Gender Differences in the Popular Music Compositions of High School Students

Music Education Research International, Volume 5, 2011 Gender Differences in the Popular Music Compositions of High School Students Joseph M. Abramo University of Connecticut—Storrs, U.S.A. Abstract some evidence, however, that this was a process This qualitative multiple case study aimed at preferred by males, and females had a propensity for investigating how gender influenced songs composed longer episodes of verbal dialogue (Abramo, 2009). by students using popular music processes. High This mirrored research on children’s play, which school students simultaneously composed and suggested that boys chose nonlinguistic ways to rehearsed original songs in groups and then were communicate while girls spent most of their playtime interviewed to understand their perspectives. Student engaged in verbal communication (Benenson, Del artifacts and audio recordings of rehearsals and Bianco, Philippoussis, & Apostoleris, 1997; Maccoby, interviews were openly coded for emerging themes of 1998; Messner, 1997; Pollack, 2000). gender. The boys’ and girls’ compositions differed with Green (2008) used the communal popular regard to lyrics, as well as the forms and timbres used. music process to make a distinction between, and Because students did not work in a cultural vacuum, educate about, what she called, the “inter-sonic” and when they borrowed musical styles from their “delineated” meanings of music. The inter-sonic “outside” musical worlds, they also borrowed the meanings were the so-called “real” meanings of the social rules that shaped those styles, and gender was work, derived from the elements of music, like rhythm, one of these. Educators should begin to look at pitch, form, and timbre. The delineated meanings were students’ compositions not solely as products of those cultural meanings arbitrarily assigned to the musical knowledge, but as products of cultural inter-sonic meanings. She argued that using these knowledge expressed musically, as well as transform processes in the classroom, and applying them to a popular music pedagogy research and practice by variety of music, helped students begin to understand teaching how popular music influences and is the difference between inter-sonic and delineated influenced by society. meanings and became better consumers and producers of music. In recent years, researchers have suggested Contrary to this, some musicologists have that popular music processes—learning by ear, peer suggested that the inter-sonic and delineated meanings learning, and repertoire-based, as opposed to exercise- were not as separate as they appear, and that musicians based, learning—can contribute positively to formal used the elements in political ways (Cook, & Tsou, music instruction (Allsup, 2003; Green, 2002, 2008; 1994; McClary, 1991; Moisala & Diamond, 2000; Rodriguez, 2004). In a separate area of research, Rycenga, 2006). McClary (1991), for instance, argued educators have taken an interest in creativity and that notions of gender had an influence on form and student compositions (Campbell, 1998; Hickey, 1997; key relations. She contended that Western musics, both Webster, 1990). Absent from this research, however, is popular and classical, created tonal constructions that, an investigation of the characteristics of the with its use of primary and secondary key centers, compositions created by students using popular music created gender-bias binaries. A primary key center was processes. What are the topics of the lyrics and how do considered masculine and the secondary key was students write about them? What types of forms, feminine, and in order for a piece to be complete structures, and tonalities do students use to create their tonally, the protagonist, “masculine” key must compositions? What roles do students’ gendered subjugate and annihilate the antagonistic, “feminine” identities play in their compositional choices? key (McClary, 1991, pp. 155-156). McClary argued Focusing on process, researchers of popular that some female popular musicians, like Madonna, music pedagogy defined popular music production as a thwarted this expectation and created forms where the communal activity where students simultaneously keys resolve more equally. compose and rehearse in small groups (Allsup, 2003; McClary (1991) and similar analyses (Cook, Green, 2002). In this process, musicians conversed by & Tsou, 1994; Moisala & Diamond, 2000; Rycenga, playing musical material called “licks” rather than 2006) provided a framework to examine music communicating through verbal dialogue. There was sociologically. Rather than the formalist view that the 1  Music Education Research International, Volume 5, 2011 musical elements are completely abstract and rehearsed their compositions in groups from October apolitical, it is possible to conceive of the elements as a 2007 to February 2008 and performed the songs on a product of social phenomena. Musicians’ choices, concert. The rehearsal/compositional sessions were therefore, are influenced by so-called “extra-musical” conducted after school, were not associated with any influences like gendered politics. But McClary’s official classes at the school, lasted approximately one- analyses have received criticism. Richards (1998), for and-a-half hours, and were fifteen in total. Individual example, found little use in generalized binaries in interviews were conducted in March 2008 to music but instead thought of music as a phenomenon