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Books > Arts & Architecture > Music > Theory of music & musicology > General
Migration studies is an area of increasing significance in
musicology as in other disciplines. How do migrants express and
imagine themselves through musical practice? How does music help
them to construct social imaginaries and to cope with longings and
belongings? In this study of migration music in postsocialist
Albania, Eckehard Pistrick identifies links between sound, space,
emotionality and mobility in performance, provides new insights
into the controversial relationship between sound and migration,
and sheds light on the cultural effects of migration processes.
Central to Pistrick's approach is the essential role of
emotionality for musical creativity which is highlighted throughout
the volume: pain and longing are discussed not as a traumatising
end point, but as a driving force for human action and as a source
for cultural creativity. In addition, the study provides a
fascinating overview about the current state of a rarely documented
vocal tradition in Europe that is a part of the mosaic of
Mediterranean singing traditions. It refers to the challenges
imposed onto this practice by heritage politics, the dynamics of
retraditionalisation and musical globalisation. In this sense the
book constitutes an important study to the dynamics of
postsocialism as seen from a musicological perspective. Winner of
the 2017 Stavro Skendi Book Prize for Achievement in Albanian
Studies, Society for Albanian Studies Dr. Pistrick's book, in the
committee's judgment, impressively connects ethnomusicology,
anthropology and migration studies. Linking sound with space and
emotionality, it offers a new understanding of the role of the oral
tradition within Albanian communities, in particular its ability to
deal creatively with painful experiences and the realities of
migration. Association for Slavic, East European & Eurasian
Studies
Sound Relations delves into histories of Inuit musical life in
Alaska to register the significance of sound as integral to
self-determination and sovereignty. Offering radical and relational
ways of listening to Inuit performances across a range of
genres-from hip hop to Christian hymnody and traditional drumsongs
to funk and R&B -author Jessica Bissett Perea registers how a
density (not difference) of Indigenous ways of musicking from a
vast archive of presence sounds out entanglements between
structures of Indigeneity and colonialism. This work dismantles
stereotypical understandings of "Eskimos," "Indians," and "Natives"
by addressing the following questions: What exactly is "Native"
about Native music? What does it mean to sound (or not sound)
Native? Who decides? And how can in-depth analyses of Native music
that center Indigeneity reframe larger debates of race, power, and
representation in twenty-first century American music
historiography? Instead of proposing singular truths or facts, this
book invites readers to consider the existence of multiple
simultaneous truths, a density of truths, all of which are
culturally constructed, performed, and in some cases politicized
and policed. Native ways of doing music history engage processes of
sound worlding that envision otherwise, beyond nation-state notions
of containment and glorifications of Alaska as solely an extraction
site for U.S. settler capitalism, and instead amplifies
possibilities for more just and equitable futures.
A Pitchfork Best Music Book of 2022 When Tom Breihan launched his
Stereogum column in early 2018, "The Number Ones"-a space in which
he has been writing about every #1 hit in the history of the
Billboard Hot 100, in chronological order-he figured he'd post
capsule-size reviews for each song. But there was so much more to
uncover. The column has taken on a life of its own, sparking online
debate and occasional death threats. The Billboard Hot 100 began in
1958, and after four years of posting the column, Breihan is still
in the early aughts. But readers no longer have to wait for his
brilliant synthesis of what the history of #1s has meant to music
and our culture. In The Number Ones, Breihan writes about twenty
pivotal #1s throughout chart history, revealing a remarkably fluid
and connected story of music that is as entertaining as it is
enlightening. The Numbers Ones features the greatest pop artists of
all time, from the Brill Building songwriters to the Beatles and
the Beach Boys; from Motown to Michael Jackson, Prince, and Mariah
Carey; and from the digital revolution to the K-pop system. Breihan
also ponders great artists who have never hit the top spot, like
Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, and James Brown. Breihan illuminates
what makes indelible ear candy across the decades-including dance
crazes, recording innovations, television phenomena, disco, AOR,
MTV, rap, compact discs, mp3s, social media, memes, and much
more-leaving readers to wonder what could possibly happen next.
