notes on the analysis of rock music

7/31/2019 Notes on the Analysis of Rock Music

1/14

Peter M. Kaminsky

Revenge of the Boomers: Notes on the Analysis of Rock Music

ABSTRACT: The increasing interest by music theorists in rock/pop analysis represents a reconciliation of

their formative involvement with both classical and popular musics. In striving toward an appropriate

analytical methodology, theorists must negotiate between conflicting claims of salience for both musical

and extra-musical factors. After commenting on three historically important and representative theorists

(Tagg, Middleton, and Everett), the paper presents an analysis of a song by Sting, relating structural

features of the music to his appropriation of country music and interpreting "stylistic dissonances" between

structure and style as significant to the textual and musical narrative.

[1] I shall begin this talk with two stories, both true. Going through my recent Email, I received messages

from two prominent scholars--one in music theory, the other in ethnomusicology--requesting a copy of this

paper after having seen the title listed in the program for the New England Conference of Music Theorists.

No one had ever asked me for a copy of a paper that I had not even finished yet. This is a reliable sign that

the theory and analysis of rock music is, as the song goes, "hot hot hot." Back in November following my

return from the national SMT meeting in Atlanta, I was meeting one of my freshman theory students, a

guitarist, in office hours. He asked me how the conference was, and I told him that one of the most

interesting papers I heard was an hour and a half long analysis of "Enter Sandman" by Metallica, where theauthor transcribed not only the lead guitar part but also the progression of the wah-wah pedal, adapting

Slawson's theory of sound color to its spectrum of timbres. My student looked at me, rolled his eyes, and

said, "You've got to be kidding." Taken together, my two stories suggest something of the odd nature of

scholarship on rock and popular music: viewed by some with disbelief that such music is worthy of

analytical investigation, and viewed by others as the next frontier, the ocean floor waiting to be mapped.

[2] In surveying the current literature, one reason for the exponential growth in this area is the attempt by

a younger generation of theorists to deal with a kind of collective schizophrenia, born from deep

involvement with both classical and popular musics. In a recent essay on compositional design in the early

music of the progressive British rock band Genesis, Mark Spicer expresses a feeling that many if not most

rock music scholars share: "Writing a 'serious' essay about Genesis for this book has been especially

significant for me. As I was growing up in the late 1970s and 1980s--and playing in as many rock and pop

bands as I did orchestras--this group was one of the main reasons why I came to love music and to love

thinking about music. . . . I am sure that there are several others within our discipline who also care a great

deal about this music, those whose formative years were similarly shaped by both a classical and a rock

aesthetic."{1}

[3] My talk will be in two parts. Part I will briefly survey some issues of methodology in rock/pop analysis.

Part II will present my analysis of a song written and performed by Sting, in which I shall position the


2/14

analysis within the field in the terms proposed in Part I.

[4] To assess the current state of research, I recently submitted a questionnaire to both the SMT list and the

pop music analysis list, asking scholars for a description of their ongoing projects which have not yet been

published. I received responses from twenty-eight theorists (many with multiple projects) from the UnitedStates, Canada, and England. Table 1 is a bibliography of those projects which you may peruse at your

leisure. Given the tremendous variety of subjects and perspectives, I have conceived an admittedly crude

schema by which these works--and by extension work within the broader field of rock/pop analysis--may be

categorized. Figure 1 shows what I have termed the four "poles of orientation": 1) the

composer/performer, 2) the listener, 3) cultural/commercial issues, and 4) the "music itself." For the most

part, rock/pop music analysts take a position that gravitates toward one of these four poles, sometimes

toward two, and more rarely may be placed in the center as part of a more thoroughly interdisciplinary

perspective. Naturally these poles exist for the study of classical music as well. By bringing them to the

forefront of popular music scholarship, however, one is forced to consider more closely some fundamental

distinctions between repertories. For example, how is the role of the listener and the listener's musical

experience different for rock/pop than for classical music? In what ways may the notion of "authorship" be

different for popular music? How do commercial issues influence music production and dissemination?

What musical factors take on greater or lesser salience in rock/pop music as opposed to classical?

