A framework for discussing tonality in electronic dance music Author Wooller, Rene, Brown, Andrew R. Published 2008 Conference Title Sound : Space - The Australasian Computer Music Conference 2008 Copyright Statement © The Author(s) 2008. The attached file is reproduced here in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher. For information about this conference please refer to the conference's website or contact the authors. Downloaded from http://hdl.handle.net/10072/40258 Link to published version http://acma.asn.au/conferences/acmc2008/ Griffith Research Online https://research-repository.griffith.edu.au Wooller, R. and Brown, A. R. (2008). A framework for discuss-ing tonality in electronic dance music. Proceedings of the Sound : Space - The Australasian Computer Music Conference, Sydney. ACMA, pp. 91-95. Rene Wooller & A framework for discuss- Andrew R. Brown Queensland University of Technology ing tonality in electronic Kelvin Grove, 4059 dance music Queensland, Australia [email protected] [email protected] many others. While ‘pop music’ is not necessarily ex- Abstract cluded from EDM, a number of the styles within EDM would clearly be outside of pop music, for example, We present a framework for discussing tonality in Elec- minimal techno. Musically, the focus of pop music is tronic Dance Music (EDM) which highlights how tonal more on vocals and lyrics, while EDM is defined here as techniques are employed creatively throughout EDM. being more concerned with rhythm and instrumental While most musicological analysis of EDM focuses on elements. Following the tradition of EDM (Shapiro 2000: p 77-78), a piece of music will be referred to as a ‘track’ rhythm, we contend that composer/producers of EDM rather than a ‘song’ partly due to the lack of traditional, play with a sense of tonality that often defies traditional lyrical style ‘singing’. analytic techniques. The rich tonality of EDM tracks may be illuminated by using our framework, which is broader and more contextually relevant to EDM than 1.2 Tonality in a modern context standard western classical music approaches to analysis. The framework consists of four attributes that are used to Tonality is defined here as the way a sense of tonic describe the nature of tonality over the course of the mu- pitch is, or is not, suggested in the music and the sic: rate of tonal change, tonal stability, pitch/noise ratio way other pitches, if present, are organised with and number of independent pitch streams. We will define respect to it and each other to achieve particular and illustrate these attributes using numerous audio musical effects. This is a slight broadening of the examples. In a practical sense, our framework may be term originally coined by Fétis (in Reti 1958:7) due useful for generating more detailed discussions and to the surprisingly diverse nature of tonality in analysis of tonality in EDM and may lay the basis for EDM which does not always conform to the nar- formal systems of tonal analysis of EDM in the future. rower definitions typically applied to classical mu- sic that deal primarily with chords and scales 1. Introduction (Huron 2006:175; Reti 1958; Shenker 1935). While it It is often observed that rhythm in EDM genres is would be possible for examples of EDM to be de- of greater significance than in many other styles of scribed purely in these terms, in a significant num- music (Butler 2006: p 4-5; Neill 2002; Shapiro 2000) ber of cases, if this were the only focus, there would and, as a result, the growing body of musicological be very little to say, despite the obvious wide- analysis of EDM appears to have overlooked the spread appreciation of the music. In a similar way significance of tonality to some extent. This paper to the low information classification of EDM as highlights how tonality, if conceived of more simply “4/4”, it would be a vast oversight to de- broadly than in western classical music, is em- clare that “minimal techno is drone-based” and ployed creatively throughout EDM. This may assist leave it at that. in debunking the notion that the tonal elements of Despite the overarching influence of a western harmonic heritage, EDM producers, simply through using new EDM and EDM are merely a simplification of the technology and often without formal music education, more mature and complex systems of tonality from are less occupied with traditional notions of tonality. In classical music. EDM may appear simple at best, or such examples it is more revealing instead to explore incoherent at worst, through traditional tonal atonicity (the apparent lack of tonic), tonal ambiguity, the frameworks. However, our framework shows how subtle introduction of tonality through intuitively non- EDM composer/producers can play with the same tonal voices, or the harmonic properties of overtones and