Romantic… songs? (Module 5)
Part A
Top of Form
In the first paragraph of Prelude 5, your textbook lists three of the common tenets of Romanticism: “the artist struggling against rather than working within society and convention, the need for art to unsettle rather than soothe, and the belief that works display their creator’s distinctive originality and self-expression”. Your text then goes on to list other important themes seen in the work of Romantic artists: longing, freedom of expression, an interest in the supernatural (good vs. evil, life vs. death, etc.), the grotesque, impulsivity, exoticism, wonder and the pursuit of the unattainable. These are quite different from the Classical values of restraint, order and symmetry! The song was an extremely important genre that was developed extensively in the 19th century (please see chapters 33-34), likely due to the clarity with which it was able to embody these Romantic tenets and themes.
Many of these same themes and tenets are still very much a part of the culture of our own popular music idioms. Please listen to
one
of the following YouTube videos, and make a post which explains how the song from the video you have chosen embodies some of the themes and tenets of Romanticism listed above. Feel free to tie in the ways in which the video portion highlight this, if applicable! Next, please attempt to draw parallels and/or differences in the ways in which these themes are treated in one of the two songs which appear in chapters 33 and 34 (not in terms of musical style, which is obviously quite different, but in terms of how the composer/songwriter deals with the particular theme).
WARNING
– The first and third options contain explicit content. If you are uncomfortable with this, please select the second option.
Resources
Part B
This week we learned about several genres of popular music. These include: various types of soul and rock (progressive rock, punk, New Wave, jazz-rock fusion), as well as funk and disco.
Choose
one
of the genres described in chapter 27 and describe its characteristics! Find an example of your chosen genre and include a link to the song in your initial response. What made you choose this genre and this song?
JAZZ,PUNK, ROCK, PROGRESSIVE, NEW WAVE, SOUL, AND JAZZ-ROCK FUSION
Bottom of Form
