Breaking Through to the Other Side

Breaking Through to the Other Side: Using Popular Music Examples in the General Music Classroom

Over the last decade of running workshops and professional development sessions on popular music for educators, one of the most common questions I am faced with is how this instruction can meet the rigor of classical models of music theory. In my previous life as teacher of Advanced Placement Music Theory in public high schools for 12 years, I often found that popular music was in fact a perfect vehicle for discussion of theoretical concepts, and while the music stands on its own merit, it can also help bring students to an understanding of unfamiliar music as well as enhance their enjoyment of music they already know and love. However, many teachers focus on discussion of popular music focusing on cultural phenomenon rather than the musical materials themselves, and feel unable to work in the guidelines of music with which they are unfamiliar themselves. This blog will focus on guiding a teacher with a background in classical theory to examples and ways to broaden their repertoire.

At the most basic level, the close relationship between popular and classical music materials can be seen with crossovers: popular borrowings from the classical world. By examining both worlds through separate veils, one can discuss the role of a variety of music fundamentals such as timbre, tempo, and melodic and harmonic variations.   The most basic examples are in direct samples, such as Beethoven’s “Für Elise” sampling in “I Can” by Nas or Coolio sampling Pachebel’s famous “Canon in D” for his song “I’ll C U When U Get There”, showing reinterpretations of canonic materials. However, more depth of variation can be found in many classic rock examples such as The Doors borrowing of Isaac Albeniz’s “Asturias (Leyenda)” for their “Spanish Caravan” or J.S. Bach’s famous movement from his BWV 996 Lute Suite turned bluesy/swing jam in Jethro Tull’s “Bouree.” More current examples of borrowing can be seen in music as diverse as Lady Gaga (“Bad Romance” borrowing from J.S. Bach’s “Fugue No. 24 from the Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 2”) to progressive death metal band Necrophagist (“Only Ash Remains” using Prokofiev’s “Romeo and Juliet”).

One of my favorite ways to examine popular music is by looking at ways that certain songs break out of generalized theoretical ideas. In the classical idiom, often times the most exciting moments in a work of Bach were the exceptions to the “rules” of four-part writing, rules which were in fact just guidelines developed through study of the most typical usage from his own works. The same can be seen in popular music, examining ways songs break from what detractors of popular music often cite as its largest flaw: simplicity. Basic study of Outkast’s “Hey Ya” can show that breaking the mold of four bar phrasing in common time can yield great results and still have appeal to the masses: the song’s 22 beat-phrase (4 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 2 + 4) spent nine weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in America. Perhaps one of the most iconic rock songs in America, now playing at every karaoke bar near you every single night, is Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’”, which is particularly notable from a song form analysis. Three verses and two bridges appear before the famous chorus melody enters the picture, and it is first introduced as a note-for-note replication masquerading as a guitar solo. This is a far cry from the typical verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus form that typifies radio friendly hits.

Radiohead is a particularly vibrant source of material when discussing musical ambiguity, which matches their major lyrical theme of alienation. The song “Let Down” is a striking and complex composition that while at first glance sounds like a typical straight-forward rock song, but is filled with Steve Reich-style minimalist rhythmic phasing, with different instruments in 4/4, 5/8, and other accented rhythms to create a sound collage. The song “Reckoner” is a great example of tone center ambiguity, using three chords over a five-measure phrase to consistently confound expectations of what the tonic chord is, particularly when a fourth chord is finally introduced at the end of the first verse.

Traditional harmony and voice leading concepts can be seen tying together many classics and current songs. Two of the most famous classic rock songs, Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” and Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here” have examples of the voice leading that help create another dimension of depth, from the descending chromatic line in the famous introduction in the Zep classic, to the added bass notes for a more cohesive progression in the strummed guitar in the Floyd song. Meanwhile, one of the chief complaints against pop radio hits, its overuse of the I – V- vi – IV progression, can be in fact a great analytical starter. If all of these songs use the same progression and are hits, what makes them special and so popular beyond the simple harmony? How do they each differ from each other? This gives the burgeoning theorist an opportunity to examine the often overlooked elements of music, all the non-harmonic parts that cause the unique quality of a hit.

Many of the songs discussed here are great examples for the music teacher trained in a more traditional cannon to utilize when thinking about reaching a broader audience with student-centered music while teaching theory. Concepts such as tonic, timbre, beat, meter, and form can be explored and demonstrated from day one with many of these examples. However, for more and more of today’s music students, these can also be cornerstone examples of how to understand and analyze the music they know and love at a deeper level, providing rigor and proficiency that can lead to a greater appreciation and understanding of all music.