FINDING THE PROPER SEQUENCE: FORM AND NARRATIVE IN THE COLLAGE

MUSIC OF JOHN ZORN

A Dissertation Presented
by
ADAM J. KOLEK

Submitted to the Graduate School of the

University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

May 2013

Music
Music Theory

 Copyright by Adam J. Kolek 2013

All Rights Reserved

FINDING THE PROPER SEQUENCE: FORM AND NARRATIVE IN THE COLLAGE

MUSIC OF JOHN ZORN

A Dissertation Presented
by
ADAM J. KOLEK

Approved as to style and content by:

_______________________________________
Gary S. Karpinski, Chair

_______________________________________
Brent Auerbach, Member

_______________________________________
Kate Hudson, Member

_______________________________________
Richard Randall, Member

____________________________________
Jeff Cox , Chair
Department of Music and Dance

DEDICATION
To my parents, for their love and support.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I wish to thank my advisor, Gary Karpinski, and the members of my committee,

Brent Auerbach, Richard Randall, and Katherine Hudson. Without their guidance,
suggestions, and critiques, completing this dissertation would not have been possible. I
wish to further thank Richard for his friendship and advice. He has been a resource that I
continue to draw upon in matters both professional and personal. I extend my
appreciation to Professor Ernest May, who taught the graduate seminar in which I began
this research. I am indebted to the faculty and graduate students in the music department
at the University of Massachusetts who offered advice at the early stages of this project,
and those outside of the university who offered their questions and perspectives when I
presented this research at conferences. I also thank Brad Smith and the editorial staff at
Music Research Forum for their critiques and suggestions that refined portions of this
research.
I could not have completed my studies without the support of my family. I thank
my parents and my older brother Ethan for their constant love and encouragement. Ethan
completed his dissertation during the same time I worked on this project, and it helped
immensely to share the ups and downs of this experience with him. I want to thank
Becky, who has made my life so enjoyable during the years that we have been together; I
cannot imagine life without her. I have been lucky enough to have great friends like Aric
who supported me during this time as well. Finally, I wish to thank my pets, Zoey, Mr.
P., and Rex. During many otherwise solitary hours of writing, they were my constant
companions.

ABSTRACT
FINDING THE PROPER SEQUENCE: FORM AND NARRATIVE IN THE COLLAGE
MUSIC OF JOHN ZORN
MAY 2013
ADAM J. KOLEK, B.A., SKIDMORE COLLEGE
M.A., SMITH COLLEGE
Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST
Directed by: Professor Gary S. Karpinski

This dissertation examines the linear sequence of segments in musical collages

composed by John Zorn between 1988 and 1993. In addition to the use of processes and
associations as unifying elements, these pieces present hierarchical organization and
narrative structure. The presence of form and narrative in these works illustrates the
capacity of postmodern music to be unified in novel and idiosyncratic ways.
I examine Zorns collage pieces using an adapted methodology of paradigmatic
analysis and incorporate ideas of musical topics as signifiers of delineation in the works.
The segmentation of these works, begun in chapter three, reveals a hierarchical
organization where individual musical blocks are organized into larger structures that I
call collage phrases. This reveals the presence of hierarchical form in the musical
surface, showing that organization in the pieces is not limited to background processes.
The collage pieces that utilize this structure are described as exhibiting episodic collage
form. Collage phrases in such pieces may also be further grouped together into larger
units.

vi

I examine narrative in the pieces through the idea of idiolects, which I conceive of
as approaches and compositional philosophies that are identified through the careful
examination of Zorn and his music. Chapter four examines how linear narrative in Zorns
string quartet Cat ONine Tails relates to an idea of visual organization that connects to
his conception of cartoon music. Chapter five examines how Zorns album Radio is
organized through the idea of the musical game, a concept in which borrowed materials
and techniques are combined with Zorns musical persona. Songs on Radio reflect this
concept progressively over the course of the album.
This study reveals several things about Zorns music and about musical
postmodernism. First, it illustrates the organization of the musical surface of these works.
Second, it highlights linear musical narratives in the pieces. These elements of linear
organization operate alongside other non-linear structures in Zorns music. Finally, it
demonstrates the capacity of postmodern music to contain innovative approaches towards
musical organization.

vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...................................................................................................v
ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... vi
LIST OF FIGURES .............................................................................................................x
INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................1
1.

REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE .......................................................................17

2.

METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................37
Paradigmatic Analysis ...........................................................................................37
Interpretation ..........................................................................................................40
Topics ........................................................................................................41
Idiolects ......................................................................................................44
Paradigmatic analysis and Zorns music................................................................47

3.

THERES NOT ONE MOMENT . . . THAT I CANT JUSTIFY:

STRUCTURE IN ZORNS COLLAGE MUSIC ..................................................49
Segmenting Speedfreaks ....................................................................................50
Noise as a Musical Topic ...........................................................................60
Segmenting Speedfreaks Through the Noise Topic ...............................62
Other Delineating Topics .......................................................................................67
Silence ........................................................................................................68
Traditional Endings and Transitions ..........................................................68
Atypical Segment Length ..........................................................................69
Segmentation of Krazy Kat and American Psycho ........................................69
Conclusions ............................................................................................................76

4.

CAN YOU MAKE A FILM THATS MUSIC?: THE VISUAL ASPECTS OF

COLLAGE ORGANIZATION .............................................................................79
Segmenting Cat ONine Tails ............................................................................88
Cat ONine Tails and Episodic Form...................................................................104
viii

Narrative in Musical Collage ...............................................................................109

5.

I PUT THIS TOGETHER AS A GAME . . . : MUSICAL GAMES AND

THE NARRATIVE CONSTRUCTION OF AN ALBUM .................................114
Zorn and Musical Games .....................................................................................114
Radio, and the Album as a Collage ......................................................................119
Paradigmatic Analyses of the Individual Songs of Radio ...................................124
The Unfolding of Radio and the Musical Game ..................................................152

CONCLUSIONS..............................................................................................................159
APPENDIX: RADIO INSPIRATION/REFER ................................................................169
BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................173

ix

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure

Page

1. Losadas Reduction of Music for the Magic Theater I (r. 11-12) (2009, 83) ...............19
2. Bracketts Speedfreaks chart (2006, reprinted in 2008, 25) ......................................22
3. Lochheads Descriptive and Explanatory Maps parts 1 and 2 (2006, 242) ..................24
4. Services descriptive chart of Spillane, segments 1-7 (2004, 86) .................................27
5. Services categorical chart of Spillane, segments 1-7 (2004, 91) .................................28
6. Agawus Paradigmatic arrangement of units 1-35 (mm. 1-216) in Stravinskys
Symphonies of Wind Instruments (2009, 309) .......................................................31
7. Descriptive Map of Speedfreaks ...............................................................................56
8. Description of segments in Speedfreaks ...................................................................57
9. Explanatory Map of Speedfreaks ..............................................................................65
10. Description of units in Krazy Kat............................................................................70
11. Timeline of Krazy Kat .............................................................................................73
12. Description of units in American Psycho ................................................................73
13. Timeline of American Psycho .................................................................................76
14. Cat ONine Tails, mm. 1-10, unit 1 and part of unit 2................................................92
x

15. Cat ONine Tails, mm. 30-38, unit 4. .........................................................................95

16. Cat ONine Tails, m. 187, unit 28.............................................................................103
17. Paradigmatic Display of Cat O' Nine Tails...............................................................106
18. Timeline of Cat ONine Tails ...................................................................................107
19. Paradigmatic Display of Asylum ..........................................................................125
20. Timeline of Asylum...............................................................................................125
21. Paradigmatic Display of Sunset Surfer .................................................................127
22. Timeline of Sunset Surfer......................................................................................127
23. Paradigmatic Display of Party Girl .......................................................................128
24. Timeline of Party Girl ...........................................................................................129
25. The Outsider, guitar, mm. 9-12. ............................................................................130
26. Paradigmatic Display of The Outsider ..................................................................130
27. Timeline of The Outsider ......................................................................................131
28. Paradigmatic Display of Triggerfingers ................................................................132
29. Timeline of Triggerfingers ....................................................................................132
30. Paradigmatic Display of "Terkmani Teepee" ...........................................................133

xi

31. Timeline of Terkmani Teepee ...............................................................................134

32. Paradigmatic Display of Sex Fiend .......................................................................135
33. Timeline of Sex Fiend ...........................................................................................135
34. Paradigmatic Display of Razorwire ......................................................................136
35. Timeline of Razorwire...........................................................................................136
36. Timeline of The Bitter and the Sweet ...................................................................137
37. Paradigmatic Display of The Vault .......................................................................140
38. Timeline of The Vault ...........................................................................................140
39. Paradigmatic Display of Metaltov .........................................................................141
40. Timeline of "Metaltov" .............................................................................................141
41. Paradigmatic Display of Poisonhead .....................................................................142
42. Timeline of Poisonhead .........................................................................................143
43. Paradigmatic Display of Bone Orchard.................................................................144
44. Timeline of Bone Orchard .....................................................................................144
45. Paradigmatic Display of I Die Screaming .............................................................146
46. Timeline of I Die Screaming .................................................................................146

xii

47. Paradigmatic Display of Pistol Whipping .............................................................148

48. Timeline of Pistol Whipping .................................................................................148
49. Paradigmatic Display of Skatekey ........................................................................149
50. Timeline of "Skatekey" .............................................................................................150
51. Paradigmatic Display of Shock Corridor ..............................................................151
52. Timeline of Shock Corridor ..................................................................................151
53. Paradigmatic Display of Naked City, Radio .............................................................155

xiii

INTRODUCTION

This dissertation examines collage music composed by John Zorn between 1988
and 1993. These works present discontinuous textures of short, contrasting musical
blocks. The pieces are notable both for their extreme musical disjunctions and their
juxtaposition of a broad spectrum of musical styles, genres, and references. It is not the
goal of this work to arrive at a definitive explanation of Zorns collages, or to identify a
single unifying process that occurs in all of his pieces. As will be seen, such aims run
counter to the intertextual nature of Zorns music. Instead, this analysis proceeds from the
experience and perception of the works, and moves towards conclusions that present
views of how the works may be understood. These views represent some of many
possible explanations for unity and structure in Zorns pieces. My intent is to enrich the
understanding of the music by illuminating the linear form and structure that constitutes
an important aspect of these pieces.
Musical collage is defined as the juxtaposition of distinct musical units, either
simultaneously or in succession, in such a way that the various elements remain clearly
distinguishable (Burkholder 2012).1 The technique has clear analogues in the visual arts;
photomontages produced by Alexander Rodchenko (1891-1956), for instance, consist of
photographic fragments assembled in various combinations with the intent of creating

Glenn Watkins similarly defines collage as the assemblage and rearrangement

of a rich parade of cultural loans involving textures, timbres, temperaments, and
generative procedures (1994, 3).
1

new meanings through juxtaposition (Fer 2003). Because of its temporal nature, film
montage correlates even closer with musical collage. In the films of Sergei Eisenstein
(1898-1948), shots taken from various angles and perspectives were edited together,
sometimes in sequence and sometimes overlapping.2 To Eisenstein, meaning in the
cinema was not inherent in any filmed object but was created by the collision of two
signifying elements, one coming after the other and, through juxtaposition, defining the
sense to be given to the whole (Nowell-Smith 1991, xv). The montage technique took
contrasting images and unified them into a singular meaning.
While Charles Ives produced the first works completely based on collage
principles in the early decades of the twentieth century, there was not a widespread use of
collage techniques until the 1950s (Burkholder 2012). Works by Bernd Zimmermann,
Luciano Berio, and George Rochberg used quotations from previous music as building
blocks, sometimes combining them with original music, and sometimes, as in the case of
the third movement of Berios Sinfonia, using an entire preexisting piece as the basis for
structure in the work.3 In addition to conventionally notated music, electronic
compositions based on tape splices from this period not only produced musical collage
but also mirrored the assembly techniques of the visual arts (Watkins 1994, 406). As
Catherine Losada notes, collage created an unprecedented level of heterogeneity in the
musical language (2009, 57).

John Brackett sees connections between the idea of unity in Eisensteins film
montage and in Zorns music (2008, xvi-xvii).
3

Burkholder describes the movement as the best known collage, and perhaps the
most complex (2012).
2

Collage and the technique of quotation are associated with musical

postmodernism (Heile 2002, 288).4 Postmodern music is in part distinguished by its
perspective on the music of the past. Modernist composers focused on innovation and
saw themselves as part of a progressive tradition of musical development (Clendinning
2002, 128). In contrast, postmodern music often involves what Jeongwon Joe calls a reengagement with the past (1998, 24). While one aspect of this re-engagement can be
seen musically in the return to tonal idioms by some postmodern composers, it is also
reflected by the use of quotation in postmodern works (24-45). Jonathan Kramer believes
that postmodern quotation challenges the idea of historical progress that was central to
modernism.

Since . . . the quotations and references in postmodern music are often

presented without distortion, without commentary, and without distancing,
composers treat them just as they might use citations of the present. If a
musical style of two hundred years ago is employed in the same way
with the same degree of authenticity (that is, composed as it was when it
was current)as is a newly developed style, then history is indeed
challenged (2002, 17).5

This compositional tactic has two results. First, it subverts the idea that stylistic
development takes place in a linear fashion. Second, it annihilates the idea of a

Heile notes, however, that collage was a modernist creation. Zorns collage
music has been specifically described as postmodern (Kramer 1995, 22).
5

In an earlier essay, Kramer writes that modernist pastiche acknowledges

history: the past is reinterpreted in the present. But postmodern pastiche is anti-historical:
the past coexists with, and is indeed indistinguishable from, the present (1995, 26).
3

contemporary musical style.6 The use of quotation in postmodern works is also seen by
Joe as one aspect of the poststructuralist philosophical skepticism about originality,
authorship, subjectivity, and authenticity (1998, 34). This view is echoed by Bjorn
Heile, who sees collage as a postmodernist principle entailing the abdication of
authorship in favor of intertextual references and heterogeneity (2002, 288).
The precise meaning of the term postmodern is complicated. Heile admits that
postmodernism means many different things, and this multiplicity proves particularly
confusing in the realm of music (2002, 287). Ross Feller sees it as a term fraught with
contradiction (2002, 250), while Kramer decries it as a maddeningly imprecise musical
concept (2002, 13). As part of an expression of the exasperation that she experiences as
a composer in the postmodern era, Cecilia Livingston articulates the challenge that
defining the term presents.

Postmodernism defies definition and invites dismissal by its own criteria:

its refusal to accept assumed truths, traditions, and criteria. Instead, it is
always questioning, always destabilizing, so that every statement, however
pompous or personal, is turned on its back and dissected. Thus
postmodernism, in our everyday understanding of it, becomes something
which celebrates interrogation and re-examination but leaves us nothing to
work with: no beliefs, no meaning, no truth nothing that can be agreed
on. Even if we might feel in agreement, if we articulate those feelings we
expose ourselves to postmodernisms merciless fangs (2010, 31).

Schoenberg articulated a modernist perspective on musical style: That a young

man composes in the style of the time, should not be surprising. It is as natural as using
all the other facilities offered by the progress and the developments of the epoch in which
one lives. There would not exist the style of Louis XIV if he had liked to live in the style
of Louis XIII. And thus Louis XV and his successors were conscious of their own time
and abhorred living in a second-hand style (1975, 376).
4

These difficulties have not stopped authors from attempting to outline the scope
of musical postmodernism, particularly as it contrasts with musical modernism.7 While
acknowledging that postmodern music is not a neat category with rigid boundaries
(2002, 16-17), Kramer presents the following list of characteristics of postmodern music.

Postmodern Music:
(1) is not simply a repudiation of modernism or its continuation, but has
aspects of both a break and an extension;
(2) is, on some level and in some way, ironic;
(3) does not respect boundaries between sonorities and procedures of the
past and the present;
(4) challenges barriers between high and low styles;
(5) shows disdain for the often unquestioned value of structural unity;
(6) questions the mutual exclusivity of elitist and populist values
(7) avoids totalizing forms (e.g., does not want entire pieces to be tonal or
serial or cast in a prescribed formal mode);

Many have presented lists of attributes of the modern and postmodern eras; in
some examples, opposing tendencies of the two movements are paired dichotomously. In
his essay Music and Musical Practices in Postmodernity, Timothy Taylor critiques such
tables created by Ihab Hassan, Charles Jencks, and David Harvey, writing that labels
such as postmodern imply a fixedness that social processes never have (2002, 94-98).
Heile also cautions against this check list approach to the identification of postmodern
music, particularly with lists that are segregated along the modernist/postmodernist
divide (2002, 287), and notes that there is no definite antagonism between modernism
and postmodernism, nor is there a straightforward chronological distinction: postmodern
and modern impulses occur simultaneously (288).
5

(8) considers music not as autonomous but as relevant to cultural, social,

and political cultures;
(9) includes quotations of or references to music of many traditions and
cultures;
(10)

considers technology not only as a way to preserve and transmit

music but also as deeply implicated in the production and essence of

music;
(11)

embraces contradictions;

(12)

distrusts binary oppositions;

(13)

includes fragmentations and discontinuities;

(14)

encompasses pluralism and eclecticism;

(15)

presents multiple meanings and multiple temporalities;

(16)

locates meaning and even structure in listeners, more than in

scores, performances, or composers (2002, 16-17).

Kramer cautions the reader, however, against employing the list in attempts to
identify postmodern works, noting that not all pieces will display all of the given
characteristics. Even with this caveat, he still feels that such lists present details that are
useful in the discussion of musical postmodernism. Classifications and oppositions,
fuzzy as their boundaries may be, do relate to real cultural divisions. . . . These categories
have exerted a discernable influence on composers. . . . The relevance to music of these

dichotomies is undeniable, even if it is not a particularly useful exercise in tedium to try

to ally compositions exclusively in one camp (1995, 23).
Even given the hesitancy apparent in many approaches and the lack of a fixed
definition of the subject, there is general agreement around several of the tendencies of
postmodernism, some of which, along with the use of quotation, are especially germane
to the exploration of Zorns music. Many believe that postmodern music abandons
traditional dichotomies that have been part of western music. One such dichotomy is the
distinction between high and popular culture, a boundary emphasized by modernism (see
Joe 1998, 51, and Kramer 1995, 29).8 Jane Clendinning sees the disintegration of this
distinction as a reaction against the extremity of modernist elitism. The hands of the
modernist masters produced works with a special kind of beauty lauded by a small circle
of cognoscenti, but which alienated the masses who did not feel comfortable in the
presence of the new music and did not want to expend the effort to understand the new
style (2002, 130). Instead, postmodern music often fuses high and popular influences in
various ways. The embrace of popular art is accompanied by a diminished concern with

Kramer makes a distinction between postmodernism and what he calls antimodernism, a yearning for the golden ages of classicism and romanticism that can be
seen in nostalgic artworks such as the flute concertos of Lowell Liberman, George
Rochbergs Ricordanza and Violin Sonata, and Michael Torkes piano concerto Bronze,
on the basis that anti-modernism maintains an elitist posture that is eschewed by
postmodernism (2002, 13). Anti-modernism is further distinguished from postmodernism
through its relationship with musical unity.
7

mechanical reproduction and the resulting commodification of art, a subject that was
anathema to modernist theorists.9
Postmodern music also presents a new perspective on musical unity, a
characteristic that Kramer has extensively discussed.10 Modernism had extended the
concept of unity from a nineteenth century idea that a work was thought to be unified if
all its parts were understandable in relation to the whole to an idea that the parts had to
be related not only to the whole but also to each other (Kramer 1995, 11-12).11 In
contrast, unity became an option to postmodern composers (Kramer 2002, 14). Kramer
identifies two branches of musical postmodernism: a neoconservative branch (he
specifically cites Fred Lerdahls music) that continues to prize organicism and unity, and
a radical branch in which some composers have forsaken this allegiance to musical
unity (1995, 24), and produce pieces featuring discontinuity, juxtaposition, and contrast.12

Joe sees postmodernisms comfort with art as a popular commodity as an aspect

of an embrace of technology that influenced the change in thinking towards authorship
described above (1998, 45).
10

Joe does not address musical unity in her chapter-long discussion on

postmodernism in music (see 1998, 14-87).
11

For a discussion of the principle of organicism in eighteenth and nineteenthcentury music see Solie 1980. The modernist idea of unity is plainly seen in the
statements and writings of the composers of the second Viennese school. Kramer cites
Anton Weberns definition of unity as the establishment of the utmost relatedness
between all component parts (1963, 42). See also Schoenbergs manual Fundamentals
of Musical Composition (1970, 8) and Joseph Rufers Composition with Twelve Notes
(1954, 137) on the musical unity generated by motivic organization.
12

Kramer cites Zorns string quartet Forbidden Fruit (1987) as an example of

radical post-modernism in which there is no discernible thread of continuity (1995, 22).
John Brackett challenges this view of Zorns music (2008, xvii). Musical unity in Zorns
works specifically will be discussed beginning in chapter 3.
8

The exact nature of unity in postmodern music is not clear. Postmodern collage
pieces do not seem to fall into clear cut categories of unified or disunified works.
While Clendinning sees postmodern compositions as purposefully disunified, she
writes that disunity can be expressed in the surface elements of the piece, with a deeper
level organization that provides an overall unity (2002, 135). Echoing this, Heile writes
that even postmodern collage works cannot function without some regulatory
framework (2002, 288). He concludes that Mauricio Kagels collage Osten is a
coherent work of art in which Kagel has retained compositional control and ownership
(295). From her study of the music of Berio, Rochberg, and Zimmermann, Catherine
Losada determines that the postmodernism of [collage] works lies not in the way they
deny traditional notions of unity, but in how they call it into question (2009, 96).
Clearly, the understanding of the relationship of musical unity and postmodern collage
remains incomplete.
Zorns music displays many characteristics associated with postmodernism. He
employs quotations and musical references, incorporates popular musical styles alongside
those of western art music, blurs the separation between composer and performer through
the use of improvisation and collaboration, and utilizes recording technology as an
important part of his compositional process. More complicated, however, is the nature of
musical unity in his pieces. John Brackett notes that Zorn employs various unifying
strategies in his works (2008, xiv). Collage segments in Spillane (1987), for instance, are
related through both extramusical associations and musical processes (Gagne 1993,

530).13 Zorns pieces reference the extramusical in several ways, including using
representations of mood and scene which are employed as unifying elements. Zorn
reveals that in Spillane, For every single section of that piece I can tell you specifically,
what image I was thinking of and how it related to Spillane and his world. And
sometimes theyd be way off the wall but that doesnt matter. The point is, to me, it
holds together (quoted in Duckworth 1995, 465). Zorns focus on studio recording and
album-oriented composition also emphasizes extramusical associations, and he considers
album art to be an integral part of the composition (Gagne 1993, 531).14 Extramusical
elements may additionally inspire specific musical processes that are incorporated into
the pieces. For instance, some of his works are either dedicated to, or make explicit
reference to, individuals that have influenced his artistic life. Brackett observes that in
Zorns dedicated pieces, he finds ways to incorporate key aesthetic, theoretical, or
structural elements associated with his dedicatees in his own musical composition
(2008, xxiii).
When Zorn employs quotation in his music, borrowed elements are often
modified or combined simultaneously with other quotations. In the solo piano piece
Carney (1989), for instance, brief chunks of music by composers from Mozart to Boulez
appear note for note or under various degrees of transformation. . . . Chopin and
Schnberg, for example are quoted in reverse; Stockhausen is overlaid with Bartk; and a

13

The piece is a tribute to Mickey Spillane (1918-2006), author of the Mike

Hammer series of detective novels.
14

Zorn admits, I try to put as much extramusical material and information into
my music as I can possibly squeeze in (quoted in Duckworth 1995, 470).
10

left hand passage from [Elliot Carters] Night Fantasies is paired with an entirely new
right hand part (Drury 1994, 197). Zorn views the transformation of quotation in a piece
as a musical game, a process that can be applied to multiple elements of a given work
(Duckworth 1995, 470). He extends his conventional use of quotation by appropriating
not only the music but also the musical techniques and styles of other composers.
Brackett sees these kinds of constructions and techniques as generating an
associative unity where coherence is guaranteed by, among other things,
correspondences or similarities, which works alongside familiar formal devices
(Brackett 2008, xiv). A single work of Zorns may employ several such processes, some
musical and some extramusical in nature. The use of such devices explains the origin of
the individual musical blocks, however, but not their arrangement in the piece. This is
because Zorn began composition by generating the individual segments of the collage,
composing them without consideration of their position within the finished work
(Strickland 1991, 128). When composing his collage Godard, Zorn recounted that, I
bought all the books I could about Godard; I resaw all of the films. . . . I made a long list
of things that I thought Godard was aboutthe politics, the romanticism, my favorite
sections from some of his films. I ended up with maybe seventy different events that I
copied onto file cards. Then I scored the piece and took it into a recording studio (Zorn,
quoted in Gagne 1993, 468). When working on Spillane he followed a similar procedure.

First Id just write images and ideas: I heard the scream through the mist
of the night. I took the first phrase from my favorite books by him,
because hes got great first lines. Or images: Girls #1: Velda, you know
a portrait of who Velda is. Or Kiss me Deadly; I have synopses of the six
11

major books. Knife fight: I just picked different things that I thought
related to Spillane. And then I kind of orchestrated like this: Harlem
nightclub; blues guitar and backup; Arto vocal; question mark; narration;
shoot out. Thats all it would say. Later Id pick the musicians involved:
Weinstein, Hofstra, Staley. So it would start out with image, then Id begin
to get a little more specific in terms of orchestration, then Id order the
thing (Zorn, quoted in Gagne 1993, 468).

The ordering of segments into the final piece was a separate part of Zorns
compositional process, one that he describes as difficult and time consuming (liner notes
to Spillane, 1991). This procedure recalls Jonathan Kramers conception of moment
form, where the musical work consists of moments composed as self-contained entities
that are placed in an order that should appear arbitrary (1978, 181). In contrast to the
goals of a moment form,15 Zorn believes the unfolding of the events in his works to be of
paramount importance (Brackett 2008, xvi). Once in awhile I have to go back through
the piece in my mind, in time, and catch up to where I am so I dont lose the sense of line
and narrative. . . . Its a challenge to keep the piece unified (quoted in McCutchan 1999,
170). In addition, while he tries to be clear about the programmatic associations of his
works, he appears to embrace a more open view of musical esthesics in regard to the
interpretation of his music.

