"Adrift on Neurath's Boat": The Case for a Naturalized Music Theory

them globally is a sign of expertise. Nicholas Cook's experiments on large-scale tonal closure seem to confirm this point.55 To quell fears that Schenkerian theory is unfalsifiable, recent work by Douglas Dempster, Dave Headlam, and myself, has suggested that there are testable limits to the model.56 To sum up. As I see it, the current debate between music theory and New Musicology raises important epistemological and methodological issues. To the extent that New Musicologists tell a cautionary tale about the limits of music theory, I think their points are well taken and warrant a proper response. Yes, there are problems in dealing with empirical knowledge. Yes, we must reject the positivist's accounts of objectivity, truth, and autonomy. Yes, we must tighten up the ways in which we test theories and analyses. But if this is all New Musicologists are up to, then they should tone down the rhetoric; their skepticism is not nearly as novel as they suggest and their attacks on empiricism go too far. However, when New Musicologists call for a wholesale rejection of empiricism, I part company with them. No, I'm not convinced they have overcome the methodological problems that they, and I, see in traditional music theory. No, I'm not convinced that they've offered a coherent set of epistemic guidelines for engaging in analytical discourse. No, I do not believe that they've provided the only alternative for the future. For my part, I prefer to naturalize music theory. Such a view emphasizes the need to find law-like relationships not only among aesthetic properties, but also between aesthetic and non-aesthetic properties.57 It blurs the line between music theory and cognitive psychology and it erodes the distinction between theory, analysis, and criticism.58 Will naturalized music theory work? That, I think, is an open empiric question.59 The best way to find out is to see for ourselves. Some of you may balk at this idea; that's your 55 See Nicholas Cook, "The Perception of Large-Scale Tonal Closure," Music Perception V/2 (1987), 197-206. Cook asked a group of undergraduate music majors to judge the degree of completion and long range coherence of tonally closed and tonally open versions of six pieces. He found that, for pieces lasting over a minute in length, the students were divided almost evenly between those who preferred the closed to the open one. He concluded that music theories which emphasize long range tonal connections are much more appropriate as models of composer, rather than of listener, psychology. 56 Matthew Brown, Douglas Dempster, and Dave Headlam, "The #IV/,V Hypothesis: Testing the Limits of Schenker's Theory of Tonality," forthcoming. 57 Dempster, "Renaturalizing Aesthetics," 352. 58 Joseph Kerman, Contemplating Music (Cambridge, MA, 1985), 68-69. Kerman credits the distinction to Lewin and Cone. 59 Quine, "Responses," in Theories and Things, 181. 341 This content downloaded from 207.46.13.98 on Fri, 05 Aug 2016 04:23:22 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms THE JOURNAL OF MUSICOLOGY choice and the field is surely big enough to admit different points of view. But for those of us who are willing to crew with Neurath, the prospects are extremely exciting, though please could someone pack the Dramamine? Eastman School of Music