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Thứ Hai, 4 tháng 4, 2016

Facts About Scandinavian Prog Rock

By Martha Graham


Prog is a subgenre of rock music. Mostly, the short forms prog rock or simply prog are used. Other people prefer the term art rock. The term progressive rock started being adopted as people moved away from using the term progressive pop. Progressive pop was birthed in the UK and the reason of its birthing was to elevate the genre to higher levels.

Although the United Kingdom was the main country where the subgenre was developed, further development was done in other Western countries. Some of the western countries that helped to develop the genre further include France, Germany, and Italy. Other European countries also started to develop their own versions such as the Scandinavian prog rock. Psychedelic rock was the mother of progressive pop.

The subgenre started being developed in mid 1960s and continued throughout 1970s. The primary reason for development was to give credibility and higher artistic weight to the music of the time. Compositional methods and instrumentation was now being borrowed from classical music and jazz. This was done so that the genre could earn more critical respect and be more sophisticated like other genres.

The danceable beats that earlier characterized the old version were abandoned or incorporated to a lesser extent. Instead, lyrical content, rhythm, compositional structure, and harmony started being incorporated more. Thus, the listener has to put in more effort in order to understand and enjoy the songs. The subgenre borrows musical styles from a number of other genres such as folk and jazz, making it even more sophisticated.

The song structure of verse/chorus form that dominates popular music is often avoided in prog pop. Artists play around with sections of the song to produce classical-style suites that cannot be accomplished in most popular genres. Thematic unity between sections is emphasized to achieve harmony. Dynamic contrast is often attained through transitions between acoustic and electric sections. Group improvisation is also a common technique that bands employ.

Progressive pop gives more emphasis to the whole band than to individuals. The traditional idea of a single, dominant singer being accompanied by a band is dropped in this subgenre and instead the whole group given priority. Most songs have a length of between three and five minutes, but really long pieces also exist. For instance, it is uncommon to come across songs that run for as long as twenty minutes.

The public had mixed reaction towards this new genre. A lot of critical acclaim and criticism continue to be experienced along the years. This genre has been considered to be parallel to the works of some of the most renowned classical music artists. Criticism often stemmed from the overzealousness of some artists to further the boundaries of the genre.

The expansion of boundaries of the genre was often accompanied by dismissal of mainstream pop music by some bands and musician. The dismissiveness was considered to be elitism. Themes in this subgenre were also too exotic for British and most European adolescents to identify with due to bad economic times.




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