JAVS Spring 2013

Example 1. A five-note scale passage using Tabuteau’s scaling numbers.

one increases the intensity levels as the numbers increase and decreases the intensity levels as the numbers decrease. As scales are the foundation of how tonal music has developed, there are many examples in which scaling numbers can be applied. One example of where this can be applied is in Hoffmeister’s Viola Concerto in D Major (ex. 2). In the first movement, beginning with the pickup to measure 48, the number “1” is assigned to the lowest note, d, and as the line ascends to the c-sharp’’, the numbers successively rise to the number “14” and then decrease as the line descends to the a’.

might assume to number the sixteenth notes in each beat “1–2–3–4,” to correspond with the first, sec ond, third, and fourth sixteenth note of the beat. But Tabuteau believed that a group was not com plete until the next beat had been achieved, or at least implied. 10 Therefore, he assigned the numbers 1, 1–2–3–4 to five consecutive sixteenth notes, including the first note of the next beat, thus mak ing that note of the highest intensity, implying the forward motion through the beats (ex. 3). In this case, Tabuteau, whose first instrument was actually the violin, 11 might have also described this forward motion using the string bowing “down, up–up–up–down,” where a down bow would signify

Example 2. Franz Hoffmeister, Viola Concerto in D Major, movt. I: Allegro, mm. 47–48.

Example 3. A scalar passage using Tabuteau’s motion numbers.

an arrival of the next beat, and the up prepared and anticipated that arrival. 12

Motion Numbers

Motion numbers are the most commonly known application of Tabuteau’s number system, which dis play forward motion within small subdivisions of the beat. 8 This involves grouping notes together, and within each group assigning ascending numbers to imply forward direction toward the highest number in the group. These numbers show the comparative strength or intensity of the notes. The key to this method is how Tabuteau grouped notes: Tabuteau believed that the beaming of notes together could cause an unnatural grouping of notes. 9 In a measure of straight sixteenth notes in common time, one

In the second movement of Telemann’s Viola Concerto in G Major, the pickup to measure 33 through measure 40 is an excellent example to illus trate the application of Tabuteau’s motion numbers to assist with phrasing (ex. 4). The eighth-note pick up is labeled “1,” which directly leads to the “2,” which is the downbeat of measure 33 and the desti nation of the pickup note. This also indicates that the pickup g leads and belongs to the downbeat of measure 33 and is not a continuation of the phrase that ended in measure 32. The second sixteenth note

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