Transitions1960-70

Overview: The Youth Generation of the 1960s

• Kennedy's assassination

• Social issues

• Sexual revolution

• Music was a central to the 1960s landscape

Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan

• Early years

• New York City 1961

• March 1962

Bob Dylan

• The Free-wheelin' Bob Dylan

• With The Times They Are a-Changin'

• Dylan warns the establishment

• Newport Folk Festival

• Another Side of Bob Dylan

• Folk rock

• Like a Rolling Stone

Bob Dylan

• Dylan seemed to disappear

• “All Along the Watchtower"

• Nashville Skyline

• Dylan after the 1960s

Dyaln’s Significance

Lyrics

• Symbolism, internal ironies, sarcasm, thought-provoking messages, dry wit, surrealism, and graceful flow

Soul And Mowtown: Aretha Franklin

Soul And Mowtown: Aretha Franklin

• Early years

• Early 1960s, Aretha pop singer for Columbia Records

• Wexler and Atlantic Records

• Songs by some of the finest songwriters

• Vocal agility

Respect

• First uptempo hit

• Emotionally redefined fast soul

• Transforms sexual machismo

• Became anthem for women’s movement

• Interlocked rhythm section

Respect

• Riffs or sustained chords

• “Gospel sound”

• Spelling out RESPECT memorable

• Verse/refrain has changed

• Denser textures

What a Friend We Have in Jesus

• familiar form

• sixteen measures

• AABA pattern

What a Friend We Have in Jesus

• rhythm uncomplicated

• F major

• Expands form

• “freedom” of musical form

What a Friend…

• fills form with melody• Compare the first two measures of the original

tune with Aretha’s phrase• notes added and rhythms significantly modified• some notes falling behind where they “should”;

others coming ahead• pitch variations • “blue note”

What a Friend…

• Interpolations

• freedom to add words

• Melisma: a technique in which one syllable is extended over two or more pitches

Amazing Grace

• eleven minutes

• contains many examples of extended melismas

• Wide range of vocal timbres

• Shout “What a Friend” “and needles pain”

• Very breathy tone

San Francisco: Overview

1. Drugs

2. Volume levels at live concerts reached a new high.

3. San Francisco groups often placed considerable emphasis on the instrumentalists

4. Electronic technology

Janis Joplin

Janis Joplin

• Early years

• Ghet Helms

• Big Brother

Ball and Chain

• Stutters, reiterations

• Melismas, interpolations

• Hommange to Smith?

• Hisses “sitting”

• Necessary embellishments

Ball and Chain

• Joplin’s voice not as rich as Smith’s

• Tempo of the song slower

• Musical space must be filled

• Progressively less restrained

Pearl

• Roots in R & B and Gospel

• Janis was unique

Mercedes Benz

• Parodies hippie values and communalism

• A cappella

Art Rock And Frank Zappa

Art Rock And Frank Zappa

• In the late 1960s, the creative minds in rock began to expand

• Just how far can Rock go?

Classical Elements and Rock Elements

1. Quote a classical excerpt in the midst of a rock song.

2. Use a classical melody as the basis of a rock song.

3. Create a series of rock songs conceived as units in a larger form.

Frank Zappa

• Introduction

• Offends

• Early years

Help I’m a Rock

A "It can't happen here"—non-metric, non-tonal vocal expanding this lyric

B "Who could imagine"—(1) "freak out in Kansas" (followed by improvisation on "Kansas")

(2) "freak out in Minnesota" (followed by improvisation on "Minnesota")

C: Instrumental section—piano and drums in a fragmented, non-tonal, pointillistic style

Help I’m a Rock

B: "Who could imagine"—"freak out in

Washington, D.C." (followed by

improvisation on "D.C.")

A: "It can't happen here"—enters underneath previous section, but begins to dominate

D: "I remember"—metric; three phrases

Help I’m a Rock

A: "It couldn't happen here"—brief return

E: Suzy Creamcheese—dialogue with semi-fictional Zappa character

A: "It can't happen here"—brief return; filtered voices

Help I’m a Rock

• Combines two common classical forms: the arch form and the rondo.

C

B B

A A

• Improvisation

• Experimentation with textures

Frank Zappa

• Drugs

• Uncle Meat

• Fillmore East

• Shut Up Play Yer Guitar