About

Brent Auerbach is a Professor of Music Theory at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and serves as the Area Coordinator for Music Theory. He is a pianist and oboist with an academic background that includes undergraduate studies at Harvard University and a Ph.D. in music theory from the Eastman School of Music. His research primarily focuses on extending the concept of the musical motive as it pertains to analysis. His other research interests include the group-mathematic properties of harmonic sequences, pedagogy, and the aesthetics of Baroque composition and counterpoint. Dr. Auerbach has published articles in various scholarly journals such as The Journal of Music Theory, Music Theory Online, Theory and Practice, and Intégral, and has contributed to the book Pop-Culture Pedagogy in the Music Classroom (2011). He has presented papers at numerous conferences, including the Society for Music Theory, the New England Conference of Music Theorists, the Music Theory Society of New York State, the West Coast Conference of Music Theorists, and the Texas Society for Music Theory.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Literature
• Art
• Aesthetics
• Artificial Intelligence
• Sociology
• Visual arts
• Philosophy
• Linguistics
• Psychology
• Epistemology
• Law
• History

Selected publications

• Reining in Pitch and Pitch-Class Motives: Rules for Improving Analytic Outcomes in the Tonal Theory Classroom

  Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy · 2023-01-01

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Pitch-based motives proliferate in many styles of music and are routinely covered in undergraduate instruction. The treatment motives receive, however, is usually cursory. Tonal theory instructors have many reasons for skimming the motivic analysis unit, among them time pressures, underestimating the topic’s complexity, and the influence of textbook design. This standard rushed approach yields poor outcomes in which students are unable to reliably identify recurrences of a small set of motives over any musical span. They are as likely to apply brackets and labels indiscriminately to too many (trivial) events as they are to under-analyze large stretches of motivically-significant events. This article offers a detailed methodology to combat such results, which manifests at its core as a set of graduated, restrictive guidelines for both students and teachers. The rules are cast in negative valence—e.g., “endeavor to not do this or that”— to counter the outcomes that result from classes being afforded too many freedoms in technique too early in their development. Such unrestricted analyses—which highlight phenomenally-dubious shapes, over- or under-analyze long stretches of music, and inconsistently relate ideas to each other—often fail to communicate a clear view of pieces. The utility of the method is supported by critiques of fabricated student analysis and teacher assignments centering on pieces by Fanny Hensel, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Edvard Grieg.

  PublisherDOI

• Conclusion

  2021-04-08

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract This chapter concludes Musical Motives with an assessment of the benefits and disadvantages of motivic analysis. Listed among the benefits are the method’s general accessibility and its applicability to a wide range of musics. A disadvantage is that a great many pieces even within the Western Classical tradition, naturally resist motivic analysis. The chapter cautions that motivic analysis holds potential but is no panacea. What it does do is allow analysts to quickly and productively engage many dimensions of a musical work. Subsequent portions of the conclusion investigate the extent to which other musico-theoretic entities—specifically, fugue subjects, Galant schemas, and the hooks of popular music—intersect the motive concept. Last, consideration is given to the method’s reliance on literal association as a price to be paid for theoretic rigor.

  PublisherDOI

• A History of Motives—Theory and Analysis

  2021-04-08

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  Abstract Chapter 3 provides a history of the role of motives in Western music theory and analysis. The first section covers 1600–1750 c.e., the last period in which motive remained in its conceptual prehistory. At that time, the preeminent musical structure was the “figure,” a passage of music that conveyed a single character. The second section covers 1750–1890, a period in which the influence of figures waned as authors began theorizing about the smaller musical cells that make melodies logical, pleasant, and memorable. The third section of the survey concentrates on the work of Arnold Schoenberg, the composer-theorist who did the most during that time to popularize motive-based views of music. The fourth section covers 1950 to 2010, a period marked by stark changes in how motive was conceived and handled in analysis. Specifically, motives in the late twentieth century underwent intense fragmentation, a “boiling away” of their elements, often leaving behind only pitch intervals and/or rhythms. The chapter closes with a rumination on past and present conventions of motive and motivic analysis, laying groundwork for the rules and conventions to follow in chapters 4–7, the methodology portion of Musical Motives.

  PublisherDOI

• A Brief History of Motives—Composition

  Oxford University Press eBooks · 2021

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Sociology
  • Computer Science
  • Literature

  Abstract Chapter 2 provides a brief history of the role of motives in Western music composition. Motive is posited as one of the several generative forces in music, alongside harmony, counterpoint, and form. Motive’s relative prominence is tracked in style periods of the last four centuries, with peak influence manifesting in the late Romantic and early twentieth-century periods. This changing role of motives is illustrated by a set of analyses of chronologically ordered pieces by Handel, Mozart, Brahms, Wagner, Holst, and Schoenberg. The musical examples, in addition to supporting the historical narrative, serve to introduce readers to the new conventions of nomenclature and rules motivic association that will be presented in detail in the methodology chapters of the book.

