Annotation for Zuckerkandl, Victor
Sound and Symbol: Music and the External World
Annotation (by Bill Tilghman):
- As its subtitle implies, this book is concerned with the natural,
physical aspect of music, as opposed to the artistic contribution
of humans. In Chapter 11, "Meter and Rhythm," Zuckerkandl argues
that the natural phenomenon of time is not just an empty, neutral
vessel through which events pass, but a real, active force, which
is made available to experience through music. Likewise, musical
meter is not simply the scaffolding by which musical rhythm is
constructed or the ruler by which it is measured. Zuckerkandl
views meter as a series of "waves," of continuous cyclical
motions, away from one downbeat and towards the next. As such,
meter is an active force: a tone acquires its special rhythmic
quality from its place in the cycle of the wave, from "the
direction of its kinetic impulse." Zuckerkandl is also careful
to argue that these metric waves are not the result of patterns
of accent in the music (since the metric structure can be quite
independent of these), nor are they simply the result of pre-conditioning
in the mind of the listener (since the metrical
quality of a single tone, even the first one of a composition,
and even that of a rest, is always apparent). They are the
result simply of the constant demarcation of equal and unvarying
time intervals, and thus they are properly thought of as a
natural consequence of the passage of time, made perceivable by
the rhythmic organization of music.
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