Browsing by Subject "Music theory"

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Amelioration, attrition, and reflexivity : new narrative discursive strategies in Robert Schumann's Drei Fantasiestücke, op. 73
(2021-08-02) Mendes, Sarah; Wheeldon, Marianne
In this report, I expand Byron Almén’s narratological discursive strategies by adding three new strategies to clarify different actantial profiles in Robert Schumann’s Drei Fantasiestücke, op. 73. By drawing upon the works of Almén and Robert Hatten, I formulate the strategies of amelioration, attrition, and reflexive. Following methodological concerns, I explore various applications of discursive strategies in conjunction with these new strategies in each movement. In the first movement discursive strategies are employed in a tragic archetype, and thus outside the comedic archetype that Almén presents discursive strategies in. Amelioration, drawn from Hatten’s gestural work, is the discursive strategy I suggest for the first movement. The second movement explores attrition, a new strategy Almén posits in the comedic archetype but that he never analyzes in A Theory of Musical Narrative. Finally, I incorporate narrative phases, another strategy of Almén’s, with a reflexive discursive strategy to show the interaction between discursive strategies and other forms of analysis. These three strategies may be used to provide more nuanced narrative interpretations.
Between the ears : acoustiographic representations of character interiority
(2011-05) Newton, Alex Michael; Buhler, James, 1964-; Neumeyer, David
This essay aims to explore acoustiographies of the interior and interpret the cultural impressions that they perpetuate. While I do consider the conventional iconographies of headphones and full-body suits (e.g., spacesuits) that filmmakers employ as tools to focalize a character’s internal subjectivity, acoustiographies often supersede or occur in lieu of such visual symbols. While the acoustiography of “leakage” symbolizes the disparity between the self-perception of the self and the social perception of the self, that of “head sound” aims at placing the audience inside the head of a given character by positioning the point of audition as if it were emanating from the character’s head. Leakage is a diegetic sound that is somewhat obscured or filtered by some barrier blocking the sound’s full frequency emission, whereas sound effects or music seemingly sounding from inside a character’s head, as for example through headphones, represent head sound. These acoustiographies of leakage and head sound play a crucial role in the filmic expression of a character’s interiority, which they accomplish through their ability to physically represent interior space, but also figuratively represent a character’s subjectivity.
Beyond the leitmotif : musical narration in the post-classical film score
(2021-05-07) Rahn, Steven Carlton; Buhler, James, 1964-; Drott, Eric; Hatten, Robert; Lewis, Hannah; Neumeyer, David
Contemporary screen scoring is often described in terms of its emphasis on secondary compositional parameters over traditional thematic processes characteristic of the classical Hollywood era. Nicholas Reyland (2015) coins the terms “corporate classicism” and the “metaphysical style” to define two related trends in current scoring practices that he claims “[privilege] affect and style topical connotation over musical structures developing thematic or harmonic symbolism.” While Reyland acknowledges the broad appeal and accessibility of contemporary screen music, he downplays its potential to engage with longer-form expositions of narrative, asserting that scores instead rely on “affective short hands.” In this dissertation, I argue that recent scoring trends do not necessarily strip away the extra-semiotic dimension of the classical style, but may rather symbolically interact with film narratives through musical processes that deviate from leitmotivic discourse. By applying neo-Riemannian theory and other contemporary analytical approaches to recent film scores that privilege secondary compositional parameters, I highlight symbolic networks in which musical relationships reveal more than local audiovisual parallels, and reflect deeper narrative and character relationships. Stylistic trends in contemporary scoring are linked to broader developments in screen aesthetics that scholars have identified as characteristic features of post-classical cinema. Eleftheria Thanouli (2009) argues that post-classical filmmaking techniques do not work against the communicativeness of the narration and still create a widely accessible viewing experience even as they introduce new aesthetic norms and establish a new narrative paradigm. I suggest that contemporary scoring trends represent a parallel aesthetic development in which the new compositional paradigm does not necessarily reduce the “communicativeness” of the screen music, its capacity to function beyond an affective level, or its ability to operate in an explicitly representational manner. Overall, I aim to demonstrate how musical processes illuminated through contemporary analytical approaches can symbolically engage with aspects of film narrative that are uniquely post-classical.
