A musical argument is a means of creating tension through the relation of expressive content and musical form: Traditional dialectal 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) Experimental musics may use process or indeterminacy rather than argument. The musical argument may be characterized as the primary flow and current idea being presented in a piece: — Phil Lesh (1982)