What's That Sound? • W. W. Norton and Company, Inc.

21/11/2014 14:14

Chapter Outline
Chapter 1: The World Before Rock and Roll (Roots-1955)

The Rock music image

Controversy
1. The attraction has always been its rebellious image
Elvis's suggestive movements
The Beatles' moptop haircuts
2. Rock artists challenged 1960s and 1970s cultural values
Jim Morrison
Alice Cooper
David Bowie
3. These challenges continued during the 1980s
Madonna
Prince
4. Federal government hearings have focused on Rap and heavy Metal CDs
5. Opposition to the status quo
Rock Music's place in context with Western Music tradition
1. Co-existence with art music trends in a contrasting role
2. Historical evaluation will include classical and popular styles
3. Well-known composers of art music:
Claude Debussy
Igor Stravinsky
Arnold Schoenberg
Olivier Messiaen
Aaron Copland
Karlheinz Stockhausen
4. Examples of twentieth century jazz composers include:
Duke Ellington
Miles Davis
5. Examples of early twentieth century popular music songwriters:
Irving Berlin
Cole Porter
Rock Music defined
1. Some historians use more than one term for rock music
"Rock and Roll" is sometimes used in reference to the first wave the 1950s
"Rock" is then used to refer to post-1950s rock music styles
2. The multitude of styles involved often lead to confusion
3. This text uses the term "Rock" in a broad sense with the understanding that:
It refers to popular music written for a youth audience
Styles on the fringe will continue to be debated as to their exact categorization
The purpose of this text
Stylistic and historical overview
1. To cover a fifty-year history of popular music styles
2. Organize a vast body of music as to its many styles
3. Make the development of popular music styles easier to understand and appreciate
Availability of rock music
1. There is more recorded music available now ever before
Current releases
Music from previous decades
Special repackaged (often re-mastered) editions with bonus tracks
New releases of un-released versions or
Alternate mixes
Alternate performances
Most listeners are not fully aware of the scope of available music

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This text will organize this material so as to best benefit the student
1. To better identify stylistic similarities
2. To understand the historical development of styles
3. To gain a new perspective on music in general
Rock history in the media
Non-academic sources of information on rock music history
1. Books
2. Magazines and newspapers
Rolling Stone
Mojo
3. Radio and television programs
VH-1
MTV
Classic Rock radio format
4. Internet
Significant differences between scholarly study and awareness through media information
1. Media information is intended for entertainment
Some information is reliable
Some information is slanted or inaccurate
2. Media is based on advertisement for revenue
Therefore information could be subject to outside approval
Reliance on sales encourages focus on sensational biographical aspects
Less attention given to the actual musical aspects of songs and styles
This text will provide a balanced historical assessment of rock styles
1. Inclusion of a wide array of artists and their influences
2. Examination of the importance of artists and their relative impact (past and/or present)
3. The purpose is to provide a balanced view
4. Knowledge gained will better support the students' attitudes and ideas about popular music
The Fan Mentality versus the academic approach to studying rock music
What is involved with being a fan of an artist, a group or a style?
1. Extensive listening to the music
2. Gathering information about the artist, group or style
3. Sometimes intentionally rejecting other artists or styles
4. These things are normal to surface level appreciation
Serious study of rock music has responsibilities
1. Be as fair as possible in acquiring information about artists and styles
2. Refrain from judging one group to be "better" than another
3. Understanding the relevance and influences of artists and styles
4. Not let the fan mentality override a balanced approach
The importance of chart positions
Chart positions are intended to indicate a song's popularity (but see D below)
Most widely recognized chart is Billboard
Drawbacks to chart position references
1. Chart numbers don't necessarily indicate a song's importance
2. Chart numbers are sometimes determined in unexplainable ways
3. Distinction between high-charting songs and low-charting songs can be useful
4. General observations of chart positions are useful
With respect to the time period
Relative success of a song or album on multiple charts
Chart numbers are the best system we have at this time
1. Other information could help assess importance of songs or albums
Radio playlists (all of them!)
Sales documentation
2. There is not a complete compilation of this information yet
3. The Record Industry Association of America (RIAA)
Awards gold records for sales of 500,000 units
Awards platinum records for sales of 1,000,000 units
Some records achieve gold or platinum status years or decades after their release
These awards are helpful in considering a record's success
The Four Themes
Rock music can be better understood in context with four general aspects