Revolutionary approaches to compositional practice and
musicological research have been associated with Otto Laske's work
for over a quarter of a century. Laske's scientific understanding
of the compositional process has made it possible to systematically
formalize computer-assisted and computer synthesized music. In this
book, international scholars survey new directions in compositional
and musicological practices as influenced by Laske's pioneering
work. These two seemingly independent areas of inquiry,
composition, and musicology, are presented as a comprehensive
integration. The essays offer an interdisciplinary examination of
issues imbued with ethnographic considerations of the musical
experience, research in perception and brain functions, the design
of computer-based neural networks that emulate human musical
activities, investigations into the psychological make-up of
artists, and a unique perspective on how computers are used in many
different areas of music. Compositional and cognitive musicological
research are placed in a historical perspective and accompanied
with contemporary issues surrounding this research. An interview
with Otto Laske and two of his own essays are also included.
This study of Otto Laske will appeal to musicologists and
students of music theory and composition. Its interdisciplinary
content will also interest scholars in a variety of fields
including electronic music, ethnomusicology, computer science,
artificial intelligence and other cognitive sciences, psychology,
and philosophy. Researchers will appreciate the comprehensive
bibliography of Laske's compositions and writings.
Carl Schachter is the world's leading practitioner of Schenkerian
theory and analysis. His articles and books have been broadly
influential, and are seen by many as models of musical insight and
lucid prose. Yet, perhaps his greatest impact has been felt in the
classroom. At the Mannes College of Music, the Juilliard School of
Music, Queens College and the Graduate Center of the City
University of New York, and at special pedagogical events around
the world, he has taught generations of musical performers,
composers, historians, and theorists over the course of his long
career. In Fall 2012, Schachter taught a doctoral seminar at the
CUNY Graduate Center in which he talked about the music and the
musical issues that have concerned him most deeply; the course was
in essence a summation of his extensive and renowned teaching. In
The Art of Tonal Analysis, music theorist Joseph Straus presents
edited transcripts of those lectures. Accompanied by abundant music
examples, including analytical examples transcribed from the
classroom blackboard, Straus's own visualizations of material that
Schachter presented aurally at the piano, and Schachter's own
extended Schenkerian graphs and sketches, this book offers a vivid
account of Schachter's masterful pedagogy and his deep insight into
the central works of the tonal canon. In making the lectures of one
of the world's most extraordinary musicians and musical thinkers
available to a wide audience, The Art of Tonal Analysis is an
invaluable resource for students and scholars of music.
This volume of essays draws together recent work on historical
music theory of the Renaissance. The collection spans the major
themes addressed by Renaissance writers on music and highlights the
differing approaches to this body of work by modern scholars,
including: historical and theoretical perspectives; consideration
of the broader cultural context for writing about music in the
Renaissance; and the dissemination of such work. Selected from a
variety of sources ranging from journals, monographs and specialist
edited volumes, to critical editions, translations and facsimiles,
these previously published articles reflect a broad chronological
and geographical span, and consider Renaissance sources that range
from the overtly pedagogical to the highly speculative. Taken
together, this collection enables consideration of key essays side
by side aided by the editor's introductory essay which highlights
ongoing debates and offers a general framework for interpreting
past and future directions in the study of historical music theory
from the Renaissance.
The Fundamentals Text That Emphasizes Music Making. This music
fundamentals textbook is for both aspiring music majors and
non-majors. Based on an anthology of works from music literature,
it features clear, concise explanations, extensive written
exercises, and a variety of suggested in-class activities. It
emphasizes process of making music-emphasizing, at every stage,
that music is to be heard and made-not merely seen and learned in
the abstract. All of the key topics are covered: music notation;
rhythm; scales; intervals; triads; basic harmonic progressions.
Several supplements are available for this text. An Audio CD is
available including performances of key works analyzed in the text.
