Analysis of Jazz and Popular Music Special Topics: MUSI 4397, section 28218 Special Topics: MUSI 6317, section 28227   Dr. Tim Koozin
Fall 2019	office: MSM 148   (713) 743-3318
TTh 11:30 - 1:00	email: tkoozin@uh.edu
MSM 110	web page: http://www.uh.edu/~tkoozin/   Assignments   Blackboard   Study Questions     Final paper assignment

Course Description: How can listening, transcription, and analysis enrich our understanding of jazz and popular music? We will study works from jazz and popular repertoires from perspectives of music theory, performer interaction, and meaning in social/historical context. Students will study assigned readings, prepare transcriptions “by ear” for analysis, and complete three research/analysis papers in areas of popular music where they have particular interest. Class meetings will take the form of a seminar, without formal lectures. Preparation and readiness to contribute in each class discussion is the student's responsibility.

Required readings and listening assignments are available through UH Blackboard.

Grading and Policies
Class participation / assignments	25%      (Readings midterm exam counts for 10%)
Papers (3 x 25%)	75%

 
Last day to drop without a grade: September 4.         Last day to drop or withdraw: October 31.

UH Policies on Academic Honesty can be found online at: http://www.uh.edu/provost/policies/uhhonesty_policy.html. Students with disabilities are asked to bring to the instructor's attention any special accommodations they may require.

Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) can help students who are having difficulties managing stress, adjusting to college, or feeling sad and hopeless. You can reach CAPS (www.uh.edu/caps/) by calling 713-743-5454 during and after business hours for routine appointments or if you or someone you know is in crisis. Also, there is no appointment necessary for the “Let's Talk” program, which is a drop-in consultation service at convenient locations and hours around campus. http://www.uh.edu/caps/outreach/lets_talk.html.
 

On Reserve at the UH Music Library:

Ciro Scotto, Kenneth M. Smith and John Lowell Brackett, editors. 2019. The Routledge Companion to Popular Music Analysis: Expanding Approaches. MT146 .R72 2019

Lori Burns and Mélisse Lafrance. 2002. Disruptive Divas: Feminism, Identity & Popular Music. MT146 .B87 2002

Mark Spicer and John Covach, eds. 2013. Sounding Out Pop: Analytical Essays in Popular Music. ML3470 .S635 2010

Mark Butler. 2006. Unlocking the Groove: Rhythm, Meter, and Musical Design in Electronic Dance Music. MT146 .B88 2006

Walter Everett. 2000. Expression in Pop-Rock Music: A Collection of Critical and Analytical Essays. ML3534 .E985 2000

Selected E-books available through the UH Music Library (login required):

Allan F. Moore, Derek B. Scott, and Stan Hawkins. 2012. Song Means: Analysing and Interpreting Recorded Popular Song

Allan F. Moore, 2003. Analyzing Popular Music

Walter Everett. 2008. Foundations of Rock: From "Blue Suede Shoes" to "Suite - Judy Blue Eyes"

Simon Frith, Will Straw and John Street, eds. 2001. The Cambridge Companion to Pop and Rock

Katherine Williams and Justin A.Williams, eds. 2016. The Cambridge Companion to the Singer-Songwriter

Mervyn Cooke and David Horn, ed. 2003. The Cambridge Companion to Jazz

Keith Waters. 2014. The Studio Recordings of the Miles Davis Quintet, 1965-68

Justin A Williams, ed. 2015. The Cambridge Companion to Hip-Hop

Kenneth Womack, ed. 2016. The Cambridge Companion to the Beatles

Christopher J. McDonald. 2009. Rush, Rock Music, and the Middle Class

Albin J. Zak. 2001. The Poetics of Rock: Cutting Tracks, Making Records
 

Selected Topics and Readings

Subject to change. Please check back for updates.

Listen to every song discussed in the readings, especially any you are less familiar with.

