I have to say that I greatly enjoyed most of the listening from this module. It was nearly all music that I had heard people speak about, but I had never actually taken the time to listen to it. This is the kind of music that would have been popular when my parents were growing up, but my mom really only listened to classical and Christian hymns, and my dad has only ever mentioned liking the Steve Miller Band.
I really enjoyed Carole King's song "It's Too Late." I only have an association with Carole King because she sang the theme song for my favorite TV show of all time, Gilmore Girls. I also remember that a friend of mine who was on American Idol was actually kicked off the show because her rendition of a Carole King song was rather bland. It may have actually be "It's Too Late" that she sang. My husband, as I was listening to this song, asked if we could get the whole record because its the kind of music he apparently grew up listening to (even though he grew up in the 90s like me, it must be the type of music his parents enjoyed). I found it to be very easy to listen to, and I liked the aural surprises such as key change from verse to chorus.
Of course, I was very familiar with several of the songs from this week, including Stevie Wonder's "Superstition," "Hotel California," "Stairway to Heaven," and "Love to Love You Baby." Although I had never actually heard "Crocodile Rock," I did find that it was an excellent reference to much of the early rock 'n' roll music we heard a few modules ago, and I am familiar with a lot of Elton John's working, having gone through a "phase" during college.
I found myself rolling my eyes at "Thank God I'm a Country Boy." I'm not sure why, but it seemed so typically country that it was almost novelty. I had trouble taking it seriously, but I am not a huge country fan either.
I also found that, while I have greatly enjoyed every single song as part of the listening assignments up to this point, that this module is where I started to feel more opinionated about the quality of the music. I did not enjoy Psycho Killer or The Message at all, and had a lot of trouble even making it through the entire song. It just didn't "speak" to me like so much other music does.
Overall, it is clear that the mainstream and underground during the 1970s were a place where music could truly branch into individually expressive qualities. Of course, this was always a component of music, but it seems that people listening to popular music were beginning to be more accepting of the "weird" by this point in American history.
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Sunday, February 9, 2014
Module 5 - Motown, the British Invasion, and Rock
The most important factor that I gleaned from reading and listening this week is that by the 1950s, American popular music was extremely diverse, yet all genres seemed to influence each other somewhat. Rock 'n' Roll as a new genre combined the stylings of R&B, 12-bar blues, and honky tonk country music. It seemed like rock bands followed a pattern in making their music.
Rock 'n' Roll musician often got their starts by imitating one another by making covers of each other's music. This was discussed at length in the reading from last module. We listened to such covers, many of which were originally R&B by African-American artists and were (generally) covered with more success by white artists. Specifically, we listened to Shake, Rattle, and Roll, which was originally by Big Joe Turner and was covered by Bill Haley and the Comets, Sh-Boom, which was originally by the Chords and was covered by the Crew Cuts, and Mystery Train, which was originally by Junior Parker and was covered by Elvis Presley. As a child, I remember learning that Roll Over Beethoven was a Chuck Berry song that was covered by the Beatles in their early years.
The next thing that rock artists would do is to copy the stylings of others while writing their own music. Using typical 12-bar blues phrasing and/or similar chord and song form structures, artists often made their music sound like the music they liked the most. This made bands recognizable as individual groups within a specific genre or musical style.
Finally, the most advanced artists would being to experiment with music, making new and developed sounds as their knowledge of music and interests in music expanded. In our listening assignments, I note Good Vibrations by the Beach Boys as a song in this category. Good Vibrations is very experimental. It does not follow typical song form and is continually surprising to the listener. Especially in the late 1960s, rock artists got very creative with their experimentation. I remember my first listen of "Revolution 9" by the Beatles and thinking that it wasn't even music.
Current songwriters often follow patterns like these as well. Most artists and/or bands begin their careers with making a combination of covers and original songs. Most recently, I've been listening to Pentatonix, the a capella group that won The Sing-Off a few years ago. They often post youtube videos of covers they have done. They are creative in their covering, because they both cover an exact song, imitate the original stylings, and add creative elements that make the song their own.
