What to Listen For in Rock: A Stylistic Analysis

by Ken Stephenson

Overview

In this concise and engaging analysis of rock music, music theorist Ken Stephenson explores the features that make this internationally popular music distinct from earlier music styles. The author offers a guided tour of rock music from the 1950s to the present, emphasizing the theoretical underpinnings of the style and, for the first time, systematically focusing not on rock music’s history or sociology, but on the structural aspects of the music itself.

What structures normally happen in rock music? What theoretical systems or models might best explain them? The book addresses these questions and more in chapters devoted to phrase rhythm, scales, key determination, cadences, harmonic palette and succession, and form. Each chapter provides richly detailed analyses of individual rock pieces from groups including Chicago; the Beatles; Emerson, Lake, and Palmer; Kansas; and others. Stephenson shows how rock music is stylistically unique, and he demonstrates how the features that make it distinct have tended to remain constant throughout the past half-century and within most substyles. For music students at the college level and for practicing rock musicians who desire a deeper understanding of their music, this book is an essential resource.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780300092394
Publisher:	Yale University Press
Publication date:	07/11/2002
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)

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WHAT TO LISTEN FOR IN rock

A Stylistic Analysis

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By KEN STEPHENSON

YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS

Copyright © 2002 Yale University
All right reserved.
ISBN: 0-300-09239-3

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Chapter One

Phrase rhythm

Because musical pitches function in time, it is difficult to discuss the function of tones or harmonies without an understanding of the temporal framework of a style. So we begin this study of rock by establishing some stylistic norms of its phrase rhythm. This chapter answers the following questions: (1) Typically, how long is the shortest formal unit larger than a measure (i.e., how many measures usually group together) and (2) how do vocal phrases lie within these formal units?

Rock borrows standard structures from earlier song styles, although it often alters and combines them in new ways. The purpose of this book is not only to set out the stylistic standards of rock but to eliminate common misconceptions by distinguishing rock's standards from those of earlier styles. As a result, we first need to look briefly at phrase rhythm as it applies to both repertoires, beginning with the issue of phrase length.

Defining normal lengths in terms of measures can be problematic in either of these bodies of music. Because performers and listeners of both rock and earlier folk music depend so much more on aural tradition than on scores, in many pieces it is impossible to determine objectively how long a measure is or how many beats a measure contains. One listener might count "1-2-1-2" where another would count "1-2-3-4." Or one might count 1-and-2-and" where another counts "1-2-1-2." This problem is not insurmountable, however. In much traditional music, for instance, we could simply stipulate that a measure is the amount of time between the last strong beat of one phrase and the first strong beat of the next. Therefore, in "Betsy From Pike," while a transcriber might use either a moderately paced compound meter or a fast triple meter, the stipulated method would favor the triple meter. (See example 1.1.) In rock, steady backbeats (beats 2 and 4) on the snare drum usually help make the length of a measure clear.

Sometimes, however, we may find it more useful to avoid the term measure altogether and simply talk in terms of relative length of time, referring to the ratio of the lengths of the spans of melodic motion and of melodic rest. The term melodic motion refers to the period of rhythmic activity within a given phrase; it lasts from the beginning of a phrase to the attack time of its last (metrically accented) note. The term melodic rest refers to the period of rhythmic inactivity normally associated with cadences; it lasts from the attack time of the last note of one phrase to the beginning of the next phrase. Therefore, the melodic rest at the end of a phrase normally incorporates a long note as well as a literal rest. According to these definitions, in the case of a four-measure unit with the melodic cadence on the fourth downbeat, such as in "Betsy From Pike" or "Daisy," the span of melodic motion is three times as long as the span of melodic rest. (See example 1.2.) When speaking of ratios in this way, listeners may disagree on what span of time to call a beat or on how many beats make up a measure while still agreeing on the basic temporal recipe of the phrase, which in each of the examples above is three parts melodic motion followed by one part melodic rest.

The pattern found in "Betsy From Pike" and "Daisy" is typical of traditional tonal song. Folk songs, nursery songs, nineteenth- and early twentieth-century popular songs, and the like normally exhibit a regular unit length of four measures. (See example 1.3.) The division of these units is normally marked by a cadence-in the literal sense of that word: a falling off of melodic motion or of rhythmic energy, or in simpler terms, a long last note. (See Chapter 3.) This clear delineation of phrases by means of a melodic rest comes as no surprise; this kind of music is primarily vocal, and the tunes simply need to provide the singer with some breathing time at regular intervals. In a four-measure phrase, the cadence, or long note, normally comes on the downbeat of the fourth measure. Placement of the cadential note on the fourth downbeat creates a motion-to-rest ratio of 3:1. Again, quite naturally, the pattern perfectly suits the nature of the music: because the music is primarily vocal music, to preserve continuity the melody needs to be active as long as possible, given the singer's need to breathe.

