John Rahn
John Rahn, born on February 26, 1944, in New York City, is a music theorist, composer, bassoonist, and Professor of Music at the University of Washington School of Music, Seattle. A former student of Milton Babbitt and Benjamin Boretz, he was editor of Perspectives of New Music from 1983 to 1993 and since 2001 has been co-editor with Benjamin Boretz and Robert Morris.
Forte number and prime form
[edit]There are three methods of computing Forte number and prime form. Allen Forte published the first in his 1973 book The Structure of Atonal Music, citing a 1961 article by Milton Babbitt.[1] The second was introduced in Rahn's Basic Atonal Theory and used in Joseph N. Straus's Introduction to Post-Tonal Theory, where it was declared that the two algorithms only differed in five cases: 5-20, 6-Z29, 6-31, 7-20, and 8-26.[2]
Forte (1973) and Rahn (1980) both list the prime forms of a set as the most left-packed possible version of the set. Forte packs from the left and Rahn packs from the right ("making the small numbers smaller" versus making "the larger numbers smaller").[3] Programmers tend to prefer Rahn's method, because the Rahn prime is easily computed by comparing sets in binary, whereas Forte's prime requires a more complex algorithm.[4]
References
[edit]- ^ Forte 1973, p. 3.
- ^ Straus 1990, p. 28.
- ^ Nelson, Paul (2004). "Two Algorithms for Computing the Prime Form", ComposerTools.com.
- ^ Tsao, Ming (2007). Abstract Musical Intervals: Group Theory for Composition and Analysis, p.99, n.32. ISBN 9781430308355. Algorithms given in Morris, Robert (1991). Class Notes for Atonal Music Theory, p.103. Frog Peak Music.
Bibliography
[edit]- Forte, Allen (1973). The Structure of Atonal Music. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-01610-7. LCCN 72091295. OCLC 861792420. OL 5307893M. Wikidata Q130092153.
- Rahn, John (1980). Basic Atonal Theory. New York: Longman. ISBN 0-02-873160-3. OCLC 4857496. OL 13591926M. Wikidata Q130718877.
- Rahn, John (2000). Music Inside Out: Going Too Far in Musical Essays. intro. and comment. by Benjamin Boretz. Amsterdam: G+B Arts International. p. 177. ISBN 90-5701-332-0. OCLC 154331400.
- Rahn, John (1989). "New Research Paradigms", Music Theory Spectrum, xi/1, 84-94.
- Straus, Joseph N. (1990). Introduction to Post-Tonal Theory. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-686692-1. LCCN 89016089. OCLC 20012239. OL 2196451M. Wikidata Q130718974.
External links
[edit]- "John Rahn's home page ", Faculty.Washington.Edu.
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