[Smt-talk] Smt-talk Digest, Vol 62, Issue 9

Thu Mar 27 16:07:59 PDT 2014

Hi list,

I read the article and I took issue with the author's claims that
syncopation is just a tension-building device in the verse. I think the
syncopation is representative of Katy's introspective day-dreaming about
past events in her relationship that led her to make a decision about
taking it to the next level. Shifting to prosody that is less syncopated is
a commentary on her decision-making process; when she has decided to "go
all the way tonight," the ALL is a euphemism for the activities of that
particular evening, and it's on a solid downbeat. As the song goes on, her
resolve strengthens, and by the bridge, sex is imminent. There's no
separation between the text and the pulse of the song, just like there's no
separation between his hands and her jeans. We've reached the present, the
physical, and are no longer in Katy Perry's dreamspace. We've reached her
reality.

Heather

On Thu, Mar 27, 2014 at 12:19 PM, Stephen Rodgers <ser at uoregon.edu> wrote:

> Great points, Rick. (Should I admit how much this song has been running
> through my head the past few days, when I should be doing other, more
> important things?)
>
> Related to your first point about the migrating downbeat, it's also
> interesting that in the verse the words *never* fall on a downbeat (if we
> think of the words "you think I'm pretty without any make-up" as fitting
> into one 4/4 measure), in the pre-chorus they fall on *every other *downbeat
> ("let's go ALL the way tonight, no regrets, just love, we can DANCE until
> we die"...), and in the chorus they fall on *every* downbeat ("YOU make
> me feel like I'm livin' a TEEN-age dream..." etc.). Maybe that's partly
> what creates the "feeling of suspension" (and also of resolution).
>
> Okay... back to the 19th century I go...
>
> Steve
>
>
>
> Stephen Rodgers
> Associate Professor of Music Theory and Musicianship
> School of Music and Dance
> 1225 University of Oregon
> Eugene, OR 97403-1225
> 541-346-5589
>
> On Mar 27, 2014, at 7:24 AM, Richard Cohn <richard.cohn at yale.edu> wrote:
>
> There's been a lot of circulation on the web about Owen Pallett's analysis
> of Katy Perry's Teenage Dream. I listened to the song, and two things
> struck me about it, both conforming to my current obsessions, and neither
> having to do with harmony:
>
> 1. In the succession from verse to pre-chorus to chorus, the location of
> the downbeat migrates with respect to the line of text. In the verse, the
> downbeat sounds at the end of the line (without any makeup ON); in the
> pre-chorus, the downbeat migrates near to the  beginning (let's go ALL the
> way); in the chorus, the downbeat occurs at the beginning of the line (YOU
> make me).
>
> This is easy enough to identify once someone points it out, and you don't
> need fancy technical overhead to communicate it.  Although  if you want to
> dress this up fancy you can say that there's a progression from Anbetonte
> to Inbetonte to Abetonte (Riemann's categories).
>
> And this sort of transformation of grouping with respect to meter across
> major formal boundaries is absolutely characteristic of American popular
> music over a number of decades. I haven't seen this written about anywhere;
> has anyone else? (If not, and you're looking to do some research on popular
> music, take it and run, it's a wide-open field out there.)
>
> 2. Pallett talks about the rhythm of the chorus in terms of "syncopation,"
> a term that is a mile wide and an inch deep. We can be much more precise
> about what kinds of syncopation it is: it is one of Jeff Pressing's prime
> generated rhythms, 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 4. This rhythm is ubiquitous in
> Afro-diasporic traditions,  which includes American pop. It's a sure way to
> make any pitch material sound funky.
>
> Now "prime-generated" does sound music-theory-technical enough to alienate
> a pop-music anti-snob. Fortunately, though, the mathematics it uses does
> not require a higher education; an attentive 10-year-old knows that 3 does
> not divide 16, and so there's got to be some left over if you add by 3's
> and want to stop at 16.
>
> If anyone's interested, I theorize rhythms of this genus in a web-posted
> lecture, "A Platonic Theory of Funky Rhythms, or How to Get that Swing"
> with examples from Scott Joplin, Duke Ellington, James Brown, Baden Powell,
> and the Sherman brothers (Disney's Jungle Book).
>
>
> http://music.sydney.edu.au/research/research-activities/alfred-hook-lecture-series/
>
> The first 20 minutes lay an abstract and historical background; the
> rhythmic model and examples start around 20 minutes in.