Rock 'n' Roll musician often got their starts by imitating one another by making covers of each other's music. This was discussed at length in the reading from last module. We listened to such covers, many of which were originally R&B by African-American artists and were (generally) covered with more success by white artists. Specifically, we listened to Shake, Rattle, and Roll, which was originally by Big Joe Turner and was covered by Bill Haley and the Comets, Sh-Boom, which was originally by the Chords and was covered by the Crew Cuts, and Mystery Train, which was originally by Junior Parker and was covered by Elvis Presley. As a child, I remember learning that Roll Over Beethoven was a Chuck Berry song that was covered by the Beatles in their early years.
The next thing that rock artists would do is to copy the stylings of others while writing their own music. Using typical 12-bar blues phrasing and/or similar chord and song form structures, artists often made their music sound like the music they liked the most. This made bands recognizable as individual groups within a specific genre or musical style.
Finally, the most advanced artists would being to experiment with music, making new and developed sounds as their knowledge of music and interests in music expanded. In our listening assignments, I note Good Vibrations by the Beach Boys as a song in this category. Good Vibrations is very experimental. It does not follow typical song form and is continually surprising to the listener. Especially in the late 1960s, rock artists got very creative with their experimentation. I remember my first listen of "Revolution 9" by the Beatles and thinking that it wasn't even music.
Current songwriters often follow patterns like these as well. Most artists and/or bands begin their careers with making a combination of covers and original songs. Most recently, I've been listening to Pentatonix, the a capella group that won The Sing-Off a few years ago. They often post youtube videos of covers they have done. They are creative in their covering, because they both cover an exact song, imitate the original stylings, and add creative elements that make the song their own.
Sunday, February 2, 2014
Module 4: Give It a Chance
While there was quite a bit of great listening in our textbook this week, I'd like to take the time in my listening journal to discuss the music that I listened to as I participated in the discussion board. There was definitely a theme in these listening assignments: Give it a chance!
As musicians, I believe I can accurately state that we tend to place judgment on popular music. We are very likely to assume that current popular music is not as high quality as the music that was popular when we were children, or older music that we've spent time studying and analyzing. It is interesting to think, though, that our parents did the same thing about their parents' music, and their parents did the same thing about their parents' music, and so forth. Over years of developing American music, taste has very drastically changed, and it always seems that current music isn't as good as its predecessor.
I fall victim to this type of thinking regularly. I tend to roll my eyes at Ke$ha (which my father calls key-dollar sign-ha) for being gross and dirty, and at Lady Gaga for seeming to be more interested in drawing attention to herself than making quality art, and at Nicki Minaj for just appearing to be rather dumb on the outside, but this is ridiculous thinking. Even disregarding talent, all three of these artists have made influential music and are clearly very intelligent business women at the very least. I tend to think of One Direction as the cheesy kids' pop group (like a wannabe *NSync), or the Jonas Brothers (now solo) as cheesy kids' pop as well. I automatically dislike any artist who seems to be more interested in drawing attention to him or herself than making music that is meaningful (Miley Cyrus, for example). I automatically hate-watched Carrie Underwood performing the role of Maria in "The Sound of Music Live" because country singers shouldn't try to leave their genres. I worry when watching Ellen because she always puts on talented kids who are bound to end up as attention-grabbing sociopaths. I don't repost videos of children adorably singing "Let It Go" from Frozen for this purpose, either. I look on, entirely unsurprised, when Justin Bieber has issues with the law. And yet, it is easy for me to find value in "old" music, like the Boogies, old country music, and early "bubblegum" rock 'n' roll like was included in the textbook.
All of this being said, my biggest lesson this week was "Give it a chance!" Our assignment for the discussion board was to choose 5 of our favorite songs and explain why they were our favorites. For many of us, nostalgia was a big part of our choices. Several people chose current pop songs. One classmate chose "Tik Tok" by Ke$ha and actually stated on the discussion board that we were not to judge her. It is so normal for musicians to be judgmental of current pop that she knew we would judge in her inclusion of it. Another student added the disclaimer that he didn't actually like the band, but that particular song was pretty good when he posted a One Direction song.
