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“You
don’t need a weather man to know which way the wind blows…”
—Bob Dylan, "Subterranean Homesick Blues"
- Although major
universities have been offering courses on jazz, musical
 theater,
and rock‘n’roll for many years, this body of music has not
been taken seriously by music departments across the country. Courses
have proliferated, yes, but the majority have been mainly survey classes
for non-music majors. It is only recently that music majors can seriously
examine forms of popular music alongside Western European classics.
The majority
of popular music scholarship, and most journalistic writing, about vernacular
music has come from the disciplines of critical studies, sociology,
history, and psychology.1 With few
exceptions even today, traditional tools of analysis used in the study
of the Western canon (studies of form and analysis, chord morphology,
melodic and rhythmic analysis, time studies, set theory, and so on),
have not been applied to popular music.
- This is not without
implications. By not studying popular music, theorists have denied this
music their venerable imprint, deeming this body of work unworthy and
not sophisticated enough to stand beside Western art music. Indeed,
to utter the names Berry or Bo Diddley in the same sentence as Bach,
Beethoven, or Brahms is still unimaginable in some circles.
- As one of the foremost
theorists of the late twentieth century, Allen Forte would be the last
person expected to take popular music seriously. Until very recently,
Forte’s career has been founded on, and grounded in, the analysis
of Western European concert music. His published works include articles
on Stravinsky, Schoenberg, and Mozart; a book
for Yale University Press on the atonal music of Anton Webern; and a
definitive work (along with Steven E. Gilbert) on Heinrich Schenker’s
methodologies. Forte has also introduced the concept of set theory in
music, published a widely used music theory textbook, and trained a
cadre of enthusiastic theorists who have taken up the Fortean call and
marched forward with his methodology into the twenty–first century.2
- In 1993, however,
he surprised many of his contemporaries with an article in The Musical
Quarterly entitled “Secrets of Melody: Line and Design in the
Songs of Cole Porter.” For Forte to investigate the work of this
American popular song composer was a significant shift in emphasis.
Forte followed up the Gershwin article with a 1996 book, The American
Popular Ballad in the Golden Era: 1924–1950, in which he applied
his theoretical analytic techniques to such tunes as Duke Ellington’s
“Prelude to a Kiss,” Cole Porter’s “I Get a Kick
Out of You,” and Richard Rodgers’s “Bewitched, Bothered
and Bewildered,” among others. With Allen Forte taking up popular
music in such a comprehensive way, it may seem as if popular music has
finally arrived in the academy.
- Maybe, but not
quite. Forte wrote in the introduction to The American Popular Ballad:
To take popular music seriously in this way has required
a certain reorientation from my ordinary pursuits, which concern music
theory and analysis of a more recondite kind and music that scholars
might regard as better suited to the more traditional research endeavors.
(4)
Neither this book
nor the 1993 article were for the faint of heart; neither would have
appealed to the average scholar of popular music, particularly scholars
whose backgrounds are in critical and cultural studies rather than in
music theory. According to Forte’s introduction
to The American Popular Ballad, he expects the reader to be able
to read music notation and have knowledge of the basic nomenclature
associated with harmony and music theory. Unsaid, but probably just
as useful would have been a familiarity with the analytical methods
of Allen Forte, including—at the very least—an introductory
lesson or two in Schenkerian analysis and the technique of Schenkerian
“reduction.”3 Taken in
its entirety, this monograph seemed to be saying to the readers that
this popular repertoire can stand up to the scrutiny of Music Theory
and prove itself worthy.
- Listening to
Classic American Popular Songs begins with a similar note of introduction:
Since many readers may know of my scholarly work in more
academic areas of music, I should like to offer a word of explanation
concerning my participation in the writing of this book and in the
preparation of the compact disc. My experience with classic American
popular song extends back to a misspent childhood, during which, in
addition to subjecting me to a traditional training in music, my mother
made me play popular music and jazz on the piano. Subsequently I played
that music professionally, before seeing the error of my ways and
entering the cloistered academic life. This project has enabled me
to revisit that earlier phase of my work in music and to apply my
skills to the realization of a book that I sincerely hope will bring
pleasure and satisfaction to the reader. (xii)
Though perhaps a
bit tongue in cheek about “seeing the error of his ways,”
his words nevertheless reveal a strong need to justify this book to
his community of his peers. Thankfully, Forte has, in his own small
way, thrown caution to the wind.
