Cascade Songfest presents "It’s Been Said and Done," Lyric Clichés in Popular Song, a keynote address by Matt BaileyShea, Professor of Music Theory and Chair of the Department of Music at the University of Rochester.
Abstract
“You set me free.” “You are the light of my life.” “I’m so high I can touch the sky.” These are all familiar, common expressions in pop songs and have been for quite some time. Most people, I think, would agree that they qualify as clichés. Unlike most poets, pop-song lyricists often seem to have a fairly high tolerance for clichés. They seem to serve an important role.
What are we to make of this? This paper considers some basic questions about what a scholarship of clichés might look like. How do they work? How do we best define them? Do they necessarily have a negative effect on music? Can they be redeemed in some way? I begin by introducing some of these core questions and then discuss a number of examples from pop music of the past several decades.
Biographies
Matt BaileyShea
Matt BaileyShea is a Professor of Music Theory and Chair of the Arthur Satz Department of Music at the University of Rochester, where he also holds a secondary appointment at the Eastman School of Music. He received his Ph.D. in Music Theory from Yale University in 2003 with a dissertation on the music of Wagner. He has published on a variety of topics including form, gesture, agency, chromatic harmony, and recomposition. He recently published the book Lines and Lyrics: An Introduction to Poetry and Song with Yale University Press, which won the 2022 Wallace Berry Award from The Society for Music Theory, and he is currently working on a book called Troubled Sleep: The Dark Side of Lullabies in Rock, Broadway, and Beyond.
Festival Background
The second annual Cascade Song Festival, a weekend devoted to the study and performance of song, is a true synthesis of performance and scholarship organized by faculty from the University of Washington and University of Oregon.
Highlights include a recital and master class by the internationally acclaimed soprano Louise Toppin (University of Michigan), with pianist John O’Brien, and a keynote presentation by music theorist Matt BaileyShea (University of Rochester, Eastman School of Music).
The brainchild of musicologist Stephen Rumph (UW), music theorist Stephen Rodgers (U of O), and voice faculty Carrie Shaw (UW) and Camille Ortiz (U of O), the festival opens on Thursday, Jan. 15 at the UW Intellectual House with a Live Music Jukebox, and continues throughout the weekend with paper presentations, sessions, and performances.
View a full schedule of events and details of additional sessions
Festival Highlights
Thursday, Jan. 15: Festival Opening Event: Live Music Jukebox
Intellectual House 4:45 pm Free (RSVP required)*
*RSVP at cascadesongfestival@gmail.com
Friday Jan. 16: Master Class: Louise Toppin and John O’Brien
Brechemin Auditorium 4 pm FREE
Friday, Jan. 16: Keynote Address: Matthew BaileyShea
Brechemin Auditorium 7:30 pm. FREE
Saturday, Jan. 17: Recital: Louise Toppin and John O’Brien
Brechemin Auditorium 7:30 pm. FREE
*RSVP required for the Jan. 15 performance at the Intellectual House. RSVP at cascadesongfestival@gmail.com.