ID:
502029
Duration (hours):
42
CFU:
6
SSD:
ETNOMUSICOLOGIA
Located in:
CREMONA
Year:
2025
Overview
Date/time interval
Secondo Semestre (02/03/2026 - 12/06/2026)
Syllabus
Course Objectives
The course introduces methods of analysis applicable to songs as a complex form of communication, both musical and embedded within the current media landscape. The aim of the course is to enable students to independently identify the main formal and communicative characteristics of a song, so that they can describe them in an oral or written presentation using appropriate terminology and conceptual tools.
Course Prerequisites
Knowledge of the main lines of development of popular music styles of the 20th and 21st centuries, particularly Anglo-American and Italian, will be a useful reference point in the context of a course that will mainly have a theoretical and systematic approach. Specific reference texts will be recommended to students who request them. The prerequisites are completed by a good knowledge of the basic tools of formal and harmonic analysis, as well as a basic knowledge of the technology involved in the recording, production and distribution of contemporary music.
Teaching Methods
The course is divided into thematic lessons dedicated to individual aspects of songs (formal structure, musical language, relationship with lyrics, influence of technological tools and media processes - 30 hours) and workshops dedicated to exercises on various aspects of the analytical study of songs, concluding with a group presentation (12 hours). During these hands-on sessions, the use of various tools and applications for the visualisation of analytical data relating to songs will be introduced; in addition, methodologies for finding and evaluating appropriate and relevant bibliographic resources in the field of study will be discussed. The lectures and practical work sessions are designed to be as open as possible to student participation, including through weekly assignments and collective discussion of specific examples and concepts drawn from the literature of popular music studies.Classes and workshop sessions will require the active participation of the students, by providing lesson-by- lesson assignments to assess the acquisition of the required competencies and by discussing the relevant topics on the basis of specific examples and quotes drawn from popular music studies’ literature. Class presentations subjected to peer review will be scheduled, according to the student's number, individual preferences, and specific interests.
Assessment Methods
For attending students, the assessment of the mastery of the skills acquired during the course will take into account factors such as the student's participation in teaching activities and group discussions during lessons, the quality of assignments and written work to be produced during the course and in preparation for the exam (written paper of at least 20,000 characters, on a topic chosen by the student), knowledge of the bibliography provided at the end of the course and the audio/video examples presented in class. For non-attending students, the exam will focus exclusively on the discussion of the reference bibliography indicated in the syllabus, in addition to a monograph (or collection of essays) related to the field of popular music studies, identified by mutual agreement with the teacher, who remains available to arrange individual meetings with members of the categories identified by the inclusive teaching measures for the explanation and discussion of the exam subjects.
Texts
- Byron T. · O’Regan J. [2022]. Hooks in Popular Music. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, cap. 4. - Griffiths Dai [2003] From Lyric to Anti-lyric: Analyzing the Words in Pop Song, in Analyzing Popular Music, ed. A. F. Moore (ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 39-59. - Middleton, Richard [1994]. Studiare la popular music. Milano: Feltrinelli, cap. 2. - Osborn, Brad [2013]. Subverting the Verse—Chorus Paradigm: Terminally Climactic Forms in Recent Rock Music. «Music Theory Spectrum», XXXV/1, pp. 23–47. - Spicer, Mark [2004]. (Ac)cumulative Form in Pop-Rock Music. «Twentieth-Century Music», I/1, pp. 29-64. - Stefani, Gino [1987]. Melody: A Popular Perspective. «Popular Music», 6/1, pp. 21-35. - Tagg, Philip [2012]. Music’s Meanings: a modern musicology for non‐musos. New York: The Mass Media Music Scholars’ Press, cap. 11. - Malawey, Victoria [2020], A Blaze of Light in Every Word. Analyzing the Popular Singing Voice, Oxford, Oxford University Press, cap. 1. - Bratus, Alessandro [2023], La voce oltre il frame: tecnologia, scrittura e produzione sonora nelle prassi produttive della canzone italiana attuale, in Michela Garda (cur.), La mediazione tecnologica della voce, Roma, Neoclassica, pp. 99-124. Occhio, Marco [2023], La voce come frame: caratteri e spazializzazione del vocalico, in Michela Garda (cur.), La mediazione tecnologica della voce, Roma, Neoclassica, pp. 83-98. - Bowman, Rob [2003]. The Determining Role of Performance in the Articulation of Meaning: The Case of ‘Try A Little Tenderness’, in Analyzing Popular Music, ed. A. F. Moore (ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 39-59. - Doll, Christopher [2017], Hearing Harmony. Towards a Tonal Theory for the Rock Era, Ann Arbor, University of Michigan Press, 2017, cap. 1-2. - Lacasse, Serge [2002], Messa in scena vocale e funzione narrativa in Front Row di Alanis Morrisette, «Rivista di Analisi e Teoria Musicale», 8/2, 2002, pp. 157-179.
Contents
The course provides a broad overview of the main methodologies developed in the field of popular music studies for approaching song analysis from a formal, verbal, musical, sound and communicative perspective. The reference repertoire will be that of contemporary Italian songs from the last two decades, although there will also be examples from the broader international repertoire and its styles, based on current academic literature. The formal definition of the song will be explored and, starting from this, a wide range of analytical approaches to its main organisational dimensions (verbal text, form, melody, vocal interpretation, arrangement, harmony, production) will be presented. It is precisely in the interaction between these components that the central role of media and technology in negotiating the concrete forms of these products intended for mass production and distribution emerges strongly. Particular attention will be paid to techniques for representing and visualising the formal and sound characteristics of songs as a tool for investigating and transmitting knowledge and the results of analysis.
Course Language
Italian
Degrees
Degrees
MUSICOLOGY
Bachelor’s Degree
3 years
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