As if he were the direct descendant in a line of revival-meeting preachers, each offering a key t... more As if he were the direct descendant in a line of revival-meeting preachers, each offering a key to salvation, Bruce Springsteen has many times been recognized as rock's preeminent ticket to transcendence. What have never been discussed, however, are the ways in which this theme lies at the heart of the music produced by Bruce and his bandmates. The intent of this essay, then, is to demonstrate how Bruce' s songs use musical relationships to capture the theme of transcendence. Before addressing the relevant musical issues, though, I would like to provide an overview of what is probably the core concern of the literary side of Springsteen's art, the question of transformation. The lifechanging transformations of which he sings take many forms in his lyrics and grow to transcendental proportions in his larger-than-life performances. The many related facets of this theme, of interest to Bruce as to no other rock artist, are suggested in Appendix 1, which is offered in lieu of an extended discussion of these concerns as explored in his lyrics. The ways in which all thirty-five songs mentioned in this essay, and many others besides, are related to transformation and transcendence are mapped in this table. Our project here is to sketch out some of the ways in which Springsteen expresses these poetic ideas musically. Any of music's parameterscontrasting vocal and instrumental colors, melodic contour and register, rhythmic growth, formal innovation, harmonic progression and unexpected shifts of tonal centercan be composed in such a way at various levels that music and lyrics may say the same, or complementary, things. Although Springsteen's musical materials are often basic and simple, as a reflection of his passion for early rock and roll, he still finds many varied and convincing ways to craft artistic musical statements. l Following a somewhat detailed look at the use of various instrumental colors and other aspects of texture in Bruce' s recordings, we will touch briefly on a few representative matters of rhythm, melody, harmony and form to approach a fully formed view of the multifaceted nature of Bruce' s command of the musical art. The topic of tone color entails how sounds can contrast with each other as produced by different singers, different instruments, or different electronic processes. In performance, Springsteen will alternate an acoustic with his electrics, but otherwise he prefers a very limited range of guitar colorsyou do not hear a galaxy of pedal effects seized upon by other rock musicians. And when he exchanges his Esquire for a Telecaster, it is usually because one of the two is fitted with a capo, not because they differ particularly in timbrai quality. E-Street keyboardists Federici and Bittan do not typically employ racks and racks of synths with multiple settings each; Danny is usually content with a glockenspiel setting plus a basic Hammond B-3, Roy with a grand piano, all for a heavy but relatively unchanging wall of sound. Our first example of the use of tone color to suggest transformation is from the opening of Bruce's early song, "Growin' Up." This song's first verse exemplifies textural growth through terraced dynamics, beginning with a solo instrument, in this case the piano in the confined space of an octave, and gradually adding the lead vocal (at 0:07), six-and twelve-string guitars that gradually fade in (0:15), and
ABSTRACT The Beatles’ White Album is a musical expression of getting naked, revealing anxiety and... more ABSTRACT The Beatles’ White Album is a musical expression of getting naked, revealing anxiety and doubt in songs that fetishize objects and role play while representing impotence and cuckolding. Anxiety and ambivalence about sexual performance track alongside other attitudes toward time, including nostalgia about the past and an ineffectual desire to move forward, that have biographical significance for the Beatles in 1968. The sexually honest double album strips off the psychedelia of the previous year, and The White Album’s unifying theme is, in fact, voiced explicitly on the record itself – not by a Beatle, but by Yoko Ono.
Beethoven wrote about thirty sonata movements before leaving Bonn. Often disparaged as awkward (w... more Beethoven wrote about thirty sonata movements before leaving Bonn. Often disparaged as awkward (when not neglected entirely), these pieces deserve rehabilitation for the insights they can bring to the composer's masterworks. Influenced by local Rhenish models—Christian Gottlob Neefe, Andrea Luchesi, and Johann Franz Xaver Sterkel, the Bonner Zeit music imbues a galant style with Empfindsam colorings, producing an idiosyncratic approach to transitions and genre blending—particularly involving cue play surrounding multiple medial caesuras, elisions, phrase expansions, and undermined secondary themes—that responds immediately to Janet Schmalfeldt's perspective on the process of becoming as well as a mix of ideas from Heinrich Schenker, William Caplin, and the work of James Hepokoski and Warren Darcy, all applied here. Three of Beethoven's Bonn sonatas, as well as several works by Rhineland contemporaries, are given close study for their transition-related harmony, voice lea...
