The Floydian Style
The Evolution of Pink Floyd’s Music
With Pink Floyd producer/engineer James Guthrie and composer Dave Molk at the Pink Floyd Conference we produced (photo: David Kelly Crow)
Watch the talk I gave about the emotional arc of “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” at the 2014 Pink Floyd Conference at Princeton University, which I produced with Dave Molk (with subtitles in Hebrew)
Zoom Lecture Series part 1
(Arnold Layne - Dark Side)
About the Series
What makes Pink Floyd's music so powerful and evocative?
Held live on Zoom, this lecture series explores the evolution of Pink Floyd’s musical style over the years, focusing on the inventive ways lyrics, composition, arrangement, production, performance, and visuals join together in making one of the most successful musical acts of all time. The first series begins with the band's first concerts and singles with Syd Barrett and progresses chronologically until the formation of the “classic era” in the 1973 LP The Dark Side of the Moon. The series is aimed for professional and amateur musicians as well as music enthusiasts with musical background. Participants are invited to ask qusetions throughout the sessions and suggest songs and topics for discussion.
Pink Floyd and Me
In addition to my work as a composer and performer, I have been writing and lecturing about Pink Floyd’s music for over 15 years. My articles about the band were published in Music Theory Spectrum and Music Theory Online (use these links for free access to the full texts) and I contributed two chapters to the 2022 Routledge Handbook of Pink Floyd. In 2014 I produced the first-ever academic conference about Pink Floyd at Princeton University with composer Dave Molk, hosting Pink Floyd producer/engineer James Guthrie as the keynote speaker, a series of concert-lectures, a Floyidan jam session, and a 6-hour surround listening session of Guthrie’s 5.1 mixes of The Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here, as well as the world-premiere of his 5.1 mix of Roger Waters’ Amused to Death. Holding a Ph.D. in Composition from Princeton University, I wrote my dissertation about large-scale structure in Pink Floyd’s music. Since 2014 I’ve been teaching my 4-credit course Shine On: The Music of Pink Floyd at Ramapo College of New Jersey, where I am an Associate Professor of Music, alongside courses in songwriting, composition, music theory, and rock performance.
Purchase info
Recording of session no. 1 is available for free using this link.
The first series consisted of 8 weekly live-on-Zoom sessions, 80-minute each, in a lively mix of lecture, live music demonstrations, and discussion with the participants.
You can purchase video recordings of all live sessions from the March-April 2021 series as follows:
Video recordings of the 8-session series: $70, $60 for students.
(For Recordings of the Lecture Series in Hebrew, use the contact form)
Video recording of a single session: $12 regular, $10 for students - use links below.
Session no. 1 (March 3, 2021): Pop and Psychedelia
(“Arnold Layne”, “See Emily Play”, “Candy and a Currant Bun”, “Interstellar Overdrive”)
How did British counterculture, psychedelia, and leading pop/rock musicians in the 1960s influence Syd Barrett and the band’s initial style?
Session no. 2 (March 10, 2021): The Gates of Dawn
(The Piper at the Gates of Dawn)
How does Pink Floyd’s debut album blend pop conventions, uncanny nursery rhymes, and experimental inventions in lyrics, harmony, arrangement, sound, and musical form?
This session has passed. Join the series and receive the video recording of this session, or purchase the individual recording here:
Regular: $15
Students: $12
Session no. 3 (March 17, 2021): Goodbye, Syd
(“It Would be so Nice”, “Point me at the Sky”, “Julia Dream”, “Careful with that Axe, Eugene”, “Jugband Blues”, The Madcap Laughs, Barrett)
How did Syd Barrett’s departure and the recruitment of new singer/guitarist David Gilmour affect the style of Pink Floyd, and which direction did Barrett’s music take in his short solo career?
Regular: $15
Students: $12
Session no. 4 (March 24, 2021): Searching for Identity I
(A Saucerful of Secrets)
What defines the writing styles of Roger Waters and Richard Wright on Pink Floyd’s first album (mostly) without Barrett, and in what ways did this album hint at future directions?
Regular: $15
Students: $12
Session no. 5 (March 31, 2021): Searching for Identity II
(More, Ummagumma, Obscured by Clouds)
How do the album Ummagumma and film soundtracks More and Obscured by Clouds balance between following the band’s original stylistic path and exploring new possibilities?
Regular: $15
Students: $12
Session no. 6 (April 7, 2021): Stasis, Motion, and Arrangement
(Atom Heart Mother, Meddle)
What part do these two albums play in forming Pink Floyd’s “classic sound”?
Regular: $15
Students: $12
Session no. 7 (April 14, 2021): Expansive Rock
(“Atom Heart Mother Suite,” “Echoes”)
How did Pink Floyd cope with the challenges of creating rock compositions of over 20 minutes?
Regular: $15
Students: $12
Session no. 8 (April 21, 2021): Reaching The Moon
(The Dark Side of the Moon)
What makes Dark Side one of the most popular albums of all times, and in what ways is it a stylistic outgrowth of the band’s former music?
Regular: $15
Students: $12
"A fascinating and unique event...” (Brain-Damage.co.uk)
"The experience in total was planned and executed with such obvious passion and enthusiasm … Cohen injected humor, reverence, and erudition into his presentation, imbued with natural charisma and passion for his subject, and the audience rewarded him by breaking into applause several times before the conclusion of his talk." (A Fleeting Glimpse, Pinkfloydz.com)
My full lecture about the emotional journey in “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” from the 2014 Pink Floyd Conference at Princeton University