I. Gender, Identity, and "Voice" in popular music

1. Packet of readings by Lori Burns and Simon Frith. Blackboard

2. Marc Lafrance and Lori Burns. 2017. "Finding Love in Hopeless Places: Complex Relationality and Impossible Heterosexuality in Popular Music Videos by Pink and Rihanna.” Music Theory Online, 23.2. http://www.mtosmt.org/issues/mto.17.23.2/toc.23.2.html

3. Lori Burns, Alyssa Woods and Marc LaFrance. 2015. "The Genealogy of a Song: Lady Gaga's Musical Intertexts on The Fame Monster (2009)." Twentieth-Century Music 12.1, pp. 3–35. Blackboard

4. Susan McClary. 2000. Conventional Wisdom. Chapter 2, "Thinking Blues." University of California Press. Blackboard

5. Allan F. Moore, Derek B. Scott, and Stan Hawkins. 2012. Song Means: Analysing and Interpreting Recorded Popular Song (eBook)
          Chapters 1 (Methodology), 2 (Shape), 6 (Friction), 7 (Persona)

6. Steven Rings. 2013. “A Foreign Sound to Your Ear: Bob Dylan Performs 'It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding),' 1964–2009.” Music Theory Online, 19.4. http://www.mtosmt.org/issues/mto.13.19.4/toc.19.4.html

7. Kyle Adams. 2009. "On the Metrical Techniques of Flow in Rap Music." Music Theory Online, 15.5. http://www.mtosmt.org/issues/mto.09.15.5/mto.09.15.5.adams.php

8. Timothy Koozin. 2015. "Irony, Myth, and Temporal Organization in the Early Songs of Bob Dylan" in This is the Sound of Irony: Music, Politics and Popular Culture, ed. Katherine Turner. Ashgate. Blackboard

9. Timothy Koozin. 2007. “Fumbling Towards Ecstasy: Voice Leading, Tonal Structure, and the Theme of Self-Realization in the Music of Sarah McLachlan” in Expression in Pop-Rock Music: A Collection of Critical and Analytical Essays, ed. Walter Everett. Garland. Blackboard

II. Harmony, Form, Counterpoint, and Gesture in Pop and Rock Music

1. Walter Everett. 2004. “Making Sense of Rock's Tonal Systems.” Music Theory Online 10.4.  http://mto.societymusictheory.org/issues/mto.04.10.4/toc.10.4.html     Study Questions

2. Nicole Biamonte. 2010. “Triadic Modal and Pentatonic Patterns in Rock Music.” Music Theory Spectrum 32.2:95-110.  Blackboard

3. Timothy Koozin. 2011. "Guitar Voicing in Pop-Rock Music: A Performance-Based Analytical Approach." Music Theory Online 17/3. http://www.mtosmt.org/issues/mto.11.17.3/mto.11.17.3.koozin.php

4. Robin Attas. 2015. "Form as Process: The Buildup Introduction in Popular Music." Music Theory Spectrum 37.  Blackboard

5. Drew F. Nobile. 2015. "Counterpoint in Rock Music: Unpacking the 'Melodic-Harmonic Divorce.'" Music Theory Spectrum 37.  Blackboard

6. John Covach. 2013. "Leiber and Stoller, the Coasters, and the 'Dramatic AABA' Form" in Sounding Out Pop: Analytical Essays in Popular Music, ed. Mark Spicer and John Covach. University of Michigan Press.

III. Jazz Studies  

1. Lori Burns. 2005. “Feeling the Style: Vocal Gesture and Musical Expression in Billie Holiday, Bessie Smith, and Louis Armstrong.” Music Theory Online 11.3: http://mto.societymusictheory.org/issues/mto.05.11.3/mto.05.11.3.burns.html  Study questions

2. Cynthia Folio. 1995. “An Analysis of Polyrhythm in Selected Improvised Jazz Solos.” Concert Music, Rock, and Jazz Since 1945: Essays and Analytical Studies, ed. Elizabeth West Marvin and Richard Hermann. University of Rochester Press, 103–34. Blackboard  Study questions

3. Benjamin Givan. 2016. “Rethinking Interaction in Jazz Improvisation.” Music Theory Online 11.3: http://www.mtosmt.org/issues/mto.16.22.3/toc.22.3.html 

