Mind, Body, World- Foundations of Cognitive Science, 2013a

For instance, the exposition uses its first sub-segment to introduce an opening
theme in the tonic key, that is, the initial key signature of the piece. The exposition’s
second sub-segment then presents a second theme in the dominant key, a perfect
fifth above the tonic. The final sub-segment of the exposition finishes with a closing
theme in the dominant key. The recapitulation has a substructure that is related to
that of the exposition; it uses the same three themes in the same order, but all are
presented in the tonic key. The development section, which falls between the exposition
and the recapitulation, explores the exposition’s themes, but does so using
new material written in different keys.
Sonata-allegro form foreshadowed the modern symphony and produced a market
for purely instrumental music (Rosen, 1988). Importantly, it also provided a structure,
shared by both composers and their audiences, which permitted instrumental music
to be expressive. Rosen notes that the sonata became popular because it,
has an identifiable climax, a point of maximum tension to which the first part of
the work leads and which is symmetrically resolved. It is a closed form, without the
static frame of ternary form; it has a dynamic closure analogous to the denouement
of 18 th -century drama, in which everything is resolved, all loose ends are tied up,
and the work rounded off. (Rosen, 1988, p. 10)
In short, the sonata-allegro form provided a logical structure that permitted the
music to be meaningful.
The idea that musical form is essential to communicating musical meaning
brings us to the second parallel between classical music and classical cognitive science:
both domains presume that their formal structures are content-bearing.
Classical cognitive science explains cognition by invoking the intentional
stance (Dennett, 1987), which is equivalent to relying on a cognitive vocabulary
(Pylyshyn, 1984). If one assumes that an agent has certain intentional states (e.g.,
beliefs, desires, goals) and that lawful regularities (such as the principle of rationality)
govern relationships between the contents of these states, then one can use the
contents to predict future behaviour. “This single assumption [rationality], in combination
with home truths about our needs, capacities and typical circumstances,
generates both an intentional interpretation of us as believers and desirers and
actual predictions of behavior in great profusion” (Dennett, 1987, p. 50). Similarly,
Pylyshyn (1984, pp. 20–21) noted that “the principle of rationality . . . is indispensable
for giving an account of human behavior.”
Is there any sense in which the intentional stance can be applied to classical
music? Classical composers are certainly of the opinion that music can express
ideas. Copland noted that,
my own belief is that all music has an expressive power, some more and some less,
but that all music has a certain meaning behind the notes and that that meaning
268 Chapter 6