For me, if [the audience has] heard it, theyve understood it. They dont
even have to like it. I like to think that my works are open to many
interpretations. . . . There is a crucial difference between perception and
understanding, and of course I dont expect people to understand what
15

Kramer stresses the non-teleological nature of moment form, writing that a

proper moment form will give the impression of starting in the midst of previously
unheard music, and it will break off without reaching any structural cadence, as if the
music goes on, inaudibly (1978, 180).
12

Ive put into a work on the first listening. But I think what I put into a
work and what the work becomes are really on different levels (quoted in
Gagne 1993, 525).
While the use of processes and associations as unifying elements in Zorns music
has been detailed, analyses have not fully explored how form or narrative structure can
exist in the linear aspect of the music. Finding explanations for the sequence of segments
in these pieces is the subject of this dissertation. In particular, I seek to identify the nature
of the linear structure of the works, and explore how the sequence of segments relates to
the overall impression of the pieces. This exploration utilizes the perspectives of the
composer, listener, and analyst as a means to approach the works. I will relate Zorns
ideas to the impressions gathered by listening to the music, and construct models of
hearing and interpreting the pieces that synthesize these various viewpoints.
Chapter one begins by reviewing previous theoretical explorations of musical
collages composed by both Zorn and others. These studies present a range of approaches
and find various explanations for musical unity in the works, including the programmatic,
experiential, and purely musical. Significantly, they provide examples in which the
collage texture of juxtaposition has been employed as a way to integrate formal unity and
structure into the works. They also expose the idiosyncratic nature of collage music, and
demonstrate how its investigation calls for the use of a variety of analytical
methodologies that are contextual.
The review of these analyses reveals that Kofi Agawus method of paradigmatic
analysis (2009) has the potential to be adapted for the study of Zorns music. A
methodology rooted in semiotics, paradigmatic analysis in basic terms involves
13

classifying component structures of the work into categories (paradigms) and explaining
how the piece functions through the linear arrangement of the components. Agawus
method is geared towards the study of the music of the romantic period. However, its
analytical approach, particularly its system of segmentation and intuitive categorization,
is distinctly suited for the study of musical collage. Chapter two discusses paradigmatic
analysis in detail and outlines how I will recast the methodology so that it is specifically
applicable to Zorns music. It also introduces semiotic concepts related to musical
interpretation. It extends the idea of musical topics to Zorns music, explaining how
certain musical signs carry specific meanings within his music that relate to the formal
structure of the pieces. In addition, it describes idiolects, characteristics common to the
work of a particular composer, and how the application of these concepts is distinctly
important in the study of Zorns collage music.
Chapters three, four, and five consist of close analyses of Zorns collage works.
These analytical chapters are not meant to stand alone; instead, each analysis
progressively builds upon the last, applying the understanding developed in one chapter
as a means to approach the next work. Chapter three explores the question of how to
segment the constantly changing collage texture into higher-level units. Analyses of three
of Zorns collages uncover how certain recurring segments create stronger disruptions
within the constantly varied texture of the music, and perceptually divide the pieces into
groups of segments called collage phrases. This reveals the presence of higher level form
in the musical surface, showing how coherence in the collage is not limited to structures
or processes that exist in the musical background.
14

Chapter four explores how the formal structure of Zorns music is related to an
idiolect of the visual. It begins by discussing how visual influences, in particular, cartoon
music, influence Zorns compositional approach and his conception of musical narrative.
A close analysis of Zorns collage string quartet Cat ONine Tails (1988) illustrates how
segments in this piece are not only organized into higher-level units, but that those units
are grouped into structures that I term episodes. This kind of organization represents a
specific type of collage construction that I call episodic collage form. Using concepts
borrowed from the understanding of film montage, the narrative structure of Cat ONine
Tails is examined, illustrating how the piece can be understood through a musical plot
that relates the episodes of the collage across the works large-scale unfolding.
Chapter five extends the idea of an episodic collage to include Zorns album
Radio (1993). Albums are an important part of Zorns compositional output, both because
of his focus on recorded music and because music, visuals, and language are packaged
together in an album to communicate a holistic conception the work. Chapter five begins
by discussing another idiolect, the idea of the musical game, a concept that influences
many of Zorns pieces. The songs on Radio are then analyzed as if they are the segments
of a single collage work, and the idiolect of the musical game provides an interpretive
framework that explains the arrangement of songs on the album.
This exploration directly reveals much about Zorns music. It shows that musical
blocks in these pieces are grouped into higher-level structures that are divided by
segments that create strong delineations and thus encourage the perceptual parsing of the
works. These events are furthermore contained on the musical surface. The presence of
15

structural organization in Zorns works situates his collages alongside those of other
composers in the postmodern era. The interpretations of the unfolding of Cat ONine
Tails and Radio through the idiolects of the visual and the musical game show how
Zorns music takes novel idiosyncratic approaches towards musical narrative and
development. These findings enrich the understanding of Zorns music by illustrating the
capacity for structures in his piece to function in linear ways.
This study contributes to research in postmodern music by demonstrating the
effectiveness of my adaptation of paradigmatic analysis as a tool in the exploration of
musical collage. Not only does the method accurately reflect the construction of a collage
work, but its flexibility allows the analyst to employ subsidiary interpretive rubrics that
can be tailored to the idiosyncrasies of the piece at hand. Paradigmatic analysis is also
used here as way to approach the analysis of the construction of a record album or other
such collection of works.

16

CHAPTER 1
REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

There are relatively few examples of collage music analysis that approach the
music from a theoretical perspective.16 This lack of literature is probably due in part to
the contemporary nature of many collage compositions and the absence of a dominant
approach to the analysis of the music. Because of this, methodologies tend to be focused
towards particular pieces or composers and specifically tailored towards individual
analytical goals.
Previous investigations of collage can be characterized according to whether the
interpretation made at the initial stage of analysis is intrinsic or extrinsic in nature.17
Intrinsic analyses look for musical connections between musical elements, and interpret
those elements in terms of their meaning within established musical structures. In some
cases, these interpretations may then be extrapolated towards significations that go
beyond the purely musical. The intrinsic approach has sometimes been thought of as
maintaining a more direct connection with musical syntax and structure; this idea is
problematic, however, as it is not possible to develop a musical analysis that does not
incorporate knowledge external to the piece (Agawu 2009, 28). Extrinsic analyses
directly make extramusical interpretations of musical elements, and then interpret the
16

Several significant musicological works have also thoroughly examined

particular pieces or composers, focusing on quotation and compositional considerations.
See for instance, Osmond-Smith 1985 on Ligetis Sinfonia, and Burkholder 1995 on the
many techniques employed by Ives involving pre-existing music.
17

For a thorough discussion on intrinsic versus extrinsic, see Nattiez 1990, 111-

127.
17

sequence and interactions of the resulting signs. These analyses are concerned
immediately with the relationship of the music to something external to the piece. While
the categories of intrinsic and extrinsic are not always clear cut, this distinction can tell us
something about the perspectives, methods, and goals of the analysis, and can assist in
the evaluation of various methodologies. One major difference generally apparent in
analyses of musical collage is that intrinsic analyses tend to focus on how the elements of
the musical work relate to its design, while extrinsic analyses focus on how the elements
relate to the perception or impression of the work from the view of the listener or analyst.
Perhaps the most refined, widely applicable methodology for collage analysis was
developed by Catherine Losada (2009) in her study of collage works by Berio, Rochberg,
and Zimmermann. In this intrinsic analysis, Losada explores how aggregate completion
and chromatic saturation govern musical structure in the works. She finds that in these
pieces quotations and fragments of original music are often arranged so that the pitch
classes they include complete aggregates or chromatically fill in significant gaps between
pitches. For instance, Losada identifies how the process of chromatic saturation is used as
to connect sections of Rochbergs Music for the Magic Theater (1965) (see Figure 1). As
her reduction shows, the first pitch of the section beginning at rehearsal 12 is the final
pitch necessary to complete the aggregate presented by the preceding section. She writes
that the function of aggregate completion in this example is to structurally link these
adjacent sections of music which feature strong contrasts of texture, instrumentation,
rhythm, meter, and pitch organization (2009, 83).

18

Figure 1: Losadas Reduction of Music for the Magic Theater I (r. 11-12) (2009, 83)

19

Through her analysis, Losada illustrates how multiple composers use similar
approaches to large-scale structure. This group of composers was active in the midtwentieth century and bridged the gap between modernism and postmodernism. In
addition, they share a formative background in serial music. Losada describes the
structural use of aggregate completion in collage music as an extension of serial
techniques (97). While this methodology is suited to the music she explores, it is not clear
to what extent other composers may have employed the practices that she describes.18
One aspect of her investigation, however, has ramifications for any study of the sequence
of elements in a collage work. By identifying connections between the segments of the
work and its overall form, Losada is able to show how the works convert juxtaposition
and layering . . . into essential components of the formal structure (96). Her study
therefore uncovers relationships between desultory aspects of the music and formal
unity.19
John Bracketts intrinsic analysis of Zorns short collage Speedfreaks (1989)
shows how the segments of a collage can reflect an established musical form, even in a
texture dominated by contrast and juxtaposition. Brackett sees the piece, which consists
of thirty-two brief contrasting segments, as an extrapolation of the traditional thirty-twobar popular song form. The residue of the forms AABA phrase structure lies in the
harmonies of the final segment of each eight-segment phrase. As Brackett notes, the first
18

For instance, although Zorn studied serial composition as a student, it is only

one of many diverse musical influences that contributed to his compositional style
(Duckworth 1995, 465).
19

Losada does not see this as an all-encompassing unity, but rather a way of
structuring the various and diverse components that make up the works (2009, 96).
20

group of eight segments ends on an Ab (minor) harmony, followed by Ab (major) in

segment 16. The third group, standing in for the contrasting B section of the thirty-twobar form, begins on Eb7 (V7), and ends on A7, the tritone substitute of a retransitional
dominant. While the piece does not return to tonic in the final segment, the penultimate
segment suggests such a return with dominant Eb harmony. Brackett writes that the
thirty-two-bar form reins in and guides the overall design of Speedfreaks . . . and
provides the limits or formal prohibitions that the musical surface tries tobut ultimately
cannotbreak through (2008, 26). Brackett initially interprets the elements of the
composition in relation to an established musical structure. He then explains how the
presence of a formal background in the piece relates to how Zorns music reflects a
concept of transgression that seeks to push traditional boundaries. He interprets the
limits or formal prohibitions inherent in the thirty-two-bar form as the representation of
tradition, and Zorns collage texture as playing the role of the transgressive element.
Brackett sees this concept of transgression as central characteristic of Zorns
compositional style.

21

Figure 2: Bracketts Speedfreaks chart (2006, reprinted in 2008, 25)

Judy Lochheads analysis of Charles Dodges Any Resemblance is Purely

Coincidental (1980) is an example of an extrinsic analysis, in which extramusical
interpretations of identified musical elements are made directly. Lochhead is motivated
by the sense that analytic practice devalues the music it cannot address (2006, 234).
Dodges piece is an example of postmodern music that presents structures and meanings
that are not easily tackled by conventional analytical methodologies. The composition
22

uses a computer generated tape which contains both electronic sounds and samples of a
1907 recording of Pagliacci. Even though a score for Any Resemblance exists, important
aspects of the aural experience of the piece, such as the timbre of the sampled music, are
not contained within the musical notation. Lochhead views these elements as integral to
the listeners experience, and recognizes that musical analysis must address those effects
or meanings that embody the musical details and give music its power (235). She
interprets the piece by constructing maps of the work that present the constituent
elements as she perceives them through listening and preliminary analysis. She then
designates the elements according to their representation of embodied oppositions,
including Historical/New, Electric/Acoustic, Solo/Accompaniment, and
Humor/Pathos (244-50). The interplay of these oppositions then is interpreted to
explain the narrative experience of the work. Lochhead believes the work reflects the
presence of the historical world in the present world while commenting on nineteenthcentury opera and Romanticism (250).

23

Figure 3: Lochheads Descriptive and Explanatory Maps parts 1 and 2 (2006, 242)

24

Lochheads essay confronts several crucial questions that come into play when an
analyst approaches a postmodern work. As Lochhead writes,

The turn towards explicit reliance on experiential evidence for the facts of
a piece of music raises an issue regarding the validity of such evidence
that can be separated into two parts. One has to do with whether any
experiential evidence can be deemed unbiased and hence valid, and the
second with the question of whether the experience of one personthe
analystcan have any truth value for others (239).

Lochhead answers the first question by taking a position on the nature of truth
based in postmodern thought; specifically, that truth is only available to us through
human experience, and the notion of objective truth is not a valid one (239). As to the
second question, Lochhead establishes her exploration within a tradition where the
analysts hearing is authorized as part of the process of building knowledge about
musical understanding (240). The reliance on the experience of the work to construct
models of the piece is the only difference between this approach and that of common
analytical methods.
Yayoi Uno Everetts analysis of George Ligetis opera Le Grand Macabre (1977)
also presents an extrinsic approach to collage analysis (2009). Everett employs semiotic
concepts to explore how the musical quotations present in the piece interact with
dramatic elements in the opera.20 Her exploration therefore provides a model of how

20

While the drama of an opera is obviously an integral part of the work, Everetts
analysis can be considered to be extrinsic in that she interprets the music in terms of its
extramusical meaning.
25

semiotic analysis can be applied to a work consisting of juxtaposed sections of music that
each refer to different styles, genres, and meanings.
Everett identifies how musical quotations are combined in discordant ways that
enact expressive states ranging from the ludicrous to the horrifying (33). She charts how
the music shifts from one expressive state to the other over the course of the opera,
blurring at times to articulate the trope of the grotesque (49-51). Everetts analysis
therefore uncovers a programmatic solution to the formal arrangement of the collage.
As part of a dissertation on Zorns music, Tom Anderson Service presents an
extrinsic analysis of Spillane that emphasizes a non-linear view of the work. The piece, a
large-scale collage based upon Mickey Spillanes series of Mike Hammer detective
novels, contains a multitude of references to the detectives fictional world. Like Zorns
other collages, Spillane was constructed by assembling a series of independently
composed musical scenes, each of which references a different aspect of Zorns view
of the Mike Hammer character. Disagreeing with Susan McClary, who sees the work as
a soundtrack of a film that doesntbut easily couldexist (McClary 2000, 147),
Service views Spillane as hybrid space that is as much a critique of the genres of fiction,
film, and music it references as an embodiment of them (2004, 58-9). He creates a map
of the piece in which each section is labeled as one of four types: noise, genre, scene, or
narration. Noise elements are extreme, chaotic outbursts that are used as transitions or
contrasts; genre sections contain references to familiar styles of music; scenes contain
sounds from the outside world; and narrative sections contain spoken quotes from the
Mike Hammer novels (69-71). Service notes that between adjacent sections hardly any
26

musical parameter remains constant (62-3). Instead of presenting a linear narrative,

Service views the diverse elements as distinct sections that exist independently of a largescale narrative. He believes that unity in the work results from the fusion of
compositional and dramatic voices of Zorn and Spillane (83).

1
2

TIME
000-003
003-052

052-104

104-120

120-208

208-247

247-259

DURATION DESCRIPTION
3
Scream
49
High-tempo lick for ensemble: piano and guitar over
sizzling cymbal and bass; keyboard with Route 66
tune.
12
Scene with dog and sirens; trumpet mute (quasivocal, barking sound), sampled dog barks; sirens,
cars, and people as real-world underscore.
16
Continuation of high-tempo lick from second section
(Route 66), but with prominent sax solo; builds in
textural energy (piano crashes) and dissonance, and
breaks down.
48
Narration section: drips, feedback, guitar harmonics,
first narration sequence for The Voice of Mike
Hammer; You kill ten guys. . . . You better wake
up. Strings underscore, vibes and piano and
windscape noises, which all continue after the speech
finishes, followed by a piano blues line that segues
into next section over vibraphone resonance.
39
Strip-joint scene: piano, sleazy sax line, drums;
continuous clapping and hollering, testosteronefuelled vocals. Achieves closure of melody and
harmony; vocals give appreciative claps and screams.
Elision, via guitar harmonics, into next section.
12
Noise: whines, modified windscreen washer squeak
sample, and guitar plunks, far back in the mix

Figure 4: Services descriptive chart of Spillane, segments 1-7 (2004, 86)

27

Time

Duration Description

Species

1 000-003 3

Scream

NOISE

2 003-052 49

High-tempo lick: Route 66 GENRE

3 052-104 12

Scene: dog, siren

4 104-120 16

High-tempo lick: Route 66 GENRE

5 120-208 48

Narration

NARRATION

6 208-247 39

Strip-joint

SCENE

7 247-259 12

Noise: whines

NOISE

SCENE

Figure 5: Services categorical chart of Spillane, segments 1-7 (2004, 91)

Kofi Agawus analysis of Stravinskys Symphonies of Wind Instruments (1920)

directly demonstrates how his method of paradigmatic analysis can be applied to a piece
formed from disparate segments. While composed earlier than the pieces discussed in the
analyses above, Symphonies shares characteristics with later musical collages. It has been
regarded as a paradigm of discontinuity (Rehding 1998, 39) and posses a structure
described by Malcolm Macdonald as a kind of mosaic, made out of discrete blocks of
contrasting material, separate yet interlocking, in different but closely related tempi
(2001, v). One important feature separating musical chunks in the piece is variation in the
combinations of instruments. MacDonald writes that, The work is not a symphony in
the accustomed sense; Stravinsky went back to the words ancient connotation of groups

28

of instruments sounding together, and used the plural to indicate that the music is made
up of several of these instrumental colloquies (2001, v).
Agawus analysis begins with an intrinsic approach in which he segments the
piece into 39 units. Regarding this process, he writes, Segmenting Symphonies is easy.
. . . This is in part because Stravinsky himself has done it for us (2009, 302). He
describes each block in turn, addressing the characteristics and functions of each
segment. In his prose, segmentation and categorization of the units is discussed
simultaneously. His verbal description addresses the following items:

The musical characteristics of the unit.

How it is musically distinct from adjacent units, and the relative strength
of discontinuity in respect to previous linkages.

Tendencies or implications gleaned from the segment.

Musical function (e.g., cadential, transitional) in terms of the immediate

hearing of the piece.

Immediate identity in terms of interpretive rubrics (see chapter two).

Identity as a repetition of a previous unit.

Connections between segments (voice leading progressions, etc.)

In addition, Agawus prose includes a running commentary on the progression of

the piece up to that point, detailing a linear listening experience. This commentary is not
from the perspective of an initial hearing, but is created with retrospective analysis.
Agawu acknowledges the retrospective influence on his segmentation. Although timbral
and tonal contrasts at the onset of unit 12 (bar 40) confirm its separateness from 11, there
29

is a topical continuity between the two units. Later, when the melodies are recapitulated
in a different order, we will be able to confirm this segmentation (306). He also
discusses relative strength of contrast between sections.
Once the segmentation is complete, the units are arranged into a chart in two axes
according to their linear order and equivalence, an analytical diagram called a
paradigmatic display (187).21 Agawu assembles the paradigmatic display of the piece
as he goes, using the structure to summarize the results of his segmentation and
categorization. He describes the display of units 1-35 (mm. 1-216);

For some time now, we have been hearing familiar materials in the
manner of cinematic flashbacks. Their order reveals no consistency, their
individual lengths vary, but their topical identities are preserved. This is
Stravinskys formal strategy (309).

21

Agawu variously labels these diagrams displays, charts, or arrangements.

30

4
5

6
7

9
13

10

11

12

14

15

16
17
18

20

21

19
22

23
25

24

26

27

28
29

30

31
32

33

34

35
Figure 6: Agawus Paradigmatic arrangement of units 1-35 (mm. 1-216) in Stravinskys
Symphonies of Wind Instruments (2009, 309)

Agawu sees two recurring units in Symphonies, which he calls the bell motive
(appearing in the first column of the diagram) and the chorale (in the third column), as
31

anchors; they occur periodically throughout the movement (310). The repetition and
positioning of these sections is interpreted both in terms of the structure of the work and
its narrative. The most dramatic reorientation in the form will be registered as an
absence; the bell motive makes its last appearance as unit 27. After this it cedes power to
the chorale which, in an expanded form, dominates the ending of the work. Absence and
presence in paradigmatic representation are often equally telling (310).22
Agawu interprets Symphonies by comparing its qualities with Beethovens Opus
130, no. 1. The two composers share connectionsAgawu notes that Stravinsky
admired Beethovens use of rhythm, while Beethovens late works were known for their
discontinuity (312). He writes that in these works both composers used repetition to
perform not only a (necessary) structural function but a rhetorical function as well. It is
as if the medium (function) and the message (rhetoric) reinforce each other through
imaginative and extensive uses of repetition (312), particularly in rhythmic and motivic
areas. The difference between the works lies in their use of discontinuity and contrast.
Where units in Beethoven are burdened with tendency, implication, and dependency
(313), connections between the segments of Symphonies speak in an emphatic present
tense and are apprehended in retrospect, rarely in prospect, (313). In discussing a
sense of narrative in the piece, Agawu feels that if there is a subject in Stravinsky, it is a
split one, disguised because the sense of a main voice (hauptstimme) is compromised
by the unclear division of melody and accompaniment (314).

22

Agawu shows the final appearances of the chorale in a separate paradigmatic

display of units 36-39 (mm.217-371). See 2009, 312.
32

The analyses discussed above all follow a standard practice of identifying types of
musical structures and then interpreting their arrangement in terms of an organizing
principle. They also provide important examples of approaches to Zorn, in the case of
Brackett and Service, and to collage in general, in the case of Losada, Lochhead, Everett,
and Agawu. In general, these analyses show how approaches to collage music are
idiosyncraticthere are as many methodologies in use as there are pieces under
consideration. These analyses have taken different paths based on the characteristics of
the piece and analytical goals in each exploration, and show that no established approach
to the music is dominant.
Though Agawus other analyses concern nineteenth-century tonal music, several
aspects of the paradigmatic approach make it particularly appropriate for the analysis of
the postmodern collage. First, the analytical method is primarily concerned with the
individual content of the piece and can be adapted to the individual mode of presentation
in the work. Such an approach befits music such as collage in which fundamental ideas of
musical succession and progression are in question. Agawu notes that musical
semiologists have employed paradigmatic analysis in the study of various musics of the
twentieth-century, particularly to repertoires the premises of whose languages have not
been fully stabilized (165-6).23 Famously, Jean-Jacques Nattiezs paradigmatic analysis
of Edgar Varses Density 21.5 begins at the level the motive or gesture and works
towards the identification of larger units specifically because of the lack of a commonly

23

Agawu specifically sites the work of Nattiez on Debussy and Varse, and of
Ruwet on medieval monodies.
33

accepted criteria for division of the work (1982, 252).24 Agawu trumpets this aspect of
the approach. The paradigmatic method fosters a less knowing stance in analysis; it
encourages us to adopt a strategic navet and to downplaywithout pretending to be
able to eliminate entirelysome of the a priori concerns that one normally brings to the
task (2009, 166).
In addition, Agawu recognizes how well the methodology suits the study of
Symphonies. He writes that we might say that paradigmatic representation is more
faithful to Stravinskys material than it is to Beethovens. The autonomy asserted by
discrete numbers (1, 2, 3, etc.) captures the presumed autonomy of Stravinskys units
more meaningfully than it does Beethovens (315).
Zorns collages share several characteristics with Symphonies. Similarly to Zorns
pieces, Symphonies was assembled from pre-existing sections rather than being
composed according to a traditional scheme of development. 25

Stravinsky had been messing around with these ideas for the best part of a
year with no clear idea what sort of work they would make. Now, having
been forced to write a two-and-a-half minute ending,26 he surveys his
sketchbooks, pastes ideas together, inserts other ideas, adds inserts to
24

Nattiez also focuses on what he calls the neutral level of the musical work
the music as it exists in the score, divorced to the greatest extent possible from aspects of
the work related to its production (the poietic level) and its reception (the esthesic level).
Together, the poietic, neutral, and esthesic levels of the work form what Nattiez calls the
tripartition of the work (1990, 15).
25

Zorn cites Stravinskys music as one influence in the development of this

method of composition (quoted in Gagne 2003, 512).
26

The first portion of the work that Stravinsky composed was the chorale that
concludes the movement.
34

inserts, then assembles the whole thing in an order and an architecture

which seems to bear not the slightest relation to a coherent or organic plan.
No wonder the resulting work is in formal terms one of the most radical
even he had ever written (Walsh 1999, 317).

Stravinskys use of various instrumental groups in Symphonies is echoed by

Zorns employment of permutations of instrumental combinations to govern form in his
works. Speaking about his game pieces, Zorn explains that,

I had another way of solving [the issue of form], which was, to me, very
similar to the way Schoenberg dealt with his early atonal pieces. He used
a text, and at the end of the text the piece was over. Moses and Aron was
like that; Erwartung was certainly like that. The text was what gave the
piece a form. For me, the form was taking all the possible combinations of
players involved, and then ordering them in a certain kind of way. If it was
a sextet, using all the duos, all the trios, all the quartets, all the solos, and
so on. When we had finished all the permutations of the players, the piece
was over (quoted in Duckworth 1995, 460).

Combinations of the players also are a source of material in Zorns collages.

Describing the composition basis of the blocks of music in Cat ONine Tails, he states
that improvised elements would be based on permutations of the players (quoted in
Duckworth 1995, 473). The similar approaches taken by the two composers resulted in
pieces that shared a characteristic use of disjunct musical blocks juxtaposed in various
combinations.27

27

The description of Symphonies as a series of differentiated or maximally

contrasted blocks (Agawu 2009, 302) recalls Nicholas Cooks portrayal of Zorns
collage Snagglepuss as a hard-driven amalgam of riotously different genres and styles,
organized as a series of sound blocks (2006, 120).
35

Agawus analysis of Symphonies reveals paradigmatic analysis to be an effective

methodology for the analysis of a discontinuous work. In addition to these musical
connections between Zorns pieces and Symphonies, the basic issues in the analysis of
Stravinskys work are also present in the study of musical collage. The questions asked
by Agawu when exploring Symphonies (What is the status of the individual blocks? Are
they autonomous, or are they burdened with tendency and implication? [2009, 302]) are
central to almost any exploration of collage works. It is also apparent that collage musics
basic characteristic of clearly delineated blocks of material set against each other in
various ways directly suggests the parsing and categorization that are basic parts of the
paradigmatic approach. Indeed, Zorns collages, like Symphonies, may be an even more
fitting repertoire for deconstruction using this method than the less segmented music of
the Romantic period.
My approach towards Zorns music will be rooted in Agawus method of
paradigmatic analysis. The methodology provides a basic framework upon which to base
the analysis of the works, and in particular seems appropriate for the analysis of collage.
The next chapter begins with an extended review of paradigmatic analysis as outlined by
Agawu. In the final sections of the chapter, I summarize how I intend to utilize the
method in the exploration of Zorns music.

