Models and Music Theory

Abstract

Iconic models are ubiquitous in music theoretical literature. Their purpose is to illustrate and thereby concretize abstract theoretical concepts that would otherwise exist only in the imagination. Despite the prevalence of iconic models, we find few comprehensive analyses of how they serve this purpose and the conceptual mechanisms that relate models to their subjects. This commentary is a case study that compares two competing music theory models and raises some of the questions that arise when evaluating a particular model’s fit with its theoretical subject. Here, I examine Reed and Bain’s assertion that theirTonnetzdesign provides a more satisfactory depiction of the sc 3-2 Cohn cycle than David Lewin’s graphic network of the same. By relating the iconic components of each model with elements of the theory, I suggest that Lewin’s network corresponds more accurately to the sc 3-2 Cohn cycle than Reed and Bain’sTonnetz.

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