When music moves in a regular series of four-bar units, many listeners perceive a phenomenon known as hypermeter-that is, the a regular pattern of accents in the downbeats of successive measures. Theorists have long debated how downbeat accents are arranged in these typical four-measure groups: do they alternate strong-weak-strong-weak as the accents do in a four-beat measure, or does the importance of the cadence result in a weak-strong-weak-strong pattern-or even a more subtle pattern such as strong-weak-weak-strong? Lerdahl and Jackendoff, who summarize this debate well, point out (correctly, I believe) that writers such as Meyer and Cooper err by confusing metrical accent and harmonic or melodic resolution, and that, as a result, these four-measure units normally correspond to beginning-accented hypermeasures. William Rothstein agrees:

Because of the difference between phrase structure and hypermeter, phrases-especially the simpler ones-can end very comfortably in relatively weak metrical positions, for example in the last bar of a four-bar hypermeasure. When a phrase ends in this way, there is no contradiction between the weak metrical position and the arrival of an important tonal goal (presumably a cadence). This is because the experience of "accent"-of heightened importance-that is involved in reaching a tonal goal is not the same as the experience of a metrical accent-the impulse felt upon reaching a metrical downbeat.... Rhythmic theorists of our time have often found themselves unable to follow hypermeter even in simple instances because they have been paralyzed by their confusion of categories.

When a piece consists mostly of four-bar groups, then, each of those forms a hypermeasure. The downbeats of the four measures relate to one another in the same way the four beats in a regular measure do: strong-weak-strong-weak. As a result, the odd-numbered measures in a four-bar hypermeasure can be called strong measures, and the downbeats of these measures strong downbeats. In the same way, the even-numbered measures are weak measures, and their downbeats weak downbeats.

Rock normally proceeds in four-bar units just as traditional songs do. In most rock songs, the rigid adherence to this standard encourages the perception of hypermeter and contributes to the widely acknowledged perception of a natural, steady-even driving-beat.

Rock and traditional song, therefore, share the prevalence of the four-bar unit. But the similarity ends there. Melodic cadences in rock do not contribute as regularly to the delineation of these units as they do in traditional music. Instead, the perception of these units normally arises as a result of repetitive patterns in the instrumental accompaniment, for instance, the regular recurrence of tonic harmony or of an instrumental hook every four (or two or eight) measures. (See example 1.4.) Because rock depends less on the vocal phrase than on harmony for continuity and formal delineation, the vocal phrase is free to line up within these units in a variety of ways. Generally speaking, where a melodic cadence in traditional music normally occurs on a weak downbeat, namely the downbeat of the fourth measure, a melodic cadence in rock normally occurs on a strong downbeat.

This norm is not as prevalent in rock as the traditional norm is in traditional music; in rock traditional cadence placement often exists side-by-side with the newer pattern (the contrast sometimes contributing to the delineation of form; see Chapter 6, "Form"). In addition, the rhythmic models involving a cadence on a strong downbeat are numerous enough that no particular one can be called a new standard. But much rock employs hypermetrically strong cadences exclusively-or almost so-and most of the rest of the repertoire makes frequent use of the newer pattern. Even in pieces where the newer pattern is infrequent, it lends, because of its lack of association with any other style, a distinctive quality to the phrase structure.

Because vocal phrases do not normally line up with hypermeasures in a single, traditional way, the term phrase cannot be used as it commonly is in theoretical literature to refer indiscriminately to both the melodic line and the morphological unit. We need to distinguish between the word phrase, which refers only to a vocal phrase (i.e., a melodic passage that might be notated under a single phrase marking), and the terms unit and hypermeasure, which refer to the smallest morphological (i.e., formal) division larger than a measure. Although any given beat is part of a morphological unit, not every beat is part of a phrase. Where phrase lengths are measured, pickups and syncopations are treated as rhythmic embellishments; lengths are calculated by counting downbeats.

Now let's define some of these standard phrase rhythms and look at some examples.

2 + 2 MODEL

Within the general category of cadences on hypermetrically strong downbeats, several patterns are found. The most common we will call the 2 + 2 model. In this most frequent pattern, the vocal cadence comes on the third downbeat of the four; two measures of melodic activity are followed by two measures of melodic rest, creating a motion-to-rest ratio of 1:1, as in Chuck Berry's "Roll Over Beethoven." (See example 1.5.)