  PublisherDOI

• A Universal Nomenclature for Pitch and Rhythm Motives

  2021-04-08

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract Chapter 4 proposes a universal nomenclature for pitch (and pitch-class) and rhythm motives. The system eschews nicknames and abstract letter variables in favor of more objective labels. In the domain of pitch and pitch-class, motives are characterized according to their interval content and their length in terms of “number of notes” (as opposed to their duration in time). These symbols may be supplemented by reference to certain iconic pitch shapes, such as “arpeggiation” and “neighbor” gestures. Altered typescripts are used to indicate pitch ascent versus descent, leaping or “gapped” motives, and chromatically filled motives. Two kinds of addition signs, signaling simple and elided addition, are prescribed for naming composite motives. In the domain of rhythm, a motive is first labeled according to its durations, which are assessed locally in relative terms as long (L), short (S), and medium (M). Sounding (note) events must always be accounted for; rest (silent) durations may be specified by parentheses or disregarded as the analyst sees fit. Extensions to the nomenclature exist to handle cases of subdivided rhythms and composite motives. Demonstrations of proper application of the nomenclature are provided throughout the chapter.

  PublisherDOI

• Analysis of Three Works in Contrasting Styles

  2021-04-08

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  Abstract The three analyses presented in this chapter expound on the theory and methodology presented in chapters 5–7. The first of these, an abbreviated complex motivic analysis of “L’Ondine,” by Cécile Chaminade, reinforces the content of chapter 7 by again taking readers through the processes of narrative construction: segmentation, Focal Point selection, quantification and tally, and the drawing of the Narrative line graph. The other BMA and CMA analyses examine modern works in other genres, a Broadway number by Marvin Hamlisch (“At the Ballet”) and a rock song by Radiohead (“Paranoid Android”). The latter two works are texted, offering a model for how to responsibly integrate a piece’s literal poetic and/or theatric meaning into an account of its motivic activity. As a group, the three analyses are intended to bolster the claim that motivic analysis applies broadly to music.

  PublisherDOI

• Introduction to Motives

  2021-04-08

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  Abstract Chapter 1 of Musical Motives provides a general introduction to the topic of motives. The etymology and origins of the word “motive” are briefly considered, along with its parallels to the “motifs” of visual art and architecture. A working definition for “motive” from Arnold Schoenberg (“the smallest part of a piece or section of a piece that, despite change and repetition, is recognizable as present throughout”) is presented in advance of more formal definitions to be presented in chapters 4–7. For the purposes of this study, motives are required “to move” and “to move listeners.” Analyses of excerpts from Sousa, Beethoven, and Mozart introduce readers to proper motivic identification and labeling technique.

  PublisherDOI

• BMA Narrative Archetypes

  Oxford University Press eBooks · 2021

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Literature
  • Epistemology
  • Aesthetics

  Abstract Chapter 5.5 serves as the first of two Interludes addressing musical narrative. Following from the original proposition that motives must move and move readers, narrative is established as a necessary mechanism for structuring complete, meaningful analyses. The chapter first rehearses the argument that untexted music implicitly possesses narrative qualities. Evidentiary support is taken from seminal works both from literary theory (Propp, Frye, Liszka) and from the fields of musical semiotics and narrative (Nattiez, Hatten, McClary, Guck, Newcomb, Maus, Schmalfeldt, Almén, and Klein). The interlude continues by presenting four “archetypes” for organizing and animating (ascribing motion to) motivic findings. The first archetype, called BMA-1, communicates the progress of a single motive. The other three archetypes, all forms of BMA-2, model multiple motives or motivic elements in dialogue. The possible interactions are “Non-Engagement,” “Synthesis,” and “Triumph.” The BMA archetypes are demonstrated through discussion of works by Beethoven and Chopin.

  PublisherDOI

• Complex Motivic Analysis

  2021-04-08

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  Abstract Chapter 7 establishes the rules and guidelines for complex motivic analysis (CMA). CMA is the more advanced mode of motivic analysis, which centers around the activity of a larger, network-type motive composed of elements from many domains (similar to Schoenberg’s Grundgestalt). The chapter first provides an introduction to the expanded format for motive, including guidance on which domains to include and the proper format for each. It then guides readers through construction of a complex motive for a short Brahms waltz. The remainder of the chapter is given over to describing the paired end products of CMA, which are (1) an Organic Map illustrating the most significant motivic connections in the manner of an enhanced BMA, and (2) a “Narrative” that tallies and charts the number of Complex elements exhibited by each surface segment of the work. The result of the latter process is a Narrative Curve that charts the work’s fluctuating level of organicism and directly reflects the piece’s CMA archetype. The chapter concludes with demonstration of a full CMA analysis of the Brahms waltz.

  PublisherDOI

• CMA Narrative Archetypes

  2021-04-08

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract This Interlude on the topic of narrative, the second of two, serves as the bridge between the sections on basic motivic analysis (BMA) and complex motivic analysis (CMA). Chapter 7, which formally presents CMA, will explore the ramifications of broadening the Focal Point entity to include domains beyond pitch and rhythm and permitting it to occur anywhere in the piece, not just at the beginning. These shifts necessitate a second set of narrative archetypes for modeling the flow of motivic material across a work. The dominant archetype from BMA, Propagation (BMA-1), occurs in CMA as well. Now, however, it may be deployed in hierarchic fashion across the large sections of a piece, with the central Focal Point radiating packets of material to section-controlling Local Points. Other novel CMA archetypes are proposed to document cases where Focal Point material occurs later within a work (Accretion narrative) or multiple times within a work (Cyclic narrative). Detailed schematic diagrams support the discussion of all CMA types. The chapter concludes with presentation of a summary chart of all BMA and CMA narratives.

  PublisherDOI