Died 16 November 1991 | ||
Books Structural functions in music | ||
what good is falling asleep wallace berry
Wallace Berry (January 10, 1928 – November 16, 1991) was a Canadian composer and music theorist. Berry was educated at the University of Southern California (BMus 1949, PhD 1956), after which he taught at the University of Michigan (1957–77) and the University of British Columbia (1978–84). Berry was the founding Vice President of the Society for Music Theory from 1977-1982, and then became the society's president from 1982-85.
Contents
Much of Berry's research focuses on musical form. Reviewer and music theorist Rebecca Jemain characterizes the primary of Berry's work as an investigation into structural processes in music he described as formal functions. "The various structural elements [of a piece], which include introduction, exposition, transition, development, and closure, are characterized by different functions; these diverse functions work to shape the musical whole. Circumstances of progression, recession, or stasis also contribute to musical shaping." Two books, Structural Functions in Music (1976) and Musical Structure and Performance (1989) identify different functions and examine how these functions can be created by combinations of pitch and rhythm elements. Berry was awarded the Society for Music Theory "Outstanding Publication" Award in 1992 for Musical Structure and Performance.
After Berry's death in 1991, the Society for Music Theory established the "Wallace Berry Award," an annual citation recognizing outstanding books recently published in the field of music theory. Winners of the Wallace Berry award include William Caplin, James Hepokoski and Warren Darcy, and Anna Maria Busse Berger. Berry's papers are deposited at the Library and Archives of Canada.