The Aesthetics of Minimalist Music and a Schenkerian-Oriented Analysis of the First Movement "Opening" of Philip Glass' Glassworks Page: 20
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CHAPTER 3
HARMONIC ANALYSIS OF GLASSWORKS, FIRST MOVEMENT "OPENING"
Traditional Tonality and "Minimal" Tonality
Traditional Tonality in Schenkerian Analysis
One of the purposes of the Schenkerian analysis of tonal music from the common
practice era is to assist us "to hear through the musical surface to the remoter structural levels
and ultimately to the tonic (major/minor) triad itself."55 Synchronically speaking, the analytical
processes of Schenkerian analysis provide a full view for analysts to seek a deep structure of the
composition at one time. For example, a national interstate map can provide a full view of the
interstate highway system for a driver or traveler at one glance. Diachronically speaking, the
analytical processes of Schenkerian analysis give analysts opportunities to foresee a deep
structure when the music progresses. For instance, when traveling on an interstate, drivers or
travelers may relate their current position to a national interstate map.
In the realm of Schenkerian analysis, traditional tonality is often established within three
types of fundamental structures. All three types of fundamental structures have their own
fundamental lines over a harmonic framework I-V-I.56 While those structures are widely known
and understood, I diverge from them later in this chapter. Thus, I recapitulate them here in the
55 Joseph N. Straus, "The Problem of Prolongation in Post-tonal Music," Journal of Music Theory Vol. 31,
no. 1 (Spring 1987): 1.
56 Cadwallader and Gagnd, 102-10 and 114-18. According to Cadwallader and Gagnd, a fundamental
structure includes a bass arppegiation and a fundamental line. Bass arppegiation indicates the motion of the bass line
of a background level graph. The bass line arppegiates the tonic triad "by moving from the root to the upper fifth and
back again."(Cadwallader and Gagnd, 107). A fundamental line "refers to the descending stepwise upper voice of the
fundamental structure." (Cadwallader and Gagnd, 108).20
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Wu, Chia-Ying (Charles). The Aesthetics of Minimalist Music and a Schenkerian-Oriented Analysis of the First Movement "Opening" of Philip Glass' Glassworks, thesis, May 2009; Denton, Texas. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc10975/m1/27/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; .