understand their perspectives on their compositions and “which is remade with divergent meanings in its their composing processes. inscription within particular discourses” (p. 172). This All data collection took place in a public high means that music does not essentially embody these school in the Northeast of the United States that the gendered meanings but that they are inscribed onto the participants attended. The school was located in an music through the use of analytical lenses like the ones ethnically-diverse, small city with a population of employed by McClary. DeNora (2000) wrote that the 26,067. The population was 56.8% White, non- actual composition contributed little to the meaning of Hispanic, 25.1%; Hispanic, 15.1%; Black; and 9.3% a performance: “Music takes its meanings from many other races, and this general population was reflected in things apart from its intertextual relationship with other the population of the high school. The city thrived musical works … equally important to the matter of during the beginning and middle of the twentieth music social’s ‘effects’ is the question of how musical century when a railroad-based economy provided materials relate to extra-musical matters” (p. 61). factory jobs, but as the economy shifted at the end of Dibben (2002) wrote that DeNora (2000) and others’ the century the factories closed and the unemployment critique of McClary did “not dismiss the analyses rate grew. The high school in this city has many of the provided by musicologists as irrelevant to gender, but problems that affect urban schools in the United States; to recognize that they are readings made from a the school has been identified by the state as “A School particular subject position, with political purposes in In Need of Improvement” because it has not made mind” (p. 130). Thus, viewing the elements of music as quotas in the number of students passing standardized political allowed the investigation of students’ tests, and in 2007 the graduation rate was 54%, the compositions as influenced by gender. But from lowest in the county. Despite this, the school offered McClary (1991), Richards (1998), DeNora (2000), and several courses in music, including two concert bands, Dibben (2002), it must be acknowledge that these five choruses, music theory, and a guitar class. analyses were themselves situated within a particular Data were obtained by collecting student- “political” act. This was not a political act that claimed created artifacts and creating audio recordings. The the truth of these compositions, but was, instead, an researcher-created audiotapes were the only recordings interpretation that rendered a kind of truth that brought made and the students did not make their own meaning to the practices and processes that created that recordings, although students frequently referenced the work. This framework, adopted for this study, allowed tapes to listen to their progress or to retrieve ideas from the question: how, if at all, did boys’ and girls’ lyrics previous rehearsals. All of the physical artifacts and elements of music differ in their original collected were created by the participants, which compositions? In other words, did this view of the included their notation of lyrics and music. Notation elements reveal differences in the boys’ and girls’ was broadly construed to mean any way of music and lyrics? symbolically representing their compositions, and therefore included non-standard musical notation. Methodology Because participants composed by ear without the aid To study this question, a qualitative multiple of standard notation, recordings of the case study (Maxwell, 2005; Yin, 2003) was created to rehearsal/compositional sessions and the final collect students’ compositions as well as their compositions as performed on the concert were made perceptions of their work. Seventeen students (ages 15- to document the process as well as the sonic qualities 18) formed five mixed-gendered and single-gendered of the final compositions. Audio recordings of the final rock bands to compose songs collectively using interviews were also made to document their popular music processes. This included the self-named reflections. In these interviews, students were asked to “Joey and the Pussycats” (4 females), the Princes of comment on recordings of their compositions and Zanzibar (2 females), the groups that I have named rehearsals and to explain their compositional processes. here the “Boy Group” (4 boys), the “Ska Group” (3 Sometimes this included the use of audio recordings as females, 1 male) and the “Mixed Group” (2 females, 2 prompts for dialogues or researcher-generated males). The participants simultaneously composed and questions. These interviews were “unstructured” 2  Music Education Research International, Volume 5, 2011 (Fontana & Frey, 2005), meaning they did not follow a I just heard “Sweetie you’re not…” set protocol or question set. Instead, it allowed the A-a-a-nything can come after the dot dot dot researcher to ask follow-up questions, to mold the discussion to each individual participant, and to move Chorus Flipped the mattress but the sheets weren’t changed in unanticipated directions. Feels like something’s different but it’s still all the same These artifacts and transcriptions were openly You think that I’m dramatic but I blow you away coded (Atkinson & Hammersley, 1998) for emerging They saw that we won’t make it when we’re really ok. themes related to gender, meaning that the lyrics were We might be kind of