Showing papers on "Popular music published in 2017"
05 Jul 2017
TL;DR: A sewing device for sewing similar workpieces of alternate sizes, the device is provided with means for the positioning control and the insertion of the work piece cuts to be sewn, into the workpiece clamping holders.
Abstract: A sewing device for sewing similar workpieces of alternate sizes, the device is provided with means for the positioning control and the insertion of the workpiece cuts to be sewn, into the workpiece clamping holders. To adapt the device for workpieces of other sizes, there are provided adjusting means for the simultaneous displacement of two-piece clamping holders, master cams and the stop dogs of an inserting device.
172 citations
Book•
10 Nov 2017
TL;DR: Cohen et al. as discussed by the authors explored the relationship between popular music and the city using Liverpool as a case study and examined the impact of social and economic change within that city on its popular music culture, focusing on de-industrialization and economic restructuring during the 1980s and 1990s.
Abstract: How is popular music culture connected with the life, image, and identity of a city? How, for example, did the Beatles emerge in Liverpool, how did they come to be categorized as part of Liverpool culture and identity and used to develop and promote the city, and how have connections between the Beatles and Liverpool been forged and contested? This book explores the relationship between popular music and the city using Liverpool as a case study Firstly, it examines the impact of social and economic change within that city on its popular music culture, focusing on de-industrialization and economic restructuring during the 1980s and 1990s Secondly, and in turn, it considers the specificity of popular music culture and the many diverse ways in which it influences city life and informs the way that the city is thought about, valued and experienced Cohen highlights popular music's unique role and significance in the making of cities, and illustrates how de-industrialization encouraged efforts to connect popular music to the city, to categorize, claim and promote it as local culture, and harness and mobilize it as a local resource In doing so she adopts an approach that recognizes music as a social and symbolic practice encompassing a diversity of roles and characteristics: music as a culture or way of life distinguished by social and ideological conventions; music as sound; speech and discourse about music; and music as a commodity and industry
86 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors pointed out that the increase in the availability of illegal downloading of recorded music points towards a decreased willingness to pay for music, while this points towards increased willingness to buy music.
Abstract: Recent technological innovations have facilitated widespread illegal downloading of recorded music. While this points towards a decreased willingness to pay for music, the increase in the popularit...
76 citations
Proceedings Article•
08 Feb 2017TL;DR: This work presents a novel framework for generating pop music that is a hierarchical Recurrent Neural Network, where the layers and the structure of the hierarchy encode the authors' prior knowledge about how pop music is composed.
Abstract: We present a novel framework for generating pop music. Our model is a hierarchical Recurrent Neural Network, where the layers and the structure of the hierarchy encode our prior knowledge about how pop music is composed. In particular, the bottom layers generate the melody, while the higher levels produce the drums and chords. We conduct several human studies that show strong preference of our generated music over that produced by the recent method by Google. We additionally show two applications of our framework: neural dancing and karaoke, as well as neural story singing.
49 citations
TL;DR: This paper studied the ways that Post-Internet ideas inform much contemporary musical production, focusing on interviews conducted with musicians/artists self-consciously highlighting post-Internet themes in their work, including Arca, Ryan Trecartin, 18+, Holly Herndon and ADR.
Abstract: This article studies the ways that Post-Internet ideas inform much contemporary musical production. Drawing on interviews conducted with musicians/artists self-consciously highlighting Post-Internet themes in their work, including Arca, Ryan Trecartin, 18+, Holly Herndon and ADR, the paper emphasises the significance of the term ‘Post-Internet’ for contemporary identity politics. It outlines the Post-Internet ideas of Karen Archey, Robin Peckham and Nathan Jurgenson, illuminating their indebtedness to posthuman discourses through a study of the music of Holly Herndon. It then introduces the notion of ‘digital queering’, a trend located in the work of many Post-Internet musicians. Mykki Blanco, 18+, Arca and Ryan Trecartin fuse the posthumanism of Post-Internet identity with the fluid gender deconstructions of queer theory. This is inspired by the ability to perform multiple ‘selves’ online as well as the intimate relationship with digital networks that is a consequence of Post-Internet ideas.
