History of Rock n Roll Exam 1 LATEST
UPDATE 2024
Apollonian - ANSWER following the Greek god Apollo -- god of harmony and reason -- emphasizes the
objective, calm experience of the reasoning mind, freed of the violent desires of the feeling body
Dionysian - ANSWER following the Greek god Dionysus (or Bacchus, in the Roman tradition) -- god of
wine, of drunken ecstasy, of chaos and unbridled physical pleasures -- emphasizes the subjective,
passionate experience of the emotional, erotic, sensous mind, very much rooted in the body.
Rockism - ANSWER that rock 'n' roll, when you get down to it, amounts to loud music played by white
guys with guitars
Common Practice - ANSWER his is a term used in classical music, not rock, but it works very well in a rock
context. by 'common practice,' classical musicians recognize the fact that, despite the evolution of
different styles and historical periods (baroque, classical, romantic, etc.), there was a shared vocabulary
of harmony, melody, form, texture, format, performance techniques -- a general, complete musical
language, which lasted for a very long time (very roughly, 1700 to 1920;
-the same thing is true in rock music: a set of musical conditions was laid down beginning in the 50s (the
'baroque' formative period of rock) and definitively in the 60s (the 'classical' period), involving guitars,
drums, bass, and sometimes horns or keyboards; a folk and blues grounding; a straightforward electric
amplification technology, subject to various forms of tweaking; an emphasis on verse/chorus lyrics and,
sometimes, improvisation.
Beat - ANSWER the level of pulse that best expresses the heartbeat of the musical flow.
it tends to be on the faster side, like a heartbeat (vs. a walking rhythm)
Measure - ANSWER the grouping of beats into larger, clearly perceptible units of time.
since measures group beats, the measure is slower than the beat.
Downbeat - ANSWER the pulse that marks first beat of each measure.
, the downbeat is commonly the strongest beat of each measure.
Upbeat - ANSWER any beat of the measure that is not a downbeat.
Oral Tradition - ANSWER -Where rock music, like pop music, primarily lives
-principally learned and transmitted by ear
Written Tradition - ANSWER written notation, sheet music, and classical-based
Four-beat Feel - ANSWER which musicians call four-beat time, 4/4 time, 4/4, or simply four; introduced
in jazz beginning with the swing style, which was dominant in American pop between roughly 1935 and
1950. swing is recognizable by its bass line, which walks, or plays a note evenly on every beat of a four-
beat measure: 1-2-3-4 1-2-3-4
Two-Beat Feel - ANSWER two-beat time, 2/4 time (or 2/2), 2/4, or simply two.
-often evoked as a boom-chuck or oom-pah rhythm
-as the motor of traditional popular music in America before the 1920s -- including marching-band
music, country music, ragtime, and much early jazz, and it has continued up to the present day in
country music, band music, and other forms of pop music and rock.
-the bass tends to emphasize two notes per measure in a down-up pattern that leaves some space
between the notes: 1-(and)-2-(and)-1-(and)-2-(and)
Backbeat - ANSWER -middle beat; opposes the downbeat
-in jazz, R&B, gospel, and rock, it is often played hard, creating what is called a backbeat rhythm or
simply a 'backbeat'
-by counterbalancing the downbeat, a strong backbeat gives an extra push to the music and to the
dancers, creating potent energy and drive. if we hear the downbeat as 'down' and the backbeat 'up,' a
strong backbeat rhythm feels like an up rhythm, in every way.
Swing Beat - ANSWER -divisions in the beat, called offbeats, can be unequal, with the first half of the
beat lasting longer than the second half. the latter kind of division produces what is called swing rhythm
(or feel, or beat; also sometimes referred to as shuffle rhythm), because it gives a lilting or 'swinging' feel
to the beat; and it is, as you might expect, essential to the jazz style called 'swing.
