In his writing on Woody Guthrie’s music, Pete Seeger encourages an awareness of early American folk songs—particularly the tracks included on Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music. Seeger also points... ▼ Read More

In his writing on Woody Guthrie’s music, Pete Seeger encourages an awareness of early American folk songs—particularly the tracks included on Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music. Seeger also points to a particular type of “irregularity” in Guthrie’s performances, in which a melody note is unexpectedly held over continued guitar strumming. These long-held melody notes demonstrate the rhetorical technique I explore in this article, the performed-out fermata, which I theorize in connection with the concept of “composed-out fermatas” as they are observed in Classical-period orchestral music. Using Woody Guthrie songs alongside tracks from Smith’s Anthology, I propose two types of performed-out fermatas (mid-phrase and anacrusis-type) and the related technique of elongated harmonic zones as ways that artists added interest and aliveness to their strophic song performances. I then explore how this important metric rhetoric of the folk revival was transmitted to and kept alive by Bob Dylan in the 1960s, demonstrating a thread of lasting influence between early twentieth-century song recordings and the future of American popular songwriting. ▲ Read Less

This article aims to shed music-theoretical insight on claims that suggest an association between the Arab concept of ṭarab—typically described in English as “musical ecstasy”—and perceived transformations of musical time.... ▼ Read More

This article aims to shed music-theoretical insight on claims that suggest an association between the Arab concept of ṭarab—typically described in English as “musical ecstasy”—and perceived transformations of musical time. In describing the interrelation of rhythm, temporality, and feeling in Arab musical performance, the article develops an analytical model to show how altered senses of time are revealed through a particularly ubiquitous musical strategy that I call “rhythmic-temporal disruptions.” After a brief primer on ṭarab, I apply this analytical model to the opening of the National Arab Orchestra’s live rendition of one of the most canonical songs of the ṭarab repertoire—Umm Kulthūm’s 1969 “Alf Leila wi Leila”—to argue that rhythmic-temporal disruptions function as sonic mechanisms for experiencing the altered senses of time attributed to the musical ecstasy of ṭarab. The end of the article then grapples with issues of physicality and phenomenology to discuss listeners’ relationship to rhythmic-temporal disruptions in experiential terms. ▲ Read Less

Building on an earlier study of the dramaturgic phrase structures in Osmin's arias from Die Entführung aus dem Serail, this article presents analyses of two other Mozart Singspiel servant arias:... ▼ Read More

Building on an earlier study of the dramaturgic phrase structures in Osmin's arias from Die Entführung aus dem Serail, this article presents analyses of two other Mozart Singspiel servant arias: the like-named Osmin's "Wer hungrig bei der Tafel sitzt" (Zaide, 1779–1780) and Monostatos's "Alles fühlt der Liebe Freude" (Die Zauberflöte, 1791). In the former, Mozart uses two different barring styles to underscore Osmin's descriptions of reasonable and unreasonable behavior; in the latter, he uses a pattern-avoidant phrase structure to convey Monostatos's feverish (and non-Western) despair. The phrase structures of both men recall, in different ways and to different degrees, those of the Entführung Osmin's arias, and taken together suggest that Mozart applied similar dramaturgic devices to similar characterizations across his operatic maturity. ▲ Read Less

This paper examines metrical contrasts in Wang Amao's board fiddle composition, One Person's Stage (2021). In the score, Wang frequently shifts meters to give the melody a more malleable and... ▼ Read More

This paper examines metrical contrasts in Wang Amao's board fiddle composition, One Person's Stage (2021). In the score, Wang frequently shifts meters to give the melody a more malleable and fluid quality. However, based on my interviews with the premier performer Hu Yu and multiple listenings to his rendition, I discern metrical patterns diverging from the notated version. While such differences are not uncommon in musics post-1900, this study explores the interplay between the perceived meter and pentatonic voice-leading structure, examining how the heard rhythm interacts with the structural pitches.

To articulate the metrical structure as I perceive it, I employ James Sullivan's (2023) methodology---including projection theory (after Mirka [2009]) and metrical categorizations---to analyze the perceived meter. In the pitch domain, I modify Schenkerian sketches to chart pitch organization driven by a clear pentatonic center of E. This paper observes the interactive behaviors between the metrical stream heard in real time and prolongational voice leading throughout different formal parts in the Introduction, illustrating how pitch, meter, and form coalesce to create a cohesive musical narrative. ▲ Read Less

In this article, we empirically examine microtiming and tempo variability in the drumming of the Rolling Stones’ Charlie Watts. We present a new method for microtiming analysis and use it... ▼ Read More

In this article, we empirically examine microtiming and tempo variability in the drumming of the Rolling Stones’ Charlie Watts. We present a new method for microtiming analysis and use it to examine 81 Rolling Stones recordings and 59 songs by other artists. Our study finds that Watts delayed backbeats more consistently than his contemporaries, particularly in releases dating from 1967 to 1973. We also analyze tempo variability in 133 Rolling Stones studio recordings with Watts, finding that tempo variation often reflected song structure and that the band had a general tendency to accelerate in recordings from this same 1967–73 period. After 1973, the music of the Rolling Stones became much steadier, to some extent aligning with trends in mainstream pop. Ultimately, our study provides some evidence for claims commonly made about Watts, but also suggests that much of the discussion may be colored by romanticized notions of authenticity. ▲ Read Less