Composer / Performer

Listener "The Music Itself"

Cultural / Commercial Background

Figure 1. Poles of orientation

[5] Indeed, it is this last question--the identity of salient musical factors in popular music and the

consequences for an appropriate analytical methodology--that lies at the polemical heart of an ongoing

scholarly debate. There is no need to rehearse this debate here. Instead I shall speak briefly about three

prominent scholars whose work has been important in shaping the field of rock/pop analysis, and whose

approaches are broadly representative.

[6] Historically, Philip Tagg's 1982 article, "Analysing Popular Music: Theory, Method and Practice,"

represents one of the earliest serious attempts at a musicology of popular music. In it he enunciates several

propositions which have become axiomatic for a number of subsequent analysts:

"Studying popular music is an interdisciplinary matter."

". . . popular music cannot be analysed using only the traditional tools of musicology."

"[Musical] hermeneutics [rigorously and carefully applied] . . . in combination with other musicological


3/14

subdisciplines, especially the sociology and semiology of music, make an important contribution to the

analysis of popular music. In short: a rejection of hermeneutics will result in sterile formalism while its

unbridled application can degenerate into unscientific guesswork."{2}

Significantly, Tagg eschews any music smacking of canonical or masterwork tendencies, instead analyzing in

great detail the theme from the TV show Kojak and the Abba song "Fernando." While not ignoring

structural aspects, he folds them into a semiotic approach that emphasizes the conventional codes

underlying relevant musical affects; in this sense Tagg attempts a kind of Affektenlehre for popular music.

For example, he finds affective correlations between the falling tritone in Abba's "Fernando" and the same

interval in Bach's St. Matthew Passion, Gluck's Orfeo et Euridice, and the Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost

that Loving Feeling."

[7] While clearly influenced by Tagg, Richard Middleton attempts to reconcile in more explicit terms the

multiplicity of analytical approaches to popular music. In a 1993 article in the journal Popular Music, he

proceeds from a fundamental assumption: that popular music differs from classical in its emphasis onrhythm--not only duration and accentuation, but more broadly the patterned movement of musical

elements. In striving toward a theory of gesture, Middleton thereby tries to address the importance of

physicality and the body in the listener's response to this music. In turn gesture represents one part of his

tripartite model, complemented by what he terms connotation and musical argument (or structure).

Perhaps oversimplistically he questions music theory's overreliance on structural analysis and aligns his

position with the broader project in 1980s musicology questioning the means and ends of "formalist" music

theory. Even so, he does offer a pragmatic alternative: "What I would suggest is that these three areas--

gesture, connotation, argument--operate in different repertories in diverse ratios and interrelationships;

and analysis needs to reflect that."{3}

[8] At the other end of the spectrum stands the work of Walter Everett, including his recently published

magnum opus, The Beatles as Musicians: "Revolver" through the "Anthology". In his preface, Everett

addresses head-on the criticism of structural analysis for rock/pop music. "There are those who say that an

appreciation of [the Beatles' music] is not enhanced by any intellectual understanding. Others say that any

example of popular music is to be evaluated not in relation to its internal musical issues but solely in terms

of its social reception, or that popular music cannot be analyzed to useful ends with tools 'created' for the

appreciation of classical music. . . . While those with such beliefs are certainly free to limit their own

investigations in any desired way, I would hope that the present study would suggest to them that theirown endeavors might be enhanced by an objective hearing of the music that they endow with such

spiritual and cultural significance."{4}

[9] With respect to an analytical methodology for popular music, the above quotation raises two crucial

points. First, by the central position he accords to both structural analysis and source study (in the form of

recording sessions and their attendant documentation), Everett knowingly inscribes his project and by

extension the music of the Beatles into the canonical mainstream of theory and musicology. Second, the

success of such a project depends on the music itself having a degree of structural integrity that can

withstand this sort of analytical scrutiny. I would suggest that those musicians about whom the current

generation of theorists are devoting "hardcore" analytical studies--the Beatles, Frank Zappa, Led Zeppelin,


4/14

Pink Floyd, etc.-- fulfill this criterion. (To play on Everett's book, which prospective essay title would make

more sense: "The Backstreet Boys as Musicians," or "The Backstreet Boys as Cultural Icons to the Pre-

pubescent"?)