pointless but you sure mean a lot analyzed for what topics participants wrote about, how But when I’m in your arms you know that I’m all you they wrote them, and their relation to gender without got. the use of preexisting categories. When themes of gender were identified in the lyrics, the non-lyrical Verse 2 aspects of that song were also analyzed to see if gender And Baby don’t bother ‘cause you’re making a fuss And Honey you’re crazy if you think it’s about trust could be interpreted in the song. All protocols received I just heard “Sweetie you’re not…” IRB approval including the use of pseudonyms. Of the A-a-a-nything can come after the dot dot dot songs produced, two songs—Dot, Dot, Dot, by the all- female “Joey and the Pussycats,” and Jam #12, by the Chorus all male group—are presented here because they most Chorsey breaky thing (sic) clearly show issues of gender through music. The Keep it Keep it only to find that when your recordings of these songs are available for listening. Secrets Secrets sound just like mine, you’ll see the “Joey and the Pussycats” consisted of Eleanor on guitar Regret Regret in the whole time to show I and voice, Rigby on bass guitar, Laverne on guitar and Mean it Mean it that we’ll be fine (email from Rigby, November 23, 2007). singing, and Shirley on drums. The participants choose these pseudonyms. Besides Shirley who was not Click for audio of Dot, Dot, Dot: enrolled in any music classes, all participants in this group were enrolled in both band and chorus and were active in the school musical theater productions. The During one of the rehearsals, Rigby took time to make “Boy Group” consisted of Fred on guitar, Rob on bass, sure the other members of the band understood her Armando on vocals, and Tim on drums. Like the girls, intent: all of the members except one, Fred, were enrolled in music classes at the high school. Although the Laverne: Anything can come after the “dot, dot, processes the students used—including playing by ear dot.” and peer learning—were observed, a detailed Rigby: You’re not pretty, you’re not funny… description is beyond the scope of this paper. If readers Eleanor: Sweetie you’re not, “insert word here.” are interested in an in-depth discussion of these Laverne: (The narrator of the song) doesn’t want students’ processes, they may consult my dissertation to hear it ‘cause anything can come after (Abramo, 2009). (it)… Sweetie you’re not “dot, dot, dot.” Anything can come after the “dot, dot, dot” Findings (AR, November 5, 2007). Composing Femininity: Dot, Dot, Dot From the beginning of the formation of “Joey The girls’ explanation can be summarized like this: The and the Pussycats” Rigby had ideas for the lyrics and narrator of the song is on the phone with her boyfriend. music for a composition, that she titled Dot, Dot, Dot, They have a fight, and in the middle of this fight the that she wanted to write with the band. How the girls boyfriend says “Sweetie you’re not …” and the phone used the lyrics, tempo, arrangement, and form to create cuts out. Nervousness ensues because the girl does not binaries in the music and then thwarted those binaries know what words follow the ellipse. His words could provided insights into gender in popular music. Rigby’s be anything, “Sweetie you’re not what I’m looking lyrics were ostensibly about a heterosexual relationship for,” sweetie “you’re not pretty,” “there could be a lot written from a personal perspective. Rigby composed of adjectives that could go there.” Therefore, the words for the song before the study began, and “Anything can come after the dot, dot, dot.” brought them to the second rehearsal: The uncertainty of the meaning of the boyfriend’s comments created anxiety. In her Verse 1 interview, Rigby described the lyrics as “scary:” Oh Baby don’t bother ‘cause I don’t want to know And Honey you are crazy if you think I’ll let you go 3  Music Education Research International, Volume 5, 2011 The “oh baby don’t bother cause I don’t want to The double-time feel of the chorus, while conforming know,” is like, “I don’t know why you want to to the same tempo, created a contrast between the verse leave right now, I don’t know why you hate me, I and chorus and the feel of the lyrics of those sections. don’t know why you think there’s something Both Eleanor and Laverne sang on the song, wrong.” Because I don’t want to know ‘cause it’s and where they sang separately and together further kind of scary (AR, March 3, 2008). exaggerated this tension in the arrangement of the vocals. In the verse Eleanor and Laverne traded The “scariness” of Rigby’s lyrics were based on the phrases; Eleanor sang the first phrase: “Oh baby don’t fear of losing her romantic partner because of a lack on bother/‘cause I don’t want to know,” and Laverne her part, and the song took on the perspective of the answered it by singing the second phrase, “And Honey “nervousness” or “scariness” of a breakup of a you are crazy/if you think I’ll let you go.” They then relationship. sang in harmony of thirds for the third phrase, “I just While the verses were tense because of this heard ‘sweetie you’re not’/A-a-anything can come ambiguity, the chorus’ lyrics were a change in quality. after.” Finally, they completed this phrase by I also asked Rigby to explain how and why she alternating “dot, dot, dot;” Eleanor sang the first and composed the words of the chorus: third “dot” and Laverne sang the second “dot.” In contrast to the separate singing in the verse, in the “I flipped the mattress and the