Review
Reviewed Work(s): Companion to Contemporary Musical Thought by John Paynter, Tim
Howell, Richard Orton and Peter Seymour
Review by: Nicholas Cook
Source: Music & Letters, Vol. 75, No. 1 (Feb., 1994), pp. 115-120
Published by: Oxford University Press
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/737269
Accessed: 19-01-2024 23:34 +00:00
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide
range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and
facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
https://about.jstor.org/terms
Oxford University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access
to Music & Letters
This content downloaded from 144.32.123.200 on Fri, 19 Jan 2024 23:34:50 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
sociation of experience caused by the unresolved
panorama of world musical history, charting the
tensions between art and social reality finds a
rise of individual consciousness in the music of the
strong Bergian pre-echo, according to Adorno, in
tonal era, and its subsequent collapse into the
the major-minor polarities (as well as stylistic in-
reborn tribalism of the global village. In the un-
congruities) of Mahler's alienated diatonicism.
fashionable boldness of its vision, its fine
Furthermore, their shared devotion of self-
disregard for the conventions and limitations of
abnegation is seen in sharp contrast to the
professional musicological writing, Mellers's
Wagnerian persona of apostate rebel. The goal of
opening contribution appropriately sets the tone
emancipation is also common to both, even while
of the Companion as a whole.
it remains shackled to determinate contradiction;
By far the most coherent of the four sections is
thus the final work Adorno addresses, Lulu, is en-
'The Technology of Music'. Among the best ar-
capsulated as the 'union of suppression with hope'
ticles are those that link technology with the
(p. 131). The dissolution of self, like the dissolu-
aesthetic and philosophical concerns that lead
tion of history for which it is the dispassionate
composers to use it. Curtis Roads's 'Composition
figure, is ultimately conditioned by temporality.
with Machines', for instance, talks lucidly about
This course of departure, of extinction, is given
the considerations that led him to move away
public and private expression by Mahler and
from writing comnposition-specific programs to
Berg respectively in two lyric-dramatic sequences:
creating interactive composition environments;
Das Lied von der Erde and the Lyric Suite. In
he doesn't so much explain the technology as ex-
Mahler's song cycle, the farewell gaze towards
plain what makes him want to use it. Again, in
vanishing reality is accompanied by a sixth chord;
'Electroacoustic Music and the Soundscape: the
in Berg's quartet the absence/sense of an ending
Inner and Outer World', Barry Truax argues that
is accomplished by an oscillating D b -F disappear-
the technique of granular synthesis may help
ing into infinity. That the Violin Concerto should
composers to break out of the alienated world of
in turn represent an absent presence with respect
'concert music' and so bring about Attali's 'age of
to this book seems entirely appropriate. For as
composition'; as Truax puts it, 'what is significant
Adorno would have sensed, its closing reprise
about the composer's use of technology is its
of Mahler's sixth chord ultimately transcends
ability to change the process of compositional
the limits of personal association to form an
thinking, not merely its output'.
Just as imaginative, but making fewer demands
eternal after-image of ephemerality within the
on the reader's technical knowledge, is Craig
administered world.
ALAN STREET
Harris's unpromisingly titled 'Artistic Necessity,
Context Orientation, Configurable Space'. This
purports to show how you can use pen, paper and
a couple of easels to represent musical ideas from
Companion to Contemporary Musical Thought.
different angles and in different configurations.
Ed. by John Paynter, Tim Howell, Richard
But Harris's vocabulary tells another story: he
Orton & Peter Seymour. 2 vols. pp. xxxviii +
speaks of selecting, highlighting, dragging, and
621; x + [584]. (Routledge, London & New
zooming the images. At one point he even writes
York, 1992, ?150. ISBN 0-415-03092-7.)
'Save the current state of the room view'-
something that is hard to achieve with pen,
In two volumes and totalling over 1,200 pages,
paper and two easels! Without mentioning
the Companion to Contemporary Musical
computers, in fact without making any demand
Thought is a vast, sprawling tapestry of music-
whatever on his readers' technical knowledge,
related writing, a kind of musicological Hymnen.
