Excerpt+12

1. This short piano piece has been said to have an ‘air of unpredictability’ about it. Do you agree? Justify your answer by concentrating on the way the composer treats melody and harmony.
 * Track 12: Eric Satie: ‘Seul a la Maison’ (1:15)**

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Melody:

The melody seems to be quite unpredictable with occasional parts seeming almost predictable, as in leading to a cadence but then adding in a strange accidental and taking the phrase in another direction. The rhythm of the melody is quite predictable by either being crotchets or quavers mainly, but the rests give a sense of unpredictability. Th phrases are quite irregular throughout the excerpt aiding the already established mood, but what makes this effect so effective is that the melody moves in an arch like contour occasionally but then leaps to another and changes. //Good. Try to be a little more specific. The lack of a clear sense of tonality and the winding contour of the melody add to the unpredictability.// Harmony:

The composer's use of harmony is not essentially traditional, the excerpt seems to modulate quite often making the tonal center difficult to grasp. The Harmony created between the two piano parts or 'voices' generally sounds as if two melodies colliding giving dissonance, but occasionally the melodies match shortly (During the octave section) but soon seperate again creating even more a sense of unpredictability to listeners.

Troy Rogan

//Good overall but more specific points needed. More detail on the types of harmonies created, the lack of resolution. Be more specific about how the harmonies are created. Is it the same all the time or does it change?//

No set tonality. Mostly scalic with constant modulations and changes of tonal centre.

The flowing quaver rhythm and the repetitive articulation are the main elements that make the whole composition more familiar and catchy to listeners.

The harmony is as unpredictable as the melody. Using basic triads of any quality as well as occasional sustained lone bass notes, the left hand harmony follows the incessant and directionless melody.

Whilst the melody is quite scalic, it follows no particular key and has no particular intervallic pattern. The lack of repetition and establishment of motifs within the harmonic and melodic lines, leads me to concur that this piece has an ‘air of unpredictability’.

Harriet Davies //You haven't//


 * **Melody** || **Harmony** ||
 * Begins with a series of left-hand ostinati with repeated rhythms and intervallic structure (sequences) but constant changes in pitch. After the entrance of the melody, sequences drop and intervallic structure becomes more angular and less preictable.

Melody floats over the top of these in a higher octave of a differnet key, upsetting the constancy of movement and casting doubt on the listener, as the phrases and contours of each part become jumbled and difficult to identify. Melody uses predictable notes and intervallic structures, just as the left hand did in the opening. What is unpredictable is the combination of this set of intervals with that of the accompaniment, and the different phrase directions each part travels in. However, occasionally the direction of each part’s phrase intersects and a unity of movement can be heard.

Octave unison section: brings the 2 drifting lines together in an almost forced way. Yet the intervals are still very disjunct, using leaps and not travelling in an identifiable direction (ascending/descending)

Perhaps the one thing that is //not// unpredictable about this piece is its use of quaver rhythms in the accompanying left hand. Almost an ostinato, but with a little more freedom and rubato, the quavers remain constant until the second section, when the 2 parts join in octave unison. The right hand is generally less preictable in its use of rhythm, often using syncopation and ties between bars. || On first hearing the broken chord in the left hand, one may presume the piece will use a series of these throughout, keeping to traditional diatonic harmonies. Surprise! The idea is quickly dismissed with the entrance of melody which is in both manother key and follows very different phrase directions and rhythmic patterns.

The harmonies are created via ‘collisions’ between the 2 drifting lines; often referred to as incidental harmony. However, they have obviously been planned meticulously and are designed to give the listener taste of familiarity before moving on to a completely unexpected chord. Suspensions we expect to be resolved are not; progression we expect to travel to the tonic end up in a completely different key, etc.

**e.g.:** Before the right hand melody enters, a clear direction of phrase and harmonic preogression can be heard in the left hand. This is wiped out with the entrance of the right-hand melody, in a completely different key.

Although one is aware from the first bar that the piece will not hold any clearly identifiable chord progressions or modulations, the fragments of diatonic harmony cause the listener to temporarily forget this, and expect the next chord to lead on from the previous in a typical western fashion. Alas, they have again been deceived; for every time we expect to hear something vaguely familiar, it is replaced with something we would never have expected to be there. Thus, the piece is unpredictable and grips the listener’s attention with unresolved suspensions and unconventional chord patterns.

(But after 2 hearings the piece is predictably unpredictable) :D :D ||

EMILY LANHAM


 * Mati: **
 * Notes: **
 * -Arpeggiated **
 * -Syncopated melody **
 * -Repeated ostinati accompaniment **
 * -Unclear metre **
 * -Consonant but unusual harmonic progression **
 * -Sudden finish on low and dissonant held note **
 * -Melody has a large range, uses disjunct intervals and has uneven phrase lengths all contributing to a sense of predictable unpredicatbility **
 * -Harmony, although consonant, seems to not be functional, serving mainly as a colour to which accompany the melody. **
 * -Broken chords are used. **
 * -Harmony almost seems the result of the two lines playing simultaneously with use of the pedal. There are no block chords. **
 * -The two melodies are playing separately, with their rhythmic patterns crossing over one another. The arpeggiated line has even note lengths but eneven grouping. **
 * -The upper line has many different rhythmic values **
 * -Occationally the two parts seem to use unrelated scales and keys/harmonies before finding an unusual middle ground. **


 * Answer: The piece does not have an air of unpredictability due to a lot of repetition of rhythmic and melodic ideas but it does have a sense of instability due to the unclear metre and changing harmonies. The harmonic centre is seemingly defined before suddenly shifting - this and other things are predictable because they keep occurring but contribute to the instability of the piece due to their nature. In an odd sort of way the excerpt is predictably unpredictable. **