45 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore how popular music making and perspectives on selling out have been shaped by digitalization, promotionalism, and globalization, and explore the relevance of such concepts and the values that underpin them.
Abstract: Charges of “selling out” and debates about the boundaries of cultural autonomy have played a pivotal role in the development of popular music as a legitimate and “serious” art form. With promotional strategies and commercial business practices now practically inseparable from the core activities previously associated with music making, the relevance of such concepts and the values that underpin them are questioned by industry experts, musicians, and fans. In this article, we explore how popular music making and perspectives on selling out have been shaped by digitalization, promotionalism, and globalization.
43 citations
TL;DR: A new method to measure and compare hierarchical temporal structures in speech, song and music indicated that nested clustering in longer timescales was more prominent when prosodic variation was greater and when sounds came from interactions among individuals, including interactions between speakers, musicians, and even killer whales.
Abstract: Humans talk, sing and play music. Some species of birds and whales sing long and complex songs. All these behaviours and sounds exhibit hierarchical structure—syllables and notes are positioned within words and musical phrases, words and motives in sentences and musical phrases, and so on. We developed a new method to measure and compare hierarchical temporal structures in speech, song and music. The method identifies temporal events as peaks in the sound amplitude envelope, and quantifies event clustering across a range of timescales using Allan factor (AF) variance. AF variances were analysed and compared for over 200 different recordings from more than 16 different categories of signals, including recordings of speech in different contexts and languages, musical compositions and performances from different genres. Non-human vocalizations from two bird species and two types of marine mammals were also analysed for comparison. The resulting patterns of AF variance across timescales were distinct to each of four natural categories of complex sound: speech, popular music, classical music and complex animal vocalizations. Comparisons within and across categories indicated that nested clustering in longer timescales was more prominent when prosodic variation was greater, and when sounds came from interactions among individuals, including interactions between speakers, musicians, and even killer whales. Nested clustering also was more prominent for music compared with speech, and reflected beat structure for popular music and self-similarity across timescales for classical music. In summary, hierarchical temporal structures reflect the behavioural and social processes underlying complex vocalizations and musical performances.
38 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors report from an extensive study of the academisation of popular music in higher music education and research in Norway, with a hundred years (1912-2012) of Norwegian master's and doctoral theses written within the field of music as a backdrop.
Abstract: With a hundred years (1912–2012) of Norwegian master’s and doctoral theses written within the field of music as a backdrop, this article reports from an extensive study of the academisation of popular music in higher music education and research in Norway. Theoretically, the study builds on the sociology of culture and education in the tradition of Bourdieu and some of his successors, and its methodological design is that of a comprehensive survey of the entire corpus of academic theses produced within the Norwegian music field. On this basis, the authors examine what forms of popular music have been included and excluded respectively, how this aesthetic and cultural expansion has found its legitimate scholarly expression, and which structural forces seem to govern the processes of academisation of popular music in the Norwegian context. The results show that popular music to a large extent has been successfully academised, but also that this process has led to some limitations of academic opennes...
36 citations
TL;DR: In this article, an alternative strategy to measure patterns of music taste using an open question about artist preferences is presented. But the results show that measuring cultural omnivorousness based on genre preferences might be hampered, as it misses important subdivisions within genres and is not able to capture respondents who combine specific aspects within and across music genres.
34 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the stages of hominid anatomy that permit music to be perceived and created, with the likelihood of both H. neanderthalensis and H. sapiens both being capable.
