Editor’s note:Arachnophonia (“Arachno” = spider / “-phonia” = sound) is a regular feature on our blog where members of the UR community can share their thoughts about resources from the Parsons Music Library‘s collection.
A new school year is upon us and everyone is getting back into the rhythms of classes and activities.
You’re excited about the new music class you’re taking this term, but feeling a bit trepidatious because the syllabus says you have to write a research paper/review/analysis as a big part of your grade. How on earth do you approach even picking a topic, much less writing a paper about it?
This pocket-sized style guide offers a practical introduction to many aspects of writing about music in an academic context. It offers useful tips and tricks for all stages of the writing process from choosing a topic and creating a thesis to the nitty gritty of researching and drafting a research paper.
Writing in Music will help you explore writing about music from a historical and cultural context and/or writing from a musical analysis point of view (or both!). This comprehensive intro will get you on your way to creating a great paper, thus making your professor happy and making the class a more enriching learning experience for you!
Editor’s note:Arachnophonia (“Arachno” = spider / “-phonia” = sound) is a regular feature on our blog where members of the UR community can share their thoughts about resources from the Parsons Music Library‘s collection.
Summary:
I find this book called Music in Film captivating and quite thought-provoking. The author acknowledges the rich history of music in cinema, from the early days of devices like the praxinoscope and kinetoscope to the diverse range of musical styles and genres that have been integrated into films. It raises questions about the purpose of music in cinema and the complex relationship between music and film. The author also expresses a desire to provide a comprehensive overview of this subject while avoiding oversimplification.
Why I Like This Book so Far:
As a music & film student, I find this book intriguing for several reasons. Firstly, it recognizes the vast history of music in cinema, going beyond the conventional notion of “the cinema” and acknowledging the diverse influences and traditions that have shaped the use of music in films. This inclusive approach aligns with my own belief in the importance of understanding the diverse cultural and artistic contexts of music in cinema.
Secondly, the book raises thought-provoking questions about the purpose of music in films, such as why music is used to accompany moving images and spoken dialogue, and how it can impact the emotional experience of the audience. These questions resonate with my own curiosity and desire to explore the multifaceted relationship between music and film.
Thirdly, the author’s intention to provide a comprehensive overview of significant examples of music in cinema, while acknowledging the limitations of exhaustive detail, is appealing to me as a student. The book offers a balanced and comprehensive approach to studying the subject, without oversimplifying or favoring certain films over others.
The author finds it difficult to view history solely through the lens of winners and losers, or to solely praise masterpieces while disregarding other works. As a result, unlike some current and past writing on the subject, particularly in France, this book may be perceived as indulgent towards a wide range of films and recent aesthetic trends, which may come across as guilty to some. The author’s aim is to inform readers and engage in thoughtful reflection, without resorting to oversimplification. This doesn’t mean that all films are liked, but I do believe that each film deserves recognition for its artistic ambitions, including the intent to entertain.
Editor’s note:Arachnophonia (“Arachno” = spider / “-phonia” = sound) is a regular feature on our blog where members of the UR community can share their thoughts about resources from the Parsons Music Library‘s collection.
The innate attraction we have towards music as humans have always fascinated me. Nicknamed the “universal language,” music seems to be so deeply embedded into society. The way it evokes certain emotions within us feels like a concept too abstract to be explained. Why do we enjoy certain combinations of tones over others? How does music remain the same or change over time and cultures? Why do different scales induce different emotions? Music as Biology by Dale Purves was an interesting read that helped me formulate concrete ideas about some of these questions through a biological perspective.
Dale Purves is a highly accomplished neuroscientist who is currently a professor at Duke University. His lab studies the neurobiological underpinnings of our perception to different stimuli, including sound. Dr. Purves takes an empirical approach to music, incorporating data and research from biology to support his arguments on how we react to music. He provides additional links to more information on certain questions throughout the book if you were interested in further research as well. Overlapping music theory and biology offered a refreshing insight into how we perceive music. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in music or science!
