Harmonic Expectation in Twelve-Bar Blues Progressions Bryn Hughes
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Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2011 Harmonic Expectation in Twelve-Bar Blues Progressions Bryn Hughes Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF MUSIC HARMONIC EXPECTATION IN TWELVE-BAR BLUES PROGRESSIONS By BRYN HUGHES A dissertation submitted to the College of Music in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Degree Awarded: Summer Semester, 2011 The members of the committee approve the dissertation of Bryn Hughes defended on July 1, 2011. ___________________________________ Nancy Rogers Professor Directing Dissertation ___________________________________ Denise Von Glahn University Representative ___________________________________ Matthew Shaftel Committee Member ___________________________________ Clifton Callender Committee Member Approved: _____________________________________ Evan Jones, Chair, Department of Music Theory and Composition _____________________________________ Don Gibson, Dean, College of Music The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members. ii To my father, Robert David Moyse, for teaching me about the blues, and to the love of my life, Jillian Bracken. Thanks for believing in me. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Before thanking anyone in particular, I would like to express my praise for the Florida State University music theory program. The students and faculty provided me with the perfect combination of guidance, enthusiasm, and support to allow me to succeed. My outlook on the field of music theory and on academic life in general was profoundly shaped by my time as a student at FSU. I would like to express my thanks to Richard Parks and Catherine Nolan, both of whom I studied under during my time as a student at the University of Western Ontario and inspired and motivated me to make music theory a career. I would also like to thank Matthew Royal, with whom I had the pleasure of taking a number of classes, including an introduction to the field of music cognition. Matthew Shaftel, Clifton Callender, and Denise Von Glahn each deserve utmost thanks for serving as committee members for this dissertation. I learned a great deal from each of them throughout my time spent on this project and as a student in their classes before it began. To Nancy Rogers, my dissertation advisor, I owe tremendous gratitude. My decision to pursue a music cognition topic was inspired by a doctoral seminar I took with her at the end of my second year of coursework. Among many other things, in that class I learned that designing experiments can be a creative and fundamentally rewarding experience. I am also grateful for her constructive feedback, her relentless attention to detail, and for her keen ability to concisely and elegantly solve problems. With her guidance, I know that this document is as good as it possibly could have been. I would also like to thank her for serving as an extremely helpful career mentor. Richard Parks and Catherine Nolan inspired me to make music theory a career; Nancy has helped make it a reality. I am greatly indebted to Christian Vaccaro, Ben Gaskins, Ben Zendel, and Dominique Vuvan, all of whom were extremely patient and helpful when answering numerous questions about statistics that I posed to them throughout this project. I would also like to extend thanks to Sally Gross and Lauren Smith for their administrative help during my time as a student at FSU, to Rob Bennett and Neil Anderson-Himmelspach iv for their guidance with audio editing software, and to Leah Harrison, for delivering copies of the dissertation to my committee on my behalf. I would be remiss if I didn‘t mention the overwhelming support of my family. My mother, Mair Hughes, my stepfather, John George, and my father, Robert David Moyse, have encouraged my musical endeavors for my entire life, and for that I am endlessly thankful. I would also like to thank Kathy and Doug Bracken for their support, and for welcoming me into their family, crazy academic pursuits and all. Finally, I would like to thank express boundless thanks to my spouse and the love of my life, Jillian Bracken. For her honest criticisms, her infinite support and encouragement, and for her belief in me, I am forever grateful. v TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables ................................................................................................................... ix List of Figures ................................................................................................................ xiii Abstract ......................................................................................................................... xvi CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................. 1 Jimi Hendrix‘s ―Hey Joe‖: Progression or retrogression? ................................ 1 The twelve-bar blues: a case study ................................................................. 2 Which blues? ................................................................................................... 3 Prominent features of the twelve-bar blues ..................................................... 3 The V-IV-I debate ........................................................................................... 5 CHAPTER TWO: HARMONIC FUNCTION AND THE ANALYSIS OF ROCK MUSIC .... 7 What is harmonic syntax? ............................................................................... 8 Room-motion theory ........................................................................................ 8 Scale-degree theory ...................................................................................... 12 Function theory ............................................................................................. 14 Theories of voice leading .............................................................................. 18 Summary ....................................................................................................... 19 CHAPTER THREE: HARMONIC FUNCTION AS EXPECTATION ............................... 21 Musical grammar ........................................................................................... 21 Statistical learning ......................................................................................... 24 Schema theory .............................................................................................. 26 Expectation ................................................................................................... 28 Studies of harmonic expectation ................................................................... 33 Expectation and timing .................................................................................. 35 Harmonic expectation in twelve-bar blues progressions ............................... 38 CHAPTER FOUR: THE EFFECT OF STYLE-PRIMING ON HARMONIC EXPECTATION ............................................................................................................. 43 Experiment 1: Task ............................................................................................... 44 Hypotheses ............................................................................................................ 44 Participants ............................................................................................................ 45 Stimuli .................................................................................................................... 45 Equipment.............................................................................................................. 46 Design and Procedure ........................................................................................... 46 Results and Discussion ......................................................................................... 47 Root-motion theory ........................................................................................ 47 Comparison with other quantitative ratings of chord pairs ............................. 48 Chord content ................................................................................................ 51 Phrase openings ........................................................................................... 52 vi Phrase endings ............................................................................................. 53 Conclusions ........................................................................................................... 54 Summary ....................................................................................................... 56 CHAPTER FIVE: LISTENERS‘ EXPECTATIONS OF THE TIMING OF HARMONIC EVENTS ........................................................................................................................ 57 Experiment 2A: Task ............................................................................................. 57 Hypotheses ............................................................................................................ 58 Participants ............................................................................................................ 58 Stimuli .................................................................................................................... 58 Equipment.............................................................................................................