unique, nobody is 100% original. 
In a similar way, if we compose regularly and often, while constantly striving to improve the work we produce, we will naturally reach a point wherein the uniqueness of our personality is manifested in our music without a self-conscious attempt to make it so, although our music will share various characteristics with other music, and this is the way it has always been.
This brings us to the second and third questions at the top of today's post, which touch on what I would consider to be an artistic imperative: An artist is obliged to express themselves in whatever way they believe works best. I strongly support this. However, as I wrote above, part of my role as a teacher, as I see it, is to get students to try new things, thereby giving them more tools with which to express themselves. Besides, there are lots of university courses in which we require students to write tonal music; in this one, I ask them to write post-tonal music, which opens the door to a seemingly-infinite range of possibilities.

I have given explanations of why I usually require post-tonal harmonic language and practices in previous posts – links below. The third one in particular addresses this issue, and has generated a high number of comments, all positive (so far!).

Other posts on this topic:
Express Yourself? 
"If you can name it, don't use it" (3; my take)
Why Atonal/Post-Tonal Music?
Atonal — Even the Word Sounds Unpleasant! 
Atonality = Noise? Jess Blenis Guest Blog on Atonality



Here's that list I alluded to earlier of post-tonal techniques and compositional approaches; hopefully, you will agree that there are lots of options to choose from, and it's not by any stretch an exhaustive list! This too is borrowed from an earlier blog post (Jan. 2010):

SCALES:
  1. Modes of limited transposition (Messiaen’s term).
  2. Non-Messiaenic modes of limited transposition (e.g., modes that repeat every 2 or 3 8ves)
  3. Non-Western scales (e.g., pelog, slendra (Indonesia),  Hejaz scale (middle east, and flamenco; AKA Phrygian dominant scale, Jewish scale), Indian scales, etc.).
  4. Octatonic scale (A.K.A. “diminished scale;” this is also one of Messiaen's modes).
  5. Pentatonic scales (i.e., anhemitonic (e.g., CDEGA), hemitonic (e.g., EFGBC), hirajoshi (e.g., ABCEF), etc.
  6. Whole-Tone scale (this is also one of Messiaen's modes).
  7. Any other made-up, or synthetic, scale.

RHYTHM and METER
  1. Added-Value Rhythms.
  2. Additive Rhythms.
  3. Cross Rhythm.
  4. Eastern European (asymmetrical; 2+2+3, 2+2+2+3, 3+2+2+3, etc.), West African, and other world rhythms.
  5. Free (“timeless”, no sense of pulse).
  6. Isorhythms.
  7. Jazz (?).
  8. Mixed meters ( 3/4 | 5/8 | 2/4 | 7/16 |, etc.).
  9. Motor rhythms (continuous motion).
  10. Non-retrogradable.
  11. Polymeters.
  12. Polyrhythms.
  13. Polytempo.
  14. Rhythms or phrase lengths based on Fibonacci (or other) Numerical Series.
  15. Tempo fluctuations (i.e., sudden/gradual tempo changes, metric modulation).

MUSICAL CHARACTER, IDIOMS/GENRES
  1. Various programmatic moods, such as aggressive, pretty, wistful, playful, demented, nervous, sad (various kinds), numb (catatonic), angry, fearful, etc.
  2. New jazz, third stream.
  3. Fusions; combining popular music genres (rock/electropop/trance/hippety-hop, etc.) with various post-tonal art-music devices.
  4. Minimalism (repetitive (trance-inducing); sparse and static (trance-inducing)).
  5. New simplicity.
  6. Borrowing/adopting elements of music from other cultures: Japan, Eastern Europe, India, etc.
  7. Expressive (romantic) versus Non-expressive (mechanistic).

TECHNIQUES
  1. Any systematic (or non-systematic) approach to harmony not rooted in tonality.
  2. Clusters.
  3. Extended and non-tonal tertian harmony (e.g., Scriabin’s “mystic” chord).
  4. Extended instrumental and vocal techniques (multiphonics, prepared piano, etc.).
  5. Graphic notation.
  6. Hindemith’s approach to harmony (from The Craft of Musical Composition).
  7. Indeterminacy, aleatorism, controlled aleatorism.
  8. Klangfarbenmelodie, texture-based organization.
  9. Microtones.
  10. Mixed media.
  11. Modulation.
  12. Motivic unity; set theory (post-tonal); using a limited number of specific intervals.
  13. Music without melody.
  14. Nihilism, Antimusic, Decategorization, Biomusic.
  15. Non-Tertian harmony (secundal, quartal, quintal).
  16. Planing.
  17. Pointillism.
  18. Polyrhythms.
  19. Polystylism.
  20. Polytonality, polymodality.
  21. Quotation.
  22. Saturation (e.g., Ligeti's "Atmosphères," industrial music).
  23. Serialism (pitch).
  24. Serialism ("integral," or “total;” creating series of dynamics, articulations, registers, timbres).
  25. Spectral music.
  26. Any combination of the above.


Postscript – My responses to two student comments:


A student writes: "as a composition student, I feel that I should not be told to not write tonal music."

