Rock Music History

Summary

In this lesson, students will explore the diversity of rock music. While analysing an iconic rock song, they will get to know the characteristics of the genre and learn about its development during the second half of the 20th century. The lesson provides an overview of various subgenres of rock music and opens up a discussion about similarities and differences between them.

_{The timing and pacing of the exercises in this lesson plan example are approximate and will differ depending on your students' skill level. If the pace of this lesson plan is too fast for you, divide it into several lessons. If the pace of this lesson plan is too slow for you, explore the 'Beyond the lesson' chapter at the end of this lesson plan for additional activities.}

⏰ Time: 50 min

🎓 Grades: 5-12

🎯 Objective(s): As a result of this lesson students will be able to...

• Understand that rock music comprises different genres;
• Describe the characteristics of rock music;
• Describe the instrumental and vocal lines of a song;
• Compare different rock songs.

💡 Required Prior Knowledge and Skills:

• Musical styles/genres.

💻 Materials:

• Solfeg.io web app best used with Chrome browser
• Projector or computer and access to Wi-Fi

Song suggestions:

Inspiration

🕐 10 min - I Love Rock'n'Roll

-Play 'I Love Rock'n'Roll' by Joan Jett from the song library and show the slide with photos from the official music video.

-Discuss with students:

• How would you describe the image of the musicians, their clothes, hairstyles, makeup? (you can talk about the leather clothes, long hair, dark makeup etc.)
• How would you describe the attitude of musicians and their fans? (You can use such words as angry, aggressive, tough, assertive, vigorous, bold, forceful, seductive etc.)
• What instruments are played in this song? What musical style are they characteristic of? (Electric guitars, electric bass, drums: characteristic instruments of rock music.)
• Which year, in your opinion, was the song released? Guess at least the decade! (Joan Jett's version was recorded in 1981, it's a cover of a song by Arrows which was released in 1975.)

-Have a closer look at the lyrics of Verse 1, Pre-Chorus 1 and Chorus 1.

• Listen to the excerpt of the song and write down all the words, related to music! (Dancing, record machine, beat, playing, song, singing, rock'n'roll, jukebox.)

‍Do you know what 'record machine', 'beat', 'rock'n'roll' and 'jukebox' are?

What do you think the phrase 'The beat was going strong' means? (Strong presence of percussion instruments.)

How many times 'yeah' is repeated and in which part of the song? (It's repeated twice in Pre-Chorus 1. It emphasizes the singer's self-confidence, draws attention to 'me'.)

Warm-Up

🕐 25 min - History of rock music

-Having listened to a rock song with the class, shortly brainstorm how rock music could be defined.

• What characterizes rock music? (Rock music is often characterized by a strong beat, the use of verse-chorus form and the presence of electric instruments, such as electric guitar, electric bass, electric organ or electric piano.)
• Why, in your opinion, is rock music called like this? Is rock music tough/hard/strong sounding? Why/why not?

-Reflect on the lyrics in Chorus. 'I love rock'n'roll' clearly means rock'n'roll is an important source of inspiration for rock musicians.

• Rock'n'roll is a genre of American popular music in the 1950s.
• It originated in blues, rhythm and blues and country music.
• Rock'n'roll introduced the typical rock instrument set-up, consisting of four to five musicians: lead singer, lead guitar, rhythm guitar, drums and bass.

Did you hear all these instruments in the song excerpt?

-Listen to Interlude and Pre-Chorus 3.

• Which instrument catches your attention in this excerpt? (Which one is playing solo?)

It's electric guitar - an essential instrument in rock music.

The solid-body guitar was invented by Les Paul in the 1940s. One of the first mass-produced solid-body guitars - Fender Telecaster - was introduced by Leo Fender in the beginning of the 1950s.

Before that, guitars were mostly hollow-bodied. In such instruments, the sound of the strings resonates through the soundboard and sound holes.

Electric solid-body guitar, on the other hand, depends on electric pickups, amplifier and speaker.

It allowed the guitarists to become louder and helped maintain a clear sound without the hum and feedback.

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• How would you describe the sound of the guitar? Do you notice anything weird, 'broken' about it?

Electric musical instruments allow the use of different effects units that alter their sound.

Distortion is one of such effects: the gain of the audio signal is increased, creating a fuzzy, gritty, growling, harsh sound.

It was first achieved, using faulty equipment, for example, a broken amplifier, and later emulated by effects pedals that appeared in the market in the 1960s.

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-'I Love Rock'n'roll' by Joan Jett was released in 1981. By that point, rock music had already divided into many different genres. Shortly explain some of them.

• Folk rock: in the 1960s, some folk musicians, for example, Bob Dylan, went electric, playing amplified instruments and adding a stronger beat to their songs. The music became a means of social commentary and a form of poetic self-expression. It was tied to the hippie movement and anti-Vietnam War protests in the United States.
• Blues rock: in the 1960s, rock further incorporated elements of blues and R&B, such as the harmonic structure of blues, but added more guitar improvisation and various effects.
• Hard rock: it was a kind of louder and faster blues rock, characterized by more distortion on the guitars and simple song structures.
• Progressive/art/symphonic rock: in the late 1960s, rock musicians experimented with more complex song structures, tempo changes and non-typical instruments. The arrival of multi-track recording studios and long-play records allowed the creation of elaborate concept albums of music that could not be performed live.
• Glam rock: in the early 1970s, the focus was on individual rock stars. As music programs and concerts were broadcasted on TV, the visual aspect of the performance became increasingly important. Such artists as David Bowie became famous for their eccentric image. Musically, artists drew on various influences from superficial pop to progressive rock.
• Punk rock: in the mid 1970s, punks revolted against the eclecticism and elitism of prog rock and the nostalgia of Adult Oriented Rock, also called Stadium rock. Characterized by powerful riffs and energetic songs, punk rock brought music back to the youth and praised spontaneity, do-it-yourself culture and sleaziness.
• Alternative/indie rock: in the mid 1980s, many artists turned to small, independent record labels, called 'indies' where they had the freedom to create music they liked. Recognizable by jangly guitars, heavy distortion and dark lyrics. The first wave of alternative rock was also called 'college rock', since the music was made by and for students.

-These are only some of the subgenres of rock music. It's important to mention that various subgenres existed simultaneously and their influence can still be heard in contemporary rock music which is characterized by fusion and eclecticism.

-Discuss with the class, what could the genre of 'I Love Rock'n'roll' be. (Hard rock)

Practice

🕐 10 min - Exercise 1 - Rock on!

-Explore the category 'Rock' in the song library.

-Choose a song, for example, 'Sweet Child of Mine' by Guns 'N' Roses. Listen to an excerpt of the song.

• What instruments do you hear? (Remember you can solo or mute tracks under 'Controls' - 'Volume'!)
• Compare this song to 'I Love Rock'n'roll'!

What are the similarities (in instrumental and vocal parts, song structure, mood, lyrics)?

What are the differences (in instrumental and vocal parts, song structure, mood, lyrics)?

Do you think these songs belong to the same genre? Why/why not?

Reflection

🕐 5 min - Discussion

• How does rock music compare to other musical genres you know, for example, pop music? Think about such topics as commerciality, artist's authenticity, musical skills, rebellion, expression of feelings etc.
• Do you think genres are important? Why/why not?

Beyond the Lesson

Challenge students to go beyond the lesson by...

• Exploring the category 'Rock' in the Solfeg.io web app's sound library;
• Learning to sing a song of choice and/or play parts of its instrumental accompaniment in Solfeg.io web app.

Visual presentation