Author Archives: Paul Carr

200 Motels: The Programme Notes that Never Happened!

Posted on October 22, 2013 by Paul Carr

Editor ‘Frank Zappa and the And’ For those that are interested, here are the programme notes that never happened! Guitarist, satirist, political activist, music technologist film maker and composer, Frank Zappa (1940-1993) has to be objectively considered one of the … Continue reading →

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Elements of Music and Impact on Musical Form

Posted on October 20, 2013 by Paul Carr

My last musicology session discussed the various ways in which the elements of music impacted our appreciation of music. Factors such as dynamics, texture, timbre, harmony, melody etc are interesting – as they can be discussed with all age groups … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Musicology | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Zappa Zappa Zappa Zappa………

Posted on October 15, 2013 by Paul Carr

Well, after my recent promises to stop talking about Zappa – it appears I still have a few things to say. Firstly – I was bitterly disappointed this week to hear that the essay that I had commissioned for the … Continue reading →

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Song – Arrangement – Track: Where is the ontological presence of a song?

Posted on October 6, 2013 by Paul Carr

This week in my Musicology session we have been discussing the various ontological aspects of a record. Alban Zac describes the following three factors:- 1)      The song: Made up of factors such as melody, chords and basic form 2)      Arrangement: … Continue reading →

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Back to Blogging: More Zappa I am Afraid!

Posted on October 4, 2013 by Paul Carr

For a variety of reasons, over the last few months I have found it really difficult to find the time to blog – life has just been getting in the way. So – here is an attempt to get back … Continue reading →

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Frank Zappa and Musical Virtuality: The Final Word on Zappa (for a while)

Posted on June 18, 2013 by Paul Carr

Well, after the best part of eight years of trying to understand what makes his music tick – I completed what will be my final piece of work on Zappa for a while. Close on the heels of Frank Zappa … Continue reading →

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Truth and Method: How Can We Be More Objective When Analysing Music

Posted on March 22, 2013 by Paul Carr

I read a review of Frank Zappa and the And this week – and despite its negativity,  it got me thinking about the ways in which our world views impact the ways in which we interpret meaning in music. Being … Continue reading →

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Frank Zappa Musicological Analysis

Posted on March 13, 2013 by Paul Carr

Here is a lecture on Frank Zappa I gave to students as part of a musicology class this week. Comments Welcome! <div style=”margin-bottom:5px”> <strong> <a href=”http://www.slideshare.net/carrp/session-7-zappa-final-presentation&#8221; title=”Session 7 zappa final presentation” target=”_blank”>Session 7 zappa final presentation</a> </strong> from <strong><a href=”http://www.slideshare.net/carrp&#8221; … Continue reading →

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Performance Analysis

Posted on March 4, 2013 by Paul Carr

I delivered a session on an introduction to Performance Analysis this week – asking the students the following questions Place examples of Episodic Markers (see presentation below) and one of the following Sonic/Tactile/Kinetic Anaphones Genre Synecdoche Experiments with Time & … Continue reading →

Posted in Musicology | Tagged , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Les Paul and Mary Ford: is it still possible to be successful and truly experimental?

Posted on March 3, 2013 by Paul Carr

A year or so ago, I wrote a blog about how the singer Rumer sounded like Karen Carpenter  – and how the music industry could be seen to be using  a proven formula (i.e The Carpenters) to sell the public … Continue reading →

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