John Roeder, "Pulse Streams and Problems of Grouping and Metrical Dissonance in Bartók's 'With Drums and Pipes,'" Music Theory Online 7.1 (2001) << Sect. 2f Section 2g Sect. 2h >>
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[2] Analysis of Grouping and "Metrical Dissonance" (continued)

[2.12] Sixth Block (Example II.8) [click here for suggestions if the movie does not appear or play correctly]

No clear grouping structure is evident until m. 50, when another sequence begins. (Its legs are shown by the brackets in the example.) As in the sequence of mm. 31-37 (Example II.4), the groups in both hands have the same duration but their boundaries do not coincide, thus creating a displacement dissonance. At the same time, however, the contour and interval patterns in the hands recall those of mm. 41-47 (Example II.6). Specifically, as shown below in Example II.9, there is a textural inversion: the left hand of mm. 50-55 plays the same stepwise lines, terminal durational accents, and overall contour as the right-hand octaves of 41-47; and the right hand of 50-55 includes the same vertical major ninths in quarter notes, embellished with offbeat neighbor notes, that are featured in the left hand of 41-47.

(Example II.9)

<< Sect. 2f Section 2g Sect. 2h >>
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