Ambrose Seddon - Higher-level relationships in Dhomont's Novars

5. Structural function and behaviour

The identities that define higher-level relationships will be characterised, described and linked by their structural functions and their relationships with other sound materials within the current musical context. The structural functions and processes associated with recurrent identities may well evoke expectations based on previous instances, resulting in outcome predictions. Expectations may be evoked through both the spectromorphological directionality inherent in the sound material, and the memory of any previous instances and how they unfolded and related to the earlier contexts. In some cases the associated structural function may change over the course of the work, possibly redefining the role of that identity, even if its spectromorphology remains consistent. Conversely, particular functions and processes may recur and contribute to the sense of structure even when conveyed by different identities. For example, processes of rupture and shift might become structurally significant even if the sound identities in question are different at each occurrence.

Both Smalley and Roy have explored and defined a variety of structural function descriptions appropriate to acousmatic music contexts.

5.1 Temporal phase functions

Smalley expands three temporal phases of the note (onset, continuation and termination) into a collection of terms, which provide ways to interpret the forward-moving function-significance of an event or context [1]. Roy’s orientation functions, developed as part of his functional analysis approach, serve a similar descriptive purpose [2], and Table 1 illustrates where Roy’s terminology fits within Smalley’s broad categories [3]. The terms of both authors provide essential concepts and vocabulary for structural function description.

 

Onset

Continuant

Termination

Smalley’s terms

Departure, emergence, anacrusis, attack, upbeat, downbeat

Passage, transition, prolongation, maintenance, statement

Arrival, disappearance, closure, release, resolution, plane

Roy’s terms

Introduction, appoggiatura

Suspension, extension, prolongation, transition

Conclusion

Table 1 : Function types defined by Smalley and Roy.

Smalley and Roy also draw attention to a variety of processes that are significant in describing or attributing structural functions regarding the directional motion and activity that they convey over shorter or longer timescales, summarised in Table 2.

Motion and Growth processes (Smalley)

Process functions (Roy)

Unidirectional motion

  • ascent; plane; descent

Reciprocal motion

  • parabola; oscillation; undulation

Cyclic/centric motion

  • rotation; spiral; spin
  • vortex; pericentrality; centrifugal motion
  • acceleration/deceleration
  • accumulation/dispersion
  • intensification/attenuation

Bi/multidirectional growth processes

  • agglomeration/dissipation
  • dilation/contraction
  • divergence/convergence
  • exogeny/endogeny

Table 2 : Aspects of directional motion and activity.

Smalley’s motion and growth processes refer to different kinds of spectral and morphological evolution related to expectation and directionality in spectral space [4], many of which can be applied to both external contours and internal, textural details. Impressions of dissipation, for example, Roy’s process functions of Acceleration/Deceleration, Accumulation/Dispersion, andIntensification/Attenuation [5] are also directional and largely self-explanatory, complementing the terms proposed by Smalley. However, there are some distinctions to be drawn. While Smalley’s terms address motion in spectral space, Roy’s acceleration/deceleration is not a spectral process, and intensification/attenuation may not always be. Despite this morphological emphasis, the notion of directional activity remains.

These concepts complement the temporal phase terms, and are potentially combined with them for more detailed function descriptions. For example, an emergent onset function might be attributed because of dynamic and spectral intensification, combined with spectral dilation. In some circumstances function attribution may take time, and a function may be attributed only once the directional tendency is established.

5.2 Instigation

Some of Roy’s functions (for example, trigger and begetting) can be considered instigative, as can particular onset functions and behavioural relationships [6] (see below), so it is useful to employ the term instigation to account for the principles common to these ideas. Instigation actively brings about a change of some kind, such as initiating or removing sound material, or occasioning a different spectral composition, texture or spatial perspective. An instigator is most significantly interpreted as a motivator for change, and is characterised by a pressured causal behavioural relationship with the consequent sound material [7]. If the response to the instigation is too slow, the instigative relationship will be weakened.