Harris demonstrates the compositional potential
And like Hymnen, it is organized into four
of computers in representing, linking and
regions, each edited by a member of the Depart-
transforming musical ideas in an infinity of
ment of Music at York University: 'People and
aspects. There is just one point where he states
Music' (John Paynter), 'The Technology of Music'
the article's basic message in so many words: 'The
(Richard Orton), 'The Structure of Music' (Tim
notion of a single representation for a composi-
Howell) and 'The Interpretation of Music' (Peter
tion is obsolete'.
Seymour). Located outside the framework is a
The need for multiple views of music -not just
keynote address, so to speak, by Wilfrid Mellers,
for composition but, as Harris says, 'for perfor-
the department's founding professor; entitled
mance, conducting, music analysis, musicological
'Music, the Modem World, and the Burden of
research, and education'-is one of several motifs
History', its 21 pages offer a kaleidoscopic
that recur in this section of the Companion.
115
This content downloaded from 144.32.123.200 on Fri, 19 Jan 2024 23:34:50 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
(Roads, for example, says the same thing.) Other
no cultural analysis of music in the age of
such motifs include the limitations of real-time
mechanical reproduction; it doesn't touch on
synthesis (Peter Manning, Trevor Wishart and
music technology in the pre-electronic era.
Jean-Claude Risset all refer to this), the trade-off
Strictly speaking, even 'Technology and Composi-
between flexibility and cost, and-what amounts
tion' would be too broad a title, since it takes vir-
to much the same thing-the proper relationship
tually no account of commercial music. But then,
between the 'serious' composer and the burgeon-
if it had covered all these topics, the section
ing music industry. Here there are two articles
would have lost its focus -and that is largely what
that form an instructive contrast: Peter
gives it its value. Under a more appropriate title,
Manning's 'Towards a New Age in the Tech-
it could perfectly well have made a book in its
nology of Computer Music' and Richard Moore's
own right.
'A Technological Approach to Music'. Both are
The biggest problem with the other three sec-
essentially introductory, proceeding historically
tions of the Companion is that they lack focus. In
and drawing out significant developments and
the case of 'The Structure of Music', it is at least
issues. Manning's article is sensible, informative
obvious that considerable efforts have been made
and balanced, setting technological developments
to form the contributions into some kind of
into the context of their use. Moore's article
coherent sequence. An introductory article on
covers the same ground, but the tone is completely
musical meaning by Lorenz Reitan (which
different. He divides computer musicians into
manages not to mention any of the main English-
two camps: traditionalists (who want to 'absorb
language sources for this topic) is followed by
new technology into the pursuit of traditional
three articles on analysis. The first of these,
artistic goals') and revisionists, who want to
Jonathan Dunsby's 'Music Analysis: Commen-
'redefine artistic goals in terms of new possibilities
taries' (misprinted as 'Musical Analysis: Commen-
opened up by technological developments'. The
taries' in the table of contents), offers some
choice of terminology indicates the ideologically-
characteristically defensive ruminations on the
charged nature of Moore's approach (although, un-
integrity of the discipline; Dunsby is not sure
like in Maoist China, 'revisionist' turns out to be
that analysis can be justified on the grounds of
a term of approbation). By the end of the article,
contributing to either the enjoyment or the
Moore is telling us that synthesizers with auto-
understanding of music, and asks why it cannot
mated accompaniments are 'musically irrelevant'
be regarded as an 'activity that is its own reward'.
