What do you think?
Rate this book
Structural Functions in Music
This brilliant inquiry into tonal, textural, and rhythmic structures in music, filled with original formulations and provocative ideas, has become one of the most widely read and studied works in music theory, frequently adopted in college and university curricula, and often cited in scholarly studies in the field.
Starting from an all-encompassing viewpoint — a belief in the importance and necessity of logical analysis of the musical experience, and the study of objective data derived therefrom — it moves toward a deeper understanding of musical structure and experience through a systematic exploration of tonality, melody, harmony, and rhythm, and their important interrelations. These are illuminated in penetrating analyses of musical works and extracts ranging from early model styles to modern compositions.
The procedures by which structural elements in nearly all music function expressively are analyzed in depth. Tonality is examined in a Gregorian chant, a Bach motet, a Beethoven symphony, a Bartók string quartet, and other works by Wolf, Ravel, Webern, and Berg. Texture is explored in a Gesualdo madrigal, a Telemann fantasy for violin, and works by Bach, Brahms, and Dallapiccola. Works by Beethoven, Chopin, and Webern are subjects for revealing studies of rhythm and meter.
A model of original thought, this book has now become one of the most influential works in musical analysis, an invaluable resource for musical scholars and students of musical theory, a lively stimulus to individual theoretical exploration.
Starting from an all-encompassing viewpoint — a belief in the importance and necessity of logical analysis of the musical experience, and the study of objective data derived therefrom — it moves toward a deeper understanding of musical structure and experience through a systematic exploration of tonality, melody, harmony, and rhythm, and their important interrelations. These are illuminated in penetrating analyses of musical works and extracts ranging from early model styles to modern compositions.
The procedures by which structural elements in nearly all music function expressively are analyzed in depth. Tonality is examined in a Gregorian chant, a Bach motet, a Beethoven symphony, a Bartók string quartet, and other works by Wolf, Ravel, Webern, and Berg. Texture is explored in a Gesualdo madrigal, a Telemann fantasy for violin, and works by Bach, Brahms, and Dallapiccola. Works by Beethoven, Chopin, and Webern are subjects for revealing studies of rhythm and meter.
A model of original thought, this book has now become one of the most influential works in musical analysis, an invaluable resource for musical scholars and students of musical theory, a lively stimulus to individual theoretical exploration.
- GenresMusic
480 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1987
1 person is currently reading
77 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
January 10, 2017
Structural Functions is what Sonic Design: The Nature Of Sound And Music would look like if the writing were less conversational and making an attempt to be more thorough. A mash-up of the two would make a pretty nice textbook as both attempt to consider music theory from a modern and analytical (as opposed to prescriptive) point of view.
Berry's thoroughness is at its best when he's making lists of all the possible variables to consider in analyzing any particular passage of music. But it also frequently turns the long chapters into a slog as repetition grinds the book to a halt. Nowhere is this truer than the last third, in which the book treats rhythm. Examples aside, the actual text of this section could have been cut by 80% by simply saying something along the lines of "Similar to the example of A, the aspect B can be treated in the same way as shown in the following example from Boulez:"
My recommendation: skim for the lists and read them thoroughly. When something doesn't make intuitive sense, find the text elaborating it and read it.
As with most music theory texts older than ten years old, it deserves a revision to a more interactive format.
Berry's thoroughness is at its best when he's making lists of all the possible variables to consider in analyzing any particular passage of music. But it also frequently turns the long chapters into a slog as repetition grinds the book to a halt. Nowhere is this truer than the last third, in which the book treats rhythm. Examples aside, the actual text of this section could have been cut by 80% by simply saying something along the lines of "Similar to the example of A, the aspect B can be treated in the same way as shown in the following example from Boulez:"
My recommendation: skim for the lists and read them thoroughly. When something doesn't make intuitive sense, find the text elaborating it and read it.
As with most music theory texts older than ten years old, it deserves a revision to a more interactive format.
Displaying 1 of 1 review