• Do you feel you should not be told to play classical music by your applied instructor? I suspect not, so why suggest that your composition professor should not impose restrictions on what you write? See points 1, 2, 3, 4 above. Hopefully this will give you a better understanding on why I impose technical restrictions on what students write in my composition courses.
The same student writes: "if [my music is] tonal-ish sounding and it's decent sounding and I am enjoying what I am doing, then shouldn't I be allowed to do so? After all music school is supposed to be fun after all and if I am told that I can't write what I want to as a composer that's kind of a drag."
• You are allowed to write (and of course enjoy!) whatever you wish when composing purely for yourself, just like you are allowed to perform anything you like – country music, heavy metal, folk, hip-hop, etc. – on your own or in bands (as a lot of our students do; they play gigs in bands downtown on weekends), but, just as your applied instructor has the right to limit the stylistic choices in the music you perform for credit, your composition instructor has the same right to restrict stylistic choices.

• The suggestion that music school is "supposed to be fun" needs to be examined. I'd like to think that there is some fun to be had in any course I teach, but I suspect my colleagues would disagree with your statement. I would suggest that music school is supposed to be a place where professors teach you new things about music, and students work hard to learn these things. Again, there is sometimes fun to be had, but that's not the overarching objective of music school. When I was a student, there was always a great sense of satisfaction when I felt I had learned or accomplished something in music school, but it invariably resulted from a lot of hard work, which, while I didn't mind it most of the time, I would not really describe as fun.

- - - - - - -
A different student writes: "There are lots of university courses in which we require students to write tonal music” [quoting the blog post above] I disagree with this point. There are lots of university courses in which we interact with tonal music (ex. history), and there are lots of university courses that have us writing shadows of tonal music, with exercises in harmony and counterpoint classes that are intended to improve and demonstrate aspects of that music. However, I cannot think of a single university course (never mind “lots” of them) that requires students to write full, original, tonal compositions."
• I did not write, "There are lots of university courses in which we require students to write full, original, tonal compositions." Quite obviously this would be false, at least for now; there is a course being introduced in the 2016-2017 year that will lead to the composition of a complete, classical-style sonata form movement. I highly recommend this to anyone wishing to write "full, original, tonal compositions."

• I do not see how one can disagree with the statement that there are several courses that require students to write tonal music; these include the four semesters of harmony ("Materials of Music"), 16th-Century Counterpoint, and 18th-Century Counterpoint. Counting only these courses, it means that in 6 of the 8 semesters of a 4-year degree, students can take courses with a strong tonal music writing component. Perhaps a better way of stating my point is this: In almost every course that involves writing music at our university, the harmonic language is tonal; I would assume that this is even true to some degree of Jazz Theory, since jazz theory is mostly an evolution of tonal music theory. There is only one course in which the focus is on selected post-tonal techniques ("Materials and Techniques of Post-Tonal Music"), and I'm not sure how much music writing goes on on that course, as opposed to analysis, which is its usual focus.

• Is this a good balance or not? Obviously, the answer to this question depends on one's views of the value of developing skills in post-tonal music for composers; I have listened to a lot of contemporary classical music over the past thirty-five (or so) years, which has informed my view that this is not an adequate balance between tonal and post-tonal skills in the training of composers, which is why I advocate and facilitate the development of skills in post-tonal music.  

• Incidentally, I have frequently supported students wanting to write music based in some way on tonality, but the condition I impose on this is always the same: Explore ways of doing something new and different with tonality, or figure out how composers (such as Debussy, Górecki, Penderecki, Prokofiev, Scriabin, Shostakovich, Stravinsky, Wolf, etc.) who pushed tonality to its limits or in new directions did so, and borrow or adapt some of their techniques.



Postscript #2 (Fall, 2020) – Update:

Over the 30+ years that I have taught composition, students have occasionally expressed opposition to my requirement that they write post-tonal music. This has only occurred a few times, but the fact that it has occurred at all makes it likely that other students may have felt this way, without communicating that to me.

This post, as I indicated at the outset, was written in response to one such discussion in a composition class from 2016 in which the level of frustration expressed by two students was high, and opposition to my policy was expressed strongly. It was, for me, a profoundly uncomfortable moment, and caused me to reevaluate this policy; I wondered if I should relax or even scrap this policy.

After much reflection, here's what I came up with:
  • A large majority of the students I have taught over the years produced good post-tonal works, so good, that in many cases it surprised them. Many students have told me that they never thought of themselves as being compositionally skilled until they took my intro to composition course. So, clearly, the policy has produced really good results most of the time, and frankly, I can't think of a single case where a student produced a bad composition as a result of this policy.
  • Conversely, when I have relaxed this policy and allowed students to write tonal music, the results have usually been bad. Of course, this is not proof that tonal writing should be disallowed, but it does suggest that it takes tremendous skill to write good tonal music.
  • Not only does writing tonal music require tremendous skill, but carving out a stylistic niche for oneself within tonal music is enormously difficult, because the tonal music playing field is densely populated by centuries of great works by thousands of composers. Again, this is not to suggest that one should never attempt to carve out a stylistic niche for oneself within the densely-populated tonal music playing field, but it is very challenging to do so (as I know first hand; as I mentioned in the post, I have gravitated to a blend of tonal and post-tonal techniques in my own music).
  • Therefore, since the student compositions resulting from my policy have been so good, and tonal student compositions have generally been far less good, the results of my policy reevaluation were:
    • I'm keeping it; if anything, I became even more convinced of its value;
    • I wrote this post to explain the pedagogical rationale behind my policy;
    • In the post above, I decided to clarify what I meant by post-tonal music and stress that "post-tonal" does not necessarily mean "atonal," it means compositional techniques that emerged after tonality, the range of which is HUGE, and includes techniques related to tonality, such as bitonality, the use of unusual scales and modes, and minimalism); and
    • My composition colleague, Dr. Andrew Staniland, and I decided to make it clear from the outset to students interested in applying to the composition major or minor that our focus was on post-tonal music, so that this focus would not come as a surprise to anyone. We do this every spring in a meeting with students interested in applying to the composition programme.
  • As a result, we have not encountered any objections to this policy in the years that followed the writing of this post. Nor have I encountered any cases of passive-aggressive resistance to the policy; my sense is that students are buying into it. But I admit that I could be delusional! If you don't agree with this policy, feel free to mention it in a comment.

