Rhetorical Functional Gestures and Schemes

The Harmonic Functionality of Popular Music at the Intermediate Level

Authors

  • Carlos de Lemos Almada Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ)

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.52930/mt.v10i1.328

Abstract

This article describes the concept of Rhetorical Functional Gestures (GFRs), a harmonic element that acts at an intermediate level between the level of chord progressions and that of tonal relationships in a piece of popular music, integrating into the formal structure at a medium level. GFRs are like compounds formed by a varied number of chords and thus generate specific functional meanings at a higher level. In turn, GFRs can be concatenated into schemes (Gjerdingen 2015; Huron 2006; Snyder 2001), which play relevant and even higher roles in the harmonic-formal structure of a piece. The article introduces a detailed typology of the gestures and presents examples extracted from the literature.

Author Biography

Carlos de Lemos Almada, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ)

Carlos Almada is a composer, master and doctor in Music from Unirio, and is currently an Associate Professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro School of Music and a permanent member of the Graduate Program in Music at the same institution, where he leads a research project on systematic studies in popular music. He is the author of the books: Arranjo (Unicamp, 2001), A estrutura do choro (Da Fonseca, 2006), Harmonia funcional (Unicamp, 2009), Contraponto na música popular (UFRJ, 2013), Nas fronteiras da tonalidade (Prisma, 2016), A harmonia de Jobim (Unicamp, 2022), A melodia de Jobim (Unicamp, 2023), Musical Variation: Toward a Transformational Perspective (Springer, 2023), and Funcionalidade harmônica na música popular: uma proposta teórica (Unicamp, forthcoming). He has also published numerous articles in national and international journals and conference proceedings. A PQ2 Productivity Scholar (CNPq), Almada is a member of the Brazilian Society for Music Theory and Analysis, leader of MusMat research group, and coordinator of the MPB Project (www.projetompb.com.br).

Downloads

Published

2025-07-31

Issue

Vol. 10 No. 1 (2025): January to July

Section

Artigos