Statistical Analysis of Harmony and Melody in Rock Music

Abstract

We present a corpus of harmonic analyses and melodic transcriptions of rock songs. After explaining the creation and notation of the corpus, we present results of some explorations of the corpus data. We begin by considering the overall distribution of scale-degrees in rock. We then address the issue of key-finding: how the key of a rock song can be identified from harmonic and melodic information. Considering both the distribution of melodic scale-degrees and the distribution of chords (roots), as well as the metrical placement of chords, leads to good key-finding performance. Finally, we discuss how songs within the corpus might be categorized with regard to their pitch organization. Statistical categorization methods point to a clustering of songs that resembles the major/minor distinction in common-practice music, though with some important differences. © 2013 Taylor & Francis.