sheets weren’t chorus, Eleanor and Laverne sang simultaneously by changed” [has] a symbolic meaning, because sometimes singing in unison and other times in thirds. there’s no change. But I guess basically the whole The result was a contrast and a binary in the vocal song has that relative meaning. Like, “I flipped arrangement between the verse and the chorus; the the mattress but the sheets weren’t changed,” like singers who remained separate in the verse, came “I changed something but really there wasn’t any together in the chorus. [change].” “It feels like something’s different but The song concluded with a Final section, it’s still all the same.” Get it? (AR, March 3, which Rigby called the “Chorsey breaky thing.” This 2008). section extended the theme of coming together and complicated the binary between the verse and chorus. The lyrics of the chorus changed the tone and After proceeding through the verse and chorus twice, in questioned the feelings of the verse. The nervousness the Final section the instruments dropped out and and scariness of change precipitated by a breakup or Eleanor sang a new melody to the words “keep it, keep fight was balanced with a view that although it felt like it only to find, (etc.),” accompanied by handclaps by the relationship has changed, everything has, in fact, the entire band. From this point on, the piece built as remained the same. Therefore, the song created a other parts were layered on top of one another. Laverne dualism between “that which is felt” in the scariness of was the second to enter, singing the melody and words the verse, and “that which is in reality” in the mattress of the chorus, followed the bass, acoustic guitar— metaphor of the chorus. In other words, although it playing the chords of the chorus—and finally the feels like something is different in the relationship, in drums—playing the double-time feel of the chorus. The “reality” all is still the same. To further this dualism, result was that after the girls layered all the the lyrics of the chorus, in contrast to the verse, seemed instruments, the new material of the Final section and more optimistic and confident. “You think that I’m the chorus were simultaneously performed. dramatic but I’ll blow you away.” In the lyrics, a To foreshadow this layering and coming tension was created between the verse and chorus. The together of the material, Rigby, who played bass in the fear and doubt of the impending breakup in the verse band, included one final integrative detail. During the was pitted against the chorus, where uncertainty of seventh rehearsal, she came up with the idea of to make whether the perception of this situation was accurate Eleanor’s vocal part in the Final section the bass part of and a more confident view of the relationship was the chorus as a way to anticipate the Final section. She presented. sat in rehearsal and tried to transcribe Eleanor’s vocal The non-lyrical aspects of the song part on the bass and after several minutes, she was able accompanied this binary in the lyrics. The tension to play it. She suspected that this might work as a bass caused by the alternative views in the lyrics of the line in the chorus because at the end of the song the verse and chorus was echoed by the tempo of the song. chorus and the Final section were combined. After she The girls, at first, had a difficult time reconciling the tried the new bass line with the chorus she concluded tempi of the verse and the chorus, wanting to play the that she liked the result and made it a permanent part of chorus faster than the verse. Finally, they solved this the composition. Table 1 summarized how the girls problem by playing the chorus in a double-time feel. used some of the elements of music to create a tightly- 4  Music Education Research International, Volume 5, 2011 constructed, integrative composition that has a series of line during the chorus. From this perspective, the form tensions built into it. The result of these unique aspects of the piece was not hierarchical but integrative. The of this composition is that the girls created binaries in chorus did not subordinate the other material but they the composition, but then resolved these binaries in harmoniously coexisted. The combination of the chorus unconventional ways. In traditional song form the and final section helped ameliorate the hierarchical chorus is dominated by the verse. The song must end nature of form. But this theme of coming together was with chorus material and this concluding final material not exclusive to the form. As noted before, Eleanor and “get’s the last word” so to speak (McClary, 1991; Laverne traded phrases in the verse only to sing in Rycegna, 2006). Rigby and the other girls took great harmony during the chorus. At the end of the steps to minimize or eliminate this so-called composition this theme of coming together was “domination and subordination.” They introduced the extended to the whole ensemble. Little by little— final section, which was new material, at the end and starting with voice, then adding the bass, guitar, and combined it with the chorus. The abruptness of this finally, drums to the ensemble—the theme of coming introduction of this new section was minimized together was reemphasized and extended to include all because the vocal part was foreshadowed in the bass players in the ensemble. Table1 Form, Tempi and Arrangement of Dot, Dot, Dot Final section Form: Introduction Verse Chorus Verse Chorus Chorus Regular- Regular- Double- time Regular- Double- time