4. René Rusch, Keith Salley, and Chris Stover. 2016. "Capturing the Ineffable: Three Transcriptions of a Jazz Solo by Sonny Rollins.” Music Theory Online 11.3: http://www.mtosmt.org/issues/mto.16.22.3/toc.22.3.html 

5. Henry Martin. 2012. Charlie Parker and "Honeysuckle Rose": Voice Leading, Formula, and Motive. Music Theory Online 18.3: http://mtosmt.org/issues/mto.12.18.3/mto.12.18.3.martin.php   Study Questions

6. Steve Larson. 2006. “Rhythmic Displacement in the Music of Bill Evans.” Structure and Meaning in Tonal Music: A Festschrift for Carl Schachter, ed. Poundie Burstein and David Gagne. Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press, 103–122. Blackboard     Study Questions

7. Keith Waters. 1996. “Blurring the Barline: Metric Displacement in the Piano Solos of Herbie Hancock” Annual Review of Jazz Studies 8, pp. 19-37.

8. Steve Larson. 1999. "Swing and Motive in Three Performances by Oscar Peterson." Journal of Music Theory 43.2: 283–313.

9. Cynthia Folio and Robert W. Weisberg. 2006. “Billie Holiday's Art of Paraphrase: A Study in Consistency.” In New Musicology (Interdisciplinary Studies in Msicology) Poznan, Poland: Poznan Press, 247–75.

IV. Performer Interaction and the Groove

1. Matthew W. Butterfield. 2010. “Variant Timekeeping Patterns and Their Effects in Jazz Drumming.” Music Theory Online 16.4. http://mto.societymusictheory.org/issues/mto.10.16.4/toc.16.4.html

2. Matthew W. Butterfield. 2006. “The Power of Anacrusis: Engendered Feeling in Groove-Based Musics.” Music Theory Online 12.4 http://mto.societymusictheory.org/issues/mto.06.12.4/mto.06.12.4.butterfield.html Study Questions

3. Fernand Benadon. 2007. “A Circular Plot for Rhythm Visualization and Analysis.” Music Theory Online 13.3. http://mto.societymusictheory.org/issues/mto.07.13.3/toc.13.3.html 

4. Luis-Manuel Garcia. 2005. “On and On: Repetition as Process and Pleasure in Electronic Dance Music.” Music Theory Online, 11.4. http://mto.societymusictheory.org/issues/mto.05.11.4/toc.11.4.html  Study Questions

5. Mark Butler. 2006. Unlocking the Groove: Rhythm, Meter, and Musical Design in Electronic Dance Music.  Indiana University Press (selections)

V. Studies in Specific Repertoires

1. John Covach. 2003. "Pangs of History in Late 1970s New-Wave Rock" in Analyzing Popular Music, ed. Allan F. Moore. Cambridge University Press. Blackboard

2. Jocelyn R. Neal. 2007. “Narrative Paradigms, Musical Signifiers, and Form as Function in Country Music.”  Music Theory Spectrum 29.1: 41-72. Blackboard

3. Walter Everett. 2013. "The Beatles as Composers: The Genesis of Abby Road, Side Two" in Sounding Out Pop: Analytical Essays in Popular Music, ed. Mark Spicer and John Covach. University of Michigan Press. Blackboard

4. Walter Everett. 2004. "A Royal Scam: The Abstruse and Ironic Bop-Rock Harmony of Steely Dan." Music Theory Spectrum 26. Blackboard

5. Chris McDonald. 2009. Rush: Rock Music and the Middle Class, selections. Indiana University Press.
 

Assignments

Week 1, August 22-24

Begin the Part I readings, No. 1 & 2 under "Gender, Identity, and Voice". Be ready to discuss issues of identity and "voice" as discussed in the readings. Consider how the readings might apply is discussing a song you choose to study. The Burns reading lays out categories of "content analysis" that are useful. What does the Lafrance and Burns the reading tell us about the music (and video) of Lady Gaga, Pink, and Rihanna? Be ready to explain how the authors develop a social and cultural context for their close study of music and video. Can you enlarge the discussion by connecting concepts in the readings to other music you know?

