Analysing Popular Music - Theory, Method and Practice

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Analysing Popular Music: Theory, Method and Practice

Author(s): Philip Tagg


Reviewed work(s):
Source: Popular Music, Vol. 2, Theory and Method (1982), pp. 37-67
Published by: Cambridge University Press
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Analysingpopularmusic:theory,method
and practice

by PHILIP TAGG

Popular music analysis - why?


One of the initialproblemsforany new fieldof studyis the attitudeof
incredulityit meets. The serious study of popular music is no excep-
tion to this rule. It is oftenconfrontedwith an attitudeof bemused
suspicion implyingthat thereis somethingweird about taking'fun'
seriously or finding 'fun' in 'serious things'. Such attitudes are of
considerable interestwhen discussingthe aims and methodsofpopu-
lar music analysis and serve as an excellentintroductionto thisarticle.
In announcing the firstInternationalConferenceon Popular Music
Research,held at Amsterdamin June1981,TheTimesDiaryprintedthe
headline 'Going Dutch - The Donnish Disciples of Pop' (The Times16
June 1981). Judgingfromthe generous use of invertedcommas, sics
and 'would-you-believe-it'turnsofphrase, the Timesdiaristwas comi-
cally baffledby the idea of people gettingtogetherforsome serious
discussions about a phenomenon whichtheaverage Westerner'sbrain
probablyspends around twenty-five per centofitslifetimeregistering,
monitoringand decoding. It should be added thatTheTimesis just as
incredulous about ' "A Yearbook ofPopular Music" (sic)' (theirsic), in
which this 'serious' articleabout 'fun' now appears.
In announcing the same conferenceon popular music research,the
New Musical Express(20 June1981,p. 63) was so wittyand snappy that
the excerptcan be quoted in full.
Meanwhile,overin Amsterdam thisweekend,highforeheadsfromthefour
cornersoftheearth(Sidand DorisBonkers)willmeetforthefirstInternational
Conference on PopularMusicattheUniversityofAmsterdam. Inbetweenthe
cheeseand wineparties,seriousyoungmenand womenwithgoateebeards
and glasseswilldiscusssuchvitallyimportantissuesas 'God, Morality
and
Meaningin theRecentSongsofBobDylan'.*Shouldbe a barreloflaughs...
This wonderfullyimaginativepiece of poetryis itselfa greatbarrelof
laughs to anyone present at the conferencewith its zero (o per cent)
wine and cheese parties,one (0.8 per cent) goatee beard and a dozen
* No such talk was on the conferenceprogramme!Actuallyit is the titleof Wilfrid
Mellers's articlein PopularMusic (1981, pp. 143-57).
i

37

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38 PhilipTagg

(1o per cent)bespectacled participants.(As 'Sid Bonkers',I do admitto


having worn contactlenses.) Talks were given by active rock musi-
cians, by an ex-NME and RollingStonejournalist,by radio people and
by Paul Oliver, who may have worn glasses but who, even if mali-
ciously imagined with a goatee beard, horns and a trident,has prob-
ably done moreto increaserespect,understandingand enthusiasmfor
the music of black Americans than the NME is ever likelyto.
This convergence of opinion between such unlikelybedfellows as
The Timesand the NME about the imagined incongruityof popular
music as an area forserious study implies one of two things. Either
popular music is so worthless that it should not be taken seriously
(unlikely, since pop journalists obviously rely on the existence of
popular music for their livelihood) or academics are so hopeless -
absent-mindedlymumbling long Latin words under their mortar-
boards in ivorytowers- thatthe prospectof themtryingto deal with
anythingas importantas popular music is just absurd. However, The
Timesand NME are not alone in questioningthe abilityof traditional
scholarshipto deal with popular music. Here theyjoin forceswith no
mean number of intellectual musicians and musically interested
academics.
Bearing in mind the ubiquity of music in industrialisedcapitalist
society,its importanceat both national and transnationallevels (see
Varis 1975, Chapple and Garofalo 1977, Frith1978, Fonogrammen i
kulturpolitiken 1979) and the share of popular music in all this, the
incrediblethingis not that academics should starttakingthe subject
seriouslybut thattheyhave takensuch a timegettinground to it. Until
recently, publicly funded musicology has passively ignored the
socioculturalchallenge of tryingto informthe record-buying,Muzak-
registering,TV-watchingand video-consumingpublic 'why and how
who' - fromthe privatesector- 'is communicatingwhat to them'- in
the public sector- 'and with what effect'(apologies to C. S. Peirce).
Even now it does very little.
Nevertheless,to view the academic world as being fullof staticand
eternalivorytowerstereotypesis to reveal an ahistoricaland strangely
defeatistacceptanceof the schizophrenicstatusquo in capitalistsociety.
It implies atomisation, compartmentalisationand polarisation of
the affectiveand the cognitive,of privateand public, individual and
collective,implicitand explicit,entertainingand worrying,fun and
serious, etc. This 'never-the-twain-shall-meet' syndromeis totallyun-
tenable in the field of popular music (or the artsin general). One does
not need to be a don to understand that there are objectivedevelop-
ments in nineteenth-and twentieth-century music historywhich de-
mand that changes be made, not least in academic circles.

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Analysingpopularmusic 39
These developments can be summarised as follows: (1) a vast in-
crease in the share music takes in the money and time budgets of
citizensin the industrialisedworld; (2) shiftsin class structureleading
to the advent of socioculturallydefinable groups, such as young
people in student or unemploymentlimbo between childhood and
adulthood, and their need for collective identity;(3) technological
advances leading to the developmentof recordingtechniquescapable
(forthefirsttimein history)ofaccuratelystoringand allowingformass
distribution of non-written musics; (4) transistorisation,micro-
electronicsand all thatsuch advances mean to the mass dissemination
of music; (5) the developmentof new musical functionsin the audio-
visual media (forexample, films,TV, video, advertising);(6) the 'non-
communication'crisisin modernWesternartmusicand the stagnation
of officialmusic in historicalmoulds; (7) the development of a loud,
permanent,mechanical lo-fisoundscape (see Schafer1974, 1977) and
its 'reflection'(see Riethmiiller1976) in electrifiedmusic with regular
pulse (see Bradley1980); (8) thegeneralacceptanceofcertainEuro-and
Afro-Americangenresas constitutinga linguafrancaofmusicalexpres-
sion in a large numberofcontextswithinindustrialisedsociety;(9) the
gradual, historicallyinevitablereplacementof intellectualsschooled
solelyin the artmusic traditionby othersexposed to thesame tradition
but at the same time brought up on Presley, the Beatles and the
Stones.
To those ofus who duringthefiftiesand sixtiesplayed bothScarlatti
and soul, did palaeography and Palestrina crosswords as well as
workingin steelworks,and who walked across quads on our way to
the 'Palais' or the pop club, the serious studyofpopular music is not a
matter of intellectuals turning hip or of mods and rockers going
academic. It is a question of (a) gettingtogethertwo equally important
parts of experience, the intellectualand emotional, inside our own
heads and (b) being able as music teachers to face pupils whose
musical outlook has been crippled by those who present 'serious
music' as ifit could never be 'fun' and 'fun music' as thoughit could
never have any serious implications.
Thus the need forthe serious study of popular music is obvious,
while the case for making it a laughing matter,although under-
standable (itcan be hilariousat times),is basicallyreactionaryand will
be dispensed withforthe restofthisarticle.This is because the aim of
what followsis to presenta musicologicalmodel fortacklingproblems
of popular music contentanalysis. It is hoped that this mightbe of
some use to music teachers,musicians and otherslooking fora con-
tributiontowards the understanding of 'why and how does who
communicatewhat to whom and with what effect'.

