What's in a Line? Expressive Tensions in Popular Song
Tue, March 10, 2020 2:15 PM - Tue, March 10, 2020 3:45 PM at Cook Recital Hall
Dr. Matthew BaileyShea, Associate Professor of Music Theory at the University of Rochester, presents a guest lecture at Michigan State University. The event is free and open to the public.
Bio
Matt BaileyShea is currently an Associate Professor of Music Theory in the College Music Department at the University of Rochester and the Eastman School of Music. He received his Ph.D. in Music Theory from Yale University in 2003 with a dissertation on form in the music of Wagner. Hi
s current research focuses on the analysis of song as well as topics relating to gesture and musical agency. He has presented on these and other subjects at national and international conferences and has published articles and reviews in journals such as Music Analysis, Journal of Music Theory, Music Theory Spectrum, 19th-Century Music, and Music Theory Online. He is currently working on a book for Yale University Press entitled Lines and Lyrics: An Introduction to Poetry and Song.
Abstract
Poets often create wonderful tensions by juxtaposing lines with regular, predictable patterns against lines that are far more erratic. Songwriters often create similar effects, but they manifest much differently in music than they do in poetry. Indeed, we sometimes can’t even be entirely sure what constitutes a “line” in popular song. This paper considers these issues from a variety of angles, looking at examples from rock, rap, jazz, and musical theater.