FRANK ZAPPA AND THE ORCHESTRA QUESTION: DISSONANT CLATTER OR WELL-CRAFTED DESIGN? CHANAN HANSPAL Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of South Wales for the degree of Doctor in Philosophy. 2016 ABSTRACT This study offers an insight into the orchestral music of Frank Zappa and his unique approach to composition. In Chapter 1, The Fieldwork So Far, I present an extensive annotated bibliography of selected Zappa research to illustrate the multiple forms of discourse generated by the composer’s work. While this chapter examines various books and articles written about Zappa, it also illustrates the imbalance between critical theory and musicology. Chapter 2, Structure, Concepts and the Analytical Approach, describes analytical methods used as a rationale to determine modes of consistency across the studied pieces herein. As well as describing the analytical approach, I offer to align the conceptuality and design of the Calder Mobile with Zappa’s theory of weights, balances, measured tensions and releases by providing specific extracts of compositions where these concepts can be seen to exist. In chapter 3, I present the first analysis in this study of “Pedro’s Dowry”, a highly dissonant piece of music that builds on the idea of thematic and fragmental repetition. Chapter 4 is an analysis of “The Perfect Stranger”, a piece that demonstrates extensive use of Zappa’s Chord Bible. The chords are dense scalar derived structures exploiting both the octatonic and Minor Lydian scales, yet retaining fragmental and sectional repetition techniques. The analysis of “Bob in Dacron” in chapter 5 illuminates the process of intervallic manipulation and confirms the importance of recurrent ideas dispersed throughout. And, “Mo ‘n Herb’s Vacation” in chapter 6 shows the implementation of thematic and fragmental ideas developed across all three movements of the piece; essentially techniques consistent with Zappa’s approach in the preceding analyses. Chord formulas are discussed in chapter 7 where I present a chronicle of chord formation within Zappa’s orchestral pieces from early incarnations found in compositions ii written in the 1960’s to more evolved examples in later pieces. There is also an examination of two recurring melodic cells that are extrapolated in various forms across several pieces of music. Some of the analyses in this chapter are extended into the non-orchestral pieces to illustrate the wider creative manipulation of the recurring musical cells. In chapter 8, I attempt to align and frame Zappa’s orchestral music within the basic concepts of time consciousness, musical motives and categorization. I also address the composer’s concept of universal time and how this could be seen to function within his music. This final chapter plays an important part in contextualising much of what resides in the preceding analyses of chapters 3-6. NOTE Some of the musical examples presented herein are derived from studies carried out by American academics, and therefore the reader may occasionally encounter the term “measures” instead of bars within these particular examples. iii DEDICATION To my beloved Mother Yvonne Elizabeth Hanspal for her unwavering support and encouragement. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to express gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Paul Carr, for his advice, encouragement and support throughout the dissertation process. I would like to thank Ed Mann for his generous assistance in providing important and useful information on some of Zappa’s compositional processes and for sharing with me interesting conversations he had with the composer. Thanks to David Ocker for his generous spirit and astute comments on some of the challenging aspects inherent in Zappa’s compositions. I would like to express appreciation to Arthur Barrow who provided some useful Zappa hand written music notation resources to aid in specific analyses. Also thanks to Miguel Roig-Francolí for helping me better understand his Pitch Class Set Extension theory. Most importantly, I would like to thank my family for their support over the years and for encouraging me every step of the way. v TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 .................................................................................................................................................. 1 FIELDWORK SO FAR .................................................................................................................................. 1 Demented Scholarship ............................................................................................................................ 2 Cross Examination via Adorno ............................................................................................................... 4 Entertainment and Serious Art ............................................................................................................... 6 Anti-Orchestra ........................................................................................................................................ 9 The Big Note ......................................................................................................................................... 11 Literature over Music Analysis ............................................................................................................. 12 Clement’s Seminal Work....................................................................................................................... 13 Analytical Problems ............................................................................................................................. 27 De-Codification of Cultural Symbols ................................................................................................... 36 Are Scores Important for Musical Analysis? ........................................................................................ 40 CHAPTER 2 ................................................................................................................................................ 46 STRUCTURE, CONCEPTS AND THE ANALYTICAL APPROACH ....................................................................... 46 Analytical Preparation ......................................................................................................................... 48 Fragmental and Sectional Repetitions .................................................................................................. 52 Overview of Compositional Techniques ............................................................................................... 53 Weights, Balances, Measured Tensions and Releases .......................................................................... 58 Why Formal Analysis? .......................................................................................................................... 66 Suggestions for reading analyses ......................................................................................................... 67 CHAPTER 3 ................................................................................................................................................ 68 PEDRO’S DOWRY ....................................................................................................................................... 68 Themes and Fragmental Development ................................................................................................. 70 Theme 1 ................................................................................................................................................ 71 Theme 2 ................................................................................................................................................ 74 Non-Thematic Fragments ..................................................................................................................... 76 Chordal Analysis .................................................................................................................................. 84 Rhythm .................................................................................................................................................. 87 Summary ............................................................................................................................................... 89 CHAPTER 4 ................................................................................................................................................ 93 THE PERFECT STRANGER ........................................................................................................................... 93 The Minor Lydian Scale........................................................................................................................ 99 A Tabulated Statistical Analysis of Minor Lydian Chords ................................................................. 100 A Tabulated Statistical Analysis of Octatonic Chords ........................................................................ 102 The Veer Towards Melodic and Harmonic Parity .............................................................................. 106 The Main Theme ................................................................................................................................. 113 Isomelic Variation .............................................................................................................................. 114 Octatonicism ......................................................................................................................................