Tell Me a StoryTeaching Music Composition
Through Narrative Design
by Greg Simon Assistant Professor of Composition
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
• Jon Franklin: “Narrative is a simple thing, at bottom: chronology with meaning.”1
• Roland Barthes: “There are countless forms of narrative in the world… among the vehicles of narrative are articulated language, whether oral or written, pictures, still or moving, gestures, and an ordered mixture of all those substances… in this infinite variety of forms, it is present at all times, in all places, in all societies…”2
1Jon Franklin, “The Narrative Tool,” in The Journalist’s Craft: A Guide to Writing Better Stories, ed. Dennis Jackson and John Sweeney (New York: Allworth Press, 2012), eBook Collection (EBSCOhost), EBSCOhost (accessed March 23, 2018).2Roland Barthes and Lionel Duisit, “An Introduction to the Structural Analysis of Narrative,” New Literary History Vol. 6, No. 2, On Narrative and Narratives (Winter 1975): 237.
OVERVIEW• What narrative design is not
• What narrative design is
• Campbell’s monomyth
• Freytag’s pyramid
• Narrative designs in musical forms
• The value and use of narrative design in the composition studio
WHAT WE’RE NOT TALKING ABOUT• Narrative design is not programmatic music
• Narrative-designed music does not (necessarily) tell textual stories
• Musical storytelling is not literary storytelling
• Narrative-designed music is informed by structures in literary narrative
THE MONOMYTH: OVERVIEW• Also known as the “Hero’s Journey”
• Popularized by Joseph Campbell (1904-1987)
• Multipart, circular narrative design
• Structuralist interpretation of mythic tales
Beginning: The Hero
THE MONOMYTH: OVERVIEW
Call to Adventure
Crossing of the Threshold
Road of Trials
Nadir of the Journey- Meeting of the Goddess - Atonement with the Father - Apotheosis - Theft of the Quest Object
EARTHLY REALM
SUPERNATURAL REALM
THE MONOMYTH: OVERVIEW
Call to Adventure
Crossing of the Threshold
Road of Trials
Nadir of the Journey- Meeting of the Goddess - Atonement with the Father - Apotheosis - Theft of the Quest Object
Refusal of the Return
Emissary Help/ Magic Flight
Return Across the Threshold
Master of Two Worlds
End: Freedom to Live
EARTHLY REALM
SUPERNATURAL REALM
Beginning: The Hero
“[The hero’s journey] is a magnification of the formula represented in the rites of passage…1 to conduct people across those difficult
thresholds of transformation that demand a change in the patterns not only of conscious but also of unconscious life.”2
–JOSEPH CAMPBELL
1Joseph Campbell, The Hero With A Thousand Faces (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1968), 9. 2 Ibid., 30.
THE MONOMYTH: FIRST DISTILLATION
EARTHLY REALM (ORDER)
SUPERNATURAL REALM (CHAOS)
Beginning
Nadir (greatest distance from the earthly realm)
The return to the earthly realm, with a new
perspective gained from the supernatural
The earthly realm is established and
challenged
The threshold to the supernatural is crossed
The supernatural is understood and mastered
THE MONOMYTH: SECOND DISTILLATION
ORDER
CHAOS
Beginning
Nadir
Exploring two forces……then in collaboration.
…first in contrast…
THE MONOMYTH AND SONATA FORM
I V(unstable)
I (I) trans.
Primary themeSecondary/ Closing theme
Primary themeSecondary/ Closing theme
:
EXPOSITION DEVELOPMENT RECAPITULATION
ORDERORDER CHAOS
trans.
Establish orderCross the threshold
Departure from the known, first encounter with the unknown
Road of trials (challenge to earlier perceived truths)
Nadir of the journey
Refusal of return, flight
Return across the threshold (point
of greatest tension)
Master of two worlds, freedom to live
FREYTAG’S PYRAMID: OVERVIEW• Gustav Freytag (1816-1895): Freytag’s Technique of the Drama
• The five-act dramatic arc
FREYTAG’S PYRAMID: OVERVIEW
Exciting Force
Rising Actio
n Falling Action
Catastrophe
Climax
Exposi
tion
Denouement
–GUSTAV FREYTAG
“[In the rising action] the hero appeared… working from within outward, changing by [his] own force the life relations in which he came upon the stage. From
the climax on, what he has done reacts upon himself and gains power over him…”1
1Gustav Freytag, Freytag’s Technique of the Drama, An Exposition of Dramatic Composition and Art, trans. Elias J. MacEwan (Chicago: Scott, Foresman and Co., 1894): 106.
FREYTAG’S PYRAMID: DISTILLATION
Exposition
Rising Actio
n Falling Action
Catastrophe
Climax
PLAY The choices of the hero
COUNTERPLAY The consequences of the choices
FREYTAG’S PYRAMID: DISTILLATION
Exposition
Rising Actio
n Falling Action
Catastrophe
Climax
COUNTERPLAY Acted upon by external forces
PLAY Responses to those forces
I I IContrasting Key 1
Contrasting Key 2
A (refrain 1) A (refrain 2) A (refrain 3)B (episode 1) C (episode 2)
Climax
Exciting Force/ Exposition
PLAY COUNTERPLAY
Rising Action Falling ActionCatastrophe/ Denoument
Action in response to the exciting force
Strongest point of contact between Play
and Counterplay
abbreviated, reorchestrated, etc.