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40 PhilipTagg

Musicologyand popularmusicresearch
Studying matter.
popularmusicis an interdisciplinary Musicology still
lags behindotherdisciplinesin the field,especiallysociology.The
musicologistis thusat a simultaneousdisadvantageand advantage.
The advantageis thathe can drawon sociologicalresearchto givehis
analysisproperperspective. Indeed,itshouldbe statedat theoutset
thatno analysisof musicaldiscoursecan be consideredcomplete
withoutconsideration ofsocial,psychological,
visual,gestural,ritual,
economic
technical,historical, aspectsrelevantto the
and linguistic
genre,function,style,(re-)performance situationand listeningatti-
tudeconnected withthe sound eventbeingstudied.Thedisadvantage
'contentanalysis'in thefieldofpopularmusicis
is thatmusicological
still underdevelopedarea and somethingof a missinglink(see
an
Schuler 1978).

Musicalanalysisandthecommunication process
Letus assumemusictobe thatformofinterhuman communication in
whichindividually experienceable affective states and processesare
conceivedand transmitted as humanlyorganisednon-verbalsound
structures to thosecapableofdecodingtheirmessagein theformof
adequate affectiveand associativeresponse(see Tagg 1981B). Let us
also assumethatmusic,as can be seen in itsmodesof'performance'
and reception,mostfrequently requiresby itsverynaturea groupof
individualstocommunicate eitheramongthemselves orwithanother
group; thus most music (and dance) has an collective
intrinsically
character notsharedby thevisualand verbalarts.Thisshouldmean
thatmusicis capableoftransmitting theaffective attitudes
identities,
and behaviouralpatternsofsociallydefinablegroups,a phenomenon
observedin studiesofsubcultures and used byNorthAmericanradio
to determineadvertising markets(see Karshner1971).
Now, althoughwe have considerableinsightintosocioeconomic,
subculturaland psycho-social mechanismsinfluencing the 'emitter'
(by means of biographies,etc.)and 'receiver'of certaintypesofpopu-
larmusic,we have verylittleexplicitinformation aboutthenatureof
the'channel',themusicitself.We knowlittleaboutits'signifiers' and
about
'signifieds', the relations themusic establishes between emitter
and receiver, abouthowa musicalmessageactuallyrelatestothesetof
affectiveand associativeconceptspresumably sharedby emitter and
receiver,and how itinteracts withtheirrespective socialand
cultural,
naturalenvironments. In otherwords,reverting tothequestion'why
and how does who say what to whom and withwhat effect?',we could

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music
popular
Analysing 41
say thatsociologyanswersthequestions'who', 'to whom'and, with
some help frompsychology, 'withwhateffect'and possiblypartsof
'why', but when it comes to the restof 'why',not to mentionthe
questions'what'and 'how',we areleftin thelurch- unlessmusicolo-
gists are prepared to tackle the problem (see Wedin 1972, p. 128).

Popularmusic,notation andmusical formalism


Thereis no roomhereto startdefining 'popularmusic'butin orderto
the
clarify argument I shallestablish
an axiomatic triangle consisting of
'art'
'folk', and 'popular' musics. Each of these three is distinguishable
frombothoftheothersaccordingtothecriteria presentedinFigure1.
The argument is thatpopularmusiccannotbe analysedusingonlythe
traditional toolsofmusicology. Thisis becausepopularmusic,unlike
art music,is (1) conceivedformass distribution to largeand often
socioculturally heterogeneous of
groups listeners, (2) storedand distri-
butedin non-written form,(3) onlypossible in an industrial monetary
economywhereitbecomesa commodity and (4) incapitalist societies,
subjectto thelaws of 'free'enterprise, accordingto whichit should
ideallysell as muchas possibleofas littleas possibleto as manyas
possible.Consideration ofthesedistinguishing marksimpliesthatitis
impossible to 'evaluate' popular music along some sortof Platonic
ideal scale of aestheticvalues and, more practically, thatnotation
shouldnotbe theanalyst'smainsourcematerial. Thereasonforthisis
thatwhilenotationmaybe a viablestarting pointformuchartmusic
analysis,in that itwas theonly formof storageforovera millennium,
popular music, not leastin its Afro-American guises,is neithercon-
ceived nor designedto be storedor distributed as notation,a large
numberof important parameters of musical expressionbeingeither
orimpossibletoencodein traditional
difficult notation(see Tagg1979,
pp. 28-31). This is howevernottheonlyproblem.
Allowingforcertainexceptions,traditional musicanalysiscan be
characterised as formalist and/orphenomenalist. One ofitsgreatdif-
ficulties(criticisedin connectionwiththe analysisof art musicin
R6sing1977)is relatingmusicaldiscourseto theremainder ofhuman
existencein any way, the descriptionof emotiveaspectsin music
eitheroccurringsporadicallyor being avoided altogether.Perhaps
thesedifficulties arein partattributable to suchfactors as (1) a kindof
exclusivistguildmentality amongstmusiciansresulting intheinability
and/orlackofwillto associateitemsofmusicalexpressionwithextra-
musicalphenomena;(2) a time-honoured adherencetonotationas the
only viable form of storing music; (3) a culture-centric
fixationon
certain 'notatable' parameters of musical expression (mostly

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42 PhilipTagg

CHARACTERISTIC Folk Art Popular


Imusic music music

Produced and primarily professionals X X


transmitted
by amateurs
primarily X
usual X
distribution
Mass
unusual X X
oral transmission X
Mainmode of storage
musicalnotation
and distribution
recorded sound X

nomadicor agrarian X
Type of society in
which the category agrarian and industrial X
of musicmostlyoccurs
industrial X
Main twentieth-century independentof monetaryeconomy X
mode of financingr publicfunding
productionand distribution f n
of the music 'free' enterprise X
uncommon _ X
Theory and aesthetics
common X
anonymous X
Composer/author
non-anonymous X X

Figure 1. Folk music, artmusic, popular music: an axiomatictriangle.(This model is an


abbreviated version of a lengthydiscussion in Tagg 1979, pp. 20-7.)

processual aspects such as 'form',thematicconstruction,etc.), which


are particularlyimportantto the Western art music tradition.This
carries with it a nonchalance towards other parameters not easily
expressed in traditionalnotation(mostly'immediate' aspects such as
sound, timbre,electromusicaltreatment,ornamentation,etc.), which
are relativelyunimportant- orignored- in theanalysisofartmusicbut
extremelyimportantin popular music (see Rosing 1981).

andhermeneutics
theory
Affect
Despite the overwhelming dominance of the formalisttraditionin
universitydepartmentsof musicology,such non-referential thinking
should neverthelessas seen as a culturaland historicalparenthesis,
bordered on the one side by the baroque Theoryof Affectsand on the
other by the hermeneuticsof music (see Zoltai 1970, pp. 137-215).
Obviously, thenormativeaestheticstrait-jacketofAffectTheory,a sort
of combinationof feudal absolutistthoughtand rationalistcuriosity,
and its apparent tendency to regard itselfas universallyapplicable,
renderitunsuitableforapplicationto the studyofpopular music,with
itsmultitudeof'languages', rangingfromfilmmusicin thelate roman-
tic symphonicstyleto punk and frommiddle-of-the-road pop to the

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Analysingpopularmusic 43

Webernesque sonoritiesof murdermusic in TV thrillers.Musical her-


meneutics,as a subjectivist,interpretativeapproach, is oftenviolently
and sometimesjustifiablycriticisedand indeed itcan fromtimeto time
degenerate into exegeticguesswork and intuitivelyacrobatic'reading
between the lines'. (Good examples of this are to be found in Cohn
1970, PP. 54-5, Melzer 1970, pp. 104, 153, and Mellers 1973, PP-
117-18.) Nevertheless, hermeneutics can, if applied with slightly
greaterdiscretionand in combinationwith othermusicological sub-
disciplines,especially the sociologyand semiologyof music, make an
importantcontributionto the analysis of popular music. In short: a
rejection of hermeneuticswill result in sterile formalismwhile its
unbridled application can degenerate into unscientificguesswork.

