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. :)