Begin the Everett article, “Making Sense of Rock's Tonal Systems” listed under Part II above. Refer to the study questions provided above on the Everett reading. Also, listen for the chord patterns in the song you select and see how they may relate to Everett's six classifications of tonal systems in rock.

Begin the first of the jazz readings by Lori Burns: Feeling the Style: Vocal Gesture and Musical Expression in Billie Holiday, Bessie Smith, and Louis Armstrong. Music Theory Online 11/3 (September 2005). http://mto.societymusictheory.org/issues/mto.05.11.3/toc.11.3.html    Study Questions

WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT: Write a short essay (two full pages, double-spaced) on one song of your choice, making use of ideas and methodologies employed in the assigned readings. Your objective is to write a thoughtful essay on the song that demonstrates your understanding of the readings. Include some transcription rendered by ear, to support your essay. Due Tuesday, September 3.

Week 2, August 29-31

Wrap up the first five readings on Gender, Identity, and "Voice" (including McClary and Moore) and the Walter Everett reading on rock harmony. Next, we continue with a group of readings from Allan Moore's book, Song Means.

Week 3, September 3-5: Allan F. Moore, Derek B. Scott, and Stan Hawkins. 2012. Song Means: Analysing and Interpreting Recorded Popular Song (eBook)
       Chapters 1 (Methodology), 2 (Shape), 6 (Friction), 7 (Persona). Also refer to Moore's Chapter 11 (Questions) for review.

WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT: Bass line transcription, due Thursday: Transcribe the bass line for a pop song of your choice. Write in chord symbols to form a lead sheet for the essential patterns in the song. Add Roman numerals and/or other analytical markings. Write a half-page of observations concerning rhythm, chord patterns, form, and/or lyrics.

Week 4, September 10-12:

Discuss Allen Moore, Song Means, Chapters 1 (Methodology), 2 (Shape), 6 (Friction), 7 (Persona)

Discuss Folio, Cynthia. 1995. “An Analysis of Polyrhythm in Selected Improvised Jazz Solos.” Concert Music, Rock, and Jazz Since 1945: Essays and Analytical Studies, ed. Elizabeth West Marvin and Richard Hermann. University of Rochester Press, 103–34. Blackboard  Study questions

For Tuesday, Sept 17: Write a reader's response essay on the Moore reading. How does Moore's hermeneutic approach and analytical methodology compare and contrast with other readings we have explored? Length: 2-3 typed pages, double-spaced.

Also For Tuesday, Sept 17: bring in an example of polyrhythm to share. Be ready to play, sing, and/or conduct and explain the different rhythmic implications.

Group Assignment: Create a group presention with up to six classmates. Students will each receive an individual grade for their contribution. The main grading criteria will be (1) demonstrating a deep engagement with the reading and (2) applying methodologies in detailed aural study of music you select to examine. Select one or several songs for discussion. Demonstration in class with piano, guitar, and/or voice is encouraged!

Week 5: September 17-19: Preview First Paper Assignment and continue Group Project Assignment (Assign tasks, select music and goals for a presentation).

Week 6: September 24-26 Wrap up Group Project Assignment (No class Thursday, Sept 26.)

Givan, Benjamin. 2016. “Rethinking Interaction in Jazz Improvisation.” Music Theory Online 11.3: http://www.mtosmt.org/issues/mto.16.22.3/toc.22.3.html 

Week 7: October 1-3

Readings TBA

FIRST PAPER ASSIGNMENT. DUE THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17. Focus on an aspect of rhythm in a song of your choice. Your five-page paper should include:
      - A transcription rendered "by ear" of the bass line, chords, and vocal melody for essential material in the song.
      - A five-page essay that explores performer interaction and meaning in the song through a focused study of rhythm.
      - The essay should clearly draw upon aspects of out assigned readings.
      - Come to class ready to discuss your work in progress.

Wrap up group projects. Finish discussing Folio and Givan readings.

