Optimality Theory and the Semiotic Triad: a New Approach for Songwriting, Sound Recording, and Artistic Analysis

Optimality Theory and the Semiotic Triad: A New Approach for Songwriting, Sound Recording, and Artistic Analysis By Michael Fragomeni A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in German in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Irmengard Rauch, Chair Professor Thomas Shannon Professor Winfried Kudszus Professor Gary Holland Spring 2019 © 2019 Michael Fragomeni All rights reserved. 1 Abstract Optimality Theory and the Semiotic Triad: A New Approach for Songwriting, Sound Recording, and Artistic Analysis by Michael Fragomeni Doctor of Philosophy in German University of California, Berkeley Professor Irmengard Rauch, Chair Songwriters have always taken full advantage of the ‘artistic license’ offered them by their listeners. This dissertation investigates the freedoms and limitations of artistic license by examining language in the musical environment. This dissertation uses Optimality Theory as its method of analysis together with Peircean Semiotics. The OT analysis includes examples from both English and German and investigates the musical environment on syntactic, morphological, and phonological levels. The dissertation also explores the potential impact that songs can have on spoken language by considering the differences between modifications and innovations in songwriting. Additionally, I examine the roles iconicity and arbitrariness play in art and pop culture. As evolving principles of the Sign, iconicity and arbitrariness interact with one another in an overlapping manner, thus producing new innovations in art and language. These new innovations are then conventionalized, creating a new layer upon which more innovations take place. The fractal nature of this process adds credence to the reproductive nature of Peirce’s Triad. Lastly, this dissertation applies Peirce’s Triad to the art form of sound recording to shed light on that creative process and is then applied for an analysis of dissimilar musical genres to add further explication on the differing expectations of those musical genes. i To Jennifer, Allison, and Elizabeth ii Table of Contents LIST OF FIGURES iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS vi CHAPTER ONE 1 Introduction CHAPTER TWO 3 Applying Optimality Theory to the Musical Environment Applying Peirce’s Firstness, Secondness, Thirdness to Songwriting 5 Zooming in: Firstness, Secondness, Thirdness inside of Secondness 7 Faithfulness to the Musical Phrase 8 Applying Optimality Theory to Syntax in the Musical Environment 11 Morphology and Syllable Structure 13 Phonology 16 Conclusion 17 CHAPTER THREE Modifications vs. Innovations 18 Applying OT to weed out modifications solely motivated by rhyme scheme 19 Original Innovations 25 Conclusion 28 CHAPTER FOUR 29 Iconicity vs. Arbitrariness Degrees of Similarity: Covers 33 Degrees of Similarity: Dissimilar Covers 35 Degrees of Similarity: Exact Covers 38 Performances vs. Covers 41 Conclusion 44 CHAPTER FIVE Applying Firstness, Secondness, and Thirdness to Sound Recording 48 The Firstness of the Earliest Recordings and the 1 to 1 Ratio 48 The Secondness of Multi-track Recordings and the 1 (or more) to 1 (or more) Ratio 55 Using Multiple Microphones on One (or more) Instrument/s 60 The Advent of 4 and 8-track Tape Machines 64 Conventionalizing the Stereo Spectrum 70 Mixing is a Thirdness 76 Computers and Sound Recording 79 Computers Have Blurred the Semiotic Boundaries 80 Conclusion 85 CHAPTER SIX iii Revisiting the Application of Firstness, Secondness, and Thirdness to Songwriting 87 Redefining Firstness, Secondness, and Thirdness for the Sake of Artistic Application 87 Explaining the Inner Workings of Firstness’ Application to Composition 90 Explaining the Inner Workings of Secondness’ Application to Music Composition 91 Explaining the Inner Workings of Thirdness’ Application to Music Composition 93 Differentiating Subgenres of Folk Music: Modal Jazz’s Firstness 95 Differentiating Subgenres of Folk Music: Popular Music’s Secondness 98 Conclusion 103 CHAPTER SEVEN 104 Conclusion REFERENCES 105 iv List of Figures CHAPTER TWO Figure 2-1 3 Figure 2-2 8 Figure 2-3 9 Figure 2-4 10 Figure 2-5 12 Figure 2-6 14 Figure 2-7 15 Figure 2-8 15 Figure 2-9 17 CHAPTER THREE Figure 3.1 19 Figure 3.2 21 Figure 3.3 23 Figure 3.4 24 Figure 3.5 27 Figure 3.6 27 CHAPTER FOUR Figure 4.1 30 Figure 4.2 31 Figure 4.3 34 Figure 4.4 37 Figure 4.5 40 Figure 4.6 46 CHAPTER FIVE Figure 5.1 52 Figure 5.2 53 Figure 5.3 56 Figure 5.4 58 Figure 5.5 61 Figure 5.6 61 Figure 5.7 63 Figure 5.8 64 Figure 5.9 64 Figure 5.10 67 Figure 5.11 67 Figure 5.12 68 Figure 5.13 68 Figure 5.14 69 v Figure 5.15 69 Figure 5.16 73 Figure 5.17 74 Figure 5.18 75 Figure 5.19 76 Figure 5.20 77 Figure 5.21 78 Figure 5.22 79 Figure 5.23 83 Figure 5.24 83 CHAPTER