Ornamentation as Gesture in Atonal Music

Abstract

Abstract Hearing and representing melodic and harmonic elaboration lies at the heart of tonal analysis. We sometimes disagree about what exactly is ornamental or how tones are prolonged, but our widespread collective understanding of passing tones, neighbor tones, suspensions, and the like underscores the important notion that some notes are more structurally important than others. This article proposes ways to read ornamentation in atonal music, recasting ornamental categories gesturally and pragmatically instead of (or in addition to) tonally and metrically.