and sociologyofmusic
Thesemiology
The transferof structuralist and semioticmethods,derived fromling-
uistics,to the realmofmusic seemed to offerconsiderablepossibilities
for the understanding of musical messages (see Bernstein 1976).
However, several musicologistsof semioticbent (Lerdahl and Jacken-
doff1977,Keiler1978,Stoianova 1978) have pointedto theobvious but
overlooked fact that models constructedto explain the structureof
semantic, denotative and cognitiveverbal language cannot be trans-
planted wholesale to the epistemologyof music with its associative
and affectivecharacter(see Shepherd 1977). Unfortunately,a great
deal of linguisticformalismhas creptinto the semiologyof music, the
extragenericquestion of relationshipsbetween musical signifierand
signifiedand between the musical object under analysis and society
being eitherregardedwithintradisciplinary scepticismas intellectually
suspect or as subordinate to congenericrelationsinside the musical
object itself (see, for example, Nattiez 1974, PP. 72-3). However,
instead of establishingsuch opposition between extrageneric(emic,
referential, hermeneutic,multidisciplinary)and congeneric(etic,non-
referential,formalist,uni-disciplinary)approaches, it seems wiser to
treatthese two lines of reasoning as complementaryratherthan con-
tradictory.In this way it will be possible to establish relations (ex-
tragenerically)between given items of musical code and theirrespec-
tive fields of extramusicalassociation and (congenerically)between
these various individual partsofthe musical code as processual struc-
tures.
The empiricalsociologyofmusic,apartfromhavingacted as a sorely
needed alarmclock,rousingmusicologistsfromtheirculture-centric and
ethnocentricslumbers,and notifyingthem of musical habitsamongst
the population at large, can also provide valuable informationabout

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44 PhilipTagg
the functions,uses and (withthe help of psychology)the effectsofthe
genre,performanceormusicalobjectunderanalysis.In thisway, results
fromperceptualinvestigationand otherdata about musical habitscan
be used forcross-checkinganalyticalconclusions and forputtingthe
whole analysis in its sociologicaland psychologicalperspectives.
It is clear thata holisticapproach to the analysis ofpopular music is
the only viable one if one wishes to reach a fullunderstandingof all
factorsinteractingwith the conception,transmissionand receptionof
the object of study. Now although such an approach obviously re-
quires multidisciplinary knowledge on a scale no individualresearcher
can ever hope to embrace, thereare neverthelessdegreesof inter-and
intradisciplinary outlook, not to mentionthe possibilitiesaffordedby
interdisciplinary teamwork. An interestingapproach in thiscontextis
that of Asaf'ev's Intonation Theory(see Asaf'ev 1976), which embraces
all levels of musical expression and perception,fromonomatopoeic
signals to complex formstructures,without placing them on either
overtor covertscales of aestheticvalue judgement. Intonationtheory
also tries to put musical analysis into historical,cultural,social and
psychologicalperspectiveand seems to be a viable alternativeto both
congenericformalismand unbridledhermeneuticexegesis, at least as
practisedin the realm of artmusic by Asaf'ev himself(1976, pp. 51ff.)
and, in connection with folk music, by Mar6thy (1974). Intonation
theoryhas also been applied to the study of popular music by Muihe
(1968) and Zak (1979). However, the terminologyof intonationtheory
seems to lack stringency,intonation itselfbeinggivena diversityofnew
meaningsby Asaf'ev in additionto those italreadypossesses (see Ling
1978A). It seems wise to adopt the generallyholisticand dynamically
non-idealistapproach of intonationtheoryin popular music analysis,
less wise to adopt its terminology,at least in the West where it is still
littleknown.
There are also a number of other importantpublications within
non-formalistmusicology which combine semiological, sociological,
psychological and hermeneuticapproaches, therebyofferingideas
which mightbe useful in the analysis of popular music. Apart from
pioneer work carriedout in pre-warGermany(see R6sing 1981,n.11)
and by Frances (1958), I should mentionin thiscontextpublicationsby
Karbuhicky(1973), Rdsing (1977), Ling (1978B) and Tarasti (1978).
However, in none of these publications are the analytical models
applied to popular music; thisstillremainsan extremelydifficult area,
as R6sing (1981) points out in his critiqueof several West German
attemptsat tacklingthe problem.The difficulties are also clearlyepito-
mised by the surprisingdearth of analyticalmethods developed in the
Anglo-Saxon world.

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Analysing music
popular 45
In an interestinganalysis of a fourteen-minute LP trackby an East
German rockgroup, PeterWicke(1978) puts forwardconvincingargu-
ments fortreatingpopular music with new, non-formalist analytical
methods. Wicke's analysis poses questions arisingfroman approach
similarto thatused here. Therefore,in an effortto fillsome epistemo-
logical gaps I shall proceed to attempttheestablishmentofa theoretical
basis forpopular music analysis.

An analyticalmodelforpopularmusic
The conceptual and methodologicaltools forpopular music analysis
presented here are based on some results of currentresearch (Tagg
1979, 1980, 1981A, B). The mostimportantpartsofthisanalyticalmodel
are (1) a checklistofparametersofmusicalexpression,(2) theestablish-
ment of musemes (minimal units of expression) and museme com-
pounds by means of interobjectivecomparison,(3) the establishment
offigure/ground (melody/accompaniment) relationships,(4) thetrans-
formationalanalysis of melodic phrases, (5) the establishmentof pat-
ternsof musical process and theirrelativecongruencewith eventual
patternsofextramusicalprocess,and (6) thefalsification ofconclusions
by means ofhypotheticalsubstitution.These points will be explained
and some of them exemplifiedin the rest of this article.I shall draw
examples mainly frommy work on the title-themeof the KojakTV
series(see Tagg 1979)and on Abba's hitrecording'Fernando' (see Tagg
1981A). First,however, this analyticalprocess should be put into the
contextof a scientificparadigm. The discussion thatfollowsshould be
read in conjunctionwith Figure 2. A reading down the centreof this
diagram, followingthe bold lines, takes one throughthe process of
analysis. Down the sides, joined by thinnerlines, are the extramusical
factorswhichfeedintotheprocesses ofproductionofthemusicand, at
thelevelofideology,mustalso be takenintoaccountbytheanalyst.First,
however, let us concentrateon the hermeneutic/semiological level,
reading down Figure 2 as faras the momentof 'verbalisation'.

Methodological
paradigm musicanalysis
forpopular
It should be clearthatpopular musicis regardedas a socioculturalfield
of study (SCFS). It should also be clear fromFigure 2 thatthereis an
access problem involvingthe selectionof analysis object (hereinafter
'AO') and analyticalmethod. Choice of method is determinedby the
researcher's'mentality'- his orherworldview, ideology,set ofvalues,
objectivepossibilities,etc., influencedin theirturnby the researcher's
and thediscipline'sobjectivepositionin a cultural,historicaland social

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46 PhilipTagg
SCFS

ACCESS Select
PROBLEM method

Emitter Themusical Receiver


needs
and
aims
- Interests, channel'
and
aims
needs - interests,

musico
music,, (music.) music,

RM
EE
AOIOCM
EO IMC IMC
NL EMFA H EMFA
EO PMP S PMP
UG PEMP PEMP

on aims I I on reactions

D music analysed
E in explicit terms

AO as expression
C of relationships
Emitter * Emitter: Receiver Receiver
UL- interests, * Emitter: SCFS - interests,
needs and I * Receiver:SCFS needs and
functions * AO: SCFS functions

AO -analysis obect SCFS

IOCM- interobjective comparison mater al


HS -hypotheticalsubstitution
IMC- itemsof musicalcode
a
EMFA extramusicalfieldsof association
PMP= patterns
of musicalprocess
PEMP patterns of extramusicalprocess
SCFS - sociocultural
fieldof study
-
musicy-musicas notation(-pac-o write)
musici musicas conception(wou thought, purpose,mind)
musice- musicas soundingobject(QN7?
- matteras opposedto mind)
musico musicas perception(Oawpafc-appear,seem)

Figure 2. Methodological paradigm foranalysis of affectin popular music. (Thanks to


Sven Andersson, Instituteforthe Theoryof Science, GothenburgUniversity,forhelp
in constructingthis model.)

context. From the previous discussion it should be clear that the


analysis of popular music is regarded here as an importantcontribu-
tion to musicologyand to culturalstudies in general. This opinion is
based on the general view of modern music historypresented above
(see p. 39).

