Rhythm and blues

More Than What Meets The Ear When someone mentions rock music, I immediately think of loud music with guitars, drums, and an energetic vocals. I also think of it as my parent’s music that I rarely listen to. However, as I begin this course, I realize that my views are way too narrow, and that rock music is so much more than that. I thought I knew what rock and roll was, but now I know that I do not. There is so many genres and subgenres that I had not even considered when thinking about rock…

December 17, 2009, one cold, chilly morning. The sky seemed covered with a layer of gray yarn; the snowflakes like the thousand butterflies flies toward the windows, some naughty hitted the one side of window glass, and some danced to the other side. I stepped into a brown building and straight to the main office. After I registered, a lady with an amiable smile, who I know laterly as Mrs. White, greeted me with a zealous voice “ Welcome to Hillside Middle School, Yiwen.” My first school day…

Blues music is something that has moved me from a very young age. The authenticity and soul of the blues is something I instantly connected with growing up. Watching the true legends of blues music, like Stevie Ray Vaughan and Eric Clapton, play their guitars with effortless expression is inspiring. They successfully combined the creativity of Jimi Hendrix with the intensity of Albert King, but managed to execute each bend and vibrato with the sophistication of a world class jazz musician. They…

In 1958, Elvis Presley was drafted into the military and the next two years of serving for the army drastically affected the rest of his life and career. During his military service, Elvis had a fear that he would not be able to kick start his musical career again if all of his fans left him by the time he was released from the army. To make matters worse, his mother Gladys Presley fell terribly ill and died to Cirrhosis. This happened just a few months into his service and before his leave for…

Binyi Wu Ethnomusicology 50A Discussion 1E November 23, 2015 Billy Strayhorn “The extent to which Billy Strayhorn gained recognition during his years with us was never commensurate with his contribution” said Leonard Feather, the British-born jazz musician. Indeed, though contributing enormous brilliant jazz pieces to the swing era, Billy Strayhorn, compared to his collaborator Duke Ellington, was relatively unknown to public. Instead, living most of his professional life as the protégé of…

Authored by James Baldwin, “Sonny Blues” tells of a story of blues musical style and its relation to African-American discrimination. Located in the northern part of Manhattan New York, Blues became popular in the Harlem district during the 1920’s. An African American community, Harlem is not only home to promising artists but also a haven for drugs and gangs. In a time of racial hatred, Harlem introduced a never before heard musical style in form of blues. Along with racial and political issues…

this painting are brown and the sky and ocean are blue with some…

Elvis Presley Did you know that Elvis Presley’s famous black hair was dyed, and his natural hair color was brown (25 Fun Facts about Elvis Presley)? Elvis Presley grew up to become one of the biggest names in Rock and Roll. Elvis Presley became know as The King of Rock and Roll after he left the army in 1960 because he resumed his career with working his way back to the top of the charts (Elvis Presley Biography). This paper will cover Elvis Presley’s childhood, how music inspired his life…

Fusion rock is a term frequently used in music to classify songs containing characteristics of the rock genre with another style of music, for example African or jazz music. Sister Rose, performed by renowned band Sky, and Smooth performed by the popular band Santana are both strong examples of fusion rock. While Sky successfully manages to fuse two very opposite styles of music, rock and classical, Santana unites rock and Latin music together bringing a spicy, hot dance number. Both pieces…

Louis Armstrong, he was a very important artist during his time. He is is now like a symbol of the music. He start to play when he was very young. As in Source 6 says “at the age of eleven, Armstrong began to develop interest in music,.. Joe “King” Oliver, invite him and moved to Chicago”(Source 6-1) he starts to show interest for music in an early age and when Oliver invited him to go and play with him he accepted and there is where his career started. Armstrong technically changed the way…