ABSTRACT
In his book Metaphor and Musical Thought, Michael Spitzer writes: “Calling discourse about music ‘metaphorical’ inevitably suggests that there is a more literal mode of engagement, one generally associated with technical music theory. And yet an argument that music theory brings us closer to music would cut little ice with the overwhelming majority of listeners, who actually find arcane categories such as ‘tonics’ and ‘dominants,’ ‘voice leading,’ ‘retransition,’ ‘hemiola,’ and so on, rather alienating, and for whom such metalanguage interferes with the cherished immediacy of the musical experience.” 1 Indeed, descriptions of music in terms other than musical are abundant in the literature.
