The beginnings and development of a New Zealand music: The life ...

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will be remembered that rhythm was one of the primary elements in
determining the nature of these categories. The motion-repose
alternation thematic type juxtaposes rapid movement with sustained notes.
The dance-like thematic type makes use of heavily syncopated, perky
rhythms. The chorale-like themes use slow-pulsed, constant rhythms,
whilst the lyric-pastoral themes comprise, in the main,a legato blend of
neighbouring-length note values. The themes that display prominence of
a single note often tend towards an exclusive employment of a single
note-length (usually a quaver).
The incidence of syncopation in Lilburn's melodies is also related
to these five thematic categories. Frequency of syncopation ranges from
'minimal occurrence in the chorale-like themes to extensive occurrence in
the dance-like themes. However, it is only on rare occasions that
Lilburn's syn-copation disturbs the pulse of the music (or more than a
beat or two. A number of the examples from Suite for Orchestra show a
tendency towards this (see Ex.26, 31 and 49), pointing the way to
Lilburn's use of rhythm in the works of his later periods of writing. Of
the remaining works examined, only one melody can be found - the cello
melody from Symphony No.1 movement I (see Ex.48) - where syncopation is
sustained sufficiently for the rhythm of the melody to cut across the
pulse of the music.
Thus, Lilburn uses syncopation to colour particular beats rather
than to upset the ongoing pulse.
Dynamics
Apart from the motion-repose alternation themes where important
thematic use is made of dynamics (as discussed above), little notable use
is made of this element of music in his melodies. Most of the themes
carry a modicum of dynamics markings.
Melodic Contours
Because of the generally limited compass ranges of Lilburn's
melodies, and because of the ex,tremely high incidence of reiterated notes
and intervals of the second (as sampled above, almost 80% of the intervals
in Lilburn's melodies are less than a minor third), one might reasonably
expect Lilburn's melodies to be char,9.cterised by a generally horizontal,
and, in the main, flat contour. This is, of course, the case, but within
the above-mentioned limitations he achieves a surprising variety of
distinctively-shaped contours. The general arch-shaped contour (as used