#86 Augmentation and diminution
In any field, not just music theory, augmentation and diminution are literally just words for making things bigger or smaller – you could just as easily use the terms ‘growth’ and ‘shrinkage’ instead.
The way I’m going to be using the terms this month has nothing to do with augmented or diminished chords – although you could easily be forgiven for thinking that, having read the title of this month’s guide. What I’m talking about here is augmentation and diminution when applied to rhythm and melody.
Rhythmic augmentation – the lengthening of the time values of notes in a melody – can be used to imply a sense of majesty or reaching a high point, useful for an imposing finale.
Rhythmic diminution, on
