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Explaining Tonality: Schenkerian Theory and Beyond.

Article Excerpt
Explaining Tonality: Schenkerian Theory and Beyond. By Matthew Brown. (Eastman Studies in Music.) Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press, 2005. [xix, 293 p. ISBN 1-58046-160-3. $99.] Music examples, figures, bibliography, index.

The title of Matthew Brown's Explaining Music: Schenkerian Theory and Beyond may mislead some readers who might be expecting a work that considers in some detail the significant corpus of music theory that has followed from Schenker's ground-breaking work of the early twentieth century. In fact, while this book does at times engage with some of the more significant scholars and theories of post-Schenker studies, its focus is solidly on explaining, and justifying, Schenker's own work.

Brown sets himself the task of answering three major questions: "[W]hat sorts of [pitch] relationships did Schenker count as tonal?; Why do these relationships work in some ways and not others?; Why should we prefer Schenker's theory of functional monotonality to its competitors?" (p. xiii) The heart of the book is Brown's answer to the last of these questions, which evaluates Schenkerian theory according to six criteria that theorists of any discipline use to evaluate competing theories: accuracy, scope, consistency, simplicity, fruitfulness, and coherence. By using the lens of these six elements, Brown attempts to bring his evaluation of Schenker's work into a somewhat elevated realm of logic and theory. In a field where the scholarly discourse can be heated and emotional, Brown's book is noteworthy for its dispassionate examination of the merits and shortcomings of Schenker's work.

After an introduction that lays the theoretical groundwork in terms of definitions of laws and explanations, discusses various problems...

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