Musical argument

A musical argument is a means of creating tension through the relation of expressive content and musical form:

Traditional dialectal^[a] music is representational: the musical form relates to an expressive content and is a means of creating a growing tension; this is what is usually called the musical argument.

— Wim Mertens (1999)^[1]

Experimental musical forms may use process or indeterminacy rather than argument.^[2]

The musical argument may be characterized as the primary flow and current idea being presented in a piece:

The very definition of musical argument is something that keeps going, and you uncover new details and new combinations. A musical argument is not the same as a

ideas and shows you how they relate, and it shows you how they're the same thing.

— Phil Lesh (1982)^[3]

Thus one may hear of a musical argument being interrupted, extended, or repeated.^{[original research?]}

See also

• Musical development
• Sonata form

Notes

References

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