Country-pop Now : an analysis of voice and timbre in the music of Shania Twain
(2020-06-29) Dudley, Dalton Chandler; Burns, Chelsea
Much discussion in country music scholarship today addresses concerns of authenticity in a musical genre whose commercial development throughout the twentieth century was characterized by stylistic hybridization. Bill Malone and Jocelyn R. Neal point to particular worries that arose starting in the 1950s when country musicians began blending what listeners at the time considered a traditional country sound with stylings of popular music being played on the radio. Joli Jenson likewise details this blending in her work on the subject, which became known as the “Nashville Sound” of the 1950s and 60s. In the ensuing decades, country musicians continued to incorporate instrumentation and production techniques from different styles which further developed sub-genres of country music. Such techniques—while well-documented in research on pop and rock music—remain under- studied in country music research. In this paper I focus on the sub-genre of country-pop and its contextualization within the larger genre of country music following Eric Drott’s conceptualization of genre and its inherent multiplicities. Specifically, I look at the musical career of Canadian singer/songwriter Shania Twain, and the impact of her productional choices on country-pop music from the 1990s onward. By focusing in on aspects of vocal timbre and studio production specifically, this research works to further analytical discussion on the voice by pinpointing intersections of studies in music theory, musicology, gender, feminism, and technology. My analysis of the audible shift in Twain’s vocal production from two singles— “Swingin’ With My Eyes Closed,” and “Life’s About to Get Good,”—off of her 2017 album Now points at ways Twain and her co-producers manipulate and interact with her sound that align with Asaf Peres’s description of sonic density in twenty-first century pop music. These choices act concurrently with Twain’s gender presentation and postfeminine stance, marketing her within the ever-evolving sub-genre of country music that is country-pop.
Extreme narration in Mahler’s late adagios
(2016-05) Hogrefe, Eric Peter; Almén, Byron, 1968-; Hatten, Robert S; Buhler, Jim; Tusa, Michael; Hake, Sabine
The symphonies of Gustav Mahler continually inspire analyses that invoke terms and concepts from narrative theory. Yet little work has been done on the particularities of Mahler’s narrative idiom. Instead, analysts tend to use narrative theory for interpretation of individual movements, or to situate Mahler’s works within a particular historical context. Seth Monahan’s (2015) recent work on narrative and sonata form in Mahler’s earlier symphonies represents one counterexample, but only addresses a small portion of Mahler’s entire output. Mahler’s Adagio movements remain a particularly noticeable gap in the literature. This dissertation offers an examination of Mahler’s Adagio narratives, with particular emphasis on his late stylistic period (1908-1911). As Mahler’s music moved from a reliance on codified formal schemes towards a more discursive style in his late music, the Adagio took on greater importance within his symphonies. But these less clearly defined movements challenge traditional notions of narrative. I view Mahler’s late Adagios through the lens of unnatural narratology, a strand of literary theory that focuses on strange or aberrant texts, and articulates narrative strategies that go beyond realist or mimetic norms. Chapter 1 positions musical narrative as an intersubjective phenomenon through three theses and a brief analysis of Mahler’s song “Der Einsame im Herbst.” Chapter 2 articulates a theory of extreme narration in music by adapting ideas from unnatural narratology to the analysis of music. Chapter 3 outlines prototypical narrative strategies in what Margaret Notley (1999, 2007) has called the Adagio genre—as Mahler inherited it. The final two chapters each present an analytical essay on one of Mahler’s late Adagios. Chapter 4 analyzes the finale of Mahler’s Ninth Symphony as an example of what Byron Almén and Robert Hatten call tropological narrative (2013). Finally, Chapter 5 analyzes the first movement of Mahler’s Tenth Symphony as an example of what narratologist Brian Richardson calls denarration (2006).
