Understanding Rock Essays in Musical Analysis

by Covach, John; Boone, Graeme M.

• ISBN13: 9780195100044
• ISBN10: 0195100042
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1997-11-20
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Amid the recent increase in scholarly attention to rock music, Understanding Rock stands out as one of the first books that subjects diverse aspects of the music itself to close and sophisticated analytical scrutiny. Written by some of the best young scholars in musicology and music theory, the essays in this volume use harmonic, melodic, rhythmic, formal, and textual approaches in order to show how and why rock music works as music.Topics of discussion include the adaptation of blues and other styles to rock; the craft of songwriting; techniques and strategies of improvisation; the reinterpretation of older songs; and the use of the recording studio as a compositional tool. A broad range of styles and groups is covered, including Yes, the Beach Boys, Cream, k.d. lang, Paul Simon, Jimi Hendrix, and the Grateful Dead.

Table of Contents

Contributors	xvii
1 Progressive Rock, "Close to the Edge," and the Boundaries of Style	3	(30)
John Covach
2 After Sundown: The Beach Boys' Experimental Music	33	(26)
Daniel Harrison
3 Blues Transformations in the Music of Cream	59	(34)
Dave Headlam
4 "Joanie" Get Angry: k.d. lang's Feminist Revision	93	(20)
Lori Burns
5 Swallowed by a Song: Paul Simon's Crisis of Chromaticism	113	(42)
Walter Everett
6 "Little Wing": A Study in Musical Cognition	155	(16)
Matthew Brown
7 Tonal and Expressive Ambiguity in "Dark Star"	171	(40)
Graeme M. Boone
Index	211