Abstract: Music must first be defined and distinguished from speech, and from animal and bird cries. We discuss the stages of hominid anatomy that permit music to be perceived and created, with the likelihood of both H. neanderthalensis and H. sapiens both being capable. The earlier hominid ability to emit sounds of variable pitch with some meaning, shows that music at its simplest level must have predated speech. The possibilities of anthropoid motor impulse suggest that rhythm may have preceded melody, though full control of rhythm may well not have come any earlier than the perception of music above. There are four evident purposes for music: dance, ritual, entertainment personal and communal, and above all social cohesion, again on both personal and communal levels. We then proceed to how instruments began, with a brief survey of the surviving examples from the Mousterian period onwards, including the possible Neanderthal evidence and the extent to which they showed ‘artistic’ potential in other fields. We warn that our performance on replicas of surviving instruments may bear little or no resemblance to that of the original players. We continue with how later instruments, strings and skin-drums began and developed into instruments we know in worldwide cultures today. The sound of music is then discussed, scales and intervals, and the lack of any consistency of consonant tonality around the world. This is followed by iconographic evidence of the instruments of later antiquity into the European Middle Ages, and finally the history of public performance, again from the possibilities of early humanity into more modern times. This paper draws the ethnomusicological perspective on the entire development of music, instruments, and performance, from the times of H. neanderthalensis and H. sapiens into those of modern musical history, and it is written with the deliberate intention of informing readers who are without special education in music, and providing necessary information for inquiries into the origin of music by cognitive scientists.
Dissertation•
30 Sep 2017
TL;DR: In this paper, a mixed methods approach that combines a survey of over 500 university undergraduates with interviews and focus group work with 82 students, a rich description is presented of the ways in which music videos on YouTube are consumed mainly through mobile digital devices.
Abstract: Euro-American (Western) popular music has been imported, performed and adapted to Japanese musical sensibilities since 1854. It influenced Japanese popular music throughout the 20th century and can be heard everywhere these days in shops, on university campuses, at school festivals, on the radio and television, and at the live shows of touring artists. Although record sales indicate the dominance of the domestic industry, especially the J-pop market, young Japanese people are actively consuming Western music through YouTube. This study demonstrates the eclectic musical tastes of young Japanese people today and the role of YouTube as a music platform.
Using a mixed methods approach that combines a survey of over 500 university undergraduates with interviews and focus group work with 82 students, a rich description is presented of the ways in which music videos on YouTube are consumed mainly through mobile digital devices. The data show that the music videos themselves are watched with varying levels of engagement because music provides a background accompaniment to other activities much of the time. Nevertheless, certain types of music video, such as those with skilful dancing, great originality, or a dramatic storyline, tend to attract higher levels of engagement and repeated viewings. The role of English-language lyrics and the priority given to melody and rhythm are also explored.
Although many of the YouTube viewing practices of young Japanese audiences resemble those of their Western counterparts, this study highlights attitudes, values and expectations of Japanese and non-Japanese artists that are unique to Japanese audiences. In doing so, it underscores the need for investigating global phenomena in local (non-Western) contexts and sharing those findings to build a more accurate understanding of music video consumption through YouTube worldwide.
Book•
25 May 2017
TL;DR: The Music of Malaysia as discussed by the authors is the only history, appreciation and analysis of Malaysian music in its many and varied forms available in English, and it is an excellent introduction to and exploration of the country's vibrant musical culture.
Abstract: The Music of Malaysia, first published in Malay in 1997 and followed by an English edition in 2004 is still the only history, appreciation and analysis of Malaysian music in its many and varied forms available in English. The book categorizes the types of music genres found in Malaysian society and provides an overview of the development of music in that country. Analyses of the music are illustrated with many examples transcribed from original field recordings. Genres discussed include theatrical and dance forms, percussion ensembles, vocal and instrumental music and classical music. It is an excellent introduction to and exploration of the country's vibrant musical culture. This new, fully revised and updated edition includes time lines, listening guides and downloadable resources of field recordings that are analysed and discussed in the text.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyze the influence of crowdfunding on the music market and show that it is limited due to the difficulties of dealing with promotional activities traditionally conducted by traditional record labels.
Abstract: The article analyzes the phenomenon of crowdfunding from the perspective of its democratizing influence on the music market. Crowdfunding enables artists to finance the release of their records, which theoretically allows them to enter the music market without the intermediation of traditional record labels. By using empirical data, the article shows that the democratizing influence of crowdfunding is limited. This results partially from the difficulties of dealing with promotional activities traditionally conducted by record labels. In other words, neither crowdfunding platforms nor contributors have the power, connections, or know-how of traditional record labels.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the hypothesis that listening to music from a specific culture can evoke implicit affiliation towards members of that culture more generally, and hypothesized that listeners with high trait empathy would be more susceptible to the effects.