The Golden Era
- In both books
addressing American popular song, Forte focuses upon the mid 1920s through
1950—decades that for him comprise a “golden era.” As
he points out, the talented composers who were penning songs and lyrics
during this quarter century are now legendary: the Gershwins, Rodgers
and Hart, Rodgers and Hammerstein II, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Harold
Arlen and Johnny Mercer, Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields, and Kurt Weill
and Ogden Nash, to mention only a few. In
Listening to Classic American Popular Songs, Forte rationalizes
cutting off his exploration at the end of the 1940s by noting that “with
the passing of these remarkably talented [composers and lyricists],
only a few special persons…were waiting in the wings to replace
them. Thus, the enormous productivity of the golden era petered out…”
(xi). Perhaps, but a wealth of material by popular composers and lyricists
is missing, composers such as Leonard Bernstein (Candide, West
Side Story), composer/lyricists Stephen Sondheim (West Side Story,
Gypsy, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,
Into the Woods, A Little Night Music, etc.), Alan Jay
Lerner and Frederick Loewe (Camelot), and the later works of
Rodgers and Hammerstein II (The King and I, Flower Drum Song,
The Sound of Music), among many others.4
- Even
with the narrow scope of the historical era, Listening to Classic
American Popular Songs is an important document in which a noted
scholar treats American popular music with the same intellectual dignity
as the Western classical repertoire. Notwithstanding the author’s
hedging in his introductory remarks, this book is a noteworthy signal
to the phalanx of music theorists that popular music is acceptable for
“serious” study in the academy.
- Forte covers the
repertoire chronologically by decade. Each era is introduced by summing
up the important historical events of the time. He begins the discussion
of the individual tunes with background information on the lyricists,
the composers, and a brief historical synopsis. The accompanying CD
provides a reliable performance of selected tunes (sadly omitting Jimmy
Van Heusen and Johnny Burke’s “But Beautiful”)—featuring
baritone Richard Lilly and pianist/arranger Gary Chapman, and even Forte
himself on piano on two tracks.
- Before
delving into the repertoire itself, Forte begins with preparatory material
to help the uninitiated reader understand some of his basic terminology
and premises.5 For example, he discusses
the building blocks of melodies, including diatonic, chromatic, pentatonic
scales, and melodic contour and motivic construction. Forte also introduces
the fundamentals of harmony and the most frequently encountered chord
types in this repertoire: the major and minor chords, the major and
minor seventh chords, the dominant seventh chord, the half-diminished
seventh chord, and “added-note” chords. Moreover,
he introduces the structural elements of the song, including formal
attributes (phrases, periods, contrasting periods, double periods, etc.)
as well how the verse and chorus function together. In all cases he
uses excellent examples from the literature to illustrate.
- In the area of
rhythm, however, much is missing. As many have pointed out—from
Amiri Baraka (née LeRoi Jones) in the early 1960s to Christopher
Small more recently—the sophisticated rhythmic sense of African-American
music has dominated American popular music in the last century and continues
to do so. Even though Forte readily admits the influence that African
Americans have had on the American song, his analysis and introductory
groundwork deals primarily with pitch content, harmony, and aspects
of form. At
one point in a discussion of Gershwin’s “Fascinating
Rhythm,” for example, Forte notes the rhythmic complexity of
the song’s melody:
“Fascinating Rhythm” serves nicely as a reminder
of the basic role of rhythm and the various forms of syncopation,
in particular, in the repertoire of popular song with which this book
is concerned. (Listening 32–3)
Twentieth-century
American popular music's rhythmic sophistication may be its most important
feature and Forte has not taken this opportunity to seize the day.
In his discussion of the outwardly regular AABA–32–bar form
of many tunes from the “golden era,” Forte muses: “In
the face of such a high degree of uniformity it is absolutely amazing
that songs of such remarkable variety were produced between 1925 and
1950” (Listening 20). A more detailed study of rhythm
in this repertoire would help yield a satisfying answer to that question.