The examples are also available in Finale files on MySearchLab that
students can use to directly work on exercises on their computers.
Teaching and Learning Experience *Personalize Learning- MySearchLab
delivers proven results in helping students succeed, provides
engaging experiences that personalize learning, and comes from a
trusted partner with educational expertise and a deep commitment to
helping students and instructors achieve their goals. *Improve
Critical Thinking- Written exercises and assignments both in
traditional written and electronic formats reinforce concepts.
*Engage Students- In-class activities, including singing,
dictation, and keyboard exercises are designed to supplement and
reinforce the theory lessons. *Support Instructors- Supported by
the best instructor resources on the market; MySearchLab and an
Instructor's Manual.
For undergraduate/graduate-level courses in Twentieth-Century
Techniques, and Post-Tonal Theory and Analysis taken by music
majors. A primer-rather than a survey-this text offers
exceptionally clear, simple explanations of basic theoretical
concepts for the post-tonal music of the twentieth century.
Emphasizing hands-on contact with the music-through playing,
singing, listening, and analyzing-it provides six chapters on
theory, each illustrated with musical examples and fully worked-out
analyses, all drawn largely from the classical pre-war repertoire
by Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Bartok, Berg, and Webern. Straus takes a
paced, methodical, logical approach to each topic. He introduces it
in context and - perhaps most significantly of all - uses language
that's so transparent that merely to follow his descriptions,
explanations and illustrations carefully is to understand each
aspect of the theory under consideration. Mark Sealey,
Classical.net
Discover music that dared to be different, risked reputations and
put careers in jeopardy - causing fascination and intrigue in some
and rejection and scorn in others. This is what happens when people
take tradition and rip it up. MusicQuake tells the stories of 50
pivotal albums and performances that shook the world of modern
music - chronicling the fascinating tales of their creation,
reception and legacy. Tracing enigmatic composers, risque
performers and radical songwriters - this books introduces the
history of 20th century music in a new light. From George Gershwin
and John Cage to Os Mutantes and Fela Kuti; from Patti Smith and
The Slits to Public Enemy and Missy Elliott - by discussing each
entry within the context of its creation, the book will give
readers true insight into why each moment was so pivotal and tell
the stories surrounding the most exciting music ever produced. Some
were shocking, others confusing, beautiful and surreal; some were
scorned on release, others were chart toppers; and yet more
inspired entire movements and generations of new musicians. These
cutting-edge works, which celebrate novelty, technology and
innovation, help define what music is today - acting as prime
examples of how powerful songs can be. This book is from the
Culture Quake series, which looks into iconic moments of culture
which truly created paradigm shifts in their respective fields.
Also available are ArtQuake, FilmQuake and FashionQuake.
Music Sociology explores 16 different genres to demonstrate that
music everywhere reflects social values, organisational processes,
meanings and individual identity. Presenting original ethnographic
research, the contributors use descriptions of subcultures to
explain the concepts of music sociology, including the rituals that
link people to music, the past and each other. Music Sociology
introduces the sociology of music to those who may not be familiar
with it and provides a basic historical perspective on popular
music in America and beyond.
Contributions by Luther Allison, John Broven, Daniel Droixhe, David
Evans, William Ferris, Jim O'Neal, Mike Rowe, Robert Sacre, Arnold
Shaw, and Dick Shurman Fifty years after Charley Patton's death in
1934, a team of blues experts gathered five thousand miles from
Dockery Farms at the University of Liege in Belgium to honor the
life and music of the most influential artist of the Mississippi
Delta blues. This volume brings together essays from that
international symposium on Charley Patton and Mississippi blues
traditions, influences, and comparisons. Originally published by
Presses Universitaires de Liege in Belgium, this collection has
been revised and updated with a new foreword by William Ferris, new
images added, and some essays translated into English for the first
time. Patton's personal life and his recorded music bear witness to
how he endured and prevailed in his struggle as a black man during
the early twentieth century. Within this volume, that story offers
hope and wonder. Organized in two parts--""Origins and Traditions""
and ""Comparison with Other Regional Styles and Mutual
Influence""--the essays create an invaluable resource on the life
and music of this early master. Written by a distinguished group of
scholars, these pieces secure the legacy of Charley Patton as the
fountainhead of Mississippi Delta blues.
