# Function and Structure



## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

Serial row order can be 'stacked' to produce triads or anything else you wish, but there's only so far this will take you. 

The interval relations between the notes are what preserves the structural features of the row. If you do stack them, it should be in groups of 3, 4, 5 etc. consecutive notes of the row.

Good luck with the results, because this is not an inherently "harmonic" way of creating harmony.


The only thing that "function" does is project an hierarchy of triads, in relation to the tonic, by degree of consonance.


A mode does not, by itself, give structure to a piece. A whole-tone scale does not, by itself, give structure to a piece. Non-functional diatonicism does not, by itself, give structure to a piece. These are just "scales," and any "structure" must be put there by the composer, just like 12-tone music.


The 12-tone method, likewise, does not give structure to a piece, but it does give overall unity to a piece, but it does not "structure" a piece.

In the case of "a mode," considered as the constituent scale, it has a tonic, and if triads are constructed on its scale-steps, an hierarchy of function will be automatically created, according to the degree of consonance present in relation to tonic, or I.


Example: D Dorian scale: D-E-F-G-A-B-C. Triads created: i-Dmin, ii-Emin, III-Fmaj, IV-Gmaj, v-Gmin, viø (half-diminished or min7b5)-Bmin7b5, bVII-Cmaj. I will not bother to rank them at this point.


So, to an extent, these structures are created "automatically" as a consequence of constructing triads on the scale-steps. Surely, you would not dispute this obvious act, which any jazz player would know.


In the case of the whole-tone scale, if it is referenced in a tonal context, it is inherently an unstable "deconstructing" element, tonally speaking; the best it can manage is a "suspended" feel, or altered dominant; but it can definitely be used to suggest tonal areas of function. 


Like Thelonious Monk did, it can be used as a dominant element, reinforcing a dominant 7 sound. 


Example: in C major, a whole-tone scale beginning on G (G-A-B-C#-D#-F) suggests a G aug 9, or a G7b5. Let's build some triads, from C: (C-D-E-F#(Gb)-G#(Ab)-A#(Bb).


I: C-E-Gb: Cb5, C-E-G#: C aug, which repeats on every scale step, since the scale is symmetrical. This makes it usable for those functions on each step. Any "modal" permutation (starting on D, E, F#, etc) are simply reiterations, and are essentially identical, and will yield the same content. Limited, but flexible.


Additionally, the whole-tone is a 6-note scale, so there are only 2 of them per octave. This allows 2 areas of tonality to be created, a semitone apart. Since the semitone can be a tritone substitution (the "chromatic/fifths" connection), this creates a "I-V" contrast which can be exploited tonally. Debussy did this. Schoenberg also used a row constructed on similar lines to "suggest" this same effect, although in essence, his tone-row is not "tonal" in a structural sense.


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