Professor says rock 'n' roll is college material

Roberta Schwartz

No offense to the Ramones, but rock 'n' roll isn't just for high school anymore.

Roberta Schwartz, assistant professor of music and dance, offers a class at KU that teaches students how to sharpen their rock 'n' roll listening skills.

She has taught Music 309: History of Rock and Roll, during the fall semester for the past two years.

The title might give you the impression that the course examines the cultural significance of rock. Instead, it is more about music appreciation.

"We touch really very little on the cultural impact of rock 'n' roll," she said. "That's something that most people who listen to rock music are familiar with at least on the surface. My interest is approaching rock 'n' roll as a musical entity."

Accomplishing that often leads to rather unique homework.

Five times throughout the semester, students have to submit a listening log. Each log includes 10 songs from artists they have never heard before, whether that's a new group, a golden oldie or even a local band. They must describe those pieces to the best of their ability, breaking down the song's melodic and rhythmic structure while paying close attention to the arrangement of instruments.

But don't get the idea that students can simply put on some background music while they do homework for other classes.

"Most people find it's a little more difficult than they expected, and if you think you know everything about rock 'n' roll, you don't," she said.

When they do listen carefully, she said, it helps them see rock music in an entirely new light.

"Once you dissect it, you begin to catch on to why certain songs work and why other songs don't work and what drives a song from the beginning to the end."

Students not only gain insight into the mechanics of songs, but they also learn that a rock star like Sting can have a lot in common with a classical composer like Stravinsky.

"The aspects of rhythm and harmony and melody, all of those fundamentals are the same, no matter whether they're happening in rock 'n' roll or jazz or classical music," Schwartz said. "I find that when I teach the music of the Baroque period, I refer a lot to early rock 'n' roll because of the walking bass pattern. It doesn't just happen in rock 'n' roll, it's also happening in Baroque music."

Schwartz, whose research specializes in medieval and Renaissance music, said she has a soft spot for the rockers from the second wave of the British Invasion of the 1960s, especially Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, the Animals and the Who. In fact, she's writing a book about the influence of American blues artists on those English bands.

She also plans to create a similar course just for rap, which receives mention in her rock 'n' roll class.

"I think rap is one of the healthiest influences to come into rock 'n' roll, very much a vitalizing influence, and I am working on developing a course on it because it's so fundamentally reliant on rhythm."

Another offshoot of this class is that it's already having an impact on some aspiring musicians.

"People who are in bands have told me that it has made a difference in the way they write pieces," she said. "Studying structure and form, they now know all the tricks. These are tricks of the trade but, again, they're the same tricks that classical composers have been using for centuries. They're good tricks."

#top#