(my eight-year-old wouldn't agree) and that com-
Next, in 'Analysis and Psychoanalysis: Wagner's
mercial software packages like sequencers are 'the
Musical Metaphors', Christopher Wintle offers
logical equivalent of a sound recording'. By this
a series of close readings in which he uses
he means that using ready-made software is no
psychoanalytical terminology to draw out the
more creative than hitting the 'play' button on a
psychological implications of Wagner's music,
CD player; 'Any musician who wishes to use com-
suggesting at one point that the surface reflection
puters in a creative way needs to learn how to
of a middleground element in Die Walkure may
read and write computer programs just as much
signify that 'Sieglinde's anxiety has welled to the
as he or she needs to learn how to read and write
surface, and "worked itself out"'. (I hope that
music notation'. This is a kind of William Morris
isn't too simplistic a reading of Wintle.) Finally,
approach to technology; you might as well argue
Tim Howell, the section editor, contributes the
that if Chopin was to use the piano creatively, he
cleverly-titled 'Analysis and Performance: the
would have had to build his own instruments.
Search for a Middleground', in which he argues
Nevertheless, Moore is not the only person to
(following Dunsby) against too direct an iden-
think this way, and the contrast between his and
tification of the interests of analysts and
Manning's approach brings out the philosophical
performers.
issues behind the technology.
The next article, Robert Sherlaw Johnson's
The one criticism I would make of 'The
'Analysis and the Composer', forms a link to the
Technology of Music' is that it doesn't live up to
following two articles, which are about composi-
its title; it should really have been called
tion. Sherlaw Johnson's starting-point is that 'The
'Technology and Composition'. It doesn't cover
most important problem facing a composer in the
the special problems of analysing electronic and
formative stage is the ability to see behind the im-
computer music; it doesn't talk about reproduc-
mediate detail of the music to its behaviour at the
tion technology and its effect on social use of
background level'. Hierarchical conceptions of
music and the music industry; it has nothing on
music are useful, then, but those on offer-he
the media of musical dissemination; it offers
cites Schenker and Reti - are too constrained in
116
This content downloaded from 144.32.123.200 on Fri, 19 Jan 2024 23:34:50 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
their presuppositions; what is needed instead is a
this slippery concept signifies, it surely revolves
kind of fuzzy hierarchy theory (the term is mine, around the product of music rather than its pronot SherlawJohnson's), and he gives some indica-
cess; and that means that it is difficult to explain
tions of what that might look like. Sherlaw
the inclusion within this section of articles on im-
Johnson is talking about composition, but he is
provisation, which specifically emphasizes process
using the language of analysis.
at the expense of product.
At this point, however, there is an abrupt
The remaining two sections are no less inclusive
change of tone. Jonathan Harvey's 'New Direc-
in scope. 'The Interpretation of Music' begins
tions: the Conception and Development of a
with a firm focus on performance practice; that is
Composition' has nothing to do with analysis as
what Peter Seymour talks about in his introduc-
commonly understood. It begins with an account
tion to the section. And Peter Williams's 'Perfor-
of the composition of his Bakhti, and ends by urgmance Practice Studies: Some Current Aping the need to move beyond the reifications of
proaches to the Early Music Phenomenon' charts
Western rationalism towards a spiritual, trans-
the development of the idea of interpretation in a
cendental art; 'It is only when one casts oneself
wonderfully graphic manner, focusing it round a
upon the All (by attaining to some degree trans-
Cistercian monk singing a Benedictine hymn;
cendental consciousness)', writes Harvey, 'that
Wilfrid Mellers's presentation of the same point
one can escape the limitations of society here
in the preceding chapter seems abstract and wordy
and now'. And the need to break out of our self-
by comparison. (Mellers is one of just three con-
imposed limitations is also the topic of the follow-
tributors with two articles; the remaining 50 have
ing article, 'Morty Feldman is Dead' by James
one apiece). Then Williams sets up an issue that,
Fulkerson. As the title indicates, this begins as a
predictably, resonates through the other articles
meditation on Feldman, but it turns into an at-
in this section: the extent to which historical
tack on the 'New Complexity', which Fulkerson
knowledge should be tempered by musical intui-
describes as 'a new musicaficta'.
tion. Duncan Druce ('Historical Approaches to
In line with the best compositional models, the
Violin Playing') and Klaus Neumann ('Producer
pace of change now quickens. Richard Orton's
for Early Music: a Cog in the Mechanism of
'From Improvisation to Composition' (which is
Musical Life') affirm what has more or less
mainly an account of MIDIGRID, a software
package developed at York) forms a second
become received wisdom: historical knowledge
can only take you so far, and at its limits you must
bridge, linking composition with improvisation.
trust to innate musicality.
