The voice can be modulated to sound non-human by increasing the energy of the sound waves produced by an action such as blowing. This must accentuate certain frequencies that would otherwise be less noticeable. Gesture seems to be a product of a pivotal musical decision made by the composer. The feeling and shape of the melody implementing the gesture cannot change its motivic path, tethered to the driving force of the gestural contour. This concept of gesture can be applied to the phonemes of languages. Contrapuntal structure can be broken down into two areas: architectural principle, the reference for the general development of the musical ideas; and dynamic principle, the quality of the movement. The introduction of another melodic stream in a piece necessitates the application of the contrapuntal principles described above. Otherwise, separate uniformly moving streams can be interpreted as a single entity through mixing and close timing. Three measures of gesture are magnitude, morphology, and second-order morphology. Magnitude considers the intensity of vibrato. The morphological characteristics examine the heterogeneity of the piece, note-to-note. Another dimension of analysis focuses on the relationships between parts of the piece, how they interact or ignore each other.
Questions:
Are the classifications defined by Wishart intuitive to the general audience of music? Were these born out of complex contemplation and thought experiment or through visceral methods such as attributing qualities to feelings evoked by certain pieces against others.
How does the mind react to the different qualities defined in the morphology of a gesture? Are there biological queues that indicate enjoyment of the gestural contour of a noise?
Does quantifying and categorizing musical composition make it easier, or is it more advantageous to let inspiration and creative freedom motivate the majority of a piece?
Music 26 Blog: Ryan Hyun 