Framing musical schemas and topics : genre and style in American emo
(2024-05) Howie, Tyler M.; Drott, Eric, 1972-; Jessica A. Schwartz; Chelsea Burns; Robert S. Hatten; Marianne Wheeldon
This dissertation examines the role of genre in the creation of musical meaning in popular music, drawing from schema theory, topic theory, and genre theory. Using emo as a case study, it focuses on how the various aspects of genres, both those conventionally considered musical and those not considered so, affect listeners’ conceptions of categories. It highlights how different conceptions of genres can affect listeners’ perceptions of musical features, and how different perceptions can affect listeners’ interpretations of those features’ meanings. It claims that listeners mobilize multiple genres to make sense of not only single songs but also other genres. Chapter 1 focuses on the theoretical frameworks of the dissertation. It lays out a conception of genre and examines the ways in which musical schemas and topics are mediated by genre. Chapter 2 provides context for the music analyzed in later chapters. It tells a history of emo music from the genre’s emergence in the 1980s through its various “waves,” looking at not just moments of relative stabilization but also periods of discursive struggle in the genre’s history, focusing on the role of “Midwest” emo before, during, and after the so-called emo “revival.” Chapter 3 uses schema theory to analyze a distinct feature of Midwest emo that is prominent in the emo revival—a type of riff described as “twinkling.” Chapter 4 then looks at the twinkle schema’s role in the genres of math rock (where it remains a schema) and pop punk (where it becomes a topic). The discussion is then extended through an analysis of emo songs with metal topics in music of Origami Angel. This leads to a final section which looks at the relative proximity of categories in genre space. The first chapter examines what genre theory can tell us about the relationships between schemas and topics, and this final section of the last chapter asks what schemas and topics have to say about the relationships between genres. In doing so, this dissertation emphasizes genre’s role in music analysis at the same time as it explores how music theory can inform understandings of genre theory.
Haydn’s aesthetics of sensibility : interpretations of sentimental figures, topics, mode, and affect in the string quartet slow movements
(2018-06-18) Boisjoli, Eloise Anne; Hatten, Robert S.; Hunter, Mary; Olivieri, Guido; Turci-Escobar, John; Wheeldon, Marianne
Although Haydn’s string quartet slow movements rarely resemble the intensely personal and often dysphoric empfindsamer Stil, they nevertheless engage with the eighteenth-century Culture of Sensibility. In these movements, Haydn works to “touch the heart” of his listener, an important aesthetic goal of the Culture of Sensibility, by imitating the internal sensuous experience of sentiments in all their affective fields. He also frequently imports eighteenth-century opera styles that depict sentimental heroines. Furthermore, Haydn imitates the larger premises of the sentimental mode by using a rhetoric of feeling and an affect of refined sentiment. Haydn’s Aesthetics of Sensibility: Interpretations of Sentimental Figures, Topics, Mode, and Affect turns much needed attention to Haydn’s string quartet slow movements, the movement within a quartet most associated with touching the heart—in Op. 20 through Op. 77. This dissertation draws upon eighteenth-century treatises and sentimental novels, as well as studies of the Culture of Sensibility, to explore what it means to create and sustain a sentiment in eighteenth-century instrumental music. I begin with the eighteenth-century idea of imitation of sentiments and the idea of the Sentimental Listener (Chapter 1). I bring two topics of sensibility to the topical universe (Chapter 2), as well as several sentimental figures and devices. I further offer expressive strategies of the sentimental mode (Chapter 3) and the affect of refined sentiment (Chapter 4), suggesting updates to the theory of musical topics.
Interpreting the mourning process through Hindemith's Trauermusik
(2011-05) Schumann, Scott Charles; Neumeyer, David; Buhler, James
Paul Hindemith traveled to London in 1936 intending to give the British premiere of his concerto for viola and chamber orchestra titled Der Schwanendreher on 22 January. The premiere--and much else--was put into question a few minutes before midnight on 20 January 1936, however, when King George V passed away. The next day, Hindemith worked from 11:00 A.M. - 5:00 P.M. composing Trauermusik (Music of Mourning) for solo viola and string orchestra as a tribute to the recently deceased King of England. Thus, the circumstances surrounding the compositional origin of this piece invite a discussion of mourning in both a historical and musical context. In this paper, I will touch on issues such as how mourning defines us as humans and how emotions associated with mourning can be represented in music and experienced by the listener. I will illustrate how mourning helps us to understand the meaning of Trauermusik when it was written and first performed in 1936, following the death of King George V. To do this I will use Maurice Blanchot's ideas from his La Communauté inavouable, specifically his discussion of how death and mourning help to both define humans and bring them together into a community. Having established this critical framework, I will then provide a hermeneutic reading of Trauermusik, using analytical insights based on Hindemith's use of the 0167 pitch collection as my evidence. At the heart of my thesis is the belief that combining both historical insights and detailed analytical knowledge of Trauermusik will heighten the listener's experience of the piece to a greater extent than either perspective could on its own.
Making the past present : topics in Stravinsky's neoclassical works
(2015-05) Schumann, Scott Charles; Wheeldon, Marianne; Hatten, Robert S.; Almén, Byron; Buhler, James; Higgins, Kathleen M.