26 comments:

Flutiano said...

“There are lots of university courses in which we require students to write tonal music” . . . I disagree with this point. There are lots of university courses in which we interact with tonal music (ex. history), and there are lots of university courses that have us writing shadows of tonal music, with exercises in harmony and counterpoint classes that are intended to improve and demonstrate aspects of that music. However, I cannot think of a single university course (never mind “lots” of them) that requires students to write full, original, tonal compositions. If we are not allowed to write tonal music in composition seminar, the only class that I can think of that we are even able to write original tonal compositions, if we so choose, is orchestration, where we are given the opportunity of either arranging or composing an original work (and are highly encouraged to arrange).

Of course you write renaissance counterpoint in renaissance counterpoint class, and jazz music in “Jazz Theory and Arranging.” That is what the course is about. However, composition seminar is called just that, not “Post-Tonal Composition.” While I understand the pedagogical reasoning for requiring the use of post-tonal techniques, I do not understand a requirement for exclusively post-tonal creations. (Also, your requirement for exclusively post-tonal composition is not made clear from your course outline; it would have been beneficial to me if I had understood that from the start. I had been planning on, and really excited about, working on a large work based in tonality. It looks from the outline like the only requirement is at least five minutes, with recommendations regarding instrumentation.)

You also say that “what we need to strive for is mastery of a sufficiently-large selection of skills so that our uniqueness is not restricted by our lack of skill.” Why does that not extend to tonal-music writing skills, as well? Should we graduate not feeling comfortable writing in a tonal style? Or do you think that we should rather do our tonal-music-writing learning and practise in our free time? I hope to continue writing my piano trio this summer, however I feel like it is too bad to not be able to have the guidance of regular feedback to work on tonal music that we get for our other compositions.

Thank-you for making this into a blog post so that I could read your thoughts, spend some time thinking about them, and comment with my reactions. It is true that there are a lot of possibilities within the realm of post-tonal music. There just is not the opportunity to hone skills in writing tonal music.

Sarah-Beth Cormier said...

After completing his undergraduate degree, Stephen Sondheim, one of the most innovative and influential composers in musical theatre, studied with Milton Babbitt, who is renowned for his intensely avant-garde compositions. In an interview with James Lipton, Sondheim said on the subject of his studies with Babbitt, “I asked him if he would teach me atonal music. He said, There’s no point until you’ve exhausted tonal resources for yourself. You haven’t, have you? I said, No, and I suspect I’ll never want to. So I never did study atonal music.”
Stephen Sondheim's music is often quite dissonant, frequently beautiful, commonly described as strange, and very rarely anything short of brilliant. It diverges substantially from the work of other composers, particular of other composers of musical theatre, and his compositional voice is instantly recognizable.
It is also, with few or no exceptions, tonal. Expanded tonality perhaps, but tonality nonetheless. It is not Bach, or Mozart, or Brahms, or Beethoven; it is definitively Sondheim, not a second-rate rehash of past genius, but skilfully crafted, original, innovative music with a unique and modern voice.
Sondheim is not alone in the creation of new and relevant tonal music. Indeed, there is tonal music being written today that never would have been written 300 years ago, or 200, or 100, or 50, or 20. Outside universities, tonality has continued to grow, change, and evolve.
This is why I have concerns about the requirement that all music composed in this course be post-tonal. Tonality need not be imitation of the past; tonality can be and is a living tradition with room for new voices.
I am very glad I have studied post-tonality. It has expanded my compositional options. Had I worked solely in the realm of music I was comfortable with, I never would have grown as a composer and would be writing tired, mediocre music. I have more techniques available to me now than I have ever had in the past. However, I am growing increasingly aware of the nature of my own compositional voice, and what helps and hinders me in my expression of it. When I put on shoes, I can tell if they're uncomfortable because they're new and haven't been broken in yet, or if they're uncomfortable because they don't fit or are on the wrong feet. In the same way, I know myself well enough to tell if I am rejecting a compositional technique because it is new and strange to me, or because it isn't truthful to who I am, what I wish to express, and how.
For this reason, considering the limited time left available in my degree, I believe I would benefit most from critique of my works that are in my own current style, to help me develop my craft in the idiom in which I plan to compose. Having gained experience in a breadth of styles in the preceding semesters of my degree, I would rather deepen my skill with my own style instead of becoming a jack-of-all-trades, master of none.
That isn't to say that my music will necessarily be tonal. Indeed, I very much enjoy employing quartal harmonies and extended techniques, among other post-tonal elements, in my works. But a great deal of my music is strongly influenced by expanded tonality, and I would be disappointed to have to reject quality creative ideas or take pieces in a less satisfying direction simply to avoid tonal influences. While the world of post-tonality is certainly vast, the restriction on tonality can result in detrimental limitations; after all, while there may be twenty-five other letters in the alphabet, the absence of “e” in a novel would be quite a restriction, despite still having 96% of letters available!
I appreciate the continued dialogue on this issue, as well as my continued education in all aspects of composition as I expand my toolbox and refine my craft.

