KM204: Semester I [2017] HUMOR IN CONTEMPORARY MUSIC

Topic I: [The Function of humor, The Structure of the Joke [psychological /

linguistic theories of humor and the semantics of humor]

Topic II: Types of humor

Topic III: Humor as compositional technique

Topic IV: Musical Examples

Week 1: Intro to the class; The purposes / functions of Humor

Discussion Questions: What is humor? Is there a difference between laughter and

humor? Why are we funny? What does humor do for us? How does it arise from
human experience? What about in music?

Reading[s]:
 Yevgeny Yevtushenko’s poem, “Humor”
 Snow, Shane. “A Quest to Understand What Makes Things Funny,” The New
Yorker: 1st April, 2014.
 Hurley, Matthew; Daniel Dennett, Reginald Adams. Inside Jokes: Using
Humor to Reverse Engineer the Mind (Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press,
2011), Ch. 4 “A Brief History of Humor Theories,” pp. 37-55

Score[s]:
 Haydn SQ #30 “The Joke”
o Dr. Evil Laughing Scene
o Family Guy Chicken Fight
o Other similar examples?
 Mozart: “Ein Musikalisher Spaß” “Lech mich im Arsch”
o Karaoke scene from My Best Friend’s Wedding
 Beethoven “Lob auf den Dickens”
 Rossini: “Duetto Buffo di due gatti”
 “Flofojen”

Workshop task: Find examples of humorous musical things.

Week 2: The structure of the joke I [Release / Relief Theories]

Discussion Questions: Does the fact that we laugh in non-comedic situations affirm
R/R theories of humor? Can we create a dynamic ~formula that explains how
comedic relief works? How can this be mapped onto musical structures? Can you
think of examples of moments of comic relief in musical works? How does this relate
to “black humor” or “

Reading[s]:
 Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on “Humor”
o https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/humor/
 “Essay on the Freedom and Wit of Humor” [Lord of Shaftesbury]

Score[s]:
 Charles Ives: “Nov. 2, 1920” from 114 Songs
 Frank Zappa: Greggary Peccary

Workshop task:

Week 3 The Structure of the joke II [Superiority / Aggression Theories]

Reading[s]:
 Plato. Philebus: pp. ***
 Aristotle. The Poetics: pp. ***
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcHnL7aS64Y

Score[s]:
 Florence Foster Jenkins “Queen of the Night Aria”
 John Cage: Performance of Water Walk on “Ive Got a Secret”
 James Bunch: “Medium Complexity;” “Minimalism,” “Post-Minimalism,” “Holy
Minimalism!;” “The Undecided Voter,” “Barbie Opera,” “$4.33”; “Memory
obliterates time” from Short Stories

Workshop task: “Fanfares for A**holes”

Week 4 The Structure of the Joke III [Incongruity Theories]

Reading[s]:
 Palmer, Jerry. Taking Humor Seriously (London: Routledge, 1994): pp. 93 –
119

Score[s]:
 John Zorn: Forbidden Fruit
 Frank Zappa: Gregory Peccary
 Luciano Berio: Sinfonia, III
  Morgan Powell: Texas, O Texas
 György Ligeti: Avventures / Nouvelle Avventures

Workshop task:

Week 5 The Structure of the Joke IV [Linguistic Theories]

Reading[s]:
 Ritchie, Graeme. The Linguistic Analysis of Jokes (London: Routledge Press,
2004).
o Ch. 3 “Linguistic Preliminaries” [pp. 28 – 45]

Score[s]:

Workshop task:

Week 6 Kinds of Humor [Slapstick]

Reading[s]:

Score[s]:
 James Bunch: Short Stories “Being Obnoxiously Funny,” “Greedy Women
Warring”


Workshop task:

Week 7 Kinds of Humor [Satire / Critique]

Reading[s]:
 Pope, Alexander. Peri Bathos or “The Art of Sinking in Poetry”

Score[s]:
 Applebaum: Pre-Compositional
 Sal Martirano: Ls G A

Workshop task:

Week 8 Kinds of Humor [Scatological]

Reading[s]:

Score[s]:
 Moxart: “Lech mich im Arsch”
 

Workshop task:

Week 9 Kinds of Humor [Wit / Cheerfulness]

Reading[s]:

Score[s]:

Workshop task:

Week 10 Kinds of Humor [Camp]

Reading[s]:
 Sontag, Susan. “Notes on Camp”

Score[s]:
 Alexander Desplat: Score for Moonrise Kingdom

Workshop task:

FILM VIEWING: Robert Ashley’s TV Opera Perfect Lives

Week 11 Kinds of Humor [Situational comedy / Theater]

Reading[s]:

Score[s]:

Workshop task:

Week 12 Kinds of Humor [Parody / purposeful badness]

Reading[s]:
 Museum of Bad Art Online


Score[s]:
 A. R. Rahman “Petta Rap”
 Lou Reed “ Metal Machine Music”
 The Room

Workshop task:
Week 13 Kinds of Humor [Games / divertissement]

