Prolegomena to a Theory of Modulatory Space in Music

Abstract

The main focus of this prefatory study is the concept (and percept) of musical movement, namely in tonal music: how it is coherently generated, how it comes to express both the overall harmonic logic (and feeling) of tonal syntax and the major/minor key system. Developed from Aristotle’s original understanding of nature as an inner principle of change and stasis, I shall briefly survey the fundamental concept of modulation throughout the Western music-theoretical tradition, then set forth a theory of modulatory space. To be sure, the ontological status of musical movement will be examined in current theoretical thought, too. Finally, three short case-study analyses address the topic at different hierarchical levels of tonal syntax: chord, key, and system.