Abstract and Concrete Meter John Halle Bard College Conservatory

Abstract and Concrete Meter

John Halle

Bard College Conservatory

Introduction: Four problems in metrical form.

• “Pure” Linguistics: The Stress Assignment Problem (e.g. SPE 1968, Hayes 1995, Idsardi 2005 etc).

• The prosodic form problem-(PFP) (Traditional Prosody: e.g. Malof 1970, Attridge 1982, Cureton 2000. Generative Metrics e.g. M. Halle-Keyser 1971, Hayes 1979, Hayes 1989, Hanson and Kiparsky 1996, etc. )

“Given a poetic meter M, what conditions are imposed on a sequence of syllables S such that S can be construed as members of the class M.”

• The text setting problem (TSP) ( J. Halle-Lerdahl 1993, Hayes and Kaun 1996, Hayes and MacEachern 1998, Kiparsky 2007, Hayes forthcoming)“Given a sequence of syllables S and a (strophic) tune T, what assignments of S to T result in an acceptable text setting.”

• “Pure” Cognitive Music Theory (GTTM) The beat induction problem (Temperly 2006, Desain 2003, Lerdahl and Jackendoff 1982, Longuet-Higgins 1981 etc.)

Phonological sequence(candidate line)

Metrical Paradigm

Abstract Metrical Form(assignment-evaluation)

Metrical Line

Prosodic form problem: assignment of abstract metrical form (general)

Assignment of abstract meter (specific): Halle-Keyser (1971) Iambic Pentameter

Syllabic Sequence:“The curfew toll the knell of parting day.”“Ode to the West Wind by Percy Byssche Shelly”*

HK Iambic Pentameter:(W)SWSWSWS(X)(X)

Assignment: correspond each syllable to position in metrical paradigmEvaluation: SM must appear in S position.

Metrical Line

W S W S W S W S W S X XThe curfew tolls the knell of parting day.ø ø Ode to the West Wind by Percy Bysche Shelly.ø * (unmetrical line)

Stress Maximum definition: “Fully stressed syllable adjacent to unstressed syllables in the same syntacticconstituent.”

Text setting problem (English):

Syllable sequencea. “Tell me not in mournful numbers”.b. “Through all the compass of the notes”.

Note Sequence-e.g “Ode to Joy”x x x x x x x x x x x x B B C D D C B A

Concrete Metrical Form(assignment-evaluation)

Acceptable text setting

Assign syllables to note(s)Subject to• Stress-beat matching• Constituency matching• Constraints on melismas

x x x x x x x x x x x x B B C D D C B A“Tell me not in mournful numbers”.“Through all the comp ass of the notes”.*

Strophic Text setting problem

Syllable sequence Strophic Tune Family


Acceptable text setting

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x A A A A A A A D F A What shall we do with a drun ken sai lor? Original Keel haul him till he’s so ber. variant Put him in the scup pers with a hose pipe on him. variant

Similarity Metric (Halle, forthcoming):1 = mandatory occupancy (occupied in original and in strophic variants)Ø = mandatory vacancy (vacant in original and in strophic variants)+ = optional occupancy (vacant in original may be occupied in strophic variants)- = optional occupancy (occupied in original may be vacant in strophic variants

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x A A A A A A A D F A + 1 + - - 1 + - - 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 What shall we do with a drun ken sai lor? original Keel haul him till he’s so ber. variant Put him in the scup pers with a hose pipe on him. variant

Tune family defined by strophic variants: “The Drunken Sailor” (Halle-Lerdahl 1993)

“The Farmer in the Dell”

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x C C F F F F F F F + 1 1 + - 1 + - 1 ø ø ø The far mer in the dell. (attested) The rat eats the cheese. (attested) El i za beth eats the cheese. (construct but OK) The far mer in the val ley.* (construct, not OK)

Does PFP = TSP?

Indication 1) Abstract metrical paradigm designates a string of positions, some of which are occupied or vacant. Exactly analogous form of strophic variants.