36

CHAPTER 2
METHODOLOGY

Paradigmatic Analysis

The methodology of paradigmatic analysis developed from musical semiotic

pursuits that were based on structuralism and connections to linguistic studies (Tarasti
1994, 5; see also Cumming 2007). The use of linguistic methods was originally seen as a
way to instill scientific objectivity into musical analysis (Lidov 2005, 95).28 The
methodology is based on the idea that music is structured and functions in the same way
as language. A piece of music therefore could be thought of as a series of signs, and
meaning in the piece could be interpreted from the sequence of these signs.
My approach to paradigmatic analysis adapts and expands the method as outlined
in Agawus book Music as Discourse (2009). The book is a thorough guide to the
employment of the paradigmatic methodology in the study of music of the Romantic
period.29 Agawus application relies on approaches to segmentation and interpretation
that have their basis in the common practice theoretical tradition. My methodology
expands the capacity of paradigmatic analysis to take a piece-specific approach through
the application of topics and idiolects that are developed from the close examination of

28

See Brown and Dempster 1989 for a discussion of the capacity for music theory
to be objectively based.
29

Among others, the book includes analyses of works by Liszt, Brahms, Mahler,
Beethoven, and Stravinsky.
37

the composer and music under consideration. I expand the concept of musical topics to
include composer-specific topics that then provide the basis for the segmentation of the
pieces. The topics germane to the study of Zorns collages are formulated and discussed
in chapter three. My application of topics illustrates how a piece or composer-specific
segmentation can be generated in a work that does not exhibit conventional musical
structure.
My use of idiolects as models for the interpretation of the piece also expands the
capacity of paradigmatic analysis to approach musical works for which a theoretical
foundation has not yet been established. In chapters three, four, and five, I develop
idiolects from the close study of Zorn and his music and use them as lenses through
which to interpret the structures of the pieces. My use of topics and idiolects in
conjunction with the mechanical aspects of paradigmatic analysis demonstrates an
analytical method that can be applied to music which challenges the capacity of
conventional theoretical approaches.
The basic process of paradigmatic analysis begins with the linear segmentation of
the piece. The units that make up the piece are categorized into paradigms, i.e., groups of
equivalent structures. The analyst then examines syntagms, the linear sequences of
paradigms, to uncover how repetition governs the structural and rhetorical unfolding of
the work (312). Interpretation of the piece is based on the relationship of the structures
and the network of their repetition to themes that are particular to the work, composer, or
genre. The intuitive and individual assessments of the analyst are relied upon at each

38

point in the process. As Agawu notes, the basic tenets of paradigmatic analysis are
implicit in many theoretical methodologies (164).30
Segmentation of the work is obviously a critical step in the paradigmatic method.
Agawu notes that units must be meaningful and morphologically distinct. Repetition
may be exact or varied (255). Discontinuity and contrast can also play an important role
in segmentation. While segmentation is a necessarily subjective process, the analyst must
be willing to accept the idea of segmentation as being unavoidable in analysis and to
approach the sense units with flexible criteria (271).
In Agawus sample analyses, segmentation is based primarily on musically
intuitive and theoretically supportable characteristicsfor the most part, the works are
parsed into motivic units, phrases, and groups of phrases separated by contrasts or
discontinuities within fundamental musical parameters or by important structural
moments. The characteristics of the segments and the scheme of segmentation are
dependent on the nature of the piece being explored. The initial segments identified in
second movement of Brahmss First Symphony are two-measure phrases framed by
closed progressions (240-1). In contrast, the segmentation of Stravinskys Symphonies
follows the distinct blocks presented by the music. When analyzing Mahlers
Symphony No. 9 Agawu segments the 454 measures of the work into 33 large units,
30

Agawu cites Hugo Riemanns harmonic theory of chordal function, Roland

Jacksons 1975 analysis of the Tristan prelude (which classified elements of the piece
according to their lietmotivic content) and Edward T. Cones 1962 analysis of
Stravinskys Symphony of Psalms, where blocks of music are classified into different
strata, as examples of analysis that utilize these basic ideas without explicitly
identifying them as such (164). Consider also the analyses of Losada, Lochhead,
Brackett, Everett, and Service. In each case, the analyst is concerned how component
musical structures work together in the overall form and function of the piece.
39

allowing large works to be segmented into groups of phrases based on ideas of contrast,
discontinuity, and retrospective perceptions of beginnings and endings (254-5).31
Once identified, units are categorized into classes according to relative
equivalence based on the exact or varied repetition of musical structures, a procedure that
must be based on explicit criteria (168). Agawu posits that there is often an intuitive
sense of what the contextually dominant element is that governs the equivalence of the
blocks of the musical structure, and that the analyst must not dilute the importance of the
dominant element by adopting a system that does not clearly categorize the units (222).
When segmentation and categorization are complete, the units are arranged in the
paradigmatic display. The diagram makes clear the patterns of repetition that govern the
structure of the work. The advantage of this arrangement is that large-scale orderings of
units are exposed according to the unfolding of the piece. The paradigmatic method
builds a large-scale view of the work from the organization of component foreground
structures, forcing the piece to be viewed through its own context of repetitions.

Interpretation
The paradigmatic approach can readily be adapted to accommodate any number
of subsidiary analytical methodologies and perspectives on musical meaning. Agawu, in
his studies of music of the Romantic period, analyzes motivic connections, basic
harmonic structure, and voice-leading as part of his process of segmentation and
categorization. The interpretations of musical and formal function can be based on
31

The procedure for segmenting Zorns collages will be developed in chapter

three.
40

whichever themes are appropriate to the piece. Since Agawus work is concerned with
music of the Romantic period, his interpretations are based on rubrics for distributing
the reality of Romantic music which he considers as enabling mechanisms, as schemes
for organizing intuited insights, and as points of departure for further exploration (41).
Agawus rubrics for the understanding of Romantic music include topics or topoi;
beginnings, middles, and endings; high points; periodicity (including discontinuity and
parentheses); three modes of enunciation, namely speech mode, song mode, and dance
mode; and narrative (41). While the montage of units in Symphonies of Wind
Instruments differs in many ways from the linearly functional units of Romantic works,
the analysis of the music still seeks to answer questions of musical and rhetorical function
(302). In this study, I intend to interpret Zorns musical structures in two ways, which
could be considered analogous to Agawus rubrics. First I will apply the concept of
musical topics to Zorns works. Second, I will consider his pieces through mechanisms
established by the study of idiolects.

Topics
Theories of musical topics are based on the assumption that the composers and
listeners of a given period possessed a shared knowledge of a repository of cultural
meanings connected with musical figures: as Agawu describes, commonplaces of style
known to composers and their audiences (43). Contemporary theory of musical topics
began with Leonard Ratners analysis of eighteenth century music. He writes that Music
in the early 18th century developed a thesaurus of characteristic figures. . . . Some of these
41

figures were associated with various feelings and affections; others had a picturesque
flavor. They are designated here as topicssubjects for musical discourse (Ratner
1980, 9). Cultural knowledge allowed historical listeners to understand such figures and
gestures in terms of musical and extramusical meanings.
The studies of Ratner, Robert Hatten (1994 and 2004) and Raymond Monelle
(2000 and 2006) concern music of the classical and romantic period. Ratners initial
topics, which included dance forms, military and hunt music, and stylistic
characterizations such as strict or learned, formed the basis of studies of the classical
repertoire and are seen as continuing in various forms into later western music. In Music
as Discourse, Agawu lays out a concise history of musical topics.

In the eighteenth century, topics were figured as stylized conventions and

were generally invoked without pathos by individual composers, the
intention being always to speak a language whose vocabulary was
essentially public without sacrificing any sort of will to originality. In the
nineteenth century, these impulses were retained, but the burgeoning of
expressive possibilities brought other kinds of topic into view. Alongside
the easily recognized conventional codes were others that approximated
natural shapes. . . and some that were used consistently within a single
composers oeuvre or idiolect. . . . Twentieth-century topical practice
became, in part, a repository of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century usages
even as the universe was expanded to include the products of various
strategic denials. Thus, certain rhetorical gestures associated with
Romantic music took on a historical or topical role in twentieth-century
music. . . . Musics associated with specific groups (Jewish, gypsy) retained
their vitality for quotation and allusion, while newer musical
developmentssuch as the African-American traditions of blues, gospel,
funk, jazz, and rapprovided material for topical exploration and
exploitation by composers (2009, 48).

42

In order to qualify as a topic, a musical figure must signify a meaning beyond its
initial reference or interpretation. In Monelles words, we must ask if the musical sign
passed from literal imitation (iconism) or stylistic reference (indexicality) into
signification by association (the indexicality of the object) (2000, 80). Following the
tradition of topical theory, Monelle also argues that topics must be conventional signs and
be common to periods, composers, and pieces (80). This quality of topics, however, is not
universally agreed upon. Yayoi Uno Everett writes that topics are not restricted to
historically established ones, and allows for the existence of contextually-specific topics
(2009, 29). In her analysis of Le Grand Macabre, Everett uses the example of Ligetis
characteristic sound mass texture. Within the opera, this texture represents the
apocalyptic threat of an approaching comet. Everetts identification of this topic is
significant in that not only is the musical figure idiomatic to Ligeti as a composer, but the
signified meaning of the figure is specific to the opera. These composer or piece-specific
topics must be uncovered and developed through close analysis.
Connections between topics and musical form have been tenuous. In his article
On the Relation of Musical Topoi to Formal Function (2005), William Caplin casts
doubt on the potential for topical analysis to be connected with meanings contained
within established musical forms. In his study, Caplin attempts to relate musical topics to
the general formal functions of beginning, middle, and ending, extended from ideas of
formal functionality of Arnold Schoenberg and Erwin Ratz. If form is conceived as a
succession of functions at multiple levels in the hierarchy of the work, then an essential
condition for relating a given musical topic to a given formal function is that the topic
43

itself embody specific form-defining characteristics (115). In his analyses, Caplin finds
that among topics that are more likely to have a connection to form, for every case that
we find of pastoral functioning as a formal initiator or brilliant style as a cadential close,
it is easy to find cases of these topics appearing in almost any other formal position
(120). In addition, Caplin also finds musical characteristics responsible for the formal
connections of such examples that are not specific to the given topic (120). Further
complicating the issue is the fact that it is difficult to establish what would be an
inappropriate or playful use of topic outside of its normal formal position (122-3).
While a firm relationship between topics and form has yet to be established, Caplin does
not see this as detrimental to topical analysis. Even if the relation of topoi to form is
ultimately a fragile one, this in no way invalidates the potential that topics may have
within their primary function as bearers of musical meaning (124). Caplin therefore does
not disqualify piece or composer specific topics from having a relationship to musical
form. The question of the relationship of topics to form in Zorns music will be
discussed in chapter three.

Idiolects
The second interpretive concept I intend to apply to Zorns music is the idiolect.
An idiolect, a concept that has its roots in the philosophy of language, is a language or
part of a language that is specific to a single person (Barber 2010). The musical
application of the idea of idiolect has its genesis in Leonard Meyer. In his definition of
musical style, Meyer writes that a rule or strategy may serve as a constraint in the
44

repertory of a group of composers, in the oeuvre of a single composer, or in a specific

composition (1989, 23). He defines his concept of idioms as those characteristics
common to a composer individually within a given dialect (the characteristics common to
a style), that is, substyles that are differentiated because a number of composers . . .
employ (choose) the same or similar rules and strategies (23).

Within any dialect, individual composers tend to employ some constraints

rather than others; indeed, they may themselves have devised new
constraints. Those that a composer repeatedly selects from the larger
repertory of the dialect define his or her individual idiom. Thus, though
Bach and Handel use essentially the same dialect, they tend to choose
somewhat different strategic constraints and hence have somewhat
different idioms. Like dialects, idioms may be subdivided in various ways.
. . . The most common division made by historians and analysts is
historical. That is, when the strategies chosen by a composer change over
time, his or her idiom may be divided into periods such as early, middle,
and late. This is the case with Beethoven, Verdi, and Stravinsky (24).

Idioms or idiolects thus operate at a subsidiary level to the style or dialect

employed in the music. Following Meyers definition, Allan Moore conceives an idiolect
to refer to the more local level, where two artists writing music in the same style carve
out different spaces . . . that is why we recognize their work as their work individually,
and do not confuse the two (2005, 140). The idea of idiolects is implicit in many
composer specific analyses. For instance, Kathryn Baileys 1991 study of Weberns
twelve-tone music explores in part the idiosyncratic way in which the composer
incorporated the formal structures of earlier western music into his serial pieces.
Identifying idiolect in the postmodern era is complicated. As discussed in the
introduction, the dialect of musical postmodernism is incompletely defined. Identification
45

of the idiolect of a postmodern composer thus cannot be approached by selecting

appropriate traits from the repertory of that dialect. Because of this, my conception of
idiolect departs slightly from Meyers definition.
Instead, I conceive of idiolect as a part of the language of a specific composer. I
will extract general approaches or compositional philosophies from the study of Zorn and
his music. The idiolects I discuss are important aspects of Zorns approach, defined
without attempting to describe the totality of Zorns individual style. These idiolects are
specific constraints of Zorns that form part of the as yet incompletely defined
postmodern dialect. Their position within the dialect remains uncertain with regard to
whether these idiolects are constraints selected by multiple composers, or whether they
are individual to Zorn alone. This approach towards idiolect contributes to the
understanding of dialect, as idiolects defined here may be added to the repertory of
postmodern traits.
Whereas the study of earlier music has enjoyed the benefit of historical reflection
and accumulated discourse, the study of contemporary music lacks such a basis of
theoretical thought. It is difficult to establish the themes and strategies common to a time
period without the benefit of historical perspective. The development of a composerspecific lens for interpretation in the form of idiolects follows the practice seen in the
analysis of collage music of the use of piece specific methodologies in individual studies.

46

Paradigmatic analysis and Zorns music

My application of paradigmatic analysis to Zorns music begins with the

segmentation of the piece into component units. The most meaningful way to segment
Zorns works, however, must be determined. His collages cannot be effectively
segmented based on the criteria Agawu applies in his analyses of tonal works of the
Romantic period. While Stravinskys Symphonies shares many characteristics with
Zorns pieces, Agawus analysis of Symphonies also does not provide an appropriate
model for the segmentation of Zorns works. Although it is discontinuous, Symphonies
contains thematic repetition, while Zorns pieces in general do not feature literal
repetition. The criteria for segmentation of Zorns works must therefore be formulated
before the in-depth analysis of his pieces can begin. Chapter three is devoted to
identifying a process by which Zorns music can be methodically segmented. There, I
will identify and define recurring topics in the music that signal delineations. The
employment of topics provides a consistent way to parse Zorns music, and the remaining
chapters use this method of segmentation.
As I identify the units that make up the collages, they will be described and
classified according to their musical characteristics. Over the course of examining the
units, common characteristics between units will emerge, providing a way to categorize
the units. As well as communicating the characteristics of the units and showing how
they represent one of several types of structures that are present, the prose descriptions of
the units in the analytical chapters have other functions. First, they provide a running
47

commentary on the unfolding of the piece. Second, they are a place for the discussion of
musical subtleties, including similarities and differences between units. These prose
descriptions should not be overlooked, as they are integral to the understanding of the
analysis. Once units are segmented, described, and categorized, their relationship will be
shown in the paradigmatic display, which provides an insight into the network of
repetition that governs the piece.
The analytical chapters will also define relevant idiolects that pertain generally to
Zorns music and specifically to the pieces under discussion. The idiolects will be
gleaned from Zorns comments on his music and his compositional strategies, and from
the examination of the music itself. These idiolects provide a way to understand what is
going on in the music, and are a means to interpret the unfolding of the pieces. The
application of these idiolects will shed light on progressive processes that reflect linear
organization in the works.

48

CHAPTER 3
THERES NOT ONE MOMENT . . . THAT I CANT JUSTIFY: STRUCTURE
IN ZORNS COLLAGE MUSIC

The first step of paradigmatic analysis is the segmentation of the piece into
meaningful and morphologically distinct units (Agawu 2009, 255). In the case of
Stravinskys Symphonies, Agawus segmentation coincided with the discontinuities
presented by the contrasting blocks of the composition. Segmentation of a collage along
these lines, however, is only one option in the parsing of a discontinuous texture. As
Jonathan Kramer notes, postmodern collage pieces, encourage the perceiver to make his
or her own perceptual sense of the work (Kramer 1995, 28). An experiential approach
towards a piece, such as employed by Lochhead (2006), can provide intuitions towards
other schemes of segmentation.32 Careful exploration of Zorns works, in fact, reveals
factors that suggest that the discontinuous segments of his pieces are grouped into higherlevel units. This chapter identifies a way to segment Zorns music into these units
through the exploration of three of his collages: Speedfreaks, Krazy Kat, and
American Psycho. This method of segmentation will be used as the basis for the
analyses in the following chapters.

32

Christopher Hastys segmentation of modernist works proceeds by using a

similar intuitive approach, one that is introspective in nature and entails listening to the
music very carefully and noting various structural perceptions (1981, 55).
49

Segmenting Speedfreaks
Zorns composition Speedfreaks is a short collage that appears on the Naked
City album Torture Garden, first released in 1989. 33 The piece contains thirty-two
separate segments, each consisting of a few seconds worth of music in various popular
styles. The excessively short duration of the musical segments in Speedfreaks
challenges a segmentation scheme such as the one Agawu constructed from Stravinskys
Symphonies. In contrast, some of the collage segments in Speedfreaks are
fundamentally different in a perceptual way than other segments, and the disjunctions
created by these segments can help formulate an interpretation of the pieces
segmentation and formal structure. These disjunctions suggest a way to parse the piece
into meaningful units made up of groups of collage segments, and offer clues as to how
Zorns other collages may be understood. They further highlight the importance of
texture in the organization of Zorns pieces, and illustrate how his works lend themselves
to interpretation as perceptible narrative structures.
Zorn has said that he considers himself rootless, and this quality is reflected
both in the range of musical styles in which he has composed and in his use of collage
techniques (Zorn, quoted in Gagne 1993, 516). From 1988 to 1993, Zorn composed and
arranged music for his ensemble Naked City, a group of virtuoso musicians with the

33

The same recording appears on the album Grand Guignol (1992). Krazy Kat
and American Psycho appear in Radio (1993). All three songs are collected on The
Complete Studio Recordings (2005).
50

instrumentation of a rock band.34 While the groups recorded music is diverse, including
ambient noise pieces, rearrangements of film music, and jazz compositions, a
significant part of their output consists of miniatures, most of which are characterized by
sudden changes in musical style. Since his time as a college student, Zorn had been
interested in small compositions, particularly those of Webern (Gagne 1993, 512).35 Like
the pieces of Weberns aphoristic period, the forty-two tracks on Naked Citys album
Torture Garden are extremely brief, ranging from eight to seventy-five seconds in length.
During his studies in college, Zorn also became interested in what he refers to as block
structuressudden changes in texture and stylewhich developed through his study of
Ives, Xenakis, Stravinsky, Stockhausen, and most important, cartoon soundtracks (512).
His study of cartoon music focused on that of Carl Stalling, who wrote soundtracks for
Warner Bros. cartoons from 1936-1958 (Goldmark 2005, 10).
Zorn was intrigued by the fact that Stallings musical structures were often
entirely dependent on the visuals of the cartoon.36 Compounding this, the cartoons
themselves often consisted of scenes only loosely tied together. When composing a
soundtrack, Stalling could choose whatever music fit the particular moment at hand
without needing to support a narrative structure (17). As Daniel Goldmark writes,

34

The personnel in Naked City consisted of Zorn, saxophone; Bill Frisell, guitar;
Fred Frith, bass; Wayne Horvitz, keyboards; Joey Baron, drums; and Yamatsuka Eye,
vocals. Eye does not appear on all of the groups output.
35

Zorn studied music for one and one-half years at Webster College in St. Louis,

Missouri.
36

Zorn was also influenced by Stallings free use of quotation (Brophy 2002,

264).
51

Warner Bros. never exhibited much concern about narrative development;

typically each short centers on a generic situation or set-up. . . . Instead of
building a trajectory toward a traditional climax and dnouement, Warner
Bros. cartoons constantly introduce new gags and shtick, equal in
intensity, to move the story forward. Similarly, Stallings scores have no
emotional arc, instead carefully complementing and conveying whatever
joke is being perpetrated at a given moment in the narrative (16).37

The absence of musical narrative structure in cartoon music attracted Zorn, who
studied the soundtracks he had recorded from the television (Gagne 1993, 512). On
Torture Garden, Zorn applied this idea of quick and unexpected changes to pieces in
which the components reflect divergent musical styles (Chiti 1998, 27).
The mixture of styles in Zorns works has been compared to flipping through the
channels of a television set (Drury 1994, 199). What results is a constant changing of
musical style, where, as Marcel Cobussen writes, just [at the moment] we have
identified with a style and the corresponding context, these change and we are back to
square one (1999, 42). The relentless juxtapositions in the pieces on Torture Garden
result in a sense of disorientation, and furthermore, can lead to analytical interpretations
that emphasize the musics disjunction.
Despite the amount of literature on Zorn, his influences, and his philosophy, only
two pieces from Torture Garden other than Speedfreaks have received analytical
attention. In discussing the forty-one second track New Jersey Scum Swamp, Alberto
Pezzotta finds that themes and genres . . . are juxtaposed and made to clash to the very
37

This description of cartoon soundtracks has much in common with Jonathan

Kramers conception of moment form, in which a piece starts and later comes to a stop,
but does not have a traditional progression from beginning to end (Kramer, 1978).
52

limits of being superimposed: yet, however interrupted, fragmented or disturbed one is by

the other, they still remain identifiable (1998, 30). This intense juxtaposition is typical of
many of the pieces on Torture Garden.
In her analysis of Osaka Bondage, Ellie Hisama approaches Zorns music from
the dual perspectives of Asian-American cultural studies and feminism, focusing on the
representation of women, Japanese culture, and sexuality in his works (2004). In
particular, she relates the texture of juxtaposition present in Osaka Bondage to the
actual human dismemberment implied by the albums title and packaging (80).38 While
both Hisama and Pezzotta concentrate on the disjunctions created by the collage texture,
they do not discuss how the juxtapositions interact in terms of large-scale form.
As discussed in chapter one, John Brackett presents an alternative method of
formal analysis, using Speedfreaks specifically to challenge the view that Zorns music
is completely not unified.39 Instead, Brackett believes that Zorn embraces multiple
unities, various methods for achieving some sort of continuity, and a strong belief in the
unifying functions of narratives (2008, xxi). To illustrate this, Bracketts analysis of
Speedfreaks outlines a large-scale harmonic background in the piece (25) that views
the work as a thirty-two-bar song form upon which the texture of rapid style changes has
been superimposed.

38

The artwork contains stills from a Japanese sadomasochistic film, and a manga
(a style of Japanese cartoon) image that is violent and sexual in content.
39

Brackett cites comments by Jonathan Kramer and Rene T. Coulombe (2008,

xiii).
53

The fast tempo, changing styles, irregular segment lengths, and complete lack of
functional harmony leading to and from phrase endings make hearing the AABA
structure in this piece difficult. Brackett writes that while we might not be able to
perceive exactly what is happening in [this] or other tunes, it is clear that Zorn is
concerned with the details associated with the moment-to-moment interactions as well as
the larger-scale formations described (29). However, he leaves the question of the
existence of a perceptible unity in the work unanswered.
From his statements, it is clear that Zorn himself is concerned with the overall
impression presented by his pieces. Brackett describes an experiment in which he
digitally rearranged the segments of Speedfreaks and played the rearrangement for the
composer. In reaction, Zorn responded that this new version does not work at all for me.
. . . Finding the proper sequence to keep the interest and flow is a delicate operation. And
crucial. . . . Energy, keys, tempos, feels, instrumentation . . . all these parameters need
to be properly balanced/unbalanced (quoted in Brackett 2008, xvi). It seems that Zorn
values the overall aural impression of the piece as well as the unity provided by a
background structure.
During the forty-eight-second length of Speedfreaks, Naked City quickly cycles
through a diverse set of stylistic quotations that are grounded by a constant pulse. There
are only two points at which a segment is less than a full number of pulses in length: the
first in segment 13, and the second at the very end of the piece. The first time this occurs,
the metrical position of the downbeat is shifted by half a pulse for the remainder of the
piece. The component segments of the collage are exceedingly brief; individually they
54

vary between one and seven pulses in length, or from slightly less than one second to
approximately four seconds long.
The segments that make up the piece are stylistically varied, including quotations
of traditional jazz, Latin jazz, hard rock, and country, as well as short idiomatic musical
gestures. Although brief, almost every segment has a clearly perceptible style. Figure 7
shows a cataloging of the segments of the piece based on a close listening, notating the
music in what Judy Lochhead calls a descriptive map (2006, 240). Such a map
visually [captures] the significant sonic features of the piece as they occur in
experience (240-1). In contrast to the adaptation of the score that Brackett includes in
his analysis,40 Figure 7 is my own transcription of the piece cross-referenced with
Bracketts diagram. The labels attached to each segment are convenient handles that
describe how I interpret their stylistic content. In some cases, these labels are the same or
similar to those in Bracketts chart. For the purposes of this analysis, it is not necessary
for readers to agree with all the specific designations, only to recognize that each segment
refers to a familiar and discernible style.

40

His chart is based on Zorns handwritten chart of Speedfreaks that was

reproduced in the liner notes to The Complete Studio Recordings (Naked City 2005).
Brackett includes labels of the stylistic reference of each segment (2008, 25).
55

Figure 7: Descriptive Map of Speedfreaks

56

Figure 8: Description of segments in Speedfreaks

Segment

Description

The opening segment is a shocking outburst, predominantly cymbals and

vocalizations, that lasts for two beats. Both Brackett and I label this as
noise.

A two-beat segment that clearly references Oompah music (labeled such

independently by both me and Brackett).

A brief portion of swing music, with saxophone playing the melody (labeled
Jazz on Zorns chart, and Sax. Jazz on Bracketts).

A piano glissando that lasts for one beat (labeled such on all three maps).

A one beat unison hit (labeled by Brackett as stinger).

Four beats of stylistically familiar music, labeled by Zorn and Brackett as

rockabilly. It reminded me of video-game music.

Two beats of music focused on two guitar chords. In Zorns score, this is
labeled Heavy Rock; Brackett labels it Hardcore. Again connecting the
music with a visual reference, I labeled it TV Crime Drama.

A single chord (Ab minor) on the piano.

Four beats of reggae music, emphasizing an expansion of physical space

through delay and reverb effects as well as an open musical texture.

57

10

Latin Jazz, labeled Gtr. Chord Latin in Bracketts chart. This segment
presents a metrical double-time compared with the previous section.

11

Another noisy section, this time with saxophone filling for the screaming
vocals. Brackett labels this segment Noise/Thrash, but the screeching
saxophone also evokes the free jazz of Ornette Coleman.

12

The emphasis on the downbeat led me to label this section march. Brackett,
following Zorn, labels it waltz; the triple meter is partially disguised by the
segments five-beat length.

13

One of only two sections that is not a whole number of beats in length.
Again, this section emphasizes noise. The vocals present a low-pitched grunt,
and are dominantly accompanied by cymbals.

14

A section of driving hard rock.

15

Four beats of saxophone-heavy music I labeled 50s Rock n Roll. In Zorns

chart it is labeled R&B Stripper Sax, while Brackett labels it Stripper
Music.

16

A clear reference to country music, which Brackett calls Country & Western
(Happy Trails).

17

Up-tempo straight-up jazz music, labeled by Zorn as piano trio Fast swing
and by Brackett as Piano Jazz.

18

Four beats of surf music.

19

Brackett labels this sax noise; I agree with Zorns label of Free Jazz.

58

20

A six-beat section of funk music.

