A Generative Theory of Tonal Music
E846499
A Generative Theory of Tonal Music is an influential 1983 book by Fred Lerdahl and Ray Jackendoff that applies generative and cognitive principles to explain how listeners mentally organize and understand tonal music.
All labels observed (4)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| A Generative Theory of Tonal Music canonical | 2 |
| Generative Theory of Tonal Music | 1 |
| cognitive foundations of tonal music | 1 |
| generative theory of tonal music | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T10183200 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: A Generative Theory of Tonal Music Context triple: [Ray Jackendoff, notableWork, A Generative Theory of Tonal Music]
-
A.
Formalized Music: Thought and Mathematics in Composition
Formalized Music: Thought and Mathematics in Composition is a seminal book by composer Iannis Xenakis that explores the use of mathematical and scientific principles as the basis for musical composition.
-
B.
Twelve-Tone Invariants as Compositional Determinants
"Twelve-Tone Invariants as Compositional Determinants" is a seminal theoretical essay by Milton Babbitt that rigorously analyzes how invariant pitch-class relationships can structure and generate twelve-tone musical compositions.
-
C.
The Structure of Music: A Listener’s Guide
The Structure of Music: A Listener’s Guide is a music-theoretical book by composer and theorist Milton Babbitt that introduces listeners to the principles and organization of modern musical works.
-
D.
Schillinger System of Musical Composition
The Schillinger System of Musical Composition is a mathematically based, highly systematic approach to music theory and composition developed by Joseph Schillinger that influenced modern music education and institutions like Berklee.
-
E.
The Aesthetics of Music
The Aesthetics of Music is a philosophical work by Roger Scruton that explores the nature, meaning, and value of music within the broader tradition of aesthetics.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: A Generative Theory of Tonal Music Target entity description: A Generative Theory of Tonal Music is an influential 1983 book by Fred Lerdahl and Ray Jackendoff that applies generative and cognitive principles to explain how listeners mentally organize and understand tonal music.
-
A.
Formalized Music: Thought and Mathematics in Composition
Formalized Music: Thought and Mathematics in Composition is a seminal book by composer Iannis Xenakis that explores the use of mathematical and scientific principles as the basis for musical composition.
-
B.
Twelve-Tone Invariants as Compositional Determinants
"Twelve-Tone Invariants as Compositional Determinants" is a seminal theoretical essay by Milton Babbitt that rigorously analyzes how invariant pitch-class relationships can structure and generate twelve-tone musical compositions.
-
C.
The Structure of Music: A Listener’s Guide
The Structure of Music: A Listener’s Guide is a music-theoretical book by composer and theorist Milton Babbitt that introduces listeners to the principles and organization of modern musical works.
-
D.
Schillinger System of Musical Composition
The Schillinger System of Musical Composition is a mathematically based, highly systematic approach to music theory and composition developed by Joseph Schillinger that influenced modern music education and institutions like Berklee.
-
E.
The Aesthetics of Music
The Aesthetics of Music is a philosophical work by Roger Scruton that explores the nature, meaning, and value of music within the broader tradition of aesthetics.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (48)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
book
ⓘ
cognitive science book ⓘ music theory book ⓘ |
| academicDiscipline |
cognitive science
ⓘ
linguistics ⓘ music cognition ⓘ music theory ⓘ |
| aimsToExplain |
how listeners understand tonal music
ⓘ
intuitive musical understanding ⓘ |
| appliesTo |
Western tonal repertoire
ⓘ
common-practice tonal music ⓘ |
| author |
Fred Lerdahl
ⓘ
Ray Jackendoff ⓘ |
| considered |
foundational text in music cognition
ⓘ
influential work in music theory ⓘ |
| countryOfPublication |
United States
ⓘ
linked to:
United States of America
|
| focusesOn |
cognitive structures underlying tonal music
ⓘ
listener’s mental organization of music ⓘ |
| hasImpactOn |
computational music analysis
ⓘ
generative music theory ⓘ music cognition research ⓘ music theory ⓘ |
| influencedBy |
Noam Chomsky
ⓘ
generative linguistics ⓘ |
| introducesConcept |
grouping structure
ⓘ
metrical structure ⓘ preference rules ⓘ prolongational reduction ⓘ time-span reduction ⓘ well-formedness rules ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| mainSubject |
music cognition
ⓘ
music perception ⓘ tonal music ⓘ |
| methodology | formal modeling of musical intuitions ⓘ |
| proposes |
generative theory of tonal music
ⓘ
linked to:
A Generative Theory of Tonal Music
|
| publicationYear | 1983 ⓘ |
| publisher |
The MIT Press
ⓘ
linked to:
MIT Press
|
| relatesTo |
psychology of music
ⓘ
theories of perception ⓘ |
| structure | formal rule systems for musical structure ⓘ |
| targetAudience |
cognitive scientists
ⓘ
linguists ⓘ music theorists ⓘ psychologists of music ⓘ |
| theoreticalApproach |
cognitively oriented music theory
ⓘ
rule-based generative system ⓘ |
| usesTheory | generative grammar ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: A Generative Theory of Tonal Music Description of subject: A Generative Theory of Tonal Music is an influential 1983 book by Fred Lerdahl and Ray Jackendoff that applies generative and cognitive principles to explain how listeners mentally organize and understand tonal music.
Referenced by (5)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
linked to: A Generative Theory of Tonal Music
linked to: A Generative Theory of Tonal Music
linked to: A Generative Theory of Tonal Music