Tonal Pitch Space

By Fred Lerdahl

Book Overview

Building on the foundation of Lerdahl and Jackendoff's influential A Generative Theory of Tonal Music, this volume presents a multidimensional model of diatonic and chromatic spaces that quantifies listeners' intuitions of the relative distances of pitches, chords, and keys from a given tonic. The model is employed to assign prolongational structure, represent paths through the space, and compute patterns of tension and attraction as musical events unfold, thereby providing a partial basis for understanding musical narration, expectation, and expression. Conceived as both a music-theoretic treatise and a contribution to the cognitive science of music, this book will be of interest to music theorists, musicologists, composers, computer musicians, and cognitive psychologists.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195178297
• ISBN13: 9780195178296
• Release Date: December 2004
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Length: 432 Pages
• Weight: 1.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.2" x 9.3"