Dissertation Index
Author: Rockwell, Joti Title: Drive, Lonesomeness, and the Genre of Bluegrass Music Institution: University of Chicago Begun: September 2004 Completed: June 2007 Abstract: This dissertation suggests how discursive ideas central to a particular genre of American popular music can resonate in recorded sound. My focus is on bluegrass music, where concepts of lonesomeness and drive permeate written histories, performer interviews, fan discussions, pedagogical traditions, and other such modes of discourse for a genre. I propose that these two themes or tropes, along with the vigorously contested idea of bluegrass itself, provide an important means by which the genre is sustained; moreover, they can be heard in the music down to the most subtle sonic detail. Given the dual nature of this projectan examination of both musical sound and the ideas relating to itmy sources for the dissertation are of two types: 1) studio and live concert recordings taken from the genres roughly sixty-year history, and 2) accounts of bluegrass from those who actively participate in its production and reception (found in articles, interviews, pedagogy, fan discussions, etc.). In order to forge analytic and interpretive connections between the two types, I draw from music theory, popular music scholarship, ethnomusicology, and folklore studies. In doing so, I address questions regarding musical structure, genre ontology, analysis, interpretive listening, and affective and aesthetic expression. Rather than attempt to provide concrete answers to disciplinary questions, though, this project invokes such questions in order to understand a musical genre through the study of the sounds and concepts that shape it. Keywords: bluegrass, music theory, rhythm, meter, tropes, popular music TOC: Chapter 1: Introduction: Tropes, Bluegrass Music, and Method Chapter 2: What is Bluegrass Anyway? Categorization, the Genre Debate, and the Boundaries of Bluegrass Music Chapter 3: Bill Monroe and the Lonesome Song Chapter 4: Drive, Bluegrass Rhythm, and Banjo Performance Chapter 5: Studying Popular Music, and the Future of a Genre Contact: Joti Rockwell Pomona College Department of Music 340 N. College Avenue Claremont, CA 91711 joti.rockwell@pomona.edu |