Tempo: Double-time feel time feel time feel feel time feel feel Sang in Sang in Vocal Traded Traded Sang different Vocal unison and unison and Arrangement: Phrases Phrases parts polyphonically Harmony Harmony Layering of the different parts Vocal Vocal Vocals Melody of Melody of Instrumental the Final the Final Bass Arrangement: section used section used as the as the Guitar bassline bassline Drums Composing Masculinity: Jam #12 rehearsals, the composition grew to four minutes in In contrast to Joey and the Pussycats—with length incorporating several different formal sections their song about relationships, and its coming together based on heavily distorted guitar licks and a virtuosic of musical material—the boys, with their composition guitar solo. Jam #12, wrote about governmental politics and kept a Contrary to the girls, the instrumental music rigid form. The boys—Fred on guitar, Armando on of Jam #12 came first, followed by the lyrics. Rob, vocals, Rob on bass, and Tim on drums—decided to who wrote the verses, and Armando, who wrote the write a song collectively and over the course of several choruses, focused their lyrics on their perceived lack of 5  Music Education Research International, Volume 5, 2011 fairness in the 2008 presidential primary campaigns more personal “it’s my nation, I’ll make it stronger.” and debates. This contrasted Dot, Dot, Dot, where Rigby’s lyrics conveyed a personal experience, which was written in Verse 1 the first person throughout the song where “us,” Presidential race 2008, referring to a dyad of a romantic relationship, and “I” Civilized culture and still the world is filled with hate. served as the subject of many of the lines. Corporate sellouts, always promising change, The non-lyrical aspects of the Jam #12 also How much does it cost to buy a candidate? held some similarities and differences with Dot, Dot, Chorus Dot. Where the girls chose to use standard tuning for This can’t go on any longer the guitars and bass in Dot, Dot, Dot, in Jam #12, the It’s our nation make it stronger. boys elected to use a lower tuning, known as the “drop The heart is as black as the money is green D,” to create a heavier sound. The key of the song, D Fighting wars for profit fueled by greed. minor, was urged on by this tuning; it allowed power- chords deep in the register of the guitar to be played Verse 2 with one finger. In addition, the tonic D5 chord (just Major news stations, always they decide, the pitches D-A-D) could be played with open strings, Who’s in the spotlight and who’s forced to hide. The truest Americans, the honest candidates, again allowing for a full and heavy sound. To add to They ain’t even allowed in the televised debates this heaviness, the boys also used distortion throughout (Combination of transcribed hand-written lyrics by Rob the entire composition. and Armando, February 13, 2008) Like Dot, Dot, Dot, Jam #12 called for two vocalists. In this case, Rob rapped the verses, and Click for audio of Jam #12: Armando sang the choruses. However, unlike Dot, Dot, Dot, these vocalists never performed simultaneously and the part could easily be performed by one vocalist. Verse 1 generically established a critical stance to the The part was divided up because it was decided that it campaigns, and then shifted to a more pointed critique would be easier for Rob—who wrote the rap lyrics—to of corporate involvement in the funding of these rap the verses rather than teach it to Armando. campaigns. Verse 2 then criticized what they saw as the Compared to Dot, Dot, Dot’s unconventional news media’s biased coverage of candidates and lack formal structure, Jam #12’s form was more traditional of access to the debates. The chorus’ lyrics were a shift in construction. Unlike the coming together of Dot, in tone, calling for people to “make our country Dot, Dot, which integrated different parts of the song stronger.” Like Dot, Dot, Dot, these lyrics have a and made an effort at fluidity between the sections, dualism created by the verse and chorus. The verse was Jam #12’s form was rigid, hierarchical, and an airing of grievances against the election process— compartmentalized. Table 2 shows the form of Jam the role of money and corporations in campaigns, and #12. The form of this song was more conservative then the media’s bias and influence over the exposure of the the girls’ composition. There was no coming together candidates. This was juxtaposed with the call to action of instrumentation, no blurring of formal sections, no of the chorus: “This is our nation, make it stronger.” compromise of the hierarchical nature of form. This dualism was then somewhat compromised by the Conversely, there was an emphasis on the hierarchal following lines, “The heart is as black as the money is nature of form; the chorus, the formal section with the green/Fighting wars for profit fueled by greed,” which most heroic lyrics of the song, prevailed in the end. sounded like continued grievances. Perhaps the most hierarchical aspect of this Both Rob and Armando wrote the lyrics from form was the use of the bridge-like section called the a distant perspective. By removing the subject, Rob breakdown. The “breakdown” in heavy metal was a wrote verses that were incomplete sentences: “Major commonly used section in the middle of the news stations, always they decide.” In this context, the composition where the tempo immediately slows down patching of these fragmented phrases allowed Rob to and gradually speeds back up to the original tempo create