And Eric Clarke's 'Improvisation, Cognition, and
What does Williams think? He begins by
Education' forms yet another bridge, this time
quoting Richard Taruskin's statement that a per-
between improvisation and psychology; this leads
formance bereft of intuition is 'not a performance
to a literature review by John Sloboda ('Psycho-
but a documentation of the state of knowledge'.
logical Structures in Music: Core Research 1980-
But he turns this to polemical effect. 'For a per-
1990'), which itself leads to George Pratt's 'Aural
former merely to "document the present state of
Training: Material and Method'. The section
knowledge" is by no means a ridiculous idea', he
concludes, by way of coda, with two articles that
says, 'for who is to say what is a convincing, definihave no obvious links with anything else: 'Aspects
tive, artistic performance? . . . As music-studies
of Melody: an Examination of the Structure of
learn to avoid the quick performance practice
Jewish and Gregorian Chants' by Yehezkel Braun, answers, it will become a high ideal to use the
and 'Music, Number and Rhetoric' by John
concert area as a place to "document the state of
Stevens.
knowledge", for true knowledge might increas-
All this amounts to a valiant attempt to impose
ingly be seen as a better goal than concert-hall
some kind of logical ordering upon a set of ar-
entertainment.' His essential position is, in fact,
ticles that have no real unity of subject matter,
similar to the Dunsby-Howell one on analysis and
purpose or level. To be sure, all of them have
performance: historical study and performance
something to do with 'The Structure of Music';
are essentially different disciplinary specialisms.
but then that would apply to many of the articles
Thus 'To link studies directly to performance is
in other sections too. It is simply too broad a field
not only a distortion of a noble aim but is itself an
to be coherent, at least without some kind of inanachronism . . . [Historical study] is quite
troductory framework or overview. In his general
distinct from preparing concerts, which is prepareditor's introduction to the Companion as a
ing a public show and forcing one to be decisive
whole, John Paynter says that the focus of this in
secmany unclear areas, "interpreting" in order to
tion is 'the "art objects" themselves'. Whatever
"communicate", rushing to judgement when con-
117
This content downloaded from 144.32.123.200 on Fri, 19 Jan 2024 23:34:50 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
templative study is the more instructive by
The same applies, only more so, to the re-
nature.' In this way the real value of performance
maining (actually the first) section, 'People and
practice studies is not that they tell performers
Music'. Again, this title could be understood
what to do but that they'lead [them] to recognize
more or less inclusively. In its most inclusive
the leap of conjecture their performance
sense, it would include everything that pertains to
represents'.
music; to adapt the classic quip on folk song, 'All
The ensuing articles fit more or less into the
music is people music; I never heard a horse sing'.
performance practice framework, though with
In its most specific sense, it would refer to the
varying emphasis. Anthony Rooley (another of
relationship between musical and social struc-
the contributors with two articles) emphasizes the
tures; just one article deals with this, John
passionate nature of Renaissance performance,
which aimed (as Ficino put it) to instil 'divine
argues against seeing music as a reflection of
Shepherd's 'Music as Cultural Text'. Shepherd
frenzy' in the listener. Rogers Covey-Crump
society; rather, he says, music is an integral part
discusses tuning in vocal consort music, and John
of society. And he goes on to refine the rather
Bryan reconstructs the history of the English
fragile arguments about the homology of musical
consort-anthem; both articles are suffused with
and social structures that he originally presented
the experience of period-style performance.
as long ago as 1977 in another collection based on
Alison Wray offers a guide to authentic
York, Whose Music? A Soczology of Muszcal
pronunciation.
