MOTIVIC TRANSFORMATIONS

Here we will consider ten motivic transformations used when developing musical cells. These transformations fall into two categories: destructive transformations and non-destructive transformations. Non-destructive transformations preserve adjacent intervallic relationships, and destructive transformations alter these fundamental relationships in either subtle or significant ways.

Non-destructive Transformations:
  1. Repetition
  2. Transposition
  3. Augmentation
  4. Diminution
  5. Inversion
  6. Retrogression

Destructive Transformations:
  1. Addition
  2. Subtraction
  3. Rotation
  4. Substitution

Repetition

Transposition

Augmentation

Diminution

Inversion

Retrogression

Addition

Subtraction

Rotation

Substitution