#cantometrics

[principleofplenitude]

[dangermouseisthatdude]

and now...a word about polyphony

I've been meaning to work up a few paragraphs about this for a while now, as it's kind of the companion to the bit about male falsetto I wrote last year.

Just today, I stumbled across an article from an academic journal that analyzed pop hits from the past 55 years and concluded that one of the contributing factors for a song to be hit is background vocalists. 

(I could make this a teeny bit DM related because he has a soft spot for 60s choral pop, but that's kind of tangential to the point...)

The theory of cantometrics says that polyphony - voices in unison, that may or may not be in multi-part harmony - occurs naturally in places and times where a community or group are working together. It's the sound of belonging, togetherness, compassion, the feeling of harmony, etc. 

It tends to occur in music made by peaceful, prosperous people -- it occurs prominently in work as diverse as German classical music and traditional Pygmy music. But both are from places and times where there was plenty of food, peace, and personal freedom. 

So it stands to reason that polyphony contributes to songs being popular, as it communicates a feeling of cooperative groups of people, pulling together. It goes down very well with today's pop hits where so many songs are about 'you go girl!' personal empowerment. Suburban America is notably peaceful and prosperous too, of course.

But... it isn't exclusive to positive self-esteem music. Polynesian music uses a lot of polyphony. Not surprising, as they tend to be peaceful people who live in places with beautiful weather and plentiful food. The word 'aloha' that most people think of as emblematic of Polynesian culture means compassion and 'feeling with'. But it's a fundamental feature of all their music, not just the happy parts.

My personal favorite example of polyphony is a traditional Fijian song called Isa Lei. It uses gorgeous polyphony for a sad farewell song. (It seems like every island or coastal culture has polyphonic sad farewell songs for the moment when ships leave the shore, but that's a chat for another day...)

Food for thought, anyway, whether you're enjoying Beyonce or The Eighth Day or Handel or traditional Aka music from Central Africa. :)

[dangermouseisthatdude]

So, about that high, high, high falsetto James Mercer is working (and Dan Auerbach has been using, and Asa Taccone from Electric Guest, and John Gourley from Portugal. The Man, Cee Lo...)

There's a theory of ethnomusicology called Cantometrics that attempts to measure different types of 'folk' singing (this would include rock and pop, it just excludes opera and that stuff) and draw parallels between how a song is sung/played and what kind of culture it comes out of.

I'm not an expert in ethnomusicology, but I recall that the male falsetto, despite its sweetness and androgyny, actually indicates pain and tension. It naturally occurs in music from cultures where the young men struggle to find their places in the world.

If you ever hear traditional Lakota singing, for example, those guys sing at a really high pitch. Both in their war songs and their love songs you'd swear they were being skinned alive.

So it's not surprising that in traditional Lakota culture, young men had to go to war and succeed in deadly hand-to-hand combat before they were eligible to find a woman to settle down with. If they failed, the young women of their tribe would be married off to men of high status and they could miss their chance forever.

Intense pressure = high keening male vocals.

So anyway.... that vocal sound (I believe) carries more meaning than just its place in the melody. It's a sound recognized throughout centuries of history and all around the world as an indicator of tension, dread, longing, and angst, despite its outwardly high and sweet appearance.

Something to consider when listening to the music, at least.