Even though
the harmonies, melodies, and periodic form of these tunes seem uncomplicated
to those with a classical Western bias, the tunes are remarkably complex
and varied. Investigating the depth of African-American rhythmic sensibility
and its influence on this popular music genre might very well help
Forte reveal the reasons for the “remarkable variety” within
the 32–bar form.6
All That Jazz
- Forte seems to
be aware of the importance of the popular song repertoire in the history
of jazz, but not interested enough to delve into this topic. To hear
a jazz player—like Oscar Peterson, Joe Lovano, or Miles Davis—improvise
melodically while simultaneously respecting an underlying tempo, AABA
bar form, and the harmonic progressions of a standard tune is to begin
to grasp a highly-evolved understanding of the tune.
- In all fairness
to Allen Forte, why these tunes are important in the jazz repertoire
probably was not a pressing issue for him. Consequently, he also seems
to be sadly unaware of some jazz traditions. In fact, his casual observations
are often dead wrong. Take, for example, this statement:
It seems impossible that the music of, say, George Gershwin’s
“Embraceable
You” ever existed without Ira Gershwin’s words. But
it did, and it does, in instrumental performances, especially by jazz
musicians, many of whom may know few of the words beyond the title
of the song. (Listening 23)
Jazz instrumentalists
often demonstrate that this isn’t the case: they often do know
the words and the music. Throughout the history of jazz, professional
musicians come to a point in their careers when backing a vocalist becomes
part of their experience. Also, many of the important instrumentalists
from all eras and all styles of jazz—Louis Armstrong, Chet Baker,
Tex Beneke, Clyde Bernhardt, George Benson, Kenny Burrell, Nat “King”
Cole, Dizzy Gillespie, “Tiny” Grimes, James Moody, Oscar Peterson,
John Pizzarelli, Jimmy Smith, Clark Terry, and Cootie Williams, to mention
only a few—were vocalists themselves.7
Clarence Williams
(1898–1965), for example, a pianist who performed in New Orleans’
Storyville district in the earliest days of jazz, always kept an eye
and ear out for the latest songs.
[Sophie Tucker] was singin’ “Some of These Days,”
and “Alexander’s Ragtime Band,” and other new songs,
and after hearing her sing them, I’d go home and play them over
and over until I got them under control… I was the first to write
away to the North for professional copies of the latest songs…
.(Hentoff and Shapiro 32–33)
A perusal of sheet
music from “Up North” will show that text, along with melody
and harmony were part of commercially printed song scores.8
What You See is Not What You Get
- Though it is obvious
from the first selection of the CD, Forte never really delves into another
important issue in this repertoire of popular music; namely, whether
the “sheet music” versions of this repertoire are the definitive
versions. Take for example the George and Ira Gershwin tune, “How
Long Has This Been Going On?”
When we listen to this tune on the CD, in the first measure this is
what we hear in the piano:
Forte points out that the harmony we hear in the first measure is “state-of-the-art
popular song harmony vintage 1927, perhaps originating from Gershwin”
(Listening 51). George Gershwin, who got his start as a “song
plugger” (a pianist who would perform the Tin Pan Alley tunes of
the day in a variety of ways), no doubt used more complex substitute
harmonies instead of the stock sheet music harmonizations.
- Looking at the
song and following the chords and melody, we hear something very different
on the CD from what we see on the printed page. This is the case with
virtually every tune covered in Listening to Classic American Popular
Songs. Of course, for a jazz musician, a Tin Pan Alley song plugger,
or a rehearsal pianist for a Broadway revival of Kiss Me Kate,
“enhancing” the harmony is not unusual at all. For the uninitiated
reader/listener, however—the very audience that Forte says he wants
to reach in this book—this is bound to be confusing. Even
for the seasoned professional, it would be interesting to know more
about why performers—Forte and his team included—persist in
using “state-of-the-art harmony” rather than the printed music.
- In his conclusion,
Forte notes the incredible flexibility in the
popular song repertoire:
No other repertoire of fully notated music has undergone
such remarkable transformations over such a long period of time…
It is this process…that keeps the repertoire alive and that distinguished
it from almost all of the concert repertoire that we cherish so. (Listening,
184)
Once again, however,
an important point is left for others to ponder. Though this repertoire
is “fully notated,” the actual performance of these
tunes relies on orally and aurally transmitted information; in other
words, the notated score of a Gershwin tune doesn’t tell the full
story of its performance.9 Perhaps
Forte will address this in future studies.