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Analysing music
popular 47
The choice of AO is determinedto a large extentby practicalmeth-
odological considerations.At the presentstage ofenquirythismeans
two things.Firstly,it seems wise to selectan AO whichis conceivedfor
and received by large, socioculturallyheterogeneousgroups of listen-
ers ratherthan music used by more exclusive,homogeneous groups,
simplybecause it is more logical to studywhat is generally communi-
cable beforetryingto understandparticularities.Secondly,because, as
we have seen, congenericformalismhas ruled the musicologicalroost
for some time and because the development of new types of ex-
tragenericanalysis is a difficult
matter,demanding some caution,it is
best that AOs with relativelyclear extramusicalfields of association
(hereinafter'EMFA') be singled out at this stage.
The finalchoice to be made beforeactual analysis begins is which
stage(s) in the musical communicationprocess to study. Reasons for
discarding music as notation (music.) have already been presented.
Music as perceived by listeners (music,) and as conceived by the
composer and/ormusician beforeactual performance(music,) are on
the other hand both highlyrelevantto the study of popular music,
since theirrelationsto each other,to the sounding object (music,) and
to the general sociocultural field of study are all vital parts of the
perspective into which any conclusions fromthe analysis of other
stages in the musical communicationprocess mustbe placed. Never-
theless, however importantthese aspects may be (and theyarevital),
they can only be mentionedin passing here, being referredto as the
'ideological' part of the paradigm which follows the hermeneutic-
semiological stage.
Thus, choosing the sounding object (music,) as our startingpoint,
we can now discuss actual analyticalmethod.

method
Hermeneutic-semiological
The firstmethodologicaltool is a checklist ofmusicalexpres-
ofparameters
sion. Having discussed general aspects of the communicationprocess
and any formsofsimultaneousextramusicalexpressionconnectedwith
the AO, it is a good idea to make some sortoftranscriptofthe music,,
takinginto considerationa multitudeof musical factors.In drastically
abridged form(fromTagg 1979, pp. 68-70), the checklistincludes:
1. Aspectsof time:duration of AO and relation of this to any other
simultaneous formsof communication;durationof sectionswithin
the AO; pulse, tempo, metre, periodicity;rhythmictextureand
motifs.
2. Melodicaspects:register;pitchrange;rhythmic motifs;tonalvocabul-
ary; contour; timbre.

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48 PhilipTagg

3. Orchestrationalaspects:type and number of voices, instruments,


parts; technicalaspects ofperformance;timbre;phrasing;accentua-
tion.
4. Aspectsof tonalityand texture:tonal centre and type of tonality(if
any); harmonicidiom; harmonicrhythm;typeofharmonicchange;
chordal alteration; relationships between voices, parts, instru-
ments; compositional textureand method.
5. Dynamicaspects:levels ofsound strength;accentuation;audibilityof
parts.
of(re-)performance
6. Acousticalaspects:characteristics 'venue'; degree
of reverberation;distance between sound source and listener;
simultaneous 'extraneous' sound.
7. Electromusicaland mechanicalaspects:panning, filtering,compres-
sing, phasing, distortion,delay, mixing,etc.; muting,pizzicato,
tongue flutter,etc. (see 3, above).

This list does not need to be applied slavishly.It is merelya way of


checking that no importantparameterof musical expression is over-
looked in analysis and can be of help in determiningthe processual
structureof the AO. This is because some parameterswill be absent,
while otherswillbe eitherconstantduringthecompleteAO (iftheyare
constantduringotherpieces as well, such a set ofAOs will constitutea
style- see Fabbri 1982) or theywill be variable,thisconstitutingboth
the immediateand processual interestoftheAO, notonlyas a piece in
itselfbut also in relationto othermusic. The checklistcan also contri-
bute to an accuratedescriptionof musemes.These are minimalunitsof
expression in any given musical style (not the same definitionas in
Seeger 1977) and can be established by the analyticalprocedure of
interobjectivecomparison (hereinafterIOC).
The inherently'alogogenic' characterof musical discourse is the
main reason forusing IOC. The musicologist'seternaldilemma is the
need to use words about a non-verbal,non-denotativeart. This ap-
parent difficultycan be turned into an advantage if at this stage of
analysis one discards words as a metalanguageformusic and replaces
themwith othermusic. This means using the reverseside of a phrase
coined in a poem by Sonnevi (1975): 'music cannotbe explained away -
it can't even be contradictedunless you use completelynew music'.*
* The Swedish
originalis somewhat more poetic than the translation:
Musiken
kan inte bortf6rklaras
Det gar inte ens
att saga emot,
annat in
med helt ny musik

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music
popular
Analysing 49
Thus using IOC means describingmusic by means of othermusic; it
means comparingtheAO withothermusicin a relevantstyleand with
similarfunctions.It works in the followingway.
If an analyticalapproach which establishesconsistencyof response
to the same AO played to a numberof different respondentsis called
intersubjective,then an interobjective
approach would be thatwhich can
establish consistencyof sound events between two or more pieces of
music. Establishingsimilaritiesbetween an AO and other 'pieces of
music' can be done by the researcherhimself,referring to the 'check
list'. The scope ofthe interobjective
comparisonmaterial
(IOCM) can, how-
ever, be widened considerablyby asking otherpeople to do the same.
This process establishes a bank of IOCM which, to give some ex-
amples, can amount to around 350 pieces in the case of the Kojaktitle
theme and about 130 in Abba's 'Fernando'.
The next step is to search the IOCM formusical elements(items of
musical code: IMC) which are also to be found in the AO. These ele-
ments are oftenextremelyshort(musemes), or else consistof general
sonorities or of overall expressional constants. Particularmusemes,
'motifs'and general sonoritiesin both the AO and the IOCM which
correspond must then be relatedto extramusicalformsof expression.
Such relationships can be established if pieces in the IOCM share
any common denominatorsof extramusicalassociation in the formof
visual or verbal meaning. If they do, then the objective correspon-
dences established between the items of musical code in the analysis
object (AO/IMC) and those in the IOCM (IOCM/IMC), and between
the musical code of the IOCM (IOCM/IMC) and its extramusicalfields
of association (IOCM/EMFA), lead to the conclusion that there is a
demonstrable state of correspondencebetween the items of musical
code in the analysis object (AO/IMC) and the extramusicalfields of
association connected to the interobjective comparison material
(IOCM/EMFA) - also of course, between IOCM/IMC and AO/EMFA
(see Fig. 3).
There are obvious pitfallsin this method of determiningmusical
'meaning'. Justas no one would presumethesame morphemeto mean
the same thingin two differentlanguages (forinstance, French and
English [wi:]), so itwould be absurd to presumethat,say, a Bbl3 chord
will 'mean' the same in nineteenth-century operetta (Ex. i) and in
bepop (Ex. 2).
The same kind of confusionmightalso resultin describing'What
Shall We Do With a Drunken Sailor' as sad, and 'He Was Despised'
fromthe Messiahas happy, just because minoris supposed to be sad
and majorhappy - as thoughthespecificitiesofmusicallanguage were
not the most importantoperative factors.

