Times A-Changin'
Flexible Meter as Self-Expression in Singer-Songwriter Music
Published on 4. October 2023
Book
Hardback
216 pages
978-0-19-763521-6 (ISBN)
Description
In 1960s and 1970s singer-songwriter music, some artists used malleable metric settings alongside other features of self-expression in performance. This resulted in songs with extremes of self-expressive timing flexibility that cannot be accounted for using a single conception of meter. This book proposes a theory of flexible meter that recasts metric structure as encompassing the variety of metric scenarios presented by the self-expressive performance practice of singer-songwriters, from metric regularity to metric ambiguity, and vacillations between these two possibilities. Author Nancy Murphy explores performances by Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Paul Simon, and Cat Stevens to investigate the individual metric style of each artist and how their flexible metric techniques contribute to the self-expressive rhetoric of the singer-songwriter performance tradition.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
74
Dimensions
Height: 236 mm
Width: 159 mm
Thickness: 19 mm
Weight
446 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-763521-6 (9780197635216)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
08/2023
OUP eBook
€53.99
Available for download
E-Book
08/2023
OUP eBook
€53.99
Available for download
Person
Nancy Murphy is Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Michigan, previously teaching at the University of Houston and the University of Chicago. Her research studies singer-songwriter music, metric flexibility, self-expression, vocal production, and transcription. She has published articles and reviews in Music Theory Spectrum, Music Analysis, and Music Theory Online and serves on the editorial boards of Music Theory Online, Indiana Theory, and Engaging Students: Essays in Music Pedagogy (Associate Editor). She has reviewed journal submission for multiple peer-reviewed publications including Music Theory Spectrum, Popular Music, Music Theory Online, Analytical Approaches to World Music, Engaging Students, and Indiana Theory Review.
Content
Abstract
Table of Contents
List of Figures and Captions
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1: The Self Expressive Rhetoric of Flexible Meter
Self-Expressive Features
Flexible Meter and "The Fiddle and the Drum"
Self-Expression and the Singer-Songwriter
Expectations for Singer-Songwriter Music
Bob Dylan and The Folk Revival
Flexible Meter as Self-Expression in Singer-Songwriter Music
Chapter 2: The Theory of Flexible Meter
Types of Flexible Meter
Regular Meter
Reinterpreted Meter
Lost Meter
Ambiguous Meter
Metric Potential
Chapter 3: Regular and Reinterpreted Meter
Regular Meter
Reinterpreted Meter
Joni Mitchell's Rhapsodic Sentiments
Paul Simon: Reinterpreted Meter Expressing Enigmatic Lyrics
Cat Stevens's Introspection
A Closer Look: Joni Mitchell's "Lesson in Survival"
Chapter 4: Self-Expressive Innovations: Lost Meter
Bob Dylan's "Only a Pawn in Their Game"
Cat Stevens's "Time"
Joni Mitchell's "Blue"
Chapter 5: Intensifying "Imperfection": Ambiguous Meter
Bob Dylan's "Down the Highway"
Bob Dylan's "Restless Farewell"
Joni Mitchell's "The Fiddle and the Drum"
Buffy Sainte-Marie's "Sir Patrick Spens"
Chapter 6: What Happens Next? Self-Expressive Flexible Meter
Beyond 1982
Future Singer-Songwriters
Buffy Sainte-Marie's "My Country" (1966)
"My Country" (1966, Rainbow Quest)
"My Country" (2017, Medicine Songs)
Conclusion: Flexible Meter as Self-Expression
Index
Table of Contents
List of Figures and Captions
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1: The Self Expressive Rhetoric of Flexible Meter
Self-Expressive Features
Flexible Meter and "The Fiddle and the Drum"
Self-Expression and the Singer-Songwriter
Expectations for Singer-Songwriter Music
Bob Dylan and The Folk Revival
Flexible Meter as Self-Expression in Singer-Songwriter Music
Chapter 2: The Theory of Flexible Meter
Types of Flexible Meter
Regular Meter
Reinterpreted Meter
Lost Meter
Ambiguous Meter
Metric Potential
Chapter 3: Regular and Reinterpreted Meter
Regular Meter
Reinterpreted Meter
Joni Mitchell's Rhapsodic Sentiments
Paul Simon: Reinterpreted Meter Expressing Enigmatic Lyrics
Cat Stevens's Introspection
A Closer Look: Joni Mitchell's "Lesson in Survival"
Chapter 4: Self-Expressive Innovations: Lost Meter
Bob Dylan's "Only a Pawn in Their Game"
Cat Stevens's "Time"
Joni Mitchell's "Blue"
Chapter 5: Intensifying "Imperfection": Ambiguous Meter
Bob Dylan's "Down the Highway"
Bob Dylan's "Restless Farewell"
Joni Mitchell's "The Fiddle and the Drum"
Buffy Sainte-Marie's "Sir Patrick Spens"
Chapter 6: What Happens Next? Self-Expressive Flexible Meter
Beyond 1982
Future Singer-Songwriters
Buffy Sainte-Marie's "My Country" (1966)
"My Country" (1966, Rainbow Quest)
"My Country" (2017, Medicine Songs)
Conclusion: Flexible Meter as Self-Expression
Index