toward a syntactical deﬁnition of harmonic function in ... · guitar - - v &? # # # 6 ... i...

Harmonic Syntax 13

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GVerseq = 132 œ œ œ œ œ

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V #6 jœ œ jœ œ œ œ œdoors with just a smile.

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Gmaj7 jœ .œ Óry;

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-

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jœ .œ œ œ œ œdress up all in lace

Am Œ ‰ jœ jœ œ jœand go in style.

C

˙ ÓG !

Example 1: The Eagles, “Lyin’ Eyes” (1975): a sixteen-bar parallel period in which V functionsas dominant in the antecedent and IV functions as dominant in the consequent.

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Example 2: The Beatles, “Nowhere Man” (1965): a I–II–IV\–I functional circuit with aprolongational I–V–IV–I progression at the beginning.

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Toward a Syntactical Definition of Harmonic Function in Rock and Other Repertoires

Drew F. NobileUniversity of [email protected]

SMT Annual MeetingMilwaukee, WI

November 6, 2014

Example 1: The Eagles, “Lyin’ Eyes” (1975): a parallel period in which a half cadence on V is answered by a IV–I authentic cadence.

Example 2: The Beatles, “Nowhere Man” (1965): a minor-iv chord as the syntactical dominant.

V # # # # 44 Œ ‰ Jœ Jœ .œHold me,

C#mBridge

Œ ‰ Jœ Jœ .œlove me,

A 7 Œ ‰ Jœn Jœ .œplease me,

C#m Œ ‰ Jœ Jœ .œtease me

A 7

V # # # #5 Œ ‰ Jœn Jœ œ Jœ’till I can’t

G/D ˙ ‰ œ œn œ’till I can’t,

B 7 œ Œ ‰ œn Jœcan’t take

Jœ œn Jœ œ œ œno more ah ah!

V # 44 Œ ‰ Jœ œ œHold me,

C#mBridge

Œ ‰ Jœ œ œsqueeze me,

A 7 Œ ‰ Jœ œ œ œlove me,

C#m Œ ‰ Jœ œ œtease me,

A 7

V #5 Ó ‰ œ œ œ’till I can’t

Em7 œ .œ œ ‰ œ œ œ’till I can’t

œ .œ œ ‰ œ œ œI can’t take

œ œ œ Jœ ‰ œ œ œno more. Dip me in the

œ œ# œwa ter

EmChorus

-

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##

ww#w

www

traditional V–I voice leading

“Take Me to the River”’s voice leading

V # # # # 44 Œ ‰ Jœ Jœ .œHold me,

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A 7






C#mBridge




A 7





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V # # # # 44 Œ ‰ Jœ Jœ .œHold me,

C#mBridge




A 7






C#mBridge




A 7





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www

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Example 3: “Take Me to the River”

a) Al Green’s original version (1974): the bridge ends in a typical way on V.

b) The Talking Heads’ version (1978): the bridge ends with an extended i7 chord functioning as the syntactical dominant.

Example 4: The i7–i cadence in the Talking Heads’ version of “Take Me to the River” exhibits directed voice leading towards 1 in the upper voices—just like a traditional V–I

cadence.

Nobile - p. 2

V

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‰ œ œ œ œ œ Œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ

Em

organ

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Verseq = 100 œ œ œ œ œ œ Ólove you like I do

‰ Jœ̆ Œ œœœ œœœ# œJœ̆

œ œ œ œ œ œ œ

Œ œ œ œ œ ŒAll the chan ges

Ó Jœœœœ#n/ . ‰ Œ

œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ

œ œ# œ ¿ Óyou put me through

Jœœœœ#n/ . ‰ Œ œœœ œœœ# œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ

Œ œ œ œ œ ŒTake my mo ney,

Œ Jœœœœ#n/ . ‰ J

œœœœ#n/ . ‰ jœœœœ#n/ > ‰œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ

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6 œ œ œ œ œ Œmy ci ga rettes

Jœœœœ#n/ . ‰ Œ œœœ œœœ# œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ

organ

‰ ¿ œ œ œ ‰ j¿I ha ven't seen the

Œ Jœœœœ#n/ . ‰ J

œœœœ#n/ . ‰ Œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ

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Jœœœœ#n/ . ‰ Œ œœœ œœœ# œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ

˙ Jœ œ Jœknow, can you

Œ ...˙̇̇œ Œ jœ œ jœ

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tell me, am

wwwœ Œ jœ œ jœ

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11 ‰ œ œ œ œ œ œI in love to stay?

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œ œ# œ Óri verÓ Jœ œ# jœœ œ œ œ Jœ ‰ œ œ

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œœ œ œ œ Jœ ‰ œ œ!

