Cudd Dissertation to Deposit
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©2020 Michael Seth Cudd ALL RIGHTS RESERVED FUNCTIONAL AND LENGTHY: PREVAILING CHARACTERISTICS WITHIN SUCCESSFUL LONG SONGS By MICHAEL SETH CUDD A dissertation submitted to the School of Graduate Studies Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey In partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Program in Music Written under the direction of Christopher Doll And approved by _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ New Brunswick, New Jersey May 2020 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Functional and Lengthy: Prevailing Characteristics within Successful Long Songs by MICHAEL SETH CUDD Dissertation Director: Christopher Doll Successful long popular songs consistently utilize formal structures and compositional techniques that are inherently particular to them. As a result, these recordings differ in more ways than simply length, because there are “long song” characteristics that distinguish this music. In order to better discuss these characteristics, it was important to develop a method for visually depicting songs in a manner that clearly outlines each groove. These “groove analyses” are used to discuss each piece of music in detail. As a result, groove is a primary point of discussion throughout this study, because most long song characteristics are directly linked to this quality within music. This type of analysis is explained in detail, and afterwards, it is utilized throughout much of the dissertation. It is also hypothetically possible that the structures and techniques in question can impact the listener’s perception of time when used outside of the context of a long song. A simple experiment was run in order to better understand how these concepts influence a person’s sense of duration, and the results were promising and demonstrated trends that merit further research. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I want to thank Dr. Christopher Doll for helping me discover an interest in popular music scholarship. I would also like to express my gratitude to him for offering his expertise on the topic, and I am especially thankful for his patience over the past six years. His input has been invaluable, and I am grateful to have had his guidance. It is also important to thank Dr. Samantha Inman. I took her online theory course and received a substantial amount of direction concerning this research. I would also like to thank Patrick Burns, Dr. Steven Kemper, and Dr. Jonathan Sauceda for taking the time to serve on the dissertation committee and provide their insights. A special thanks goes out to Dr. Kemper for helping me prepare the symphony’s score. Dr. Karina Bruk, Dr. William Berz, Dr. Robert Grohman, and Alex Bachmann all helped me navigate the degree process, and I am grateful for their assistance as well. Of course, anyone completing a degree arrives at that point through the guidance and support of numerous individuals. I would like to thank all the educators who played a role in me reaching this point in my life. The names are too numerous to list, but I am in debt to them all. In particular, I would like to thank Dr. David K. Bessinger, Sharon Brown, Dr. Charles Chapman, Kathy and Chris Cloud, Dr. Sarah Ellis, Dr. James Faulconer, Dr. Kenneth Fuchs, Charles Fussell, Shawn Haskins, David B. Hooten, the late William “Roddy” Hull, Tarik O’Regan, Dr. Terry Segress, Dr. James South, and the late Dr. Dennis Widen for the many lessons I learned from them and their continued guidance over the years. iii Thank you to my colleagues, friends, and students at Southwestern Christian University and Northwestern Oklahoma State University for their patience, flexibility, and encouragement throughout this project. I would also like to express my gratitude to Dr. Adrian Rus and Dr. Clay Brown for their valuable input concerning the experiment. Thank you to all the friends, colleagues, and students who participated in the study, and thank you to the Northwestern Oklahoma State University Symphony Band for taking the time to prepare and perform the symphony. Special thanks to Jeffery Cher-aime. I would like to especially thank my family and friends for their support throughout this entire process. Thank you to my parents, Sue and Donnie Ledford, and my grandparents, Millard and Lois Edwards, for their continuous love and support throughout my education. Thank you to my father, Mike Cudd, for his love, support, and insight as a musician. His influence on me as an artist cannot be overstated. I owe a great deal of gratitude to Mary Ann and Bob Tinsley for their encouragement despite the fact that this degree took their daughter thousands of miles away. I would especially like to thank my wife, Bekah, and our daughter, Addi, for their unwavering love, patience, and support. Bekah has worked incredibly hard and made countless sacrifices in order to keep this process moving forward, and reaching this point would not have been possible without her efforts. Last but foremost, thank you, God, for absolutely everything. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ...............................................................................................................................ii Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................iii List of Figures .....................................................................................................................vii Introduction .....................................................................................................................1 Brief Explanation of Form .....................................................................................2 History of the Long Song .......................................................................................4 Methodology ..........................................................................................................7 Explanation of Groove Analysis ............................................................................10 Abbreviations for Groove Analysis Diagrams .......................................................12 Summary of Chapters .............................................................................................13 Chapter One: Long Song Characteristics .....................................................................17 Lyrical Narrative ....................................................................................................17 Varied Groove ........................................................................................................18 Varied Voice Timbre ...............................................................................................23 Collective Song Form .............................................................................................23 Extended Introduction ............................................................................................26 Extended Coda .......................................................................................................28 Extended Solo Section ...........................................................................................29 Terminal Climax .....................................................................................................30 Chapter Two: The Application of Groove Analysis ......................................................32 Selected Chart-Topping Songs ...............................................................................32 Tool’s Rock Sonata .................................................................................................45 Other Selected Long Songs ....................................................................................51 Selected Short Songs ..............................................................................................64 Chapter Three: Music and the Human Perception of Time ........................................75 Short Songs and Long Songs: A Comparison .......................................................76 Comparing the Data: Extended Sections and Terminal Climaxes ........................94 Comparing the Data: Groove ................................................................................104 The Experiment: An Overview .............................................................................108 The Results of the Experiment ...............................................................................113 Discussion ..............................................................................................................119 v Chapter Four: Dissecting Groove ..................................................................................121 The Mystery of Groove ..........................................................................................121 The Importance of Groove .....................................................................................125 The Essence of Groove ..........................................................................................126 The Perception of Repetition and the Impact It Has on Groove ............................138 Conclusions ............................................................................................................144 Resources Appendix A: Legend for Appendices/Abbreviations for Groove Analysis ...........148 Appendix B: Analyzed Short Songs with Characteristics .....................................150