“How Little
We Know”
- An important aspect
of those great tunes written between 1920 and 1950 is also often overlooked,
namely, the verse, an introductory and preparatory portion of the American
popular song that is frequently disregarded in modern performances.
“There
Will Never Be Another You,” for example, is an extremely popular
and widely-performed standard, particularly among jazz players and jazz
singers.10 Sadly, the verse
of this tune is less well known and not always performed with the refrain.
Indeed, almost
every tune written in Forte's “golden era” has a verse and
a refrain; Forte embraces the verse in this study, a welcome and valuable
inclusion. All of Forte’s examples contain both verse and refrain,
a welcome reminder that we should not forget these magnificent introductory
sections anymore than we should forget opera overtures or slow introductions
to sonata-allegro symphony movements.
- Allen Forte’s
status as a music theorist is so prominent that Listening to Classic
American Popular Songs will be seen and heard by his many admirers
as a signal that the popular repertoire of American songs is worthy
of serious study in music departments everywhere. This book introduces
readers to the technical nuts and bolts of the American songbook, including
melodic, harmonic, and formal examination of an excellent selection
of classic tunes. It may very well inspire other authors to investigate
the areas that Forte gave short shrift: the undeniable role of rhythm
in this repertoire, for example, or the flexibility and changeability
of the tunes, particularly the harmonic language encountered in contemporary
performances.
Even with the flaws I noted in this review, Listening to Classic
American Popular Songs is a welcome addition to the literature devoted
to the American songbook, and for that reason will likely find a place
on the bookshelves of music theorists, academic libraries, popular music
scholars, individuals teaching this repertoire in the classroom, and
interested amateurs.
Dave Kopplin
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
WORKS CITED
Forte,
Allen. The American Popular Ballad of the Golden Era: 1924–1950.
London and New Haven: Yale UP, 1996.
---. Listening
to Classic American Popular Songs. London and New Haven: Yale UP,
2001.
---. “Secrets
of Melody: Line and Design in the Songs of Cole Porter.” Musical
Quarterly 77.4 (1993):607–648.
Hentoff, Nat and
Nat Shapiro. The Story of Jazz as Told by the Men Who Made It.
New York: Dover, 1955.
Jones, LeRoi. Blues
People: Negro Music in White America. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood
Press, 1963.
Nketia, J.H. Kwabena.
The Music of Africa. New York: W. W. Norton, 1974.
Small, Christopher.
Musicking: The Meanings of Performance and Listening. Hanover,
New Hampshire: Wesleyan UP, 1998.
ENDNOTES
1.
Few authors have attempted musical analysis of popular works. A few
who do: Robert Walser, Susan McClary at UCLA, John Covach at the University
of North Carolina, David Brackett at Binghamton University, and a few
others, though by and large this is exceptional rather than usual.
2.
For a definitive list of articles and books by Forte, visit his website
at http://www.allenforte.com.
3.
This did not go unsaid in the 1993 article, actually, where Forte introduces
Schenkerian graphs in the first page.
4.
Forte does make special mention of their later work, The Sound of
Music, as well as later works of Lerner and Loewe and a few others,
while at the same time letting us know that when Elvis Presley hit the
scene (around 1953), the golden era was officially closed (187n).
5.
This book, according to Forte and unlike his first book analyzing this
popular repertoire, is geared towards a reader with only fundamental
musical knowledge.
6.
The African rhythmic sensibility is taken up by several authors: see
especially Nketia and Chernoff.
7.
Several jazz teachers and mentors have passed on to me the importance
of knowing the lyrics of standard tunes—in addition to the harmony,
melody, and form—in order to fully understand the tunes as a jazz
player.
8.
The UCLA American Popular Music Archive at http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/music/mlsc/apam
has one of the most extensive collections in the country.
9.
As indicated above in his discussion of “How Long Has This Been
Going On,” Forte is clearly aware of this tradition.
10.
Searching current on-line CD retailers reveals hundreds of jazz and
popular recordings of this tune that are commercially available in September
2001.
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