The study of musical composition has been marked by a didactic,
technique-based approach, focusing on the understanding of musical
language and grammar -harmony, counterpoint, orchestration and
arrangement - or on generic and stylistic categories. In the field
of the psychology of music, the study of musical composition, even
in the twenty-first century, remains a poor cousin to the
literature which relates to musical perception, music performance,
musical preferences, musical memory and so on. Our understanding of
the compositional process has, in the main, been informed by
anecdotal after-the-event accounts or post hoc analyses of
composition. The Act of Musical Composition: Studies in the
Creative Process presents the first coherent exploration around
this unique aspect of human creative activity. The central threads,
or key themes - compositional process, creative thinking and
problem-solving - are integrated by the combination of theoretical
understandings of creativity with innovative empirical work.
"Over the Rainbow" exploded into worldwide fame upon its
performance by Judy Garland in the MGM film musical The Wizard of
Oz (1939). Voted the greatest song of the twentieth century in a
2000 survey, it is a masterful, delicate balance of sophistication
and child-like simplicity in which composer Harold Arlen and
lyricist E. Y. "Yip" Harburg poignantly captured the hope and
anxiety harbored by Dorothy's character. In Arlen and Harburg's
Over the Rainbow, author Walter Frisch traces the history of this
song from its inception during the development of The Wizard of
Oz's screenplay, to its various reinterpretations over the course
of the twentieth century. Through analysis of the song's music and
lyrics, this Oxford Keynotes volume provides a close reading of the
piece while examining the evolution of its meaning as it traversed
widely varying cultural contexts. From its adoption as a jazz
standard by generations of pianists, to its contribution to Judy
Garland's role as a gay icon, to its reemergence as a chart-topping
recording by Hawaiian singer Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, "Over the
Rainbow" continues to engage audiences and performers alike in
surprising ways. Featuring a companion website with audio and video
supplements, this book leaves no path unexplored as it succeeds in
capturing the extent of this song's impact on the world.
For more than 150 years, individuals have traveled the countryside
with pen, paper, tape recorders, and even video cameras to document
versions of songs, music, and stories shared by communities. As
technologies and methodologies have advanced, the task of gathering
music has been taken up by a much broader group than scholars. The
resulting collections created by these various people can be
impacted by the individual collectors' political and social
concerns, cultural inclinations, and even simple happenstance,
demonstrating a crucial yet underexplored relationship between the
music and those preserving it.Collecting Music in the Aran Islands,
a critical historiographical study of the practice of documenting
traditional music, is the first to focus on the archipelago off the
west coast of Ireland. Deirdre NI Chonghaile argues for a
culturally equitable framework that considers negotiation,
collaboration, canonization, and marginalization to fully
understand the immensely important process of musical curation. In
presenting four substantial, historically valuable collections from
the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, she illustrates how
understanding the motivations and training (or lack thereof) of
individual music collectors significantly informs how we should
approach their work and contextualize their place in the folk music
canon.
A musical phrase, or, for that matter, a musical unit of any size
or shape, becomes an image whenever we imagine it to be invested
with a content whose origins lie outside music. Such a content,
according to the theory developed here, constitutes the image's
conventional significance; it accounts for whatever strikes us
about the image as having a common and familiar ring. That being
so, the origins in question must be coincident with the fundamental
ideas--the archetypes--that have been traditionally represented as
underlying and unifying Western culture. As the theoretical
constructs they are, arehctypes are never encountered directly. It
is in the form of their local variants that we make contact with
the archetypes, and it is at this local level that the present book
sets its sights: style, the typical or shared element in the
musical imagery of a time and place, is studies as a function of
Zeitgeist, the complex of beliefs, values, and ideals of a
community. The approach is both thematic and historical, in keeping
with a key objective of archetypal criticism. Far from repudiating
the popular notion that music expresses the human emotions, this
study attempts to recast emotion theory by examining musical images
for kinds of behavior from which we may infer not only emotion
(pathos, effectus) but also personality (ethos). Ethical and
affective distinctions are very sharply drawn, in an effort to
clarify and widen the vocabulary of musical commentary, as well as
to provide cultural and historical backing for contents long
considered the cliches of musical expression.