>
>
> --Rick Cohn
>
>
> On Wed, Mar 26, 2014 at 3:11 PM, <
> smt-talk-request at lists.societymusictheory.org> wrote:
>
>> Send Smt-talk mailing list submissions to
>>         smt-talk at lists.societymusictheory.org
>>
>> To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
>>
>> http://lists.societymusictheory.org/listinfo.cgi/smt-talk-societymusictheory.org
>>
>> or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
>>         smt-talk-request at lists.societymusictheory.org
>>
>> You can reach the person managing the list at
>>         smt-talk-owner at lists.societymusictheory.org
>>
>> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
>> than "Re: Contents of Smt-talk digest..."
>>
>>
>> Today's Topics:
>>
>>    1. Re: music theory on slate (Andrew Schartmann)
>>    2. Re: music theory on slate (johnrcovach at gmail.com)
>>
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 1
>> Date: Tue, 25 Mar 2014 15:42:19 -0400
>> From: Andrew Schartmann <andrew.schartmann at yale.edu>
>> To: smt-talk at lists.societymusictheory.org
>> Subject: Re: [Smt-talk] music theory on slate
>> Message-ID:
>>         <
>> CACRmEZ_tCPGcSfADG5aUtk6hwqDv+zmB73hHW-JtPdSdoOB03A at mail.gmail.com>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>>
>> For anyone interested, here is the article that inspired Pallet to write a
>> theory-based analysis of a Katy Perry song:
>>
>> http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/03/18/music-criticism-has-degenerated-into-lifestyle-reporting.html
>> .
>> Needless to say, Gioia's article generated quite a controversy online.
>>
>> Also, I'm pretty sure Pallet's title ("Explaining the genius of Katy
>> Perry's 'Teenage Dream'--using music theory") is meant to be facetious.
>>
>> Andrew Schartmann
>> Graduate Student
>> Yale University
>> -------------- next part --------------
>> An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
>> URL: <
>> http://lists.societymusictheory.org/pipermail/smt-talk-societymusictheory.org/attachments/20140325/c1de4b85/attachment.html
>> >
>>
>> ------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 2
>> Date: Tue, 25 Mar 2014 23:33:53 -0400
>> From: johnrcovach at gmail.com
>> To: "smt-talk at lists.societymusictheory.org"
>>         <smt-talk at lists.societymusictheory.org>
>> Subject: Re: [Smt-talk] music theory on slate
>> Message-ID: <E2AFA75B-3EDF-459C-B8E9-99D56DB6DB1C at gmail.com>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>>
>> I have to admit that when I first read Ted's essay online I had to wonder
>> what was new about these observations.  I mean, a magazine like Rolling
>> Stone has always been a lifestyle magazine.   What we do and what they do
>> are very different things.
>>
>> John Covach
>> University of Rochester
>>
>> Sent from my iPad
>>
>> > On Mar 25, 2014, at 3:42 PM, Andrew Schartmann <
>> andrew.schartmann at yale.edu> wrote:
>> >
>> > For anyone interested, here is the article that inspired Pallet to
>> write a theory-based analysis of a Katy Perry song:
>> http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/03/18/music-criticism-has-degenerated-into-lifestyle-reporting.html.
>> Needless to say, Gioia's article generated quite a controversy online.
>> >
>> > Also, I'm pretty sure Pallet's title ("Explaining the genius of Katy
>> Perry's 'Teenage Dream'?using music theory") is meant to be facetious.
>> >
>> > Andrew Schartmann
>> > Graduate Student
>> > Yale University
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > 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/20140325/33337700/attachment-0001.htm
>> >
>>
>> ------------------------------
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Smt-talk mailing list
>> Smt-talk at lists.societymusictheory.org
>>
>> http://lists.societymusictheory.org/listinfo.cgi/smt-talk-societymusictheory.org
>>
>>
>> End of Smt-talk Digest, Vol 62, Issue 9
>> ***************************************
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Smt-talk mailing list
> Smt-talk at lists.societymusictheory.org
>
> http://lists.societymusictheory.org/listinfo.cgi/smt-talk-societymusictheory.org
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Smt-talk mailing list
> Smt-talk at lists.societymusictheory.org
>
> http://lists.societymusictheory.org/listinfo.cgi/smt-talk-societymusictheory.org
>
>

-- 
HEATHER HOLMQUEST
Ph.D. Student in Music Theory
Graduate Teaching Fellow in Humanities
University of Oregon
Phone: (309) 368-2174
hholmque at uoregon.edu
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.societymusictheory.org/pipermail/smt-talk-societymusictheory.org/attachments/20140327/3c6c5f35/attachment-0004.htm>