5.3 Rupture, shift, interruption

Ruptures of, and shifts between, particular spaces, contexts and ongoing identities can become significant recurrent features [8]. The speed of the change will affect the degree of dramatic impact, and this provides a useful way to distinguish between rupture and shift. Rupture implies suddenness, as if the existing impression is instantaneously shattered by a change to a new state or context, a process that may well elicit feelings of surprise [9]. Ruptures can be particularly striking, and changes might move between, for example: inside/outside; distant/close; or real world/otherworld; either singly or in combination. Shift, on the other hand,implies a less sudden change from one state to another, or a less overt contrast between what is shifted from and what is shifted to.

Interruption, used in Roy’s sense of the term, occurs when ongoing material is halted without a consequent [10]. Significantly, it could occur at any point, and implies neither a preparation nor a resolution [11], suggesting that interruption engenders a feeling of surprise. In contrast, deflection, a concept which Roy borrows from Meyer, occurs when “the continuity of a main process is interrupted by another process which aims towards a new goal” [12]. While it may be sudden, it is of course possible that a deflection can be a graduated process.

5.4 Behavioural relationships

In the spectromorphological sense, “the metaphor of behaviour is used to elaborate relationships among the varied spectromorphologies acting within a musical context” [13]. Applicable at various structural levels, behaviour addresses horizontal relationships (motion coordination, concerning concurrence) and vertical relationships (motion passage, concerning movement between contexts as well as issues of causality i.e. situations in which “one event seems to cause the onset of a successor, or alter a concurrent event in some way” [14]). The notions of conflict/coexistence and dominance/subordination are the basis of the relationship modes, which provide ways to interpret behavioural relationships. These modes are: equality–inequality; reaction–interaction–reciprocity; activity–passivity; activity–inactivity; stability–instability [15].


[1] SMALLEY, Denis, "Spectromorphology: Explaining Sound-Shapes", Organised Sound, vol. 2, n° 2, 1997, p. 112-113.

[2] ROY, Stéphane, L'analyse des musiques électroacoustiques : modèles et propositions, Paris, L'Harmattan, 2003, p. 340-365. Stewart has produced a complete translated summary of Roy's functions (STEWART, Ian, "Functional Analysis and Electroacoustic Composition: Theory, Extensions and Implications", Dissertation, City University, London, 2007).

[3] Both authors use the terms transition and prolongation.

[4] SMALLEY, Denis, op. cit., p. 115-117.

[5] STEWART, Ian, op. cit., p. 93-94.

[6] SMALLEY, Denis, op. cit., p. 117-118.

[7] Ibid., p. 118. Smalley’s behavioural notion of motion passage concerns the movement between contexts, illustrated by the voluntary–pressured continuum. These terms describe different impressions of causality, “where one event seems to cause the onset of a successor, or alter a concurrent event in some way” (Ibid.).

[8] The definition of space is taken to involve source-bonded, spectral and perspectival aspects (SMALLEY, Denis, "Space-Form and the Acousmatic Image", Organised Sound, vol. 12, n° 1, 2007, p. 56). In combination these may convey additional cultural associations.

[[9] The continual presence of sudden ruptures throughout a work may reduce the sense of surprise as the listener becomes accustomed to the recurring process.

[10] ROY, Stéphane, "Functional and Implicative Analysis of Ombres Blanches", Journal of New Music Research, vol. 27, n° 1-2, 1998, p. 181.

[11] STEWART, Ian, op. cit., p. 93.

[12] ROY, Stéphane, "Functional and Implicative Analysis of Ombres Blanches", op. cit., p. 180. Roy’s more recent definition of deflection, translated by Stewart, provides additional detail: “a Deflection is a unit that interrupts the progression of another unit while itself implying a new musical direction. Typically the Deflection occurs just before a point of resolution, in order to maximize tension. It need not be an Interruption, since the sonic fabric need not be ruptured; it may be sufficient simply to reorient the listener’s attention to a previously backgrounded constituent of the unit being Deflected. The Deflection is assigned only to the unit initiating the new progression” (STEWART, Ian, op. cit., p. 95-96).

[13] SMALLEY, Denis, "Spectromorphology: Explaining Sound-Shapes", op. cit., p. 117.

[14] Ibid., p. 118.

[15] Ibid., p. 119.

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