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34.5: Row Form Presentation in Music

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    117609
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    In a piece of music, twelve-tone rows may not be clearly presented. One manner of presentation is overlap, where the final note of one row is the starting note of the next row.

    12-tone-basic-row-overlap-in-music.svg

    Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): Twelfth note overlapping with first note in successive row statements

    Rows may also be presented contrapuntally or harmonically. In the example below, the row is separated into three tetrachords and presented contrapuntally.

    12-tone-basic-row-ctrptl-in-music.svg

    Figure \(\PageIndex{2}\): Two examples of tetrachords from a row presented contrapuntally

    In the final example in this section, the two rows are presenting in melody-accompaniment texture, with P0 containing the melody and R0 occurring as chords.

    12-tone-basic-row-chords-in-music.svg

    An analyst would first attempt to find a clear presentation of a twelve-tone row somewhere in the composition in order to analyze harmonies.


    This page titled 34.5: Row Form Presentation in Music is shared under a GNU Free Documentation License 1.3 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Robert Hutchinson via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform; a detailed edit history is available upon request.