Product Description

This work, which has become a classic in music theory since its publication in 1983, models music understanding from the perspective of cognitive science. The point of departure is a search for a grammar of music with the aid of generative linguistics. The theory, which is illustrated with numerous examples from Western classical music, relates the aural surface of a piece to the musical structure unconsciously inferred by the experienced listener. From the viewpoint of traditional music theory, it offers many innovations in notation as well as in the substance of rhythmic and reductional theory.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #726755 in Books
• Published on: 1996-06-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 368 pages

About the Author
Fred Lerdahl is Fritz Rainer Professor of Musical Composition at Columbia University. Ray Jackendoff is Professor of Linguistics at Brandeis University.

Customer Reviews

This book is a turning point in XXth century music theory...
This book is a turning point in XXth century music theory.It admits "surface salience" as an important musical attribute (chapter 5), distinguishing it from the "reductional importance" of events. Should we work with a double conception of structure: surface structure (focusing on surface salience) versus deep struture (focusing on reductional importance)? The investigation of surface salience leads to questions related to tension and release, an area that is still to find its best approach. What is best in the book: the ability to uncover the making of a theory; the ability to rejuvenate and integrate schenkerian ideas with a critique of Meyer's approach (rhythmic structure versus metrical structure); the linguistic/cognitive connection. What is not so good in the book: the remarks on contemporary music (with an almost fascist view of inherited abilities)

very interesting, very technical
This very technical work is very interesting and uses a very valuable and relatively new approach. However it is very conservative musically, to the point of losing subjectivity. I would recommend James Tenney's writings instead. META + HODOS: A Phenomenology of 20th-Century Musical Materials and an Approach to the Study of Form (1961; Frog Peak, 1988), is available through amazon, or Hierarchical temporal gestalt perception in music : a metric space model with Larry Polansky, also printed in Soundings Vol. 13: The Music of James Tenney. Garland, Peter (Ed.) (Soundings Press, 1984) which has articles by and about Tenney, who takes a much more progressive and broad view than Lerdahl.

Interesting read on music
I bought this book for a reading group organized by linguists, and think it's very interesting. It is not an easy read though, it takes time to decipher the proposed rules and sometimes it is not clear what the consequences of adopting those rules are. I don't know how comprehensible the book is for people with little formal or linguistic background, I do think that the authors aim to separate generative linguistic theory from the general idea that underlies it, and work from the latter perspective (not the first).