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50 PhilipTagg

AO
IMC
IOCM
VIMC

AO
EMFA IOCM
EMFA
e--+ objective
statesofcorrespondence
--- demonstrable
statesofcorrespondence
Figure 3. Hermeneuticcorrespondenceby means of interobjectivecomparison

To overcome such difficulties,IOCM should be restrictedto musical


genres, functionsand stylesrelevantto the AO. Thus, in dealing with
punk rock,IOCM would need to be confinedto pop and rockfromthe
sixties and after, whereas the IOCM used in connection with
middle-of-the-road pop, filmmusic, etc. can be farlarger,due to the
eclecticnatureofsuch musicsand theheterogeneityoftheiraudiences.
Having extractedthe IMC of the AO (thirteenmain musemes for
Kojak,ten for'Fernando'), theiraffectualmeaningin associativeverbal
formshould be corroboratedor falsified.Since itis impossibleor totally
impracticalto constructpsychologicaltestmodels isolatingthe effects

Example 1

rAA
rail.X

2
Example

ietc.

etc.

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Analysingpopularmusic 51
of one museme in any listeningsituation,it is suggested thathypoth-
eses of musematic 'meaning' be tested by means of a technique well
known fromsuch practices as 'majoring', 'minoring', 'rockingup',
'jazzing up' and applied by Bengtsson (1973, pp. 221ff.)to illustrate
theories on musical processes. This technique is called hypothetical
substitutionand is best explained by example.
The Swedish national anthem ('Du Gamla, du Fria'), togetherwith
most patrioticsongs and hymns(whatevertheirmusical origins*),can
be assumed to be of a traditionallysolemn and positivelydignifiedyet
confidentcharacter.Furthermore, itcan be assumed thatthereis great
intermusematicsimilaritybetween most national anthems. To test
these assumptions, it is necessary to alter the various parametersof
musical expression one by one, in order to pinpointwhat part of the
music actuallycarriesthe solemn-dignified-confident affect.Using the
firstmelodic phrase (Ex. 3) as a startingpoint,hypothetical substitution
(HS) can the
falsify theory that(a) the melodic contour,(b) the melodic
relationship of the initialupbeat-downbeatt and (c) the key and the
intervallicrelationshipof the melody to the tonicare instrumentalin
the transmissionof the assumed affectivemeaning.

Example 3. Swedish national anthem


J=76

Du gam - la, du fri - a, du fjall - hdg-a Nord

In all threecases (Exx. 4a,b,c) the originalmelody has been changed.


The drasticallyaltered HS of Example 4a bears nonethelessa striking
resemblanceto the 'Marseillaise' and could have been made to sound
like 'The Stars and Stripes for Ever', 'God Save the Queen' or the
'Internationale'.The second HS (4b) shows the firstintervalas a rising
major sixthfromfifthto major third,the mostcharacteristic leap in the
Soviet national anthem,while the thirdHS (4c) sounds like a mixture
of musemes fromsuch labour movementrousers as 'Bandiera Rossa'
and 'Venceremos'. It also resemblesthe 'release' ofthe 'Revolutionary
Funeral March', Beethoven's settingof Schiller's 'Ode to Joy'and a
triumphantchorus fromHandel's JudasMaccabeus,not to mentionthe
'send her victorious'phrase from'God Save the Queen'.
* The Swedish nationalanthemtookitstune
froman old folksong with'naughty'lyrics.
t This seems to contradictMar6thy (1974, PP- 224-7, 241ff.) The initialinterval(the
initium'intonation'of plainchant,forexample) should notbe confusedwithAsaf'ev's
various usages of 'intonation'.Asaf'ev calls thistypeof initialintervalvvodniyton(=
introductorytone).

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52 PhilipTagg
Example 4
(a) altered melodic contour
= 76

Du gam- la. du fri - a. du fjall - hdg-a Nord

(b) altered upbeat


= 76

Du gam - la, du fri - a, du fjll - h6g-a Nord

(c) altered key


S" 76

Du gam - la, du fri - a. du fj1l-h6g-a Nord

(d) altered phrasing


4=76

Du gam - la. du fri - a. du fjill - h6g-a Nord

(e) altered tempo


= 42 or 1.30

Du gam- la, du fri - a, du fjill - h6g-a Nord

(f) altered lyrics


J= 76

On route six-ty six I'll be get - ting mykicks

(g) altered metre


A : p140

Du gam-la. du fri - a. du fjall - hbg- a Nord

It is, however,possible to corroborateassumptionsabout solemnity,


dignityand confidenceby changingthe phrasing(Ex. 4d), the tempo
(4e), the lyrics(4f) and the time signature(4g).
By changing the phrasingto staccato,the melody loses much of its
dignity,becoming more like a Perez Prado cha-cha (Ex. 4d).* By in-
* See Prado's
'Patricia',RCA Victor47-7245,no. 1 on theHot loo, 1958. See also Tommy
Dorsey's Tea forTwo Cha-Cha,Decca 30704, no. 7 on the Hot ioo, 1958.

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popularmusic
Analysing 53

creasingthe pulse rateto an allegroof 130 or more,dignity,solemnity


and confidencebecome a bitrushed; by loweringit to an adagio pulse
of forty-two,the confidence turns into something dirge-like(4e).
Solemnityseems also to be destroyedby the substitutionof 'undig-
nified'lyrics,resultingin somethingmore like blasphemous versions
of hymns (4f), and also by retainingthe originaltempo while stating
the tune in triplemetre,thus warrantinga waltz accompaniment(4g).
It would also have been possible to alter the dynamics to, say,
pianissimo, to give the harmonies the sharpened or flattenedadded
notes characteristicof chords in bebop, to put the melody througha
fuzz box, harmoniseror ring modulator,into the minorkey or, say,
some gapped Balkan folkmode. The originalmelody could also have
been played at an alteredpitchon bassoon, piccolo, celesta, synthesis-
er, hurdy-gurdy,bagpipes or steel guitar;itcould have been accompa-
nied by a rockband, crumhornconsortor by offbeathand claps. There
is an infinitenumber of HSs which can corroborateor falsifycorres-
pondences between conclusions about musematicmeaning (AO/IMC
- IOCM/EMFA). However, fromthe examples presented here it is at
least clearthatthelastfourparametersofmusicalexpression(Ex. 4d, e,
f, g) are more importantdeterminantsof the affectivepropertiesof
dignity,solemnityand confidencethan the firstthree (Ex. 4a, b, c),
althoughchange in melodiccontourwas fareasier to detectin notation
than these more importantfactors.
Having established extramusical'meaning' at the microlevel, one
should proceed to theexplanationoftheways musemes are combined,
simultaneously and successively. Unlike verbal language, where
complexitiesof affectiveassociation can generallyonly be expressed
through a combination of denotation and connotation, music can
express such complexities through simultaneously heard sets of
musemes. Several separately analysable musemes are combined to
formwhat the listenerexperiences as an integralsound entity.Such
'museme stacks' can be seen as a verticalcross-sectionthroughan
imaginaryscore. Subjectivelythey seem to have no duration, never
exceeding the limitsof 'presenttime' experiencein music; objectively
this means theyare never longerthan the lengthof a musical phrase,
which may be roughlydefinedas the durationof a normalinhalation
plus exhalation (see Wellek 1963, p. lo9). In popular music, museme
stackscan oftenbe foundto correspondto theconceptof 'sound', one
ofwhose characteristics is a hierarchyofdualisms consisting,firstly,
of
the main relationshipbetween melody and accompaniment(which
may be interpretedas a relationshipbetween figureand ground,
individual(s) and environment),and, secondly, subsidiaryrelation-
ships between bass (plus drums) and otheraccompanyingparts. The

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54 PhilipTagg
relative importance of simultaneous musemes and their combined
affectualmessage, shown as a theoreticalmodel in Figure 4, can be
exemplifiedby the affectualparadigmofthefirstmelodicphrase in the
Kojaktheme (Fig. 5).