Igor Stravinsky’s neoclassicism has frequently been discussed in terms of its relationship to earlier musical styles. While a number of scholars, employing a wide variety of analytical approaches, have examined this aspect of Stravinsky’s neoclassical music, only a few scholars have used topic theory to explore the composer’s link with music of the past. Seeking to fill this gap in the literature, this dissertation uses topic theory as its primary analytical approach, examining how Stravinsky’s connections to the past can offer multiple ways of interpreting potential stylistic and expressive meanings in his neoclassical works. Chapter 2 analyzes Stravinsky’s topics and tropes utilizing Robert S. Hatten’s four tropological axes: compatibility, dominance, creativity, and productivity. Each axis examines related but separate aspects of each trope, analyzing criteria related to the musical and stylistic associations of a trope’s component topics along local and global scales. Studying the different ways in which each of these four axes interact in Stravinsky’s tropes provides a means to arrive at more nuanced musical and stylistic interpretations of these topical interactions. Chapter 3 develops my concept of “distorted topics.” Building on Pieter C. van den Toorn’s discussions of “displacement” in Stravinsky’s music, this chapter examines the composer’s rhythmic and metric manipulations of certain dance topics. Using Wye Jamison Allanbrook’s discussions of rhythm and meter pertaining to dance topics, this chapter examines these important rhythmic and metric characteristics of Stravinsky’s neoclassical works, and explores ways in which these distortions can be interpreted musically and expressively. Chapter 4 analyzes how Stravinsky used topics in four traditional formal models throughout his neoclassical period: ternary form, theme and variations form, sonata form, and cyclic form. First, the form itself is examined in order to determine how Stravinsky both adheres to and subverts the traditional model. Second, I examine the ways in which topics and tropes provide a sense of coherence to Stravinsky’s appropriation of these forms. Using analytical techniques developed in chapters 2 and 3, chapter 4 examines the formal, stylistic, and expressive ways in which topics and tropes contribute to Stravinsky’s manipulations of conventional formal structures.
Motivations for interpretation in recorded performances of Villa-Lobos’s Five preludes for solo guitar
(2019-05) Raabe, Joan Esther; Hatten, Robert S.; Wheeldon, Marianne
This study will focus on various motivations for wide-ranging interpretations by prominent classical guitarists of Villa-Lobos’s Five Preludes for solo guitar. The recorded performances I examine are by well-known classical guitarists, chosen because they best represent a wide range of possible performance interpretations, even when these may go beyond literal adherence to the notated score. I propose expressive motivations for their interpretations, utilizing theories of musical energy (Larson), agential energies (Hatten), virtual agency (Hatten) and musical narrative (Almén)
Popular music and audiovisual editing in contemporary action films
(2018-05) Watts, Catrin Angharad; Buhler, James, 1964-; Drott, Eric; Turci-Escobar, John; Lewis, Hannah; Stilwell, Robynn
Current approaches to pre-existing music in film focus on the ability of the lyrics or intertextuality to support the narrative and character development of a film, often at the expense of other musical characteristics (Inglis 2003, Lannin and Caley 2005, Powrie and Stilwell 2006, Reay 2004, Wojcik and Knight 2001). While this approach accounts reasonably well for popular music in classical Hollywood cinema, it is considerably less successful in explaining the role of popular music that is deployed similarly to composed scores, such as in contemporary action film. In this dissertation, I explore how the musical characteristics of popular music, such as hooks, timbre, rhythm, and texture, are connected to the audiovisual editing and kinetic action of action film. In Shaun of the Dead (2004), for instance, the protagonists pummel the zombie pub landlord in time with Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now.” An analysis of the lyrics would highlight the song’s comedic function, but this analysis would not account for how music determines the rhythms of visual editing or the choreography of kinetic action. My analyses of introductions, trailers, and action sequences exemplify these important connections between popular music characteristics, kinetic action, and audiovisual editing in order to propose a new way of understanding how popular music functions in contemporary action films.