Unknown said...

First off, I can respect all of these different techniques of post-tonality, including pointillism, serialism, microtones, etc., but as a composition student, I feel that I should not be told to not write tonal music. I understand if what I am writing is incorrect tonal music, in that case it makes sense to tell me to stop, but if it's tonal-ish sounding and it's decent sounding and I am enjoying what I am doing, then shouldn't I be allowed to do so? After all music school is supposed to be fun after all and if I am told that I can't write what I want to as a composer that's kind of a drag. But like I said I do respect all styles of post-tonality, and am willing to try and write with each technique once, but if I get a great idea (to me) and present it in class, I shouldn't have to be afraid to whether or not I'll be bashed for doing something that sounds even the slightest bit tonal. And even if it happens to someone else and you have to witness it, it's still very demotivating. I digress. This blog was helpful in opening my eyes to expansive realm of post-tonal music, maybe I'll work with clusters next.

Robert Humber said...

Personally, one of my pet peeves is the word 'atonal' because I hear it used so... annoyingly. (And yes, maybe I just have a stick up my arse)

Examples:

'That was so atonal!!! (about something in any way dissonant)
'I hated that because it was atonal'
'I don't want to write atonal music because I don't like it'

I love post-tonal music. It's something that I, like Dr. Ross stated, began music school not understanding. I was used to rock music, soundtracks, Mozart era classical, etc. I remember hearing 'Music for Strings, Percussion and Celeste' for the first time and it blows me away because it sounded so nonsensical at the time. Now I hardly hear dissonance, it's just beauty.

I can say that if I was a composition teacher I would force my students to try implementing post-tonal techniques and I would be rather strict about it. I think it presents a huge learning opportunity, more than anything to expand your musical knowledge and dive into a beautiful world of new possibilities in an art form like no other. If someone wants to study music but feels completely satisfied with taking a huge portion of music crafted at the highest level and not even giving it a chance, I would question their love for music as an art form. I feel kind of 'elitist' saying that but I stress that I personally came to music school with hardly any musical training other than a good ear and a deep love for what little music I knew. As far as classical 'style' music went, I knew Beethoven's Emperor Concerto, Dvorak's 9th, Peer Gynt Suite and a whole bunch of film and video game music by composers like Joe Hisaishi, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Koji Kondo, John Williams, Austin Wintory, etc. I came to school not as a lover of performing, or even really composing (I like the 'idea' of composing). No, I came to school as a listener.

Aren't we all listeners? So why avoid 100 years worth of mastery? Like a painter who refuses to study a painting made within the last century?

And what makes you think we should treat a music degree as 'just a bit of fun'. Don't we want our art form to be taken seriously? Do English majors feel the right to skip over, say, Shakespeare because it's not as much fun? No, because Shakespeare is crucial to the development of literature. If you want your major to be taken seriously, you can't refuse to learn and open your mind to new concepts. People will be 4 years into a music degree and write the exact same music they were writing in Grade 12... congratulations?? Even if they were writing good music in Grade 12, what is the point in this?

Back to atonal/post-tonal debates, it's interesting that Sarah-Beth mentioned Sondheim. I turned pages for a Sondheim show this summer and was blown away by the interesting harmonies! I would call him 'post-tonal'. He writes beautiful, unique music, and it's post-tonal. Even the stuff I've written I would describe as post-tonal. I am still a sucker for a good melody/triadic harmonies but I can at least say I have experimented with some kind of post-tonal technique in all my music, something that you wouldn't find 200 years ago.

Robert Humber said...


Here's some examples of beautiful post-tonal music that is more accessible. I'll explain why I think they are post-tonal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDooOkdU_q8

Einojuhani Rautavaara - Symphony 7

Get lost in this. Listen with good speakers. This is colorful, atmospheric, spacious, rooted in tonality, accessible. This is one route you can go with post-tonality. Hear how masterful this is? Guess what? Rautavaara has experimented with many different techniques throughout his life including twelve tone composition. This complete understanding led him to write in this mature, gorgeous style.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2_myiVxCqU

Henryk Gorecki - Symphony of Sorrowful Songs

If you have patience, I advise listening to this whole piece. It is very long and repetitive, but possibly one of the most emotionally charged pieces I have ever listened to. Colossal, slow build to a heart wrenching climax and then dies out again in this first movement. It is minimalism at its best, an eight part canon in the strings. This piece is not traditionally tonal (and I would say Dr. Ross would be happy enough if someone wrote this). Gorecki developed this style of composition over time after lots of experimentation with much more dissonant, complex harmonies... hmmm.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPAfxSFVMj4

Vladimir Silvestrov - Postludes

Another transcendent piece of music worth checking out.

