Research Symposium

BIO

Bex Pennell is a senior graduating with a B.A. in General Music and a Certificate of Specialized Study in Music Entrepreneurship. An avid vocalist since childhood, Bex is now the President of FSU's Gospel Choir and sings a variety of styles including classical, jazz, and pop. Bex has also picked up the bass guitar and the spoons during their time at FSU. Bex is intrigued by the intersection of music and culture, presenting “Holding out for a Hero”: A Musical Dissection of Shrek 2's Climactic Showdown" as a finalist for the FSU Undergraduate Music Research Symposium in April 2024. In May 2024, Bex helped premiere FSU's first completely student-led opera, "The Saturday's Sorrow" by DaSean Stokes as Assistant Creative Director. Combining their passion for performance, musicology, and arts administration, Bex's project "The Cultural Currents of Yacht Rock" hopes to illuminate the vast outreaches of a well-loved genre not often discussed in academic settings.

The Cultural Currents of Yacht Rock

Abstract

This thesis, The Cultural Currents of Yacht Rock, delves into the cultural significance and defining characteristics of the genre popularly known as “Yacht Rock,” a term retroactively applied to a specific collection of songs produced between 1976 and 1984. This project will explore the unique musical qualities that constitute Yacht Rock, while also examining how these elements translate personally and interpersonally through the creation of a web series providing short form explanations on the essence of Yacht Rock. A central focus of this study is the interplay between the original musicians who crafted the Yacht Rock sound and the reinterpretation of the genre through contemporary media, particularly the influential web series Yacht Rock that defined its modern identity.

Keywords: music, pop culture, rock, musicology