sense of tonality but in ways that often defy tradi- their manipulation within a single note. At the other tional analytic techniques. As a broad framework, extreme, one might imagine that unnecessarily complex no particular notational system is provided; moreo- tonal analysis may be prompted during passages where a synthesizer chord is played as though it were a lead ver the concepts are expressed purely through (musical example 1)* – it would be simpler to treat the sonic examples. part as it appears to have been produced and perceived. This would obviously involve a subjective judgement 1.1 Defining Electronic Dance Music call, however the aim of this paper is to describe enough We adopt a broad notion of EDM which includes any of the tonality of EDM so as to convey an idea of the form of metric electronic music based on loops and layers of different synthesised or sampled instruments and * The musical examples referred to throughout this paper sounds. Overlapping styles include house, techno, elec- are available on the ACMC08 CD and online at tronica, downbeat, instrumental hip-hop, break-beat, and www.lemu.org Wooller, R. and Brown, A. R. (2008). A framework for discuss-ing tonality in electronic dance music. Proceedings of the Sound : Space - The Australasian Computer Music Conference, Sydney. ACMA, pp. 91-95. range of techniques and possibilities within the genre. It the higher-register lead vibes, all different but add- should not, however, be construed as a theoretical at- ing up roughly to a mid level of TC overall – that is, tempt to authoritatively encapsulate all that is possible the tonic and related pitches are not constant, but and denote precise generative likelihoods. also are not so wildly variable as to confuse the to- The current musicological literature on EDM (Butler nality. Over the entire track the TC does not change 2006; Keller 2003) tends to revolve primarily around the rhythm, due to its importance; as discussed above. Lit- dramatically. Having defined TC and provided an erature on pop musicology does not often deal with example of how it might be roughly gauged, it is “musical analysis” (Beard and Gloag 2005:11) so much as now possible to examine how EDM overall can be cultural theory (Hawkins, et al. 2007) and when analysis described in terms of TC. does occur, tonality does not appear to be discussed in Overall, EDM is skewed more towards the “drone” end detail (Tagg 1982). As well as this, the musical interest in of the spectrum than the “solo”, with most tracks consist- pop music is primarily in the vocals and this does not ing of two, three or four primary chords in a progression adequately relate to the more instrumental (non-vocal), and many consisting of a drone. The solo is, on the repetitive and drone oriented styles of EDM. The analyti- whole, a rare occurrence in EDM, although it occurs cal musicology of acousmatic and electro-acoustic music more commonly in related genres that are similar to pop also encounters problems of sonic analysis but to a much music in terms of structure and emphasis on the lead- larger extent than EDM. While various approaches part for interest, for example, the excerpt above (musical (Battier 2003; Hirst 2003; Windsor 1995) are somewhat example 8). These observations apply to whole pieces of relevant, there currently does not appear to be a frame- music, whereas if the time span is narrowed onto a par- work for tonality that is suitable for EDM and so the fol- ticular section, the level of TC may deviate drastically. lowing descriptive continuums were conceived, drawing For example, during a fill section, there is generally an from a variety other music theories: rate of tonal change increase in TC either through transformation of a pitched over time, the amount of recognisably pitched sounds, part (musical example 10) or addition of a pitched cue the level of harmonic coherence within the audible pitch (musical example 11), while during a breakdown the set and the degree of polyphony. opposite is often true, due to the introduction of sus- We will explain these attributes and use them to define tained pads (musical example 12). In other instances EDM. The objective here is to express the tonality of the ambiguity in the breakdown is partially conveyed EDM paradigm and should not be construed as an at- through higher levels of TC in a kind of solo (musical tempt at defining music for any other purpose. Through- example 13). The tendency for EDM to have low to mid out the explanation of terms, we will present key exam- levels of TC, to be more “drone” oriented than “solo” ples from EDM and apply the descriptive tonal attributes oriented, can be contrasted with classical music which, to them in order to build evidence for their suitability in with continual variation and key modulation, has a defining EDM.