This article interrogates and reimagines the approach to reductive music analysis characterized by spatial metaphors (like “underlying” harmony). Such language portrays analysis as the process of discovering a structure “beneath” a piece’s “surface.” I argue that this picture downplays the multi-faceted, varied processes that go into creating musical reductions. Examining details of several different kinds of relationships between “surface” and “depth,” I show that while the traditional characterization is analytically apt in many cases, it encourages false equivalences in others. Borrowing Schoenberg’s description of music theory as being based in “good comparison,” I suggest that such an alternative conception might better suit some of our engagements with reductive analysis. Moreover, adopting this alternative might encourage different kinds of engagements, altering our perspective in a way that makes constructing reductions a much more flexible—and potentially more powerful—approach than has hitherto been the case.

中文翻译：

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当你只有一把锤子时：表面/深度是很好的比较

本文质疑并重新构想以空间隐喻（如“潜在”和声）为特征的还原音乐分析方法。这种语言将分析描述为发现作品“表面”“之下”的结构的过程。我认为这张照片淡化了创造音乐还原的多方面、不同的过程。检查“表面”和“深度”之间几种不同关系的细节，我表明，虽然传统的表征在许多情况下都适合分析，但它会在其他情况下鼓励错误的对等。借用勋伯格对音乐理论基于“良好比较”的描述，我建议这种替代概念可能更适合我们进行还原分析的某些活动。而且，