Type of
relation

Melody Accompaniment

BassOther parts

Figure 4. Model foranalysis of museme stacks

There is no room here to account in detail forstages of musematic


analysis leading to the associative words found in Figure 5 (see Tagg
1979, pp. 102-47). The example is included merely to make more
concretea littleof this otherwisetheoreticalpresentation.

Melody ITypeofrelationj Accompaniment


a call to stands
actionand out Bass Typeof Otherparts
attention, against, relation
strong, is
individual energy,
heard excitement, general,
movement
above, desuItory is constant,
upamovement
outwards is unrest, part bustling
strong- maleaggres- of, activity,
vioutwards,
energetic s sivity, rum- agitated,
and her-is en-d threatof bles pleasant,
oic, lead- in dia- subcultural be- vibrant,
ingto logue environ- low, luminous,
undulating with mentin is modern,
swaying, largeNorth heard urban
calm and American through American,
confidence, city sometimes
something jerky,
individual, unresting,
male, exciting
martialand
heroic

Figure 5. Analysis of museme stack in the Kojaktheme, bars 5-8

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Analysingpopularmusic 55

Having established correspondence between on the one hand


'static' items of musical expression (musemes and museme stacks) in
the AO and, on the otherhand, the EMFAs oftheIOCM - whichleads
to conclusions about the relationshipbetween these itemsas signifiers
and signifieds- itis also necessaryto determinetheprocessual meaning
of the AO. Thanks to the melody-accompanimentdualism of much
popular music (see Muihe 1968, pp. 53, 67; Mar6thy1974, p. 22; Tagg
1979,PP. 123-4, 142-7), in which thereare rarelymore than two parts
with melodic material,the remainingvoices eitherexecutingriffsor
sustainingnotes or chords,the way to determinetherelativesyntactic
importanceof individual musemes along the 'horizontal'time axis is
reasonably simple. It is in factpossible to constructa model according
to which any melodic phrase can be generatedaccordingto the trans-
formationalnormsto which theAO belongs (see Fig. 6). This does not
imply that thereare any hard and fastrules about the way in which
melodic phrases are actuallygenerated.The model is a purelytheore-
tical conception, which helps us findout the syntacticalmeaning of
melodic phrases. A generativeanalysis ofthe firstfullystatedmelodic
phrase fromthe Kojaktheme(Fig. 7) should make thisclearer.Starting
fromthe originalpitchidea shown in Figure 7, an infinitenumberof
transformationsare possible. Two of these, simply using different
sequences of musemes, are suggested in Examples 5 and 6. These
examples are both melodic nonsense; neitherthe mere sum, nor the
haphazard permutationof musemes can constitutethe syntactical
meaning of melodic phrases. Instead it is theirspecifictype of conti-
guity,theirtype of overlap-elisionaccordingto the 'law of good con-
tinuation'(Meyer 1956) and thatof 'implication'(Narmour 1977), that
give specificmeaning to the phrase. This can be seen in a comparison
of the originalmelodic phrase of the Kojaktheme (Ex. 7) and a HS in
whichthemiddlemuseme, togetherwithitstransformation by propul-
sive double repetition,has been replacedwhile all otherelementshave
been retained (Ex. 8).
MP
(musicalphrase)

IM TM
(initialmotif) (terminalmotif)

M M M M
(museme)
Figure 6. 'Deep structure'of melodic phrases

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a
Pitch idea
Accentual direction

Melodic vocabulary
(Cm pentatonic)

Deletion (of final


non-accent of same
pitch)i

no-cet
Deletion by
fsm
assimilation
-
1

Allegro assaiJ 134)


Accentual d U -
distribution
(metrication) g'9

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Accentual
emphasis --d
(by prolongation)

Decoration by
impletion%:
A 3
Accentual diffusion

Propulsive double
repetition 1

Deletion of
redundant rests E

Instrumentation unison horns a 4 (+ el. gt., 3rd vlns. vcl.)

Dynamics forte/ fortissimo

Phrasing and legato. cantabile. 'en dehors'


interpretation
k
Allegro assai J = 134 lega o,cantabile
Surface structure AI
.
.

Horns a 4 (+ el.gt..vcl.& 3rd vlns)

Note: 171 = zero museme

Figure 7. Generativeanalysis of melodic line in firstfullmelodic phra

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58 PhilipTagg
Example 5
r a ~~~L I t
i- r- 3

Example 6
ry- k
!* I
I
I
M
I I kI N 1 74 I , d

I-- -4/
4-4

Example 7
bar 1 2 3 4

,I t4 d-I
-A,
m.
3-L [I "i)

Example 8
bar 1 2 3 4
S -3-3 r--3
r---3
,

In thisway it is possible to distinguishbetween the affectualsyntax


of the original version and that of the HS. The differencescan be
verbalisedas follows.Example 7: (bar 1) a strong,virilecall to attention
and action upwards and outwards/(bar2) undulates, sways calm and
confident,gaining momentumto lead into/(bars3 and 4) something
strong,broad, individual,male, martial,heroicand definite.Example
8: (bar 1) a strong, virile call to attentionand action upwards and
outwards /(bar2) redescends smoothlyto/(bar3) somethingstrong,
broad, individual,male, martialand heroicwhichgrows in heightand
intensity,drivingforwardto/(bar4) a confidentpointofrest. In short:
although these two melodic phrases containexactlythe same musical
material,the orderin which the materialis presentedand the way in
which its constituentparts are elided into each other are both in-
strumentalin determiningthe differencein affectualmeaning.
Climbingfurtherup the structuralhierarchyfromthe microcosmof
musemes, through melodic phrases, we arrive at the point where
larger patternsof musical process (PMP) should be examined. This
area is generallyregardedas the privatehuntingground oftraditional
formalistmusicology with its sophisticatedconceptual apparatus of
thematicgermination,mutationand development.However, as Ches-
ter(1970) has suggested,thereare cleardifferences betweenthe 'exten-
sional' type of musical discourse to be found in the heyday of sonata

