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I'm going through Joe Mulholland & Tom HijNacki's "Berkelee Book of Jazz Harmony" Chapter 1 and I have a few questions...

  1. I see the various plagals, half cadence, deceptives, etc...Are there cadences / rules-of-thumb somewhere I can read about, beyond the common classical and jazz cadences? Say, cadences in funk, or post-rock? The thrust of my question is that I'm curious whether these general cadences apply in most Western genres of music, or if there is endless branching of more niche/specific "rules"

  2. Metrical Stresses — I understand it’s common in jazz, pop, and rock (4/4 time) to emphasize 2 and 4 beats, and that 1 & 3 emphasis are already implied (by the listener). I wonder if there are common manipulations of metrical stress, harmonic phrasing, and lyrics in some HIT songs, as a cohesive way the artist is putting together a message. The concept of metrical stress is really interesting to me, and I find it unintuitive, especially when thinking about stability and unstability from lyrical metrical stress. Very interested in practicing this...

user2738206
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  • For the first question, there isn't anything in rock that I'm aware of that isn't also represented somewhere in either jazz or classical or both. Stress is absolutely important in all music that I'm familiar with, and certainly in rock. If you speak English and people find it easy to understand you, then you actually **do** intuitively understand metrical stress. You may not consciously be thinking about metrical stress, but that's I believe makes it intuitive rather than explicit. You just have to analyze both speech and music to make the intuitive understanding explicit. – Todd Wilcox Feb 18 '23 at 03:20
  • I suggest you split your post into at least two different questions and get more specific about the issues you're interested in. Your post is getting close votes (not from me) possibly because they are such broad questions. – empty Feb 18 '23 at 04:03

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Various cadences and rules of thumb are specific to different Western music genres. While classical and jazz cadences can apply to genres like pop, rock, and funk, some genres have their unique cadences, like extended vamps on a single chord in funk music and gradual development leading to a climax in post-rock. However, the general principles of music theory, like tension and release, can still apply across genres.

Artists manipulate metrical stress to create tension and release and convey a specific message. While beats 2 and 4 in 4/4 time are emphasized in popular music genres, artists can intentionally place an accent on beat one or use a syncopated rhythm for tension that resolves to the downbeat. Lyrics can also manipulate metrical stress by placing unexpected stress on a word. Practicing this skill involves studying the rhythm and phrasing of existing songs and experimenting with compositions.

For a more in-depth discussion of this topic, I suggest

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I have no connection with the author; I think it's a good book.

empty
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