Spicer, Mark.  “(Ac)cumulative Form in Pop-Rock Music.” 20th-Century Music 1/1 (2004): 29-64. Blackboard    Study Questions

Rusch, René, Keith Salley, and Chris Stover. 2016. "Capturing the Ineffable: Three Transcriptions of a Jazz Solo by Sonny Rollins.” Music Theory Online 11.3: http://www.mtosmt.org/issues/mto.16.22.3/toc.22.3.html 

Week 8: October 8-10

Matthew W. Butterfield. The Power of Anacrusis: Engendered Feeling in Groove-Based Musics. Music Theory Online 12/4 (December 2006). (MTO) (Study Questions)

Harmony in Rock: Biamonte. Triadic Modal and Pentatonic Patterns in Rock Music  Blackboard

Week 9: October 15-17

McClary, Susan. 2000. Conventional Wisdom. Chapter 2, "Thinking Blues." University of California Press. Blackboard

FIRST PAPER ASSIGNMENT. DUE THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17.

SECOND PAPER ASSIGNMENT: Analyzing the Groove. In this five-page essay with transcribed musical examples, focus in particular on the rhythmic nuances of performer interaction in a song of your choice. Consider issues of expressive microtiming (drawing from the Butterfield reading). How might performers' strategic choices for subdivision of the beat create specific qualities of directed motion? Consider also how musical gestures may create an embodiment of human action that is coded with expressive meaning (discussed in Koozin guitar article). Think about ways that the layering of instruments may have form-developing functions (following the Spicer reading). Be on the lookout for polyrhythm (as discussed by Folio).

As you develop your essay and transcriptions, be ready to discuss and sing/play your material in class.

Due Tuesday, November 5.

Week 10: October 22-24

Discuss upcoming paper for Nov 5 and Thursday's midterm essay on readings.

Thursday: October 24: In-class midterm essay on readings (counts for 10% of final grade)

Reading assignment for next week:

Koozin. Guitar Voicing in Pop-Rock Music: A Performance-Based Analytical Approach  MTO

Rings, Steven. 2013. “A Foreign Sound to Your Ear: Bob Dylan Performs 'It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding),' 1964–2009.” Music Theory Online, 19.4. http://www.mtosmt.org/issues/mto.13.19.4/toc.19.4.html

Week 11, October 29-31

Tuesday: Discuss paper topics and readings by Koozin and Rings

Week 12, November 5

Tuesday: Second Paper Assignment due. Discuss readings by Koozin and Rings; new paper topics.

No class Thursday, Nov 7

FINAL PAPER ASSIGNMENT: Prepare a five-page paper on a topic in performance and analysis of jazz/rock/pop music.

• As you develop the paper, be ready to discuss and demonstrate (vocally, with guitar or piano, etc.) the musical elements you are studying.
• Briefly explain within the paper how the goal of the paper relates to a personal/professional goal involving jazz/pop music.
• As before, the paper should make some use of transcription, with score rendering and analysis of what you hear in the music.
• Integrate assigned class readings and/or other source readings in developing your approach. Provide appropriate citations in the paper.
• Be ready at each class meeting to contribute aspects of your paper in our class discussion. You will receive two grades on the paper: one for the written document and one for your class contributions. Each student will offer a presention, beginning by November 19. Presentation should include the following: (1) A preparatory assignment for the class, to get everybody familiar with your topic to be posted on the Blackbord Class Discussion Board; (2) Essential discussion of the specific elements you are studying in your paper; (3) An analytical sketch and transcription; (4) some musical element that you present through example by playing and/or singing.
• As you prepare, be ready to help one another collaborate on performance aspects of your final paper music. Share your ideas and skills in exploring an aspect of how the music is played and/or sung. Be ready to report on your results to the class.
• Final draft of paper is due Tuesday, December 3, noon. Papers should be turned in at the Music Office or sent to me by emai

Week 13, November 12-14

Discuss final paper topics and readings. In preparation for guest speaker, Dr Nancy Murphy, study the section by Steven Rings on "Analyzing the Popular Singing Voice: Sense and Surplus" in "Why Voice Now," Martha Feldman, Journal of the American Musicological Society, 68/3 (Fall 2015), pp. 653–85. The performance Rings discusses is here: Buffy Sainte Marie - Cod'ine - Newport Festival (1963).

