• Timbre, Rhythm, and Texture within Music Theory’s White Racial Frame

    Author(s):
    Megan Lavengood (see profile)
    Date:
    2021
    Group(s):
    Society for Music Theory (SMT), Society for Music Theory – Popular Music Interest Group (SMT PMIG)
    Subject(s):
    Music theory, Musicology, Electronic dance music, Popular music
    Item Type:
    Book chapter
    Tag(s):
    Roland TR-909, analysis, percussion, drum machines, Jeff Mills, Popular Music Studies
    Permanent URL:
    https://doi.org/10.17613/g5hm-xm79
    Abstract:
    This chapter discusses music theory’s neglect of EDM as it relates to the dominant methodologies of the field and Philip Ewell’s concept of the white racial frame, arguing that EDM is overlooked due to implicit biases against racial Otherness and against technological mediation, biases that runs deep enough in US culture to have impacted the trajectory of music theory as an academic field. The chapter examines unpitched percussion through analysis of performance, timbre, and texture in a Roland TR-909 drum machine “workout” performed by Jeff Mills. This analysis models one way that music theory might learn to take EDM seriously. By broadening the methodological toolbox, music theory can begin to course-correct and become more inclusive of music that challenges certain principles of Western music.
    Metadata:
    xml
    Published as:
    Book chapter     Show details
    Pub. DOI:
    10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190093723.013.17
    Publisher:
    Oxford University Press
    Pub. Date:
    2021
    Book Title:
    The Oxford Handbook of Electronic Dance Music
    Author/Editor:
    Luis Manuel Garcia-Mispireta and Robin James
    ISBN:
    9780190093723
    Status:
    Scheduled
    Last Updated:
    1 year ago
    License:
    All Rights Reserved

    This item will be available for download beginning 03/05/2024


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