Masters Thesis
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A MUSICOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF NATURE’S BEST A thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts at The University of Waikato by NICHOLAS BRAAE The University of Waikato 2012 Abstract Academic research on New Zealand popular music has primarily been conducted from historical and cultural perspectives. While asking important questions, these sources have rarely engaged with the musical details of New Zealand popular music. This thesis is a musicological analysis of the 100 songs from the three Nature’s Best albums. The musical perspective complements the socio-cultural research on New Zealand popular music. The Nature’s Best project was instigated by Mike Chunn in 2001 to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). All songwriting members of APRA and 100 celebrities and critics were invited to vote for their ten favourite New Zealand popular songs. Fourmyula’s 1969 hit ‘Nature’ gained the most votes. The three Nature’s Best CDs ranked the top 100 songs. The albums were a commercial success upon release in 2002 and 2003. This thesis analyses the 100 songs with regards to eight musical parameters: harmony, melodic construction, form, beat, length, tempo, introductory hooks and instrumental solos. The analytical methods were drawn from classical and popular musicology. Interviews with twelve songwriters were also conducted to gain alternative viewpoints on the analysis. The 100 songs provide a sample of New Zealand popular music from 1970 until 2000; thus, the analysis is useful for addressing questions of New Zealand musical style and traits. The results suggest New Zealand songwriters follow fundamental principles of Anglo-American songwriting, such as arched and balanced melodies, and forms based on repeated and contrasting sections. The harmonic language is similar to international artists of the same period; however, it appears 1970s and 1980s songwriters were more adventurous in this area compared with their 1990s counterparts. The instrumental solos were notable for an anti-virtuosic trait. It is argued this feature mirrors aspects of New Zealand identity. i Acknowledgements Without much help, this thesis would not have been possible. I am deeply grateful to the following people. The University of Waikato, for granting ethics approval and for financial support through the University of Waikato Masters Scholarship. Phillippa Ulenberg, for assisting in the ethics process. Martin Lodge and Michael Williams, of the University of Waikato Music Department, for general conversations on the project. Emma Bevege, for answering questions on guitar and vocal technique. Rita Luck of APRA, Glen Moffatt and Miles Golding for helping to make contact with other musicians. Andrea Gray and Richard Braae, for offering advice and criticism on ideas, and for proofreading the thesis. Matthew Bannister, Chris Bourke, Rob Bowman, Graeme Downes, Walter Everett, Jon Fitzgerald, Chris Harte, Tony Mitchell, Allan Moore, Michael Morse and David Temperley, for critiquing aspects of the project and discussing issues related to popular music analysis. The interviewees — Matthew Bannister, Mike Chunn, Julia Deans, Tim Finn, Fane Flaws, Dilworth Karaka, Jordan Luck, Dave McArtney, Andrew McLennan, Don McGlashan, Larry Morris, James Reid and Sean Sturm — for taking the time to speak to me, and for being hospitable and welcoming hosts. Their words are not always apparent in this thesis, but their insights have shaped my thinking no end. ii William Dart, for reading various sections of the thesis, and for generously expanding my music library with regular parcels of CDs and books. He is encyclopedic on all things musical; it has been my great pleasure and fortune to have access to his knowledge. Ian Whalley, for supervising this project. I am grateful for the many informal conversations on rock music, which taught me as much about popular music as any textbook. He encouraged in me a sense of self-reliance, so I could develop and critique original ideas. Most of all, his red pen, figurative and literal, gave me the confidence to write with concision, clarity and insight. iii Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................ i Acknowledgements............................................................................................. ii List of Tables and Figures ............................................................................... vii 1. Introduction ................................................................................................ 1 1.1 INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................. 1 1.2 AIMS AND QUESTIONS ................................................................................. 5 1.3 DEFINITIONS ................................................................................................... 8 2. Literature Review ....................................................................................... 9 2.1 INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................. 9 2.2 MUSICOLOGY AND POPULAR MUSICOLOGY......................................... 9 2.3 POPULAR MUSIC TEXT AND CONTEXT.................................................. 13 2.3.1 “Anti-Musicology” of the Popular Song................................................... 13 2.3.2 Textual and Contextual Approaches to Popular Music............................. 15 2.4 ANALYSING THE POPULAR MUSIC TEXT.............................................. 21 2.4.1 The Listener and Analytical Methods....................................................... 21 2.4.2 Analysing “The Notes” ............................................................................. 27 2.5 ANALYSING “THE NOTES”: ISSUES AND PROBLEMS ......................... 32 2.5.1 Analytical Frameworks ............................................................................. 32 2.5.2 Classical Analysis of Popular Music ........................................................ 33 2.6 CORPUS ANALYSIS...................................................................................... 40 2.6.1 Disciplinary Overview and Trends ........................................................... 40 2.6.2 Corpus Analyses ....................................................................................... 44 2.7 POPULAR MUSICOLOGY IN NEW ZEALAND......................................... 50 2.7.1 Overview and Issues ................................................................................. 50 2.7.2 Analysis of New Zealand Popular Music ................................................. 55 3. Methodology.............................................................................................. 58 3.1 OVERVIEW..................................................................................................... 58 3.2 METHODOLOGICAL AND PRACTICAL ISSUES ..................................... 58 3.2.1 Corpus Choice........................................................................................... 58 3.2.2 Scores and Notation .................................................................................. 59 3.2.3 Analysis in Practice................................................................................... 62 3.3 ANALYTICAL METHODS............................................................................ 64 iv 3.3.1 Harmony.................................................................................................... 64 3.3.2 Melodic Structure...................................................................................... 67 3.3.3 Form and Structure.................................................................................... 69 3.3.4 Tempo ....................................................................................................... 71 3.3.5 Introductory Hooks ................................................................................... 71 3.3.6 Instrumental Solos..................................................................................... 73 3.3.7 A Note on Other Features ......................................................................... 74 3.3.8 Interviews.................................................................................................. 76 4. Analytical Findings................................................................................... 80 4.1 OVERVIEW..................................................................................................... 80 4.2 HARMONY ..................................................................................................... 80 4.2.1 Keys .........................................................................................................