Theorizing Beyond the Canon

Tonality, Harmonic Function, and Prolongation

Abstract

This article revisits the concepts of tonality, harmonic function, and prolongation from a critical perspective on the discipline of music theory and analysis, with much emphasis on the colonial character of institutionalized western tonal theory and its musical canon. In the first part, we reconcile different conceptions of harmonic function with a spatio-temporal understanding of tonality comprising both paradigmatic and syntagmatic properties. Based on this two-dimensional perspective of harmonic function, we propose an analytical model that moves away from the hegemonic habit of syntactically prioritizing the dominant over the subdominant, placing plagal and authentic forces on equal footing. This redistribution of tonal forces gives rise to an expanded catalog of cadential formulas, exemplified with a repertoire that ranges from Argentine rock and MPB to classical music. In the second part of the article, we propose a set of techniques for syntagmatic elaboration, which aims at freeing the concept of prolongation from the presence of a complex contrapuntal fabric. Ultimately, by placing within a single broader spectrum repertoires that have remained epistemologically and ideologically separated, this article seeks to foreground tonal practices that have been marginalized by institutionalized harmonic theory and its canon. The article concludes with a structural analysis of the song Dindi by Tom Jobim.