The Practice of Popular Music

The Practice of Popular Music is a music theory and musicianship textbook devoted to explaining the organization of contemporary popular music styles such as pop, rock, R&B, rap, and country. Rooted in recent research showing that the structure of popular music differs from classical music in important ways, this textbook offers an approach to teaching music theory that is fully oriented around popular and commercial genres. Beginning with fundamentals and requiring no previous training in music theory or notation, this book eventually guides the reader through a range of advanced topics, including chromatic mixture, secondary chord function, complex time signatures, and phrase organization. Each chapter develops concepts in tandem with aural comprehension, and the included exercises balance written tasks with listening activities. A companion website provides links to playlists of the music discussed in the book. With an innovative approach designed to broaden the reach of music theory coursework to a wide range of students, including non-majors and those in modern music degree programs such as audio engineering, songwriting, and music business, this textbook enables readers to gain a deep understanding of music theory in the context of popular music.

Trevor de Clercq is a Professor in the Department of Recording Industry at Middle Tennessee State University.

1. Musical Domains 1.1 The Rhythm Domain 1.2 The Pitch Domain 1.3 Song Form 1.4 Other Domains 2. Major Frameworks 2.1 Major Scales 2.2 Small Intervals 2.3 Beat Divisions 2.4 Transitions in Form 2.5 Key Signatures 3. Essential Structures 3.1 Perfect Intervals 3.2 Syncopation 3.3 Triads 3.4 Harmonic Rhythm 3.5 Triads in a Key 4. Context Matters 4.1 Chord Progressions in Major Keys 4.2 Melodic Organization 4.3 Drum Feels in 4/4 4.4 Triple Divisions 5. Alternative Frameworks 5.1 Compound Meter 5.2 Shuffle and Swing 5.3 Relative Minor Keys 5.4 Chord Progressions in Minor Keys 6. Relevant Connections 6.1 Supertonic and Mediant 6.2 Triple Meters 6.3 Melodic Embellishments 7. Expanded Elements 7.1 Sixteenth Notes 7.2 Larger Intervals 7.3 Seventh Chords 8. Core Endings 8.1 Formal Suffixes 8.2 Swung Sixteenth Notes 8.3 Chord Inversion 9. New Perspectives 9.1 Parallel Minor Keys 9.2 Syncopated Sixteenth Notes 9.3 Phrase Organizations 10. Missing Pieces 10.1 Partial Bars and Hyperbars 10.2 Atonic Tonics 10.3 AABA form 11. Colorful Combinations 11.1 The Blues 11.2 Harmonic Mixture 11.3 Cross Rhythms 12. Additions and Deletions 12.1 Add and Sus Chords 12.2 Modes 12.3 Quintuple Meters 13. Level Explorations 13.1 Secondary Dominants 13.2 Half-time and Double-time Outside 4/4 13.3 Syncopated Sixteenth Notes in 6/8 14. Further Extensions 14.1 Harmonic-Bass Divorce 14.2 Extended Chords 14.3 Other Applied Chords 14.4 Septuple Meters 15. Some Substitutions 15.1 Inverted Secondary Dominants 15.2 Diminished Seventh Chords 15.3 Tritone Substitutions 16. Significant Shifts 16.1 Tonal Modulation Strategies 16.2 Metric Modulation