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œ œ# œ œ œ œ œwa ter wa shing me down

Jœœœœ#n/ . ‰ Œ œ œ# œ

œœ œ œ œ Jœ ‰ œ œ!

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œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ!

Jœ

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1 2

3 4

hypermeter:

Example 5: The Talking Heads, “Take Me to the River”: verse–prechorus–chorus cycle.

Nobile - p. 3

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DmChorusq = 136 jœœœ œœœ œœœ

jœœœ œœœyour own way,

B bww . .˙ jœ

go

C

˙̇œ œ œ œ jœ œ jœyour own way.

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œ ŒDm jœœœ œœœ œœœjœœœ œœœ

it a no

B b

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& b7 œœœ œœœ œœœ jœœœ œœœ jœœœther lone ly day.

C œœœ Œ Ó Ó ‰ œœœ œœœ œœœYou can go

Dm jœœœ œœœ œœœjœœœ œœœ

your own way,

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go

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˙̇œ œ œ œ jœ .œyour own way.

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--

Example 6: Voice-leading graph of the verse–prechorus–chorus cycle of “Take Me to the River” showing a i7 chord functioning as syntactical dominant.

Example 7: Fleetwood Mac, “Go Your Own Way” (1977), chorus. The formal and rhetorical emphasis on the vi chord suggest that vi rather than IV represents pre-dominant function.

Example 8: Voice-leading graph of “Go Your Own Way” showing vi as pre-dominant.

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divorce

3 3 2 1ˆ ˆ ˆ ˆ( )

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verse chorus verse

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verse prechorus chorus bridge chorus

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Nobile - p. 4

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I Saw Her Standing There:

Misery:

E: I IV [I] V I IV V

I IV V I

S/R D C B

s r d c

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ˆ3 4 3

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V # 44 Jœ œI got

q = 192 œ œ œ œ œ œe very rea son on Earth

GVerse

œ œ Jœb œ Jœto be mad

˙ Ó Ó Œ ‰ Jœn’cause

œ œ œ œ œI just lost the on- - -

V #6 œ œ Jœ œ Jœly girl I had.

˙ ÓD Ó Œ œ œnIf I

œ œ Jœ œb Jœcould get my way,

C7 ˙ Œ ‰ JœbI’d

œ œb œ œget my self locked- -

V #12 œ œ jœb œ œ œ œ œnup to day, but I can’t,

˙ ‰ œ œ œso I’ll cry

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Jœ .œ ‰ œ jœin stead.

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Example 9: The Beatles, “Misery” (1963), verse: the IV chord in m. 4 is not yet the pre-dominant; it is only in m. 5 that it acquires syntactical pre-dominant function.

Example 10: Voice-leading graph of “Misery”

Example 11: The Beatles, “I’ll Cry Instead” (1964), verse: the I chord in m. 13 is a “cadential I”(Nobile 2011), functioning as an inverted cadential six-four (Rothstein 2006; Cutler 2009).

Nobile - p. 5

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I’ve got every reasonon Earth to be mad...

...but I can’tso I’ll cry

instead

iv V i64

53Cutler/Rothstein:

i VI ii V i6 65iv6

35Literal Roman numerals:

PD D TSyntactical functions:

5

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Example 12: Voice-leading graph of “I’ll Cry Instead.”

Example 13: Beethoven, Piano Concerto No. 3, III, mm. 5–8. William Rothstein (2006) and Timothy Cutler (2009) interpret the i6–VI–iiø6–V progression as a composed-out V6–5.5 4–3

Nobile - p. 6

V 44 ‰ œ Jœ œ ‰ jœE very night I

Cq = 136S

Jœ œ Jœ œ œ œ Œhope and pray

‰ œ œ œ œ œ ‰ œa dream lo ver will

A m jœ œ jœ œ Œcome my way.

‰ œ œ œ œ ŒA girl to hold

CR

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V6 Jœ œ Jœ œ œ œ Œin my arms,

‰ œ œ œ œ œ Œand know the ma gic

A m jœ œ jœ œ œ œof her charms, ’cause I

Œ œœ œœ Œ œœœ Œ Œ ‰ Jœwant a

CD

Œ œœ œœ Œ œœœ Œ Œ ‰ Jœgirl to

G 7 Œ œœ œœ Œ œœœ œ œ Œ ‰ Jœcall my

C

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œ œ œ œ ‰ œ œ œI don’t have to dream a lone.

F G 7 œ Œ ÓC !G 7

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(yeah yeah yeah)

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˙ Jœ

œ œ œ ˙˚

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I IV V IT PD D T

[I VI IV]

3 4 3 2 1ˆ ˆ ˆ ˆ ˆ

vi

Example 14: Bobby Darin, “Dream Lover” (1959). As in the Beethoven above, the I–vi–IV–V7 progression in mm. 13–14 prolongs the dominant function. This is an “expanded dominant progression.”

Example 15: Voice-leading graph of “Dream Lover” showing I–vi–IV “resolving” to V.

Nobile - p. 7

Nobile - p. 8

Selected References

AGMON, EYTAN. 1995. “Functional Harmony Revisited: A Prototype-Theoretic Approach.” Music Theory Spectrum 17/2: 196–214.

BIAMONTE, NICOLE. 2010. “Triadic Modal and Pentatonic Patterns in Rock Music.” Music Theory Spectrum 32/2: 95–110.

CAPLIN, WILLIAM. 1998. Classical Form: A Theory of Formal Functions for the Instrumental Music of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. New York: Oxford University Press.

———. 2004. “The Classical Cadence: Conceptions and Misconceptions.” Journal of the American Musicological Society 57/1: 51–118.

CHOMSKY, NOAM. 1957. Syntactic Structures. The Hague: Mouton. ———. 1965. Aspects of the Theory of Syntax. Cambridge: MIT Press. CUTLER, TIMOTHY. 2009. “On Voice Exchanges.” Journal of Music Theory 53/2: 191–226. DAY-O’CONNELL, JEREMY. 2009. “Debussy, Pentatonicism, and the Tonal Tradition.” Music Theory

Spectrum 31/2: 225–61. DOLL, CHRISTOPHER. Forthcoming. Hearing Harmony: Towards a Tonal Theory for the Rock Era. Ann

Arbor: University of Michigan Press. EVERETT, WALTER. 2004. “Making Sense of Rock’s Tonal Systems.” Music Theory Online 10/4. ———. 2008. “Pitch Down the Middle.” In Expression in Pop-Rock Music: Critical and Analytical

Essays, revised second edition, 111–74. New York: Routledge. GUCK, MARION. 1978. “The Functional Relations of Chords: A Theory of Musical Intuitions.” In Theory

Only 4/6: 29–42. HARRISON, DANIEL. 1994. Harmonic Function in Chromatic Music. Chicago: University of Chicago

Press. HUGHES, BRYN. 2012. “Does Rock Play By Its Own Rules? An Empirical Investigation of Harmonic

Expectation in Rock Music.” Presentation at the annual meeting of the Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic, Newark, DE.

KOPP, DAVID. 1995. “On the Function of Function.” Music Theory Online 1/3. LAITZ, STEVEN G. 2011. The Complete Musician: An Integrated Approach to Tonal Theory, Analysis, and

Listening. Third edition. New York: Oxford University Press. LERDAHL, FRED, AND RAY JACKENDOFF. 1983. A Generative Theory of Tonal Music. Cambridge: MIT

Press. MOORE, ALLAN. 1995. “The So-Called ‘Flattened Seventh’ in Rock.” Popular Music 14: 185–201. NOBILE, DREW F. 2011. “Form and Voice Leading in Early Beatles Songs.” Music Theory Online 17/3. QUINN, IAN. 2005. “Harmonic Function without Primary Triads.” Presentation at the annual meeting of

the Society for Music Theory, Cambridge, MA. RATNER, LEONARD. 1980. Classic Music: Expression, Form, and Style. New York: Schirmer Books. RIEMANN, HUGO. 1896 [1893]. Harmony Simplified. Translated by H. Bewerunge. London: Augener. ROTHGEB, JOHN. 1996. “Re: Eytan Agmon on Functional Theory.” Music Theory Online 2/1. ROTHSTEIN, WILLIAM. 2006. “Transformations of Cadential Formulæ in Music by Corelli and His

Successors.” In Essays from the Third International Schenker Symposium, ed. Allen Cadwallader. Hildesheim: Georg Olms.

SMITH, CHARLES J. 1981. “Prolongations and Progressions as Musical Syntax.” In Music Theory: Special Topics, ed. Richard Browne, 139–74. New York: Academic Press.

SPICER, MARK. 2005. Review of Walter Everett, The Beatles as Musicians: The Quarry Men Through Rubber Soul. Music Theory Online 11/4.

SWAIN, JOSEPH. 1997. Musical Languages. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. STEPHENSON, KEN. 2002. What to Listen for in Rock: A Stylistic Analysis. New Haven: Yale University

Press. TEMPERLEY, DAVID. 2011. “The Cadential IV in Rock.” Music Theory Online 17/2.

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