Music), the Mannes Institute is best described as a high-level think tank for professional music ... more Music), the Mannes Institute is best described as a high-level think tank for professional music scholars. It provides participants with the opportunity to study selected topics in depth in an intimate collegial setting more like a classroom than a conventional academic conference. In addition to plenary sessions and roundtable discussions, a rotating faculty of internationally renowned music scholars offers intensive workshops, each limited to fifteen Fellows who prepare for them diligently in advance. Lively discussions proceed from reading and listening assignments, enabling participants to learn from each other in a sustained and interactive way. Offered annually, on a different topic each spring, the Mannes Institute has been supported by private benefactors since its creation in 2001. (Further information on the Mannes Institute and its programs can be found at the Mannes Institute home page, https://216.71.55.88/mi/.) [2] This edition of the Mannes Institute celebrated the emergence of music scholarship in two overlapping genres of vernacular Western music-genres that over the last thirty years or so have undergone significant growth both in number of publications and in diversity of scholarly approaches. The Institute drew its 45 Fellows from universities and music schools across the United States and Canada as well as England, France, and Holland. The geographical and scholarly breadth of the Institute's Fellows and the resulting theoretical and historical approaches helped instill the workshops with energizing give-and-take, camaraderie, and the genuine pleasure of interacting with other established and emerging scholars dedicated to the music and its investigation. [3] At the opening plenary session, Institute co-chairs Walter Everett and Henry Martin gave brief introductory talks that focused on the growth of scholarship in Western popular music and jazz. Particularly satisfying was the presence at the Institute of many of the scholars who had made seminal contributions to the fields. Walter and Henry's enumeration of important publications, dissertations, new scholarly journals, and upcoming events helped frame the growth of scholarship in
edited by Hedi Siegel (Schenker Studies, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990) and Allen C... more edited by Hedi Siegel (Schenker Studies, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990) and Allen Cadwallader (Trends in Schenkerian Research, New York: Schirmer, 1990) bring together twenty-three essays of broad and narrow focuses by eighteen of the world's most prominent or promising scholars of Schenkerian theory and analysis. Both volumes stand proudly on the shelf alongside David Beach's Aspects of Schenkerian Theory (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1983) and Maury Yeston's anthology of previously published articles, Readings in Schenker Analysis and Other Approaches (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1977). Since Siegel and Cadwallader include contributions from comparable (and intersecting) pools of authors, there are few sharp distinctions between the two volumes other than the fact that Siegel's contains fourteen essays to Cadwallader's nine. Siegel presents leading figures (Charles Burkhart, John Rothgeb and Carl Schachter each appear only here) while Cadwallader's writers are less seasoned (several were Ph.D. candidates at the time of their contribution). Each book includes three brilliant essays that stand out for their musicality, analytical insight, originality of approach, overall writing, and/or significance for the field: the three best, by Patrick McCreless, William Rothstein, and Schachter, all appear in Siegel; Cadwallader's best essays are by himself, David Gagne, and Eric Wen. A second tier of articles, based on the same criteria, would include those by Burkhart, David Loeb, Roger Kamien, and Wen (all in Siegel), and by Rothstein and Channan Willner (in Cadwallader). Because of the consistently high level of research provided in both books other readers with interests different than mine are likely to have different rankings, but on the whole, the Siegel collection represents a greater variety of viewpoints and greater weight of authority than does the Cadwallader. Siegel has collected publishable conference papers from the 1985 Schenker Symposium that have not appeared elsewhere (references are given for conference papers not includ-