[10] Part II of my paper examines the concluding song, entitled "Lithium Sunset," from Sting's 1996 soloalbum Mercury Falling.{5} My pole of orientation is "the music itself," and the analysis will explore the

traditional domains of form, harmony, instrumentation, and motive, with some consideration of studio

technique as appropriate. My analytical point of departure is not uncommon in rock/pop analysis: the

appropriation of musical style. Beginning with the 1985 Dream of the Blue Turtles following the breakup of

the Police, much of Sting's solo music employs a specific musical style or genre--e.g., reggae, blues,

something I call "film noir," Irish folk--for aesthetic reasons having to do with the narrative as

communicated by the song lyrics. Mercury Falling is no exception and indeed incorporates what for Sting

were two new styles: rhythm and blues, and country music. Both are deployed to expressive and ironic

effect in representing the cycle's predominating themes of winter, loss of love, willful illusion, and

madness. (The association with Schubert's Die Winterreise is intentional on my part.)

[11] "Lithium Sunset" appropriates in a radical way not only the musical style of country, but also its

penchant for irony--i.e., its use of happy and exuberant music to express broken hearts, betrayals, and

other bad things with detachment and the hint of a rueful smile. In Sting's song, the central image, "lithium

sunset," signals his trope on this theme. As is well known, lithium is the drug of choice in treating severe

cases of manic depression. By bringing together lithium and sunset as a compound image, our conventional

associations with sunset--the boundary between day and night, beautiful colors, romantic overtones--

become distorted through the filter of lithium to suggest the turn of the soul from day to night, thebeautiful colors as hallucinations, and romance as the inconsolable loss of love.

[12] In this context, the stylistic choice of country music takes on the character of an assumed identity, the

very simplicity of the music mirroring the protagonist's hope of healing himself in the aftermath of a failed

marriage (this part of the story is established in an earlier song). What gives "Lithium Sunset" its resonance

is the tension engendered by what I shall term "stylistic dissonance," which reveals the delusionary

character of the protagonist. This dissonance occurs both in the lyrics and the music, manifesting itself in

virtual "spikes" of intensity. Lyrically, these spikes constitute poetic images that dissonate against the

"normative" irony of country music lyrics noted above: examples include "lithium sunset," "this heartache

of obsidian darkness," and the desire to "fold my darkness / into your yellow light." Musically, these spikes

of intensity are perceived as gestures that dissonate against the happy and predictable twang typical of

country music.

[13] Example 1 provides a basic formal and harmonic outline of the song. Down the right side of the

example, I have shown in greater detail three formal junctures--the end of the introduction and beginning

of the song proper, the vocal and harmonic climax concluding the bridge, and the end of the reprise into

the coda--that help delineate the process of stylistic dissonance. The introduction features bass, drums,

acoustic steel-string guitar, and harmonica sustaining dominant harmony until bar 8. Here all instruments

drop out except the bass, which executes a falling glissando against which the voice enters with "Fill my


5/14

eyes." (The bracketed "x" designates the primary vocal motive for the song.) The abruptness of the textural

change and the bass glissando itself suggest a sense of weightlessness, like falling through space in a

dream, and it serves as a harbinger of further disorientation. Immediately thereafter the pedal-steel guitar

replaces the harmonica and unambiguously establishes country as the musical style. The song proceeds in

relatively predictable fashion until the end of the bridge (bar 32). Here on the words "Heal my soul," the

harmonic rhythm accelerates and the progression takes a surprising turn, as C-sharp sus4 leads to the

chromatic F major, functionally the flat submediant in A major. This clashes strikingly with the vocal F-sharp

on "my," and the metaphorical "stylistic" dissonance becomes the literally dissonant cross-relation

between F-natural and F-sharp. Moreover, the clash between the desperate "Heal my soul" and the

unresolved dissonance dramatically heightens the sense of delusion and futility in the protagonist's plea.