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Analysingpopularmusic 59
formand the 'intensional'blocks throughwhich much popular music
(not least rock) is structuredin a much more immediateway.*
Nevertheless, this does not mean that patternsof musical process
are a simple matterin popular music analysis (see Wicke 1978, Tagg
1979). Although block shifts(simultaneous changes in several para-
meters of musical expression) are reasonably clear in joins between
verse and chorus, A and B sections,etc., the totalmeaningof straight-
forwardpatternsof reiterationand recapitulationcan oftenbe more
than theirdeceptive simplicitysuggests. (For discussionofsome ofthe
processes involved, see Tagg 1979,pp. 217-29.) The situationbecomes
even more complex when there is incongruence between musical
processes and extramusicalprocesses (PEMP: visual images or words,
forinstance) in the same AO. Only a depth analysis of simultaneity,
staggeringor incongruenceof change and returnin both musical and
extramusical processes within the AO can actually reveal the true
nature of the musical discourse. The sortof probleminvolved here is
probably best explained by an example.
In Abba's 'Fernando',t patternsofmusicaland extramusicalprocess
seem reasonablyclear.The song has two parts:instrumental plus verse
(V), and chorus (C). The order of events is V V C V C C. By means of
musematic analysis the verse can be said to conjure up a postcard
picture of a young European woman alone against a backclothof a
plateau in the high Andes. Periodicity,vocal delivery,lack ofbass and
drums, and other musical aspects say that she is sincere, worried,
involved in a long-ago-and-far-away environment.The words of the
verse underline this mood: she has taken part, togetherwith her
'Fernando', in a vaguely-referred-to freedomfight.The music of the
chorus can be said to representhere-and-nowin pleasant, modern,
comfortable,leisurelysurroundings;the young European woman is
pleasantly nostalgic. The words are congruentlynostalgicand totally
devoid of concrete references(guns, bugle calls, Rio Grande, etc.)
mentioned in the verse. Everythingin the analysis seems relatively
simple so far,and judging fromthe words ofthe chorus,thiscould be
quite a 'progressive' song.
Therewas something in theair thatnight,thestarswerebright,
Fernando,
Theywereshiningthereforyou and me, forliberty, Fernando,
Thoughwe neverthoughtthatwe couldlose, there'sno regrets:
IfI had to do thesame again,I would,myfriend, Fernando.
* For more detailed discussion of extensionaland intensionalstructures,see pp. 29-30
above. (ed.)
t Epic EPC 4036, no. 1 in the UK, 1976. Also on LP Abba's GreatestHits Epic EPC
weeks in BritishLP charts.As a single in the USA (Atlantic45-3346)
69218, fifty-one
sixteenweeks in the 'Hot loo'. For a thoroughanalysisof'Fernando', see Tagg 1981A.

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6o PhilipTagg
The only trouble is that the musical element correspondingto this
nostalgia and longing to returnto the exoticenvironment(Ex. 9) is a
highlyambiguous museme, fornotonlyis itsfallingtritone(markedx)
a stereotypeof 'longing' (forIOCM see Ex. loa, b, c) but also a typical
pre-cadentialsign of the imminentrelaxationof tension (see Ex. 11a,
b). A depth analysis of the patternsof musical process in 'Fernando'
reveals that when the ambiguous museme occurs at the startof the
chorus it has a clearly longing character(Ex. 9), since it cannot be
pre-cadentialwhen it not only initiatesthe phrase but also the whole
section. However, when it recurs at the end of the chorus, it still
admittedlystartsthe melodic phrase but it is at the same time in a
typicallypre-cadentialposition of announcing relaxationof tension
and thereforeno real longing.This is because itoccurstowardstheend
ofa much longerbut equally well-entrenchedmusicalprocess, thatofa
familiarVI-II-V-I circle-of-fifths finish (Ex. 12). This means that,
whereas the words say 'If I had to go back and fightforfreedomin
I
Latin America, would', the music expresses the affectiveattitude'I
for
maybe longing something here at home butI'm reallyquite content
with things as they are.'

Example 9. Abba, 'Fernando'


Start of chorus
A (finish) E7
xx

There was somethingin the air that night, the stars- were bright.

Example io
a. Bach, MatthdusPassion(1729), 'Ich will bei meinem Jesuwachten'
Cm F7 B? E?7 x Ab7-5 x

O,
MW OHMF pop441
SI, [IF-,-_.

b. Gluck, Orfeoe Euridice(1774), 'Che far6senza Euridice?'

Adagio x

he-ar my- prayer so- sad and sigh - ing

c. The Righteous Brothers,'You've Lost That Loving Feeling', Philles 124


C11 x x C

Sx

You ne-ver close your eyes a -ny more whenyou kiss my lips

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music
popular
Analysing 61

Example 11
a. Njurlingand Dahlqvist, 'Skepp som m6tasi natten'(1924). In SvenskSchlager,
ed. F. G.
Sundelof (Stockholm1968)
A7 D A7 x D

b. AlfProysen,'Lilla vackraAnna' (n.d.). In Visesangboka,


ed. O. Leren and L. Damstad
(Oslo, 1971)
D A7 x D

Example 12. Abba, 'Fernando'


[Start second half of chorus (somethingnew)]
F7 (VI) B7 (II)
AA7 - -

Thoughwe never thoughtthatwe could lose, there's no re-grets


Finish of
E7 (V) A (I) chorus

If I had to do the same a-gain, I would,_ myfriend,Fer-nan - do.

[return of the familiar (relief)]

Difficultiesin interpretingpatternsof musical process can also be


found furtherup the processual hierarchyin the same song. Osten-
sibly,threemain processes are to be found. The firstand thirdmove
from the sincere-worrying-and-involvement-about-fighting-for-free-
dom-in-the-sierras sphere to the world of here-and-now-at-home in
pleasant, comfortable surroundings, reminiscing with relief(that is,
V -- C); the second process moves in the opposite direction(C -- V).
However, not onlyare theremoreshiftsfromverseto chorusthanvice
versa, thereis also an overall processfrom'more "Andes" (verse) and
less "soft disco" (chorus)' (the firsthalfof the song) to 'less "Andes"
and more "soft disco"' (the second half). A processual HS reversing
this order of events leads to a totallydifferentstatementof emotional
involvementin musical terms.
At this point in the analyticalmodel we are poised on the brinkof
'ideological critique', the next and final step in the methodological
paradigm presented earlier(see Fig. 2).

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62 PhilipTagg

critique
Ideological
This partofthe studyis strictly speakingoutside thejurisdictionofthe
type of 'textual analysis' sketched above. However, it seems import-
ant, ifonlyin passing and by way ofsummary,to pose a fewquestions
arising out of the sort of musematicanalysis illustratedthere. These
questions also put the analyticalmodel into a broader perspective.
The results of the detailed musematic analyses of both Kojak and
'Fernando' (Tagg 1979, 1981A) showed that this mainstreampopular
music was able to carrymessages which, at a preconscious, affective
and associative level of thought,were able to relatetypesof personal-
ity,environmentsand events to emotional attitudes,implicitevalua-
tions and patterns of affectiveresponse. In the case of Kojak, for
example, the music was found to reinforcea basically monocentric
view of the world and to emphasise affectivelythe fallacythat the
negative experienceof a hostile urban environmentcan be overcome
solelyby means ofan individualistattitudeofstrengthand go-it-alone
heroism. In 'Fernando', a similarsortof monocentricity prevails,but
the threatand worryepitomisedby oppression, hunger and rebellion
under neo-colonialism are warded off by the adoption of a tourist
attitude(most strikinglyexpressed in the spatial panning, which has
'ethnic' quena flutes in the stereo wings and the West European
vocalist up centrefront- a HS reversingthese positions could have
been interesting!)and by nostalgic reminiscences heard against a
familiar'home' accompanimentof 'softdisco' (these elementsgaining
a repressive,Angst-dispellingupper hand).
Obvious questions arising fromsuch results are of the following
type.How do 'emitter'and 'receiver'relateto theattitudesand implicit
ideologies which seem to be encoded in the analysed 'channel'? Start-
ing with the 'emitter'we might ask how, as far as the 'emitter'is
concerned, the conception and composition of these affectivelyen-
coded attitudes are influenced by the circulationof capital in the
popular cultureindustry.Does thisconnectwiththedemand forquick
turnoverand the creationof 'product' capable of elicitingimmediate
audience reaction leading to such turnover?If so, how aware is the
'emitter'of these pressures? Is there any conscious or unconscious
self-censorshipat this stage? It seems probable, forexample, thatthe
productionofmuch filmmusic,includingtitlesand signaturetunes,is
influencedby a need to followwell-entrenchedstereotypesofaffective
code, in termsofboth musematicstructuresand the implicitattitudes
conveyed by such structureswhen connectedin a stereotypicfashion
to extramusicalphenomena (see Tagg 1980). Can such tendencies
really be seen as a sort of evil conspiracyand as the reflectionof a

