2252 OSU History of Rock n Roll MT2

• Apollonian


  following the Greek god Apollo - god of harmony and reason - emphasizes the objective, calm experience of the reasoning mind, freed of the violent desires of the feeling body
• Dionysian


  following the Greek god Dionysus - god of wine, of drunken ecstasy, of chaos and unbridled physical pleasures - emphasizes the subjective, passionate experience of the emotional, erotic, sensous mind, very much rooted in the body
• rockism


  one of two essential elements of rock; idea that rock 'n' roll amounts to loud music played by white guys with guitars
• beat

  the level of pulse that best expresses the heartbeat of the musical flow; level can be ambiguous
• measure


  the grouping of beats into larger, clearly perceptible units; inevitably slower than the beat
• downbeat


  the pulse that marks the first beat of each measure; commonly the strongest beat of the measure
• upbeat


  any beat of the measure that is not a downbeat
• oral tradition


  principally learned and transmitted by ear rather than by written notation
• written tradition

  written notation, sheet music, classical-based transmission
• straight

  offbeats sometimes played in the middle of the beat that divides it into two equal halves; 'boom' and 'chick
• swing

  offbeats placed later in the beat that makes the first half longer than the second; 'dum' and 'ba
• syncopation


  an attack that occurs on a relatively weak pulse at the expense of a neighboring stronger pulse which receives either no attack at all or a weaker one
• boogie woogie


  conveys a feeling of rhythmic power by pounding or leaning insistently on every beat of the measure, making the music incredibly intense and exciting
• boogie

  rhythm intimately connected to blues form and expression and dance music
• walking


  a true, distinct four-beat feel introduced in jazz beginning with the swing style (1935-1950); bass line plays a note evenly on every beat of a four-beat measure; helps to counteract the natural "marching" feeling
• timbre


  the specific, unique acoustic quality of a sound; any and all qualities that give a sound its individuality
• pitch

  higher or lower placement of a note on the melodic spectrum
• fixed


  type of pitch that is simple and unvarying; basis of most written musical notation
• variable

  type of pitch like the human voice; bends, slides, subtle, and hard to pin down
• scale

  melodic grid; an implicit background framework on which melodies are built
• octave


  encloses eight pitches of a common scale; reach different ones by doubling or halving a pitch's vibration so as to increase or decrease its frequency
• diatonic


  denotes the basic scales of Western classical and traditional mainstream music
• major


  dominant scale in pop and rock music; traditionally felt to express strength; white keys on a piano
• minor


  a more complex role in popular music; traditionally felt to express emotion; uses black keys on piano
• chromatic

  scale has twelve pitches; includes sharps or flats; has no basis in traditional western folk or children's music
• chromatic inflections

  isolated sharps or flats outside of a particular scale; frequently add to diatonic tunes for reasons of ornament or style
• Broadway harmony


  jazz; chromatic inflections carefully woven into diatonic scales
• tonic


  point of reference and anchor for a scale; where melody usually ends and often begins
• fifth degree


  second most important scale degree; vibrations resonate well together acoustically
• mixolydian


  diatonic scale in which seventh degree is lower than than that of a normal major scale
• pentatonic


  fixed scale; contains only five different pitches within the octave
• blues pentatonic

  term given when the minor pentatonic scale incorporates blues notes
• blue note


  pitch space rather than a pitch point; located around the third, fifth, and seventh degrees of the diatonic minor
• roots


  allow remarkable and variable styles to flower in the course of rock' history, from the 1950s to the present day
• cross-rhytmic


  polyrhythms; produce the effect of syncopation; used in both traditional and contemporary African music
• call-and-response


  deep musical tradition traced to Africa; echo heard throughout blues, jazz, rock and many other rock styles
• heterogeneous sound


  a striking element in African music; enthusiasm for a diversity, even friction, of sounds and sound combinations which are termed ___ ___
• 12-bar


  simplest and most classic variety of blues; a a b form; repetition allows for emphasis and gives time to think of a b line in improvised situations; b line provides closure
• folk


  aspect of music that points to a different function, namely, its origin in a specific community, usually with a specific ethnic profile
• popular


  aspect of music that points to the marketplace rather than to a perceived value or community; music is a commodity in our modern world sold for profit