distance between himself and the text he created. while the guitarist plays a solo. While rehearsing, I The result was lyrics that circumvent the personal and asked the participants to explain breakdowns: felt experiences of the presidential race, and instead focused on global, grand explanations of that Armando: We’ll the breakdown is like the most phenomenon. Armando, although using a subject, also rebellious part of the song, it keeps going circumvented the personal. Instead of writing “this is and going until it breaks out. That’s when our nation, make it stronger,” which called for you’re building up, where you’re getting to collective revolution, he could have elected for the the point of your song … When you’re 6  Music Education Research International, Volume 5, 2011 going to a breakdown you’re building up while other members could “go nuts” by gesticulating and you’re getting stronger and it just violently and running around the stage. In addition, the explodes to the point. musicians took control of the music through Fred: Yeah, breakdowns, especially for us, [the manipulation of the tempo. They seized the music, band I’m in outside of school], that’s the taking it from its unruly, fast tempo and forced it into point where we go nuts. Like our guitars are its slower, heavier tempo. This stood as a musical in the air. It just like, “Arr!” Well except of metaphor for them to take control of their environment, me I’m like “oh God!” (gesturing that he is and act like a heroic musician who took charge of his playing fast). ‘Cause both of our musical environment through manipulation, coercion, breakdowns have guitar solos. It kind of and submission of the tempo. So as in the lyrics, where sucks ‘cause I can’t go crazy (AR, there was a call for people to take the fate of the nation December 6, 2007). into their own hands and to “take charge,” the musicians did this musically; they “take charge of the By analyzing the participants’ perspectives, it could be tempo,” forcing it where they wanted it to go. This argued that the breakdown was a formal section that stood in stark contrast to the girls’ assiduous work to aided in a masculine display. According to Fred, the make the verse and chorus conform to the same tempo guitarist could show virtuosity through the guitar solo by using a double-time feel. Table 2 Form of Jam #12 “Introduction” “Introduction” Verse Chorus Verse Chorus Breakdown Chorus Lick Lick Form A B C B C D A C Singing No Singing (Rap) (sung) (Rap) (sung) guitar solo No Singing (sung) Slower Tempo A tempo tempo that A tempo accelerates If this section was a male display, then it Discussion was no surprise that Armando explained the A comparison of Dot, Dot, Dot and Jam #12 breakdown as “the most rebellious part of the song.” in Table 3 suggests that these two compositions hold The breakdown, the formal section where the similarities and differences. Why did the differences musicians “control the music”—where Fred exist? Why did the boys choose to compose a heavily displayed virtuosic technique through a solo and the distorted song about grand revolution? Why did the band forced the tempo into different configurations— girls prefer a milder song about relationships? The was referred to in terms of “rebellion.” And the girls’ Dot, Dot, Dot—with its integrated form, lyrics notion of rebellion as grand, overtly subversive, and about personal relationships, standard tuning, clean utopian was masculinist in conception compared to timbres, and consistent tempo—can be seen as a Rigby’s more modest lyrics that use the flipping of musical composition that affirmed a certain type of her bed mattress as a metaphor for gaining control femininity and also embodied the girls’ “feminine” over her environment. It should also not be a surprise collaborative process. Conversely, Jam #12 by the that Armando described it in almost male orgasmic boys—with its rigid hierarchical form, unfettered terms: “when you’re going to a breakdown you’re sense of self and rebellion in the lyrics, drop D building up and you’re getting stronger and it just tuning, distortion, and manipulation of tempo— explodes to the point.” projected a form of masculinity. 7  Music Education Research International, Volume 5, 2011 Table 3 understood as foundationally heterosexual. Rigby Comparison of Dot, Dot, Dot and Jam #12 used the assumptions of audiences that this love song was heterosexual as a way to create a self-affirming Dot, Dot, Dot Jam #12 sexual and gendered identity. These influences saturated Dot, Dot, Dot, Global and delved deeper than the lyrics. Because the Local concerns, Lyrics concerns, ostensibly abstract elements of music, such as form, relationships. politics harmony, and arrangement were influenced by gendered and sexual politics (McClary, 1991; D Minor, Rycenga, 2006), the musical elements the girls used Tonality C Major, diatonic diatonic in the song also enacted notions of gender. Dot, Dot, Dot’s theme of “coming together,” for example, Verse/chorus with Verse/chorus, played out through the unusual combination of individual with different formal sections at the end of the Form sections that come breakdown, no composition as well as through the layering of the together in the mixing of different vocal and instrumental parts. The use of end sections these techniques stood as a musical metaphor for the girls’ propensity for collaboration. As Laverne Two singers that described it in an interview, “we … were all trade phrases but collaboratively getting better