Languages. If this section had been intended as a
But as the section proceeds, articles appear
focused treatment of the relationships between
that have no discernible application to perfor-
music and society, Shepherd's article could have
mance. Graham Dixon's 'Liturgical Considera-
provided a useful introductory framework for it.
tions: an Apologia and Some Guidelines' attempts
As it is, however, Shepherd's article is posi-
to reconstruct the period context of liturgical
tioned half-way through the section, and it is
performance in the Roman rite c.1700, with its
hard to find a common focus in the other articles.
complex choreography of ritual; such work is ob-
Murray Schafer presents his appealing, if familiar,
viously important to a critical understanding of
perspective on the soundscape; Hans-Werner
the surviving music, but it is hard to see how it
Heisler offers an Adornoesque diatribe against
could be applied in an actual performance situa-
the 'scented stench' of background music;
tion. Peter Holman's '"An Addicion of Wyer
Thomas Regelski attacks both what he calls the
Stringes beside the Ordenary Stringes": the
Activities Approach to musical education and
Origin of the Baryton' charts the early evolution
student-centred learning, instead arguing in
of the lyra viol in minute detail, mainly on the
basis of archival evidence; there is no discussion
of any actual music. Finally, in 'Lutoslawski and
Huray charts the emergence of passionate ex-
pressivity in music and other arts during the
a View of Musical Perspective', Philip Wilby con-
Renaissance; Ellen Harris discusses the reception
trasts moment-to-moment immersion in music
of Handel among his immediate successors, draw-
with formal perception of it, developing a rather
ing on Harold Bloom's concept of the 'Great
favour of Action Learning. The late Peter le
Schoenbergian view of repetition which he terms
Inhibitor'; Joscelyn Godwin argues that a
'musical perspective' and which he illustrates
through a discussion of music by Lutostawski.
speculative approach to music 'enables us to
perceive directly the numbers that are at the
This has nothing to do with performance practice. But then, the section is not called 'Perfor-
heart of manifestation'. Finally, a number of articles offer what might be most discreetly termed
'creative' perspectives on music that would not
have been out of place in Perspectives of New
mance Practice'; it is called 'The Interpretation
of Music', a term which can embrace any kind of
analytical or critical treatment of music as well as
its performance. Once again, then, the title turns
Edwin London's 'On Making Music out of Music')
out to be all-inclusive. The trouble is that, if it is
is representative:
intended in this extended sense, the contents
don't live up to it; eleven articles on performance
Music around 1980, of which the following (from
The sorest purposeful sage (Roget's Le roi d'Isness)
allow-lows those in show business debut to make Cnoh-te of La (ma-mer-ha-ya-na) sans tyne un-miked. In
practice, one on liturgical performance c.1700,
one on the development of the lyra viol, and one
uttered words if
on Lutostawski don't add up to any kind of
(Weber + n) = (Berlioz - lz),
coherent or balanced treatment of 'The Interpretation of Music'. Presumably they were never
does Shakespeare's comings (eek) obscure the circled
intended to.
eye shade of Carl Maria von Oberon?
118
This content downloaded from 144.32.123.200 on Fri, 19 Jan 2024 23:34:50 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
after all, supposed to be a 'Companion to Con-
To which I can only reply, 'who knows?'
What is the reason for the strikingly loose
temporary Musical Thought'; the economic and
organization of this Companion? The answer is to
industrial context of musical production and con-
be found in Paynter's introduction, where he ex-
sumption, for instance, is represented by little
plains that the intention was to provide a
more than a few old-fashioned attacks on commer-
cross-section of the pragmatic and the speculative in a
particular area of experience at a given point . .. From
the start our principal aim has been to enable readers to
experience something of the attitudes of mind current
in musical scholarship and practice in the late 1980s
and early 1990s, and thereby to feel that they are part
of the debate. We asked ourselves the question: what is
it that those who, at this time, are most closely involved
cial exploitation and the use of the media for purposes of manipulation and repression. (You'd
never guess from reading this Companion that
there has been an explosion in the dissemination
of 'serious' music through news-stand magazines,
CD sales, and radio channels such as Classic FM.)
