ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how the complexity of textures and other processes in music might be expressed in analytically manageable ways, with considerable general attention to the question of similarity levels. Process in music can be understood simply as an extension of grouping and group relations. Ockelford locates group relationships in terms of derivational level, a scheme in which there can be no absolute lack of similarity between neighboring groups without the musical process becoming incoherent. In many instances, the very same grouping considerations that would be part of the web of rhythmic relationships may serve in a more comprehensive process grouping scheme. The melodically focused nature of Indian music also features a variety of distinguishing process characteristics, at both the micro and macro levels. The music breathes by contracting to one pitch, then expanding to a wide variety of pitches, then contracting again to another structural pitch.
