The Time of Music: New Meanings, New Temporalities, New Listening Strategies

This innovative, provocative book offers a new, comprehensive theory of musical time. Exploring the qualitative, philosophical aspects of this elusive yet fundamental basis of music, Jonathan D. Kramer unlocks the dimensions of musical time not considered by theories that limit study to the concrete elements of rhythm and meter. By taking a larger view, Kramer grapples with the evasive, subjective elements of time --and supports his aesthetic speculation with hard evidence from musical structure. It is this engaging mix of abstract theory and practical application that securely ranks The Time of Music among the best contemporary music scholarship. Kramer draws on the diverse studies of philosophy, psychology, cultural history, and music theory to examine the qualitative elements of musical time: direction, tension, resolution, cumulation, proportion, pacing, and duration. Close musical analysis brings theoretical speculation back to real music and real perception. Focusing on the here and now, The Time of Music considers how contemporary Western listeners hear and understand the music of all eras and places. Through vivid examples of musical analysis, Kramer engages the reader with innovative answers to questions that reveal the depth of musical time: how this century s music differs from music of the past, how compositions are organized in time, how durations are perceived and remembered, how pieces begin and end, and the importance of technology to how music is heard, used, and created.