ABSTRACT
This chapter examines some specific ways in which features other than melody and harmony can be incorporated into the analysis of recorded popular music. The term spectro-morphology to explain the ways that electronic and electroacoustic music can suggest meaning through our perception of the type of energy expenditure over time that would create an acoustic sound with a similar frequency profile. Another crucial aspect that contributes to the meaning of the musical material, the detail of the narrative structure and to the clarity of the arrangement is the spatial staging. One of the strongest gestural shapes in a rock song of this kind is the heavy accentuation of beats two and four by the snare drum. This metaphorical relationship with quantity the number of things creating this noise. Finally it provides more meaningful set of criteria for analysis of musical interpretation than the traditional musicological approaches of melody and harmony.