All this contributes to an impression of not being
with it think music is about? And to get the answer
quite in touch, or even perhaps of eccentricity,
we invited musicologists, music historians, sociologists
that I suspect will be all the stronger among the
and educationalists, composers, performers, producers,
analysts and critics from a variety of backgrounds in a
number of different countries to contribute articles on
Companion's North American readers.
What irritates me is not so much the Compa-
topics of their own choice [my italics], topics that were, nion itself; after all, why shouldn't the editors
therefore, of the utmost importance to the writers
themselves.
have their own perspectives on the study of music?
It's the publishers' hype. The sales brochure,
The editors didn't, then, begin with a list of
some of which is reprinted on the back covers of
topics; they began with a list of people.
the volumes themselves, describes the Companion
Now there are two points to be made about
as 'a comprehensive survey of current thinking
this. The first is that, if you want to provide a
about the study and practice of music . . . [that]
snapshot of a discipline in this way, what you
covers all major areas of debate and study'. But
need is a large number of brief contributions;
that is simply not true. And in fact Paynter him-
after all, you are trying to sample people's con-
self goes out of his way, in the introduction, to
cerns, and these can be expressed in a page or
avoid making any such claims: 'Naturally, we hope
two. (The colloquium on 'The Future of Theory'
that the range of topics and the extensive index
published in 1989 by the Indiana Theory Review
will make it a useful reference resource, but
is an example of such a snapshot.) What is
the book is not, and was never intended to be,
needed, in other words, is comprehensiveness of
encyclopedic'.
authorship, not comprehensiveness of treatment.
This is a telling remark, given that the book is
And that brings me to the second point: just how
part of a series called 'Routledge Companion En-
representative are the contributions to this Com-
cyclopedias'! What I think this reveals is a basic
panion of music-related scholarship as a whole?
confusion, or lack of agreement, on the part of
Obviously there is no point in pursuing this ques-
editors and publishers as to what the Companion
tion on an ad hominem basis; everybody would
is for and, more particularly, who it is for. The
come up with a different list of who they would
publishers, as you might expect, think it is for
have asked to contribute. But what one can
everybody: 'The scope of this musical compen-
reasonably comment on is the disciplinary
dium ensures its value as a companion to students,
coverage.
academics, professional musicians, critics and
It's not a matter of what the Companion con-
writers, and teachers of theory and practice. It
tains but of what it leaves out. Among the omis-
will be of great interest to all music-lovers and
sions are everything that pertains to what is often
anyone who is looking for something more than
called 'critical musicology', encompassing her-
dates and musical facts, and wants to be in touch
meneutics, narrativity, reception theory, gender
with what scholars, composers, and performers
and other minority issues. There is nothing on
think today about music.' The danger, of course,
historiography or source criticism. Apart from a
is that if you try to please everybody you end up
few casual references, there is nothing on popular
pleasing nobody.
music, ethnomusicology or issues of multicultural-
The most obvious symptom of the lack of a
ism. But these are some of the hottest topics in
clearly-defined target readership is the multipli-
musicology, if conference programmes, publica-
city of levels and tones of voice evident in the
tions and personal experience are anything to go
contributions. Some contributors offer carefully
by (and what else is there to go by?). Moreover,
balanced introductions to their fields (John
when topics of current concern do appear, the
Sloboda even adopts a quantitative criterion,
treatment sometimes seems dated for what is,
based on citations, to decide what music-
119
This content downloaded from 144.32.123.200 on Fri, 19 Jan 2024 23:34:50 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
psychological research he will include); these
Schenker. (Schenker is quoted at one point, but
writers explain key terms and concepts as they
only via a citation from Joseph Kerman that does
proceed. Others offer personal views, assuming
not adequately represent Schenker's approach.)
the reader's prior familiarity with their topic.