Reading[s]:

Score[s]:

Workshop task:

Week 14 Kinds of Humor [Internet humor / memes]

Reading[s]:

Score[s]:

Workshop task:

Humor Media [delivery vehicles]

Jokes
 One-liners
 Short story jokes
Memes
Cartoons
Poems / Limericks
Puns
Skits / Sketches
Songs
Parodies
Quodlibet
Scherzo

Purposes of humor / Laughter

Relief
Affirming social norms
Disaffirming social norms
Light-heartedness
Binding people
Alienating / Casting someone out…
Critique [social / political]

Techniques

Estrangement
Reversal of situation
Parody
Exaggeration of a salient attribute
Reduction / deflation
Surprise [the frustration of expectation]
Reinterpretation
Sudden revelation of a second conflicting meaning
Pun / wordplay
Logical incompatibility
Nonsense
Call back
Reference [obscure?]
Dancing around offense / identity humor

Comedians
 Louis CK
 Will Weldon
 Dave Chappelle
 David Cross
 Bill Maher
 Andrew Dice Clay
 Larry the Cable Guy
 Larry Miller

Music that is funny because of the words / title

Music whose humor is enacted in the material itself

What makes a joke fail?

 Performance / delivery errors
 Construction errors
 Special problems
o Lost in translation

Texts:

Peri Bathous [Alexander Pope]

Taking Humor Seriously [Jerry Palmer]
The linguistic Analysis of Jokes [Graeme Ritchie]
Notes on Camp [Susan Sontag]
Semantic Mechanisms of Humor [Victor Raskin]

Examples in musical literature:

Aperghis
 Récitations

Applebaum, Mark
 Private and Consensual Activity I-IV
 Pre-composition
 Skumfiduser!

Ayres, Richard
 In the Alps
 Noncerto
 No 46 [23 Thoughts about Robert Walser]
Ashley, Robert
 Perfect Lives

Bach
 Goldberg Variations, Var. 30 “Quodlibet”

Beethoven’s Canons
 An Malzel
 Schupanzig ist ein Lump
 Elegy on the death of a poodle [?]

Berio
 Sequenza III for solo female vocalist
 Sequenza III for solo trombone
 Sinfonia, 3rd mvnt.
 Violin duos, #17 “Leonardo”

Bunch, James
 Crisis Music
 Drag
 Joke pieces
 Short stories

Cage
 Aria

Calianno, Vin
 Sororitorio

Chin, Unsuk
 Akrostichon-Wortspiele

Feldman
 The Viola in My Life
 I Met Heine on the Rue Fürstemburg

Haydn
 “The Joke Quartet” [Op. 33, #2]
 “How Do You Do?” Quartet

Ives
 “Nov. 2, 1920” from 114 Songs
 “Memories” from 114 Songs

Johnson, Tom
  “Failing” for double bass

Kurtag
 “Wenn er mich immer frägt” [#7] from Kafka Fragments
 “Sonntag, den 19 Juli, 1910” [#11] from Kafka Fragments

Ligeti:
 Nonsense Madrigals
 Avventures / Nouvelle Avventures
 Mysteries of the Macabre

Mahler
 Symphony #9, “Landler” and “Rondeau Burlesque”

Martirano, Salvatore:
 Ls G A

Mozart
 Ein Musikalische Spaß
 “Leck mich im Arsch”

Powell, Morgan:
 Texas O Texas

Satie
 3 Pieces in the form of a pear
 Vexations

Sciarrino:
 Storie di altre storie, II

Slonimsky, Nicholas
 51 Miniatures for piano

Strauss, Richard
 Don Quixote
o Sheep scene…

Tenney, James
 Having Never Written a Note for Percussion

Zappa, Frank
 Gregory Peccary

Performers:
  Florence Foster Jenkins
 Victor Borge
 Barbara Hannigan’s performance of Mysteries of the Macabre

Online resources:

http://www.wikihow.com/Tell-a-Joke

http://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Good-Joke

http://www.wikihow.com/Write-Punchlines

http://westsidetoastmasters.com/article_reference/how_to_tell_jokes.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufdvYrTeTuU

Article on Jennifer Walsch:

https://web.archive.org/web/20120318202821/http://journalofmusic.com/focus
/dont-do-permission-isnt

Museum of Bad Art Online:

http://www.museumofbadart.org/

Wiki article on Ceclia Jiminex’s “Ecce Homo” restoration:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecce_Homo_(Mart%C3%ADnez_and_Gim%C3%A9ne
z,_Borja)

Essay on Lou Reed’s Metal Music Machine album:

http://web.archive.org/web/20150423024452/http://www.dancingaboutarc.com
/essays/e050101.html

Humor in contemporary visual art:

http://www.artnews.com/2004/09/01/whats-so-funny-about-contemporary-art/