Structural, cognitive and semiotic aspects of the musical present
- 1 January 1989
- journal article
- Published by Taylor & Francis in Contemporary Music Review
- Vol. 3 (1) , 111-131
- https://doi.org/10.1080/07494468900640081
Abstract
Music's relation to time is viewed primarily as a phenomenological issue. The psychological concept of the perceived, or specious present is accordingly adopted and investigated, since it is through the medium of this conscious state of attention that musical structures are perceived. Special consideration is given to the kinds of structures and the quality of presence associated with the teleological mode of temporality described as linear time. The specifically hierarchic nature of these structures raises the question of the level at which the perceived present obtains and how hierarchies function within it. In turn this leads to a reappraisal of the way in which the present is determined in linear-time music. These issues are grounded in a discussion of specific musical structures, and Schenkerian analytical techniques are shown to be useful in providing models for certain important aspects of temporal perception. Finally, a description of the signification of the musical present is attempted applying concepts taken from the semiology of Saussure.Keywords
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