Vocal Polyphony in Contemporary Rock: Definition & Analysis

For extensive lists of examples, please visit the Cumulative Examples and Non-Cumulative Examples pages.

What is Vocal Polyphony?

Vocal polyphony refers to any example in a song where multiple vocalists or vocal lines appear simultaneously in a given song section. I won’t go into a history of polyphony in music here, but there are innumerable examples and forms of polyphony in many different genres of music. The examples discussed here are limited to those in contemporary rock, which to my knowledge have mostly remained unanalyzed and unclassified until now. This section of my website serves as a home for my definition, classification, and analysis of vocal polyphony in contemporary rock. 

Early Research

My first ideas for analyzing and classifying types of vocal polyphony in contemporary rock appeared in my master’s thesis, “Are You Listening?”: Vocal Polyphony in the Christian Rock Music of Emery. After publishing the thesis and then taking some time away from it, I returned with a new approach, which is what you will mainly see on this website. Although I encourage anyone who is interested to read my thesis, please keep in mind that my classification of vocal polyphony looks much different and is more thoroughly consistent now. 

There is one classification that appears in my thesis that does not appear on this website, which is alternating vocal polyphony. Techniques that I classified as alternating vocal polyphony were placed in contrast to simultaneous vocal polyphony, the former of which refers to examples where vocalists or vocal lines alternate or “take turns” in various patterns, and the latter of which refers to examples where the vocal lines appear at the same time. After gathering further examples and spending more time with analysis, I’ve come to my own conclusion that alternating polyphony as I defined it in my thesis does not appear quite as universally as simultaneous does. The alternating techniques that Emery uses in their music are different from those of Taking Back Sunday and others. Bands like these with multiple singers and/or vocal lines who feature these techniques use them in their own unique ways, whereas simultaneous vocal polyphony can be more understood and classified as common types or forms rather than simply techniques. Therefore, I have decided for now to place all analysis of alternating vocal polyphony on a sort of backburner, which I will return to if I find it necessary in future analysis. All examples of vocal polyphony on this website will not outright be referred to as simultaneous, but can be assumed to be. 

Why Analyze Vocal Polyphony?

Vocal polyphony in contemporary rock many times operates as a formally and texturally climactic technique. Similar to strong and weak cadences, examples with more or less cumulation or retrospectivity may play a greater or lesser role within the formal layout of the song. The highest points of climactic action created by cumulation and retrospectivity most commonly appear towards the end of the song. 

This climactic technique is especially characteristic of the genres pop punk and emo. Anyone familiar with these genres can probably name an example. (And if it’s one that I don’t have listed here, please let me know!) In fact, vocal polyphony, especially cumulative forms, are so characteristic of these genres that they now appear almost to the point of cliché. Comedian, songwriter, and producer Jarrod Alonge, famous for his apparently medical-career-ruining video “Every Pop Punk Vocalist,” has multiple parody bands that satirize common characteristics in the genres of pop punk and emo, including vocal polyphony. In the song “First World Tragedy” on Alonge’s 2015 album Beating a Dead Horse, fictitious pop punk band Sunrise Skater Kids lament a broken iPhone screen and “garbage” Warped Tour lineup, among other “tragedies” experienced by young American pop punk fans in the 2000s and 2010s. This song builds to a comical climax of cumulative vocal polyphony featuring four voices, the last of which repeats the lyrics “too many voices.” The song “Ohio Is for Emo Kids” from the 2017 album Awkward & Depressed by Alonge’s emo parody band Canadian Softball concludes with a vocal-polyphonic mashup of melodies by Taking Back Sunday and My Chemical Romance. 

Despite its frequent use to the point of cliché, vocal polyphony as a formally and texturally climactic compositional technique stands as a notable feature of contemporary rock music. This section of my website proposes a standardized analysis method for instances of vocal polyphony in contemporary rock, which considers whether the form of an example is cumulative or non-cumulative, whether the lyrics are complementary or contrasting, and levels of retrospectivity within the lyrics. 

Analysis

Analyzing vocal polyphony consists of three parts, the first of which concerns form, and the second and third of which concern lyrical content. The first part considers whether the example is cumulative or non-cumulative in formal nature. (This part of my analysis was highly influenced by Mark Spicer’s article “(Ac)cumulative Form in Pop Rock Music”). A cumulative example consists of the appearance of one vocal line, followed later in the example by a second or more vocal lines (1). A non-cumulative example consists of vocal lines that appear simultaneously throughout the example (2). Examples with only two vocal lines can be either cumulative or non-cumulative, but examples with three or more vocal lines may consist of both, such as where the example starts with two non-cumulative lines, but accumulates one or more lines later in the example. Cumulative examples are designated by the capital letter “C,” while non-cumulative examples are designated by capital “N-C.”

The second part of analysis considers whether the lyrics of each of the vocal lines are contrasting (presenting different lyrical ideas) (3) or if they are complementary (presenting lyrical ideas that relate to each other, are similar in content, or are the same) (4). Lyrical content that is contrasting is designated by “Ct,” while complementary lyrical content is designated by “Cp.” In the instance of a canon, each vocal line contains the same lyrics, and the form is cumulative in nature, making a canon cumulative and complementary, or [C, Cp].

The third part of analysis considers the retrospectivity of the lyrics, or whether a lyrical idea has been introduced previously in the song. Retrospectivity of a lyrical idea in a vocal line does not depend upon the lyrical idea of the other vocal line in the example, as analyzing the contrast or complementarity does. Rather, it examines what lyrical ideas have already been introduced to the listener, and what relation those have to what we hear in an example of vocal polyphony. Each vocal line in an example is designated by either “r” for retrospective, meaning the lyrical idea has already appeared somewhere earlier in the song (5), or “n-r” for non-retrospective, meaning the lyrical content has not yet been introduced and this is the first instance of it (6). If all vocal lines are non-retrospective, then no retrospective designations are given (1) (2) (3) (4). Canons are designated by a lowercase “c,” in place of an r or n-r (7). However, if the lyrical content of the canon is retrospective, this is designated by “c” with a subscript “r” (8). A retrospective voice with an asterisk (r*) designates partial retrospectivity, where the entire previously-heard vocal line may not appear completely as it did before, or perhaps one element is different (pitch, rhythm, etc.) than the first time it was heard (9). A canon with an asterisk (c*) designates a partial canon, where a canon cannot be considered exact, but for the sake of analysis, and in consideration of the intent of the example, is still considered to be a canon (10).

About the Lists of Examples

Examples on this website are organized by Cumulative and Non-Cumulative forms.

An example that has multiple time stamps listed next to one analysis bracket means that the example occurs multiple times at those time stamps. If a song has two lines of time stamps with their own analysis brackets, those line breaks represent two different examples of vocal polyphony. For example, the non-cumulative examples in Emery’s song “In Shallow Seas We Sail” from the 2009 album of the same name, the same example of [N-C, Cp] vocal polyphony occurs at both 0:24 and 1:14. An example of [N-C, Ct] vocal polyphony occurs at 2:33. There are some cases where both lines may have the same analysis bracket, but the line break means that these examples are different in content, despite their matching analysis bracket (see the cumulative examples in “Save Our Selves (The Warning)” by The Blackout on the album The Best In Town (2009)).