Books by Drew Nobile
Oxford University Press, 2020
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/form-as-harmony-in-rock-music-9780190948368?lang=en&cc=us... more https://global.oup.com/academic/product/form-as-harmony-in-rock-music-9780190948368?lang=en&cc=us
Challenging the inherited belief that popular music is unrefined, Form as Harmony in Rock Music brings a systematic music-theoretical approach to popular music scholarship. Author Drew Nobile offers the first comprehensive theory of form for the 1960s, 70s, and 80s classic rock repertoire, showing how songs from this era are not simply series of discrete elements, but rather exhibit cohesive formal-harmonic structures across their entire timespan. Though many elements contribute to the cohesion of a song, the rock music of these decades is built around a fundamentally harmonic backdrop, giving rise to distinct types of verses, choruses, and bridges. Nobile's rigorous but readable theoretical analysis demonstrates how artists from Bob Dylan to Stevie Wonder to Madonna consistently turn to the same compositional structures throughout rock's various genres and decades, unifying them under a single musical style. Using over 200 transcriptions, graphs, and form charts, Form as Harmony in Rock Music advocates a structural approach to rock analysis, revealing essential features of this style that would otherwise remain below our conscious awareness.
Articles by Drew Nobile
Teleology in Verse–Prechorus–Chorus Form, 1965–2020
Music Theory Online, 2022
https://mtosmt.org/issues/mto.22.28.3/mto.22.28.3.nobile.html
This article traces a stylistic ... more https://mtosmt.org/issues/mto.22.28.3/mto.22.28.3.nobile.html
This article traces a stylistic history of verse–prechorus–chorus form from its inception in mid-1960s rock ‘n’ roll through the EDM-infused pop of the 2010s. The central argument is that across its various presentations, verse–prechorus–chorus form is based on a consistent teleological structure, which I term the telos principle. I chronicle this form’s history through three style periods: I begin with the 1960s through ’80s, over which time verse–prechorus–chorus went from a novel offshoot of standard verse–chorus form to a dominant formal layout. Next, I look at how the form developed between 1991 and 2010, when texture, timbre, and voice increasingly overshadowed harmony as the primary drivers of formal motion. Finally, I consider the 2010s, which saw the strongest efforts toward subverting traditional pop and rock formal processes, especially surrounding the chorus’s central formal status. Throughout the discussion, I demonstrate how the telos principle can guide expressive interpretations of these formal subversions.
In tracing verse–prechorus–chorus form’s historical lineage, this article connects the harmonically oriented theories of ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s rock, such as Nobile 2020 and Heetderks 2020, with recent work on post-2010 EDM-infused pop, such as Peres 2016, Barna 2020, Adams 2019, and Osborn 2023. In so doing, the article reconsiders recent formal innovations not as a rejection of prior paradigms but as new developments within an ongoing thread that remain in dialogue with popular music’s stylistic history.
Music Theory Spectrum, 2020
Many rock songs have a puzzling feature: despite ostensibly simple harmonic structures, it is not... more Many rock songs have a puzzling feature: despite ostensibly simple harmonic structures, it is not entirely clear what key they are in. The standard analytical response to these situations is to claim ambiguity or competition among the possible key centers and frame a narrative interpretation around this ambiguity. However, the assumption of monotonality in the rock repertoire bears examination, especially the notion that the absence of a single pitch center implies conflict. Might rock tonality allow for multiple tonal centers to exist not in conflict but as equal members of a governing tonal structure?
In this article, I propose that some seemingly ambiguous rock songs exhibit the theoretical structure known as the “double-tonic complex.” Not just “tonal pairing”—the alternation of two equally weighted keys—but a true Robert Bailey-style double tonic: a four-note sonority built from the union of two third-related triads acting as prolonged tonic. Though the double-tonic complex has proven controversial in 19th-century scholarship, rock music’s particularities provide a ripe environment for double-tonic structures, with its common use of seventh chords as stable harmonies and Aeolian modality. I investigate three double-tonic situations: 1) a surface intertwining of two relative keys such that both tonics act simultaneously as gravitational centers; 2) multi-section works in which each of the two keys is central for portions but neither emerges as the global tonic; and 3) songs with looped chord progressions that do not settle on a particular tonic.
Journal of Music Theory, Nov 2016
In this article, I advocate for a syntactical definition of harmonic function in rock music such ... more In this article, I advocate for a syntactical definition of harmonic function in rock music such that function is acquired not by a chord’s scale-degree content but by its role in the context of a song’s form. In rock songs, the syntactical role of dominant, for example, is often played by chords unrelated to V, such as IV, ii, ♭VII, or even versions of I. A theory of harmonic function rooted in chord category—e.g., ascribing dominant function to any chord related to V—inadequately accounts for rock’s harmonic organization. I argue that syntactical elements underlie many existing conceptions of harmonic function, but theories rooted in common-practice repertoire nearly always involve chord category to some degree. Separating syntactical and categorical elements not only leads us to a fuller understanding of rock’s harmonic idiom, but also reveals similarities between rock music and common-practice tonal music that many theorists insist do not exist.