Editor’s note:Arachnophonia (“Arachno” = spider / “-phonia” = sound) is a regular feature on our blog where members of the UR community can share their thoughts about resources from the Parsons Music Library‘s collection.
Erik Satie (1866-1925) was a French composer whose spare, unconventional, often witty style influenced 20th-century music greatly, particularly in France. Satie’s music represents the first definite break with 19th-century French Romanticism. Closely allied to the Dadaist and Surrealist movements in art, it refuses to become involved with grandiose sentiment or transcendent significance, disregards traditional forms and tonal structures, and characteristically takes the form of parody, with flippant titles, such as Trois morceaux en forme de poire (1903; Three Pieces in the Shape of a Pear) and Embryons Desséchés (1913; Desiccated Embryos), and directions to the player such as “with much illness” or “light as an egg.” Satie was often dismissed as a charlatan by musicians who misunderstood his irreverence and wit.
One of Satie’s most known works are the Trois Gymnopédies (1888). Gymnopédie No.1 (You can listen to it here), for example, is a work of music not too complicated. Regardless, I have always found it to influence me like no other piece. Sometimes, it sets the mood to be quite melancholic while also, in my opinion, sprinkling a vast amount of joy by the end. Other times it could lay a feeling of calmness on the listener, like a break from a hard day at work or a breeze on a hot summer afternoon.
You can check out this book (among others) in the Parsons Music Library if you’d like to learn more about Erik Satie and his work.
Editor’s note:Arachnophonia (“Arachno” = spider / “-phonia” = sound) is a regular feature on our blog where members of the UR community can share their thoughts about resources from the Parsons Music Library‘s collection.
Portrait of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart at the age of 13 in Verona, 1770
When we first hear the term “classical music,” we often think of great composers like Beethoven and Mozart. Despite his relatively short life, Mozart is known and celebrated for his prodigious musicality and influential compositions even to this day. But what was Mozart like? You may know several of his pieces, but have you taken the time to consider the person behind these famous pieces?
There’s no better way of being first introduced to Mozart’s private life than Mozart’s Letters, Mozart’s Life by Robert Spaethling. Spaethling, a scholar of German literature of the 19th and 20th centuries and Mozart, has carefully chosen and depicted a compilation of Mozart’s letters spanning twenty-two years of the young composer’s life. Spaethling’s most recent edit of these letters provides us with the most accurate translation to appropriately convey Mozart’s nuanced personality.
Through Mozart’s Letters, Mozart’s Life, we are invited to explore Mozart’s innermost thoughts and raw perspective of life. In addition to the analysis of the different voices that shine through in Mozart’s candid letters, Spaethling includes information, such as various life events throughout the composer’s life, that encourages us to think deeply and have greater appreciation for the person behind these great works.
Editor’s note:Arachnophonia is a regular feature on our blog where members of the UR community can share their thoughts about resources from the Parsons Music Library‘s collection.
As a result, I am excited to explore this book and Cain’s insight about the revival of folk music in the 1960’s that addressed a political shift and new cultural ideologies in America. The book focuses on musicians like Joan Baez, Peter Paul & Mary, and Bob Dylan and is divided into three parts; first, The Background, focused on the emergence of the New Left, second, The Politics, examining the politics of the New Left, and third, The Music, or the soundtrack of the New Left movement. When paging through the book, I was interested in the connection between suburbanization and the emergence of the New Left, and was drawn to the idea of a “prefigurative model” that turns the status quo upside down, where the “last shall be first”. Michael Scott Cain integrates an analysis of American history, culture, icons, music and experiences in an accessible and interesting read. Check it out!
Editor’s note:Arachnophonia is a regular feature on our blog where members of the UR community can share their thoughts about resources from the Parsons Music Library‘s collection.
This special edition of Arachnophonia features contributions from students in Dr. Joanna Love‘s MUS 235 class: “I Want My MTV: Music Video and the Transformation of the Music Industry.”
