Time Matters: The Problem of Groove in Music Scholarship

6/9  1:00 ~ 3:00 p.m.

Presenters: Jose Vincente Neglia

Area of study: Popular music

Abstract: The term groove can be understood, roughly speaking, as a feeling for rhythm. In everyday parlance, one might describe the feel of a particular groove as, say, “swinging” or “relaxed” or “bouncy”. Likewise, one feels the groove when making music or dancing. A more precise definition of groove, however, can be elusive for the purposes of analysis. For example, should one understand groove as firstly defined by its musical properties? Or is it an aesthetic concept that is subjective and contingent? Likewise, is groove a cross-cultural analytic that applies to all musics, or is it an emic concept particular to certain genres and forms? The first part of my talk will provide an overview of the literature on groove, discussing key contributions from music theory, psychology, and ethnomusicology. In the second part, I argue for an approach to groove that emphasizes listening and bodily engagement over efforts to locate groove “in the music”, so to speak—that is, as musical style. To make my case, I draw on ethnographic research conducted on a series of instructional videos that teach aspects of groove, timing, and related concepts to musicians and dancers. What these videos show is that the analysis of musical style and form should be limited to explaining how stylistic features afford groove as a form of bodily knowledge, rather than as the locus of groove itself. 

José Vicente Neglia is a lecturer in the Department of Music at the University of Hong Kong. An ethnomusicologist by training, his current research concerns the politics of memory in popular music, for which he has conducted extensive research in Japan and North America on a genre of rock called garage rock. He is currently working on a project on reissue recordings as a distinct form of popular music media, which has received funding from the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong. 

To facilitate the smooth running of the event, participants are requested to enter the virtual meeting room(s) 10 minutes earlier, with the permission from the organizer. During the waiting period, please confirm your microphone and video camera are turned off.