Dissertation Index



Author: Ballard, Jack D., Jr.

Title: Part One: The Castle (Ballet for Large Orchestra) and Part Two: Hyperextended Chord Tones: Chromatic Consonance in a Tertian Context

Institution: Kent State University

Begun: January 2008

Completed: December 2008

Abstract:

Part One is a ballet based on a short story by George MacDonald, best known as a nineteenth-century Christian apologist and writer of children’s tales and other stories.
One of these is typical of his adult writings, which tend toward the macabre, allegorical, supernatural, and Christian symbolism. The Castle is a fairy tale underscoring the waywardness of the universal Church in relation to the Lord. As a fantasy, the short story lends itself to the versatile medium of dance. The
Castle ballet is scored for large orchestra with percussion, set in eight movements: Overture, Contemplation, Family, Rebellion, Evening, The Party, Lament, and Redemption. It portrays the rebellion of a family against the authority of an eldest brother
and sister when insisting on having an extravagant party in the confines of a vast castle. A storm breaks up the party at its height, freeing the brother and driving off the guests. Family members are terrified and repentant as they wait for the brother’s judgment. The sister intervenes and the brother shows mercy. The music is programmatic and integrates representative elements such as themes,
motivic development, polymeter and polyrhythm, and harmonic variation.

Part Two applies traditional tertian approaches to chromatic harmony as a basis for analysis and composition by extending the principle into the third and fourth octaves above the root. It is felt provable that resonant overtones may be reinforced by what are normally considered dissonant chromatic tones with the intention and/or result of an extended consonance. Called “hyperextended tones,” these include the raised fifteenth, raised nineteenth, and raised twenty-third, which are justified in the harmonic resonance of a single fundamental tone, and in the individual tones that make up any given chord. Historical support is found in popular, classical, and jazz styles. Studies in physics have also shown that the mechanics by which timbre, harmony, beat waves, and roughness interact are not well understood and may have an impact on the compositional and listening processes.

Keywords: Ballet, acoustics, harmonic series, harmonics, tertian, chord, structure,

TOC:

CHAPTER

I. INTRODUCTION.
Notation and Methodology
II. THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THIRDS AS A BASIS FOR ANALYSIS
The Minor Triad
III. A PERSPECTIVE ON FUNCTIONALITY
IV. ACOUSTIC JUSTIFICATION
Implications of the Tuning Systems
Paul Hindemith’s Perspective
The Resonance of Progressive Fifths
The Harmonics of the Triad
V. PITCH PLACEMENT OPERATIONS
Relationship as a Fundamental Perspective on Consonance
VI. HYPEREXTENDED TONES—DEFINITIONS
VII. SUBSTITUTING EXTENDED CHORDS
Inversions and Rewriting Substitutions
The Valt to bII Substitution
VIII. JAZZ ANALYSIS AND CONTEXT WITH HYPEREXTENDED
TONES
V-I Resolutions
The Approach Chord in a Jazz Context
Application in Improvisation
The Blue Tonality and the Augmented Twenty-third
Harmonic Considerations
Consonant Tones: Melodic Application
IX. CONCERT MUSIC ANALYSIS
Blue Tonality in Classical Music
Atonal and Non-tertian Approaches
Quartal and Quintal Systems
Polychordal Approaches
Written and Intended Consonant Chords
X. CONCLUSION

APPENDICES
A. Progressive Development of Intervals
B. Graphs
C. Additional Musical Examples



Contact:

Malone University
2600 Cleveland Ave NW
Canton, OH 44601
330.471.8332
jballard@malone.edu


     Return to dissertations