'Oh, come on Robert. This is tonal'.
Yeah maybe so. I don't know that it is though. Yes, I hear standard harmonies and melodies. But listen to how it is presented. It sounds like Brahms floating on a cloud, free of the dimensions of time. Everything resonates and suspends a little longer than it should and we can attribute this to how expertly and uniquely Silvestrov orchestrates this, with very free metre and quiet subtle strings leaving little silvery puddles of resonance around the piano and cello. I haven't heard anything like this, and for this reason it is very interesting. And guess what, Silvestrov has often written avant-garde music which applies this same kind of timelessness.

ALL OF THE GREATS APPRECIATED THIS STUFF TOO!

More examples of post-tonal beauty that comes to mind.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYmC0Z6x7KQ

Charles Ives - Concord Sonata

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdyStHXL9W8

Bela Bartok - Piano Concerto 3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5b4-rXhKpMM

Maurice Ravel - Piano Concerto
Even look back as far as Ravel to find some very extended tonality...

Don't get me wrong, I love more extreme examples as well, like Ligeti, Penderecki, Berg, etc. it's just important to see different examples of how to be unique.

I just hate seeing people taking for granted this opportunity to learn new things about something they love. To each their own.

Unknown said...


"Most of us want to express something deeply personal through our music; we are better able to do this with a wide array of compositional techniques and approaches in our toolboxes than a limited selection. If you were a writer but your vocabulary had only 100 words, it seems likely that you would find this limiting your ability to express the subtleties and deep thoughts you might wish to express; if you had a vocabulary of 60,000 words, it seems likely that you would be better able to express yourself in an effective and nuanced way."

-This is a very good point. I definitely struggle with not expanding my tonal language when writing pieces, and often reach the mental block of "why should I" (aside from marks) this is a very convincing reason I will take with me to the keyboard. Perhaps this is what my piano writing needs to make it more interesting and sound less bland.

Stephen Eckert said...

I think that as a university course, it is necessary for students to both follow and respect course outlines and imposed restrictions. Write tonal music on your down-time, I am sure that either composition professors would be happy to help you or consider looking at the piece and suggesting ways to improve if you were to ask privately. However since the assignments that are given say to use post-tonal techniques then that is what is required. Also, I firmly believe that whatever sounds a student enjoys in tonal music is totally and completely replicable within post-tonal contexts. There is actually a very interesting sound world involving the suggestion of tonality but lack of affirming harmonic motions. I would suggest to those wanting to write exclusively tonal music to search for tonal-ish harmonies that do not conform to strict tonal hierarchies, these often create significantly more beautiful (to my taste) sonorities that are impossible within the barriers of tonality. Post-tonal techniques are certainly necessary tools that composition students ought to learn.

Alison Petten said...

In taking this course, I assumed that it would be largely, if not completely, consisting of post-tonal techniques. That being said, I was very nervous in the beginning, not having composed post-tonal music before and only having performed a very small amount of it. The article "Who Cares If You Listen" that you mentioned in the article is actually an article I cited in a paper in a previous semester and I really didn't quite grasp the concept until I learned and performed music without a tonal center. I completely agree with the idea that post-tonal music really isn't written to please a large audience, and is more geared towards that person that composed it and the musicians that perform it. I think that is the biggest obstacle with post-tonal music. Whenever my friends ask to listen to my compositions, I'm usually hesitant to show it to them and I always begin with the disclaimer "it's post-tonal!". It is easier to enjoy post-tonal music when you accept that you will not get validation from your audience and start to accept that self-validation is where most of the fulfillment comes from in this type of music.

Josh McCarthy said...

Hello again. After finishing my final semester of my degree. My eyes have been opened even wider than before in terms of exploring the realms of post-tonality and all it has to offer. I still struggle with coming up with ideas that happen to be post-tonal, but when I do I get excited because I know I'm doing what I'm supposed to being for once instead of just where my tonal mind leads me. I probably should have visited this blog more often during the years because it actually is very helpful, especially this one because of the MASSIVE list of post-tonal techniques, such as scales, rhythm and meter, and musical characters. I read through this list every time I come here, and I instantly have ideas brewing in my mind as I read each and every one of these techniques. Shame. I hope that people read this comment and don't make the same mistakes I did in taking this blog for granted just considering it work, it could have saved me a lot of hassle throughout the past two years.

Louise Brun-Newhook said...

Post-tonal music is something I only truly discovered when I started university. Before, I thought it was created by simply sitting down at a piano and playing anything that sounds "weird", when in fact, there are multiple layers to an atonal composition, and many intricate thought processes behind it. That is why I think being forced to compose using post-tonality is extremely valuable for all students studying music. It makes us understand it, and therefore appreciate it, whether or not we actually like the sound of all of those crunchy chords.

I also found the section of the blog talking about uniqueness extremely interesting. I disagree with what Dr. Ross' student said, that we shouldn't be restricted in composing because our uniqueness will not be brought to light. If this student argues that we are all unique, then wouldn't our uniqueness be expressed through our music no matter what? It's not like we all have a part of the brain which says "Oh! Atonality! I must use the exact same ideas as every single other music student in the world!". No. Our uniqueness will come out no matter what kind of music we play or compose, no matter the genre.

