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Institute for Popular Music : Director

Review of Robert Freeman, The Crisis of Classical Music in America: Lessons from the Life in the Education of Musicians (Rowman & Littlefield, 2014)

To MOOC or Not To MOOC?

Traditions, Institutions, and American Popular Tradition: A special issue of the journal Contemporary Music Review

The hippie aesthetic: cultural positioning and musical ambition in early progressive rock

The music―front and center. The leading text in the market, What’s That Sound? strengthens students’ listening skills and deepens their understanding of rock, first and foremost, as music. New listening guides and author videos reinforce this classic strength, while also providing additional historical and cultural context that allows students to make connections between the music and the times.

What's That Sound?: An Introduction to Rock and Its History (Fourth Edition)

"A variety of approaches are brought to bear on fascinating repertoire, but with the underlying aim of better understanding some brilliant music. There’ s nothing more exciting in music writing than something which entices you to listen to what’ s familiar to you in a new way, and this collection brings such excitement in abundance." ---Allan Moore, author of Jethro Tull: Aqualung and Rock: The Primary Text"These essays bring together a remarkable range of tools and perspectives to such diverse topics and contexts as the behind-the-scenes collaborations of composers, performers, arrangers, producers and engineers; pop culture; narratology; and race, politics and gender. The reader continuously benefits from a complementary lineup of sensitive ears that discover novelty in the familiar, exposing the heart of many rock and pop classics through imaginative and authoritative prose." ---Walter Everett, author of The Foundations of Rock and The Beatles as Musicians The nine essays in Sounding Out Pop work together to map the myriad styles and genres of the pop-rock universe through detailed case studies that confront the music from a variety of engaging, thought-provoking perspectives---from historical to music-analytic, aesthetic to ethnographic, with several authors drawing liberally from ideas in other disciplines. The range of bands and artists covered is as vast and varied as the more than fifty-year history of pop and rock music, from the Coasters and Roy Orbison to Marvin Gaye, Bob Dylan, Radiohead, Beck, Genesis, Tori Amos, and the Police. Together these diverse essays cover a broad spectrum of studies ideally suited for classroom use and for other readers interested in gaining a deeper knowledge of the way popular music works. Mark Spicer is Associate Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies in Music at Hunter College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York. His writings have appeared in Contemporary Music Review, Gamut, Music Theory Online, twentieth-century music, and other scholarly journals and essay collections.John Covach is Professor of Music at the University of Rochester and Professor of Theory at the Eastman School of Music. He is the author of the college textbook What's That Sound? An Introduction to Rock and Its History and the coeditor of Understanding Rock, American Rock and the Classical Music Tradition, and Traditions, Institutions, and American Popular Music.Cover art credit: © iStockphoto.com/Aleksandar Dickov

Sounding Out Pop: Analytical Essays in Popular Music (Tracking Pop)

Scholars have become increasingly interested in rock music, but few of the many works published on the subject attempt to place the music itself under close and sophisticated scrutiny. This text brings together essays by several of musicology and music theory's young scholars who take a music-analytical perspective. Each essay explores the often complex musical structure of rock music, by such artists as the Beach Boys, the Grateful Dead, Cream, Jimi Hendrix, Yes, Paul Simon, and k.d. lang. Richly illustrated with musical examples and transcriptions, these essays attempt to expand our understanding of the musical experience generally, and to suppress dividing lines between pop and art music and the way they are studied.

Understanding Rock: Essays in Musical Analysis

The Music of the Rolling Stones: 1962-1974

Analysis of Popular Music

The Beatles

John Covach is Director of the University of Rochester Institute for Popular Music, Professor of Music in the College Music Department, and Professor of Theory at the Eastman School of Music. Professor Covach teaches classes in traditional music theory as well as the history and analysis of popular music. His online courses at Coursera.org have enrolled more than 350,000 students in over 175 countries worldwide.