Thereafter the reprise (or section A3) introduces the first and only significant break in the regular phrase

rhythm of the prototypical 32-bar song form. At bar 38, the vocal timbre is enhanced with reverb, adding

intensity to the thrice-repeated line "to another night"; metrically this segment articulates its own eight-bar

hypermeasure, thereby markedly extending the phrase. With the corresponding sustaining of the dominant

harmony and the concluding falling bass glissando, the phrase extension precisely recalls the introduction,

and the glissando becomes literally associated with "mercury falling," still another image of emotionaldisintegration. On a larger scale, while the "mercury falling" glissando frames the song, the image "mercury

falling" frames the entire album, as the first song opens and the final song closes with these words. To

summarize, Sting employs textural, harmonic, hypermetrical and timbral means for creating stylistic

dissonances against the background of country music, and these dissonances help represent the

delusionary character of the protagonist.

Example 1. Harmony and form chart

"Lithium sunset"

Introduction

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

E---------------------------7-->

//// //// //// //// //// //// //// ////

V1: Fill my

Acoustic steel-string guitar --------------------------------------------------------------|

Bass -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- gliss

Drums -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

Harmonica added -----------------------------------------------------------|


6/14

A1

9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

A D A D f#m bm Esus4--------3

//// //// //// //// //// //// //// ////

eyes O lithium And take burden Of worry mind V2: Take this

sunset this lonesome from my

Pedal-steel guitar replaces harmonica

A2

17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

A7 D A7 D f#m G (Esus) E7

//// //// //// //// //// //// //// ////

heartache of obsidian darkness And fold my darkness Inside your light V3: I've been

yellow

Add nylon-string guitar in cross-rhythm triplets

B (bridge)


7/14

25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32

f#m7 bm D C#4-3 f#m bm D C#4 F

//// //// //// //// //// //// //// // //

scattered shattered knocked race but better I feel your light face V4:

I've been I've been out of the I'll get upon my Heal my

Add multi-track vocal harmony

A3

33 34 35 36 37

A D A D A

//// //// //// //// ////

soul o lithium sunset And I'll ride world

the turning

A3 phrase extension = Introduction

38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45

(1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8)


8/14

E7-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

//// //// //// //// //// //// //// ////

(In)to night (In)to night (In)to night See mercury

another another another (falling)

Add reverb to voice reprise

bass gliss

[14] The coda reinforces the sense of delusion by the further incursion of modal mixture, again via the

cross-relation between F and F-sharp. Herein, the acoustic guitar simply repeats A and D major chords,

while the pedal-steel guitar sounds F-naturals against it. Example 2 transcribes the pedal-steel guitar part in

the coda. Its place in the mix is roughly indicated as "FG" for foreground, "BG" for background, and "MG"

for middleground (obviously bearing no relation to Schenkerian terminology). Interestingly, the pedal-steel

part describes a kind of large-scale arch: after two bars of foreground, it continues diatonically in the

background; at bar 10 the pedal-steel moves decisively to the foreground, insinuating F-naturals while

rising to a registral climax; then following a brief resurgence of F-natural middleground activity, the pedal-

steel concludes diatonically in the background to the final fade-out. Whether intentional or not, the shape

of the solo could be taken as still another emblem of the protagonist's manic depression, with the false

cheer of the major licks of the pedal-steel in the background framing the darker depressive foreground

state.

Example 2. Transcription, pedal-steel guitar part, coda


9/14


10/14

tearfully reveal my own dalliance with non-classical or non-concert music, that happy portion of my

innocent youth in which I was involved with the popular music of a different era and a different repertoire.

Thus, although my qualifications for responding to this paper are meager, my intentions are good.

[7.2] Much of my selective knowledge of rock derives from the anthology edited by John Covach andGraeme Boone entitled Understanding Rock,{11} which contains seven studies, all by academics with

substantial music theory credentials. All the essays involve (forgive me) structural analysis. I should also

point out that my name is inscribed in the Acknowledgments, for reasons that are not altogether clear to

me, except that John Covach is a friend of mine and I may have uttered words of encouragement in an

unguarded moment.

[7.3] When I sat down to make notes on the many highlights of Peter Kaminsky's paper, the first thing that

came to mind was the enthusiasm that drives it! This is also evident in the analysis, which must have been

written before Part I of the paper; it is so beautifully polished and focused.

