[Smt-talk] Rock/Pop Music With Three Modulations

[Jeffrey Ensign]

Mariah Carey’s most recent album, Me. I am Mariah…The Elusive Chanteuse, has a song, "Heavenly (No Ways Tired/Can’t Give Up Now).” While not exactly Top 40 pop, it is clearly a gospel-pop song with three modulations starting in A-flat and moving through A, B-flat, and ending in B for the final choruses.  My roommate in undergrad used to refer to these types of modulations as Sandi Patty modulations.

Jeff Ensign
PhD Candidate
University of North Texas


On Jun 18, 2014, at 11:50 AM, CARSON FARLEY <ccfarley at embarqmail.com> wrote:

> Most of King Crimson's music (the later version of the Band with guitarist Adrian Belew, Tony Levin, Bill Bruford and Robert Fripp) is quite harmonically adventurous and has three or more modulations.  I would also add the pop/rock/fusion work of Frank Zappa from his numerous albums.  A wonderful example of atonal pop/rock music can found in the music of Primus whose main composer and bassist Les Claypool is quite brilliant and also scored the music for Southpark.  Electronic guitarist and genius Adrian Belew's work (guitarist for Zappa, Bowie, King Crimson as well as his own work also contains harmonically adventurous music as well as atonality, contemporary harmonic usage, complex rhythm, soundscapes, guitar synthesis, innovative instrumental technique, and interesting guitar alternate tuning. 
> 
> Carson Farley
> Composer, cellist, theorist
> University of Washington Allumnus
> _______________________________________________
> Smt-talk mailing list
> Smt-talk at lists.societymusictheory.org
> http://lists.societymusictheory.org/listinfo.cgi/smt-talk-societymusictheory.org

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.societymusictheory.org/pipermail/smt-talk-societymusictheory.org/attachments/20140618/e1022ca0/attachment-0001.htm>