together,” and unlike Singer and come together for the other bands, “we wanted to be a band because Arrangement rapper, never the chorus and we’re best friends not because we were good at the sing together overlap in the instruments” (AR, March 10, 2008). As they felt that final section they socially came together through rehearsing and composing with one another, their music has the Timbre Clean Distorted quality of coming together as well. This echoed the Guitar Tuning Standard Drop D processes used in popular music creation by girls (Abramo, 2009), and how girls played with each Slowed down other (Benenson, Del Bianco, Philippoussis, & and sped up in Apostoleris, 1997; Maccoby, 1998; Messner, 1997; Tempi Consistent Pollack, 2000). the “breakdown” Conversely, the boys’ song Jam #12 displayed masculinity through lyrics and the elements Guitar solo No Yes of music. The boys wrote lyrics that described the 2008 presidential primaries as a grand conspiracy that involved corporations and biased news media by asking “how much does it cost to buy a candidate?” Rigby wrote songs about an imagined, In comparison to Dot, Dot, Dot, which was written fictive relationship and breakup. These were not from a personal standpoint and frequently used the “real” experiences lived by Rigby, but created subject “I,” Jam #12 portrayed a somewhat detached experiences she thought were part of romantic rendering of these lyrics by using sentence fragments relationships and popular music vocabulary. Rigby’s that avoided the use of a subject. Unlike the girls, gender became evident in the song because she used whose lyrics presented a more circumscribed notion the pop song as her mode of expression. Pop songs, of what it meant to act in their environment, the boys rigidly about heterosexual love, have certain clichés used a universalized sense of what it meant to be and idiomatic gestures that Rigby used to write her autonomous. For them, their ability to act was lyrics. If she wrote in a more abstract form or genre, uncompromised and uncompromising, and they such as a flute sonata, or used compositional conformed to ideals of the “take charge,” unbridled, techniques like an ostinato—pedagogical strategies macho male. used in more traditional instruction—would she be But the elements of music, as well, had a urged as strongly to write about the heterosexual masculine meaning. The guitars were tuned lower relationship? The answer would probably be no and were distorted in timbre, and the song was in a because those forms were not expected to be about hierarchical, climax-based form where the dominant straight love as strongly as the pop song was. As a introduction section was the most important formal result, Dot, Dot, Dot was a love song interpreted and section and dominated the subordinate secondary 8  Music Education Research International, Volume 5, 2011 sections of the verse and chorus (McClary, 1991; educators ask them to compose in “non-popular” or Rycenga, 2006). The boys added a “breakdown,” to “classical” idioms. their song—a formal section where a virtuosic guitar Educators, then, should begin to look at their solo is performed, and they slowed the tempo down students’ compositions not merely as products of only to gradually accelerate back to the original musical knowledge, but as products of cultural tempo and the climax of the composition. The boys knowledge expressed musically. In addition to being described the breakdown as “the most rebellious part avenues of personal expression, they also convey the of the song” where you “go nuts.” In this section the institutions and rules of society. This has implications boys exerted a type of musical masculinity by for pedagogy. Students do not make compositional displaying technique through the solo, taking choices simply by what “sounds good” divorced from aggressive charge of the tempo and forcing it where other considerations. To the contrary, what sounds they want it to go, and reinforcing a hierarchical, good and what students try to express in music in a climax-based form (Cook, & Tsou, 1994; McClary, popular music setting is linked to social influences 1991; Moisala & Diamond, 2000; Rycenga, 2006). It like gender. When students compose in the popular was a place, as Armando said, you were “building up music classroom teachers should take this into and you’re getting stronger and it just explodes to the consideration. It provides educators another tool to point” (AR, December 6, 2007). The breakdown understand why students make certain musical served as a musical metaphor for masculine decisions, but it also requires them to think about and conception of “rebellion.” reevaluate the aims of popular music pedagogy. Although not generalizable in the While it is valuable for students to learn about the quantitative sense, the girls’ and boys’ compositions elements of music, popular music also provides suggested that students did not work in a cultural opportunities to learn how the elements of music vacuum, and when they borrowed the processes from express ideas that are “larger” than music, and how the “outside” musical world they also borrowed the the musical world links to the “outside” world. This social rules that shaped those processes. This moved aspect of popular music provides many avenues for beyond the use of language and embedded itself in the expansion of popular music pedagogy research the elements or the so-called “inter-sonic” (Green, and practice. Educating not only to do the popular 2008) meanings of the music. But, it