PULLMAN, Wash. – “Rock and roll music has distinct qualities,” says Washington State University music instructor Brian Ward. “A strong beat. Guitar driven. Lyrics about teenage things like love, cars, the birds and bees, drugs …”
He stops. He realizes there are a gazillion exceptions.
“It’s a very loose definition,” he allows. “But people know it when they hear it.”
Pullman sections fill up
Recognition is good, but understanding is better. That’s why hundreds of WSU Pullman students have enrolled in Music 262, Rock Music: History and Social Analysis. Both sections of the fall 2013 course in Pullman are already full, and each has a capacity of 250.
“Students sometimes say it’s their favorite class,” Ward says, “because they can listen to music they enjoy.”
This fall, Ward will launch an online version of the three-credit course for WSU’s Global Campus. See http://online.wsu.edu/resources/course_more_info.aspx?uid=2137-8514
Students start with the 1920s and end with the introduction of MTV. Coursework includes listening to music, watching videos, writing papers, analyzing recordings and taking “listening exams.”
Musical mix with ‘gospel gravy’
One reviewer described his album “Wonderbread” as a mix of “jazz, funk, R&B, soul and Afro-Cuban flavors, all slathered in a gospel gravy.”
Students more willing to solo
As a musician, and as a faculty member, Ward is accustomed to a live audience. But the online audience at the Global Campus also has advantages.
Online students feel freer to share opinions and ideas, he says, because they don’t suffer from the stage fright of having to speak in front of peers.
“Online discussion boards are terrific – students really help each other figure things out,” he says.
Maybe, as a group, his students will come up with a better definition of rock music. But Ward says that would be – in several ways – academic.
“In music history, we’re always looking back, trying to define things,” he says. “But at the time, musicians just play what they want to play. They don’t care what it’s called.”
Contact:
Brian Ward, WSU School of Music, brian.ward@wsu.edu, 509-335-7934