This extended article introduces Adam Ockelford’s ‘zygonic’ theory of music-structural understanding, which holds that imitation, which can occur in all domains of perceived sound and at all levels, is the ultimate organising force in music. Hence the theory is potentially of value not only in theoretical terms (shown here in relation to the first movement of Mozart’s Piano Sonata K. 333), but metatheoretically too, as a tool to interrogate other systems of musical analysis (an example is provided in relation to Allan Forte’s ‘set-theoretical’ method). The zygonic approach also enables the powers of influence at work in group improvisation to be captured, permitting the evolution of musical ideas to be charted as they unfold in time between performers, and a zygonic analysis of a short, improvised song with piano accompaniment is provided by way of illustration. Finally, zygonic theory prospectively offers an epistemological link between the sister (though sometimes apparently incompatible) disciplines of music psychology and music theory – an avenue that is explored briefly in conclusion.

Ludwig van Beethoven; Heinrich Schenker; Kognition; cognition; Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; Arnold Schönberg; Leonard B. Meyer; Ursatz; Johann Christian Bach; Zygonic theory; Allen Forte; Fred Lerdahl; Ray Jackendoff; appoggiatura; Vorhalt; set theory; Zygonicity

Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft für Musiktheorie [Journal of the German-Speaking Society of Music Theory]

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Gesellschaft für Musiktheorie (GMTH)