Music Theory Spectrum, 2015
This article offers a contrapuntal explanation of the “melodic-harmonic divorce,” a feature of po... more This article offers a contrapuntal explanation of the “melodic-harmonic divorce,” a feature of pop and rock music discussed most recently by David Temperley (2007). I outline three types of melodic-harmonic divorce: “hierarchy divorce,” “loop divorce,” and “syntax divorce.” Each type gives rise to its own voice-leading interpretation. After discussing the contrapuntal frameworks of these three types, I investigate the rhetorical effect of “loosening” and “tightening” the melodic-harmonic relationship over the course of a rock song, showing that the divorce is not just a structural feature but can have expressive effects as well.
Interval Permutations
Music Theory Online, Sep 2013
https://mtosmt.org/issues/mto.13.19.3/mto.13.19.3.nobile.html
This article presents a framewor... more https://mtosmt.org/issues/mto.13.19.3/mto.13.19.3.nobile.html
This article presents a framework for analyzing the interval structure of pitch-class segments (ordered pitch-class sets). An “interval permutation” is a reordering of the intervals that arise between adjacent members of these pitch-class segments. Because pitch-class segments related by interval permutation are not necessarily members of the same set-class, this theory has the capability to demonstrate aurally significant relationships between sets that are not related by transposition or inversion.
I begin with a theoretical investigation of interval permutations followed by a discussion of the relationship of interval permutations to traditional pitch-class set theory, specifically focusing on how various set-classes may be related by interval permutation. A final section applies these theories to analyses of several songs from Schoenberg’s op. 15 song cycle The Book of the Hanging Gardens.
Form and Voice Leading in Early Beatles Songs
Music Theory Online, Sep 2011
https://mtosmt.org/issues/mto.11.17.3/mto.11.17.3.nobile.html
In the early music of the Beatle... more https://mtosmt.org/issues/mto.11.17.3/mto.11.17.3.nobile.html
In the early music of the Beatles, form, harmony, and voice leading are intricately related. The most common form of this period—AABA where each A section contains an SRDC (Statement–Restatement–Departure–Conclusion) phrase structure as defined by Walter Everett (1999 and 2009)—carries with it harmonic and melodic implications which allow for the creation of a voice-leading model for this form. This paper examines how this model interacts with various songs from the early Beatles catalog. While not every song fits the model perfectly, there is always a dialogue between the model and the specific voice leading and form of the songs in question.
Dissertation by Drew Nobile
CUNY Dissertation, Feb 1, 2014
This dissertation situates itself in the middle of an ongoing debate about the applicability of S... more This dissertation situates itself in the middle of an ongoing debate about the applicability of Schenkerian analytical techniques to the analysis of pop and rock music. In particular, it investigates ways in which the standard conceptions of voice leading, harmonic function, and counterpoint may be updated to better apply to this new repertoire. A central claim is that voice-leading structure is intimately related to formal structure such that the two domains are mutually informing.
Part I of the dissertation focuses on harmonic and melodic theory. Chapter 2, “Harmonic Syntax,” advocates for a conception of harmonic function based on syntax and form rather than the identity of specific chords. In this conception, chords other than V, such as IV, II, ♭VII, or even some versions of I, can often be said to function syntactically as the dominant. Chapter 3, “The Melodic-Harmonic Divorce,” explores contrapuntal paradigms in which the domains of melody and harmony seem to be operating independently. This chapter outlines three types of melodic-harmonic divorce: “hierarchy divorce,” “rotation divorce,” and “syntax divorce.” Part II of the dissertation aims to devise voice-leading models for full song forms. Chapter 4 focuses on AABA form, Chapter 5 on verse–prechorus–chorus, and Chapter 6 on verse–chorus forms. These chapters demonstrate that these common forms are associated with general voice-leading structures that act in dialog with the specific voice-leading structures of songs that exhibit these forms. This part of the dissertation is largely analytical, and has the secondary goal of demonstrating a Schenkerian analytical methodology applied to rock music.
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Books by Drew Nobile
Challenging the inherited belief that popular music is unrefined, Form as Harmony in Rock Music brings a systematic music-theoretical approach to popular music scholarship. Author Drew Nobile offers the first comprehensive theory of form for the 1960s, 70s, and 80s classic rock repertoire, showing how songs from this era are not simply series of discrete elements, but rather exhibit cohesive formal-harmonic structures across their entire timespan. Though many elements contribute to the cohesion of a song, the rock music of these decades is built around a fundamentally harmonic backdrop, giving rise to distinct types of verses, choruses, and bridges. Nobile's rigorous but readable theoretical analysis demonstrates how artists from Bob Dylan to Stevie Wonder to Madonna consistently turn to the same compositional structures throughout rock's various genres and decades, unifying them under a single musical style. Using over 200 transcriptions, graphs, and form charts, Form as Harmony in Rock Music advocates a structural approach to rock analysis, revealing essential features of this style that would otherwise remain below our conscious awareness.
