SET (MUSIC)

In musical set theory, a 'set' is a collection of discrete entities, for example pitch sets, duration sets, and timbre sets (DeLone et al., 1975, p.475). A 'set form' is the arrangement of an ordered set: the 'prime form' (original order), inverse (upside down), retrograde (backwards), and retrograde inverse (backwards and upside down) (ibid).
A 'derived set' is one which is generated or derived from consistent operations on a subset, for example Webern's Concerto, Op.24, in which the last three sets are derived from the first (ibid, p.474):
B Bb D Eb G F# G# E F C C# A
Represented numerically:
0 11 3 4 8 7 9 5 6 1 2 10
The first set being:
0 11 3 4
The second being the first transposed up eight semitones:
0 11 3 4
+ 8 8 8 8
--------
= 8 7 9 5
A 'time-point set' is a duration set where the distance in time units between attack points, or time-points, is the distance in semitones between pitch classes (ibid, p.476).

Contents

See also

References

See also

★ Permutation (music)

References

★ DeLone et al. (Eds.) (1975). ''Aspects of Twentieth-Century Music''. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. ISBN 0-13-049346-5.