The Art Of Rock And Roll By Charles Brown
...basically
proposes methods for analyzing music and anyone who reads the books should be
able to develop techniques for listening to music and making legitimate
statements about it. It treats rock and roll as a serious art form and traces
it cultural roots throughout the book.
Chapter one discusses the elements of rock and makes four assumptions.
Assumption one states that rock is a legitimate art form. An art form is
defined as a creative act that springs from the artist's experience as it
reflects or reacts against society. It then states that acculturation, a process
by which a certain people are influenced by a foreign culture, changed the Afro-
Americans from their original culture to one that was a mixture of U.S.
influences and African roots which played a large part in the way rock and roll
sounds today. Brown proves rock is a legitimate art form by talking about its
audience and its lasting power.
Assumption two states that rocks roots are in folk, jazz, and pop
music. Musicians who first started rock and roll must have had something to base
their music on which turned out to be primarily folk, jazz, and pop. They
simple changed the pattern and style of that music and started forming rock.
Assumption three states that it is just as valid to study rock and
roll as European classical music. Rock will prove to be a valid means of
producing competent musicians and that it demands the same type of performance
as in any musical form. Since it is a valid way in which to study music in
general it is just as valid to start with rock as starting anywhere else.
Assumption four states that simple musical analysis of selected
compositions is a primary tool for understanding musical evolution. Through
musical analysis we are able to generalize and say that rock from a certain era
has common characteristics. By doing this we are able to see what...
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