Extended Harmonies

Having completed the exposition of most concepts common to common-practice tonality, we move on to chords that don’t quite fit Functional Analysis as I originally conceived it. None of the following chords can really be said to be complicated, uncommon, or exotic. However, in the context of Functional Analysis’s common-practice tonality basic metric, they are…

Bach Chaconne analysis

*An excerpt from the dissertation History, Implementation, and Pedagogical Implications of an Updated System of Functional Analysis* The following examples from the class during winter 2014, Examples 4.1 and 4.2, show how Functional Analysis helps lead to better phrase and motivic understanding. These two versions of a harmonic analysis of the Bach Chaconne from the…

Dissertation lecture video

I have succeeded (I think) in uploading the recording of my public lecture from last week. The main talk is about 55 minutes, and I left the tape rolling for the Q&A after as well. If you notice any problems please let me know!

Dissertation Diary 2016-06-02

I am in the process of uploading my dissertation to the database! I just have to go to school and scan some signature pages and I’ll be done! After some edits suggested by my committee, the document is 194 pages, and 46,110 words. If you’d like to read it, I can send out pdfs no…

Dissertation Diary 2016-05-19

I finished up my handouts for the Lecture next week and I have a run thru tonight! Lecture coming up on Tuesday, defense a week from today. I may or may not post next week, I’m not sure if I’m leaving town directly after the defense or not.

Dissertation Diary 2016-05-12

I managed to get my lecture script down to 28 pages, but I don’t even know if that’s short enough. I’ll be working up the handout and practicing piano next week! I’ve scheduled a run thru for Thursday May 19th at 6:30, and the Lecture is May 24th at 4pm. So close to done!

Dissertation Diary 2016-05-05

I took a couple days off, but after meeting with my advisor yesterday, I’ve gotten back to work. I have to figure out how to condense my 188 page document into a 45-60 minute talk. Using the following outline (and copy/pasting from my dissertation) I’ve got it down to 53 pages… Intro motivations goals History…

Dissertation Diary 2016-04-21

Whew. I have a complete draft! I still need to wait for a few (hopefully minor) edits from a couple people, but the 188 pages and 43,961 words have been provisionally approved by my primary advisor. I spent 7 solid hours on Tuesday manually going thru all those pages checking for different detail things. Very…