21

The longest segment in the piece, segment 21 features cartoonish vocals over
jazz music, which I labeled Electric Jazz, and Brackett calls F-modal
jazz.

22

Another section of hard rock.

23

Noise, led by saxophone.

24

A blues shuffle, called boogie blues by Zorn and Brackett.

25

Latin Jazz, differentiated from the previous Latin section.

26

Brackett calls this measure cartoon noises. It appears to be an example of

Zorns cartoon trades (see below).

27

One beat of descending piano.

28

Another noise section featuring vocals, labeled thrash by Brackett.

29

A loud buzzing sound. This is labeled Bass Noise by Zorn and Brackett. In
live performances of the song, that is indeed how the noise is generated. In
this recording, the buzzing sound does not sound like the typical noise made
by a bass amplifier.

30

A descending guitar line.

31

Spacey funk, what Brackett calls Keyboard.

32

Another section of cartoon trades.

59

Noise as a Musical Topic

A central concern of Speedfreaks is the contrast between segments that are

perceptible as a stylistic quotation and those that I have categorized as noise segments:
segments 1, 11, 13, 23, 28, and 29. Two other segments, numbers 26 and 32, are neither
stylistic quotation nor noise segment. Instead, these are examples of what Zorn calls
cartoon trades, passages in which each instrument performs a single unrelated event in
turn (quoted in Strickland 1991, 136; see also Gagne 1993, 512). While Pezzotta writes
that all of Zorns collages on Torture Garden use a common principle of putting melody
and noise on the same level, [whether it be] fine music (jazz) and rough (hardcore,
noisecore, or whatever we choose to call it) (Pezzotta 1998, 30), the noise segments
perceptually clash with the other segments in the composition. My analysis and
interpretation of the pieces form are based on the contrasting quality of these segments.
Three aspects of the noise segments serve to distinguish them from the other
stylistic quotations. First, all of the noise segments are similar to each other in texture and
are perceived as sound mass. Second, as opposed to the stylistic quotations, the noise
segments lack clear reference to common musical styles. Third, they contain harsher
timbres than the other segments, particularly in the vocals, saxophone, and drum set.
The noise segments are stylistically consistent with each other in most
performance aspects as well. The clearest sounds of these sections are fast drumming
with either vocals and/or saxophone improvisation. Such a similarity is not as prominent
even between related segments of stylistic quotation. For instance, while segments 10 and
60

25 are both Latin jazz, they have clearly differentiated accompaniment patterns. The
same is not true of the noise segments, which exhibit such similarity that they can be
experienced as repetitions of the same musical idea.
The musical material contained within the noise segments also differentiates them
from the other segments of the composition. While in other segments, the various
instruments contribute to the impression of a particular musical style, the components of
the noise segments exhibit a splintering quality. This impression is further emphasized by
their relative shortness; the longest noise segment is only three pulses long, in contrast
with the other segments, the longest of which is seven pulses.41
The instrumentation and timbres used in the noise segments further distinguish
them from the surrounding material. With the exception of segment 21, in which an
electric jazz accompaniment underlies a cartoonish vocal part, only the noise segments
contain vocals. In Speedfreaks, as in much of Naked Citys music, the vocals of
Yamatsuka Eye alternate with Zorns screeching saxophone improvisations. In contrast to
the more traditional instrumental sounds present in the other segments of the piece, these
sounds explore completely different timbres, utilizing harsh screeches, screams, and

41

Although Zorns compositions for Naked City are influenced by hardcore and
thrash metal, the noise segments in Speedfreaks do not appear to be representative of a
distinct hardcore or thrash style in the same way that other segments of the piece are
stylistically derived. Some representative hardcore and thrash albums contemporary with
Torture Garden include Carcass, Symphonies of Sickness, Earache MOSH18CD, 1989,
CD; Napalm Death, Utopia Banished, Earache MOSH53CD, 1992, CD; Boredoms, Pop
Tatari, Reprise Records 45416-2, 1992, CD; and Brutal Truth, Extreme Conditions
Demand Extreme Responses, Combat Records 1992, CD.
61

growls. They are accompanied by crashing cymbals and repeated snare and bass drum
attacks. This timbral contrast further distinguishes the noise segments.
Definitions of noise also support this description of the segments. In
his book Rhythm and Noise, Theodore Gracyk outlines three ways in which sounds can
be labeled as noise (Gracyk 1996, 103-4). First, noises can be sounds that prevent or
obscure communication. Second, they can be sounds that disturb us or break our
concentration. Finally, noises can be sounds that threaten us with physical harm (104).
The noise segments in Speedfreaks display all three of these qualities. In stark contrast
to the other segments of the song, they do not communicate specific information about
musical style and cause a greater degree of disruption than is already present in the
constantly changing texture of the music. In addition, the screaming and screeching
timbres, and the thickness of the overall texture engenders emotions associated with
aggression and anger that in turn can be perceived as threatening.

Segmenting Speedfreaks Through the Noise Topic

With the noise segments differentiated from the remainder of the work, they
represent the obvious starting point for structuring a formal segmentation. In this way,
noise in Zorns music can be thought of as a musical topic that communicates a greater
disjunction and marks the beginnings and endings of larger scale units in the collage.
This interpretation provides a consistent way to segment the piece into units made of

62

chains of collage segments (see Figure 9).42

Unit 1: Segments 1-10

The piece begins with a two-pulse noise segment, followed by nine segments ranging
from one to four pulses in length. Six of the nine are stylistic quotations; the other three
are idiomatic musical gestures: a piano glissando, a single unison hit on piano and
drums, and a piano chord. All of these are sounds that have more in common with the
surrounding style quotations than with the noise segments. The eleventh segment of the
piece is another noise segment. If the noise segments are viewed as both disruptive and
demarcating, the first ten segments of the piece can be heard as a complete musical
statement comprising a stylistic collage phrase delineated by noise.

Unit 2: Segments 11-13

The eleventh segment of the piece is a three-beat noise segment with saxophone
improvisation instead of vocals. A march and a noise segment of one and one-half pulses
follow. The irregular length of segment 13 alters the position of the downbeat for the

42

There is precedent within other compositions by Zorn that noise may be utilized
in a transitional or delineating way. In the liner notes that accompany the recording of
Spillane Zorn writes that the violent quality of the Mike Hammer detective novels lead to
the use of a variety of noise aggregates which were used here predominantly as
transitional devices and for dramatic contrast (liner notes to Godard/Spillane, 1999). In
his analysis of Spillane, Service writes that these segments amplify the violence of the
juxtaposition from one type of musical material to another (2004, 67), and function in a
way to disturb the continuity of the piece.
63

following music. Together, the two noise segments and the march constitute a transition
from the first phrase of the piece to the second, highlighted by the metrical displacement
of the downbeat. The emphasis on the downbeat in segment 12 further stresses this
displacement and draws contrast between the positions of the pulse in the first and second
phrases.

Unit 3: Segments 14-22

The second collage phrase consists of nine stylistic quotations ranging from three to
seven pulses, and presents a further and extended exploration of the collage texture.
Not only does it contain more segments, but those segments are longer than the ones in
the first collage phrase. The increase in both of these parameters generates more stability
in the second phrase compared to the first.43

43

It should be noted that the transitions to and from the noise segments that
delineate this section are somewhat mitigated by segments 14 and 22, which form the
first and last segments of the phrase. These segments are stylistic quotations of hard rock
music, and in a timbral sense are similar to the adjacent noise segments.
64

The image cannot be display ed. Your computer may not hav e enough memory to open the image, or the image may hav e been corrupted. Restart y our computer, and then open the file again. If the red x still appears, y ou may hav e to delete the image and then insert it again.

Figure 9: Explanatory Map of Speedfreaks

65

Unit 4: Segments 23-32

The pieces final formal components separate into two sections. The first is another
transition, and begins with segment 23, a two-pulse noise segment. Segments 24 and 25,
both style quotations, refer back to the collage phrases of the piece. Segment 26, the first
appearance of Zorns cartoon trades follows. This segment, itself a miniature collage,
increases the instability of the section. The final noise segment forms the first part of a
cadential gesture. The close proximity of the two noise segments and the cartoon trades
cause an acceleration of tension towards the conclusion of the piece. The actual cadential
gesture occurs as segment 28 leads into segment 29, a loud buzzing sound that, despite its
two-pulse length, overwhelms the texture of the piece. The buzzing does not release
tension, but rather is the most disruptive moment of a piece based on disjunction and
contrast. Segment 29 presents unmitigated noise, and in this sense is the climactic
moment of the work. The final three segments conclude the piece, with the last cartoontrades segment providing a soft fade-out.

To summarize in terms of overall form: The piece begins with an initial collage
phrase, followed by a transition, which leads to a second, longer collage phrase.
Speedfreaks builds tension in the first phrase through the disruptive nature of the
collage. The lengthening of each collage segment provides a more stable texture in the
second phrase. The piece climaxes by positioning noise segments and cartoon trades in

66

close proximity before the arrival of the buzzing sound of segment 29, the works most
disruptive moment.
Although Speedfreaks could appear at first hearing to be a random collection of
diverse musical segments, analysis reveals at least two aspects of large-scale
organization: the background harmonic framework as described by Brackett; and the
narrative structure of textural change.44 This textural structure of Speedfreaks follows
conventional conceptions of progressive musical form, specifically the use of a sectional
design that contributes to the building of tension towards the climax of the piece.
Although Speedfreaks is dominated by a texture of disjunction and juxtaposition, this
large-scale organization mediates its disruptive nature, and renders the work
comprehensible.

Other Delineating Topics

The noise topic can serve as a model for the function of other delineating
structures in Zorns works. Zorns collages Krazy Kat and American Psycho, also
performed by Naked City, use additional topics that signify delineations. Such topics
include periods of silence, segments that imply musical endings or transitions, and
segments of drastically atypical lengths.

44

The existence of two simultaneous modes of organization within Speedfreaks

could be meaningfully contrasted with modernist examples of the multiple employment
of formal structures, such as Anton Weberns Op. 28 no. 1 and Op. 30. Within these
works, Webern sought the fusion of the structural principles of a variation movement
and an adagio form (Letter, in Bailey 1991, 197). As Kathleen Bailey writes, both
works represent the union of two theoretically antithetical forms: variation, which is
reiterative and essentially linear, and ternary form, which is circular with a reprise (198).
67

Silence
A very straightforward structure that creates delineations in Zorns other collages
is a segment of silence. While there are no moments of silence in Speedfreaks or
Krazy Kat, American Psycho features many silent moments that separate groups of
collage segments. An example of this occurs between segments 2 and 3 (see description
below) where over three seconds of silence separates the segments. The disruption caused
by the silence is not mediated by any musical factors that suggest that it occurs in the
middle of a higher level structure. Instead, the silence creates a clear break between the
musical units. Silence therefore can be thought of as another topic signifying higher level
delineation in the context of Zorns music.

Traditional Endings and Transitions

Zorns collages also contain musical figures that imply traditional endings or
transitions. In some cases, such figures appear in combination. In Krazy Kat, Segment
7 features snare drum that leads to a V-I cadence on the piano in the key of C# major. In
segment 8, the saxophone and guitar play a figure that emphasizes a tritone (D#E
Bb). As a V-I cadence, segment 7 implies an ending, whereas the unresolved tritone of
segment 8 intimates a continuation. In either case, the segment suggests that one musical
structure has come to an end and that a new one is about to begin. Because they are used
in combination, this effect is reinforced. Such structures are another sign that a
delineation occurs.
68

Atypical Segment Length

While a difference in the length of musical structures does not traditionally
signify a new beginning or ending, the organization of Zorns collages magnifies changes
in segment length and sets atypically long or short segments apart from others in the
surrounding texture. One characteristic that sets the noise segments apart from others in
Speedfreaks, for instance, is their brevity. As in Speedfreaks, segments in Krazy
Kat and American Psycho are generally of a similar length. Until the twentieth
segment of Krazy Kat, a segment does not exceed 5.1 seconds; many are between 1
and 2 seconds long. In American Psycho the early portion of the piece also establishes
a typical segment length (the first five segments are each 10-13 seconds long). When
segments that are drastically longer than the established length occur, these longer
segments are emphasized and create disruptions in the musical texture. Departures from
typical established length can therefore be seen as a musical topic signifying delineation.

Segmentation of Krazy Kat and American Psycho

Together with noise, these topics can be employed in the segmentation of Zorns
collages. In each case, these ideas of segmentation can be used to generate paradigmatic
descriptions of the collages by identifying higher-level groupings of segments. The
segments of Krazy Kat group into seven higher-level units.

69

Figure 10: Description of units in Krazy Kat

Unit Segments

Description

The first segments of the piece are all of roughly

Segments 1-8: Noise; piano;

buzzing; guitar; chord changes; similar length and present a variety of textures
Mickey-Mousing;45 snare

and styles. The first unit is separated from the

drum leading to cadence;

second by a cadence (segment 7) and transitional

transitional gesture.

gesture (segment 8), as well as the noise segment

that begins unit 2.

Segments 9-12: Noise;

This shorter phrase begins with a noise segment.

descending lines; funk;

Its final segment (segment 12) is longer than all

buzzing.

previous segments and consists only of buzzing,

a sound that also invokes the noise topic. This
creates a delineation between units 2 and 3.

45

Mickey-Mousing is the creation of cartoon sound effects on an instrument.

70

Segments 13-18: Guitar

This collage phrase is quite varied and more

harmonics; cartoon trades;

extensive than what has been previously heard.

alternating saxophone

The segments are longer in general, so much so

screeches and chords; drums

that the length of segment 16 does not create a

with Rite of Spring fragment;

particular disjuntion. The phrase contains a

cartoon trades; noise.

variety of noises alongside quotations, both

stylistic and exact. The noise of segment 18
marks the end of the unit.

Segments 19-21: Guitar;

Unit 4 begins with a meandering guitar line that

country; screeches alternating

transitions cleanly into a slow country section.

with hits.

The screeches and cymbal crashes of segment 21

mark a transition to the next unit.

Segments 22-26: Spacey;

Beginning with a spacey section, unit 5 contains

squeak; guitar; snort; cadence.

several blasts of sound effects surrounding a

descending guitar line before concluding with a
cadence.

71

Segments 27-28: Piano; snare

Segment 27 provides an intro into the longest

drum roll with interjections.

segment of the collage (segment 28), a section

where a snare drum roll is interrupted by various
clanks and buzzes. Its length (over twenty-two
seconds) strongly distinguishes it from the unit
that follows.

Segments 29-31: Noise; hard

The final section of music features three brief

Latin jazz; melodic ascending

segments beginning with noisy trades before

lines.

presenting a moment of Latin jazz and a final

ascending line.46 14.2 seconds of silence
conclude the album track.

46

The CD track for Krazy Kat finishes with fourteen seconds of silence, far
more than present between the other songs on Radio. This would seem to indicate that
this silence is an important part of either the song or the album as a whole. See chapter 4
for a further discussion of Radio.
72

Figure 11: Timeline of Krazy Kat

In contrast to the topics that segment the other collages, American Psycho uses
silence, either alone or in combination with strong style or texture change, to distinguish
between collage phrases. The piece lasts over six minutes, and its 29 segments are in
many cases individually longer than those in the other two collages.

Figure 12: Description of units in American Psycho

Unit Segments

Description

Segments 1-2:

The piece begins with instrumental hits, followed by a

Pointillistic hits;

section that sounds like it has been sped up. Around three

fast rock.

seconds of silence occur between the first two units.

73

Segments 3-5:

The noise segment of screams and crashes that begins unit

Screams and

2 adds to its separation from unit 1. Three and a half

thrash-metal; hot

seconds of silence follow segment 5.

jazz; cartoon trades.

3

Segments 6-8:

The heavy-metal of segment 7 is bookended by two shorter

Latin jazz; heavy

and softer jazz sections, making this unit a miniature ABA

metal with

structure. About three seconds of silence follow.

screaming; light
jazz.
4

Segments 9-10:

The aphoristic quality of segment 9 contrasts with the brief

Guitar string

scream presented by segment 10. Again, four seconds of

noises; screaming

silence marks the end of the unit.

and drums.
5

Segment 11: Surf.

Segment 11 is a twelve second snapshot of light surf music.

It is bookended by silence.

Segments 12-15:

This disruptive section begins with thrash metal. It is

Noise; Latin jazz;

possible to see the jazz piano and vocal noises that make up

cartoon trades;

segment 15 as a synthesis of the soft jazz of segment 13 and

piano and vocal

the noise trades of segment 14.

noises.

74

Segment 16: Noise

The briefest unit in the piece, this is 2 second noise

interjection.

interjection surrounded by a sea of silence.

Segments 17-21:

Unit 8 begins with a long section of cartoon trades and

Cartoon trades;

follows that with four stylistic quotations.

punk; fast free jazz;

straight-up jazz;
funk/hip-hop.
9

10

11

Segment 22:

Another lone segment surrounded by silence, this one is in

Country.

the style of country music with slide guitar.

Segment 23: Sound

More silence surrounds this segment, which features soft,

effects.

aquatic sound effects.

Segments 24-25:

The two segments that make up this unit are further tied

Noise; fast country-

together by the fact that the guitar begins segment 25 during

rock.

segment 24. Around two and a half seconds of silence

follow.

12

Segments 26-29

The final four segments consist of four separated quotations

on piano with shimmering cymbals in the background. This
interesting unit contrasts with the rest of the song in both
length and affect. The end of the piece features a long vocal
exhalation, and the work concludes in a quiet, ambient way.

75

Figure 13: Timeline of American Psycho

Conclusions
Examination of these three pieces reveals the regular presence of segments that
are associated with the sense of a break or delineation in the music. I have designated
these segments as musical topics, and Zorns music can be consistently parsed through
the identification of these topics. In addition, the segmentations that result show how
higher level form can exist in these works
works. The structure of these pieces can illuminate
our understanding of their
ir place as postmodern compositions, and reflects
reflect an idiolect of
Zorns, one that concerns the dual influence of modernism and postmodernism on his

76

work. Zorns interpretation of cartoon music, for instance, could suggest a departure from
traditional musical organization. He sees cartoon soundtracks as expressing a different
kind of musical development, one that is connected to a visual narrative, as opposed to a
musical narrative (Zorn 2004; see also Duckworth 1995, 471).47 This attitude aligns his
works with Kramers definition of radical postmodernism, music in which unity has been
deliberately forsaken (1995, 24).
Zorn, however, also has a modernist view of his compositions as unified
structures. He states that theres not one moment . . . that I cant justify in terms of why
it belongs there and why, if you took it out, the whole piece would fall apart. I mean, that
was my uptight twelve-tone upbringing where everything had to have its place. And that
transferred itself even into my free improvisations (Zorn, quoted in Duckworth 1995,
465). This speaks to a compositional approach that values the overall impression of the
work and how that impression is constructed from its component elements. As opposed to
the organization of Carl Stallings music, where musical segments are connected only by
the visual aspect of the cartoon, the individual segments in Speedfreaks, are parts of
perceptible musical structures. This shows that a view that Zorns work lacks continuity
overlooks unifying aspects of his compositional approach.
The presence of formal structures in these works also situates Zorns pieces
among other postmodern collages. As Losada describes, segments in the works of Berio,
Rochberg, and Zimmerman were organized through processes of chromatic completion
and saturation (2009). The arrangement of topics in Speedfreaks, Krazy Kat, and

47

Visual aspects of Zorns music will be discussed in greater detail in Chapter 4.

77

American Psycho achieves a result similar to what is accomplished by such other

organizing systems in musical collage by governing the unfolding of discontinuous
components. As with other collages, these pieces are therefore characterized by a conflict
between surface discontinuity and unifying formal structures. Most important however, is
the fact that the unifying elements in Zorns pieces are not only contained in the musical
background, but are present at the most apparent levels of listening. While other
postmodern collages possess unifying aspects, the perceptible nature of unity in Zorns
works distinguishes his attitude from that of other postmodern composers. Such
differences in approach are the definition of an idiolect, in this case an idiolect
characterized by how Zorn synthesizes modern and postmodern ideas in his music.
This chapter established the potential for Zorns collages to be organized in a
perceptible way through the use of delineating devices. It further demonstrated how the
presence of these devices can be used to consistently segment the pieces. In these
analyses, I approached each piece by identifying its component structures and then
categorized the structures based on their shared characteristics, a procedure that forms the
first portion of paradigmatic analysis. In the next chapter I will show that the arrangement
of segments into higher level units in Zorns music is related to an idiolect of the visual.
Understanding the nature of visual organization in Zorns works can in turn lead to the
understanding of structure and narrative in the pieces.

78

CHAPTER 4
CAN YOU MAKE A FILM THATS MUSIC?: THE VISUAL ASPECTS OF
COLLAGE ORGANIZATION

Zorns comments on narrative structure often reference visual elements. In

addition, they suggest that his music is organized linearly. In this chapter, I will examine
the nature of this type of organization by drawing on both Zorns comments and on the
structure displayed by his college Cat ONine Tails. I will show how Cat ONine Tails
presents a linear narrative in the form of musical changes that occur between successive
musical blocks and groups of blocks.
Visual elements and modes of thinking are an intrinsic part of Zorns music. A
variety of visual mediums influence Zorn, including architecture, television, film, and
sculpture.48 Zorns formative musical experiences were often tied to television and film.

Im a complete media freak; a TV baby. . . . The first record I actually

remember buying was The Sorcerers Apprentice: I saw Fantasia, you
know, and I liked Mickey Mouse running around in that. And I thought
the music was great. . . . After that, I got into the monster movies, you
know, The Werewolf, and The Hunchback. And the Phantom of the Opera
48

While Zorn draws most heavily on dramatic subjects from television, literature,
and film, he also has cited musical connections to sculpture (see Gagne 1993, 514-515)
and architecture (see Strickland 1991, 134). Zorn states the furthest out things ever got
for him was in attempts to composed pieces that were completely visual and didnt use
sound (quoted in Gagne 1993, 515). I began developing this theory that Music is not
sound itself but a way of manipulating sound, a certain aesthetic, and is it possible to then
work with a visual medium in a musical way. Can you make a film thats music? (Zorn
2004).
79

played organ, so I got into organ music; I bought every Bach organ record
I could get my hands on (Zorn, quoted in Duckworth 1995, 446).

The experience of music in connection with a visual experience, i.e., as

soundtrack, had a profound effect on Zorn. Kevin McNeilly notes that many of the
composers [Zorn] admiresEnnio Morricone, Carl Stalling, and Bernard Herrmann
especiallywork exclusively on soundtracks for popular movies and cartoons (1995,
13). The idea of soundtrack music seems to permeate Zorns thinking and experience of
the world.49

I grew up on TV; theres always been sound with the image. Its like I live
in a movie or something. I see an image and I hear music with it. I was
brought up that way. I walk down the street and I hear a soundtrack in my
head for the movie that Im in (Zorn, quoted in Duckworth 1995, 473).

Given this perspective, it is no surprise that the extramusical is an important

aspect of Zorns music. He actively seeks to infuse his compositions with extramusical
elements such as accompanying programs. These programs are reinforced with the visual
elements of album packaging. With me, the packaging is essentialthat is my artwork,
making records, and I want to give people as many clues as I can. I dont want to mystify
everybody; Im not into making some kind of cult. Im trying to be as clear as I can, and
when I put the pictures on the covers that I do, its really to tune you in to whats going
on, rather than to turn you off (quoted in Gagne 1993, 531). As he clearly explains, these
49

Similarly, Zorn uses language connected with film when discussing his music.
In an interview with Edward Strickland, Zorn stated that The music is put together, as
you say, in a verypicaresque is an interesting wordI would use maybe filmic way,
montage (quoted in Strickland, 1991, 128).
80

extramusical connections are directly related to ideas of unity and narrative, and are one
way that Zorn structures his music.

There are many ways to unify a compositional structureI like using

dramatic subjects. Music is not just notes on the page, its not just pitches
in the air. Its got to have some kind of cultural resonance to it, its got to
tell a story in some way. Every piece on Torture Garden, for example, has
some kind of subtext to it; a story thats being told. In Spillane its more
obvious, but even with something like Torture Garden, theres a story
there. The titles help with that too, they give the pieces a cultural
resonance, something that can get thinking patterns going, which someone
can identify with or not identify with or get pissed about. My record
covers are involved with this too. You try to create a package that really
tells a story and says something within a larger context then just the
abstract world of sound or pitches (Zorn, quoted in Gagne 1993, 526).

While programs are part of Zorns compositional approach, his method of

composition also deliberately avoids consideration of any kind of large-scale linear
narrative at the early stages of the process. This occurs because the individual segments
of the collage are composed without thought to their position in the assembled work. In
Zorns works Godard and Spillane, all individual segments are related to a central topic,
even if the representations they present seem incongruous in the context of the linear
unfolding of the piece. As Zorn states on Spillane, For every single section of that piece
I can tell you specifically, what image I was thinking of and how it related to Spillane and
his world. And sometimes theyd be way off the wall but that doesnt matter. The point
is, to me, it holds together (Zorn, quoted in Gagne 1993, 465). These unifying
connections are one way that Zorn supplants traditional musical means of narrative
design. As Zorn states, My works often move from one block to another such that the
81

average person can hear no development whatsoever. But I always have a unifying
concept that ties all the sections together (liner notes to Godard/Spillane, 1999).
The most central visual influence on Zorns collages comes from cartoons. During
his time in college, Zorn studied cartoon soundtracks that he had recorded from television
(Gagne 1993, 512). Cartoon music subsequently continued to be a strong influence on his
musical style. These comments from the documentary A Bookshelf on Top of the Sky
detail his view of the relationship of cartoon music to his compositions.

Cartoon music for me was a real breakthrough in terms of musical form,

how it was structured. It seemed to me that it was completely
revolutionary for the time. Maybe watching Road Runner as a kid or what
have you. . . . Maybe it was all the different kinds of music that was used,
the quotations. I always loved Ives as a young composer. Ives was one of
my favorites and cartoon music seemed to relate to Ives in some way in
terms of quotation and different genres, everything being treated the same,
the same slapstick kind of way. But you know, a little bit of jazz would
appear, classical would appear, all of these different things would appear
really in a new way, and it was really kind of revelatory in a lot of ways,
and really inspiring, and I used to tape shit off the TV, and Id have my
little cassettes. . . . Road Runner was the best because there was no dialog.
I used to listen to it and just try to imagine it without the picture. And it
was difficult because were trained from children to tie those sounds
together that you hear. . . . I tried to listen to it as abstract music and learn
something about musical form. Maybe new ways of creating music. Ways
of breaking established ideas of musical development. Nothing is really
developed in that music. What is developed is what you see on the screen.
There is a drama going on, a drama is played out. But to the director the
sound is secondary. To me the sound was primary. So I tried to find some
kind of analysis, some kind of new structures and I think I learned a little
bit about new ways of putting sounds together by analysis of what happens
in Carl Stallings, specifically Carl Stallings cartoon music (Zorn 2004).