A semiotic approach to musical metaphor : theory and methodology
(2010-12) Gerg, Ian Wyatt; Almén, Byron, 1968-; Buhler, James
The idea that music acts in part as a vehicle for meaning is a truism in both popular reception and music scholarship. The language used to speak and to write about music is replete with words that describe it metaphorically. Melodies descend; rhythms speed up; timbre is smooth. Certainly, we use these terms for communicative facility, yet by applying this language to music, we create metaphors that, according to Ludwig Wittgenstein, act as frames that direct interpretation. In the paper, I put forth a theory that views metaphor as the process of semantic transfer or substitution in which a non-musical concept stands in for a musical feature, effectively enabling us to hear music as more than simply sound. The use of certain metaphors receives inspiration from previously heard music, programs, a perceived similarity with non-musical phenomena, or a combination of these. The methodology that I propose coordinates these metaphors—places them within a single frame—and enables them to interact with one another and to create a more palpable musical experience for the listener. I use Chopin's E minor and A major preludes from Op. 28 as the primary models for expounding this hermeneutic.
Semiotics of music, semiotics of sound, and film : toward a theory of acousticons
(2015-08) Newton, Alex Michael; Buhler, James, 1964-; Neumeyer, David; Hatten, Robert; Drott, Eric; Staiger, Janet
Topic theory, the study of conventional musical figures, has emerged as a significant method of analysis for music scholars in the last thirty years. Much current research critically interprets and contextualizes topics from a variety of musical eras and styles, including film music. However, studying film presents music scholars with a new set of issues since the filmic medium not only includes visual signs in the form of the image track, but also another category of sonic signs in the form of sound design. In film sound tracks, musical signs and sonic signs frequently butt up against one another and even pass into one another’s domain. My dissertation seeks to bridge the current gap between music figures and sound figures by arguing that musical figures are best considered as a special case of general sound figures that I call acousticons. Acousticons are conventionalized figures of music or sound (e.g. reverb, fidelity) and they exist on a continuum defined by the poles of purely musical codes on the one hand and purely sonic codes on the other. Chapter 1 presents a general model of the acousticon using Peirce’s modes of the sign. It interrogates iconic models presented in media studies and iconography as possible corollaries to the sound track. Chapter 2 and 3 present case studies of acousticons. Chapter 2 gives a case study of acousticons of the subjective interior in the form of the lowered submediant and subjective, point-of-audition sound. Chapter 3 considers how films deploy reverberation and low fidelity recordings acousticonically to bring about different types of nostalgia. Chapter 4 considers the potential for acousticons outside of the sound track medium. It looks at how acousticons might work in audio branding. Specifically, it looks at the construction of sonic logos, product sound, and the use of popular music in advertising and product design.
Structuring chorus-soloist relationships through texture and timbre in two recent operas : p r i s m, by Ellen Reid, and Angel's Bone, by Du Yun
(2021-12-03) Gollmar, Grace; Hatten, Robert S.; Drott, Eric, 1972-
This paper examines the role of musical texture and vocal timbre in structuring the narratives of two recent American operas that have won the Pulitzer Prize: Ellen Reid and Roxie Perkins’s p r i s m (2018) and Du Yun and Royce Vavrek’s Angel’s Bone (2015). I approach these operas with a focus on how the timbral and textural relationships between the opera chorus and the soloist characters are used as an expressive tool. In doing so, I propose an analytical framework specific to works of music theatre, in which choral texture and timbre may stage or reinforce diegetic interaction between chorus and soloists, refract the emotional expression of a soloist through the multiplicity of the choral voice, and/or direct the audience’s attention toward or against a soloist in a critical way. These functions correspond with the opera chorus’s ability to operate at varying levels of non-diegetic agency in relation to the staged action. Acknowledging the differing narrative framing of these two operas— one of which immerses the viewer in the psychological experience of a survivor of sexual assault, and the other of which primarily follows a villain-protagonist who orchestrates and commits sexual assault— I propose that these textural and timbral functions are used in differing combinations in each work to reinforce the expressive and ethical trajectories of Perkins’s and Vavrek’s libretti.
...That the children may learn
(2012-05) Capps, Justin Taylor; Welcher, Dan; Pinkston, Russell; Drott, Eric; Tusa, Michael; O'Hare, Tom
...That the Children May Learn is a 28-minute musical parable about the process by which children are indoctrinated into cultures of war through play, parental influence, and propaganda. Specifically, the composition focuses upon the universality of these overarching sociopolitical structures. It is the composer’s personal response to Igor Stravinsky’s L’histoire du soldat. Material is often drawn from or related to external sources, particularly national anthems and the so-called “Ur-song,” familiar to individuals of many nations (sol-sol-mi-la-sol-mi). Texts are original or comprise fragments from letters and diaries of soldiers and their families during wartime separation. Performance of the work may be accompanied by an optional multimedia projection, and may be conducted outside of the normal concert setting in an effort to motivate the closer examination by individuals from a broad variety of backgrounds of the issues raised in the piece. The analytical paper discusses the raison d'être for the composition as well as its micro- and macroorganization, and the variety of methods used to reinforce its strength as an agent of communication.
