\u201cWho are you? How do you define yourself, your identity?\u201d With these words Allan Moore opens his exhaustive new work proposing a more comprehensive approach to the musicological analysis of popular song. The last three decades have seen a huge expansion of the anthology of the sociological and cultural meanings of pop, but Moore\u2019s book is not another exploration of this field, although some of these ideas are incorporated in this work. Rather, he addresses the limitations of conventional musicology when dealing particularly with songs: \u201cI address popular song rather than popular music. The defining feature of popular song lies in the interaction of everyday words and music\u2026 it is how they interact that produces significance in the experience of song\u201d. As the publisher\u2019s description says, \u201canalytical theory is revisited, covering conventional domains such as harmony, melody and rhythm, but [Moore] does not privilege these at the expense of domains such as texture, the soundbox, vocal tone, and lyrics\u201d. And Moore is careful to specify in the subtitle that this book is about recorded song, acknowledging that, for most people, by far the most common experience of songs nowadays is through recorded media. For this reason he limits his focus to recordings of songs from the 1920\u2019s to the present day, which is nevertheless a vast range, covering a multitude of genres. As Eric Clarke, Heather Professor of Music at the University of Oxford, in his own review of this book, notes, this in itself is \u201can astonishing achievement\u201d. Clarke, a leading academic in the field, goes on to say that Moore tackles \u201cfundamental questions of musical meaning and the nature of musical materials\u201d and that this work is \u201ca landmark in the musicology of pop\u201d. High praise indeed, and I can only concur!<\/p>\n
This book is, in Moore\u2019s words, \u201cnot about what songs \u2018actually\u2019 seem to mean, it\u2019s about how they mean – (which is my excuse for the strange title)\u201d. \u201cSong Means\u201d is, indeed, an intriguing title. Moore explains that there are \u201ctwo understandings of the book\u2019s title: the first is to try to lay bare the means by which popular songs are constructed; the second, that popular songs create meanings in listeners (or perhaps the listeners create the meanings through listening to the songs\u2026)\u201d. To understand the means, or construction, Moore presents the analytical categories of Shape, Form and Delivery; for the meanings there are Style, Friction, Persona, Reference and Belonging. Each of these categories forms a chapter, arriving penultimately at Syntheses, where, he explains, \u201cit would be natural to have turned the previous page expecting to find those \u2018complete analyses\u2019 that usually act as the culmination to a book such as this\u201d. For Moore, however, \u201cmy focus throughout has been on how, as a listener, you can discover meaning in the act of listening to the popular song you listen to\u2026 but if the focus is on the means by which meaning is found, to present my own understandings of a range of songs would be to re-erect the results of such questioning as more important than the process of questioning, or at least as more important, more valid somehow, than yours. That will not do.\u201d Throughout the book Moore consistently reminds the reader that the analyses presented are just his own subjective interpretations, that what he is presenting here is a system for analysis, for objective discourse of both the musical and the affective components in a particular song – a structured method for considering, as a listener, \u201cwhat does the track you are listening to teach you about your own actions or responses\u2026?\u201d<\/p>\n
The final chapter, appropriately, is called Questions, for, as he states, in the first chapter, Methodology, his approach is \u201cinterrogative\u201d, which he explains using the analogy of a first encounter with someone new (or a song): \u201c \u2026in order to get to know individuals, we will often ask questions both about them, and of them. The questions we ask will, of course, depend on answers to previous ones, but the interrogative approach normally results in us knowing them better than simply observing them. What is important is to have a bank of questions to employ, probably starting with the most general, and discarding those that seem irrelevant in a particular case\u201d. Thus the final chapter consists, almost entirely, of a series of questions, each of which is referred to the specific chapters where the categories of enquiry are addressed. This structure makes the book a particularly useful tool for any student tasked with song analysis, and therefore likely to become recommended reading for any serious course on popular music.<\/p>\n
As an example, the first question applied to Chapter 2, Shape, asks: \u201cAre all the functional layers employed? How are they constituted?\u201d Looking back we see that quality of Shape addresses instrumentation and sound sources because these constitute the \u201csound-world set up by a track that frequently forms the point of entry for a listener, that first triggers a sense of recognition\u2026 what instruments sound like, how they work together, where they appear to be situated within the recording\u201d. Moore proposes three broad categories: functional layers, the soundbox and timbre, and \u201call these observations should lead to a series of questions: to what extent are they encountered in the track listened to; is the track consistent in its answer, or does it change; are there moments of surprise?