recent years the musical depiction of psychological content in dramatic, lyric and narrative form... more recent years the musical depiction of psychological content in dramatic, lyric and narrative forms has received a great deal of attention. Edward T. Cone and David Lewin both have been instrumental in discovering how musical motives bring to the surface the unconscious components of personalities in opera and song.2 Schenkerian analysts have indicated how voice-leading events at both foreground and middleground levels particularly motivic parallelisms, the manipulation of register, and the contrasting functions of outer and inner voices may at times emphasize the psychological content of musical motives that support dramatic characterizations.3 Mozart has often been credited for creating ingenious musical settings that, by virtue of their coherence, vivify his characters' inner feelings and drives. R. B. Moberly, for example, says:
This essay reviews alternate mixes and edited versions produced for numerous purposes over the pa... more This essay reviews alternate mixes and edited versions produced for numerous purposes over the past half-century for stock singles, promotional singles, albums and reissues of all sorts, all evidencing a form of literary intertextuality of uniquely central importance to the record industry that has not previously been covered systematically. These multiple texts resulting from different manipulations of a single tape source exhibit what is termed intratextuality, leading to variations in composition, arranging and engineering. In addition, much of the essay's discussion will document for scholars as well as for fans a number of recordings whose continuing availability has been jeopardized by never having been reissued in CD format.
... Desmond and Molly Jones, Rocky Raccoon, Loretta Martin, Maxwell Edison), and in his often vau... more ... Desmond and Molly Jones, Rocky Raccoon, Loretta Martin, Maxwell Edison), and in his often vaudevillian sense of nostalgia ("Yesterday," "Penny Lane," "When I'm Sixty-Four," "Your Mother Should Know," "Honey Pie," "Two of Us," "Jubilee"-later "Junk" on his first solo LP). ...
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, a... more JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
... Brahms, it has not been difficult for Schenker's torch bear ers to defen... more ... Brahms, it has not been difficult for Schenker's torch bear ers to defend his assertions that all great tonal music of this ... Most analysts who have examined experimental structures in nine teenth-century opera and song have focused primarily upon harmonic innovations (consider ...
As if he were the direct descendant in a line of revival-meeting preachers, each offering a key t... more As if he were the direct descendant in a line of revival-meeting preachers, each offering a key to salvation, Bruce Springsteen has many times been recognized as rock's preeminent ticket to transcendence. What have never been discussed, however, are the ways in which this theme lies at the heart of the music produced by Bruce and his bandmates. The intent of this essay, then, is to demonstrate how Bruce' s songs use musical relationships to capture the theme of transcendence. Before addressing the relevant musical issues, though, I would like to provide an overview of what is probably the core concern of the literary side of Springsteen's art, the question of transformation. The lifechanging transformations of which he sings take many forms in his lyrics and grow to transcendental proportions in his larger-than-life performances. The many related facets of this theme, of interest to Bruce as to no other rock artist, are suggested in Appendix 1, which is offered in lieu of an extended discussion of these concerns as explored in his lyrics. The ways in which all thirty-five songs mentioned in this essay, and many others besides, are related to transformation and transcendence are mapped in this table. Our project here is to sketch out some of the ways in which Springsteen expresses these poetic ideas musically. Any of music's parameterscontrasting vocal and instrumental colors, melodic contour and register, rhythmic growth, formal innovation, harmonic progression and unexpected shifts of tonal centercan be composed in such a way at various levels that music and lyrics may say the same, or complementary, things. Although Springsteen's musical materials are often basic and simple, as a reflection of his passion for early rock and roll, he still finds many varied and convincing ways to craft artistic musical statements. l Following a somewhat detailed look at the use of various instrumental colors and other aspects of texture in Bruce' s recordings, we will touch briefly on a few representative matters of rhythm, melody, harmony and form to approach a fully formed view of the multifaceted nature of Bruce' s command of the musical art. The topic of tone color entails how sounds can contrast with each other as produced by different singers, different instruments, or different electronic processes. In performance, Springsteen will alternate an acoustic with his electrics, but otherwise he prefers a very limited range of guitar colorsyou do not hear a galaxy of pedal effects seized upon by other rock musicians. And when he exchanges his Esquire for a