What Is a Narrative—A Musical Narrative?

Musical narratives apply to any musical form, including short songs. Here are three of many versions:

“The Muso of Oz” story line. The protagonist leaves Kansas—the tonic note, the first note of the scale—on a mysterious journey. Immediately, tension arises (the curved arrows in Figure 20), and the tune finds itself on a yellow brick road trip, trying find its way back home.

The narrativve continues. Will the tune find its way back home? Will it run into more tension and unrest before it finds its way home? Will it get hopelessly lost and have to rely on Marshal Puma to dispatch Doc and Fester, neither of whom can even stay upright on a horse?

Usually, the tune does find its way back to tonic Kansas. End of tune.