A musical argument is a means of creating tension through the relation of expressive content and musical form:
Traditional dialectal[a] music is representational: 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 use process or indeterminacy 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. A verbal argument implies that there's [sic] two sides; a musical argument makes the two sides one thing, like counterpoint. A fugue is like that; a double fugue, at least, takes two different ideas 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, or repeated.[original research?]
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).