Telecaster, it is usually because one of the two is fitted with a capo, not because they differ particularly in timbrai quality. E-Street keyboardists Federici and Bittan do not typically employ racks and racks of synths with multiple settings each; Danny is usually content with a glockenspiel setting plus a basic Hammond B-3, Roy with a grand piano, all for a heavy but relatively unchanging wall of sound. Our first example of the use of tone color to suggest transformation is from the opening of Bruce's early song, "Growin' Up." This song's first verse exemplifies textural growth through terraced dynamics, beginning with a solo instrument, in this case the piano in the confined space of an octave, and gradually adding the lead vocal (at 0:07), six-and twelve-string guitars that gradually fade in (0:15), and
ABSTRACT The Beatles’ White Album is a musical expression of getting naked, revealing anxiety and... more ABSTRACT The Beatles’ White Album is a musical expression of getting naked, revealing anxiety and doubt in songs that fetishize objects and role play while representing impotence and cuckolding. Anxiety and ambivalence about sexual performance track alongside other attitudes toward time, including nostalgia about the past and an ineffectual desire to move forward, that have biographical significance for the Beatles in 1968. The sexually honest double album strips off the psychedelia of the previous year, and The White Album’s unifying theme is, in fact, voiced explicitly on the record itself – not by a Beatle, but by Yoko Ono.
Beethoven wrote about thirty sonata movements before leaving Bonn. Often disparaged as awkward (w... more Beethoven wrote about thirty sonata movements before leaving Bonn. Often disparaged as awkward (when not neglected entirely), these pieces deserve rehabilitation for the insights they can bring to the composer's masterworks. Influenced by local Rhenish models—Christian Gottlob Neefe, Andrea Luchesi, and Johann Franz Xaver Sterkel, the Bonner Zeit music imbues a galant style with Empfindsam colorings, producing an idiosyncratic approach to transitions and genre blending—particularly involving cue play surrounding multiple medial caesuras, elisions, phrase expansions, and undermined secondary themes—that responds immediately to Janet Schmalfeldt's perspective on the process of becoming as well as a mix of ideas from Heinrich Schenker, William Caplin, and the work of James Hepokoski and Warren Darcy, all applied here. Three of Beethoven's Bonn sonatas, as well as several works by Rhineland contemporaries, are given close study for their transition-related harmony, voice lea...
Music), the Mannes Institute is best described as a high-level think tank for professional music ... more Music), the Mannes Institute is best described as a high-level think tank for professional music scholars. It provides participants with the opportunity to study selected topics in depth in an intimate collegial setting more like a classroom than a conventional academic conference. In addition to plenary sessions and roundtable discussions, a rotating faculty of internationally renowned music scholars offers intensive workshops, each limited to fifteen Fellows who prepare for them diligently in advance. Lively discussions proceed from reading and listening assignments, enabling participants to learn from each other in a sustained and interactive way. Offered annually, on a different topic each spring, the Mannes Institute has been supported by private benefactors since its creation in 2001. (Further information on the Mannes Institute and its programs can be found at the Mannes Institute home page, https://216.71.55.88/mi/.) [2] This edition of the Mannes Institute celebrated the emergence of music scholarship in two overlapping genres of vernacular Western music-genres that over the last thirty years or so have undergone significant growth both in number of publications and in diversity of scholarly approaches. The Institute drew its 45 Fellows from universities and music schools across the United States and Canada as well as England, France, and Holland. The geographical and scholarly breadth of the Institute's Fellows and the resulting theoretical and historical approaches helped instill the workshops with energizing give-and-take, camaraderie, and the genuine pleasure of interacting with other established and emerging scholars dedicated to the music and its investigation. [3] At the opening plenary session, Institute co-chairs Walter Everett and Henry Martin gave brief introductory talks that focused on the growth of scholarship in Western popular music and jazz. Particularly satisfying was the presence at the Institute of many of the scholars who had made seminal contributions to the fields. Walter and Henry's enumeration of important publications, dissertations, new scholarly journals, and upcoming events helped frame the growth of scholarship in