Professor Covach has published dozens of articles on topics dealing with popular music, twelve-tone music, and the philosophy and aesthetics of music. He is the principal author of the college textbook What's That Sound? An Introduction to Rock Music (W.W. Norton) and has co-edited Understanding Rock (Oxford University Press), American Rock and the Classical Tradition and Traditions, Institutions, and American Popular Music (Routledge), Sounding Out Pop (University of Michigan Press), as well as the forthcoming Cambridge Companion to the Rolling Stones. He is one of the founding editors for Tracking Pop (Michigan), a series devoted to scholarly monographs on popular music. He appears regularly on radio and television in North America and England, and his writing may be found in Time, Newsweek, The Huffington Post, CNN.com and FoxNews.com.

As a guitarist, Covach has performed widely on electric and classical guitar in both the US and Europe and recorded with the progressive rock band, Land of Chocolate. He currently performs with several bands, including Going for the One.

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what-did-ozzy-osbourne-mean-to-music

The "Prince of Darkness" was more than the guy who bit the head off a bat, says University of Rochester music historian John Covach.

Professor of Music and Director of the Institute for Popular Music; Professor of Theory at Eastman School of Music

The world lost a heavy metal pioneer on Tuesday when Ozzy Osbourne, the frontman for the group Black Sabbath who went on to astounding commercial success as a solo artist, died at the age of 76.

University of Rochester music professor John Covach can help frame the contributions the self-proclaimed “Prince of Darkness” made to the genre of heavy metal and popular music.
 

“What’s That Sound?: An Introduction to Rock and Its History,” which Covach wrote with Carleton College professor Andrew Flory, is widely considered a landmark history of rock music. Covach can help distill heavy metal’s history and influences and Osbourne’s place in both.

He recently helped The New York Times explain what made the album “Pet Sounds” a masterpiece for Beach Boys chief songwriter Brian Wilson. He has offered commentary to the New York Daily News on why artists might relinquish ownership of their music. Last year, he offered thoughts to The Boston Globe on the timeless appeal of aging rock ‘n’ rollers who are still packing arenas. Connect with Covach by clicking on his profile.  



What did Ozzy Osbourne mean to music?

need-a-music-expert-john-covach-hits-the-right-notes

The University of Rochester music historian has regularly sought out by news outlets around the world.

Attention music journalists: When there are developments in the music industry — whether it be the emergence of a new sound, a growing trend in experiencing and listening to music, or the death of an influential artist — John Covach lends valuable perspective to your stories.

Covach, a prominent rock and pop music historian who directs the Institute of Popular Music at the University of Rochester, is regularly sought out by news outlets around the world.

He recently helped The New York Times explain what made the album “Pet Sounds” a masterpiece for Beach Boys chief songwriter Brian Wilson. He has offered commentary to the New York Daily News on why artists might relinquish ownership of their music. Last year, he offered thoughts to The Boston Globe on the timeless appeal of aging rock ‘n’ rollers who are still packing arenas. “It doesn’t matter that they can’t sing the high notes anymore,” Covach told The Globe. “It doesn’t matter that they’re kind of stooped over. We’re seeing the person we remember from 40 or 50 years ago.”

Covach is a wealth of knowledge and an accessible expert. Connect with him by clicking on his profile. 



Need a music expert? John Covach hits the right notes

university-of-rochesters-john-covach-gives-perspective-on-beatles-abbey-road-anniversary-

September 26 marks the 50th anniversary of the worldwide release of the Beatles’ Abbey Road. While Let It Be was released in 1970, most of the tracks on that album were recorded earlier, making Abbey Road the band’s last album project. 
 
John Covach, director of the Institute for Popular Music at the University of Rochester, coauthor of What’s That Sound: An Introduction to Rock and Its History, and Beatles academic expert, notes:
 
“It’s definitely the Beatles’ last statement. You’ve got a band that’s breaking up and everyone knows they’re breaking up. They’re arguing with each other, suing each other, and it’s ugly and goes against the band’s legacy. This all happens in 1969, so they decide to go back into the studio and do one last record to leave on a high note, which is Abbey Road. And there’s this moment where they come out with this album that it’s back to form; just a fantastic Beatles project after the last project had failed. Abbey Road is the group playing together, singing together, and working together in a way that they haven’t really done for some time and putting their personal differences aside.” 
  The University of Rochester’s Institute for Popular Music and Eastman School of Music will host The Abbey Road Conference, from September 27 to 29. The conference will feature speakers Ken Townsend, recording engineer and former Abbey Road manager; Andy Babiuk, author of Beatles Gear, Walter Everett, author of The Beatles as Musicians; and Kenneth Womack, author of Maximum Volume: The Life of Beatles Producer George Martin.  