Jack Etchegary said...

This topic really does open a large arena for discussion and is prone to have many differing opinions. From my perspective, I absolutely believe that we should be encouraged to write post-tonal compositions in our seminar, and also discouraged from venturing into tonal realms. If we are talking about truly "finding your own voice", then I believe that many would say that the voice of tonality is literally just tonality - it has it's many rules and patterns that occur in oh so many examples of tonal music. On the other hand, I believe many would also say that the post-tonal realm has many voices for composers to explore. Simply put (again in my opinion), at this level of music education, one develops tools in tonal writing through other courses to then be confident in pursuing the skills and techniques needed to write in a post-tonal fashion, which is (both subjectively and objectively) a more advanced catalogue than what is found in the catalogue of tonality. And of course, there are countless, countless examples of post-tonal music that is laughably simple in its construction, as well as post-tonal music that is nearly impossible and extremely challenging and sometimes elitist. But, all things considered, in a music school at a post-secondary level that is for all intents and purposes a classical school, it would of course be the norm to learn about the dominant ways that classical composers are currently thriving in, which is contemporary post-tonal music. For someone to say that they should only write tonal music because they like it and it sounds good, is a pretty close minded statement. And, more times than not, a very minute change of mindset and the developing of just a few techniques can transform a tonal work into something post-tonal. Perhaps it is that sometimes people feel afraid of it, the word post-tonal that is, as if they have to write music that is consistently complex, atonal, dissonant, etc. Much like how people are afraid of the word feminism, as if it means that women are better than men, when really the word just seeks to achieve equality between all genders. Mindset is key here, in both of these cases. Post-tonal music does not have to be brash and dissonant, and is a lot of the time very lush, serene, etc. In my experiences with composition, I have never had a problem with writing post-tonal music and I believe that my mindset has helped a lot with that.

Unknown said...

I think the majority of people who are taking a bachelor of music course and take a composition route have yet to find their own preferred style of composition. Most of us can also write a tonal pop song from our previous endeavors with music with little problem. What college and university courses do is expose us to a wide range of music styles stretching many centuries. Over the four years at this degree, the students are able to slowly form their own style to focus on with their graduate work. I never felt like I was forced into only writing post-tonal music for my degree. A few things I wrote were quite tonal while they may have not followed traditional structures. It is good to be within strict guidelines for creativity. An amateur composer with the ability to pick and choose from any style or any period may create a weird mashup of unguided thoughts and ideas, whereas someone who composes within guidelines can develop a handful of ideas into something great. It would be great to have courses dedicated to one style. How to compose like debussy,beethoven, xenakis ect. While not having an entire degree devoted to one style it would be very interesting to have options for those courses. Or even courses devoted to one form, like a sonata, or symphony.

Holly Winter said...

Very interesting Post Dr. Ross. I feel like I am in the doesn't like writing tonal music camp so much of your post spoke to me. I had never really considered composing before discovering post tonal techniques and improvisation. I felt, like you articulate so well, that my attempts at tonal writing fell flat. They were just bad Bach or Mozart copies. So I thought I just wasn't the composing type (despite my love of theory). When I took intro to composition in third year I was amazed at the techniques and possibilities that the post-tonal world offered me. Suddenly I was writing music I didn't hate. That I wanted to listen to. It was exciting. This was simlar to the feeling I had when I played my first Free Improv score. Suddenly it didn't matter that I wasn't the most technical skilled player cause I was just exploring the timbres and effects my instrument could make. I didn't have to know all the scales of jazz or how the changes laid out, I just had to listen and explore.

This is not to say that there are no rules in improv or post-tonal music but the rules are freer and open up possibilities for alternative form of expression. In this world there is not right or wrong only more effective or less effect for what you want to achieve.

I realize this is not everyone's experience but I hope people can open up their hearts to the breadth of possibilities post-tonal music affords.

ALSO, thanks for the list. I will be bookmarking it to explore when I want to push myself or am stuck with a piece.

Abi Schwartz said...

I really enjoyed this post! As someone who is relatively new to composing, I found this super informative, interesting, and helpful. I found it very intriguing how you discussed all the courses at the School of Music and how some have specified styles while others don't. At first, when I entered the Intro to Comp class, I had no idea that we would be focusing on atonal music. I was shocked at first, as this was something that I had never experienced before - all of my other courses had been structured around classical traditions and tonal music. I didn't know what to think at first, but I have been learning to love the freedom and creativity that comes with composing atonal music.

I found it interesting how you noted that you believe that writing atonal music can help students right tonal music in the future. I totally agree with this point. As music students, we are so very strictly taught the rules that it is VERY hard to break them. For me, I have been trained so hard to do things a certain way that it is hard to break them when writing atonal music. If students are able to break free from the mold and break the rules to write atonal music, I believe that they can totally write tonal music and follow the structures that we been taught to follow our whole lives as musicians.

I liked the point about how no two composers are alike, and how our personality will eventually come through in our music. I strive to have some of my personality in my music, because it helps make it more personal and relatable to listeners. Lastly, I really enjoyed the huge list at the end of all of the techniques - this will definitely be useful to me in the future.

Michaela Rafuse said...