I took time to watch the videos for every single song that my classmates posted. I decided that if I was going to dive in, I would dive in fully. I found myself dancing along and truly enjoying the catchiness of most of the songs, especially "Tik Tok." I found myself with tears in my eyes as I watched the One Direction video "Story of My Life." I found myself emotionally moved by the message of Lorde's "Royals" - we may never actually get to be any kind of royalty, but that's what our dreams are for. It was then that I realized the significance of the pop music that I so readily hate-listened to: vernacular music tells the story of American culture at the time of the music production. Pop songs are going to hold a particular nostalgic place in time. The songs are going to take us back in our lives to that place where we were. They tell us about history and culture better than lots of other parts of our past can. They can hold a place in time like no other history textbook or direct memory can. They can spur thoughts of a very specific moment or person.
In this conclusion that I drew of the significance of the story that pop music tells, I commit now to listen openly to all music, whether popular or lesser-known, whether new or old, before I judge what I think it should be like. I commit to analyzing the music as a musician for both its artistic value and its cultural significance. I commit to leaving my tendency to hate-listen and to be a bit more open-minded as I learn to better understand American through our music.
As musicians, I believe I can accurately state that we tend to place judgment on popular music. We are very likely to assume that current popular music is not as high quality as the music that was popular when we were children, or older music that we've spent time studying and analyzing. It is interesting to think, though, that our parents did the same thing about their parents' music, and their parents did the same thing about their parents' music, and so forth. Over years of developing American music, taste has very drastically changed, and it always seems that current music isn't as good as its predecessor.
I fall victim to this type of thinking regularly. I tend to roll my eyes at Ke$ha (which my father calls key-dollar sign-ha) for being gross and dirty, and at Lady Gaga for seeming to be more interested in drawing attention to herself than making quality art, and at Nicki Minaj for just appearing to be rather dumb on the outside, but this is ridiculous thinking. Even disregarding talent, all three of these artists have made influential music and are clearly very intelligent business women at the very least. I tend to think of One Direction as the cheesy kids' pop group (like a wannabe *NSync), or the Jonas Brothers (now solo) as cheesy kids' pop as well. I automatically dislike any artist who seems to be more interested in drawing attention to him or herself than making music that is meaningful (Miley Cyrus, for example). I automatically hate-watched Carrie Underwood performing the role of Maria in "The Sound of Music Live" because country singers shouldn't try to leave their genres. I worry when watching Ellen because she always puts on talented kids who are bound to end up as attention-grabbing sociopaths. I don't repost videos of children adorably singing "Let It Go" from Frozen for this purpose, either. I look on, entirely unsurprised, when Justin Bieber has issues with the law. And yet, it is easy for me to find value in "old" music, like the Boogies, old country music, and early "bubblegum" rock 'n' roll like was included in the textbook.
All of this being said, my biggest lesson this week was "Give it a chance!" Our assignment for the discussion board was to choose 5 of our favorite songs and explain why they were our favorites. For many of us, nostalgia was a big part of our choices. Several people chose current pop songs. One classmate chose "Tik Tok" by Ke$ha and actually stated on the discussion board that we were not to judge her. It is so normal for musicians to be judgmental of current pop that she knew we would judge in her inclusion of it. Another student added the disclaimer that he didn't actually like the band, but that particular song was pretty good when he posted a One Direction song.
I took time to watch the videos for every single song that my classmates posted. I decided that if I was going to dive in, I would dive in fully. I found myself dancing along and truly enjoying the catchiness of most of the songs, especially "Tik Tok." I found myself with tears in my eyes as I watched the One Direction video "Story of My Life." I found myself emotionally moved by the message of Lorde's "Royals" - we may never actually get to be any kind of royalty, but that's what our dreams are for. It was then that I realized the significance of the pop music that I so readily hate-listened to: vernacular music tells the story of American culture at the time of the music production. Pop songs are going to hold a particular nostalgic place in time. The songs are going to take us back in our lives to that place where we were. They tell us about history and culture better than lots of other parts of our past can. They can hold a place in time like no other history textbook or direct memory can. They can spur thoughts of a very specific moment or person.
In this conclusion that I drew of the significance of the story that pop music tells, I commit now to listen openly to all music, whether popular or lesser-known, whether new or old, before I judge what I think it should be like. I commit to analyzing the music as a musician for both its artistic value and its cultural significance. I commit to leaving my tendency to hate-listen and to be a bit more open-minded as I learn to better understand American through our music.
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