The 2 + 2 model is a salient characteristic of much blues music and, therefore, pervades the early blues-based rock repertoire, which played an important role in the further development of the style. Among other features (see esp. Chapter 5, "Harmonic Succession"), the 2 + 2 model plays a part in many later rock pieces that otherwise bear few resemblances to the blues. Thirty-seven years after "Roll Over Beethoven," for instance, one finds it in Sting's "If I Ever Lose My Faith In You." (See example 1.6.) In fact, the 2 + 2 model forms the basis for the phrase structure of hundreds of rock songs, including Chicago's "25 Or 6 To 4"; the Beach Boys' "Help Me, Rhonda"; Steely Dan's "Rikki, Don't Lose That Number"; Credence Clearwater Revival's "Bad Moon Rising"; the Eagles' "Already Gone"; Toto's "I Won't Hold You Back"; Billy Joel's "Summer, Highland Falls"; Elton John's "Love Lies Bleeding"; Christine McVie's "Got A Hold On Me"; Supertramp's "Give A Little Bit"; Electric Light Orchestra's "Turn To Stone"; Tom Petty's "Refugee"; Tina Turner's "The Best"; the Beatles' "No Reply" (1964), "She's A Woman" (1964), and "Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite"; the Rolling Stones' "Jumping Jack Flash"; and Lindsey Buckingham's "Don't Look Down." Many songs not employing the 2 + 2 model throughout use it as the basic phrase structure of one section. The multitude of songs featuring the 2 + 2 model and its resulting 1:1 motion-to-rest ratio only in the chorus or the refrain includes Aretha Franklin's "Do Right Woman," the Eagles' "Heartache Tonight," and Emerson, Lake & Palmer's "Still ... You Turn Me On."

As noted above, traditional music such as folk song is primarily vocal, and the 3:1 ratio found in most phrases of that music suits the partially conflicting needs of having the voice carry the continuity of the piece and allowing the singer to breathe. Rock, however, is widely acknowledged as primarily rhythmic; the voice need not carry the burden of establishing continuity as it does in earlier popular styles. Instead, the hypermeter (frequently strengthened, after all, by the melody's agogic accents on the strong downbeats, as indicated above) keeps the piece moving, especially between vocal phrases; nothing but a continuation of the beat by instrumentalists is required in the period of melodic rest between phrases of the 2 + 2 model. However, unwilling to settle for the bare minimum required to preserve continuity, musicians sometimes fill the primary melody's period of rest with background-vocal motives or instrumental hooks, thereby creating a call-and-response pattern, as in the verse to the Beach Boys' "Help Me, Rhonda," the Beatles' "The Night Before," the first verses in Emerson, Lake & Palmer's "Karn Evil 9," and the first line of James Taylor's "Your Smiling Face." (See example 1.7.)

EXTENSION-OVERLAP MODEL

In the most usual scenario, the 2 + 2 model, the melodic phrase in rock comes to a cadence sooner than its traditional counterpart, on the third downbeat rather than the fourth. In many other instances, the melodic phrase lasts longer than the traditional norm; it is not uncommon in rock for a melodic phrase beginning near the first downbeat of a four-measure unit to delay coming to a cadence until the fifth downbeat-that is, the first downbeat of a new four-measure (sometimes two-measure) unit. In this way, the closure of one gesture, a melodic phrase, happens at the same time as the beginning of another gesture, a hypermeasure, but with no disruption of the regular four-bar hypermeter. Following William Rothstein's lead, we shall call this combination an overlap.

The extension-overlap model is rarely used as the consistent phrase structure for an entire song, or even an entire section, because of the logistical problems inherent in the use of melodic overlap: if one phrase ends on the first downbeat of a hypermeasure, how can the singer perform the beginning of the following phrase? One solution would be simply to wait another four measures before the beginning of the second phrase; the resulting combination of four measures of melodic motion and four measures of melodic rest creates a 1:1 ratio one morphological level higher than that of the common 2 + 2 model. Through this method, Neil Young's "Harvest Moon" proceeds exclusively by extended, five-measure phrases while maintaining a consistent four-measure hypermeter. A listener counting in double-length measures, however, would say the song simply uses the 2 + 2 model. It is clear, then, that consistent use of the extension-overlap model is hard to distinguish and need not be looked for as a common occurrence.

More often the extension-overlap model is used at one or two key points in a song's form. The verse of the Eagles' "Take It To The Limit," for instance, consists of two 2 + 2 units and one extended phrase whose cadence overlaps with the inception of four bars of melodic rest. Example 1.8 includes several rock songs that demonstrate overlap, that is, vocal phrases that come to rest on (or very near) the first downbeat of a new four-bar hypermeasure.

Continues...

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Table of Contents

	Introduction	ix
1	Phrase Rhythm	1
2	Key and Mode	29
3	Cadences	53
4	Chord Type and Harmonic Palette	73
5	Harmonic Succession	100
6	Form	121
7	Analyzing a Hit	144
	Exercises	183
	Select Discography	195
	Musical References	197
	Notes	219
	Glossary	229
	Index	245