Re: Toccata in Dmin


"bgranat" <granatedit@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1127668753.429478.103660@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> When something sounds good to me, I know that it does so because there
> is ambiguity (the potential for surprise) in virtually everything. You
> don't know where, exactly, the various voices are going to until they
> have gone there.
> If there weren't ambiguity, no new combinatory sounds could ever be
> created. Ambiguity extends not only to the final destination, but the
> route. A good melody's very nature IS surprise, which delights. That's
> the very thing that makes music "good" -- it's ability to suggest one
> thing, perhaps, but deliver something even better.
>

So you are saying that all unambiguous music sounds boring? There are many
pieces of music that I like that are completely unambiguous ;/ Some of my
favorite pieces of Beethoven are not ambiguous such as the intro's to the
2nd movement of his 8th and 30th sonatas.

The 30th one starts as(need to set to fixed width font to view)

G# E------ F# | D# B | G# E------ F# | F# ...
B B C# | F# A+F# | B+G# B C# | D# ...
E G# A | B C# D# | E G# A# | B ...

Which is just

I 6 ii6 | V 7 - | I 6 ii6 | V ...

I don't see really any ambiguity there? But yet I find that one of the most
beautiful phrases that Beethoven has(even just the first bar). Sure maybe
there is a little ambiguity with some notes but all music is ambiguous to
some degree(because any note can be made to be ambiguous). To me, something
that is ambiguous is like the intro to his 5th symphony or even more so
atonal music.

I don't now though. I have not really read anywhere about how ambiguity
works... At most I've read about how certain progressions are ambiguous
because the chords can be interpreted in more than one way and that
ambiguity is used for modulations and such.... but that doesn't say much to
why we like it if infact we do(or if thers not something more going on).

Basicaly what I'm saying is that I don't believe that ambiguity itself is
what makes things sound good. I don't know, ofcourse, what else is needed
but I think things such form, structure, melody, etc... all work together.
Ambiguity by itself is probably not good, even "resolved" doesn't mean that
the resolution will sound good.

For example, I can sit down and pound away randomly on the keyboard and
create all kinds of ambiguity, but it won't sound good. Ofcourse maybe
accidently I will pound something out that sounds good but it doesn't mean
that it sounded good because I resolved some ambiguity or something like
that. Surely there can be other reasons?


Jon


.

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