In Rap Music and Street Consciousness, Cheryl L. Keyes tracks the development of rap music in the United States from the early 1970s to 2000. Employing the perspectives of ethnomusicology, folklore, and cultural studies, Keyes brings in views from a variety of critics. The book is divided into two parts. Part 1 explores the sociocultural history and aesthetics of rap music. Part 2 provides critical perspectives of rap and explores the representation of rap in popular culture.
Keyes details the start of hip-hop and rap as a youth movement that evolved in the Bronx, New York, in the early 1970s. She defines rap music as a “musical form the makes use of rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular, which is recited or loosely chanted over a musical soundtrack” (1). In its beginnings, the movement was comprised of disc jockeys, emcees, break-dancers, graffiti writers, and style of urban street culture. In her research, Keyes focuses on disc jockeys and emcees. Hip-hop began with the mixing of pre-recorded hits on two turntables and as it became more competitive, artists started to hire MCs to do vocals over the tracks. The rhythmic aspects of hip-hop caught people’s attention and brought this new style into mainstream media. “Rapper’s Delight” (1979) by Sugarhill Gang became a commercial hit and catalyzed rap’s entry into the popular music industry. By the late 1980s, rap had become a billion dollar enterprise.
With commercial success came harsh criticism and controversy. Many critics often saw rap and violence as synonymous. The media and the right-wing politics of the 1980s amplified the perceived negativity surrounding rap and hip-hop. Ronald Reagan’s rhetoric and ideas spurred division between black and white communities and these sentiments were reflected in the media’s portrayal of African American and Latino youth communities as fraught with violence, crime, and drugs. Rap emerged to combat the negative narrative being placed unfairly upon these communities. Attacks on rap continued, as gangsta rap particularly came under censorship. Critics disputed the artistry of rap; some questioning the sampling of musical tracks rather than the creation of newly inspired works. In Keyes’ work, she situates rap and hip-hop within the context of urban street culture. She defines ‘streets’ as “a subculture of the urban milieu that operates by its own rules, economics, lifestyle, language, and aesthetics” (6). ( A deep understanding of street culture is needed, she states, to mold the discussion of rap and hip-hop.)
Chapter 8, “Visualizing Beats and Rhymes,” will prove most valuable for my individual research. Keyes briefly starts out the chapter discussing how music videos are used as marketing and advertising tools for artists. They serve as a platform for artists to re-envision their music. The first part of the chapter, which I will draw some useful information from, provides a model for analyzing how black youth culture is encoded in rap videos. The second part of the chapter details the video-making process from an interview with director and producer J. Kevin Swain.
In Chapter 8, Keyes introduces the idea of iconic memory, which she defines as “the referencing of place, historical events, and music familiar to hip-hop viewers” (211) and says is unique to rap. Key aspects of iconic memory include visualization of “illustration, amplification, and disjuncture” (212). She focuses some of her discussion on gangsta rap music videos in particular, which is useful since I will be analyzing N.W.A, whose music classifies as gangsta rap. Keyes notes how gangsta rap music videos tried to capture the reality of life in the hood, focusing heavily on the relationship between black youth and the police. Although some critics say N.W.A glorifies violence — which is the reason MTV actually refused to air the “Straight Outta Compton” music video initially — rappers argue that it simply depicts the harassment young black men experience in their everyday reality. She quotes Ice Cube, a member of N.W.A. saying “‘We deal with reality; violence is reality’” (216). “Fuck tha Police” and “100 Miles And Runnin’” were also direct references to police harassment and the repression in young black communities. An important point is how the ‘streets’ influence rap music videos. In the introduction, Keyes notes how video director Hype Williams said that urban street culture informs his directing. “‘The ‘streets’ reflect in all that I do; the camera [lens] is an extension of that’ (1995)” (5). This idea, along with her idea of iconic memory will help shape my discussion when analyzing “100 Miles And Runnin’” and other N.W.A. music videos.