It seems quite bizarre to me that the question “Why are we restricted to writing post-tonal music?” would come up so frequently for courses that have a description or syllabus that clearly indicates that the course is on post-tonal techniques. I think it is also interesting that so many students feel like they are being “restricted” to writing post-tonal music.

Personally, I rarely listen to post-tonal music. I don’t think I’ve ever gone to YouTube or Spotify and thought “I’m in the mood to listen to something post-tonal.” That being said, the idea of composing post-tonal music really appealed to me. I really liked the idea of composing post-tonal music because I thought that I would find it less stressful and that it would be a great opportunity to broaden my understanding of post-tonal music.

I’ve never composed classical music before and I had no idea if composing was something I would enjoy. Rather than feeling “restricted” to post-tonal techniques, I felt like I would have more freedom in composing because I would be able to take the assignment requirements and write something that I liked the sound of, and not have to worry that it would sound like a pre-existing piece. I felt like there would be less pressure and that it would be a good space for being creative while learning more about composing.

I feel like my experiences in intro to composition have just supported my initial thoughts.

Peter Perez said...

Although that I personally listen to much post-tonal music myself, I do agree that learning post-tonal writing and techniques will definitely help a composer's overall writing, especially for one that feels constrained in using only tonal techniques. Ultimately, whatever works best for a composer to write that down what they want to convey is what should be used however in an educational context there is no harm in learning post-tonal techniques.

- Peter

Frank O'B said...

When learning how to write music, or just about any skill, being able to step outside your comfort zone is so important! When I signed up for Intro to Comp, I had no idea what to expect, but when I "walked in" (joined the Zoom call) on the first day, and I was told to create atonal chords, I loved it. One of my favourite ways to create is to just sit down at the piano and improvise. I think composing tonal music is great! I just don't necessarily have an interest in writing music that's been done before. I also agree with the idea of writing atonal music with hints of tonal music throughout said piece. I think that gives the piece some extra spice, and captures the audience's attention so much more then, say, a Mozart sonata, using the same techniques and form that we all know so well. Nothing wrong with that! But, perspective is everything.

Jessica Ozon said...

This certainly seems to have been a hot topic for you! While post-tonal music is perhaps not my favourite music per se, it's still a style I often really enjoy and respect. I very much agree with your decision to make these courses based on atonal music for the reasons you mentioned. As a new composer, I've found writing tonal music much more difficult which can lead to frustration and lack of confidence in compositional abilities. Atonal music also really allows you to get creative and not stay bound to particular rules (Although there is also value in learning how to write in stricter styles like counterpoint).

There's a quote from Arnold Schoenberg in which he said “There is still plenty of good music to be written in C major", an interesting quote from the man who is known as the one who really started the movement towards atonal music. I take it you are taking a Schoenberg-like approach to teaching us composition. It's not that music in a post-tonal or atonal style is the end-all be-all of composition but that there is great value in young composers learning to write in this style. Further, education is not about expressing oneself or having a good time, even in music. A medical student wouldn't complain about learning how to treat cancer because their real love is cardiovascular surgery, that would be absurd. Expression of ones own values and passions is important but that doesn't negate the fact that if a person wishes to study something academically, they must open to learning about that subject in its entirety, not just the parts they are most interested in/comfortable with. If we do not do this, music becomes a hobby rather than an art to be studied. (That's not to say there's anything wrong with composition being a hobby but perhaps if it is, it shouldn't also be your major).

Melody said...

I personally agree with this approach for the course! I would have to agree with most people in this thread that post-tonal music is not my absolute favorite, but I don't particularly dislike it either! With post-tonal music, it fully depends on the piece for me. However, composing using post-tonal techniques has really opened my eyes and ears to accept, appreciate, and try to understand the style. It has taken a lot of willingness to step outside of my own comfort zone and compose in an unfamiliar style and try new things but it has been very rewarding to just trust myself and write with the guidelines given and come up with something I wouldn't have expected.

I feel that having to begin composing with tonal techniques would hold its own set of difficulties. While I wouldn't say I lack confidence in my understanding and abilities in tonal harmony/compostion, I feel like having to deal with the challenge of composing on its own, along with the challenge of following tonal music rules would just be overwhelming as a student who is only just beginning to compose music. It is called intro to comp after all!

Liam said...

Extraordinary blog post! I personally tend towards more atonal music when composing as I find it far easier to be more creative and original with how I put together my compositions. I think, however, that there is a big difference between what people think is atonal and what they think sounds ugly. Bartok is one of my favourite composers, and his music is often very atonal; one might go so far as to say that his Piano Sonata is dissonant! And yet Bartok bases many of his works on very tonal themes, the sonata included. He spreads out a LOT from this basis but there is always some relatively tonal ground upon which to cling. My style of composition generally falls around this style, at least in its construction.
There is a lot of value to be gained from learning how to compose in a post-tonal style. Often we as music students know what sounds good (or at least workable) in tonal settings, and so composing with more conventional tonalities might not push us enough skill-wise. As Jessica mentioned, not learning a specific compositional style simply because it seems unpleasant is a ridiculous way to treat a general composition course.

Liam Kuhn said...