[7.4] In the non-analytical portion of the paper, I found the discussion of British authors Philip Tagg and

Richard Middleton reasonably fair and broadly informative, although Prof. Kaminsky stops just short of

rejecting Tagg's intertextuality idea, and comments only briefly on his approach to an Affektenlehre for

popular music--which seems not such a bad idea, after all. Middleton's confusion (my interpretation) of

analytical approaches and his evident need to satisfy the pressures of the new musicologists is

documented, including yet one more derogatory reference by Middleton to "formalist music theory," a

tiresome, but apparently obligatory gesture.

[7.5] On the other side of the coin, I like Walter Everett's statement and Peter Kaminsky's elucidation of it,

especially the point that the music must have a certain "degree of structural integrity" [Kaminsky 9]. This

involves the question of "quality," which I feel is so important in the study and evaluation of non-canonic

music.

[7.6] Part II of Professor Kaminsky's paper, his analysis of "Lithium Sunset," is an excellent piece of work.

Both the analysis and the tape of the performance directed my attention to the simple, but very eclectic

harmonic progression. A general study of this aspect of the music, spanning the various styles that have

evolved in the rock genre seems worthwhile, if, indeed, it has not already been achieved.

[7.7] Since it would be wholly inappropriate to end my laudatory response to this paper on a positive note, I

would like express my opinion that Table 1: Projects and Publications, seems not altogether useful, since

many listings do not include publication data. Also I am unable to infer anything about analytical approach.

I assume that Prof. Kaminsky knows all of the individuals involved and has some idea of the quality of theirwork.


11/14

TABLE 1

Selected Bibliography of Ongoing Projects in Rock/Pop Analysis

Bennighof, James. "Aesthetic Criteria in the Analysis of American Vernacular Music."

Bernard, Jonathan W. a) "Listening to Zappa." Contemporary Music Review 18/4 (1999, in press). b) "The

'Modernization' of Rock & Roll, 1965-76." Forthcoming in Listening to Modernism, ed. Arved Ashby (New

York: Garland Publishing, 2000).

Buchler, Michael. "'Laura' and the essential ninth: were they only a dream?"

Butler, Mark. "Turning the Beat Around: Reinterpretation, Metrical Dissonance, and Asymmetry in Techno."

Cotner, John. a) Archetypes of Progressive Rock, ca. 1966-1973" (dissertation). b) Pink Floyd's 'Careful with

that Axe, Eugene': A Study of Genre, Medium, Texture, and Structure." Forthcoming in Sound Chasers, ed.

Kevin Holm-Hudson. c) "The Style Continuum of Progressive Rock, ca. 1966-1973: Three Influential

American Styles." Forthcoming in Reflections in American Music, ed. Jim Heintze and Michael Saffle,

Garland Publishing.

Coulombe, Renee T. "Postmodern Polyamory or Postcolonial Challenge: 'Cornershop' in Dialogue from East,

to West, to East..."

Covach, John. a) Coming of Age: Rock Music in the 1970s (projected publication fall 2001, Oxford University

Press). b) High Times and Big Ideas (projected publication fall 2002, University of California Press). c) Reelin'

in the Years: An Introduction to Rock Music (projected publication late 2003/early 2004, W.W. Norton and

Co.). d) Covach and Walter Everett, eds. "American Rock and the Classical Music Tradition," a special issue

of Contemporary Music Review 18/4 (forthcoming February 2000): includes "Echolyn and American

Progressive Rock," pp. 13-61. e) "American Avant-Prog in the 1990s: U-Totem and Thinking Plague," in

Sound Chasers, ed. Kevin Holm- Hudson (see Holm-Hudson below). f) "Pangs of History in Late 1970s Rock,"

in Analyzing Rock, ed. Allan Moore (forthcoming fall 2000, Cambridge University Press).

Derfler, Brandon. "U Totem's 'One Nail Draws Another' as Art Music."

Everett, Walter. a) The Beatles as Musicians: The Quarry Men through Revolver, under contract with

Oxford, projected 2001. b) The Ex-Beatles as Musicians (?) c) "A Royal Scam: The Abstruse and Ironic Bop-

Rock Harmony of Steely Dan."