HK metrical paradigm (revisited): (W) S W S W S W S W S (X) (X)

Parentheses represent “optional positions” within attested iambic pentameter lines: (W) S W S W S W S W S (X) (X) The curfew tolls the knell of parting day. ø ø (regular “end stopped” line)

(W) S W S W S W S W S (X) (X) To be or not to be that is the question. ø (“feminine ending”) (W)S W S W S W S WS(X)(X)Whatever ails me, now a-late especially. (“double feminine ending”) (W) S W S W S W S W S (X) (X) ø Twenty bookes clad in blak and red ø ø (headless iamb)

Expressing HK iambic pentameter paradigm within the similarity metric

Step 1) Assign each position in HK paradigm appropriate occupancy status

- 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 + + (w) s w s w s w s w s (x)(x)

Step 2) Assign metrical levels: (SM in bold)

x x x x x x L(0) x x x x x x x x x x x x L(-1) - 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 + + (w) s w s w s w s w s (x)(x)The curfew tolls the knell of parting day.

Not

x x x x x L(0) x x x x x x x x x x L(-1) The curfew tolls the knell of parting day.

Why? Contains mismatches. (see e.g. Kelly and Palmer 1992)

Reason 2) SMP (prosodic category) appears to help explain Stress-Beat Mismatch in text setting.

a) Relatively stressed syllables in weak positions-no mismatch x x x x x x x By the dawn’s early light (U.S. National Anthem) (Prince 1988)

b) Relatively unstressed syllables in relatively strong positions-no mismatch x x x x x x x California (here I come)

c) But stress maxima in weak positions problematic: x x x x x x x 1) By the a maz ing light.* (construct)

x x x x x x x x x x x x C D E C C D E C (Frère Jacques)2) The boy is at home on Friday*3) Joe's boy is at home on Friday

So PFP = TSP (maybe)

Not so fast. Consensus among metricists is no.

Tarlinskaya (2002) (contra Attridge 1982):"though music and language used to be intertwined, they parted ways long ago. Musical meter and meter of verse texts cannot be equated; musical theories of meter need no resurrection."

Why the skepticism? All external evidence is negative.

1) Temporalist/musicalist representations of declamation patterns of metrical texts are often at best idiosyncratic at worst bizarre:

e.g. Lanier (1899)

Gross (1964): Lanier “scatters sand in the eye and pours wax in the ear. “

2) Recitations of unproblematically metrical texts are frequently not in any obvious objective or subjective sense periodic.

e.g. Shakespeare/Gielgud

3) Consistent with conclusion of Patel (2008):

“Temporal periodicity is widespread in musical rhythm but lacking in speech rhythm. The notion that speech has temporal periodic structure drove much of the early research into speech rhythm, and was the basis for a rhythmic typology of languages which persists today (stress timed vs. syllable timed languages). It is quite evident that that the notion of isochrony in speech is not empirically supported.”

Explains

a) Why musicalist scansions have been seductive.

b) Why they don’t work.

But if traditional prosodic and GM representations of poetic meter do not implicate temporal/rhythmic structure, what are they representations of?

Representation of abstract structure.

• Groves (2002): “Formal prosody has reject(ed) the notion that the utterance of the verse can have any relevance to the meter.” Meter is “a property of texts rather than utterances . . . static and inert, a pattern existing outside of or apart from any actual reading of the poem.”

• HK: Metrical form = "abstract pattern" comparable to "flowers in a flower bed, desks in a classroom, windows on the side of a house.”

• Fabb and Halle (2008): “stipulate a fundamental difference between the meter of a text viewed abstractly and the rhythm of a concrete performance of the text.”

• Gouvard (2000): Cette distinction entre la versification et la prononciation des vers, qui relève de la practique du récitant, du comedien ou de l'orateur, est un point capital: l’étude de la forme du vers n'est pas l’étude de la declamation du vers du telle ou telle époque. Les règles qui president l’écriture versifiée d'une oeuvre litteraire ne sont pas de règles de composition.

Conclusion: Concrete and abstract metrical form are independent structures with shared elements.

Syllable sequence Abstract Metrical Paradigm


Metrical Line

Syllable sequence Note sequence


Acceptable Text Setting(performance specification)

but

Poetic meter Text setting

Abstract and concrete metrical form frequently interact:

1) Pre-existing metrical texts probably constitutes the majority of lyrics e.g. Schubert, Debussy, Fauré, Dowland, etc.