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Analysingpopularmusic 63
conscious ideological positionon thepartofthe'emitter'?Is itnotmore
likelythattheyshould be attributedto the objectivesocial and cultural
position ofthe 'emitter'in relationto the musicbusiness, the 'receiver'
and societyin general?
Turning to the receiving end of the communicationprocess, we
mightask how the musical statementofimplicitattitudesprevalentin
society at large affectsthose listeningto such culturallyeclecticand
heterogeneouslydistributedtypes of music as titletunes and middle-
of-the-roadpop. Are the attitudesand behaviour patternsimplied in
such music as Kojakand 'Fernando' actuallycapable ofreinforcing the
attitudesand behaviour patternsimplied by prevailingsocial tenden-
cies of monocentricity, privatisationand idealistindividualism;or are
these messages merelyreceived at a distance as entertainingreflec-
tions of an outdated mode of relatingto currentreality?Obviously,
reception of such 'consensus music' (Hamm 1981) will vary con-
siderablybetween different cultures,subcultures,classes and groups.
Thus, whereas parts of the 'fourth audience' (ibid.) maywell be able to
identify with the affectiveattitudes towards love, family,societyand
nature (on 'nature' in music, see Rebscher 1976, R6sing 1977, Tagg
1982) presented in such TV music as Kojakor in such middle-of-the-
road pop as 'Fernando', itis clear thatmanywill be unable to identify.
This raises yet another question: how does the lattertype of listener
relate to prevailing ideologies and attitudes both in music and in
society at large?

Analysingsubculturalmusiccodesin industrialisedsociety
The way in which 'counter-cultures'and subculturesexpresstheirown
stand, profile and group identityin extramusicalterms has been
documented in numerous studies (see the work of the Centre for
Contemporary Cultural Studies at the Universityof Birmingham).
However, the musicalcoding of such identitiesand attitudesis an
underdeveloped field of study. There are admittedly numerous
accounts of trendswithinAfro-American music,but few of these deal
with the actual musical code of the counter-cultureor subculturein
question. This could be because no real theoryyet exists which ex-
plains how theprevailing attitudes,patternsofbehaviourand ideology
of late capitalism are encoded in the musical mainstream of popular
musics such as signaturetunes, Musak, advertisingmusic, middle-
of-the-roadpop and rock, etc. In fact it appears that the study of
popular music has, with very few exceptions (such as Mihe 1968,
Czerny and Hoffman1968, Hamm 1979, 1981, 1982, Gravesen 1980,
Helms 1981), shown a remarkable bias towards tributaries or
offshoots,while strangelyignoringthe mainstreamitself.

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64 PhilipTagg
It is difficultto refrainfromspeculatingabout possible reasons for
such bias. Perhaps thereis a tendencyamong intellectualmusiciansor
musically interestedacademics to be criticaltowards the stereotypic
encoding of mainstreamattitudesand ideas in our society. If so, it
seems naturalthatsuch researcherswill be morelikelyto identifywith
musics 'contradicting'this mainstreamand thus be motivatedto ex-
plain the 'contradicting'position theythemselvesassume ratherthan
the 'contradicted'which theyleave shrouded in mystery,an inacces-
sible, unidentifiedenemy. But itis hard to understandhow the popu-
lar music researcherwill ever be able to explain his 'music in opposi-
tion' (or even how 'music in opposition' will be able to develop a valid
strategy)iftheideologies encoded in themusicalmainstreamare notto
be touched.
This was put terselyby WilliamBrooksat Keele Universityduringa
seminaron Afro-Amercan musicin1978.He expressedtheopinionthatit
is no use trying to find out whyChuckBerryis so greatifyou do notknow
whyPerryComo is so successful. How, one wonders,can thetruevalues
of Sonnevi's 'contradicting musical exception' (see p. 48 above) be
realised ifthe face of the 'prevailingmusical norm'is neverdemasked.
Analytical methods developed along the lines of the model
presented here may perhaps contribute to this demasking operation.
Whetheror not theymightthen be applicable to subculturalmusical
codes, such as Tyneside workers' song, reggae or punk, is another
question. The problemswould be numerousand can be generalisedas
follows. (1) Detailed genre definitionswill need to be made (for a
possible method, see Fabbri1982 and his contributionin thisvolume).
(2) Acceptable stylecriteriawill need to be established on the basis of
the musical traitsaccepted and rejected by musicians and listeners
belonging to the subculture. (3) The subcultural musical code will
probably need to be considered as a potential carrierof particular
socialisedrelationshipsbetween members of the musical subculture
and the musical mainstream- this presumablyreflectingcomparable
extramusical relationships - rather than as carrier of quasi-
universalisedattitudesand relationshipstowardsan apparentlywider
and vaguer set of general,individualised experience (see Wicke and
Mayer 1982). Such considerations seem to imply that the model
presented in this article will require some alterationbefore being
applied to the analysis of subcultural popular musics.

Popular music analysis - its uses


As usual in theoreticalpresentationslike this,morequestions seem to
get asked than answers given. However, results from the depth
studies of titlemusic and middle-of-the-road pop carried out so far

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Analysing music
popular 65
suggestthatthesortofhermeneutic-semiological analysispresented
herecan providesome insightand act as a basis forunderstanding
'whatis beingcommunicated' and 'how'.
Now it is truethatmy analyticalmodel has been distilledfrom
detailed,almostmicroscopic studiesof individualpieces of popular
music.Suchmicroscopic investigation was carriedoutin orderto test
thoroughly the scientific
viabilityof certain hypothesesand intuitive
analyticalpractices.It resulted in of
pieces writing(300 pages fora
one-minute titletheme,sixtypages forfourminutesofpop!) fartoo
cumbersometo be used as modelsfornormalteachingsituations.
However,thisdoes notmeanthatthebasictechniquesproblematised
and testedin thiswayareunusableinnormalcircumstances, notleast
because theneed to testand developthesemodelsevolvedfromthe
practicalproblemsof teachingpopularmusichistoryat a teachers'
trainingcollege,wheretherewas certainly no timetospendmorethan
a fewminutestalkingaboutsinglepiecesofmusic.
The methodsof interobjective comparison,of establishing corres-
pondence between the IOCM and its EMFA and thenbetween the
musicalcode of the analysisobject(AO/IMC)and the extramusical
fieldsof associationconnectedwiththe interobjective comparison
material(IOCM/EMFA)(see Fig. 3) can be carriedout by anyone
willingto exercisetheirsynaesthetic and associativecapacitiesas well
as theirintellect.
Any musician can carryoutsimpleHS (hypothetical
substitutions)and, witha tape recorder,tape, a razorblade and a
reasonableear, anyonecan evenmanageto reassemblea processual
HS. Anyonewitha bitofimagination cansingbitsoftuneinthewrong
order,or substitutenew continuations, and therebydiscoverwhat
actuallymakesthemusicsay whatit says.
In otherwordstheanalysisofpopularmusicshouldin no way be
considereda job reservedfor'experts'(althoughI will admitthat
describingits mechanismsmayrequiresome specialistknowledge).
The sortofanalyticmodelpresentedhereshouldratherbe seenas an
efforttounderpincognitively thatformofaffective andimplicit
human
communication whichoccupiespartsoftheaverageWesterner's brain
duringone quarterofhiswakinglife.(Can anyotherformofcommu-
nicationrivalthis,quantitatively?)
Analysing popularmusicshouldalso
be seenas something whichcounteracts 'splitbrain'tendencies,resists
thesortofmentalapartheidadvocatedby thenewspapersquotedat
thestartofthisarticleand breakstheschizophrenic taboosprohibiting
contactbetweenverbaland non-verbal, explicitand implicit,public
and private,collectiveand individual,workand leisure.Analysing
popularmusictakesthe 'fun' seriouslyand is itselfbotha serious
business and a lot of fun.

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66 PhilipTagg

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