Abstract: Recent empirical evidence suggests that – like other synchronized, collective actions – making music together with others fosters affiliation and pro-social behaviour. However, it is not yet known whether these effects are limited to active, interpersonal musical participation, or whether solitary music listening can also produce similar effects. This study examines the hypothesis that listening to music from a specific culture can evoke implicit affiliation towards members of that culture more generally. Furthermore, we hypothesized that listeners with high trait empathy would be more susceptible to the effects. Sixty-one participants listened to a track of either Indian or West African popular music, and subsequently completed an Implicit Association Test measuring implicit preference for Indian versus West African people. A significant interaction effect revealed that listeners with high trait empathy were more likely to display an implicit preference for the ethnic group to whose music they were expos...
01 Jan 2017
TL;DR: This paper explored the tension between elite and popular musical styles in eight significant works of guitar music by Australian composer Nigel Westlake; namely Antarctica, Songs from the Forest, The Hinchinbrook Riffs, Six Fish, Shadow Dances, Shards of Jaisalmer, Jovian Moons, and Mosstrooper Peak.
Abstract: This research explores the tension between ‘elite’ and ‘popular’ musical styles in eight significant works of guitar music by Australian composer Nigel Westlake; namely Antarctica, Songs from the Forest, The Hinchinbrook Riffs, Six Fish, Shadow Dances, Shards of Jaisalmer, Jovian Moons, and Mosstrooper Peak. Through detailed analysis and recorded musical performances, consideration is given to the extent that these works bridge the aesthetic divide identified by Adorno, Jameson, Huyssen, and others; exploring their potential conformity to notions of postmodernity in music. The argument is advanced that Westlake has created a musical language that simultaneously combines sophistication and mainstream appeal. Illumination is made of many significant details of Westlake’s guitar music—including rock guitar techniques, harmonic formulations from popular music, and the extensive use of the more esoteric idiom of octatonicism—which provide a foundation for future analysis, evaluation, and performance of Westlake’s music. The creative research component comprises two audio CDs containing edited studio recordings of six works featuring the classical guitar in both a solo and ensemble setting, as well as documentation of other live performances.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the affective capacities of sound and its role in the on-going production of social spaces, and advocate an understanding of the role of sound in the ongoing production in social spaces based upon a reciprocal mediation between macro-political matters related to identity and other social formations and the affects that sound and music bring to bear for those exposed to it.
Abstract: This article examines the affective capacities of sound and its role in the on-going production of social spaces. More specifically, the article seeks to understand the situated nature of sound’s affectivity within particular social-political-material contexts or circumstances. This is developed through a discussion of an empirical case study related to the history of street music: the ‘street music debates’ of Victorian London. The interrelation here of the sounds street musicians made, the broader urban soundscape of the time, who played street music and who it was that found themselves listening to this music demonstrate clearly the situated affective capacities of street music. From this, the article advocates an understanding of the role of sound in the on-going production of social spaces based upon a reciprocal mediation between ‘macropolitical’ matters related to identity and other social formations and the ‘micropolitics’ of the affects that such sound and music bring to bear for those exposed to it.
02 Feb 2017
TL;DR: The Ashgate Research Companion to Popular Music Education as mentioned in this paper is the first book-length publication that brings together a diverse range of scholarship in this emerging field, including historical, sociological, pedagogical, musicological, axiological, reflexive, critical, philosophical and ideological.
Abstract: Popular music is a growing presence in education, formal and otherwise, from primary school to postgraduate study. Programmes, courses and modules in popular music studies, popular music performance, songwriting and areas of music technology are becoming commonplace across higher education. Additionally, specialist pop/rock/jazz graded exam syllabi, such as RockSchool and Trinity Rock and Pop, have emerged in recent years, meaning that it is now possible for school leavers in some countries to meet university entry requirements having studied only popular music. In the context of teacher education, classroom teachers and music-specialists alike are becoming increasingly empowered to introduce popular music into their classrooms. At present, research in Popular Music Education lies at the fringes of the fields of music education, ethnomusicology, community music, cultural studies and popular music studies. The Ashgate Research Companion to Popular Music Education is the first book-length publication that brings together a diverse range of scholarship in this emerging field. Perspectives include the historical, sociological, pedagogical, musicological, axiological, reflexive, critical, philosophical and ideological.