\u201d Functional layers are categories of texture, which Moore feels are not adequately described by the traditional terms, such as \u2018sparse\u2019, \u2018dense\u2019, \u2018homophony\u2019 and \u2018polyphony\u2019. He offers four textural layers derived from the functions they perform: the explicit beat layer – an explicit pattern of beats, usually the drums, and the major constituent of the \u2018groove\u2019; the functional bass layer \u2013 self-evident and another component of the groove; the melodic layer – the tune, \u201cother than voices, a whole range of instruments can be found inhabiting this layer\u201d, and the harmonic filler layer, whose function is \u201cto fill the \u2018registral\u2019 space between these bass and treble layers\u201d. Parallels can be drawn from traditional forms such as the trio sonata, but, Moore argues, these terms more adequately describe most popular song textures, and he applies them effectively to a range of songs from Bowie\u2019s \u2018Queen Bitch\u2019 to the Honeycombs \u2018Have I the Right?\u2019 and Chuck Berry\u2019s \u2018Johnny B. Goode\u2019. So the question directs the analyst to consider a given track from this perspective.<\/p>\n
A further question: \u201cHow is the soundbox disposed throughout the track?\u201d directs the analytical focus to consider the track from a perspective of balance and placement. The idea of the \u201csoundbox\u201d will be recognised to those familiar with Moore\u2019s previous work as an effective method for describing the spatial relationship of sound components when hearing recorded music(Moore: 2001). Moore notes \u201cthere is much more to be said of the texture of a track than its functional division into four layers\u2026 the soundbox provides a way of conceptualizing the textural space that a recording inhabits, by enabling us to literally hear recordings taking space\u201d. Moore\u2019s concept of the soundbox has also been applied by Richard Middleton in his proposal for a theory of gesture (Middleton: 2000).<\/p>\n
The chapters on Form, addressing areas of content: specific beat patterns, metre, modes, melodic and linear structure, and Delivery, the performing voice, melody and lyrics, could be considered as just an alternative way of addressing conventional or formalist musicological subjects, but Moore has his own perspective here too. Considering metre, for example, he cites The Fall\u2019s \u2018I Am Damo Suzuki\u2019, where \u201can initial speed is set by bass and guitar but when the kit enters (first at 43\u201d) with a busy pattern, but at a slower pace, the pattern is entirely \u2018inappropriate\u2019 \u2013 nowhere do bass and kit beats coincide\u201d. The difficulty is clear and Moore notes, \u201cit would be possible to list more varieties of the standard pattern, and even to group them in a typology. However, this seems less useful than to note that the pattern is highly malleable, and to look at the consequences of any changes\u2026\u201d Moore prefers \u201canother way, which uses the music itself to organize the temporal stream through which we experience it. It is that sense of organization of the time-stream that gives rise to the notion of a track as embodying some sort of narrative.\u201d Numerous examples are presented, with precise notation, to demonstrate the need for an analysis that accounts for the difference experienced by the listener to similar, or often identical, patterns. Who would have thought that Led Zeppelin\u2019s \u2018When the Levee Breaks\u2019 and Snap\u2019s \u2018The Power\u2019 were almost identical \u2013 on paper at least? Melodic patterns, modal structure and syncopation are all identified and examined at deep structural levels, finding surprising similarities. The Beatles \u2018Eight Days A Week\u2019 uses exactly the same harmonic pattern as Procol Harum\u2019s \u2018Homburg\u2019, but \u201chere the bass is mobile and the melody has no hint of chromatic descent.\u201d Much of this analytical approach is not new \u2013 Moore acknowledges the work of Richard Middleton, Serge Lacasse and Phillip Tagg amongst many other researchers in the musicology of popular music and song \u2013 but draws the most useful together in a coherent system. On Delivery, Moore again demonstrates the inadequacies of formal analysis to communicate understanding of musical meanings: \u201cthe way that a persona becomes clear to a listener is partly, self-evidently, through the lyrics of the track but, perhaps more importantly, by means of the melody through which those lyrics are delivered, and by means of the voice through which the lyrics and melody are articulated.\u201d Persona is treated in more detail in its own chapter, but here Moore\u2019s discussion is concerned with the interaction of melody with harmony \u2013 often as a consequence of the performing singer\u2019s idiosyncratic treatment of melody \u2013 and particularly interesting when he considers factors such as register: is the singer forcing to reach higher registers, and how does this colour the emotional meaning?<\/p>\n