The post-feminist myth : scores for serialized dramas (1995–2010)
(2022-05-04) Shinsky, Julissa; Buhler, James, 1964-; Wheeldon, Marianne; Drott, Eric; Lewis, Hannah; Halfyard, Janet K
My project, an investigation of music for serialized dramatic television shows from the years 1995–2010, examines a media response to an evident cultural shift on the definition and social expectations of women, especially in how this is enacted through the score. This era was part of a defining moment for television as an entertainment medium and as a mode of storytelling. Robert Thompson identifies this shift in television narratives and coins the term quality TV. For Thompson, quality TV is not regular TV and instead opts for artistry over formulaic stories. This emphasis on innovation also affected the ways women were portrayed on screen. Shows such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1998-2003), Xena: Warrior Princess (1995-2001), and Gilmore Girls (2000-2007), updated and transformed inherited female character representations on screen, which reflect not only changes in TV, but in the cultural feminist narrative. This work is especially concerned with the post-feminist era and the simultaneous, though contradictory truths of quantifiable improvements for women which are undermined by restrictions of feminine behavior. My dissertation addresses this in part by laying out a new typology of female characters which offers alternative ways of thinking about goals, agency, and subjectivity of female characters. In particular, I note how music depicts shifts in the narrative priorities for the new iterations of female characters, helps to define the new modes of quality TV storytelling, and echoes Angela McRobbie’s observations of “double entanglement” in supposed post-feminism during this era. My analysis shows that the music enacts such sociological dichotomies and simultaneous truths of post-feminism. While historically a handful of important shows like I Love Lucy (1951-1957), The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970-1977), Cagney & Lacey (1981-1988), and Murphy Brown (1988-1998) featured independent female characters, a huge influx of female-centered storylines and hour-long primetime dramas began in the mid-1990s. Of the new series premiered in 1995 with female protagonists, most featured new tropes and storylines that emphasized success attained in the workplace and through personal fulfillment rather than just through romantic attachment or building a family. Additionally, previous representations were limited to only a single positive, or masculinized, trait, such as “strong” or “independent.” Complex representation in the mid-late 1990s allows for far more intricate character constructs, especially for contradictions without fear of a double standard being enforced through punishment. Music contributes greatly to endowing these new characters with a sense of extended subjectivity, and my work uses close analysis of this music to identify aural signifiers that mark the new goals, agency, and sense of self that distinguishes these characters from previous female characters on television. Considering female characters in film and television in terms of their role as love object or object of desire and the male gaze has been a useful analytical model for describing the function of women in the narrative. The music for women as the love object has been explored in terms of instrumentation, orchestration, thematic continuity, and clichéd restrictions meant to alert the listener to the favorable romantic choice , despite offering the vast majority of the agency to the male lead. These scoring practices acted as restrictive rules that dictated the ways in which women could be represented through music from Classic Hollywood through the Golden Age of Television. Quality TV embraced post-feminism by breaking these so-called rules and expanding female character representation even while contributing to the double entanglement by perpetuating gender roles or gender bending pre-existing stereotypes. This is partly due to the music accompanying these women which helps to reinforce gender constructs. The serialized dramatic television series that appeared from 1995–2010 were part of an important cultural shift in television for the United States that created new roles for female characters. This dissertation focuses on the musical scores to these shows, both original compositions and popular music, and examines how this music articulated a new level of subjectivity for these female characters, shaping the representation in television for this era. The central goal of this dissertation is to tease out the ways music influenced the female construction in these shows while working to situate them in a post-feminist cultural narrative. The music for these shows, which indicates a new increased subjectivity in comparison to previous female representation, suggests far more complex treatment of character than the existing critical literature allows. Additionally, the use of historical contextual framing helps to draw conclusions about the stakes of women’s politics during this decade. My dissertation not only opens a new field of analysis for music and media scholars, specifically the relatively underrepresented music and television, but it also allows for an increased discourse about the influence of music in complex narratives for media scholars.