This statement touches on several of the characteristic elements of Zorns music:

its use of quotation, blending of various styles, and fusion of art and popular music.
82

Notably, however, Zorn begins to define what he sees as a different way of organizing
music, one that incorporates a visual narrative but nevertheless remains divorced from
direct programmatic implications. In an interview with William Duckworth, Zorn makes
similar comments about the nature of narrative in cartoon music. [Critics] perception of
what development is is different from mine. See to me, cartoon music is important
because it follows a visual narrative. Its following the images on the screen. Now
separate it from those images and you still have musicvalid, well-made music. But it
does not follow any traditional development that I know of. Its following a visual
narrativeall of the sudden this, all of the sudden that (quoted in Duckworth 1995,
471). In both of these instances, Zorn clearly differentiates between traditional musical
development and a narrative that exists in cartoon music when heard in the abstract.
In order to explore the linear structure of Zorns collages, it is necessary to
consider the notion of narrative conception that he cites in his discussion of cartoon
music. Richard Taruskin has speculated that there is an unseen visual drama that
accompanies Zorns music, writing that while no short-range structural coherence
could be detected in a Zorn compositionthat was in a way the whole pointhis
performances made sense as accompaniments to a vividly implied scenario (2005, 505).
Susan McClary has a similar view, seeing Zorns collage Spillane as presenting
narrative schema easily followed by anyone acquainted with urban pulp fiction and the
Hollywood movies that translated that genre to the screen (2000, 146). Characterizations
such as these, however, may oversimplify the relationship between visual ideas and
Zorns music. For one, Zorns own comments stress that he tried to view cartoon music
83

in a detached or absolute way and ignore its programmatic implicationsto imagine it

without the picture (Zorn 2004). Furthermore, the cartoon soundtrack composer who
most influenced Zorn, Carl Stalling, employed a compositional method that created
soundtracks that did not directly support the visual narrative that was presented by the
moving image, and in many cases, brought their own subsidiary narratives into the
cartoons.
In contrast to other cartoon composers of his era, Stalling arranged music
separately for each scene and gag in the cartoon; parts were not logically connected to
each other except through their immediate relationship with the cartoon visuals. The lack
of linear connections in the music was emphasized by the plots of the cartoons,
particularly those directed by Tex Avery, who worked with Stalling at Warner Bros.
between 1936 and 1941.50 Averys contributions to cartoons shorts was the visual analog
of Stallings music, as his works stress the individual joke at the expense of the cartoon
storyline. As Daniel Goldmark writes, Averys narratives consisted largely of
sequences of black out or spot gagsjokes that quickly came and went, held in place by
only the thinnest of storylines (2005, 74). This visual style would work in synergy with
the non-linear nature of Stallings soundtracks.
When composing scores for cartoon shorts, Stalling relied heavily on precomposed music; in fact, he did so to such an extent that he was criticized for using too

50

Stalling composed the music for over 45 of Averys Warner Bros. cartoons.
After leaving Warner Bros., Avery worked at MGM studios until 1945. Notably, the
subtitle of Cat ONine Tails is Tex Avery directs the Marquis de Sade (liner notes to
Kronos Quartet, Short Stories, 1993).
84

little original music (Goldmark 2005, 11, 22). 51 Stallings practice of quotation often
focused specifically on creating a commentary on the action that formed an additional
level of humor in the film. Instead of always choosing music that matched the mood and
tenor of the current action, Stalling would insert musical jokes based on connections
between the action and the title or lyrics of the song used (22-23). Such humor assumed
an audience that was familiar with popular songs of the time, and could make quick
connections between the screen actions and the songs employed. As Goldmark writes,
Stallings sense of humor often determined what song he might use for a specific visual
gag; frequently, he took advantage of a unique moment in a cartoons plot to slip in a
song whose title referred ironically to the narrative (26). Stallings employment of such
jokes stems from his early experience as a live accompanist for silent film, where
accompanists could choose whether to follow a films narrative or create their own
commentary.

The real allure of accompanying was the film composers freedom to tell a
story. Stallings willingness to push against the boundaries of
comprehensive humor in his scores makes sense in this light. The Warner
Bros. cartoons did all they could to stretch generic story lines (as
exemplified by Disney) until all was topsy-turvy. Because Stalling had no
particular reason to uphold a storys master narrative, he could create new
meanings for the songs without worrying that they would detract from the
cartoons (Goldmark 2005, 24).

51

Stallings use of quotation was aided by two related factors. First, Warner
Bros. invested heavily in music publishing and owned a large library of popular songs,
which Stalling increasingly drew upon during the 1930s (Goldmark 2005, 11, 21).
Second, as part of their marketing of this library, the company instructed cartoon
directors to feature company-owned songs in their films (17). The series-titles Looney
Tunes and Merrie Melodies are direct reflections of this practice.
85

The lack of traditional development in Stallings cartoon scores is the result of

this musical commentary and the fact that the music did not follow and support a central
idea. Stallings scores can be seen as several steps removed from a musical narrative
not only is the only connection between the musical blocks based on visual images, but
the blocks also do not follow the narrative that connects those images. This approach
complicates the hearing (or seeing) of a visual accompaniment to the music when it is
divorced from the cartoon.
If the individual segments are composed without recourse to an overriding linear
progression, what is the nature of the ordering process that Zorn uses when assembling
the piece? As Zorn states, In Spillane each section relates to an adventure in the
picaresque detective novel: he goes to a strip joint to relax or goes to a country and
western bar and gets the shit beat out of him (quoted in Strickland 1991, 134). Does this
mean, however, that there is a continual visual progression to which the music is scored,
a film for which Spillane is the soundtrack?
Services analysis of Spillane suggests that the overriding visual narrative in the
work does not involve this sort of imagined drama. Service attempts to hear the piece in
terms of such a disembodied soundtrack and looks for clues that there is a dramatic
narrative that runs through the piece. He notes that the piece resists any attempt to
imagine a continuous dramatic accompaniment; even in the sections of the piece
containing narration,52 there is no continuity or connection between segments other than

52

The text is in the style of the detective novels but is not directly quoted from the
novels, and instead was written by Arto Lindsay, a musician and composer. The text for
the first narration section is You kill ten guys one of them is bound to come back. He
86

the peripheral connections to the world of Mike Hammer (2004, 76). He writes that The
coherence of Spillane does not just subsist at the level of direct narrative connections. . . .
Instead of hoping to chart a cause-and-effect narrative through the whole piece, it is
better to think of it as an accumulation of different, but related, species of material (69).
Such a hearing reflects Zorns compositional approach; each individual section was
composed with the overriding topic in mind, and so while all relate in some concrete or
abstract way to Mike Hammers world, they operate as different facets of that world, as
opposed to being constructed as a soundtrack.
For Service, the result of Spillane is the creation of a character through the
accumulation of information in the soundscapes of the narrative sections (77). It would
then be the accumulation of all of the musical blocks that presents the final outcome of
the piece. He sees Zorns piece as an example of the kind of development that Zorn hears
in the un(visually)accompanied cartoon music of Carl Stalling. Spillanes structure is
one of Zorns developments of the block architecture he hears in Stallings soundtracks.
Spillane is composed without an accompanying visual track but creates a special kind of
narrative logic, analogous to the experience of listening to a cartoon soundtrack in the
abstract. Spillane, then, may be interpreted as Zorns realization of the new dimension
he hears in Stallings soundtracks (58).
Zorns conception of narrative in his own music, however, seems to go one step
further. The composer himself clearly believes in a perceptible narrative generated by the

doesnt know how dead he is. He runs after you and grabs your gun. You better wake
up.
87

music, as he details in these comments about his block structure compositions.53 Most
of my work involves the manipulation of musical blocks, of moments . . . something that
Stravinsky was famous for and something that Stockhausen maybe took another step,
with moment form. Each moment is complete in itself, like building blocks. And the
moments are positioned one after the other in a linear fashion so that it ends up telling a
story [italics mine] (Zorn 2004). Here, Zorn seems to be indicating that while there is no
traditional musical development in the collage, the necessarily linear construction of the
work results in the piece presenting some species of musical narrative. This idea
corresponds with Zorns interest in finding the proper sequence in which to order the
blocks of the collage (quoted in Brackett, xvi). In the works, even in the presence of extra
musical associations, sound is primary (Zorn 2004). It therefore can be assumed that
the arrangement of segments in Zorns collages presents some sort of narrative that can
be understood through musical means alone, without recourse to any extramusical
associations. In order to explore the nature of this structure, I will examine a more
expansive collage piece of Zorns, his string quartet Cat ONine Tails.

Segmenting Cat ONine Tails

Zorn composed Cat ONine Tails on commission from the Kronos Quartet in
1988. The string quartet, like Speedfreaks, Krazy Kat, and American Psycho, is a
53

Other times, however, Zorn speaks more abstractly about the effect of his block
structure pieces. [Sculpture in the Theater of Musical Optics] relates a lot to my ideas
about form and structure, the idea of blocks, the idea of cartoons: Things that appear in
succession, and are very different from one another, can spark thinking patterns (quoted
in Gagne 1993, 515).
88

collage that features abrupt changes between contrasting musical segments. This style of
composition grew in part from Zorns earlier explorations into organized improvisations
that he calls game pieces. He states that, I had begun to hear sections of music created
in the game pieces in very specific combinations and wanted to orchestrate them in a
more controlled way (Zorn, quoted in McCutchan 1999, 164). This led to what Zorn
calls his file-card or block-structure works, in which he composed musical moments
individually, and then assembled the piece by arranging the moments sequentially.
Originally (as with Spillane and Godard) the file-card pieces were not fully notated, but
consisted of sketches that were further developed in the studio during rehearsal and
recording. In these cases, Zorn considers the recording of the piece to be the final score,
as the tape is the only representation of the completely realized piece (166).
Cat ONine Tails is a file-card work, but was designed for live performance
instead of being sonically constructed in the recording studio. Because the piece was
composed for a classically trained string quartet, Zorn transferred the final arrangement
of file cards into a conventional score. In an interview with William Duckworth, Zorn
described his compositional approach to the piece.

With Cat ONine Tails, I worked out that I wanted the piece to deal with
collage elements, cartoon elements, noise elements, improvisational
elements, and interludes. And I decided that there were going to be twelve
of each of them, sixty sections, and they would be ordered in some way.
And I knew what the cartoon stuff would be like; thats in my head day
and night. Its always there. With the collage elements, I knew I wanted
to draw upon the great string-quartet composers. The improv stuff was
going to be permutations of the players. And the interludes would be like
interludes, slow and melodic kinds of pieces. At that point, basically, the
89

piece was finished; it was in my head. I just had to do the slog work of
actually writing it down (quoted in Duckworth 1995, 473-4).

Zorns collage elements are transformed quotations. In them he will often

combine music or traits of more than one composerfor instance, the pitches from a
melody of Ives broken up the way Webern would do it (470; see also Gagne 1993, 4267). When writing improvisatory sections for classical musicians, Zorn always provides
performance directions through notation. There is no completely free improvisation in
either Cat ONine Tails or Zorns other Kronos-commissioned string quartet, Forbidden
Fruit. He believes that to best take advantage of improving musicians you dont give
them written material. On the other hand, to take advantage of classical musicians at
their best, you give them written material, because thats what they do best. But you
have to inspire them from the page. I try to put as much extra musical material and
information into my music as I can possibly squeeze in (quoted in Duckworth 1995,
470). The score to Cat ONine Tails includes conventional notation alongside
instructions, graphical notation, and titles that in many cases cite particular musical styles
or composers.
Cat ONine Tails uses the same musical topics that create delineations within the
texture as Speedfreaks, Krazy Kat, and American Psycho. My segmentation of the
piece is therefore based on the presence of those structures. The particular device creating
the delineation is identified in the description of each unit.54

54

This segmentation of Cat ONine Tails does not correspond to Zorns

description of the piece as consisting of sixty blocks. In my extensive exploration of the
piece, I was also unable to uncover any segmentation that fully agreed with his
90

Unit 1: Mm. 1-7, Segments 1-7

The opening section of the piece comprises seven segments. Similarly to

Speedfreaks, Cat ONine Tails opens with a shocking blast of noise. Unit 1 contains
internal repetition and contrast: the fast runs of m. 2 and the Virtuoso Freak Out
sections in mm. 3 and 5 are separated by the slow, soft alternating pizzicato of m. 4.
These opening measures lay out a pattern of juxtapositions between loud and soft, fast
and slow, busy and sparse. If listeners expect, however, that such contrasts and
alternations would continue or be developed, they would be incorrect. In segment 6 the
piece presents for the first time homorhythmic music in a distinct key (Bb major)
following a conventional chord progression (ii6-I6-vii6-I). In the context of what has
occurred before, the gesture could appear clichd, jocular or ironic. The cadence

description of there being twelve blocks of each type. Service encountered a similar
incongruity in his segmentation of Spillane (2004, 63). Interestingly, Zorn also describes
Spillane as containing sixty sections (Service uncovers fifty-five sections).
91

Figure 14: Cat ONine Tails, mm. 1-10, unit 1 and part of unit 2.

92

presented by segment 6 is followed by an outlined augmented triad (segment 7), a gesture

that implies a musical transition. The overall effect of the unit is to create the sense that
listener is floating in the immediate experience of the piece with no point of reference,
where juxtaposed musical figures continually seek to undermine preconceptions or
implications.

Unit 2: Mm. 8-14, Segments 8-1355

Unit 2 begins with an additive unison passage that over three measures incorporates the
entire quartet. Instead of employing repetition, the phrase linearly presents diverse
moments. The ascending unison runs of segment 8, which appear to be heading to some
dramatic gesture through their increase in pitch and accelerando, instead lead to a cartoon
pratfall (segment 9), which seems to trivialize the previous music. This is followed by a
series of tone clusters and improvised high harmonics on the two violins. A threesecond pause provides a clear separation between units 2 and 3. Although the linear
segments are strikingly discontinuous, the music is vertically cohesive, with instruments
each contributing to the presentation of a single particular texture in each moment.

55

The Kronos Quartet recording of Cat ONine Tails, which I employed while
studying the piece, does not include one segment (segment 10) that appears in the score. I
have chosen keep my numbering consistent with the score of the piece.
93

Unit 3: Mm. 15-29, Segments 14-19

In unit 3, the opening cartoon mickey-mousing section (Cat and Dog Fight) is
followed by a segment of country swing, which again is replaced by contrasting music.
The sound effects of Cat and Dog Fight, which would seem to be at home in a cartoon
based collage like Cat ONine Tails, seem to be as removed from context as the country
swing that follows. If one attempts to follow the piece from event to event, such a
listening strategy will lead to the conclusion that there is no consistency, structure, or
implication as the music flows from segment to segment in the piece. Unit 3 is similar to
unit 2 in that there is no internal repetition of textures or genres.

Unit 4: Mm. 30-38, Segments 20-21

The fourth unit is set off from the third through a change in texture and length whereas
previous collage segments were no more than six seconds long, unit 4 features two longer
moments, totaling over 30 seconds in length. This length is out of character with the
material contained in the previous phrases; this difference delineates the unit from the
surrounding material. Both of the segments that are part of unit 4 feature slow, melodic
music, and, following Zorns description of the components of the piece, the unit could
be characterized as an interlude. Silence marks the end of the unit.

94

Figure 15: Cat ONine Tails, mm. 30-38, unit 4.

95

Unit 5: Mm. 39-47, Segments 22-27

Unit 5 begins with an alternation of noises (scrapes, high harmonics, glissandos), and
improvised bowing (with the instruction bow behind left hand). In the segments of this
unit, the instruments simultaneously play different, non-cohesive sounds. The unit ends
with ascending arco and pizzicato lines. The repetition contained within the phrase
recalls unit 1, although in unit 5, discontinuity has spread to the vertical (simultaneous)
aspect of the collage. A three-second pause separates units 5 and 6.

Unit 6: Mm. 48-53.2, Segments 28-33

In unit 6, soft glissandos alternate with staccatissimo interjections. Another transitional

gesture (ending with a 3rd inversion A7 chord) ends the phrase. Segments 31 and 32
feature the strings in duos.

Unit 7: Mm. 53.3-54, Segments 34-38

Unit 7 presents somewhat of a chimera between the tutti collage segments of the first half
of Cat ONine Tails and the later solo cadenzas. After a lyrical passage outlined by
chordal interjections, the cello plays three disjunct gestures. The last of these outlines an
FB tritone, providing a transition to the first segment of unit 8, where the violins and

96

viola begin on middle C. While segments 34 and 35 features a tutti ensemble, focus turns
to the solo gestures of the cello during the unit.

Unit 8: Mm. 55-67, Segments 39-47

Unit 8 begins with noise (a long scrape) on the cello accompanied by fast unison
passages in the other instruments. The phrase accelerates into a measure of improvisation
(labeled Go Crazy) and a quick montage of short fragments (labeled cartoon),
increasing energy throughout. While the cartoon section features strong linear
discontinuity, the four instruments play similar events in almost every segment. The
transition to unit 9 is made through an outlined tritone (AD#).

Unit 9: Mm. 68-70, Segments 48-50

This unit presents three segments. The first acts as an introduction to the following two,
which are labeled Xenakis and Ives. There is a considerable slowing of the pace in
this unit, appropriate considering that a slow interlude follows. All sections involve the
entire ensemble.

97

Unit 10: Mm. 71-78, Segment 51

Unit 10 is similar to unit 4, in that it is a lengthy, slow, melodic section. A pause follows.

Unit 11: Mm. 79-91, Segments 52-65

Unit 11, similarly to unit 8, begins with longer segments and accelerates through a
cartoonish section (labeled Pandoras Box) and short lyrical gestures. A ritardando,
however, decreases energy as the unit concludes. Before a three-second pause, the cello
and viola play a transitional gesture, this time outlining a tritone from F# to C. The
segments alternate between those involving the whole ensemble and those featuring a
solo or duo.

Unit 12: M. 92, Segment 66-68

This unit is in many ways unique in the piece. It is set off from the surrounding material
through three-second periods of silence, and is as long as the interlude sections.
However, it is not in character with those units, as it does not reference melodic styles of
music. Instead of presenting an excerpt of cohesive music, the segment consists of slow
lines in contrary then similar motion, separated gestures that possess no clear stylistic
reference.

98

Unit 13: Mm. 95-110, Segments 69-76

Unit 13 is the opposite of units 8 and 11. It begins with shorter segments, accelerates
through unison runs, and ends with a slow bluesy section. Again, it is completely linear
in design, and features a mixture of instrumental combinations. Silence follows.

Unit 14: M. 111, Segment 77

This unit is a single long cartoon section, titled Whipping Scene. It is outlined by
silence.

Unit 15: Mm. 112-122, Segment 78

Unit 15 is an interlude like units 4 and 10, and is followed by a pause.

Unit 16: Mm. 123-133, Segments 79-97

Unit 16 is formed of longer musical ideas. A segment of improvisation gives way to a

country shuffle, which is followed by an alternation of scrapes and suspenseful music
(labeled stalking). The unit is completed by a fast montage of sounds (labeled cartoon
trades). The unit contains internal repetition as well as a large amount of vertical

99

discontinuity, particularly in the cartoon trades section. The two-second pause that
follows the unit is not indicated in the score, but is performed on the recording.

Unit 17: Mm. 134-141, Segments 99-104

Unit 17 presents another acceleration of musical segments. A longer slow section begins
the unit, followed by briefer gestures. Another transition (GDb tritone) concludes the
unit. The unit contains no internal repetition, and is only moderately cohesive.

Unit 18: Mm. 142-145, Segments 105-106

Unit 18 is an interlude. A sound effect (Tyson Hits Spinks) acts as a pickup to the main
long melodic section. Three seconds of silence follow.

Unit 19: Mm. 145-155, Segments 107-113

This unit is another linear collection of segments, this time longer and developed, each
presenting enough music to identify its character and genre. Aside from the first
segment, all feature the entire ensemble playing cohesively.

100

Unit 20: Mm. 155-156, Segments 114-121

Unit 20 is as viola cadenza, and is the first extended cadenza to appear in Cat ONine
Tails. Each of the cadenzas presents a montage of musical gestures, noise, and sound
effects. A scrape begins the section, and a tutti section of noise separates units 20 and 21.
This cadenza contains a mixture of musical gestures, sound effects, and flourishes, and it
presents a musical focus on the individual instrument instead of on the ensemble.

Unit 21: M. 157, Segments 122-126

The brief cello cadenza is similar in texture and affect to unit 20.

Unit 22: Mm. 158-160, Segments 127-160

Violin 2 cadenza.

Unit 23: Mm. 161-169, Segments 133-135

Unit 23 is another linear montage of several longer musical segments. It begins with a
jocular imitative section, accelerates through ascending runs, and arrives at a marching
band section that comes cadence in the key of Bb major. The cadence is undermined by a
vernacular tritone gesture in a similar way as the end of unit 1.
101

Unit 24: Mm. 170-172: Segments 136-137

In unit 24, glissandos lead into another interlude.

Unit 25: Mm. 173-180, Segments 138-144

Unit 25 is a completely linear montage. It begins with a disjunct segment, moves through
a series of individual gestures like the cartoon trades segment that came earlier in the
piece, and ends with a diverse pizzicato texture. A pause follows.

Unit 26: M. 181, Segments 145-160

This is another cadenza, this time in the first violin.

Unit 27: Mm. 182-186, Segments 161-165

Unit 27 is a linear montage. It begins with a discontinuous segment labeled

Xenakis/Schnberg, is followed by one labeled Messiaen, continues with a segment
of an improvised Violin Duo where the first violin is instructed Virtuoso and the

102

Figure 16: Cat ONine Tails, m. 187, unit 28

103

second Like a Beginner, and ends with a block labeled adlib hocket. Three seconds
of silence follow.

Unit 28: M. 187, Segment 166

While this section is long (31 seconds), it is not in character with the interludes. In it, the
music for each instrument is completely unrelated.

Unit 29: M. 188, Segment 168

The final unit in the piece is another slow and melodic interlude of seven sustained
chords.

Cat ONine Tails and Episodic Form

Following the segmentation of the piece, the next step in paradigmatic analysis is
the classification of the units into categories according to their common characteristics.
The units of Cat ONine Tails can be placed into six categories. Twenty of the units
contain multiple segments of music. Sixteen of these feature the whole ensemble
performing collage phrases. These form the first category. Six of the units contain only a
single musical idea and are slow and melodic, fitting Zorns categorization of
interludes (Duckworth 1995, 474). These six units form the second category. Three of
the remaining sections also present a single musical idea, but do not resemble the
104

interludes. Unit 12 presents alternating similar and contrary motion, unit 14 is a cartoon
scene, and unit 28 presents a mish-mash of unrelated music. These three sections are
unique in the piece, and each is placed in its own category. The final category consists of
the units marked cadenza. While they are collage textures, these feature only one
instrument, marking them as different from the first category of unit. The paradigmatic
display of Cat ONine Tails is based on these categorizations. In the display, the
categories are arranged according to their chronological appearance.
The display reveals important details about the piece. A general proportional
structure to Cat ONine Tails clearly can be seen, where interludes (column 2) are
positioned throughout the piece, dividing it into different sections that each contain
several units. Such a division is even clearer in the timeline of Cat ONine Tails (see
Figure 18). In general, units are of a similar length in the piece (between approximately
12.5 seconds and 44 seconds). The length of the interludes also corresponds to this
general length (they are between approximately 20 and 35 seconds long).
The remarkable evenness of proportion that can be seen in the structure of the
units in Cat ONine Tails is further shown how the units themselves are grouped. The
piece is divided by the interludes into six sections, each of roughly similar length (the
length of these sections is between approximately one and two minutes). In addition, the
same means (the presence of an interlude, a vastly different kind of unit than the collage

105

Collage Phrase Interlude Unit 12 Unit 14 Cadenza Unit 28

1
2
3

5
6
7
8
9

10

11

12

13

14
15

16
17

18

19

20
21
22

23

24

25

26

27

28
29
Figure 17: Paradigmatic Display of Cat O' Nine Tails

106

phrases that form the majority of the piece) groups the units. Cat ONine Tails thus
displays the use of perceptual division at the sectional level as well as at that of the
segment and unit. This piece exhibits what can be seen as an extension of the
organizational principle that characterizes Zorns other collages. In Cat ONine Tails,
segments are organized into units that are further hierarchically organized into episodes.

Figure 18: Timeline of Cat ONine Tails

The pieces examined to this point can be regarded as exhibiting episodic collage
form, a characteristic
acteristic relate
related to the concept of the visual and Zorns idea of visual
107

development. Episodic collage form is a musical organization in which a disjunct piece

divides through perceptible means into structures consisting of groups of segments or
groups of units of roughly similar length. This concept of form corresponds with Zorns
conception of cartoon music, which he sees as possessing a visual narrativeall of the
sudden this, all of the sudden that (quoted in Duckworth 1995, 471). It also is similar to
the cartoon soundtracks produced by Stalling and Averys collaborations, where each
gag in a series of barely related visual jokes was accompanied by its own idiosyncratic
montage of music and sound effects. Larger structures in Cat ONine Tails are
differentiated in the same way that adjacent units are delineated from each other in the
shorter works. There is no linear continuity between the episodes of the collage, just as
there is no linear continuity between adjacent segments. In Cat ONine Tails, units
combine to form even larger structures; I call them episodes here, but it is important to
understand that, as in the other works, units themselves can also be episodes in a piece
(and indeed, where a single segment forms a unit, that segment alone can make up the
entirety of an episode).
This episodic construction is similar to a piece in moment-form. It is important,
however, to note the difference in intentionality between moment-form and the episodic
collage. Where moment-form is seen by Kramer as specifically to consist of blocks that
strike one as arbitrarily sequenced (1978, 181), Zorns works are designed to present a
linear narrative regardless of the overwhelming discontinuity of the component segments.
Zorns comment that each moment is complete in itself, like building blocks. And the

108

moments are positioned one after the other in a linear fashion so that it ends up telling a
story is particularly apt here (Zorn 2004).

