Amusical argument is a means of creatingtension through the relation ofexpressive content andmusical form:
Traditionaldialectal[a] music isrepresentational: the musical form relates to an expressive content and is a means of creating a growing tension; this is what is usually called the musical argument.
— Wim Mertens (1999)[1]
Experimental musical forms may useprocess orindeterminacy rather than argument.[2]
The musical argument may be characterized as the primary flow and current idea being presented in a piece:
The very definition of musical argument is something that keeps going, and you uncover new details and new combinations. A musical argument is not the same as a verbal argument. Averbal argument implies that there's [sic] two sides; a musical argument makes the two sides one thing, likecounterpoint. Afugue is like that; adouble fugue, at least, takes two differentideas and shows you how they relate, and it shows you how they're the same thing.
Thus one may hear of a musical argument being interrupted, extended, orrepeated.[original research?]
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