03 Apr 2017
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore the relationship of affect, history, and the archive of popular music culture and offer empirical evidence of the relational qualities of the popular music archive considered in affective terms, drawing on evidence from the vernacular practices of communities in what Baker and Collins describe as 'do-it-yourself' archives and secondly from authorized collections in established archival institutions.
Abstract: This paper outlines the prodigious field of public history preservation practice prompted by popular music culture, exploring the relationship of affect, history and the archive. Framing this exploration with a concept of cultural justice, it considers the still uncertain place of popular music as a subject of heritage and preservation, assessing the parameters of what counts as an archive and issues of democratization. It offers a discussion of the archival and affective turns in the humanities as a means of framing the politics of practice focused on popular music culture. The paper offers empirical evidence of the relational qualities of the popular music archive considered in affective terms. Discussion draws first on evidence from the vernacular practices of communities in what Baker and Collins describe as ‘do-it-yourself’ archives and secondly from ‘authorized’ collections in established archival institutions (Baker and Collins, “Sustaining Popular Music’s Material Culture,” 3). The paper e...
05 Jul 2017
TL;DR: Gebesmair et al. as mentioned in this paper analyzed popular music in ex-Yugoslavia between global participation and provincial seclusion and found that music policy between safeguarding and chauvinism is a challenge to music policy makers.
Abstract: Contents: Preface Introduction, Andreas Gebesmair Structures and strategies of the transnational music and media industry: Global strategies and local markets: explaining Swedish music export success, Robert Burnett The corporate strategies of the major record labels and the international imperative, Keith Negus One planet - one music? MTV and globalization, Keith Roe and Gust de Meyer Beyond the transnational music industry - the global use and abuse of popular music: Sampling the didjeridoo, Susanne Binas Race, ethnicity and the production of Latin/o popular music, Deborah Pacini Hernandez Popular music in ex-Yugoslavia between global participation and provincial seclusion, Alenka Barber-Kersovan Globalization - localization, homogenization - diversification and other discordant trends: a challenge to music policy makers, Krister Malm Music policy between safeguarding and chauvinism, Alfred Smudits Approaches and methods: popular music research between 'production of culture' and 'anthropology': Up and down the music world. An anthropology of globalization, Joana Breidenbach and Ina Zukrigl Globalization and communalization of music in the production perspective, Richard A. Peterson Measurements of globalization: some remarks on sources and indicators, Andreas Gebesmair Hubert von Goisern's Austrian folk rock: how to analyse musical genre?, Harald Huber Index.
TL;DR: In this article, the role of English in the mixed language practices of young musicians should be understood as a translocal language, which makes its meaning through the contact of transnational linguistic flows and resources embedded within the idea of "linguascape".
Abstract: This paper seeks to contribute to the current discussion of world Englishes by revealing the seamless English language incorporation in the linguascape of popular music scene of post-socialist Mongolia, a context that has been rarely addressed in previous research Drawing on sets of linguistic (n)ethnographic data, the paper argues that the role of English in the mixed language practices of young musicians should be understood as ‘translocal language’, which makes its meaning through the contact of transnational linguistic flows and resources embedded within the idea of ‘linguascape’
Book•
18 May 2017
TL;DR: In this article, the authors address the recent changes following the digitization of music video, including its changing cycles of production, distribution and reception, the influence of music videos on other media, and the rise of new types of online music video.
Abstract: Since the 1980s, music videos have been everywhere, and today almost all of the most-viewed clips on YouTube are music videos. However, in academia, music videos do not currently share this popularity. Music Video After MTV gives music video its due academic credit by exploring the changing landscapes surrounding post-millennial music video. Across seven chapters, the book addresses core issues relating to the study of music videos, including the history, analysis, and audiovisual aesthetics of music videos. Moreover, the book is the first of its kind to truly address the recent changes following the digitization of music video, including its changing cycles of production, distribution and reception, the influence of music videos on other media, and the rise of new types of online music video. Approaching music videos from a composite theoretical framework, Music Video After MTV brings music video research up to speed in several areas: it offers the first account of the research history of music videos, the first truly audiovisual approach to music video studies and it presents numerous inspiring case studies, ranging from classics by Michel Gondry and Chris Cunningham to recent experimental and interactive videos that interrogate the very limits of music video.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore a number of issues concerning the representation of Iranian popular music outside Iran, and specifically the somewhat romanticized discourses of resistance and freedom which have tended to characterise both journalistic and scholarly writings.
