A very interesting aspect of postmodern music theory. This will help you with your next essay.
Media Theorist Jonathan Kramer says "the idea that postmodernism is less a surface style or historical period than an attitude. Kramer goes on to say 16 "characteristics of postmodern music, by which I mean music that is understood in a postmodern manner, or that calls forth postmodern listening strategies, or that provides postmodern listening experiences, or that exhibits postmodern compositional practices."
According to Kramer (Kramer 2002, 16–17), postmodern music":
1. is not simply a repudiation of modernism or its continuation, but has aspects of both a break and an extension
2. is, on some level and in some way, ironic
3. does not respect boundaries between sonorities and procedures of the past and of the present
4. challenges barriers between 'high' and 'low' styles
Kanye West's 'Diamonds From Sierra Leona' is a prime example of high style and low style. The high style, derived from Shirley Bassey's classic 'Diamonds are Forever' (the James Bond soundtrack) and the mix of Kanye West's rapping can be considered postmodernist in line with Kramer's theory. It also makes a political statement about the blood diamonds, in this case referrring to Sierra Leone in Africa, that have a negative effect on their production.
5. shows disdain for the often unquestioned value of structural unity
6. questions the mutual exclusivity of elitist and populist values
7. avoids totalizing forms (e.g., does not want entire pieces to be tonal or serial or cast in a prescribed formal mold)
Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody can be considered postmodern as it contains a ballad section, guitar solo, hard rock section and operatic passage. The song also contains no choruses which goes against the formal mould of a song.
8. considers music not as autonomous but as relevant to cultural, social, and political contexts
9. includes quotations of or references to music of many traditions and cultures The self-reflexive introduction of Lady Gaga's 'Bad Kids' featured on her album Born This Way is an explicit reference to Michael Jackson's 'They Don't Care About Us'. This combination of a hip hop rock and dance-pop, as well as intertextuality, can be considered postmodern.
MJ: "All I wanna say is that they don't really care about us. We don't care what people say we know the truth. All I wanna say is that they don't really care about us. Enough is enough of this garbage."
LG: "We don't care what people say we know the turth. Enough is enough of this horseshit. I am not a freak. I was born with my free gun. Don't tell me I'm less than my freedom"
10. considers technology not only as a way to preserve and transmit music but also as deeply implicated in the production and essence of music
11. embraces contradictionsThis example, an official remix of Lady Gaga's single 'LoveGame' featuring Marilyn Manson contradicts the exclusivity of rock music with pop.
12. distrusts binary oppositions
13. includes fragmentations and discontinuities
14. encompasses pluralism and eclecticism
15. presents multiple meanings and multiple temporalities
16. locates meaning and even structure in listeners, more than in scores, performances, or composers
Jonathan Donald Kramer (December 7, 1942, Hartford, Connecticut – June 3, 2004, New York City), was a U.S. composer and music theorist.
Active as a music theorist, Kramer published primarily on theories of musical time and postmodernism. At the time of his death he had just completed a book on postmodern music and a cello composition for the American Holocaust Museum.
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