Narrative in Musical Collage

This understanding of episodic structure can be used to interpret linear narrative
in the works. Obviously, these collages present narrative in an untraditional way. Because
episodic collages present disconnected periods of music, however, their narrative can be
understood through ideas of presentation and replacement, an understanding tied
specifically to visual art.
In his essay Uncanny Moments: Juxtaposition and the Collage Principle in
Music, (2006) Nicholas Cook presents a theory of the meaning of musical montage and
the interaction of musical discontinuities that applies to the idea of episodic collage.
Cook bases his theory, a semiotics of juxtaposition, on interpretations of film montage
borrowed from Russian formalist theory (121). He writes that in a film montage,
meaning is not primarily inherent in the individual shot, but in the relationships with
adjacent shots established through montage (122). He distinguishes between the
juxtaposition of two discrete elements, as in a fine art visual collage, and the replacement
of one element with another, as in film or musical montage, where ideas are set against
each other linearly and rarely overlap. In his interpretation of Herbert Eagles ideas,
Cook states that the relationship between successive stills selects certain of their
potentially infinite properties, makes them available for signification, while suppressing

109

other properties (124). The collision of two elements therefore distinguishes the
signification that each presents.
Cook writes that in a montage, where one shot replaces another, the essential
nature of film lies in the activity of the viewer who makes sense of the film by
understanding each shot in terms of the one preceding it. The basic principle, as
Tynyanov explained, is that of differential replacementthe principle that each shot
should be related in some way to the preceding shots (either in terms of a plot or
syntactically), but in other respects should be contrastive and differential (122). The
technique of montage presents material in a much different way than a standard sequence
in film, and that difference affects the way that individual shots communicate with the
viewer. Meaning is not primarily inherent in the individual shot, but in the relationships
with the adjacent shots established through montage. . . . Film is a time-based medium in
the most radical sense. (122-3)
Comparing the montage process of film practice to Zorns collage Snagglepuss,
Cook writes, The juxtaposed blocks do not unfold in a successive formation, a gradual
orderthey replace one another. . . . And because each block in itself contains
potentially infinite properties, it is only in collision with other blocks that signs can
emerge as distinct by opposition; the result is a blended space in which the exchange of
qualities gives rise to the uncanny, haunting, obsessive sound image to which I referred
(125). In an analysis of the band Queens epic Bohemian Rhapsody, Cook applies this
idea to the moment when the entrance of the hard rock band replaces the operatic
imitations of the pieces middle section. At the abrupt change, ocular and aural space
110

open up to reveal a live heavy-rock performance with all the signifiers of authenticity
fully in evidencealthough one of the effects of the juxtaposition is to call this
authenticity, and perhaps the whole idea of authenticity, into question: the rock vocal
style retroactively infects the operatic vocal style, and vice versa, the collision of two
incompatible constructions of vocal style transforming each into a marked term,
revealing each not as a natural expression of passion but as a construction of artifice
(127).
Cooks approach to musical montage can be extended to apply to the analysis of
the episodic collage. In these works, the process of replacement occurs not just between
adjacent segments, but between adjacent units and episodes. Narrative is not created by
the processes of implication, variation, or development common in much music. Instead,
as each episode is replaced by the next, without any implication as to what would follow,
a narrative is created that finds is basis in the characteristics of each episode that are
highlighted by contrast, or to use Cooks words, the characteristics that emerge as
distinct by opposition. To follow Cooks analyses, each successive episode reframes,
illuminates, or calls into question some aspect of the previous.
Thus, it is the characteristics of each episode, and the differences shown when
compared with adjacent episodes, which create the sense of narrative in the piece. The
differences between successive episodes of Cat ONine Tails are related to the types of
units that they contain. Episode 1 and Episode 2 contain only units from the first category
in the paradigmatic display. In terms of form and character, Episode 2 is a modified
repetition of Episode 1. The third episode contains one unit from category one and two
111

from category 3; those two units, 12 and 14, present only a single idea. When contrasted
against Episode 2, Episode 3 displays a slower rate of texture change while still utilizing
the same basic collage principles. Like the first two episodes, the fourth episode contains
only collage phrases. Cat ONine Tails presents a texture type in Episode 1 and 2 and
then contrasts it against one of slower change in Episode 3 before returning to the initial
texture. This kind of AABA structure establishes a sense of pacing and flow in the piece.
Episode 5 consists mostly of cadenzas. These sections present two major
differences from the standard texture of the collage phrase. First, the shortness of the
segments contributes to a greater sense of discontinuity. Second, by splintering the
ensemble and focusing only on the individual instruments, the cadenzas bring a new
element of disjunction to the collage. Here, the piece presents a focus on the solo
instrument and abandons the tightly controlled texture change that figures prominently in
Zorns collage works.
Episode 6 brings the increased heterogeneity to a climax. The episode contains
the final cadenza as well as unit 28, a unit from the third category. Unit 28 presents a
texture that is unique in Cat ONine Tails. In it, each instrument in the quartet plays a
separate line of unrelated music. Unit 28 verticalizes the idea of the cadenza sections into
a simultaneous mash-up of various styles. The penultimate episode shows that the linear
discontinuity that is a consistent aspect of the collage has permeated into the vertical
aspect of the music. Cat ONine Tails creates a narrative by varying the levels of
discontinuity and their presentation during the course of the work, and creates a musical

112

plot by establishing a texture and then introducing more disruptive material to bring the
piece to a climax.
Zorn places much importance on the linear design of his music. He writes that
sorting the filing cards, putting them in the perfect order, is one of the toughest jobs
(liner notes to Spillane, 1991). The outcome of this process can be understood through
the visual idiolect. While Zorns music is unified through various musical and
extramusical processes and associations, we see in Cat ONine Tails that he does not
abandon narrative or progression in the linear unfolding of his collage works. The linear
sequence of segments and units presents a narrative in the form of musical changes that
occur between successive blocks and groups of blocks. It is fitting that the linear
narrative in Cat ONine Tails results from the varied textures of discontinuity over the
course of the piece; as Kramer writes, the unexpected is more striking, more meaningful,
than the expected (1978, 177).

113

CHAPTER 5
I PUT THIS TOGETHER AS A GAME . . . : MUSICAL GAMES AND THE
NARRATIVE CONSTRUCTION OF AN ALBUM

Albums are an important part of Zorns compositional output. In many cases, the
recorded music is conceptually tied to the albums title and packaging, presenting an
assemblage that can be conceived of as a singular work as opposed to a collection of
disparate pieces. A record is similar to a musical collage in that both consist of a series of
distinct musical blocks. In the case of Zorns music, it is not inconceivable to consider
the arrangement of songs on an album to be the result of the same kind of ordering
process that governs the sequence of segments in his collage music. In this chapter, I will
explore the arrangement of songs on Naked Citys album Radio using the perspectives
that I have developed and employed in the analysis of Zorns collage pieces. I will show
how the arrangement of songs on Radio relates to an idiolect of the musical game, a
concept that influences Zorns music in many ways.

Zorn and Musical Games

The earliest association of the word game with Zorn relates to his game
pieces.56 These works, which Zorn composed between 1974 and 1990 (Cox 2004, 196),
were built around ideas of controlling improvisation and developing new relationships

56

Musical games have been present throughout western music history. For one
fascinating example, see Zbikowski 2002, 139-149, on Musickalisches Wrfelspiel, a
compositional game attributed to Mozart.
114

between composer, conductor, performer, and the work. The pieces were written for
improvising musicians, and developed from Zorns study of the techniques of John Cage,
Earle Brown, Cornelius Cardew, and Karlheinz Stockhausen (Cox 2004, 196; see also
Duckworth 1995, 463-4).57 Zorn was motivated by dissatisfaction with completely
improvised pieces and was interested in coordinating improvisation within an ensemble
(Duckworth 1995, 461).
A game piece consisted of instructions that guided the improvised performances
of the players, a complex set of rules that, in a sense, turned players on and off like
toggle switches (Zorn, quoted in Cox 2004, 200). While Zorn conducted rehearsals and
performances, the responsibility of guiding the unfolding of the piece was equally in the
hands of the players, who not only improvised according the instructions of a given
moment but could determine in real time the sequence of events in the piece (199).58 As
Zorn states, I never specifically told anyone anything. I set up rules where they could
tell each other when to play (quoted in Duckworth 1995, 462).
Zorn was in search of novel ways of relating to improvising musicians. My
particular thrust in writing the game piecesas with all of my musicis to engage,
inspire, and enthrall a group of musicians into doing music that they are excited about, so
that the excitement is passed on to the audience (quoted in Cox 2004, 197). He
57

Zorn notes the peculiar relationship between Cage and improvising musicians
and contrasts it with how he composes in ways designed to stimulate the performer,
saying that, Cage perversely thrived on the friction between what he wanted and what
they didnt want to do (quoted in Cox 2004, 197).
58

The sets of rules that make up each piece are unpublished and explained only in
rehearsal in an oral tradition, and Zorn considers versions not organized by himself to be
amateur, outlaw, or renegade (Cox 2004, 197).
115

recognized how many composers from the second half of the twentieth century had
utilized hand-picked ensembles to perform their compositions, and did the same in his
game pieces. This careful selection of musicians enabled Zorn to harness the personal
languages that the improvisers had developed on their own, languages that were so
idiosyncratic as to be almost unnotateable (197). The game pieces were written for a
distinct community of kinds of musicians that have specific kinds of skills (198).
Zorns conception of the piece was intimately tied to the musicians involved. He states
that the answer for me was to deal with form, not content, with relationships, not with
sound. The instructions in these early game pieces do not have musicians on the stage
relating to sound. They have musicians on the stage relating to each other. The
improvisers on the stage were themselves the sound (199).
This idea of turning improvisers on and off like toggle switches is reminiscent
of the use of a radio as an instrument in a piece like Cages Imaginary Landscape No. 4.
In many ways, the rules to the game were a way of playing the performers, a way of
using the ensemble as an instrument. In designing the piece for a specific ensemble, Zorn
took advantage of his knowledge of the improvisatory style of the particular musicians,
and therefore had some idea of what kind of sound the musicians could produce. Zorn
thus had control over the realization of the piece to a further extent then would be
expected for a work that is completely improvised.
In addition to the use of the word game to describe controlled improvisation,
Zorn uses the word in reference to compositional processes, specifically when discussing
his use of quotation. In Zorns works, quotations often do not appear as segregated blocks
116

of unaltered music. Instead, they are modified through various techniques and/or set
simultaneously against other quotations or original music. Zorn refers to these
techniques as compositional games. Discussing the composition of Cat ONine Tails he
said,

Theres a very deep element of quotation in my music, which is something

that relates to Ives very directly. But its quotation also in the way that,
say, Berg liked to play games with himselfthe way that Webern liked to
play games with pitches, Berg liked to play games with melodies, and so
did Ives. . . . I put [Cat ONine Tails] together as a game, but I can also
hear it fitting together . . . The point is the game that Im playing. One
section is the pitches from a melody by Ives broken up the way Webern
would do it (quoted in Duckworth 1995, 470).59

In a different interview, Zorn described a string quartet he had written in which

one measure featured original material in the first violin, improvisation in the second
violin, a quote from Boulez in the viola, and the retrograde inversion of a quote from
Stravinsky in the cello. Zorn will also compose in the style of a certain genre (tango,
blues, etc.) or of a certain composer, a technique he views as a tribute (Gagne 1993, 527).
Discussing his piece Elegy, Zorn explained how he used Boulezs Le Marteau Sans
Matre in the way Schoenberg would use a 12-tone row. . . . As a point of departure.
Sometimes I would reverse pitch sequences; sometimes I would use every other pitch
from the viola part and give it to the flute; sometimes I would take rhythm from one
instrument and pitches from another and put them together. . . . Its never a case where
Ill take a whole bar; its more like, this is just raw material that Im using this scale,
59

Zorn also describes taking all of the pitches from a bar of LHistoire Du Soldat
and putting them in a different rhythmic matrix (Gagne 1993, 527).
117

this set, this multiphonic (529-30). Zorn sees this kind of borrowing as a way of
unifying the music, much in the same way as musical blocks could be related through
programs.
In a compositional game, Zorn modifies pre-existing material; a quotation, a
musical style, or a compositional technique associated with some composer. Pre-existing
music is transformed by Zorns idiosyncratic compositional persona, sometimes
combined with another outside source of music or technique, and sometimes with
original material or processes. The music produced is therefore a blend of the pre-existing
and Zorn.
In the case of game pieces, Zorns control over the improvisers blends his designs
of musical form (or designs of ways of creating musical form) with the individual
performers idiosyncratic styles. Zorn is quoting, but instead of quoting and manipulating
pre-existing music, he quotes the improvisatory style of the performer. The rules that
control the work then blend and manipulate the quotations into the realization of the
piece. In both the case of the game pieces and in the composition game, Zorns musical
personality is blended with that of other performers, composers, or genres. This blending
represents an idiolect of the musical game, a concept that will provide a way to
interpret the musical structure of Naked Citys album Radio.60

60

An associated part of Zorns use of the term game in these situations relates
to his interest in relating to the performer and making the performance enjoyable for the
performer, whether it is an improviser in a game piece, or a musician reading from a
score. As Zorn states, A very important thing all through my musical life is to make sure
that the musicians involved are having fun and like what theyre doing. If that means I
turn it into a game, then I turn it into a game. If it means I have to play compositional
games to excite the musicians, or include improvisational elements if think those
118

Radio, and the Album as a Collage

The album title Radio may imply the idea of the album as a sampling of available
musical styles, an interpretation of what it is like to scan through a series of radio
stations, taking in a song or two on each. Indeed, the songs of the album touch widely on
jazz, fusion, country, rock, punk, and heavy metal, and run a gamut from stylistically
homogenous songs to musical collages (including Krazy Kat and American Psycho).
It is as if Zorn has assembled a theoretical mix of music from the radio airwaves, and
plays with this idea of musical sampling both within the album as a whole and
individually within some of the more discontinuous songs. While the wide array of styles
that appear on Radio support the above perceptions, the concept of a musical Radio has
other meanings when considered along with Zorns compositional history.
The rules that make up the game pieces provided a measure of control that Zorn,
as composer and conductor, would have over the ensemble, while at the same time
accepting the input of the performers in real time on a large number of musical details,
including how the piece was to unfold. As mentioned earlier, Zorns careful selection of
the performers for each work meant that he understood the kind of performance and style
that they would contribute to the work. Game pieces were really processes designed to
musicians are into it, then Ill do that. Making it fun is the best way to get a good
performance (quoted in Duckworth 1995, 470). Zorns use of quotation furthers this
goal. For classical musicians, what I like to do is integrate quotations of literature they
might or might not know within the lines that Im writing. So that a violinist over the
course, of say, eight bars, will play a couple of bars of mine, then therell be a bar of
Mozart and theyll say, That sounds familiar; or therell be a bar of Messiaen, and
theyll go, Ive heard that somewhere before. And then its back to my stuff. So its like
a little game in a sense (quoted in Gagne 1993, 526).
119

autonomously produce performances that matched the conceptions of the piece that Zorn
imagined. Much as Zorn was using the studio as his instrument (Anthony Coleman,
liner notes to Godard/Spillane, 1999) in his later collages like Spillane, Zorn used the
improvising performers as instruments, albeit ones that are less controlled, in the game
pieces. The performers became like stations on a radio, which would play music of a
known quality when selected.
Zorns compositions for Naked City represented a movement from the extremes
of improvised compositions to completely notated works.61 This also involved moving
away from the level of collaboration between composer and performer that existed in
Zorns earlier works, including collages like Spillane and Godard. If I have to be
completely truthful, Naked City is about performing things that I hearit is about sound.
Its about composition. Naked City is like a little machine. Its a picture of my brain
(quoted in Gagne 1993, 528). The simile of the band as a machine agrees with the idea of
the album as a radio. We can think of Radio as the playlist of music that is going on in
Zorns head.
The liner notes of the album contain a list entitled Inspiration/Refer, which
appears to correspond with the tracklist of the album. The list (see Appendix for a full
description) contains references to various musicians, bands, composers, pieces, and nonmusical elements. Zorns inspirations on Radio include examples from popular music
(Bob Demmon and the Astronauts, Little Feat, Ruins, Booker T. and the MGs), jazz (Eric
Dolphy, Tony Williams Lifetime), world music (Orchestra Baobab, E.M. Lanka), western
61

Zorns conception of notation here includes written instructions and other nonstandard representations (Gagne 1993, 518).
120

composers (Igor Stravinsky, Morton Feldman), and non-musical sources (Yakuza

Zankoku Hiroku, Sam Fuller).
While the album has not received close scholarly attention, internet reviews and
descriptions provide some interesting examples of popular conceptions of the work. In
his website pertaining to Zorns music, Scott Maykrantz describes Radio as a work
dedicated to compositions that features different types of musical combinations. Radio is
all about combining different styles of music. In 19 tracks, the band references the
musical styles of over 60 musicians, paying tribute to each one by blending them
together. . . . The combinations come in three forms. The first is block form, where the
music shifts from one style to another throughout the song. . . . The second form is the
blend: two or more styles played at the same time. . . . The third form is a single style for
the entire song. In this case, the song is a block of music within the rest of the album
(2004). One popular conception of the work is that Radio was conceived as a set for a
college radio program, making it a kind of Young Person's Guide to Naked City,
beginning with accessible tunes, gradually building up listener tolerance to dissonance,
and finally sandbagging the listener with evil blasts of dissonant metallic noise and
convincing perpetrator-and-victim screaming (Rickard 2011).
Radio can be interestingly conceptualized by comparing the albums
characteristics to the structure of Zorns episodic collages. In fact, Radio as a whole
exhibits many of the attributes of collages such as Cat ONine Tails and American
Psycho. Like his collages, the songs are stylistically diverse, are separated by a common
musical device (silence), and are generally of similar length (between fifty-six seconds
121

and six minutes and ten seconds, with most songs between two and four minutes). Radio
is the only one of Naked Citys albums that exhibits these characteristics. The albums
Naked City (1990) and Grand Guignol (1992) are compilations of miniatures,
interpretations, and longer works. Torture Garden is a stylistically consistent collation of
miniatures. Leng Tche (1992) contains one long composition, Heretic (1992) is a film
soundtrack, and Absinthe (1993) consists of ambient music.
The fundamental units that make up Radio are the individual songs. My
exploration of the narrative in the album will begin by analyzing form in each song with
the goal of categorizing the songs according to their formal arrangement. In the following
descriptions, I present the unfolding of the sections of each piece in a paradigmatic
display. In each display, repetitions of sections are made vertical, and series of divergent
sections are presented horizontally. The numbered sections correspond respectively with
the order in which material appears in the linear unfolding of the song.
Since the format and majority of styles exhibited on Radio derive from popular
music, it is most appropriate to speak of formal relationships in the individual pieces in
terms of popular song form. Even though these pieces are instrumentals and lack the
textual elements that can be important in determining structure in popular songs, similar
principles of formal organization can be seen to apply, and many of the pieces can be
understood as variations of standardized musical forms. According to Brad Osborn,
sections of rock songs can be characterized as autonomous (self-sufficient and
memorable) or non-autonomous (connecting and transitional, less memorable). He views
the autonomous sections in rock music to be the verse and chorus, and sees the most
122

fundamental structural design of as a popular song as the alternation of these two sections
(2010, 63-7).62
Other non-autonomous sections occur in rock songs as well, including
introductions, closing sections (outros or codas), and internal transitions (such as the
pre-chorus) (69-70). It is also common to have a previously unheard section, normally
termed the bridge, occur in the latter half of the piece. The most common iteration in
popular music of a form containing a bridge is identified by John Covach as compound
AABA form, where A sections are pairs of verses and choruses, and the B section is the
bridge (2005, 74-75). Osborn writes that the vast majority of modern rock music,
including nearly every conventional pop/rock song, uses this structure as a basic form
(2010, 12-13). In addition to being a common section in popular music, the bridge
typically provides the greatest contrast to the other components of the work (Everett
2009, 147).
Zorns use of standard song forms has been discussed by John Brackett. He notes
that Zorn employs known musical structures to provide established principles against
which his avant-garde musical processes contrast. Brackett describes the characteristics
of Zorns music in terms of homogeneous (stable and rational) and heterogeneous
(non-stable and irrational) realms (2008, 21-2).

Zorns music does not aim to simply represent heterogeneous or

transgressive acts per se. It attempts to wreak violence on homogeneous
musical structures, designs, and forms as well as any notion of what may
62

John Covach calls this contrasting verse-chorus form (2006, 98). See also
Everett 2009, 145, for a description of verse and chorus in popular music.
123

constitute musical logic. Zorns music, in other words, attempts to

transgress the boundaries that exist between what is typically understood
as discursively acceptable, rational, and logical (homogeneous) and that
which is considered irrational, unacceptable, and outside of such
formations. Such an act requires an acknowledgement of homogenous
musical structures whose logic is ultimately pushed to the breaking point
(23-4).

Brackett sees this occurring in Speedfreaks, and views the piece as a thirty-twobar song form that has been subverted through the application of the collage texture.
Similarly, the appearance of standard song forms on Radio is significant in that it reflects
Zorns use of common, rational structures. This also indicates that these kinds of standard
musical forms could be subject to the similar kinds of boundary stretching techniques as
Brackett uncovered in his analyses.

Paradigmatic Analyses of the Individual Songs of Radio

Unit 1: Asylum, 1.56

Inspiration/Refer: Charles Mingus on Candid, Eric Dolphy, Paul Bley

As Zorns liner-notes inspirations for this piece indicate, Asylum is a jazz

composition, a fast tune that features a standard organization of alternating head (a) and
solos (b). The brief head appears three times in the piece. The solo section is not merely
underpinned by a repetition of the harmonic changes from the head, but is a separate
composed section. Each of the two solo sections is divided into three separate solos. The
second solo in each section continues through a short unaccompanied section, and the
124

third of each trades with the drums. The paradigmatic display clearly displays this
alternation of units.

b63

5
Figure 19: Paradigmatic Display of Asylum

Figure 20: Timeline of Asylum

63

In addition to using letters to represent formal sections I refer to sections that

have clear dependent functions as intro, transition, or outro. Detailed description of
the particular segments of each song and my reasoning is contained within each songs
discussion.
125

Unit 2: Sunset Surfer, 3.24

Inspiration/Refer: Bob Demmon and the Astronauts

This is a melodic song in the style of surf rock, built around an alternating pattern
of sections. The (a) melody is introduced in a short introduction of unaccompanied
guitar. The band enters on a vamp.64 The body of song features alternations of (a) and (b)
sections; the guitar plays the first melody over the (a) sections, and the saxophone
presents an answering melody in the (b) sections. A guitar solo occurs during the (a)
section that is before the second (b). The song ends on another vamp. Sunset Surfer is
made up of alternating (a) and (b) sections, each with distinctive melodic and harmonic
components. Although the piece is an instrumental and lacks the textual elements that are
often used to support these characterizations, we could at least say that the basic idea of
a/b alternation is present in both standard rock songs and Sunset Surfer, and the piece
at hand is not a departure from the common song form. Again, this is reflected in the
paradigmatic display. This songs only departure from the structure of Asylum is the
fact that the (a) section is repeated before each (b). The basic alternating two-part form,
however, is intact.

64

The first instance of the (a) section is fulfilling an introductory function, and
does not appear in the complete form that occurs later in the piece. Vamp refers to the
use of a repeated chord progression. Often, vamps appear as time-filling transitions or
accompany solos. In this case, the vamp is used as an introduction and outro.
126

1
2

4
5

7
Figure 21: Paradigmatic Display of Sunset Surfer

Figure 22: Timeline of Sunset Surfer

Unit 3: Party Girl, 2.35

Inspiration/Refer: Little Feat

127

This is a southern-rock, country-shuffle song, appropriate given that the band

Little Feat is cited as its inspiration. The song begins with an (a) and (b) that introduces a
pattern of three different sections (a b c a b). After the contrasting (d) section, a transition
(e) leads back to another iteration of the (a b c a b) group. The sections of the song are
consistent to this style except for (d), which is a screeching interjection of noise, creating
a sense of discontinuity before the piece regains its southern rock footing.
The discontinuity contained in the (d) section of Party Girl is mollified in part
by its placement within the song; it appears where the bridge, the most contrasting
section in a rock song, would normally take place. Thus, although the (d) section in
Party Girl is a stark discontinuity from the surrounding material, it is in the
conventional position for such a contrasting section, minimizing its impact.

10

11

13

14

12

Figure 23: Paradigmatic Display of Party Girl

128

Figure 24: Timeline of Party Girl

Unit 4: The Outsider, 2.28

Inspiration/Refer: Ruins, Booker T. and the M.G.s, Colin Wilson

This song, in rock/fusion style, is built around two riffs (a and b). Solos occur
over the (a) riff, while the (b) riff provides a contrast. The repetitions of the (b) riff are
organized around a progressive rhythmic change, where the point in the riff where note
attacks shift from occurring on downbeats to occurring on upbeats becomes
129

incrementally closer to the beginning of the measure (see Figure 25). The style of the
piece is consistent until it reaches the outro (c), a short, fast, screeching, and metrically
dissonant section.
The Outsider basically uses the same two-part structure seen in Asylum and
Sunset Surfer, but manipulates it through progressive variations in the (b) sections and
by adding a discontinuous outro.

Figure 25: The Outsider, guitar, mm. 9-12.

Figure 26: Paradigmatic Display of The Outsider

130

Figure 27: Timeline of The Outsider

Unit 5: Triggerfingers, 3.32

Inspiration/Refer: Ennio Morricone, Albert King, Chuck Brown

Triggerfingers is focused on a long, arching melody played in unison by the

guitar and saxophone. After an extended intro of drums and guitar solo, the bass and
keyboard enter playing a riff (a). Over the first (a), the guitar solo continues; the melody
enters upon the repetition. (b) is another riff, featuring improvisation in the keyboard. A
transition (c) leads to another riff (d), this time supporting simultaneous saxophone and
guitar solos. The (a) riff enters again, once more supporting a guitar solo, and then
repeats below the melody. The piece ends after this second iteration. The piece is the first
example of a form that appears several times in Radioa kind of rock ternary form, with
a theme that appears both before and after a contrasting middle section (in this case, the b
trans c group). This is clearly shown by the paradigmatic display.

131

intro

2
3

7
8
Figure 28: Paradigmatic Display of Triggerfingers

Figure 29: Timeline of Triggerfingers

Unit 6: Terkmani Teepee, 3.59

Inspiration/Refer: Orchestra Baobab, Terauchi Takeshi, E.M. Elanka

This piece is a series of different styles sandwiched between a repeated head.

Although similar to Zorns completely collage pieces, the long nature of the segments
and the smoothness of transitions deemphasizes juxtapositions and discontinuity. In
132

addition, the return of the (a) section at the end of the song provides a sense of formal
closure. To this point in the album, the song is the least traditionally grounded in terms of
form, as the body of the piece is not built around repeated alternations of sections. Like
Triggerfingers, Terkmani Teepee is a ternary form, though the extreme shortness of
the (a) sections and the complexity of the middle section group push the boundaries of
the form. The return of the (a) section at the end of the piece is not hinted at during the
montage of segments that make up the bulk of the song, nor does the (a) section feel
established enough after its initial appearance to suggest that it will be a returning point
of reference in the piece. Rather, it is only its appearance closing the piece that
retrospectively causes the form to make sense as a ternary structure. Terkmani Teepee,
then, while using the same basic form as Triggerfingers, is a more experimental version
of that same form.

intro

10
Figure 30: Paradigmatic Display of Terkmani Teepee

133

Figure 30: Timeline of Terkmani Teepee

Unit 7: Sex Fiend, 3.32

Inspiration/Refer: The Accsed, The Meters, Yakuza Zankoku Hiroku

This funky jazz-fusion song consists of a series of vamps (a, b, c) supporting

solos in various instruments. The intro is a set of hits on dissonant chords. There is no
real sense of melody or progression in the song, other than that the return of previously
heard material at the end has the effect of rounding off the form. Again, it is a kind of
ternary form, with a two-part first section, followed by a contrasting section, and then a
return of the first section to round out the form.