SIX Figure 6.1a 91 Figure 6.1b 91 Figure 6.2 92 Figure 6.3 92 Figure 6.4 93 Figure 6.5 94 Figure 6.6 96 Figure 6.7 98 Figure 6.8 99 Figure 6.9 99 Figure 6.10 102 vi Acknowledgements When I decided to return to school with the modest goal of earning a BA in history, I never imagined my academic journey would end with me writing a dissertation. I could not have completed this project without the support and guidance of my committee, as well as other teachers I was lucky to have as a graduate student. From my committee, I must first thank Gary Holland for his insightful feedback and constructive criticism. Though I didn’t realize it at the time, it was actually when I was in Winfried Kudszus’ German 207 class that the seeds for this dissertation were planted. As a result of his class, I discovered the following: Nietzsche's Birth of Tragedy, though not directly cited in the dissertation, is in many ways, the cornerstone of my entire theory. It is what made me realize that visual art and music have different sources of inspiration and that music is most likely mankind's earliest form of emotive communication. When I eventually discovered Peirce's Triad, I instantly noticed a connection between Firstness and Dionysian inspiration. Jakob von Uexküll's Umwelt was key for me realizing the realm in which music exists after it is conventionalized. Johann Georg Hamann was instrumental for how I see music connecting to the listener - proximity to the art. I also want to thank Professor Kudszus for encouraging an ‘outside of the box’ approach for interpretation and analysis of readings. I am grateful to Thomas Shannon for sharing his methodology, writing style comments, help with OT constraints, and sound life advice. And, of course, I want to thank my advisor, Irmengard Rauch. Simply put, without her unflinching support and keen understanding of me, I could have never written this dissertation. It was she who first saw value in my application of OT to the musical environment, advising me to go further with the idea. She was instrumental in instilling confidence when I doubted the significance of my dissertation and my ability to complete it. In addition to my committee, I would also like to thank the following people: professors Elaine Tennant and Margaret Anderson for helping me to get into graduate school, colleagues Kevin Gordon for encouragement, Justin Farwell for friendship, Peter Woods for great conversations, and Scott Shell for healthy debates. Grants and fellowships from the Department of German and Graduate Division helped to support this dissertation. In addition to receiving the Graduate Student Instructor Award, I also received funding from the Max Kade Foundation and other funding provided by the members of the faculty, for which I am extremely grateful. As an older student, returning to the academic world for a second career, I must also thank the City College of San Francisco and all the fine instructors there. For those who doubt the effectiveness of the city college system, I am living proof that it works. And without it, I could have never pursued a college degree, let alone a doctorate degree. Finally, I would like to thank my family: my daughter Elizabeth, whose spontaneous energy and love for life uplifted and motivated me when I was stuck; my daughter Allison, whose feedback and depth of knowledge on the subject was indispensible for this dissertation, and to my wife, Jennifer, who, not only provided me with a key example at a crucial moment, but also, through her infinite patience, love, and understanding, ensured the completion of this dissertation. 1 CHAPTER ONE Introduction The goal of this study is to shed light on the creative process, more specifically, on the songwriting process. The primary method used for this analysis is Optimality Theory (Prince & Smolensky 1993). This analysis also relies on Peircean Semiotics for the following: (1) support for the universality of a primary constraint, ‘Faithfulness to a Musical Phrase’ (F-MPH); (2) a clarification of the differences between innovation and modification, as well as iconicity and arbitrariness, and (3) an explanation of the triggers for, and evolution of, musical genres. This analysis differs from previous Optimality Theory (OT) studies conducted by Hayes & MacEachern (1998) and Kiparsky (2006) in that it is not constraint-based corpus analysis of metrics, though Löhken (1995) is referenced. This analysis also differs from those previous studies in that it is not restricted to English folk music or other traditional/conventionalized art forms. It is limited primarily to Popular Music, i.e. subgenres of the supra-American Folk genre: Modal Jazz, Rhythm & Blues, Rock & Roll, and Standards of the mid to late 20th century. The analysis herein is not a narrow, linguistic study, arguing for or against the current research in the field.

Load more