A Genus/Species Account of Scale‐Degree Qualia

Bibliographic Data

ID11446134
AuthorsMICHAEL BRUSCHI (0000-0003-4328-363X, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume41
Issue2
Pages211-242
Publication date2022-07-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueMusic Analysis (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0262-5245 • E-ISSN: 1468-2249
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/musa.12190
OpenAlexW4285035245
LanguageEN
References cited41

Scale‐degree qualia are the fundamental building blocks of tonal cognition. Despite the recent flurry of scholarly activity surrounding their nature, certain conceptual entanglements persist. I argue that when scholars (and pedagogues) invoke the notion of scale degrees, they typically conflate two subcomponents of scale‐degree experience – which I call ‘generic scalar position’ and ‘specific modal character’ – and treat them as if they were one composite thing. In response, I propose an ordered‐triple notation for labelling scale degrees that insists on the representational separation of these two subcomponents, and I demonstrate through a series of analytical vignettes that conceiving of scale degrees in this manner can shed new light on a variety of common musical scenarios, from local tonicisations to large‐scale modulations to moments of tonal/modal ambiguity. This ordered‐triple notation is intentionally designed for a flexible domain of application, not just to European tonal music but also to Western popular music and more generally to any music in any of the seven diatonic modes

Ambiguity · Cognitive science · Consciousness · Epistemology · Geography · Linguistics · Modal · Notation · Qualia · Computer Science · Diverse Music Education Insights · Mathematics · Musicology and Musical Analysis · Neuroscience and Music Perception · Philosophy · Psychology · Artificial Intelligence

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