Fast, Susan. a) Led Zeppelin, Rock Culture and Subjectivity. Forthcoming, Oxford University Press. b)

"Rethinking Issues of Gender and Sexuality in Led Zeppelin: A Woman's View of Pleasure and Power in Hard

Rock." American Music 17/3.

Fledderus, France. "Art rock and the Songs of Jane Siberry."

Harrison, Adelia. "Dilating on Life: The Musical Structuring of Subjectivity and Pleasure in the Music of Ani

DiFranco."

Holm-Hudson, Kevin. Sound Chasers: An Interdisciplinary Anthology of Writings on Progressive Rock,forthcoming.


12/14

Hughes, Tim. "The Music of Stevie Wonder: 1971-76."

Karl, Gregory. "King Crimson's 'Larks' Tongues in Aspic': A Case of Convergent Evolution."

Krims, Adam. a) "Disco Seen From the Changing City." b) "Rap Music and the Poetics of Identity." c) "Rap,

Race, Geography, and Identity in Amsterdam."

London, Justin. "Irregular Hypermeter in the Delta Blues of Robert Johnson, Charly Patton, and Son House."

Neal, Jocelyn. a) "An analysis of lindy hop & swing revival dance patterns." b) Consuming Country:

Audience's Musical Interaction in the Dance Hall." c) "Song Structure Determinants: Poetic Narrative,

Phrase Structure, and Hypermeter in the Music of Jimmie Rodgers."

O'Donnell, Shaugn. a) "'Mind Your Throats Please': Collage as Retransition in Pink Floyd's 'Atom Heart

Mother Suite.'" b) "Bobby, Bela, and Igor: Musical Borrowing in 'Victim or the Crime.'" c) "The Band Next

Door: The Beatles and Early Pink Floyd."

Robison, Brian. a) "Somebody is digging my bones: King Crimson's 'Dinosaur' as (post)progressivehistoriography." b) "Classical music and rock in the 1970s: Synthetic and syncretic combinations." c) "Jazz

samba, or samba jazz?: Bossa nova, American style." d)"'Blame it on the bossa nova' and 'Influencia do

jazz': A comparative analysis."

Rothenberg, David. "Searching for Robert Johnson in Led Zeppelin's 'Travelling Riverside Blues.'"

Scotto, Ciro. "Conflict Between Pitch Class and Timbre Functions in Metallica's Enter Sandman."

Spicer, Mark. a) "British Pop-Rock Music, c. 1966-1999: Four Analytical Essays." b) "Ghosts in the Machine:

Analyzing Style in the Music of the Police."

Tatom, Marianne. a) "Sky of Blue, Sea of Green: A Semiotic Reading of the Beatles' 'Yellow Submarine.'" b)

"Mining for 'Goldheart': A Sketch Study in Popular Music." c) "Guided By ... Profit?" d) "South By So What?"

Todd, Philip A. "Commercializing Canon Creation: The Reception History of Pink Floyd in Rolling Stone

Magazine."

Vancil, Chris. "Shushu, Zumzum, and Sumsum: Dana International and the Politics of the Other."

[8] Peter Kaminsky replies

[8.1] First, my thanks to Professor Forte for his sensitive and thoughtful response to my contribution for the

plenary session. With respect to Table 1, Forte correctly notes that my omission of publication data (where

appropriate) and the analytical approach taken in these works clearly limits its usefulness as a bibliographic

tool. Given that my original file including such details runs over twenty pages, I chose to omit this

information. My principal motivation in providing Table 1 was to give a snapshot of the variety and sheer

volume of ongoing, not-yet-published work by theorists and musicologists on rock and popular music.

However, in order to optimize its usefulness, I would be happy to post for retrieval by interested readers

the complete file of survey data from which Table 1 is drawn.


