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JasonFruit | 2 years ago
You really can't. They aren't laws of nature, but they are based on observation: "When I have two voices proceed in parallel fifths, it's as though one voice ceased to have an independent character. Unless I want that effect, I should avoid that." "When I frustrate a leading tone, it makes the harmonic effect less clear."
Schoenberg's system starts with the arbitrary: pick a tone row and use it! But there are rules based on observation there, too: if you use tonal constructions in atonal music, it frustrates the listener's expectations, so don't do that. The ear can recognize the rows when transposed, reversed, and altered by other techniques, so those are good. Serialism is less fully-developed and lacks the deep cultural background of tonal music, but it's not entirely arbitrary either.
zozbot234|2 years ago
This is partly true, but that rule (as with many other rules of strict composition) originated with purely vocal music which had to be made easy to sing. There's plenty of music for instruments like the piano or the guitar (even literate music, starting from the early 20th c. or so) where consecutive fifths are played all the time and such a "blending" effect is not really heard. Probably a result of timbre (these instruments have a bit of perceptual "roughness" to them that helps prevent a blended tone) as well as musical context (when consecutive fifths are just part of the music, that kind of sound is expected and easier to understand for the listener).
JasonFruit|2 years ago