This thesis contributes new knowledge about string arranging for recorded Popular music. Specifically it contributes a new model for understanding and writing string arrangements based on an aural analysis of 500 albums released between 1952 and 2011. I show that string arrangements for recorded Popular music can be categorised under one of seven distinct styles. Each style is given coherence and made meaningful by its relationship with social and cultural institutions. The thesis collects and structures the detail of each style at the level of metafunction (Lemke, 2009, pp. 283-297;1995a)