Abstract: This article explores a number of issues concerning the representation of Iranian popular music outside Iran, and specifically the somewhat romanticized discourses of ‘resistance’ and ‘freedom’ which have tended to characterise both journalistic and scholarly writings. The article discusses a number of examples, but focuses primarily on the case of the music video ‘Happy in Tehran’, which was posted on YouTube in 2014 and which challenged certain local cultural and legal boundaries on behaviour in public space. As a result, those responsible for the video were arrested, prompting an outcry, both within Iran and internationally; they were released soon after and eventually received suspended sentences. The article discusses the ways in which the ‘Happy in Tehran’ incident was reported in the media outside Iran and offers alternative readings of the video and its meanings. Ultimately, the article considers how such reductionist views feed into wider regimes of orientalist representation and asks whose agenda such fetishisation of resistance serves.
TL;DR: The contexts, or “listening niches”, in which people hear popular music are investigated, spanned a century of popular music, divided into 10 decades, with participants born between 1940 and 1999, showing a regular progression through the life span of listening with different individuals and with different media.
Abstract: This article reports the results of a study spanning a century of popular music, divided into 10 decades, with participants varying in age from their mid-teens to their mid-70s. It traces the music media with which they listened in different periods of their lives. It asks about whether they know and like the music in each decade, and their emotional reactions. Finally, it asks whether the music is associated with autobiographical memories and, if so, with whom they were listening or whether they were listening alone. The results show a regular progression through the life span of listening with different individuals (from parents to children) and with different media (from records to digital downloads). A number of effects found in previous studies were replicated, but the study also showed interactions with the birth cohorts. Overall, there was a song specific age effect with preferences for music of late adolescence and early adulthood; however, this effect was stronger for the older participants. In addition, there were preferences for music of the 1940s, 1960s, and 1980s that were stronger for the younger participants. Music of these decades also produced the strongest emotional responses and coincided with the introduction of important new music technologies, particularly long playing records, tape cassettes, and CDs. When growing up, the participants tended to listen to the older music on the older media, but rapidly shifted to the new music technologies in their last teens and early twenties. Younger listeners are currently listening less to music, suggesting an important role of socially sharing music. Finally, the oldest listeners had the broadest taste, liking music that they had been exposed to in different “listening niches” over their lifetimes.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explored teachers' perceptions of the impact of adopting the musical future approach on students' learning and attainment, and found that the majority of music staff agreed that since doing MF, students demonstrated higher levels of attainment, greater enjoyment of and positive attitudes towards music lessons, enhanced musical and performance skills, team working, concentration, confidence, listening skills, musical understanding and independent learning.
Abstract: Music education has faced considerable challenges in trying to bridge the gap between music in young people's lives and that taking place in the classroom. The ‘Musical Futures’ (MF) initiative aimed to devise new and imaginative ways of engaging young people, aged 11–19, in music activities through a process of informal learning based on popular music. This research aimed to explore teachers’ perceptions of the impact of adopting the MF approach on students’ learning and attainment. Twenty-eight music teachers completed questionnaires and 30 were interviewed. The majority of music staff agreed that since doing MF, students demonstrated higher levels of attainment, greater enjoyment of and positive attitudes towards music lessons, enhanced musical and performance skills, team working, concentration, confidence, listening skills, musical understanding and independent learning.
TL;DR: In this article, a methodology for melodic analysis is presented and applied to a number of examples of Axis-a (as well as some Axis-F) progressions, to demonstrate how diverse its se$ings can be.