University of Rochester's John Covach gives perspective on Beatles Abbey Road Anniversary 

The year was 1967. The Vietnam War was raging abroad, but in America, it was the Summer of Love. The British invasion had taken over the airwaves a few years earlier, but the pop music landscape was about to change again.

The Beatles had already conquered America with previous records like A Hard Day's Night, Revolver and Rubber Soul, but they were about to redefine rock music again with their newest album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

It was seen as a concept album, unlike anything that came before it, drenched in the psychedelic movement that was en vogue at the time. It blended horns and classical music with rock rhythms, and lyrics that conjured the otherworldly experiences associated with that movement.

So, what was the impact of that album on the culture when it was released, and in the years that followed? Director of the Institute for Popular Music at the University of Rochester, John Covach, discusses the influence it had and why it's still seen as one of the greatest rock albums of all-time 50 years after its release, and probably still will be seen that way 50 years from now.

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The Lasting Impact of Sgt. Pepper, 50 Years Later

It was 1963 and the Beatles were climbing the pop charts in the UK and creating a frenzy among their growing fan base. Despite this popularity in their home country, Beatlemania had not yet been imported across the Atlantic to audiences in the US. That changed with the release of their first single in America, "I Want to Hold Your Hand" on December 26, 1963. The song quickly shot up the US pop charts to reach the number one spot by January of 1964, and the rest was history.

On the heels of that success, the Beatles made their first trip to the US, appearing on the Ed Sullivan Show for the first time on February 9,1964. The broadcast garnered the largest television audience in the US for any program at the time and it launched the craze known as Beatlemania.

By April 6, 1964, all five of the top spots on the Billboard chart were occupied by Beatles songs. The number one spot was held by "Can't By Me Love", followed by their raucous cover of "Twist and Shout", with "She Loves You", "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "Please Please Me" rounding out the other spots.

Having already conquered the pop charts and television, the Beatles set their sights on film, releasing A Hard Day's Night on August 11, 1964. All of these events set in motion a revolution of popular music, ushering in the British invasion that would bring bands like the Rolling Stones, the Animals and eventually The Who to American audiences and sending the popularity of rock music to greater heights than had ever been imagined before the Beatles emergence.

While subsequent years would see a growth of their artistic vision, producing some of the most influential albums ever recorded, it was that brief span from late 1963 into the summer of 1964 that made it all possible, signaling the beginning of what was yet to come.

50 Years of Beatlemania

Originally released in March of 1973, Pink Floyd's iconic album The Dark Side of the Moon turned 40 years old in 2013. From its 741 weeks on the Billboard charts and estimated 50 million copies sold, it has remained one of the most commercially successful recordings of all time. It also marked the emergence of Pink Floyd on a world wide stage, from their beginnings in the London underground music scene.

John Covach, chair of the Department of Music and director of the Institute for Popular Music at the University of Rochester, says what makes The Dark Side of the Moon stand out is the album coherence from beginning to end. While the album produced successful singles that got significant radio play such as "Money" and "Time", each song seems to flow naturally into the next, making the sum greater than the parts. Covach says that The Dark Side of the Moon is one those landmark albums in the echelon of The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band or Michael Jackson's Thriller, and is arguably not only one of the greatest albums of the 1970s, but perhaps in the history of rock music.

Pink Floyd's "The Dark Side of the Moon": 40 Years Later

John Covach, the Mercer Brugler Distinguished Teaching Professor and chair of the Department of Music appears on BBC World News America to discuss the significance and the staying power of the Rolling Stones. Covach is a rock historian and author of What's That Sound? An Introduction to Rock Music, now in its third edition. To watch the entire segment, visit http://www.rochester.edu/news/video/c...

John Covach: The Staying Power of the Rolling Stones

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