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Retrogressive Harmonic Motion as Structural and Stylistic Characteristic of Pop-Rock Music

Carter, Paul Scott
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1116202928

Abstract Details

2005, PhD, University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music : Theory.
The central issue addressed in this dissertation is that of progressive and retrogressive harmonic motion as it is utilized in the repertoire of pop-rock music. I believe that analysis in these terms may prove to be a valuable tool for the understanding of the structure, style and perception of this music. Throughout my study of this music, various patterns of progressive and retrogressive harmonic motions within a piece reveal a kind of musical character about it, a character on which much of a work’s style, organization and extramusical nature often depends. Several influential theorists, especially Jean-Phillipe Rameau, Hugo Riemann, and Arnold Schoenberg, have addressed the issues of functional harmony and the nature of the motion between chords of a tonal harmonic space. After assessing these views, I have found that it is possible to differentiate between two fundamental types of harmonic motions. This difference, one that I believe is instrumental in characterizing pop-rock music, is the basis for the analytical perspective I wish to embrace. After establishing a method of evaluating tonal harmonic root motions in these terms, I wish to examine a corpus of this music in order to discover what a characterization of its harmonic motion may reveal about each piece. Determining this harmonic character may help to establish structural and stylistic traits for that piece, its genre, composer, period, or even its sociological purpose. Conclusions may then be drawn regarding the role these patterns play in defining musical style traits of pop-rock. Partly as a tool for serving the study mentioned above I develop a graphical method of accounting for root motion I name the tonal “Space-Plot.” This apparatus allows the analyst to measure several facets about the harmonic motion of the music, and to see a wide scope of relations in and around a diatonic key.
Dr. Robert Zierolf (Advisor)
217 p.
Music; Music Theory; Harmony; Harmonic Motion; Pop Music; Pop-Rock Music; Rock Music; Harmonic Theory; Functional Harmonic Theory; Retrogressive Motion; Space-Plot Theory; Transformational Theory

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Carter, P. S. (2005). Retrogressive Harmonic Motion as Structural and Stylistic Characteristic of Pop-Rock Music [Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1116202928

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Carter, Paul. Retrogressive Harmonic Motion as Structural and Stylistic Characteristic of Pop-Rock Music. 2005. University of Cincinnati, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1116202928.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Carter, Paul. "Retrogressive Harmonic Motion as Structural and Stylistic Characteristic of Pop-Rock Music." Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati, 2005. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1116202928

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ucin1116202928
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© 2005, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by University of Cincinnati and OhioLINK.