Dan’s guest talk explores “melodic math”, a songwriting device attributed to a host of Swedish songwriters in their construction of melody resulting in catchy, highly commercial popular music. The term itself lacks a precise definition but is widely used in the literature (Seabrook, 2015; Johansson, 2020) and the music industry as a way of dissecting the content of the lead vocal melody. As well as seeking to critique the process of songwriting using this device, this talk will seek to uncover a criteria for the melodic math through the systemic review of literature and song content.
Daniel Green is Teaching Fellow in Popular Music Studies at ICMP, London, having previously taught at Leeds Conservatoire. He is also an instrumentalist and songwriter and is currently undertaking doctoral studies at the University of York St John under the supervision of Dr Mark Marrington, exploring the history of the UK singles chart and its influence on popular taste.
Dan’s artist project, under the pseudonym Victor RPA, saw the multimedia album Big Sounds from Small People released to critical acclaim in 2015. He is currently co-editing an authorised biography on recording engineer Larry Levine.
