首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Rock music has been accused of having a beat that is at once too strong and too simplistic. Let’s look at these issues individua
Rock music has been accused of having a beat that is at once too strong and too simplistic. Let’s look at these issues individua
admin
2013-09-23
57
问题
Rock music has been accused of having a beat that is at once too strong and too simplistic. Let’s look at these issues individually, and see how they in fact contribute to the power of the music.
If you look at the classic instrumentation of a rock group—drums, bass, electric guitar and piano—one inescapable fact is that they are all percussive instruments. There are no horns or strings, no instruments that are bowed or blown, whose notes smoothly move to the desired volume and then stay there. The musicians play all of these instruments by striking them with a stick, pick, finger or hammer. As a result, their characteristic sounds all exhibit sharply rising and descending volumes. The overall effect is to emphasize the rhythmic value of each note, to give the placement of the peak volume of each note, each chord, at least equal weight with its melodic or harmonic element. In earlier musical forms, the drums, bass, piano and guitar had sometimes collectively been referred to as the "rhythm section. " With rock instrumentation, effectively the entire group became part of the rhythm section.
Part of the reason for increasing the strength of the rhythm in rock—for creating what became known as "the big beat"—was to increase the propulsive force of the music. This is essentially the same reason that regular meter is used in traditional poetry. In this sense, rock is to traditional pop music as poetry is to prose. The effect in both rock and metered poetry is to create regular rhythmic patterns that drive the listener along and amplify the energy of the words.
This is why Phil Spector told David Susskind, when he was reading the lyrics of one of his songs on TV, that what he was missing was the beat. One effect of the strong rhythm is to increase the intensity and power of the communication. Listening to rock lyrics without the beat would be akin to paraphrasing Yeats as saying, "Going round in larger circles, the damned bird gets lost. " The meaning of the words is roughly the same, but my phrasing has none of the power of Yeats’: " Turning and turning in the widening gyre, the falcon cannot hear the falconer. "
Another reason for increasing the strength of the rock rhythm was simply to make the beat an equal player in the resulting music. As suggested above by Robert Palmer, traditional pop forms had made the beat a poor second cousin to melody and harmony. Rock liberated the rhythmic component of the music, allowing it an equal footing with the other elements.
The perception has sometimes been that the beat in rock music is so strong as to overpower the melody and lyrics, making the words unintelligible, for example. While this has no doubt happened at times, it is not an essential part of the music. On the other hand, ears that are used to rhythm being consistently relegated to the background sometimes perceive the beat as overpowering simply because it has been brought to the foreground. The result can be disorienting, because multiple musical components are all vying for equal attention in rock. The effect is akin to viewing modern art in which elements of form and color are no longer subordinate to the demands of strict representation. The result, though, is a much richer artistic experience, in which multiple elements of the music—thematic intent, meter, rhyme and alliteration, vocal shadings, melody, harmony and rhythm—are all working together.
Rock has also been accused of having a simplistic rhythm, based on its consistent use of a 4/4 time signature, with the accents on the second and fourth beats of the measure(a "backbeat"). When used at its best, however, this basic underlying rhythm is just the starting point for many subtle rhythmic variations. After all, with so many instruments all playing a part in the rhythm, it is not necessary—and would in fact be distracting—to have the foundation time signature be calling attention to itself. The interesting part, overall, is not the time signature, which will repeat throughout the song anyway, but what you do with it, the variations laid on top of it, the larger reinforcing rhythms in the song structure.
Which of the following is NOT the classic instrumentation of a rock group?
选项
A、Bass.
B、Piano.
C、Guitar.
D、Violin.
答案
D
解析
细节题,从文章第二段第一句“If you look at the classic instrumentation of a rockgroup--drums,bass([A]),electric guitar([C])and piano([B])一one inescapable fact is that they are all percussive instruments.”可知,传统的摇滚乐多使用打击乐器,如鼓、电吉他等,而小提琴这样的弦乐器明显不是打击乐器,所以[D]是正确答案。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/rXLK777K
0
专业英语四级
相关试题推荐
Acommonassumptionabouttheprivatesectorofeducationisthatitcatersonlytotheelite.【C1】______recentresearchpoints
Acommonassumptionabouttheprivatesectorofeducationisthatitcatersonlytotheelite.【C1】______recentresearchpoints
Therearevariouswaysinwhichindividualeconomicunitscaninteractwithoneanother.Threebasicwaysmaybedescribedasth
Whatisthefirstguidelinetoinvestingaccordingtothespeaker?
Indiaisacountrywhosepopulation______thatofChina.
Ifweviewascienceasabodyofsystematizedknowledge,thenchemistryisusuallycalledanaturalsciencebecauseit【C1】____
ShoppinghabitsintheUnitedStateshavechangedgreatlyinthelastquarterofthe20thcentury.【C1】______inthe1900smostA
Whyaredivorcessocommonatpresent?
TheissueconcerningwhocontrolstheInternetwillbediscussed______.
OpportunityOpportunitiesdon’tcomeoften./Theycomeeveryonceinawhile.Veryoften,theycomequietlyandgobywith
随机试题
简述口蹄疫病畜肉的处理措施。
试述新生儿Apgar评分的方法和意义。
VTS通过发布消息的方式提供服务,其发布的消息有:信息、建议和()。
2012年12月,全国人大常委会通过的《关于加强网络信息保护的决定》强调,国家保护公民个人的电子信息,网络用户必须实名注册,公民有权要求网络服务提供者对侵害其合法权益的网络信息予以制止。该《决定》旨在()。
你正主持一个会议,意见对立的双方由争辩到恶语相向,你怎么办?(或:一个会议上,分成两派意见,大家争执不下,如果你是主持人,这时候你该怎么办?)
学术自由、待遇优厚是稷下学宫的特点。下列选项中,不是稷下学宫的“学术自由”的特点的是
设计作业调度算法时,不需要考虑下列哪一个因素?
下列数据结构中,属于非线性结构的是
Idon’tknowwhatitisaboutEnglishpubsthatIfindsodisappointing.【C1】______,pubsaresupposedtobetheEnglishman’s【C
Letmetakethis______tothankyoupubliclyforallyouhavedoneforourcompany.
最新回复
(
0
)