This week we continue looking at music that has truly made a giant impact into our musical lives today. As I listened to the music from this list I cam across more and more titles that I would love to use and that I have used in my is curriculum. The wonderful thing that I found with this weeks set do music is that I have found music that my students actually have heard before.
For weeks I have been playing bits and pieces of the music lists for my students, and the first 4 weeks I have to be honest and say I got a lot do blank stares. The last two weeks have been different as I have played songs that they have recognized. A perfect example of a song that truly got my students attention was when I played Superstition by Stevie Wonder. The question that I had to ask was what about this piece made it spark for my students?
Superstition itself is a tune in that was written as the lead single for Wonder's Talking Book album in 1972. This tune comes from the Motown label but is a departure from the music that made Motown famous as mentioned in the previous chapter. For my students, I believe it is the catchy chorus that they find the most infectious. Some new sounds can also be heard on this song like the interesting Hohner Clavinet, which gives this song an interesting timbre.
I did a quick straw poll of my students to see how they like this tune. Even if they didn't like the song, I noticed that they couldn't help themselves from moving to the beat. They felt that the drum beat was really what stuck out. This beat is very strong 4 beat pattern with a heavy back beat style. Wonder's ability to make a catchy hook and mix that with a really catchy drum beat makes this tune a definite classic, but more importantly makes a song that transcends time and is still a popular song even today.
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Sunday, February 9, 2014
Module 5
It had to come to this. We have finally reached a stage of music with more names, songs, and ideas that are still in popular use today. This era of music that was discussed in chapter 9 and 10 of our text is truly a who's who of music that is still in the vernacular of most Americans. As I read through these chapters, I was excited to see so many names that I recognized. In previous chapters I would read about people and places that I might have heard of, or read about in some previous texts, but these names, places and songs can still be found on any radio today.
As I was reading chapter 9, I turned on my radio and tuned it to our areas classic rock station. This being 107.9 in the western Colorado area. I was amazed, however not really shocked that in a 15 minute period I heard music from Motown, the Beach Boys, and even the Beatles. These names Nd this music still hold a very prominent place in our modern music vocabulary. In fact, throughout this last week, I played some do this music for my students, who are all 6-8 graders, meaning that the oldest student I have in class was born 1999, and a lot of them recognized these sounds and names. For children who don't know much and have a ver limited music vocabulary it is interesting that they would recognize this kind of music.
So what moved this music so far so fast, and why is it still in popular circulation today. A few ideas come to mind that I would like to point out. The technology of this era is a major reason that we this music is still with us. The musical style and form is simple yet engaging. Finally, we still have many people in the world that were there when this music was popular. People who loved this music and have passed on their passion to the following generations.
The technology that has truly made this music stick with us today is simply the television. With shows like "The Ed Sullivan Show" and "American Bandstand", musical groups were able to move their music onto a national stage the likes of which the world have never seen. This allowed for fads to really come out and be heard. The text talks of surfer music, made famous by the Beach Boys, and the British Invasion as lead by The Beatles. Along with these fads we have popular dance music like "The Twist". Technology and communication became the way that music moved through our country. Interesting to note that this technology wave still leads the charge today. How much music is made popular now but the notoriety it might gain on Facebook or YouTube.
Much of the music from this tome also has simple melodies, simple harmonies and simple form construction. A great example do this is the classic "yesterday" by the Beatles. The harmonic structure of this piece is simplistic and the form is a basic binary form floating betweenan A section and B section. Simple, but powerful. Another example is Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone", where the form moves through a strophic verse and a repeating chorus. The music itself is not very complicated yet these two songs are beautiful and still popular in our vernacular today.
We also see that many people who were a part of what made this music popular are still living and in some cases writing and performing today. Their legacy is not only something that was written down or even just recorded. These artists are still here performing and talking about their music. Our writing prompt this week had us look at rehearsal techniques of the popular musician, and it was fun to see a lot do the video of people that are still around and that we can learn from.
This week has been a wonderful exercise in learning about why this type of music is so popular even to this day. It is my hope that this music will continue to be passed along to generations to come and that this genius of music writing, advertising, and promotion will still continue.
As I was reading chapter 9, I turned on my radio and tuned it to our areas classic rock station. This being 107.9 in the western Colorado area. I was amazed, however not really shocked that in a 15 minute period I heard music from Motown, the Beach Boys, and even the Beatles. These names Nd this music still hold a very prominent place in our modern music vocabulary. In fact, throughout this last week, I played some do this music for my students, who are all 6-8 graders, meaning that the oldest student I have in class was born 1999, and a lot of them recognized these sounds and names. For children who don't know much and have a ver limited music vocabulary it is interesting that they would recognize this kind of music.
So what moved this music so far so fast, and why is it still in popular circulation today. A few ideas come to mind that I would like to point out. The technology of this era is a major reason that we this music is still with us. The musical style and form is simple yet engaging. Finally, we still have many people in the world that were there when this music was popular. People who loved this music and have passed on their passion to the following generations.
The technology that has truly made this music stick with us today is simply the television. With shows like "The Ed Sullivan Show" and "American Bandstand", musical groups were able to move their music onto a national stage the likes of which the world have never seen. This allowed for fads to really come out and be heard. The text talks of surfer music, made famous by the Beach Boys, and the British Invasion as lead by The Beatles. Along with these fads we have popular dance music like "The Twist". Technology and communication became the way that music moved through our country. Interesting to note that this technology wave still leads the charge today. How much music is made popular now but the notoriety it might gain on Facebook or YouTube.
Much of the music from this tome also has simple melodies, simple harmonies and simple form construction. A great example do this is the classic "yesterday" by the Beatles. The harmonic structure of this piece is simplistic and the form is a basic binary form floating betweenan A section and B section. Simple, but powerful. Another example is Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone", where the form moves through a strophic verse and a repeating chorus. The music itself is not very complicated yet these two songs are beautiful and still popular in our vernacular today.
We also see that many people who were a part of what made this music popular are still living and in some cases writing and performing today. Their legacy is not only something that was written down or even just recorded. These artists are still here performing and talking about their music. Our writing prompt this week had us look at rehearsal techniques of the popular musician, and it was fun to see a lot do the video of people that are still around and that we can learn from.
This week has been a wonderful exercise in learning about why this type of music is so popular even to this day. It is my hope that this music will continue to be passed along to generations to come and that this genius of music writing, advertising, and promotion will still continue.
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