Rhythm and Meter in the Music of Dream Theater Gregory Richard Mccandless
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Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2010 Rhythm and Meter in the Music of Dream Theater Gregory Richard McCandless Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF MUSIC RHYTHM AND METER IN THE MUSIC OF DREAM THEATER By GREGORY RICHARD MCCANDLESS A Dissertation submitted to the College of Music in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2010 Copyright © 2009 Gregory Richard McCandless All Rights Reserved The members of the committee approve the dissertation of Gregory Richard McCandless, defended on November 23, 2009. __________________________________ Jane Piper Clendinning Professor Directing Dissertation __________________________________ Michael B. Bakan University Representative __________________________________ Evan Jones Committee Member __________________________________ Michael Buchler Committee Member The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members. ii For my late mother, Barbara Ann McCandless. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS “…decades of progressive rock have followed the first wave of the 1970s; most of this music is yet to be accounted for historically, let alone music-analytically.” My gratitude must first be extended to John Covach, for when I read this excerpt from his 1997 article on Yes’s “Close to the Edge,” my intention to write a dissertation on the music of Dream Theater crystallized. I had been considering research and writing on jazz (an idiom with which I had more performing experience), but after reading Covach’s words, I felt that it was my responsibility to undertake a project dealing with the music of Dream Theater, a band that I had been listening to regularly for ten years. The credit for my experience with Dream Theater’s music goes to Kyle Lavery, a childhood friend of mine whom I idolized during my adolescence. I would like to thank him for introducing me to the band’s music, and, more importantly, for introducing me to bass guitar and inspiring me to learn the instrument. Mark Spicer, in the acknowledgements section of his 2002 dissertation, labels himself a “renegade” for being the first Yale student to publish a dissertation on popular music. My decision to pursue the analysis of Dream Theater’s music, on the other hand, was met with no shock, dismay, or even hesitancy by my faculty at Florida State. I thank them for this. I believe that this reaction says quite a bit about the open-mindedness of the faculty at Florida State; however, I also believe it is representative of the change in the field of music theory regarding the acceptance of popular music studies in the last decade, and it is something I am very proud of. I would particularly like to express my appreciation to my advisor, Professor Jane Piper Clendinning, for her positive guidance and support throughout my research, as well as to Professors Evan Jones, Michael Buchler, and Michael Bakan for their valuable insights and suggestions. I would also like to extend my gratitude to my beautiful wife, Meghan, whose content suggestions and assistance with editing, formatting, and diagramming were extremely helpful. Finally, I cannot thank my parents and brother enough for all of the love and guidance they have provided me. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures....................................................................................................... vii Abstract ……....................................................................................................... xii 1. An Introduction to Dream Theater................................................................... 1 A History of Dream Theater........................................................................ 2 Dream Theater Select Discography with Album Sales Chart Positions in the U.S., U.K., and Japan................................................................... 15 Conclusion................................................................................................... 16 2. Review of Literature and Analytical Methods ................................................ 18 Sources of Historical and Stylistic Information on Dream Theater and Progressive Metal.............................................. 18 Scholarly Literature on the Theory and Analysis of Rhythm and Meter .... 23 Analytical Methods ..................................................................................... 29 3. Dream Theater’s Sound Part I: General Stylistic Traits................................. 40 Introduction.............................................................................................. ... 40 The Center of the Sound: Progressive Rock Elements in Dream Theater’s Music..................................................................... 43 The Periphery of the Sound: Heavy Metal Elements in Dream Theater’s Music..................................................................... 61 The Combination of Center and Periphery: Dream Theater’s Compositional Process........................................................................... 67 4. Dream Theater’s Sound Part II: Rhythmic and Metrical Complexity............ 71 Complexity Resulting from Direct Relationships between Meter and Motive.................................................................................. 73 Complexity Independent of Motivic Transformation.................................. 113 Conclusion................................................................................................... 129 5. Complete Musical Examples............................................................................ 131 “Sacrificed Sons” (2005)............................................................................. 131 “Constant Motion” (2007).......................................................................... 152 Conclusion................................................................................................... 165 v 6. Postlude and Conclusions................................................................................. 167 Postlude....................................................................................................... 167 Conclusions.................................................................................................. 169 Appendix: Catalog of Metrical Phenomena in Dream Theater’s Music............... 172 Bibliography......................................................................................................... 190 Biographical Sketch.............................................................................................. 199 vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1 A discography of Dream Theater’s studio albums, divided by career periods................................................................ 15 Figure 1.2 A stylistic analysis of Dream Theater’s studio albums (1989-2007).. 17 Figure 2.1 Examples of Justin London’s cyclical visual representations of meter from Hearing in Time.................................................................... 34 Figure 2.2 A London-style diagram of the metrical transformation and intermediate repetition in “The Great Debate.”............................ 35 Figure 3.1 Dream Theater, from the Systematic Chaos photo shoot for Roadrunner Records................................................................ 41 Figure 3.2 The Haken Audio Continuum Fingerboard, used by Jordan Rudess. 46 Figure 3.3 Mike Portnoy playing his “Siamese Monster” drum kit...................... 46 Figure 3.4 John Myung’s six-string bass and twelve-string Chapman Stick........ 47 Figure 3.5 The album cover to Emerson Lake and Palmer's Brain Salad Surgery. 52 Figure 3.6 The album cover to Dream Theater’s Awake....................................... 53 Figure 3.7 James LaBrie in Dream Theater’s music video for “Pull Me Under.” 65 Figure 3.8 The album cover to Dream Theater’s Train of Thought........................ 66 Figure 3.9 The “score” to “Stream of Consciousness” from Dream Theater’s Train of Thought............................................................................ 70 Figure 4.1 An excerpt of the “score” to Dream Theater’s “In the Presence of Enemies Pt. I.”............................................... 72 Figure 4.2 Augmentation and metrical expansion in Dream Theater’s “Solitary Shell,” 5:35-5:41............................................................ 76 Figure 4.3 Augmentation and metrical expansion in Dream Theater’s “A Change of Seasons,” 1:26-1:52............................................... 77 Figure 4.4 Addition and metrical expansion in Dream Theater’s “The Dance of Eternity,” 5:56-6:07.............................................. 79 vii Figure 4.5 Transformation to an uneven non-isochronous meter in the Conclusion of Dream Theater’s “The Dance of Eternity,” 5:56-6:07.............................................. 80 Figure 4.6 Addition and metrical expansion in Dream Theater’s “The Dark Eternal Night,” 5:20-5:40............................................ 82 Figure 4.7 Terminal repetition and metrical expansion in Dream Theater’s “Home,” 11:44-11:51.................................................................... 84 Figure 4.8 A comparison of guitar riffs in “The Great Debate,” Verses 2 and 3 (4:27-4:46 and 5:10-5:33). 85 Figure 4.9 A London-style diagram of the metrical transformation and intermediate repetition in “The Great Debate..............................