Hype Williams, a prominent rap music video director
Although Chapter 8 aids in my specific analysis of N.W.A.’s music videos, other chapters in the book can provide me, and other researchers, with more contextual context and historical discussion. For example, in Chapter 4, “Expanding Frontiers: Rap Music, 1990-2000,” Keyes discusses censorship of gangsta rap and the wave of concern over First Amendment rights. Also, in Chapter 6, “Issues, Conflicts, and Conspiracies: The Hip-Hop Nation at the Crossroad,” Keyes’ discussion of how materialism plays a role in shaping hip-hop culture will be valuable in my analysis.
N.W.A.’s “100 Miles And Runnin'” music video
As Keyes describes herself, the “nature of this work” is “multifaceted” (13). She was a university student when she began her research and explored aspects of rap and hip-hop by bringing in the voices of critics and artists alike. While other works could perhaps provide a more detailed look at specific topics, Keyes offers a comprehensive base for further research into the musical, visual, cultural, and social aspects of rap and hip-hop. Further, the book contains a “Glossary of Common Rap Music Terms” toward the end. This tool can be helpful to anyone studying the genre.
Author of “Rap Music and Street Consciousness,” Cheryl Keyes
Keyes herself is a black, female researcher who is an outsider in the music industry. In the introduction to this book, she notes how her position as an outsider — and an insider because of her race and gender at times — helped frame her research and fieldwork. By disclosing the positive and negative ways her information gathering was affected by how she was perceived by those in the music industry, Keyes gives an honest account and recognizes her work’s strengths and limits.
Are you a fan of Batman? Do you love learning about how movie soundtracks impact movies, even having the power to completely change emotion and perception? Or maybe you’re taking a music theory class and want to read something that won’t put you to sleep on the first page? Then this, my friend, is the book for you: Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard’s The Dark Knight: A Film Score Guide by Vasco Hexel. It’s a long title but hear me out. This book tracks Zimmer’s process in the making of The Dark Night film score, as the name suggests. But not only that, it provides in depth analysis of the characters Batman and the Joker, describing how the music was designed to reflect the psychology of each character.
For mega-fans and theorists, it’s a musical, analytical wonderland. And for those who need help in figuring out how to make a Grammy award-winning soundtrack, or who just need a break from Beethoven, this is the place to start!
Today’s installment of Arachnophonia is by Music Library student library worker, Eve (class of 2020) and features a 2012 Bob Dylan biography. Thanks, Eve!
I associate Bob Dylan with family; I grew up hearing my Dad play Dylan recordings and listening to my older brother singing classics such as “Blowin’ in the Wind“. This summer, my love of Bob Dylan was rekindled when I lived in Utah, as songs such as “Tangled up in Blue” and “Shelter from the Storm” were the perfect soundtrack for road trips with friends. In addition to loving Dylan’s music, I am interested in him as a counterculture icon, political figure and individual, and particularly want to learn more about his role in the Civil Rights movement and Vietnam War.
Bob Dylan “goes electric” and inspires controversy at the Newport Folk Festival 1965
As such, I am excited to explore The Ballad of Bob Dylan, a biography written by Daniel Mark Epstein. The book uses four formative concerts to examine Dylan’s rise to fame, his shift from folk to rock music, and more personal aspects of his life and character. It includes interviews with those close to the singer-songwriter such as Nora Guthrie and Ramblin’ Jack Elliot, as well as lyrics from Dylan songs and poems. While there are many biographies about this “voice of a generation”, The Ballad of Bob Dylan is accessible and comprehensive, allowing it to be the perfect read for a budding Dylan fan.
Tricia Rose’s Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America is a foundational piece of scholarship on hip hop culture. Written in the mid-1990s, it explores the complex economic, social, and cultural origins of hip hop. It also discusses the social and cultural implications of its many facets and prominent features, including rapping, DJing, B Boying/breaking, signifying, scratching, and sampling. Anyone interested in learning more about this genre should definitely read this book.
