Popular Music Analysis

Catalog description

It is hard to overstate the impact of popular music on human culture in the past century. But how do we make sense of this music? Some aspects - the centrality of the drumkit, the foregrounding of recording and production - are unique to popular music. Others, like harmony and form, simply work differently here than in other musical traditions. In this survey-style seminar, students will study recent approaches to the analysis of popular music. Four units explore different musical domains: texture, timbre, and production; rhythm and meter; form; harmony. Each unit concludes with an analysis or composition project.