edited by Hedi Siegel (Schenker Studies, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990) and Allen C... more edited by Hedi Siegel (Schenker Studies, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990) and Allen Cadwallader (Trends in Schenkerian Research, New York: Schirmer, 1990) bring together twenty-three essays of broad and narrow focuses by eighteen of the world's most prominent or promising scholars of Schenkerian theory and analysis. Both volumes stand proudly on the shelf alongside David Beach's Aspects of Schenkerian Theory (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1983) and Maury Yeston's anthology of previously published articles, Readings in Schenker Analysis and Other Approaches (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1977). Since Siegel and Cadwallader include contributions from comparable (and intersecting) pools of authors, there are few sharp distinctions between the two volumes other than the fact that Siegel's contains fourteen essays to Cadwallader's nine. Siegel presents leading figures (Charles Burkhart, John Rothgeb and Carl Schachter each appear only here) while Cadwallader's writers are less seasoned (several were Ph.D. candidates at the time of their contribution). Each book includes three brilliant essays that stand out for their musicality, analytical insight, originality of approach, overall writing, and/or significance for the field: the three best, by Patrick McCreless, William Rothstein, and Schachter, all appear in Siegel; Cadwallader's best essays are by himself, David Gagne, and Eric Wen. A second tier of articles, based on the same criteria, would include those by Burkhart, David Loeb, Roger Kamien, and Wen (all in Siegel), and by Rothstein and Channan Willner (in Cadwallader). Because of the consistently high level of research provided in both books other readers with interests different than mine are likely to have different rankings, but on the whole, the Siegel collection represents a greater variety of viewpoints and greater weight of authority than does the Cadwallader. Siegel has collected publishable conference papers from the 1985 Schenker Symposium that have not appeared elsewhere (references are given for conference papers not includ-
recent years the musical depiction of psychological content in dramatic, lyric and narrative form... more recent years the musical depiction of psychological content in dramatic, lyric and narrative forms has received a great deal of attention. Edward T. Cone and David Lewin both have been instrumental in discovering how musical motives bring to the surface the unconscious components of personalities in opera and song.2 Schenkerian analysts have indicated how voice-leading events at both foreground and middleground levels particularly motivic parallelisms, the manipulation of register, and the contrasting functions of outer and inner voices may at times emphasize the psychological content of musical motives that support dramatic characterizations.3 Mozart has often been credited for creating ingenious musical settings that, by virtue of their coherence, vivify his characters' inner feelings and drives. R. B. Moberly, for example, says:
This essay reviews alternate mixes and edited versions produced for numerous purposes over the pa... more This essay reviews alternate mixes and edited versions produced for numerous purposes over the past half-century for stock singles, promotional singles, albums and reissues of all sorts, all evidencing a form of literary intertextuality of uniquely central importance to the record industry that has not previously been covered systematically. These multiple texts resulting from different manipulations of a single tape source exhibit what is termed intratextuality, leading to variations in composition, arranging and engineering. In addition, much of the essay's discussion will document for scholars as well as for fans a number of recordings whose continuing availability has been jeopardized by never having been reissued in CD format.
... Desmond and Molly Jones, Rocky Raccoon, Loretta Martin, Maxwell Edison), and in his often vau... more ... Desmond and Molly Jones, Rocky Raccoon, Loretta Martin, Maxwell Edison), and in his often vaudevillian sense of nostalgia ("Yesterday," "Penny Lane," "When I'm Sixty-Four," "Your Mother Should Know," "Honey Pie," "Two of Us," "Jubilee"-later "Junk" on his first solo LP). ...
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, a... more JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
... Brahms, it has not been difficult for Schenker's torch bear ers to defen... more ... Brahms, it has not been difficult for Schenker's torch bear ers to defend his assertions that all great tonal music of this ... Most analysts who have examined experimental structures in nine teenth-century opera and song have focused primarily upon harmonic innovations (consider ...
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