2) Hymnals: arranged according to textual meter (Kiparsky 2007) LM (long meter), SM (short meter), CM (common meter) etc.

3) Metrically rigid texts Oehrle (1988), Nursery rhymes (Arleo 2003) (Burling 1970), Dolnik (Tarlinskaya 2001) are easily assigned a concrete periodic/rhythmicized form by

readers. e.g.

Thirty days hath SeptemberApril June and November All the rest have thirty-oneExcepting February aloneAnd that has twenty-eight days clear And twenty-nine in each Leap Year

4) Hayes p.c. “Composing songs with metrical texts is much easier.”

Kiparsky (2007):In setting texts, “(c)omposers . . . construct a match between three tiers of rhythmic structure: linguistic prominence, poetic meter, and musical rhythm.”

Dell-Elmadoui (2008) Berber text setting

How do concrete and abstract form interact in text setting?Consensus position: abstract, textual meter mediates between text and tune.

Abstract meter is not a necessary characteristic of acceptable texts assigned to tunes.Reason 1: Settings of prose texts are a) common and b) constrained with acceptability evaluated on the same grounds as metrical texts.

(Turn, Turn, Turn-Pete Seeger setting of Ecclesiastes 3: 1)(Simplified transcription) x x x x x x x x x x x x C E F G | To eve ry thing/

C E F G G || there is a seas on//

A A G G F E D And a time/to eve ry pur

C | E D D C ||| pose/ un der hea ven. ///

/ = linguistic constituent (prosodic) boundary 1 constituency mismatch, 0 SM mismatches| = musical constituent (group) boundarySM in bold

x x x x x x x x x x x x C E F G | Van i ty of

C E F G G ||van i ties/sa ith

A A G G F E D the prea cher.//Van it y of

C | E D D C |||

van i ties/ all is . . . 7 constituency mismatches, 3 SM mismatches

But Ecclesiastes 1:1 (also prose) assigned to Seeger tune seems unnatural:

Reason 2: Even when text is metrical, composer may be unaware of abstract metrical structure, choose to ignore it, or interpret it idiosyncratically. Text is effectivelyprose.

Conclusion:

A formal model of text setting must represent that

1) Both prose texts and metrical texts can be associated with tunes. Both are evaluated according to the constraints of text to tune matching.

2) Metrical texts tend to dictate a relatively narrow class of melodic forms, including, but not limited to, the “schoolboy” declamation pattern associated with them.

Abstract Metrical Paradigm


Metrical Line

Note sequence


Text Setting(performance specification)

Direct path(prose text setting)

Mediated path(prosodic text setting)

Syllable sequence

Mediated path: abstract meter directly mapped onto concrete meter defines prosodic tune family. (Parlor game).Iambic tetrameter tune family.

1) Hernando’s Hideaway

Prosodic tune family: tune-text composite with the following specifications:

S > strong grid position, W > weak grid position, line final syllable > group final note (usually max. long)

2) Syncopated Clock (simplified)

Iambic pentameter tune family: Fain and Hallmark (1977) x x x x x xx x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x xW S W S W S W S W S |

Schubert: “Ungeduld”



Metrical Line

Note sequence



Syllable sequence

Text Initial, Mediated Path



Metrical Line(“for free”)

Prosodic Note sequence



Syllable sequence

Tune Initial Text Setting

Conclusion: In these instances, abstract metrical form is a special case of the strophic textsettting problem.

D Pesetsky (p.c.)

“What we call "iambic pentameter" or the like is simply one of a set of tunes that are elevated to special status within a poetic tradition. It could just as well have turned out that our literary culture would have elevated White Christmas, Drunken Sailor or 76 Trombones, but it didn't. In general, the English poetic tradition picked fairly sedate and highly regular patterns as its canonical tunes, but that's an accident of our literary culture.”

Empirical question: How prevalent are these instances? If dominant, TSP = PFP.

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Abstract and Concrete Meter John Halle Bard College Conservatory