13/14

[8.2] Professor Forte also notes a certain incompleteness in my citation of Philip Tagg's seminal work,

"Analyzing Popular Music: Theory, Method and Practice," from 1982. Tagg's work continues to resonate

because of its central tenets: the study of popular music is of necessity interdisciplinary, and, therefore, the

exclusive use of "the traditional tools of musicology [and by extension music theory]"--i.e., analysis--is

inadequate. I will first respond with an anecdote. After hearing my run-through for this paper, a colleague

noted, "I can understand your use of traditional analysis with Sting. But take some of the popular music

from my formative years, like the Carpenters for example. Is scholarly study of their music possible?" My

response was yes, it is possible. However, here the use of traditional tools of structural analysis and the

central focus on "the music itself" may not be very illuminating. Obviously the perspective and choice of

methodology must be appropriate to the music, and should best explain what are perceived as salient

aspects of that music. (I shall leave the proper study of the Carpenters' music as a challenge for some

enterprising theorist or musicologist.)

[8.3] There is also the matter of interdisciplinarity itself: one's notion of what constitutes interdisciplinarity

depends in part on how one views the relation between methodology and the resultant scholarly work.

Clearly a number of scholars view certain analytical tools, especially formal methodologies like Schenkerian

theory, set theory, etc., as constraints and even blinders which, notwithstanding their explanatory power,

also possess the unfortunate side effect of liquidating any musical elements outside their purview. If,

however, one views an analytical method as enabling rather than enslaving, as filtering and coloring rather

than blinding, then the relation between method and scholarship changes and becomes symbiotic and

catalytic rather than coextensive. Under this conception, most scholarly work, on popular music as well as

other music theoretical topics, is interdisciplinary to some degree. Hence to debate what constitutes an

appropriate degree of interdisciplinarity is quite a different matter than merely to question the

employment of purely "formalist" methods. Moreover, a degree of interdisciplinarity--or, closer to home, a

rapprochement with musicology (pace McCreless in his contribution to this plenary session)--need not and

should not result in a weakening of theoretical/analytical rigor.

[8.4] In conclusion, I shall turn once more to Tagg, again in response to a perceptive observation by

Professor Forte: "Professor Kaminsky stops just short of rejecting Tagg's intertextuality idea, and comments

only briefly on his approach to an Affektenlehre for popular music--which seems not such a bad idea, after

all" [7.4]. In reconsidering Sting's "Lithium Sunset" it is only now apparent to me how relevant Tagg's

intertextuality and his incipient Affektenlehre have been in the formulation of my analytical approach.

Specifically, the markedness (following Robert Hatten in Musical Meaning in Beethoven) of cross relations

carries with it the potential for expression and representation. This potential is creatively exploited by Sting

against the (ironic) stylistic backdrop of country music, and a listener's response may be affectively linked

to the dual recognition of musical dissonance and stylistic dissonance. Clearly the genesis of such a network

of musical relations and affects presumes an intertextual framework, which I construe as one of Tagg's

central (and significant) points.

[8.5] In place of a cool and catchy ending appropriate to a popular music essay, I offer a riddle and a

question. Riddle: What is the source of song #2, "Love of My Life" (guest artist and co-writer DaveMatthews), on Santana's recent Grammy-winning album Supernatural? Question: What difference(s), if

any, does this make in a prospective analysis of this song?


14/14

[9] Allen Forte responds again

[9.1] Peter Kaminsky's informative reaction to my NECMT response does not elicit very much in the way of

a reply, since it essentially enlarges upon points he made in his original paper-- with the exception, perhaps

obviously, of his brief introduction of "interdisciplinarity" [8.3] (sesquipedalian alert!), a topic that underlay

some of the papers on that fateful day at Brandeis, notably Patrick McCreless's, and that was lurking in

others, including my responses. Here is material aplenty for debate, for example, in the reference to the

view that Prof. Kaminsky cites concerning the limiting effects of certain formalistic analytical methods held

by a number of scholars. Clearly, this is a topic to be set aside for another day, with ample time allowed for

sharpening rhetorical weaponry. Nevertheless, I suspect that a number of scholars would dispute Prof.

Kaminsky's conclusion that " . . . a degree of interdisciplinarity . . . need not and should not result in a

weakening of theoretical/analytical rigor" [8.3], perhaps rewriting to read, "A degree of

theoretical/analytical rigor should not result in a weakening of interdisciplinarity."

notes on the analysis of rock music

Documents