"The Art of Rock and Roll" by Charles T. Brown

Book Report: The Art of Rock and Roll

The book "The Art of Rock and Roll" by Charles T. Brown basically proposes

methods for analyzing music and anyone who reads the books should be able to develop

techniques for listening to music and making legitimate statements about it. It treats rock

and roll as a serious art form and traces it cultural roots throughout the book.

Chapter one discusses the elements of rock and makes four assumptions.

Assumption one states that rock is a legitimate art form. An art form is defined as a

creative act that springs from the artist's experience as it reflects or reacts against society.

It then states that acculturation, a process by which a certain people are influenced by a

foreign culture, changed the Afro-Americans from their original culture to one that was a

mixture of U.S. influences and African roots which played a large part in the way rock and

roll sounds today.

Rock in Rio Lisboa 2008 Rodrigo Sá

English: Line art drawing of the A note Español: ...

Garuda Rock

Brown proves rock is a legitimate art form by talking about its

audience and its lasting power.

Assumption two states that rocks roots are in folk, jazz, and pop music.

Musicians who first started rock and roll must have had something to base their music on

which turned out to be primarily folk, jazz, and pop. They simple changed the pattern and

style of that music and started forming rock.

Assumption three states that it is just as valid to study rock and roll as European

classical music. Rock will prove to be a valid means of producing competent musicians

and that it demands the same type of performance as in any musical form. Since it is a

valid way in which to study music in general it is just as valid to start with rock as starting

anywhere else.