Thursday November 14: Guest speaker, Dr. Nancy Murphy, shares her research on Buffy Sainte-Marie.

Week 14, November 19-21

Discuss paper topics. Postings to the Backboard discussion board about final paper topics due November 26. Create a posting about your paper topic and respond to postings from at least two classmates.

Week 15, November 26 (last class meeting)

Discuss paper topics.

Final Papers are due Tuesday, December 3, noon. Papers should be turned in at the Music Office or sent to me by email.

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ADDITIONAL READINGS AND RESOURCES

Music Theory Online articles on popular music

Lori Burns. Feeling the Style: Vocal Gesture and Musical Expression in Billie Holiday, Bessie Smith, and Louis Armstrong. Music Theory Online 11/3 (September 2005). http://mto.societymusictheory.org/issues/mto.05.11.3/toc.11.3.html

Lori Burns and Alyssa Woods. Authenticity, Appropriation, Signification: Tori Amos on Gender, Race, and Violence in Covers of Billie Holiday and Eminem, Music Theory Online 10/2 (June 2004). http://mto.societymusictheory.org/issues/mto.04.10.2/toc.10.2.html

Lori Burns, Marc Lafrance, and Laura Hawley. Embodied Subjectivities in the Lyrical and Musical Expression of PJ Harvey and Björk. Music Theory Online 14/4 (December 2008). http://mto.societymusictheory.org/issues/mto.08.14.4/toc.14.4.html

Fernando Benadon. A Circular Plot for Rhythm Visualization and Analysis, Music Theory Online 13/3 (September 2007). http://mto.societymusictheory.org/issues/mto.07.13.3/toc.13.3.html

Matthew W. Butterfield. The Power of Anacrusis: Engendered Feeling in Groove-Based Musics. Music Theory Online 12/4 (December 2006). http://mto.societymusictheory.org/issues/mto.06.12.4/toc.12.4.html

Walter Everett. Making Sense of Rock's Tonal Systems. Music Theory Online, Volume 10/4 (December 2004).  http://mto.societymusictheory.org/issues/mto.04.10.4/toc.10.4.html

Luis-Manuel Garcia. On and On: Repetition as Process and Pleasure in Electronic Dance Music. Music Theory Online, Volume 11/4 (October 2005). http://mto.societymusictheory.org/issues/mto.05.11.4/toc.11.4.html

Timothy Koozin. "Guitar Voicing in Pop-Rock Music: A Performance-Based Analytical Approach." Music Theory Online 17/3 (October 2011). http://www.mtosmt.org/issues/mto.11.17.3/mto.11.17.3.koozin.php. (Note: This volume includes nine articles on musical form in rock.)

Allan F. Moore. The Persona-Environment Relation in Recorded Song. Music Theory Online 11/4 (October 2005). http://mto.societymusictheory.org/issues/mto.05.11.4/toc.11.4.html

Volume 18.3, September 2012 includes four jazz analysis articles.

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Odds and Ends: More material we may explore as time allows. Not required at this time.

Assignment for listening and analysis: The Beatles, Abbey Road

1. Select one or several tracks for detailed listening. What do you find most interesting about the song, in terms of…

• material and structure (melody, chords, rhythm, form, arrangement, etc.)
• performance elements (how the music is played, sung; it embodied expression)
• its qualities as a recording (how the studio is used as a creative tool; how human expression comes through in a fixed commercial recording)

2. The album overall: How do the Beatles unify the album overall while expressively resisting values of structural unity?

Two famous writings on the aethetics and social-political consequences of audio recording:

Walter Benjamin, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.” (1936)
http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/ge/benjamin.htm

Theodor Adorno, “The Form of the Phonograph Record” (1934), trans. Thomas Y. Levin. 
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0162-2870%28199024%2955%3C56%3ATFOTPR%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Z