Musicology Research Task-
Progressive Rock
History
Progressive rock emerged out of the British psychedelic scene in the late 1960's.
Progressive rock is based on fusions of styles, approaches and genres including, jazz, folk, classical and psychedelia. This emerging genre also came about when the mid-1960s economic boom happened and that allowed record labels to allocate more creative control to their artists, which you can see in a lot of the progressive rock artists. As a result of this, progressive rock saw a high level of popularity in the early-to-mid-1970s . The first generally accepted Progressive Rock album was King Crimson's 'In the Court of the Crimson King' released on 10 October 1969. The era of progressive rock ended around the mid to late 1970s , then fragmented into other genres.
Characteristics of the style
The characteristics of progressive rock are what make the genre stand out and unique. One of these characteristics are the longer songs commonly found and highly associated with this genre of rock. Also, many of these longer songs can be considered 'epics' in their own right. Aother characteristic of progressive rock would be the odd time signatures. These include some like 7/4, 11/8, 9/4 and free time. Another characteristic is the unconventional song structure that many songs have and include. Another characteristic of progressive rock is the more complex instrumentation and the longer instrumentation sections. The instrumentation could include piano, keyboard, synthesizer, strings, flute, tympani, and other more peculiar instruments mixed in with the guitar and drums in a progresive band in order to setup the “progressive” sound.
Examples of artists and songs
Some examples of artists in the progressive rock genre are: Pink Floyd, known for songs such as, 'Wish you were here', ' Time', 'Money' and 'Shine on you crazy diamond'. Another band in this genre is king Crimson known for songs like, 21st century schizoid man, I talk to the wind and Epitaph. Another band in this genre is Jethro Tull, which is known for songs like: Velvet green, The whistler and Hunting girl.
Impact on styles of music
Progressive rock has impacted a lot of the music after it a lot. There were many genres that had evolved from progressive rock or took ideas from it. For example the punk genre and the metal genre of music are very much more evolved versions of some of the progressive rock ideas. Also, a lot of rock in general that came after the progressive rock time held many of the characterisics, such as odd time changes and signatures, more complex instrumentation and the longer songs.
Analyse of song;
Pink Floyd- Time
Duration
During this song the tempo is allegro or quite fast and seems to be around 120 beats per minute. The song is in 4/4. The song consits of a mix between long and short note values though there seems to be more short note values such as crotchets and quavers. Though in certain parts, such as the end, the note values get longer as the mood and tone changes.
Pitch
The song seems to be at a moderate to moderately high pitch throughout the song with not too much range in pitch. The song is played in A major with chords including, D major 7th, C# major 7th and B major 7th in the song.
Dynamics & Expressive Techniques
For dynamics the song starts off moderately quite with the ticking clock and the intro. The song then get louder, up to a forte for the first verse. It then gets a bit louder as the chorus starts and carries the volume level on to the guitar solo, having a gradual diminuendo. Later as it gets into the last verse the song gets gradually quiter( a diminuendo) as it ends.
Texture
The song has a very common homophonic texture to it. It has the main melody and the accompaniment. There are vocals, 2 guitars, drums and a bass. The chorus has a thinner texture than the verse with added higher-pitched female voices. The intro builds up in texture from the clock ticking to the guitars and then the various percussion instruments. The use of more abstract percussion instruments, such as the clock ticking are very much in relation to the genre of progressive rock.
Tone colour
The song's tone is very dark, resonant and warm. Some of the sound seems to be acoustic, such as the percussion instruments used throughout. Some of the other sounds are electrically produced such as the guitars, bass, some of the various effects and the ticking clock at the begining of the song. The intro really gives the song a lot of its tone. In that the intro feels dark and holds a lot of tension in the fast ticking and the resonant guitar. These tones are quite common within the progressive rock genre ; especially the use of some of the effects and the abstract clock noises, it makes it really fit in , within the genre.
Structure
The song's structure is moderately normal, in that it does follow a verse, chorus structure. The structure goes: Intro, which is quite long, around 2 minutes, Verse 1 then chorus and then a guitar solo which is also quite long. It then goes to the last verse and then ends slowly in a glum fashion. The creation of unity within the song can be seen in the use of the one specific percussive-effect that is used and that is the clock's ticking sound which is repeated in various places through the piece.