School of Rock

We just saw the School of Rock with Jack Black. We both loved it. It was just a great little movie. Annette and I talked all the way home about how much fun it would be to play and sing in a band. I couldn't help but reckon back to yesteryear when I was going to "change the world with one rock concert." (Dewey/Ned's dream in the movie.) The scene in the movie when the kids challenge him to sing his song the he's "not quite done with" is a scene I played over and over in my head when I was 18 or 19 years old. I could hear entire rock songs and solos and concerts in my head. But, as I stated in a previous blog entry, I was naive and there was no "School of Rock" to speak of. We all just saw the Beatles up there and said "I wanna do that." How much time and energy wasted on inefficient methods and no-talent people? Here's my School of Rock lesson for today: Rock Music is a sub-category of Popular Music (Pop Music). As such, it is music centered on song. A "song" has at its roots lyrics. Added to these lyrics are rhythm (in the classic Jazz or Big Band sense i.e. a "rhythm section" consisting of Drums, Bass and Guitar.) Added to this would be embellishments of particular soloists, ostensibly to add to the overall tenor of the song, but also to highlight mastery of an instrument. In Rock N Roll this soloing has fallen chiefly to the electric guitar; the "Lead Guitarist." Because of this, young would-be Rock N Rollers tend to be fooled into thinking that the guitar, especially the lead guitar, is the backbone of the music or the band. They're wrong. It's still the vocalist! Young Rockers should build their repertoire around the singer. If they don't have one, they don't have a band yet and they should get one. If the guitar player is the "leader" of the band that's fine, it's up to him to pick the songs that the singer can sing. And to all those "Lead Guitarists": stop musically masturbating on stage. We don't want to hear it. Do it at home. If you don't have something to say with your instrument, keep it quiet. A good solo adds to a song. It sounds like it belongs there. Music professors call this "inevitability." Think of the first four notes of Beethoven's Fifth. Now think of the next four notes. They are inevitable. I believe Pop Music can achieve great quality. But it takes artists that are committed to the art form. So few young people are even aware of the parameters of the art form they have chosen. They need to go to the School of Rock.

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