Hysteria at the Musical Surface

Abstract

The recent debate in Music Theory Online over the nature and efficacy of Klumpenhouwer Networks in the analysis of post-tonal music is representative of and, indeed, instructive in its engagement with methodological anxiety. In four short meditations, this commentary engages implicit ideological frameworks articulated by various positions in the K-net debate, problematizes their assumptions and proposes ways in which future work on K-nets might proceed.