More PhD Stuff, Elliot Smith, and the Status of Rock Analysis

Hey hey. I'll do this in order.

I've been nominated for a departmental fellowship at UC-SB. That definitely rules. I still have yet to hear from the six remaining schools, though I've heard that UT-Austin has made decisions and that UKansas-Lawrence has just begun looking at apps. I'm hoping that by the end of February I'll know from everywhere and will have some choices.

Today was the Tonal Systems of Rock workshop at the Conversations in Music conference at UMich. Six groups of 2-3 graduate students presented analyses of many different pop songs. My group did Elliot Smith's "Pretty Mary K" from his album Figure 8 (2000). The three of us had very different approaches. Brian, a PhD candidate from CCM, presented a very Schenkerian approach, and discussed a large scale I-bIII-V-I progression throughout the piece. The bIII occurs in the large bridge/third rotation section that changes keys from D major to F major. Those of you Neo-Riemannians will note the PR relationship of those two key areas. Nate, a PhD candidate at UMich, talked about the S-T cadences and lack of dominant cadence types throughout the work, as well as the Ab/G# relationship that goes throughout the work. I took a less technical approach, discussing the vocal qualities and layering which played into the death/religious connotations of the work, in turn illuminating the plagal S-D cadences and the lack of dominant goal orientation. I also waxed all musicological-like, talking about possible song meanings, Elliot Smith's personal life, recording techniques and aesthetic associations of them, and the like.

I was in a tricky position because the session was let by Walt Everett, the head of the theory department at UMich. A program I am applying to. I did, however, talk to him for a few minutes about my application (he said he enjoyed my Morricone article) and about my continued research for my thesis. So that was good. I feel like I said some good things at this workshop, but I was definitely not as technically/analytically detailed as everyone else. Oh well.

Every other presentation--with the exception of the presentation on Radiohead's "Faust Arp"--contained a Schenker graph. When exactly did pop analysis begin to revolve around Schenker so much? I wonder what Schenker would think about popular and contemporary music being analyzed with his methods. He's probably rolled over so many times in his grave that the world's rotation has slowed.

I've decided to put up the transcription I helped work on for the workshop, as well as my time breakdown, on my portfolio site. I think I'll also put up my Morricone paper and my final version of the Final Fantasy IX paper. I also need to start working on my thesis! And my Scrubs paper. And I think my paper for G/A/M will be on Authenticity and Death. I'll focus primarily on Elliot Smith and Nick Drake, and maybe some other folk/pop/singer/songwriters that have committed suicide/died and how it helps authenticate/whatever their musical legacies. I like using slashes apparently.

Wow, that was a long post.