Abstract: The harmonic progression of aFCG (Am–F–C–G) and its transpositions constitute one rotation of what I call Axis progressions, namely progressions that begin with one of these four chords and cycle through the others in order, hence the Axis-a, -F, -C, and -G, respectively. Of these four progressions, the a-form and C-form, and to a lesser extent, the F-form, have become staples of mainstream popular songs from the last decades of the twentieth century and the first decades of the twenty-first. The a-form is especially noteworthy for being both extremely widespread and tonally ambiguous, in that the perception of its tonality may waver between the major and Aeolian modes. Not only does the progression conflate aspects of the two modes, but it may also vary the degree to which those modes are expressed and their proportion within the progression, resulting in a vast array of possible tonal se$ings. This article posits that tonality in these se$ings depends primarily on the melodic content of the progression. A methodology for melodic analysis is then presented and applied to a number of examples of Axis-a (as well as some Axis-F) progressions, to demonstrate how diverse its se$ings can be. Volume 23, Number 3, September 2017 Copyright © 2017 Society for Music Theory [1] Tonality in popular music and the ways in which it is manifested in ambiguous se$ings are topics that have only begun to receive regular scholarly a$ention by such writers as Doll (2017), Spicer (2017), Peres (2016), and Tagg (2014). The progression aFCG (Am–F–C–G) and its transpositions constitute one rotation of a set of closely related progressions that, for reasons outlined further below, I call Axis progressions, namely progressions that begin with one of these four chords and cycle through the others in order, hence the Axis-a, -F, -C, and -G, respectively. Of these four progressions, the a-form and C-form, and to a lesser extent the F-form, have become staples of mainstream popular songs from the last decades of the twentieth century and the first
TL;DR: Crossley et al. as mentioned in this paper examined the individuals who were the cultural workforce that comprised the Britpop music scene of the 1990s and found that Britpop's "whole network" is heterophilic but its "sub-networks" are more likely to be social class homophilic.
Abstract: Social network analysis is increasingly recognised as a useful way to explore music scenes In this article we examine the individuals who were the cultural workforce that comprised the 'Britpop' music scene of the 1990s The focus of our analysis is homophily and heterophily to determine whether the clusters of friendships and working relationships of those who were ‘best connected’ in the scene were patterned by original social class position We find that Britpop's 'whole network' is heterophilic but its 'sub-networks' are more likely to be social class homophilic The sub-networks that remain heterophilic are likely to be united by other common experiences that brought individuals in the network to the same social spaces We suggest that our findings on Britpop might be generalised to the composition of other music scenes, cultural workforces and aggregations of young people Our study differs from research on, first, British ‘indie music’ and social class which focusses upon the construction, representation and performance of social location rather than the relationships it might shape (such as Wiseman-Trowse, 2008) and second, the pioneering social network analyses of music scenes (such as Crossley 2008; 2009; 2015; Crossley et al 2014) which currently lacks the explicit emphasis on social class
Book•
02 Mar 2017
TL;DR: Oettinger as mentioned in this paper examines a wide selection of songs and the role they played in disseminating Luther's teachings to a largely non-literate population, while simultaneously spreading subversive criticism of Catholicism.
Abstract: Over the first four decades of the Reformation, hundreds of songs written in popular styles and set to well-known tunes appeared across the German territories. These polemical songs included satires on the pope or on Martin Luther, ballads retelling historical events, translations of psalms and musical sermons. They ranged from ditties of one strophe to didactic Lieder of fifty or more. Luther wrote many such songs and this book contends that these songs, and the propagandist ballads they inspired, had a greater effect on the German people than Luther’s writings or his sermons. Music was a major force of propaganda in the German Reformation. Rebecca Wagner Oettinger examines a wide selection of songs and the role they played in disseminating Luther’s teachings to a largely non-literate population, while simultaneously spreading subversive criticism of Catholicism. These songs formed an intersection for several forces: the comfortable familiarity of popular music, historical theories on the power of music, the educational beliefs of sixteenth-century theologians and the need for sense of community and identity during troubled times. As Oettinger demonstrates, this music, while in itself simple, provides us with a new understanding of what most people in sixteenth-century Germany knew of the Reformation, how they acquired their knowledge and the ways in which they expressed their views about it. With full details of nearly 200 Lieder from this period provided in the second half of the book, Music as Propaganda in the German Reformation is both a valuable investigation of music as a political and religious agent and a useful resource for future research.