For this analysis symposium, choose one of the options below to analyze. But please also listen many times to the other piece, since we will be discussing both in class.

Song options

Option 1: Billie Eilish, “you should see me in a crown” (2018)

I have provided .mp3 files of the original and of an isolated vocal track I created using Izotope RX (as suggested by Duguay) on Teams.

Click to expand and view lyrics

[Verse 1]

bite my tongue, bide my time
wearing a warning sign
wait till the world is mine
visions i vandalize
cold in my kingdom size
fell for these ocean eyes

[Chorus]

you should see me in a crown
i'm gonna run this nothing town
watch me make 'em bow
one by one by one
one by one by

[Chorus]

you should see me in a crown
your silence is my favorite sound
watch me make 'em bow
one by one by one
one by one by one

[Verse 2]

count my cards, watch them fall
blood on a marble wall
i like the way they all
scream
tell me which one is worse
living or dying first
sleeping inside a hearse (i don't dream)

[Bridge]

you say
come over, baby
i think you're pretty
i'm okay
i'm not your baby
if you think i'm pretty

[Chorus]

you should see me in a crown
i'm gonna run this nothing town
watch me make 'em bow
one by one by one
one by one by

[Chorus]

you should see me in a crown
your silence is my favorite sound
watch me make 'em bow
one by one by one
one by one by one

[Chorus]

crown
i'm gonna run this nothing town
watch me make 'em bow
one by one by one
one by one by

[Chorus]

you should see me in a crown (you should see me, see me)
your silence is my favorite sound (you should see me, see me)
watch me make 'em bow
one by one by one
one by one by one

Some selected recording links:

Option 2: Jennifer Higdon, Love Sweet (2015), i. “Apology”

I’m working on getting the score for this piece from the library via ILL, and I’ll post on Teams when I’ve gotten it.

View lyrics for Love Sweet on Lieder.net

Some selected recording links:

Assignment

Prepare for discussion Wed, Oct 8

Here are the guidelines for the symposium (regardless of which song you choose):

  • Make sure your analysis is based on the methodology used by one of the authors we’ve read thus far (Théberge 2017; Bates 2018; Tresch and Dolan 2013; Wright 2024; Le Guin 2006; De Souza 2017; Gotham and Gunn 2016; Cole 2024; Eidsheim 2017; Malawey 2020; Duguay 2022; Barna and McLaughlin 2024) and that you state clearly how you’re using that methodology.
  • Come to class on Wednesday prepared to share something interesting about your chosen option—something that you discovered through that methodology. You don’t necessarily have to account for everything in the song, and it’s okay for this to be kind of a work-in-progress.
  • Depending on what your methodology is, you might get the bset information not only listening to studio recordings, but also watching videos of live performances to inform your analysis. I’ve provided several links for each song for this reason. Feel free to explore other recordings. Be sure to keep track of what recording you’re referencing in your analysis.
  • Listen to the other song a bunch too, even though you won’t work as hard at analyzing it, so you can still participate in discussion of it.

Homework due Sun, Oct 12

  • Flesh out and formalize the analysis you shared on Wednesday. This time, try to come to some interesting analytical conclusion about the song you studied—a kind of answer to the question “so what?”
  • Make a note of what effect our class discussion had on your analysis—did someone draw your attention to something you hadn’t noticed? Did someone else analyze something differenly and you prefer their way to what you had originally? etc.
  • Try making some kind of visual example/diagram/figure/table that helps illustrate your analysis.

Save your work as a PDF with the prefix 07 and upload to homework-submit.

Bibliography

  1. Barna, Alyssa, and Caroline McLaughlin. 2024. “Vocal Production, Mimesis, and Social Media in Bedroom Pop.” Music Theory Online 30 (4). https://doi.org/10.30535/mto.30.4.1.
  2. Bates, Eliot. 2018. “Actor-Network Theory and Organology.” Journal of the American Musical Instrument Society 44: 41–51. https://www.proquest.com/docview/3132950357/abstract/5C71D4E6E9534759PQ/1.
  3. Cole, Christa. 2024. “Hands, Fingers, Strings, and Bows: Performance Technique and Analysis in J.S. Bach’s Largo for Solo Violin.” Music Theory Online 30 (3). https://doi.org/10.30535/mto.30.3.1.
  4. De Souza, Jonathan. 2017. “Beethoven’s Prosthesis.” In Music at Hand: Instruments, Bodies, and Cognition. Oxford Studies in Music Theory. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
  5. Duguay, Michèle. 2022. “Analyzing Vocal Placement in Recorded Virtual Space.” Music Theory Online 28 (4). https://mtosmt.org/issues/mto.22.28.4/mto.22.28.4.duguay.html.
  6. Eidsheim, Nina Sun. 2017. “Maria Callas’s Waistline and the Organology of Voice.” The Opera Quarterly 33 (3): 249–68. https://doi.org/10.1093/oq/kbx008.
  7. Gotham, Mark R. H., and Iain A. D. Gunn. 2016. “Pitch Properties of the Pedal Harp, with an Interactive Guide.” Music Theory Online 22 (4). https://doi.org/10.30535/mto.22.4.3.
  8. Le Guin, Elisabeth. 2006. “‘Cello-and-Bow Thinking’: The First Movement of Boccherini’s Cello Sonata in E♭ Major, Fuori Catalogo.” In Boccherini’s Body: an Essay in Carnal Musicology. Berkeley: University of California Press. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/heb06338.0001.001.
  9. Malawey, Victoria. 2020. “Quality.” In A Blaze of Light in Every Word: Analyzing the Popular Singing Voice, 0. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190052201.003.0004.
  10. Théberge, Paul. 2017. “Musical Instruments as Assemblage.” In Musical Instruments in the 21st Century, edited by Till Bovermann, Alberto De Campo, Hauke Egermann, Sarah-Indriyati Hardjowirogo, and Stefan Weinzierl. Singapore: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2951-6.
  11. Tresch, John, and Emily I. Dolan. 2013. “Toward a New Organology: Instruments of Music and Science.” Osiris 28 (1): 278–98. https://doi.org/10.1086/671381.
  12. Wright, Brian F. 2024. “The Picked Instrument: Reinventing the Sound of the Electric Bass.” In The Bastard Instrument, 112–34. University of Michigan Press. https://press.umich.edu/Books/T/The-Bastard-Instrument2.