Since 1973, Queen have captivated listeners through the intense
sonic palette of voices and guitars, the sprawling and epic
journeys of songs, and charismatic splendour of their live
performances. Rock and Rhapsodies is the first book to undertake a
musicological study of the band's output, with a fundamental aim of
discovering what, exactly, gave Queen's songs their magical and
distinct musical identity. Focusing on the material written,
recorded, and released between 1973 and 1991, author Nick Braae
provides readers with an in-depth and nuanced analytical account of
the group's individual musical style (or "idiolect"), and
illuminates the multifaceted stylistic and historical contexts in
which Queen's music was created. Aspects of Queen's songs are also
used as a springboard for exploring a range of further analytical
and discursive issues: the nature of a musical style; the
conceptual relationship between an artist, style, and genre; form
in popular songs; and the character and identity of a singing
voice. Following an introduction and "primer" on Queen's idiolect,
Rock and Rhapsodies presents ten further chapters, each of which
offers a snapshot of a particular musical element (form, the
voice), a particular subset of repertoire (Freddie Mercury's
large-scale 1970s songs), or a particular era (post-1991), thus
painting a rich overall picture of both the band's history and
their ongoing presence in popular culture. Along the way, there is
an underlying focus on interrogating and substantiating the themes
and ideas that emerge from the writing, documentaries and other
media on Queen, using a variety of analytical tools and close
readings of songs, to demonstrate how aspects of critical reception
align (or not) with musical details. Rock and Rhapsodies will
reward any reader who has been enchanted by the myriad and complex
musical components that make up any Queen song.
This volume gathers together a cross-section of essays and book
chapters dealing with the ways in which musicians and their music
have been pressed into the service of political, nationalist and
racial ideologies. Arranged chronologically according to their
subject matter, the selections cover Western and non-Western
musics, as well as art and popular musics, from the eighteenth
century to the present day. The introduction features detailed
commentaries on sources beyond those included in the volume, and as
such provides an invaluable and comprehensive reading list for
researchers and educators alike. The volume brings together for the
first time seminal articles written by leading scholars, and
presents them in such a way as to contribute significantly to our
understanding of the use and abuse of music for ideological ends.
Metaphysics and Music in Adorno and Heidegger explains how two
notoriously opposed German philosophers share a rethinking of the
possibility of metaphysics via notions of music and waiting. This
is connected to the historical materialist project of social change
by way of the radical Italian composer Luigi Nono.
In this translation of the groundbreaking Le Chant Intime,
internationally renowned baritone Francois Le Roux, in conversation
with journalist Romain Raynaldy, presents a master class on French
art song, with a thorough analysis of 60 selected songs that
deviate from the traditionally narrow repertoire of the melodie
genre. Taking an approach that goes far beyond the typical limiting
conventions, Le Roux and Raynaldy adhere to composer Francis
Poulenc's principle that a song should always be "a love affair,
not an arranged marriage." Neither theoretical nor purely academic,
this guide instills in its readers a deep appreciation for the
historical and artistic context of each piece by enriching each
analysis with the full text of the lyrical poem and several musical
examples, as well as fascinating details of historic premieres,
concert halls, singers and poets. Paired with intensive and
practical notes related to the nuances of melody and vocal
delivery, each analysis provides an essential reference for
performers and listeners alike. The translation is due to the
expertise of musicologist and pianist Sylvia Kahan, Professor of
Music at the Graduate Center and College of Staten Island, CUNY.
A compiled set of studies in the contrapuntal style of harmony.
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