I would absolutely say that my music was way less interesting before I started intro to composition. I think it's an incredibly important to teach post tonal Techniques because it frees you from your typical tendencies. I would also agree that I have learned more because this course is restrictive...if it were totally open I wouldn't know how to improve my ideas as in motifs in a piece as quickly as I can now because of the structure. This helps with your own ideas for your own compositions on your own time but can also help you land commissions by people who love your sound but know you are capable of being well rounded and can work within a restricted framework. A certain amount of restriction goes a long way in creativity in my opinion. For example, I could have a thousand ideas and have then not connect to the last idea, or I could restrict myself in some way and ask myself, how do evolve what I already have, this is what we do in Intro to comp. It would have taken years to do what we have done through this course in 4 months. I am having trouble with my art song as a part of intro to comp, but that doesn't mean that you give up on trying to better yourself in a specific area that is troubling to you. Voice is hard for me but I can just think of it just as a melody that I play on my guitar and that can prompt my creativity. I will argue that there are some creative things you can do with modality nowadays, for instance, using your melody in your composition of this sort, improvise on the spot to create chords that go well with your melody but don't always make sense in a tonal sense. This is how I did my piece Fare Thee Well...I improvised and created a tuning that could create cool and sometimes unexpected chords underneath the melody, this way of doing things can help you learn to modulate as well. Intro to composition is absolutely my favourite course that I've done so far because I feel actually in the end more free!

David Eguiguren said...

Personally, I think this is the perfect time for me to start a journey in post-tonal/non melodic music. This course has helped me think outside of my comfort zone, which I really appreciate, and I feel like my ideas in composition have benefited so much from having restrictions. Even though this sounds counter intuitive, giving yourself restrictions is a great way of making your imagination flow and get your brain thinking in a way that will inevitably lead into new music landscapes to explore.

I also think the list of techniques provided might help composers find new ideas for pieces. Something I like to do is say something like “The next section I write will be based on fourths and the melody will be played staccato by the trumpets” Even though I have not started to compose this new part yet, having a restriction makes my head focus the flow on direction instead of meandering around the infinite number of possibilities for the piece.

Something I like to do if I really feel like writing tonal music in this course is hide chord progression and melodies in the texture of a post tonal piece. For example I might have a ii7-V7b9-i progression buried under other completely different postonal texture. I feel pretty smart when no one realizes I did it.

Elias Borchert said...

I think tonal music is extremely limiting when composing. There are countless rules that "have" to be followed, in a seemingly arbitrary way (no PD chord after a Dominant chord, chordal 7ths have to resolve down except for a couple of very specific circumstances when they can resolve up, etc.) which gets frustrating and bogs down the creative process. What I have grown to appreciate about post-tonal harmony is the incredible degree of diversity that exists when it comes to the fundamental structure of music. I've found completely new ways of thinking about music and the creativity that is required when stepping out of the tonal comfort zone.

One of the most important things I've learned through writing and listening to post-tonal music is decoupling the idea that post-tonal music is dissonant and hard to listen to. Writing tonal music is one way to guarantee that a piece will have pleasant sounding chords, the issue I have is that these chords and harmonies are predetermined: T-PD-D-T. Not to say there is no creativity when it comes to writing tonal music, but the centuries long conventions for determining the harmonic structure of a piece are only a singular way of doing so. There are an infinite number of ways in which notes, harmonies, and rhythms can be placed on a piece of paper and post-tonal music embraces the infinite.

Reanne said...

In agreement with most of my peers, I think the post-tonal approach to this course was the right move. Something that I feel was a missed point is that we've all had experience with tonal composing when writing for theory class, however, the majority of us (myself included) did not register this as an authentic composition experience due to the restrictions and regulations. Post-tonal music has allowed us to broaden our musical language and express ourselves in ways we previously could not. This course has given me a unique experience, allowing me to dip my toes into different post-tonal styles and providing me with the opportunity to enjoy styles I previously had negative opinions on.

Andrew Dunphy said...

I also agree that being restricted to post-tonal writing does make sense from a pedagogical stand point. The majority of music school curriculum seems to train an individual in thinking about music and harmony in a certain way, and (as I understand it), going into a composition stream tries to make them think about it in a radically different way (the difference obviously being "tonal" and "post-tonal" thinking". In terms of the effectiveness of a 4 year degree path, and maximizing a students exposure to concepts this approach seems to make the most sense. Naturally, some students will gravitate towards writing more post-tonally in their own works after their studies, and some will take a more tonal route, however in both cases a feel a student will benefit most from having thoroughly studied both. I feel that in most natural composition settings, composers tend to not set out to write a completely tonal or post-tonal piece. Much of the music I like to listen to falls into this category.

Liam Butler said...

I can very much appreciate this line of thinking. Particularly the notion that writing in atonal idioms can sow benefits for one's tonal writing.

As you say, the standard of tonal writing which we are exposed to within the canon is of such a high quality, and it is difficult to work within a classical tonal idiom at an early level at one's development while sounding original. The material obfuscation which inevitably arises when working with
post-tonal systems helps greatly to take some of this burdon off of the burgeoning composer.

I feel it is of further interest how these systems allow composers to focus on developing other facets of their craft. With a particular system chosen to
develop the harmonic language (modes of limited transposition, non-Western scales, dodecophony, etc), composers are able to render particular attention to
matters of form and structure, which are perhaps even more elemental to a composition's material integrity.