Theoretical and formal continuity in James Tenney's music

Abstract

James Tenney created much of his music and theoretical writing as an objective experimenter, observer and codifier. This article examines Tenney's traits of curiosity, experimentation and honest self-evaluation through a subset of his compositions from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Although quite diverse in many ways, these compositions share his mark of intense individuality, integrity and compositional rigor, which creates a macro-unity and formal continuity between works. Perhaps this is his ultimate ‘clang’ and conceptual ‘temporal gestalt-unit’. Each composition grows out of the need to address one or more specific formal questions: each work is indeed an experiment designed to explore the inherent ramifications of a theory, and subsequent compositions address questions generated by earlier works. Reclaiming the term ‘theorist’ in the proper sense within music, James Tenney designed and refined theories that required his compositions to prove or disprove them. In this way, each composition is linked to the next, and this continuous exploration established the large-scale formal and philosophical continuity of his creative life.

Keywords:

• Formal Structure
• Process Composition
• Aural Perception
• Experimental Music
• Theory and Practice

Acknowledgements

Research and writing time for this article was supported by the College of Humanities and the Arts, San Jose State University, through a release-time grant during the spring 2007 semester. Larry Polansky, perhaps the leading champion of Tenney's music and writings for many years, generously provided scores and monographs before they were published when this author began studying Tenney's music during the 1980s. Larry has remained just as generous with his knowledge and encouragement during the intervening twenty years. Special thanks go to Marianne Bickett, my wife and partner, for reading drafts of this paper and offering useful suggestions throughout the process, and for understanding and supporting the long hours needed to pull the various threads together.

Notes

[1] Tenney's monograph ‘Computer Music Experiences, 1961 – 1969’ was originally entitled ‘Computer Music Experiments, 1961 – 1969’. This author's typed copy of the pre-published manuscript has the original title with the word ‘experiments’ crossed out and amended to ‘experiences’ in Tenney's handwritten block letters. In keeping with the emphasis on experiment as process throughout this article, Tenney's draft version of the title is an interesting insight into his recollections of those early years at Bell Labs.

[2] See also the analysis of Spectral CANON for CONLON Nancarrow in Robert A. Wannamaker's article in this issue of Contemporary Music Review, ‘The Spectral Music of James Tenney’.

[3]Three Indigenous Songs is also discussed in Robert A. Wannamaker's article in this issue of Contemporary Music Review.