Moore states his expectation that users will find themselves jumping from chapter to chapter as they address the different perspectives of analysis and interpretation, and has structured the book with this in mind. The chapters pivot around the central Chapter 5, Style, which is a relatively brief \u201cstyle history of popular song\u201d. As Chapters 2 to 4 address the means – methodologies of detailed analysis of the materials of music: timbre and texture, structure, rhythm and harmony, melody and lyrics – so the subsequent chapters 6 to 9 address meanings, or interpretation. Hence, Chapter 6, Friction, considers \u201cwhat happens when what happens is not what you expected to happen\u201d. Chapter 7, Persona, provides \u201ca deep discussion of the notion of the persona that a song presents\u201d. Chapter 8, Reference, investigates \u201chow popular song refers to matters outside itself\u201d. Though he reviews the semiotic approach seen in much of the scholarly investigations of musical meaning, he finds this \u201cunsatisfactory\u2026 music refers in three fundamentally different ways: within itself; to itself; outside itself. Semiotics\u2026 normally claims purview over all three of these ways but, in practice, it is only in the last that it is useful.\u201d Moore develops an \u201cecological\u201d approach, building on the work of Mark Johnson and Steve Larson on embodied cognition. (Ecology, to grossly over-simplify, refers to the sound environment experienced by the listener.) Chapter 9, Belonging, raises the \u201ctwin issues of authenticity and intertextuality\u201d. Here, as in each of these chapters, Moore presents an exhaustive review and critique of the considerable body of scholarly discourse around these concepts, arriving at his own synthesis, in this instance, that \u201cany analysis that claims that a particular song, or a particular performance, is authentic must be regarded with suspicion. In its stead, we should observe how (if at all) a track expresses authenticity, and for what particular audience\u2026 \u2018authenticity\u2019 is a matter of interpretation that is made and fought for from within a particular cultural and, thus, historicized position. Like all meanings, it is ascribed, not inscribed.\u201d<\/p>\n
An admirable quality of this book is Moore\u2019s ability to present in depth the range of scholarly thinking available without resorting to didactic insistence on his own position. \u201cMy focus throughout has been on the ways open to individual listeners to make sense of the objects of their listening\u2026 meaning has to be owned by an individual listener.\u201d But this is not a book designed for popular consumption, and the question he asks of the So what? factor will remain unanswered for many of my colleagues in the worlds of music production and performance. Personally, as a producer, I find Moore\u2019s concept of the soundbox, and analyses of the textures and timbres of recordings, helpful and instructive, at least. But, although production is intrinsic and implicit in much of the commentary \u2013 Moore frequently references Albin Zak III\u2019s (2001) key work from the studio perspective, Poetics of Rock, as well as Simon Zagorski-Thomas (2007) on studio gesture, and there are several of the Questions that focus analysis on the production – he says very little specific to the producer\u2019s role. I find this surprising considering that this work is about recordings. Moore has said in the past that he considers production to be an important part of music, but only in conjunction with the results of the other musical decisions. Some more recognition here would not be out of place. This work is also not intended to provide instruction on how to write, perform or produce a popular song \u2013 creative practitioners are first of all acting on intuitive imperatives, and as he notes, \u201cyou have every right to disagree [on a songs meaning] (yes, even with the musicians who wrote and sang the song)\u201d. As many artists will acknowledge, audiences take meanings that often differ widely from the author\u2019s intentions. Nonetheless, for anyone interested in the academic analysis of a field of music that has profoundly influenced \u2013 some might say defined \u2013 whole generations, this book sets a benchmark that, I suspect, will last for a long time. And, as Moore makes clear, \u201cfrom a good song, we learn about ourselves. From finding out what we make of the song, we make that learning conscious, and that seems to me to be of inestimable value.\u201d<\/p>\n
Moore, A. F. 2001. The textures of rock. Proceedings of the Secondo Convegno Europeo di Analisi Musicale. R. Dalmonte, M. Baroni, eds. Universit\u00e0 degli Studi di Trento 1992 edition), Ashgate (originally 1992).<\/p>\n
Middleton R. (2000) Reading Pop (Oxford Press)<\/p>\n
Zak III, A.J. 2001. The Poetics of Rock: Cutting Records, Making Tracks. London: University of California Press.<\/p>\n
Zagorski-Thomas, S. 2007. The Musicology of Record Production. twentieth-century music, 4, 4:189-207, Cambridge University Press. Available at: http:\/\/journals.cambridge.org\/action\/displayAbstractfromPage=online&aid=1742460&fulltextType=RA&fileId=S1478572208000509. [Accessed 11 July 2008].<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cWho are you? How do you define yourself, your identity?\u201d With these words Allan Moore opens his exhaustive new work proposing a more comprehensive approach to the musicological analysis of popular song. The last three decades have seen a huge expansion of the anthology of the sociological and cultural meanings of pop, but Moore\u2019s book is not another exploration of this field, although some of these ideas are incorporated in this work. Rather, he addresses the limitations of conventional musicology when dealing particularly with songs: \u201cI address popular song rather than popular music. The defining feature of popular song lies in the interaction of everyday words and music\u2026 it is how they interact that produces significance in the experience of song\u201d. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[97],"class_list":["post-2356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles-editorials-provocations","tag-reviews","author-dr-mike-howlett"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2356"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2356\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2381,"href":"https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2356\/revisions\/2381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arpjournal.com\/asarpwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}