134

intro

Figure 31: Paradigmatic Display of Sex Fiend

Figure 32: Timeline of Sex Fiend

Unit 8: Razorwire, 5.31

Inspiration/Refer: Tony Williams Lifetime, Old

This is a free-jazz song. The (a) section is a head, and the (b) that follows is a set
of screeching interjections or hits. As in Triggerfingers, Terkmani Teepee, and Sex
Fiend, an opening section or group of sections is returned to after a digression. In
Razorwire, the internal material (the group of c sections) is a series of up-tempo jazz
solos, but with a spacey break at the beginning of the first and last (c). A lone (b) section
135

intercuts the solos. Although there are three different segments in Razorwire, it
presents itself more as an expansion of a two-part alternating form (like Asylum),
where the initial part is formed of two segments. In the second alternation, only the
second of the two segments appears.

5
6

Figure 33: Paradigmatic Display of Razorwire

Figure 34: Timeline of Razorwire

136

Unit 9: The Bitter and the Sweet, 4.53

Inspiration/Refer: Anthony Braxton, Anton Weberns Six Bagatelles, Sammy Cahns
Guess Ill hang my tears out to dry, Frank Sinatra, Morton Feldman

This is a soft, slow, meandering song, in which the various instruments of the
ensemble enter and depart from the texture. It is ambient and through-composed,
sounding as if it is formed of improvisations or quotations. The overall mood of the song
is quiet and slow. The piece begins with only bass and keyboard. Guitar and saxophone
enter in succession about one minute into the piece. The drums are first heard clearly
after about two and a half minutes. For almost the entirety, there is no strong sense of
meter or even pulse. The work contrasts strongly with the previous pieces, as to this point
in the album every song incorporated strong rhythmic elements and used repetition as
part of its formal structure. The amorphous nature of change in The Bitter and the
Sweet resists the labeling of points in the piece with section numbers. In addition, the
consistent texture and affect effects a sense of continuity throughout.

Figure 35: Timeline of The Bitter and the Sweet

137

Unit 10: Krazy Kat, 2.03

Inspiration/Refer: Carl Stalling, Igor Stravinsky

Krazy Kat is described in detail in chapter three. It is the first complete collage
texture on the album, and therefore contrasts with the previous songs.

Unit 11: The Vault, 4.44

Inspiration/Refer: The Melvins, Beatmasters, Septic Death, Hellfire, Leather Folk (the
book)

The Vault features the distorted thrash and heavy metal derived sounds that are
hinted at in earlier songs. In addition, Yamatsuka Eyes vocals are employed for the first
time on Radio, entering as a solo scream in the first (d) section. The song is built from
five different musical ideas, and is based around repetitions of the (a) section (a series of
distorted guitar arpeggios) and changing sequences of the following sections; (b), digital
and mechanical sounding noises leading to thrash-style hits; (c), a bass and drums vamp;
(d), a scream, either accompanied by the band or solo; and (e), a spacey section featuring
mainly sustained guitar. Each section is distinct, and while the song is stylistically
consistent, there is no musical implication tying sections to each other, a factor that
emphases a collage aspect to the song. Subsequent arrivals of the (a) section seem like
new beginnings, where the material that follows is placed in different sequences,
highlighting different combinations of elements. In the last (a) section, the guitar
138

underlies the screaming vocal improvisations of Eye. One explanation of the pieces
narrative could be that the piece culminates towards the combination of the guitar
arpeggios and the screaming vocals in the final (a) section. Because of the sense of
autonomy of each section and the lack of a traditional scheme of repetition, the songs
relationship to rock music lies only in the fact that the elements in each section are
derived from rock music, and not because the song uses a form in common with that
style.
The paradigmatic display of The Vault, is especially illuminating. After
presenting segments in an initial order, the segments appear in the reverse of this order
throughout the remainder of the songs. This retrograde segment order counteracts
perceptual attempts to hear the segments with any sense of adumbration or flow. Thus,
we are left with the perception that each (a) is a new beginning, without any intimation as
to what will come next.

139

7
8
9

10

11

12
13

Figure 36: Paradigmatic Display of The Vault

Figure 37: Timeline of The Vault

140

Unit 12: Metaltov, 2.08

Inspiration/Refer: Abe Schwarz, Ivo Papasov, Naftule Brandwein

Metaltov, as its title suggests, blends heavy metal and klezmer music. A long
(one minute) introduction leads to a short (ten second) transition section of unison hits,
which is then followed by a long non-repetitive unison melody (again, about one minute
in length). The scalar material and rhythm of the melody suggest klezmer music, while
the timbre, including the use of distorted electric guitar, suggests heavy metal.
The piece employs a three-part form that is unique to Radio, as the piece is
stylistically consistent but includes no recapitulation. Even without recapitulating any
sections, however, the introductory nature of the beginning sections (a and b) and the
pieces short length support the through-composed form.

Figure 38: Paradigmatic Display of Metaltov

Figure 40: Timeline of Metaltov

141

Unit 13: Poisonhead, 1.09

Inspiration/Refer: Replusion

This short song is noisy and chaotic, and includes voice samples of speech in the
(b) sections. (a) sections are pure instrumental noise, with hits and rolls on the drums and
cymbals, grinding guitar sounds, and screeching saxophone and vocals. In the second
instance of the (a) section, noise alternates with thrash metal interjections. Unison hits
(c), a guitar solo (d), and a transition (e) form an interior group of sections.
While the component sections of Poisonhead do not display the kind of
thematic connections we would expect in most popular music, the large scale form of the
piece follows the standard rock layout of alternating verses and choruses (a and b), a
contrasting section group (hits-solo-transition), and a return to the chorus. This middle
contrasting section could be considered what Osborn calls a bridge group, a
multipartite section that stands in for the typical bridge (2010, 127).

8
Figure 41: Paradigmatic Display of Poisonhead

142

Figure 42: Timeline of Poisonhead

Unit 14: Bone Orchard, 3.55

Led Zeppelin, Akemi and Jagatara, Bernard Herrmann

Bone Orchard is a heavy metal piece. The song begins with hits and long,
sustained, distorted chords, feedback and noise (a). (b) sections feature a slow, heavy,
bluesy groove. (c) is the most melodic section. In it, a legato melody in the guitar is
accompanied by a heavy metal background and screeching saxophone. The (d) section is
a spacey break of sustained keyboard and guitar, and concludes with a brief drum solo.
The (a) section returns at the end of the song.
The overall form of Bone Orchard, can be compared with that of the standard
rock song. As in Poisonhead, the initial alternations of (a) and (b) are contrasted by the

143

bridge group (c and d). The song ends with a return to the initial (a). The song is
arranged very similarly to the previous song.

7
Figure 43: Paradigmatic Display of Bone Orchard

Figure 44: Timeline of Bone Orchard

144

Unit 15: I Die Screaming, 2.29

Inspiration/Refer: Santana, Extreme Noise Terror, Conway Twitty

This song is a short linear collage reflective of the influences in its inspiration
list. A piano chord introduces screams and noise (a) that are joined by thrash guitars and
drums. The (a) section is followed a series of stylistic quotations including Naked Citys
noisy free jazz/thrash texture (b), Latin jazz (c) and country shuffle (e). A section of
intermittent noise injections (d) appears amongst the stylistic quotations. The return to the
screaming section at the end, and its appearance between other the quotations, makes this
song a discontinuous piece that nonetheless involves recapitulatory elements. The nature
of the returning section, however, destabilizes the form more than if a more traditional
style was employed in the (a). As opposed to Terkmani Teepee, where the (a) section
of the ternary form is the most stable melody in the piece, the (a) in this song is the most
jolting and unstable moment. I Die Screaming could be seen as a discontinuous and
twisted ABA form, as was seen in Razorwire.

145

7
Figure 39: Paradigmatic Display of I Die Screaming

Figure 40: Timeline of I Die Screaming

Unit 16: Pistol Whipping, 0.57

Inspiration/Refer: Agnostic Front, Siege

This is a very short song in a punk-rock style. Its style and length are reminiscent
of the miniatures on Naked Citys Torture Garden. Although it contains many sections,
146

the overall style and affect does not change, resulting in a relatively smooth flow between
parts. The strongest discontinuities occur at the (b) sections, where meter and rhythm
changes create stark sectional departures from surrounding segments of the song. The
piece returns to the initial idea (a) after a bridge group (including the e section,
unaccompanied screams), and concludes with two sections of new material (f and g).
Even though stylistic change is not a part of the song, the fast tempo, short length
of the sections, and number of different musical ideas make this song confounding for the
listener. Section changes seem to pour forth from the song. The only period of rest is the
longer section of unaccompanied screaming (e) that forms part of the songs middle. Even
still, following that section the piece introduces new music. Osborn terms this kind of
section a climactic group (2010, 113), consisting of memorable new material appearing
at the end of the song.
Although the (a) section is strongly established at the beginning of the piece and
returns towards the end, the large number of other sections and their irregular
reoccurrence makes it difficult to hear Pistol Whipping as a modification of a standard
form. While its popular music connections suggest that it would be an outgrowth of the
AABA form, this is not supported because of the lack of a clear verse-chorus alternation.
AABA form may be the best fit for Pistol Whipping, however, as the song also resists
being heard in ABA form because of the sporadic reappearance of the (a) section, and the
appearance of new material at the conclusion of the piece. Pistol Whipping while not
stylistically discontinuous, presents a form that is perceptually baffling.

147

11

12

1
2

4
7

9
10

Figure 41: Paradigmatic Display of Pistol Whipping

Figure 42: Timeline of Pistol Whipping

148

Unit 17: Skatekey, 1.25

Inspiration/Refer: Ornette Coleman, Corrosion of Conformity, Massacre, Quincy Jones

Another short song, this piece juxtaposes thrash-metal sections with jazz, fusion,
and funk. The main alternation is between thrash (a) and jazz (b). A funk section (d) and
extended thrash elements (e) form a bridge group. The piece returns to the initial material
at its conclusion.
Unlike Pistol Whipping, Skatekey presents a clear modification of the AABA
form, in which the initial alternation of two ideas (abab) is contrasted by a bridge group
before returning at the end. Within the sections, however, changes in the amount of
repetitions within the b section, the inversion of the (a) and (b) at the songs conclusion,
and the short section length, all highlight discontinuity in the overall form in the piece.

7
8

9
10
Figure 43: Paradigmatic Display of Skatekey

149

Figure 50: Timeline of Skatekey

Unit 18: Shock Corridor, 1.08

Inspiration/Refer: Sam Fuller, Funkadelic, Carcass

While Shock Corridor contains many sections, the songs flow is remarkably
consistent. The thrash textures blend together even though the piece presents changing
meter and rhythm. The (a) section is an introduction to what becomes a repeated group of
segments (b, d, e, the first time intercut with c). The (b) section presents asymmetrical
meter. This repeated group leads to (e), a section of half-time quadruple meter that seems
to be a focal point in the song. Section (f) is a bridge of sustained organ chords, hits, and
a quieter impression that contrasts with the heavy thrash and punk music of the other
sections. The recapitulation of several of the sections in their original order after the
bridge gives a rounded feel to Shock Corridor, especially since (e) seems to be a focal

150

point. This encourages the piece to be heard as a modification of the ABA form. Seven
seconds of silence are left at the end of the track.

Figure 51: Paradigmatic Display of Shock Corridor

Figure 52: Timeline of Shock Corridor

151

Unit 19: American Psycho, 6.10

Inspiration/Refer: Liberace, Jan Hammer, Napalm Death, Eddie Blackwell, Charlie
Haden, Mick Harris, Carole King, Red Garland, The Boredoms, Jerry Reed, SPK, Roger
Williams

American Psycho is described in detail in chapter three.

The Unfolding of Radio and the Musical Game

The close study of each song on Radio reveals several basic structures that seem
to reappear in various guises over the course of the album. Fourteen of the songs display
one of three basic formal structures; an AB (two-section) alternating form, an ABA
ternary form, and a compound AABA verse/chorus/bridge form. The remaining five
songs display very different structures.

Songs in AB form: Asylum, Sunset Surfer, The Outsider, Razorwire.

Asylum displays the simplest AB structure, with only two parts and no variance
in section length. In Sunset Surfer, the first and last (a) sections are expanded by
vamps, the first fulfilling an introductory function, the last a closing function. In addition,
the (a) section is repeated at the beginning and in the middle portion of the piece. In The
Outsider, (b) sections are subject to a progressive rhythmic variation, tying together the
sections across the work. The central (b) is also shortened, and a contrasting section is
added as an outro. Razorwire stretches the form in another direction, as the first section
152

is in two-parts. Its appearance in the central portion of the song features only the second
part. The (c) section in Razorwire also repeats in its second appearance.

Songs in (compound) AABA form: Party Girl, Poisonhead, Bone Orchard, Pistol
Whipping, Skatekey.
Party Girl is somewhat of a complicated compound AABA form, as its (A)
sections are three-part, and the initial (A) consists of only (ab). The song also includes a
final (ab) tacked to the end of the form. The bridge section is clearly discontinuous and
contrasting. Poisonhead is again not a straight-forward example of the form, as the
final instance of the (A) consists only of the (b) section. As in Party Girl, the central
contrasting section contains multiple parts. In Bone Orchard, the (B) is again a section
group, and the final appearance of the (A) is only of its first section. Pistol Whipping
again stretches the form with discontinuous portions of its (A) sections, a reappearance of
part of the (A) within the bridge-group, and a terminal section of new material.
Skatekey is again an irregular version of the form. The number of repeats in the (b)
sections change, and the order of parts in the (A) section change in its final appearance
.

153

Songs in ABA (ternary) form: Triggerfingers, Terkmani Teepee, Sex Fiend, I Die
Screaming, Shock Corridor.
Triggerfingers, like many of the tunes on Radio, begins with an introduction,
but afterwards follows a clear and stylistically consistent ternary form. The long melody
appearing in the second of each (a) section is contrasted by a section group. Terkmani
Teepee, appearing directly after Triggerfingers, is already a sonic departure from a
standard ABA, as the short melodic (A) sections are dominated by the middle section.
The middle section group consists of seven different and stylistically contrasting parts,
making it nearly a collage that concludes with an unlikely return to an initial section.
Sex Fiend is built from a series of vamps, and features a two-part initial section that
appears on either side of a contrasting middle. I Die Screaming sandwiches several
stylistic changes between the screaming outbursts of its (A) sections, and stretches the
form by returning to the (A) briefly during the middle section. Form in Shock Corridor
is twisted nearly to the point of obscuring any connection to the ternary form, but the
piece does feature a recapitulation of three of the five initial sections following its most
discontinuous portion.

Songs in other forms: The Bitter and the Sweet, Krazy Kat, The Vault, Metaltov,
American Psycho.
The Bitter and the Sweet is a meandering, atmospheric through-composed
piece. Krazy Kat and American Psycho consist completely of collage texture. The
Vault has repetition, but there is no network of repetition that is similar to any of the
154

other songs. Metaltov is through-composed, but in a different sense than The Bitter
and the Sweet.
The paradigmatic display of the album can be constructed by placing each song
according to its formal archetype.

AB

AABA

ABA

Through-

Collage

The Vault

10

11

Composed
1
2

5
6
7

9
12
13
14

15

16
17

18

19

Figure 53: Paradigmatic Display of Naked City, Radio

155

The paradigmatic display shows how the formal types are varied across the
album. In the three main categories, the initial appearance of a song in each form features
the purest presentation of that form. As the album continues, the main song forms are
developed and varied. In many cases songs of the same form appear consecutively. In
general the album first presents a song using a clear or near archetypal version of the
form, and then explores various ways of stretching, disrupting, and experimenting with
the form. A clear division in the album occurs around the central tracks (nine through
twelve), where four songs in non-standard forms appear in succession. Following this,
AB form no longer appears, and all songs until American Psycho, feature either AABA
or ABA form. Section groups appear more frequently throughout the second half of the
album. Not only does Radio feature an increase in harsh timbres (the use of punk, metal,
and thrash references, and human screams) as the album progresses, but the formal plots
of the songs on the album become more stretched, complex, and less predictable as it
unfolds. The central collage of the album, Krazy Kat, marks a clear division, with the
following song, The Vault, which introduces Yamatsuka Eyes vocals, also playing a
role in changing the mood and accessibility of the album. The later songs on Radio are
not only more challenging to listen to because of their timbral content, but because the
unpredictable quality of the collage principle is injected into the album more and more as
it progresses.
Using Bracketts terms, this progressive disruption of the forms of the songs on
Radio is an increase of heterogeneous and decrease of homogeneous structures. This
process is directly related to the concept of the musical game. Zorns game of
156

composition involves the blending of the works of other composers and of standard
genres with his own musical style, material, and persona. On Radio, not only are the
various influences blended together in the songs, but Zorns own music, musical style,
and compositional approach is blended with them. Over the course of the album, Zorns
style, particularly the aesthetic of discontinuity that is present in so many of his works
from this period, is combined in various ways, and asserts itself more and more into the
music. On Radio, Zorns voice emerges as the album unfolds, particularly when the
album transitions from its first to second half, and settles into the harsh textures and
boundary stretched forms of the later pieces.
Zorns musical games involve the manipulation of something exterior to
himselfimprovised music, a quotation, a musical techniqueinto a musical work that
embodies his musical conceptions. As he says, his pieces employ the work of others as a
point of departure (quoted in Gagne 1993, 530), where then his musical manipulations
transform the music into his own. Brackett notes the importance of the traditions, musical
and otherwise, as a homogeneous structure in Zorns music (2008, 23-4), and indeed,
Zorns manipulation of previously existing material in these compositional games is a
part of giving the music a strange kind of resonancea relation to the past (quoted in
Gagne 1993, 527). In addition, his use of this material is also involved as one of many
means of unifying his compositions. In Radio, the idiolect of the music game, this
blending of Zorns persona with that of others, is not only employed in the composition
of the pieces, but also appears as a structural element of the album, wherein the form and
narrative of the overall work is governed by the increasing dominance of this musical
157

property. The musical game is a novel way of enacting a musical narrative in the work,
one where the listener is drawn closer and closer to Zorns musical persona as Radio
unfolds.

158

CONCLUSIONS

The arrangement of a collages segments creates an impression based on readily

perceptible elements, and it is this impression that makes finding the proper sequence to
keep the interest and flow (Zorn, quoted in Brackett 2008, xvi) such an important
compositional aspect of Zorns music. A close listening to his collages reveals that the
disorder presented by the juxtapositions that form the musical surface is only one aspect
of the drama and narrative within. Indeed, drama and narrative in Zorns collage music is
of a non-standard type, and a different kind of musical attention is necessarily involved
when listening to these pieces. This music presents an energetic and powerful experience
to the listener, but nevertheless one that, as with so much unconventional music, is also
dependent on the listeners preconceptions.
It seemed especially appropriate to explore Zorns collages as the collage
principle appears both to have been the most idiosyncratic part of his compositions and to
have guided his approach to music in the 1980s and 1990s. The idea of unexpected
jarring contrast and juxtapositions of genre, timbre, and quotations characterizes both his
game pieces and collages, and has become an integral characteristic of Zorns music.65
Discontinuous elements, however, are always placed within a context where they are
65

A collage pieces unpredictability may arise from its circumvention of the

schematic listening strategies invoked by the various styles and genres from which it
draws. While a listener may approach a collage piece with an expectation that it will
contain juxtaposition (i.e., through a schema of the collage genre), works such as Zorns
do not telegraph forthcoming changes or contain thematic repetition, thus maintaining a
sense of unpredictability upon initial hearings. See Huron 2006 for a discussion of
schematic and other forms of musical expectations.
159

guided, controlled, and can be understood; they are always part of a musical process. The
difference between Zorns game pieces and his collage works is the attempt to
choreograph the holistic impression created by the unfolding of the piece, a necessarily
linear procedure.
My goals in this work were to explore the linear nature of Zorns collage music.
This exploration was motivated by the importance that Zorn placed on the pieces
progression from moment to moment. This inspired the idea that postmodern collages
could show linear organization, and not only the kind of cumulative organization found in
analyses by Losada and Service.
This study illustrates the relationship of hierarchical organizational structure and
the musical surface in Zorns pieces. The close analyses of Speedfreaks, Krazy Kat,
and American Psycho reveal a fundamental characteristic of Zorns works: the
presence of recurring segments that perceptually stand out, engendering a sense that one
musical unit has ended and a new one begun. It is important that these delineations lay on
the musical surface, and not within some kind of background structure. I designated these
segments as musical topics that communicate a division within Zorns music and separate
the streams of discontinuous segments into higher-level units. In addition, the structure of
Cat ONine Tails reveals how the units of the collage are organized into larger
proportional structures that I called episodes. This kind of organization shows a concern
with the musical surface and the linear unfolding of the piece. I defined this kind of
structure as episodic collage form, a type of musical organization related to Zorns
conception of cartoon music.
160

Linear form appears to operate progressively in Zorns works. Often, a

characteristic (such as discontinuity in Cat ONine Tails, or the techniques associated
with the musical game in Radio) becomes more prevalent as the piece unfolds. This
does not appear to support the clear distribution of moment types implied by Zorns
description of Cat ONine Tails, or any kind of sequential or recurring ordering of
segments in any piece. In addition, my exploration was based on the idea that the
constituent units of Zorns pieces were often formed by groups of segments. Examination
of the pieces at the level of the segment could find alternate unifying mechanisms.
This exploration shows how these episodic collages contain linear progressions
that can be interpreted through idiolects, thus establishing a narrative explanation for
their unfolding. Zorns conception of the structure of cartoon music, which I describe as
the visual idiolect, involved the idea that the disconnected segments of the college can
project a musical narrative through their linear positioning. In my analysis of Cat ONine
Tails, I incorporated the idea of music as montage as a way to analyze this musical
unfolding, and developed an interpretation of the work that thus specifically connected
visual ideas with musical properties. In the final analysis, I extend this idea of episodic
collage to the genre of the album, a form that is important to Zorns music. The
characteristics of the songs on Radio, its chronological position in Zorns compositional
output, and the idea of silence as an icon of collage separation presented by the form of
the episodic collage make it appropriate to view Radio as a musical whole. Building on
the ideas of organization presented in the first two chapters, I used the idiolect of the
musical game as a means to approach the structural unfolding of the album and explain
161

its presentation. This analysis specifically connected compositional practices with

musical structure.
Most important, these analyses illustrate how Zorn employs discontinuity as an
organizing device in his music. Discontinuity works to structure these pieces in two
ways. First, the delineating topics identified in chapter three serve to mark the beginnings
and endings of musical units, hierarchically organizing the juxtaposed fragments that
make up the college. These topics, with the exception of those that signal conventional
endings, are distinguished by the greater disjunctions that they create in the collage
texture. To paraphrase Losada, Zorn has converted discontinuity into an aspect of musical
organization.
Second, discontinuity is a progressive element that creates a sense of drama and
narrative in the works. In Cat ONine Tails, the progressive element is embodied by the
increase of discontinuous material and the permeation of discontinuity into the vertical
aspect of the music as the piece unfolds. The idiolect of the musical game is also based
on the presence of discontinuity; in this case, discontinuity created by the blending of
Zorns compositional persona and the collage principle with external material.
Discontinuity in Zorns music thus has a dual function as both an organizing and
progressive mechanism in these works.
My defining of topics in Zorns music in part singled out particular devices as
being more discontinuous then others, and thus creating a greater sense of delineation.
This sense that certain transitions present greater or lesser discontinuity suggests the
question of whether the strength of this property of different moments in a collage piece
162

can be quantified. An attempt to quantify discontinuity would have to establish the

musical factors involved, measure and weigh their contributions, and determine whether
these measurements reflected meaningfully on the understanding of the piece. Such a
study goes beyond the scope of this exploration, but would be an interesting place to
begin the further examination of musical collage.
I chose to use paradigmatic analysis in this study because its procedure of
segmentation and focus on the relationship of the part to the whole made it the most
appropriate way to search for the types of linear organization that Zorn hinted at in his
comments. As noted in the introduction, these linear explanations are meant to exist
alongside other (non-linear) views of the pieces. Richard Cohn and Douglas Dempster
make the point that an interest in hierarchical unity does not need to come at the cost of
what they call a richness in the music that results from the existence of other nonhierarchical structures that generate plural unities (1992, 178). This dissertation is
intended to contribute a similar richness to the understanding of Zorns music. Here,
however, non-linear interpretations of Zorns music have already been offered. I aimed
instead to show that even given the discontinuity of the musical surface and the nonlinear interpretations that the pieces may engender, Zorns works could still possess
hierarchical organization and linear structure related to idiolectical concepts.
The linear structure of texture presented by my analysis of Speedfreaks, for
instance, exists alongside Bracketts interpretation of the piece. To Brackett, the contrast
of the standard thirty-two-bar form against Zorns collage texture embodies the
transgressive practices he sees in Zorns music. The process of Speedfreaks was to
163

Brackett not a linear development of this practice, but instead the product of the
cumulative entirety of the piece, i.e., a holistic effect. This idea of transgression in Zorns
music proffered by Brackett contributes greatly to the understanding of these works. My
explanation of structure in the piece, however, also enriches our understanding of the
music. For example, while I find the explanation of Speedfreaks as a modified thirtytwo-bar song to be intriguing, I find it impossible to experience the song in that way; the
musical surface resists such a hearing. The segmentation I describe, however, gives us a
way to immediately experience the unfolding of the work and demonstrates how Zorns
music simultaneously employs unifying methodologies that are focused on completely
different aspects of the music. The segments in Speedfreaks play two roles in the
unfolding of the piece; from one perspective, they take part in the thirty-two-bar structure
through their harmonic content. From another, their texture and style contributes to linear
organization and narrative in the piece. The fact that the pieces segments can embody
both of these ideas shows the depth of meaning in Zorns music.
As Agawu notes, paradigmatic analysis allows the work to be interpreted as both
a logical form and a chronological form (2009, 167).66 His analysis of Symphonies saw
several sections functioning as anchors in the movement due to their recurrence in
relatively unchanged form (2009, 310). Similarly, he finds the main theme of the first
movement of Mahlers ninth symphony as functioning as a kind of fulcrum which

66

Transformation networks also possess this property. In them, arrows may

connect objects that are not necessarily chronologically adjacent. David Lewin discusses
this specifically in his sample analysis of Beethovens first symphony (1987, 169-174).
See also Julian Hooks discussion of Lewin for a comparison of Lewins original diagram
with a chronological rearrangement (2007, 160-165).
164

grounds the movement throughout, particularly due to its reappearance in the tonic key
during the development section. Both of these descriptions could indicate a kind of
circularity in the structure of the music, a nonlinear unfolding that revolves around a
continued return. Zorns characterizations of the units that make up his pieces also seem
to indicate this kind of organization. Specifically, Cat ONine Tails could be seen to
contain such a recurring section in its interludes. While not literal repetitions, the
interludes present music quite unlike the other sections of the collage; they are longer,
slow and melodic. They are a brief return to conventional music, giving the listener long
enough not only to clearly identify the particular style or genre of the section, but to
begin to develop a sense of expectation as to how the segment will unfold. The regular
return to these sections in Cat ONine Tails also embodies a sense of circularity in the
music that is accompanied by a linear narrative constructed by the musical content of the
units within the episodes themselves. Here, the different sections of the piece contribute
to ideas of both linear and non-linear organization.
Service hints at a similar coexistence of linear and non-linear narrative in his
analysis of Spillane. He views Spillane in total as presenting non-linear narrative, part of
which is the creation of a character though the accumulation of information (2004, 77).
To Service, the narration sections of Spillane are disconnected, unrelated to a single
storyline, and only exist as part of a non-linear construction. In addition, he sees the
stylistic quotations present in the piece as presenting a temporality that is
discontinuous. . . . The piece flaunts its instability, eschewing both the stability and

165

continuity associated with generic, lyric time and the momentum normally associated
with structural development (2004, 81).
Service, however, sees the final section as playing a linear role. He refers to it as
an epilogue, and notes that it exists outside [of Spillane], in a different kind of
temporality (82). To Service, this section is more strongly identified with Zorn than with
Hammer or Spillane, and he assesses the final section to function as a capstone of the
piece. As with other works, our understanding of Spillane grows throughout with the
identification of various ways to view the work.
In addition to expanding the understanding of Zorns music, this dissertation
demonstrates that paradigmatic analysis can be successfully adapted to become a useful
tool for the analysis of postmodern music, and especially postmodern collage. The
strategic navet (Agawu 2009, 166) that the methodology encourages is a crucial
perspective for the analyst to take when encountering postmodern music. The
assumptions of paradigmatic analysis also make intuitive sense; most music is made up
of structural units of some sort and is experienced as a linear string of those units. Zorns
collages are no exception. Their structure of distinct contrasting blocks matches perfectly
with the process of segmentation that takes place in paradigmatic analysis. My analysis of
Radio also shows how this method can be used to explore further ideas of what
constitutes the musical work. This dissertation could lead to the use of paradigmatic
analysis to explore not only other postmodern collages, but albums and collections of
songs that can be reasonably thought of as singular works. As I found in my study of

166

Zorn, a process of segmentation for the work at hand may need to be developed if there is
not a consensus manner on which to base the parsing of the piece.
One of the limitations of this methodology arises from the necessity of making
definitive decisions at various points in the process. Agawu specifies a need for the
establishment of clear criteria for segmentation and categorization, and notes that each
unit of the piece must be placed in one and only one category (2009, 222). Because of
this, it is difficult for a single analysis to consider various possible meanings without
undermining the strengths of the particular viewpoint taken at the outset of the
exploration. As in many methodologies, early decisions in the process in part determine
later outcomes. The subjectivity of the process also means that the analysts decisions
play a large role in the outcome of the method. For example, in my adaptation of
paradigmatic analysis, I intended to thoroughly ground the early stages of segmentation
in a consistent and logical way based on the musical material. While providing
overarching consistency and logic to the analysis of various pieces, this necessarily
limited the options of segmentation in the analyses. Even given this kind of restriction,
plural meanings could be explored within such an analysis by expanding the idiolectical
portion of the examination. Analysis of a single piece could be interpreted through
several idiolects, each revealing different details about the work and bringing to light
various points. The approach though a single idiolect does not exclude the possibility that
examining the same analysis through different idiolects would yield different and even
contradictory results. The idiolects developed in this study could be a starting point for
further examination of Zorns music, and could inspire new ways of looking at the pieces.
167

With this in mind, the methodology developed here can be usefully applied to
other postmodern works. In fact, given the heterogeneity of postmodern music, my
adaptation of this methodology could be one effective means to work towards the
understanding of the musical dialect of postmodernism. Idiolects defined from
exploration of the composer and music provide a way to understand the structures that are
displayed in individual pieces. This understanding leads to a further sense of the
tendencies that define the oeuvre of specific composers. Over time, the accumulation of
studies on multiple composers and pieces from the postmodern period through this and
other methodologies could begin to collectively give us an understanding of postmodern
music in general. This bottom-up approach could provide the means to establish the
tendencies of the period as a whole and clarify the tendencies that are idiosyncratic,
expanding and refining our understanding of musical postmodernism.

