Understanding Rock Essays in Musical Analysis [Paperback]

Amid the recent increase in scholarly attention to rock music,Understanding Rockstands 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.

1. Progressive Rock, Close to the Edge, and the Boundaries of Style,John Covach
2. After Sundown: The Beach Boys' Experimental Music,Daniel Harrison
3. Blues Transformations in the Music of Cream,Dave Headlam
4. Joanie Get Angry: k. d. lang's Feminist Revision,Lori Burns
5. Swallowed by a Song: Paul Simon's Crisis of Chromaticism,Walter Everett
6. Little Wing : A Study in Musical Cognition,Matthew Brown
7. Tonal and Expressive Ambiguity in Dark Star ,Graeme M. Boone

An anthology of critical essays focusing on either one or just a handful of songs, the collection offers all the attention to detail that guides the musical analysis of classical music. --American Music

John Covachis Associate Professor of Music at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Graeme M. Booneis Assistant Professor of Music at the Ohio State University.