Flexible Ostinati, Groove, and Formal Process in Craig Taborn’s Avenging Angel
Main Article Content
Abstract
Repetition in the music of pianist/composer Craig Taborn engenders diverse temporal experiences at both local and global scales. At the local level, distinctive repetitions that I term flexible ostinati share significant features with the cyclic materials often observed in groove-based musics: they comprise a repetitive, omnipresent stream within the overall texture, provide a rapid isochronous pulse, and imply higher-level metric levels. However, they differ from strict ostinati or what Anne Danielsen (2006) terms “basic groove units” in their flexibility at the rhythmic/metric level of temporal experience. This flexibility manifests in two ways: in the material domain, they are often varied significantly across repetitions, while in the interpretive domain, they simultaneously suggest multiple possibilities for pulse, meter, or cyclic beginning/ending. Following Danielsen, who describes groove as emerging from interactions between sounding rhythm and a reference structure, I examine the potential reference structures (meter and cycle) suggested by Taborn’s flexible ostinati. These structures are never fixed, but instead must be constantly negotiated, resulting in engaging grooves that draw the listener into the music’s temporal matrix. I analyze three pieces from Taborn’s 2011 solo album, Avenging Angel, to demonstrate how, across longer stretches of time, diverse forms grow from these ostinati: “The Broad Day King” layers a surface-level flexible ostinato against slower background cycles that gradually reveal themselves, “Avenging Angel” is structured by the juxtaposition of two contrasting ostinati; and a brief passage in “Neverland” features an elusive groove which dissolves almost as soon as it materializes.
Article Details
Copyright © 2019 by the Society for Music Theory. All rights reserved.
[1] Copyrights for individual items published in Music Theory Online (MTO) are held by their authors. Items appearing in MTO may be saved and stored in electronic or paper form, and may be shared among individuals for purposes of scholarly research or discussion, but may not be republished in any form, electronic or print, without prior, written permission from the author(s), and advance notification of the editors of MTO.
[2] Any redistributed form of items published in MTO must include the following information in a form appropriate to the medium in which the items are to appear:
This item appeared in Music Theory Online in [VOLUME #, ISSUE #] on [DAY/MONTH/YEAR]. It was authored by [FULL NAME, EMAIL ADDRESS], with whose written permission it is reprinted here.
[3] Libraries may archive issues of MTO in electronic or paper form for public access so long as each issue is stored in its entirety, and no access fee is charged. Exceptions to these requirements must be approved in writing by the editors of MTO, who will act in accordance with the decisions of the Society for Music Theory.
This document and all portions thereof are protected by U.S. and international copyright laws. Material contained herein may be copied and/or distributed for research purposes only.