168

APPENDIX: RADIO INSPIRATION/REFER

The following list is not intended to provide comprehensive biographies, but
rather to provide a quick reference to the basic characteristics and point of origin of each
of the influences cited in the liner notes to Radio. When important to my analysis, further
details about these references are included in the body of this dissertation. Although I
have done my best to find high-quality sources for the information below, the obscure
nature of the some of the references has meant that the only available sources were less
than ideal.
For the musical groups listed below, the dates provided are those of the original
incarnation or most active period of the band, and do not include later reunions or
reformations.

The Accsed American thrash band, formed 1981 (Southern Lord Records 2012).
Agnostic Front American hardcore band 1980-1992 (Larkin 1995, 84).
Akemi and Jagatara This may refer to a Japanese punk rock band, 1979-1990, whose
vocalist was Edo Akemi. I was unable to find a reliable reference.
Beatmasters British songwriting team consisting of Richard Walmsley, Amanda
Glandfield, and Paul Carter, formed 1988 (IMO Records 2011).
Blackwell, Eddie American jazz musician, 1929-1992 (Scaruffi 2006).
Bley, Paul Canadian jazz musician, b. 1932 (Kernfeld and Kennedy 2012).
Bob Demmon + the Astronauts American surf band, 1961-1968 (Fenson 2006).
Braxton, Anthony American jazz and experimental musician, b. 1945 (Kernfeld 2012a).
169

Booker T. and the MGs American R&B band, 1962-1971 (Larkin 1995, 499).
Brandwein, Naftule Polish-American klezmer clarinetist, 1889-1963 (Storm 2012).
Brown, Chuck American funk musician, b. 1932 (Larkin 1995, 571).
Sammy Cahns Guess Ill hang my tears out to dry American Tin Pan Alley song
1945, with music by Jule Styne and lyrics by Cahn (1913-1993) (Jasen 2003, 60-2).
Carcass British hardcore/death metal band, originally active 1987-1995 (Larkin 1995,
695-6).
Coleman, Ornette American jazz musician, b. 1930 (Schuller 2012).
Corrosion of Conformity American hardcore/metal band, formed 1982 (Larkin 1995,
943).
Dolphy, Eric American jazz musician, 1928-1964 (Kernfeld 2012b).
Elanka, E.M. - El Hadj M'Hamed El Anka, Algerian musician, 1907-1978 (El Gusto
Orchestra 2013).
Extreme Noise Terror British grindcore band, formed 1985 (Larkin 1995, 1381).
Feldman, Morton American composer, 1926-1987 (Johnson 2012).
Fuller, Sam American screenwriter and film director, 1911-1997 (Gallagher 2004).
Funkadelic American funk band featuring George Clinton, 1969-1981 (Larkin 1995,
1573).
Garland, Red American jazz musician, 1923-1984 (Dobbins and Kernfeld 2012).
Haden, Charlie American jazz musician, b. 1937 (Kernfeld 2012c).
Hammer, Jan Czech jazz/fusion musician, b. 1948 (Greene 2012).
Harris, Mick British grindcore drummer, b. 1967 (Horsley 2012).
170

Hellfire - This may refer to an American thrash band. I was unable to find a reliable
reference.
Herrmann, Bernard American composer, 1911-1975 (Cooper 2012).
King, Albert American blues musician, 1924-1992 (Herzhaft 1992, 182).
King, Carole American songwriter, b. 1942 (Larkin 1995, 2311).
Jones, Quincy American music producer, b. 1933 (Larkin 1995, 2213).
Leather Folk (the Book) Collection of essays about the gay leather underground,
compiled by Mark Thompson, first published 1991 (Thompson 2005).
Led Zeppelin British rock band, 1968-1980 (Larkin 1995, 2431).
Liberace American musician and entertainer, 1919-1987 (Woodward 2012).
Little Feat American rock n roll/funk band, 1970-1978 (Larkin 1995, 2512).
Massacre American thrash metal band, 1984- 1996 (Larkin 1995, 2743).
Melvins American grunge/metal band, formed 1984 (Larkin 1995, 2802).
Meters American funk band, 1968-1977 (Larkin 1995, 2802).
Charles Mingus on Candid American jazz musician, 1922-1979, who released two
albums on the Candid record label in 1960 (Jazz Workshop 2011).
Morricone, Ennio Italian soundtrack composer, b. 1928 (Miceli 2012).
Napalm Death British grindcore band , formed 1981 (Larkin 1995, 2985).
OLD American grindcore band, 1986-1995 (Scaruffi 1999).
Orchestra Baobab Senegalese Afro-Cuban/Creole/Congolese rumba fusion band, 19701985 (World Circuit Records 2012).
Papasov, Ivo Bulgarian jazz clarinetist, b. 1952 (Elen Music 2012).
171

Reed, Jerry American country musician, songwriter, and actor, 1937-2008 (Larkin
1995, 3441).
Repulsion American grindcore band, 1985-1988 (Relapse Records 2012a).
Ruins Japanese progressive/noise rock band, formed 1985 (Leone 2012).
SPK German industrial noise band, formed 1978 (Larkin 1995, 3912).
Santana American Afro-Latin rock band, formed 1967 (Larkin 1995, 3658).
Schwartz, Abe Romanian-American klezmer musician and bandleader, 1881-1963
(Sapoznik 1999, 90).
Seige American hardcore band, 1983-1986 (Relapse Records 2012b).
Septic Death American hardcore band, 1981-1986 (Septic Death 2001).
Sinatra, Frank American crooner and actor, 1915-1998 (Larkin 1995, 3798)
Stalling, Carl American cartoon soundtrack composer, 1891-1972 (Goldmark 2005,
10).
Stravinsky, Igor Russian composer, 1882-1971 (Walsh 2012).
Takeshi, Terauchi Japanese guitarist (Fancy Magazine 2005).
Anton Weberns Six Bagatells set of atonal string quartet pieces (1913) by Webern,
1883-1945 (Bailey 2012).
Tony Williams Lifetime American jazz fusion band, 1968-1972 (Porter 2012).
Twitty, Conway American country musician, 1933-1993 (Larkin 1995, 4254).
Yakuza Zankoku Hiroku This may refer to a 1976 Japanese gangster movie. I was
unable to find a reliable reference.

172

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Agawu, Kofi. 2009. Music as Discourse. New York: Oxford University Press.
Bailey, Kathryn. 1991. The Twelve-Note Music of Anton Webern: Old forms in a new
language. New York: Cambridge University Press.
________. 2012. "Webern, Anton." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford
University Press. Accessed December 3, 2012.
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/29993.
Barber, Alex. 2010. "Idiolects. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2010
Edition), ed. by Edward N. Zalta. Accessed January 10, 2012.
http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2010/entries/idiolects/.
Brackett, John. 2006. From the Fantastic to the Dangerously Real: Reading John Zorns
Artwork. Echo 8:1. Accessed April 18, 2012.
http://www.echo.ucla.edu/Volume8-Issue1/brackett/brackett1.html.
________. 2008. John Zorn: Tradition and Transgression. Bloomington, IN: Indiana
University Press.
Brophy, Philip. 2002. An Interview with John Zorn. In The Cartoon Music Book, ed.
Daniel Goldmark, and Yuval Taylor. Chicago: A Cappella Books.
Brown, Matthew and Douglas J. Dempster. 1989. The Scientific Image of Music
Theory. Journal of Music Theory 33:1, 65-106.
Burkholder, J. Peter. 1995. All Made of Tunes: Charles Ives and the uses of musical
borrowing. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
________. 2012. Collage. In Grove Music Online, Oxford Music Online. Accessed
April 25, 2012.
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/53083.
Caplin, William. 2005. On the Relation of Musical Topoi to Formal Function.
Eighteenth-Century Music 2:1, 113-124.
Chiti, Carla. 1998. John Zorn (interview). Sonara, Itinerari Oltre il Suono: John Zorn.
Italy, Materiali Sonori Edizioni Muiscali, 12-24.
173

Clendinning, Jane. 2002. Postmodern Architecture/Postmodern Music. In Postmodern

Music/Postmodern Thought, ed. Judy Lochhead and Joseph Auner, 119-128. New
York: Routledge.
Cobussen, Marcel. 1999. John Zorn: Deconstruction and Comprovisation. New Sound
13: 41-49.
Cohn, Richard and Douglas Dempster. 1992. Hierarchical Unity, Plural Unities; Toward
a Reconciliation. In Disciplining Music: Musicology and its Canons, ed.
Katherine Bergeron and Philip V. Bohlman, 156-181. Chicago: The University of
Chicago Press.
Cook, Nicholas. 2006. Uncanny Moments: Juxtaposition and the collage principle in
music. In Approaches to Meaning in Music, ed. Byron Almn and Edward
Pearsall. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 107-134.
Cooper, David. 2012. "Herrmann, Bernard." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online.
Oxford University Press. Accessed December 3, 2012.
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/12895.
Covach, John. 2005. Form in Rock Music: A Primer. In Engaging Music, ed. Deborah
Stein, 65-76. New York: Oxford.
________. 2006. Whats that Sound: An introduction to rock and its history. New York:
W.W. Norton and Company.
Cox, Christoph. 2004. The Game Pieces. Interview with John Zorn. In Audio Culture:
Readings in Modern Music. Ed. by Christoph Cox and Daniel Warner, 196-200.
New York: Continuum.
Cumming, Naomi. 2007. "Semiotics." In Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online.
Accessed November 4, 2011.
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/49388.
Dobbins, Bill and Barry Kernfeld. 2012 "Garland, Red." The New Grove Dictionary of
Jazz, 2nd ed..Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University
Press. Accessed December 3, 2012.
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/J163600.
Drury, Stephen. 1994. A View from the Piano Bench or Playing John Zorns Carny for
Fun and Profit. Perspectives of New Music 32.1: 194-201.
Duckworth, William. 1995. Talking Music. New York: Schirmer Books.
174

El Gusto Orchestra. 2013. Chaabi Music. Accessed March 6, 2013. http://www.elgusto.fr/en/music/chaabi-music.

Elen Music. Ivo Papasov. Accessed November 30, 2012. http://www.elenmusic.com/art014en.php.
Everett, Walter. 2009. The Foundations of Rock. New York: Oxford.
Everett, Yayoi Uno. 2009. Signification of Parody and the Grotesque in Gyrgy Ligetis
Le Grand Macabre. Music Theory Spectrum 31.1: 26-56.
Fancy Magazine. 2005. Japans Bunnys. Accessed December 3, 2012.
http://www.fancymag.com/bunnys.html.
Feller, Ross. 2002. Resistant Strains of Postmodernism: The Music of Helmut
Lachenmann and Brian Ferneyhough. In Postmodern Music/Postmodern
Thought, ed. Judy Lochhead and Joseph Auner, 249-262. New York: Routledge.
Fenson, Mel. 2006. Sounds from the Past: When the Astronauts Played Tulagi.
Colorado Magazine Online. Accessed November 29, 2012.
http://www.coloradomagazineonline.com/Music/The_Astronauts_Tulagi's/The_A
stronauts_Tulagi's.htm.
Fer, Briony. 2003. Film Montage: Projection of Modernity. Produced by Films Media
Group. 24 min. Films Media Group 34180. Streaming Video.
Gagne, Cole. 1993. Soundpieces 2: Interviews with American Composers. Metuchen, NJ:
The Scarecrow Press.
Gallagher, John. 2004. Between Action and Cut. Accessed November 29, 2012.
http://www.nbrmp.org/features/SamFuller.cfm.
Goldmark, Daniel. 2005. Tunes for Toons: Music and the Hollywood Cartoon. Berkeley:
University of California Press.
Gracyk, Theodore. 1996. Rhythm and Noise. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Greene, Philip. 2012 "Hammer, Jan." The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, 2nd ed. Grove
Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press. Accessed
December 3, 2012.
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/J186000.

175

Hasty, Christopher. 1981. Segmentation and Process in Post-Tonal Music. Music

Theory Spectrum 3: 54-73.

Hatten, Robert. 1994. Musical Meaning in Beethoven: Markedness, correlation, and

interpretation. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
________. 2004. Interpreting Musical Gestures, Topics, and Tropes. Bloomington, IN:
Indiana University Press.
Heile, Bjorn. 2002. Collage vs. Compositional Control: The interdependency of
modernist and postmodern approaches in the work of Mauricio Kagel. In
Postmodern Music/Postmodern Thought, ed. Judy Lochhead and Joseph Auner,
287-299. New York, Routledge.
Herzhaft, Grard. 1992. Encyclopedia of the Blues, trans. by Bridgitte Debard.
Fayetteville, AR: University of Arkansas Press.
Hisama, Ellie. 2004. John Zorn and the Postmodern Condition. In Locating East Asia
in Western Art Music, ed. Yayoi Uno Everett and Frederick Lau, 72-84.
Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press.
Hook, Julian. 2007. David Lewin and the Complexity of the Beautiful. Integral 21,
155-190.
Horsley, John. 2012. Interview. Decibel. Accessed November 29, 2012.
http://www.decibelmagazine.com/featured/interview-ex-napalm-death-drummermick-harris-on-scum-scorn-and-the-hell-of-urban-living/.
Huron, David. 2006. Sweet Anticipation. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
IMO Records. 2011. The Beatmasters Biography. Accessed December 3, 2012.
http://www.imorecords.co.uk/house-2/house-artists/the-beatmasters-biography/.
Jasen, David. 2003. Tin Pan Alley: An encyclopedia of the golden age of American song.
New York: Routledge.
Jazz Workshop. 2011. Mingus: Discography. Accessed November 30, 2012.
http://mingusmingusmingus.com/Mingus/discography.html.
Johnson, Steven. 2012. "Feldman, Morton." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online.
Oxford University Press. Accessed December 3, 2012.
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/09435.
176

Joe, Jeongwon. 1998. Opera on Film, Film in Opera: Postmodern implications of the
cinematic influence on opera. Ph.D. Dissertation, Northwestern University.
Kernfeld, Barry. 2012a. Braxton, Anthony. Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online.
Oxford University Press. Accessed December 3, 2012.
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/41277.
________. 2012b. Dolphy, Eric. Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford
University Press. Accessed December 3, 2012.
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/07950.
________. 2012. Haden, Charlie. The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, 2nd ed.. Grove
Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press. Accessed
December 3, 2012.
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/J182600.
Kernfeld, Barry and Gary W. Kennedy. 2012. Bley, Paul. The New Grove Dictionary
of Jazz, 2nd ed..Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University
Press. Accessed December 3, 2012.
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/J047000.
Kramer, Jonathan. 1978. Moment Form in Twentieth Century Music. The Musical
Quarterly 64.2: 177-194.
________. 1995. Beyond Unity: Toward an Understanding of Musical Postmodernism.
In Concert Music, Rock and Jazz since 1945: Essays and Analytical Studies. Ed.
Elizabeth Marvin and Richard Hermann, 11-33. Rochester, NY: University of
Rochester Press.
________. 2002. The Nature of Origins of Musical Postmodernism. In Postmodern
Music/Postmodern Thought, ed. Judy Lochhead and Joseph Auner, 13-26. New
York: Routledge.
Kronos Quartet. 1993. Short Stories. Elektra Nonesuch 9 79310-2. CD.
Larkin, Colin, ed. 1995. The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Vol. 1-6.
Middlesex, UK: Guinness.
Leone, Dominique. 2012. Ruins. Accessed November 30, 2012.
http://www.skingraftrecords.com/bandhtmlpages/ruinspg.html.
Lewin, David. 1987. Generalized Musical Intervals and Transformations. New Haven:
Yale University Press.
177

Lidov, David. 2005. Is Language a Music? Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
Livingston, Cecilia. 2010. A Leap of Faith: Composing in the wasteland of
postmodernism. Tempo 64: 30-40.
Lochhead, Judy. 2006. How Does it Work?: Challenges to the Analytic Explanation.
Music Theory Spectrum, 28.2: 233-254
Losada, C. Catherine. 2009. Between Modernism and Postmodernism: Strands of
Continuity in Collage Compositions by Rochberg, Berio, and Zimmerman.
Music Theory Spectrum 31.1: 57-100.
Maykrantz, Scott. 2004. John Zorn: A biography and discography. Accessed August
16, 2011. http://www.scottmaykrantz.com/zorn01.html.
McClary, Susan. 2000. Conventional Wisdom: The Content of Musical Form. Berkeley,
CA: University of California Press.
McCutchan, Ann. 1999. The Muse that Sings. New York: Oxford University Press.
MacDonald, Malcolm. 2001. Editors Note. In Igor Stravinsky, Symphonies of Wind
Instruments (music score). New York: Boosey and Hawkes.
McNeilly, Kevin. 1995. Ugly Beauty: John Zorn and the Politics of Postmodern Music.
Postmodern Culture 5.2.
http://muse.jhu.edu.silk.library.umass.edu:2048/journals/postmodern_culture/v00
5/5.2mcneilly.html (accessed on June 30, 2010).
Meyer, Leonard, 1989. Style and Music. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Miceli, Sergio. Morricone, Ennio. Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford
University Press. Accessed December 3, 2012.
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/44104.
Monelle, Raymond. 2000. The Sense of Music. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
________. 2006. The Musical Topic. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
Moore, Allan. 2005 Sounds Like Teen Spirit: Identifying Radioheads Idiolect. In
The Music and Art of Radiohead, ed. Joseph Tate, 139-158. Burlington, VT:
Ashgate.
Naked City. 1989. Naked City. Elektra Nonesuch 79238-2. CD.
178

________. 1992. Leng Tche. Toys Factory. CD

________. 1992. Heretic. Avant AVAN 001. CD.
________. 1992. Grand Guignol. Avant AVAN 002. CD.
________. 1993. Absinthe. Avant AVAN 004. CD.
________. 1993. Radio. Avant AVAN 003. CD.
________. 1993. Torture Garden. Shimmy-Disc 039. CD.
________. 2005. The Complete Studio Recordings. Tzadik TZ7344-5. CD.
Nattiez, Jean-Jacques. 1982. Vareses Denisty 21.5: A study in Semiological
Analysis. Translated by Anna Barry. Music Analysis 1:3, 243-340.
________. 1990. Music and Discourse. Translated by Carolyn Abbate. Princeton, NJ:
Princeton University Press.
Nowell-Smith, Geoffrey. 1991. Eisenstein on Montage. In S.M. Eisenstein, Selected
Works Vol. 2: Towards a Theory of Montage, Ed. Michael Glenny and Richard
Taylor, trans. Michael Glenny. London: BFI Publishing, xiii-xvii.
Osborn, Bradley. 2010. Beyond Verse and Chorus: Experimental Structures in PostMillennial Rock Music. Ph.D. Dissertation. University of Washington.
Osmond-Smith, David. 1985. Playing on Words. Royal Musical Association Monographs
4. London: Royal Musical Association.
Pezzotta, Alberto. 1998. Velocit e citazione. Sonara, Itinerari Oltre il Suono: John
Zorn. Italy, Materiali Sonori Edizioni Muiscali, 25-32.
Porter, Lewis. 2012. Williams, Tony. Grove Music Online. Oxford Music
Online. Oxford University Press. Accessed December 5, 2012.
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/49541.
Ratner, Leonard G. 1980. Classic Music: Expression, form, and style. New York:
Schirmer Books.
Rehding, Alexander. 1998. Towards a Logic of Discontinuity in Stravinskys
Symphonies of Wind Instruments: Hasty, Kramer, and Straus reconsidered.
Music Analysis 17:1, 29-65.
179

Relapse Records. 2012a. Repulsion: Biography. Accessed November 30, 2012.

http://www.relapse.com/label/repulsion.html?show=biography#submenu.
________. 2012b. Seige. Accessed December 3, 2012.
http://www.relapse.com/label/artist/siege.html?show=biography#submenu.
Rickard, Maurice. 2011. Review. Accessed August 16, 2011.
http://www.allmusic.com/album/radio-r191293/review
Rufer, Joseph. 1954. Composition with Twelve Notes. Trans. Humphrey Searle. London:
Rockliff.
Sapoznik, Henry. 1999. Klezmer!. New York: Schirmer.
Scaruffi, Piero. 1999. James Plotkin. Accessed December 3, 2012.
http://www.scaruffi.com/vol5/plotkin.html.
________. 2006. Ed Blackwell. Accessed November 28, 2012.
http://www.scaruffi.com/jazz/blackwel.html.
Schoenberg, Arnold. 1970. Fundamentals of Musical Composition. Ed. Gerald Strang.
London: Faber and Faber.
________. 1975. Style and Idea. Ed. by Leonard Stein, trans. by Leo Black. New York:
St. Martins Press.
Schuller, Gunther. 2012. Coleman, Ornette. Grove Music Online. Oxford Music
Online. Oxford University Press. Accessed December 3, 2012.
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/06079.
Septic Death. 2001. Live Shows. Accessed December 3, 2012.
http://www.septicdeath.com/live.html.
Service, Tom Anderson. 2004. Playing a New Game of Analysis: Performance,
Postmodernism, and the Music of John Zorn. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of
Southampton.
Solie, Ruth. 1980. The Living Work. 19th-Century Music 4/2, 147-156.
Southern Lord Records. 2012. The Accsed.Accessed November 28, 2012.
http://www.southernlord.com/band_ACU.php.

180

Strickland, Edward. 1991. American Composers: Dialogues on Contemporary Music.

Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
Strom, Yale. 2012. Naftule Brandwein. National Geographic Music. Accessed
November 29, 2012.
http://worldmusic.nationalgeographic.com/view/page.basic/artist/content.artist/naf
tule_brandwein/en_US.
Tarasti, Eero. 1994. A Theory of Musical Semiotics. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University
Press.
Taruskin, Richard. 2005. The Oxford History of Western Music, Vol. 5: The Late
Twentieth Century. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Taylor, Timothy. 2002. Music and Musical Practices in Postmodernity. In Postmodern
Music/Postmodern Thought, ed. Judy Lochhead and Joseph Auner, 93-118. New
York: Routledge.
Thompson, Mark. 2005. Leather Folk. Novato, CA: Daedalus.
Walsh, Stephen. 1999. Stravinsky: A Creative Spring: Russia and France, 1882-1934.
Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
________. 2012 Stravinsky, Igor. Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford
University Press. Accessed December 3, 2012.
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/52818.
Watkins, Glenn. 1994. Pyramids at the Louvre. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of
Harvard University Press.
Webern, Anton. 1963. The Path to the New Music. Ed. Willi Reich, trans. by Leo Black.
Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania: Theodore Presser Company.
World Circuit Records. Orchestra Baobab: Biography. Accessed November 30, 2012.
http://www.worldcircuit.co.uk/#Orchestra_Baobab::Biography.
Woodward, Martha. Liberace. Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford
University Press, accessed December 3, 2012.
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/47008.
Zbikowski, Lawrence. 2002. Conceptualizing Music. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Zorn, John. 1991. Spillane. Nonesuch B000005IYR, CD.
181

________. 1999. Godard/Spillane. Tzadik 7324. CD.

________. 2004. A Bookshelf on Top of the Sky: Twelve Stories about John Zorn.
Directed by Claudia Heuermann. 82 min. TZADIK 3001. DVD.

182