Articles by Drew Nobile
This article traces a stylistic history of verse–prechorus–chorus form from its inception in mid-1960s rock ‘n’ roll through the EDM-infused pop of the 2010s. The central argument is that across its various presentations, verse–prechorus–chorus form is based on a consistent teleological structure, which I term the telos principle. I chronicle this form’s history through three style periods: I begin with the 1960s through ’80s, over which time verse–prechorus–chorus went from a novel offshoot of standard verse–chorus form to a dominant formal layout. Next, I look at how the form developed between 1991 and 2010, when texture, timbre, and voice increasingly overshadowed harmony as the primary drivers of formal motion. Finally, I consider the 2010s, which saw the strongest efforts toward subverting traditional pop and rock formal processes, especially surrounding the chorus’s central formal status. Throughout the discussion, I demonstrate how the telos principle can guide expressive interpretations of these formal subversions.
In tracing verse–prechorus–chorus form’s historical lineage, this article connects the harmonically oriented theories of ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s rock, such as Nobile 2020 and Heetderks 2020, with recent work on post-2010 EDM-infused pop, such as Peres 2016, Barna 2020, Adams 2019, and Osborn 2023. In so doing, the article reconsiders recent formal innovations not as a rejection of prior paradigms but as new developments within an ongoing thread that remain in dialogue with popular music’s stylistic history.
In this article, I propose that some seemingly ambiguous rock songs exhibit the theoretical structure known as the “double-tonic complex.” Not just “tonal pairing”—the alternation of two equally weighted keys—but a true Robert Bailey-style double tonic: a four-note sonority built from the union of two third-related triads acting as prolonged tonic. Though the double-tonic complex has proven controversial in 19th-century scholarship, rock music’s particularities provide a ripe environment for double-tonic structures, with its common use of seventh chords as stable harmonies and Aeolian modality. I investigate three double-tonic situations: 1) a surface intertwining of two relative keys such that both tonics act simultaneously as gravitational centers; 2) multi-section works in which each of the two keys is central for portions but neither emerges as the global tonic; and 3) songs with looped chord progressions that do not settle on a particular tonic.
This article presents a framework for analyzing the interval structure of pitch-class segments (ordered pitch-class sets). An “interval permutation” is a reordering of the intervals that arise between adjacent members of these pitch-class segments. Because pitch-class segments related by interval permutation are not necessarily members of the same set-class, this theory has the capability to demonstrate aurally significant relationships between sets that are not related by transposition or inversion.
I begin with a theoretical investigation of interval permutations followed by a discussion of the relationship of interval permutations to traditional pitch-class set theory, specifically focusing on how various set-classes may be related by interval permutation. A final section applies these theories to analyses of several songs from Schoenberg’s op. 15 song cycle The Book of the Hanging Gardens.
In the early music of the Beatles, form, harmony, and voice leading are intricately related. The most common form of this period—AABA where each A section contains an SRDC (Statement–Restatement–Departure–Conclusion) phrase structure as defined by Walter Everett (1999 and 2009)—carries with it harmonic and melodic implications which allow for the creation of a voice-leading model for this form. This paper examines how this model interacts with various songs from the early Beatles catalog. While not every song fits the model perfectly, there is always a dialogue between the model and the specific voice leading and form of the songs in question.
Dissertation by Drew Nobile
Part I of the dissertation focuses on harmonic and melodic theory. Chapter 2, “Harmonic Syntax,” advocates for a conception of harmonic function based on syntax and form rather than the identity of specific chords. In this conception, chords other than V, such as IV, II, ♭VII, or even some versions of I, can often be said to function syntactically as the dominant. Chapter 3, “The Melodic-Harmonic Divorce,” explores contrapuntal paradigms in which the domains of melody and harmony seem to be operating independently. This chapter outlines three types of melodic-harmonic divorce: “hierarchy divorce,” “rotation divorce,” and “syntax divorce.” Part II of the dissertation aims to devise voice-leading models for full song forms. Chapter 4 focuses on AABA form, Chapter 5 on verse–prechorus–chorus, and Chapter 6 on verse–chorus forms. These chapters demonstrate that these common forms are associated with general voice-leading structures that act in dialog with the specific voice-leading structures of songs that exhibit these forms. This part of the dissertation is largely analytical, and has the secondary goal of demonstrating a Schenkerian analytical methodology applied to rock music.