Jeremy O'Connell
In this presentation I will offer analytical observations concerning rhythmic detail in several songs from the Anglo-American pop-rock repertory. Using elementary theoretical tools, my commentary demonstrates that musical analysis can be relevant to the "main stream of rock" (to bastardize Tovey's famous phrase), and not just to the marginal realm of "art rock." Indeed, rhythm allows the explicit scrutiny demanded by the analyst, as well as the methodological propriety demanded by the pop scholar.
Framed by brief discussions of the nature of popular music as
it intersects with current theory, analysis and pedagogy, the
bulk of the paper consists of musical examples drawn from music
of the 60's, 70's, and 80's - from Hendrix to Led Zeppelin to
A ha. The first set of commentary will be limited drastically
to the use of "the beat," focusing on drumming and in
particular the use of the snare drum. Later I extend my observations
more deliberately to other musical elements, briefly examining
their influence on meter and hypermeter. The analyses emphasize
the ways in which "compositional" decisions in the realm
of rhythm can dramatically inform the contour, rhetoric, and expression
of a song.