FIGURE (MUSIC)

In music, a 'figure' is a recurring fragment or succession of notes that may be used to construct the accompaniment. A figure is distinguished from a motif in that a figure is background while a motif is foreground: "A figure resembles a moulding in architecture: it is 'open at both ends', so as to be endlessly repeatable. In hearing a phrase as a figure, rather than a motif, we are at the same time placing it in the background, even if it is...strong and melodious." (Scruton 1997: 61) A figure may be melodic (pitch) and/or rhythmic (duration).
A phrase originally presented or heard as a motif may become a figure which accompanies another melody, such as in the second movement of Claude Debussy's String Quartet:

Roger Scruton (1997: 63) describes some music by Philip Glass as "nothing ''but'' figures...endless daisy-chains," such as ''Ekhnaton''.
The 1964 ''Grove's Dictionary'' defines figure as follows:

★ "any short succession of notes, either as melody or group of chords, which produces a single complete and distinct impression. The term is the exact counterpart of the German 'motiv' and the French 'motif'. It is the shortest idea in music."
A basic figure may also be known as a riff, especially in music involving the electric guitar.

Contents

Sources

Sources

★ Scruton, Roger (1997). ''The Aesthetics of Music''. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-816638-9.

★ Nattiez, Jean-Jacques (1990). ''Music and Discourse: Toward a Semiology of Music'' (''Musicologie générale et sémiologue'', 1987). Translated by Carolyn Abbate (1990). ISBN 0-691-02714-5.

★ (1964). ''Grove's Dictionary''. cited in Scruton, Roger (1997).