ABSTRACT
We have seen, apropos of tonal interpretation, that the integration of tonality into the cultural pattern can be accomplished directly when the notes of a chord or melody explicitly impose the idea of the tonal relationships implanted in the subject (whether or not the tonic is actually expressed). In this case integration is the result of a single focus of attention and arises from a single centration that excites an essentially flexible system of relationships (since many different melodies impose the necessity of a single tonic). It is otherwise when for various reasons this operation cannot be accomplished in one span of attention. The spreading out of tones in time or in different registers, the distortion of diatonic relationships by accidentals, and the like direct the mind to a search that might be pursued through several successive centrations, each of which gives rise to a new hypothesis, until an unequivocal conclusion emerges from the pattern. There is thus a certain number of formal conditions which lead by stages from perception to comprehension.