might also be music process, but to actively reflect on the how and argued that the participants in this study simply why these processes come to be, and why students, as copied the styles of music that they like. This was active musicians in the popular music process, make indeed true, but the question remained, why did they the decisions they do. prefer this music, and why did they decide to use it in Such a shift would take popular music as a the classroom? The participants were drawn to the serious object of study and shift it away from a using music they like for several reasons. They were drawn it as a gateway to the inter-sonic aspects of music. In to the elements of music, but they also used it to popular music, as some musicologists suggest (Cook, create specific identities (MacDonald, Hargreaves, & & Tsou, 1994; McClary, 1991; Moisala & Diamond, Miell, 2002). The boys wrote Jam #12 from a 2000; Rycenga, 2006), the delineated meanings are as perspective that purported an idealized notion of central to “the meaning” of a work as the inter-sonic masculinity while the girls composed Dot, Dot, Dot meanings derived from the elements. Embracing both to present her idea of a romantic relationship. Their the intersonic and delineated meanings as the real musical compositions were not merely the abstract meanings of the music, bringing them to the fore as composition of sound, but were also imbued with subjects of musical understanding, and making it a personal experiences and cultural contexts. These central focus of education are important steps in the experiences and cultural contexts, perhaps, more evolution of popular music pedagogy. fully permeated the compositional process than when REFERENCES Abramo, J. M. (2009). Popular music and the classroom. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Columbia University, New York. Allsup, R. E. (2003). Mutual learning and democratic action in instrumental music education. Journal of Research in Music Education, 51(1), 24-37. 9  Music Education Research International, Volume 5, 2011 Atkinson, P., & Hammersley, M. (1998). Ethnography and participant observation. In N. K. Denzin, & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Strategies of Qualitative Inquiry (pp. 110-136). New York: Sage. Benenson, J. F., Del Bianco, R., Philippoussis, M., & Apostoleris, N. H. (1997). Girls’ expression of their own perspectives in the presence of varying numbers of boys. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 21(2), 389-405. Campbell, P. S. (1998). Songs in their heads: Music and its meaning in children’s lives. New York: Oxford University Press. Cook, S., & Tsou, J. (Eds.). (1994). Cecilia reclaimed: Feminist perspectives on gender and music. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. DeNora, T. (2000). Music in everyday life. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Dibben, N. (2002). Gender identity and music. In R. MacDonald, D. Hargreaves, & D. Miell (Eds.), Musical identities (pp. 117-133). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Fontana, A., & Frey, J. H. (2005). The interview: From Neutral Stance to political involvement. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), The Sage handbook of qualitative research, third edition (pp. 695-727). New York: Sage. Green, L. (2002). How popular musicians learn: A way ahead for music education. Burlington, VT: Ashgate. Green, L. (2008). Music, informal learning and the school: A new classroom pedagogy. Burlington, VT: Ashgate. Hickey, M. (1997). Computer as a tool in creative music. Research Studies in Music Education, 8, 56-70. Maccoby, E. E. (1998). The two sexes: Growing up apart, coming together. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. MacDonald, R. R., Hargreaves, D., & Miell, D. (Eds.) (2002). Musical identities. New York: Oxford University Press. Maxwell, J. A. (2005). Qualitative research design: An interactive approach. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. McClary, S. (1991). Feminine endings. Minneapolis: Minnesota University Press. Messner, M. (1997). Boyhood, organized sports, and the construction of masculinities. In E. Disch (ed.), Reconstructing gender (pp. 57-73). Mountain View, CA: Mayfield. Moisala, P., & Diamond, B. (Eds.) (2000). Music and gender. Chicago: University of Illinois Press. Pollack, W. (2000). Real boys: Rescuing ourselves from the myths of boyhood. New York: Owl Books. Richards, C. (1998). Teen spirits: Music and identity in media education. London: UCI Press. Rodriguez C. X. (Ed.). (2004). Bridging the gap: Popular music and music education. Reston, VA: MENC: the National Association for Music Education. Rycenga, J. (2006). Endless caresses: Queer exuberance in large-scale form in rock. In S. Whiteley, S., & J. Rycenga (Eds.), Queering the popular pitch (pp. 235-248). New York: Routledge. Webster P. R. (1990). Creative thinking in music. Music Educators Journal, 76(9), 22-28. Yin, R. K. (2003). Case study research: Design and methods, third edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. CHINESE ABSTRACT 中文摘要 高中生創作流行歌曲的性別差異 Joseph M. Abramo University of Connecticut—Storrs, U.S.A. 本文采用了質的研究方法來探究學生的性別對歌曲創作的影響 高中生們分組創作幷排練了歌曲，然後接 受了采訪，討論創作時的想法 本人分析了學生的作品 排練錄音和采訪以 現關於性別的主題 結果 現男孩和女孩所創作的歌曲有所不同，分別表現在歌詞 所用的曲式和音色 由於學生們不是生活在真空 裏,當他們模仿一些音樂風格來創作歌曲時，也會把形成這些音樂風格的社會因素，比如說性別,帶入到創 作中去 教師們在看這些音樂作品時，不能把作品只看作是音樂知識的産物，而應該看作是文化的音樂化 10  Music Education Research International, Volume 5, 2011 表達 老師們還應該讓學生們明 流行音樂是怎樣影響社會，反之又被社會所影響，并把這些觀念貫穿到 音樂研究與實踐中去       11