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1.
Social, political and cultural issues
2.
Issues of race, class and gender
3.
The development of the music business
4.
The development and influence of technology throughout the twentieth century
Radio in the 1920s
Television in the 1950s and eventually cable television (MTV) in the 1980s
Each chapter in the text covers a 3 to 10 year period of time
Some information is presented from two different viewpoints for the same time period
1. British Invasion songs and artists are covered in one chapter
2. American response to the British Invasion is in its own separate chapter
3. The Psychedelic era discusses the underground in San Francisco and London
The Popularity Arc
Patterns emerge that become recognizable
1. Obscurity to limelight and back again
2. American punk music exemplifies this trend
Rising out of an underground scene
Evolving in to the mainstream
Retreating back to an underground scene in reaction to new wave alterations of the style
3. This text examines influences at all points of the popularity arc
What happened during the roots / development period
What happened during the mainstream peak period
What happened after the mainstream period
Questions to aid the understanding the popularity arc
1. How did this style arise?
2. When did it peak in popularity?
3. Does this style continue to exist in an underground subculture somewhere?
4. The text will aid understanding of the first two questions
5. The Internet will provide information on the third question
Elements of Music
Analytical thinking must be applied to the study of rock music
1. Extensive writings by scholars demonstrate the complexity of rock styles
2. The text provides listening guides to examine the songs examined
Musical form
1. These guides will focus on structural aspects of musical form
2. Rock music has a limited number of forms
Most songs fit into these forms or variations of these forms
Through examination the patterns become easily recognizable
Form, Rhythm and Meter: "Rocket 88"
1. Basic formal types will be discussed in Chapters 1, 2 and Interlude I.
An introduction to the examination of form can be presented using this song
Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats
Recorded in 1951 in Memphis by Sam Phillips
2. A diagram breaks the song into sections
3. CD timings are used to establish sections
Timings could vary from CD to CD
Use these timings for general section locations in the songs
Counting and section lengths
1. The first section is labeled "instrumental verse" in the diagram
"12 mm." is given
The section is twelve measures in length
"mm" is commonly used to abbreviate measures in musical writing
2. How to count measures
Musicians begin a song by counting out "one, two, three, four"
And then continue by counting "one, two three, four"
Rather than "five, six, seven, eight . . ."
3. Each group of four beats is called a "measure" or "bar"
These terms are used interchangeably
Verses and instrumental verses are 12 measures
Verse 2 is only 8 measures
Probably by mistake
Musicians seem to scramble back together

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4. Sections can be observed by following the CD timings

Simple Verse Form
1. A single section is repeated 8 times
Sections are either "verse" (sung) or "instrumental verse"
The harmonic progression of each section is identical
(except verse 2 being shorter)
There is little or no contrast between sections
2. Therefore this form is called SIMPLE VERSE FORM
3. Very common in rock music
4. By listening and counting measures form becomes apparent
Instrumentation
1. It is important to listen to instruments
2. Instruments used in "Rocket 88":
drums
bass
electric guitar
acoustic piano
two saxes
lead vocals
3. Attention moves from part to part during the song
4. We focus on new elements that appear in the music
Piano in the first instrumental verse
Vocals in verse 1
Saxes in the next section (and so on)
5. Interlude B covers instrumentation listening
6. Discerning certain instruments from others is a skill that can be developed
Going to see live music in a small setting is very helpful
Musicians are often willing to talk about their music and instruments during breaks
Awareness of instrumentation and form will greatly enhance the listening experience

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