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From: mckendry@exodus.DEC (NER Network Coordinator)
Newsgroups: net.music.classical
Subject: Re How do you hear polyphony?
Message-ID: <3157@decwrl.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 7-Aug-84 14:13:41 EDT
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Posted: Tue Aug  7 14:13:41 1984
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> When you listen to a piece of intensely polyphonic music,
> such as a fugue, how does the polyphony affect your perception
> of the music?  Do you have to strain to hear the theme
> popping up in the inner voices, or does it just leap out
> at you?  What about inversions, augmentations, diminutions?

 I can usually hear appearances of the subject. Augmentation and
diminution are easy, although I can lose extreme cases of augmentation.
Inversions; the quality of the original subject has a lot to do with how
easy it is to spot its inversion. The impression I form of a fugal subject
is of a melodic shape, and if that shape is well-defined it's possible 
to recognize it squashed or stretched or flipped over. What I can't hear
is retrograde appearances. The best subjects seem to have a large leap
(fourth or fifth) at the beginning followed by a return toward the first
note.

 To tackle the broader question of how I hear polyphony; a little bit
differently every time if it's any good. The first time I hear a new
piece I hear mostly the outer voices. The second time, I try to pick
out the tenor and follow it through the piece.  This takes some active
listening. Having a score to follow along with makes it easier.

 There's also a category of polyphony that I hear as much with my 
imagination as with my ears; this is the polyphony built out of
arpeggios in things like the Bach Violin Sonatas/Partitas, Flute
Sonata, and Inventions.

 It's interesting that you should ask this question. I've always had
a vague impression that good counterpoint somehow makes itself clear.
Can't express it any more precisely than that, but it really happens.

-John
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