Again, Joel Chadabe offers a graphic if brief
Then there are are state-of-the-art articles, which
account of M (the interactive composition/per-
could perfectly well have appeared in a learned
formance package from Intelligent Music, of
journal; this applies, for instance, to the con-
which Chadabe is president) but makes no refer-
tributions by Christopher Wintle, David Kershaw
ence to David Zicarelli's major article on the sub-
and Denis Smalley, all of which are best
ject in Computer MusicJournal; similarly, Curtis
understood in the context of other work in the
Roads writes on 'Composition with Machines' but
relevant field. The same is true of Thomas
never mentions David Cope's important and in-
Regelski's article, which is polemically directed at
teresting work. Now this is in no way a criticism
other music educationists; this leaves it rather
of these authors, whose contributions make
isolated in a collection in which music education
perfect sense considered in their own right. But it
is curiously under-represented, considering John
is a criticism of the way in which the Companaon
Paynter's pre-eminence in this field. Peter le
has been conceived, significantly limiting its
Huray's article reads rather like a lantern lecture
usefulness to a large number of readers.
for an adult education audience (and a very good
The Companion to Contemporary Musacal
one too). And finally, as I said, there are creative
Thought is an uneven production; there are good
perspectives of the Perspectives of New Music
articles and not-so-good ones. That could hardly
kind.
be avoided in a collection of this size and scope.
Of course there's a positive aspect to this; it all
The trouble is that they do not gel, because the
adds up to a panorama of the varied approaches
publication as a whole has not been adequately
to be found in the study of music today, and I
thought through in terms of its potential reader-
would certainly endorse Paynter's claim that the
ship. With the exception of 'The Technology of
collection has 'a certain roundness of sensibility in
Music', it does not amount to more than the sum
which more conventional "scholarly" approaches
of its parts.
to the subject are balanced with poetic and
NICHOLAS COOK
philosophical, but no less intensely musical, con-
tributions'. (This is largely because of the relative
Linguistics and Semiotics in Music. By Raymond
prominence of contributions by composers and
Monelle. pp. [xv] + 349. 'Contemporary
performers.) All the same, it makes it hard for the Music Studies', v. (Harwood Academic
user to know quite what he or she is meant to do
Publishers, Chur, Switzerland, &c., 1992,
with the Companion. If you read the whole thing,
$46/?25. ISBN 3-7816-5209-9.)
which is one of the ways Paynter suggest it can be
used, you will end up with a curiously skewed and
This handbook supersedes all earlier efforts to
provide a guide to the extraordinarily diverse
to that extent quite misleading impression of contemporary thinking about music. And you will
field of musical semiotics. In ten substantial
find that basic technical knowledge is assumed in
chapters, Raymond Monelle assembles a variety
some fields (such as analytical method) but not in
of approaches to musical study that, with greater
others (psychology of music, digital sound syn-
or lesser explicitness, reveal a semiotic orientathesis). If on the other hand you refer to the Com- tion. The result is a sometimes startling,
panion for an exposition of a particular topic
sometimes predictable juxtaposition of music(s)
(which is what its size and price will probably lead
and method(s). Folksongs, the 'Marseillaise',
most people to do), then you may or may not find
it there, and you may or may not find that it is
written at the right level for you; moreover, if
you want to research the subject further, you are
likely to find yourself hampered by the lack of a
properly structured bibliography.
As an illustration of this, Tim Howell's article
on analysis and performance is a perfectly effi-
cient and readable introduction to the basic
issues, but it will not lead you to the main writings in this area, by Berry, Narmour, Rink,
Schachter, Rothstein, Beach and, above all,
television commercials and pop songs are placed
alongside Bach chorales, Liszt's piano music,
Wagner's Trzstan Prelude, Chopin's ballades and
Debussy's Preludes, and these are in turn juxtaposed with Javanese Srepegan, the music of
Sudanese griots, Tongan dance and Garhwali
drumming. Not only does Monelle thus issue a
challenge to those who regard the boundaries between different musical traditions as secure; he
also encourages a reconfiguration of various
methods and methodologies. Distributional
analysis, generative analysis, intonation theory,
120
This content downloaded from 144.32.123.200 on Fri, 19 Jan 2024 23:34:50 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms