Dissertation Index
Author: Doll, Christopher Title: Listening to Rock Harmony Institution: Columbia University Begun: August 2006 Completed: May 2007 Abstract: This dissertation seeks to verbalize some of the rich harmonic effects that are idiomaticand, in some cases, uniqueto rock music (with rock construed broadly). Chapter 1 presents the basic tenets of a harmonic-function theory, one built around chordal effects of stability, hierarchy, and prediction. Armed with this new theory, the dissertation proceeds in the following two chapters to tackle two major stumbling blocks of rock--music analysis-ambiguity and transformationby exploring the ways in which these two concepts can represent hearings of music, as opposed to, say, rationalizations of how music might be organized. Chapter 2 theorizes two subtypes of harmonic ambiguity-centric and functional ambiguity-and investigates the various types of experiential information that can lead to these ambiguous effects. Chapter 3 frames chord substitution and chord addition/subtraction as descriptions of transformational effects, and explores three common types of transformed harmonic structures: norms, precedents, and (in)complete structures. The dissertations ideas on function, ambiguity, and transformation culminate in Chapter 3s synchronic, diachronic, and hermeneutic discussion of a structure I call the rogue riff, an up-down gesture that composes out a seventh chords (perfect) fifth and (minor) seventh. Overall, the dissertation cites (and offers audio excerpts of) more than two hundred songs in its exploration of styles ranging from Afro-Cuban jazz and country-western to heavy metal and hip-hop. Keywords: metatheory, listening, rock, harmony, function, ambiguity, transformation TOC: INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 1: FUNCTION Part I: Tonic, Dominant, and Subdominant Introduction Tonic Function and Tonal Center Predictive Functions Part II: Functional Chains Roman Numerals Pre-Pretonic Functions Non-Predictive Functions Part III: Progression Schemata Retrogression CHAPTER 2: AMBIGUITY Part I: Introduction Modality Musical Ambiguity Part II: Information Making a List Variations on a Theme: Types 1-9 Types 10-12 Part III: Centric Ambiguity Local Levels Global Levels Other Cases Part IV: Functional Ambiguity Chord-Hierarchical Ambiguity V-IV-I IV-I-V bVII-IV-I CHAPTER 3: TRANSFORMATION Part I: Transformational Types Introduction Substitution Addition and Subtraction Part II: Transformees Normality Precedence Completeness Part III: The Rogue Riff Explaining bVII-IV-I From Chord to Succession, and Back Again Other Harmonizations The Boogie Riff The Palindrome An Archetypal American Musical Icon CONCLUSION Contact: Christopher Doll Assistant Professor Department of Music Mason Gross School of the Arts Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey 81 George St. New Brunswick, NJ 08901-1411 dollchristopher@yahoo.com |