TOGE | MTO — All Examples

Written By Kit Soden

Modules | Orchestration | All Examples | Taxonomy | Grouping Effects | TOGE MTO

All score and audio examples from:

A Taxonomy of Orchestral Grouping Effects Derived from Principles of Auditory Perception
by Stephen McAdams, Meghan Goodchild, and Kit Soden

Copyright © 2022 Society for Music Theory | Link to original publication

This item appeared in Music Theory Online in Volume 28, Number 3 on September 28, 2022.

It was authored by Stephen McAdams (contact: stephen.mcadams[at]mcgill.ca), Meghan Goodchild, and Kit Soden, with whose written permission it is reprinted here.

The Timbre and Orchestration Resource reprint can be found here.

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TOGE | MTO — Example 1

Auditory grouping gives rise to events from which perceptual properties are extracted, which then acquire musical functions within a given sonic context

TOGE | MTO — Example 2

Auditory grouping processes and the resulting perceptual qualities and corresponding orchestral effects. [Adapted from Goodchild and McAdams 2021, Fig. 1]

TOGE | MTO — Example 3

Taxonomy of concurrent auditory grouping phenomena

TOGE | MTO — Example 4

Timbral augmentation (sustained, stable): Debussy, La Mer, i, mm. 122–31

TOGE | MTO — Example 5

Timbral augmentation (sustained, transforming): Wagner, Parsifal, Overture, mm. 20–25

TOGE | MTO — Example 6

Timbral augmentation (punctuated): Sibelius, Symphony no. 5, op. 82, iii, mm. 474–482

TOGE | MTO — Example 7

Timbral emergence (sustained, stable): Debussy, La Mer, i, mm. 6–17

TOGE | MTO — Example 8

Timbral emergence (sustained, transforming): Schoenberg, Five Pieces for Orchestra op. 16, iii, mm. 1–11

TOGE | MTO — Example 9

Timbral emergence (punctuated): Berlioz, Symphonie fantastique, iv, m. 17

TOGE | MTO — Example 10

Timbral heterogeneity (sustained, stable): Debussy, La Mer, iii, mm. 183–186.

TOGE | MTO — Example 11

Timbral heterogeneity (punctuated): Tchaikovsky, Nutcracker Suite, op. 71a, i, mm. 181–182

TOGE | MTO — Example 12

Taxonomy of sequential auditory grouping phenomena

TOGE | MTO — Example 13

Stream integration (stable). Ravel’s orchestration of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, vi (“Samuel Goldberg and Schmuÿl”), mm. 1–8, Score in C

TOGE | MTO — Example 14

Stream integration (transforming): Reynolds, The Angel of Death, S section, mm. 364–373; [From Touizrar and McAdams 2019]

TOGE | MTO — Example 15

Surface texture (stable): Smetana, Die Moldau, mm. 185–194

TOGE | MTO — Example 16

Surface texture (transforming): Smetana, The Bartered Bride, Overture, mm. 89–99

TOGE | MTO — Example 17

Stream segregation (stable) of co-equal single-instrument lines: Vaughan Williams, The Lark Ascending, mm. 88–94

TOGE | MTO — Example 18

Example 18. Stream segregation (stable) of blended streams: Borodin, In the Steppes of Central Asia, mm. 210–218

TOGE | MTO — Example 19

Stream segregation (transforming) of blended streams: Stravinsky, Quatre Etudes, iv (Madrid), mm. 93–94

TOGE | MTO — Example 20

Stratification (stable) with three layers: Mahler, Symphony no. 1, ii, mm. 26–31

TOGE | MTO — Example 21

Stratification (transforming) in three layers: Borodin, In the Steppes of Central Asia, mm. 27–42]

TOGE | MTO — Example 22

Taxonomy of segmental auditory grouping phenomena

TOGE | MTO — Example 23

Timbral shifts: Schubert, Symphony no. 9 in C major, i, mm. 594–602]

TOGE | MTO — Example 24

Timbral echo: Sibelius, Symphony no. 2 in D major, ii, mm. 120–128

TOGE | MTO — Example 25

Antiphonal contrast: Haydn, Symphony no. 100 in G major (Military), ii, mm. 61–64

TOGE | MTO — Example 26

Timbral juxtapositions: Sibelius, Symphony no. 2, ii, mm. 67–75.

TOGE | MTO — Example 27

Sectional boundaries: Dolan’s (2013b) orchestral graph of Haydn, Symphony no. 100, ii. Colors represent different instruments and the line thickness corresponds to notated dynamics.

Kit Soden
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