Events now consequences of earlier decisions
Response to the rising action
FREYTAG’S PYRAMID AND THE 5-PART RONDO
new orchestration, addition of material from B/C
Conclusion and resolution of all events
THE UNIVERSAL SKILL OF NARRATIVE
• Narrative thought is a “natural impulse”1
• Van Dongen: Narrative understanding precedes development of literacy2
• Narrative understanding of musical form can precede theoretical understanding
• Enables discussion of structure at the beginning of musical training
1Hayden White, “The Value of Narrativity in the Representation of Reality,” Critical Inquiry 7:1, On Narrative (Autumn 1980): 5. 2Richard Van Dongen, “Children’s Narrative Thought, at Home and at School,” Language Arts 64:1, Literature and Literacy (January 1987): 82
• As a cure for writer’s block
• Ask the student: “What comes next?”
• Supplement (or replace) model composition projects
• Engage with concepts of pacing, structure, without rote repetition of classical forms
• Especially for students with non-classical music backgrounds
USING NARRATIVE DESIGN IN THE STUDIO
• Narrative designs can create more intentional musical structures
• Guide choices about tension and release
• Enhance student’s ability to elicit emotional response
• Help students integrate their cultural backgrounds into their expression1
1Van Dongen, “Children’s,” 80.
USING NARRATIVE DESIGN IN THE STUDIO
I I IContrasting Key 1
Contrasting Key 2
A (refrain 1) A (refrain 2) A (refrain 3)B (episode 1) C (episode 2)
Exciting Force/ Exposition
PLAY COUNTERPLAY
Rising Action
Climax
Falling ActionCatastrophe/ Denoument
Action in response to the exciting force
Strongest point of contact between Play
and Counterplay
abbreviated, reorchestrated, etc.
Events now consequences of earlier decisions
Response to the rising action
new orchestration, addition of material from B/C
Conclusion and resolution of all events
FREYTAG’S PYRAMID AND THE 5-PART RONDO
I I IContrasting Key 1
Contrasting Key 2
A (refrain 1) A (refrain 2) A (refrain 3)B (episode 1) C (episode 2)
Exciting Force/ Exposition
PLAY COUNTERPLAY
Rising Action
Climax
Falling ActionCatastrophe/ Denoument
Action in response to the exciting force
Strongest point of contact between Play
and Counterplay
abbreviated, reorchestrated, etc.
Events now consequences of earlier decisions
Response to the rising action
new orchestration, addition of material from B/C
Conclusion and resolution of all events
FREYTAG’S PYRAMID AND THE 5-PART RONDO
I I IContrasting Key 1
Contrasting Key 2
A (refrain 1) A (refrain 2) A (refrain 3)B (episode 1) C (episode 2)
Exciting Force/ Exposition
PLAY COUNTERPLAY
Rising Action
Climax
Falling ActionCatastrophe/ Denoument
Action in response to the exciting force
Strongest point of contact between Play
and Counterplay
abbreviated, reorchestrated, etc.
Events now consequences of earlier decisions
Response to the rising action
FREYTAG’S PYRAMID AND THE 5-PART RONDO
new orchestration, addition of material from B/C
Conclusion and resolution of all events
What are the consequences of the B choices?
• Melodically • Harmonically • Rhythmically • Texturally
THE MONOMYTH AND MUSICAL STRUCTURE
ORDER
CHAOS
Beginning
Nadir
Meeting the supernatural
Establishing and challenging the earthly
Mastering the supernatural, Resistance from the supernatural
Return with supernatural perspective
Tension increases…
Refusal of the return
Development (transformation, challenging, distortion)
Road of trials
Return across the
threshold
Magic flight/emissary helpWindow of greatest tension
(golden section)
Master
of both
worl
ds
Balance between order and chaos (melodically, harmonically, texturally)
Exposition of first material; characteristics define the coming material
Call to adventure
Crossing the threshold Exposition of second material Chaos is the opposite of order
–JOSEPH CAMPBELL
“It would not be too much to say that myth is the secret opening through which the inexhaustible energies of the
cosmos pour into human cultural manifestation… The wonder is that the characteristic efficacy to touch and
inspire deep creative centers dwells in the smallest nursery fairy tale—as the flavor of the ocean is contained with a
droplet or the whole mystery of life within the egg of a flea. For the symbols of myth.. are spontaneous productions of
the psyche, and each bears within it, undamaged, the germ power of its source. ”1
1Campbell, Hero, 4.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
WORKS CITED AND FURTHER READING
Scan this QR code on your mobile device for a complete Works Cited list,recommendations for further reading, and to download a PDF of this presentation
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