Une histoire du Viking Metal (1970-2014). Contribution à l'étude de l'imaginaire nordique

Au détour de lieux de sociabilité metal (forums de discussions, bars ou salles de concerts), les « discussions de comptoirs » d’amateurs, expliquant avec passion que : telle formation est du hard rock et non du heavy metal, telle autre du « black » et non « death », une troisième du « folk » et non « viking » sont légions. Cette réflexion entend donc établir une histoire d’un sous-genre particulier. L’approche de l’histoire culturelle s’effectue par les représentations d’un groupe social. Articulé autour de deux parties, diachronique et synchronique, ce projet analyse donc, de 1970 à nos jours, l’utilisation de l’imaginaire nordique dans la musique metal. Il s’inscrit donc dans une histoire plus large du hard rock où l’angle choisi est celui de la marge. Comment se caractérise l’imaginaire nordique dans la musique metal ? Comment définir le viking metal ? Quelle est son histoire et quels sont les moments de rupture ? Qui sont les acteurs principaux de ce phénomène culturel ? Pourquoi les musiciens puisent leur inspiration dans le passé ? Qu’est-ce que cet usage du passé nous apprend sur le temps présent ? En quoi les différents acteurs participent à la construction de l’imaginaire nordique ? À travers cinq chapitres, nous tâcherons de répondre à l’ensemble de ces questions

Noin seitsemännen taiteen poika : Kirjoituksia elokuvasta ja muista taiteista. Onnittelukirja Henry Baconille

Non peer reviewe

Forma y fondo en el rock progresivo

Este trabajo, que constituye un ejercicio de periodismo cultural, en el que se han puesto en práctica conocimientos diversos adquiridos en distintas asignaturas del Grado de Periodismo, trata de definir el concepto de rock progresivo desde dos perspectivas complementarias: una interna y otra externa. Desde un punto de vista interno (o de fondo), se defenderá que podemos hablar de rock progresivo en relación con cualquier tipo de rock que suponga realmente algún progreso musical. Desde un punto de vista externo (o formal), lo progresivo se asocia más bien a una serie de bandas cuya música comparte características como el alejamiento de los presupuestos estéticos propios del pop comercial, una temática lírica de carácter literario, la mezcla de géneros musicales muy diferentes o la elevada duración de algunas de sus canciones. A partir de un recorrido por la génesis y la evolución del subgénero progresivo dentro de la música rock, se perfilará su historia, se identificará a sus protagonistas y se proporcionará al lector (en forma de anexo, a fin de no superar la extensión máxima permitida por la normativa relativa a los TFG de la Facultad de Comunicación) una discografía seleccionada de entre el trabajo de los artistas que aquí se citan

Student-Centered Musical Expertise in Popular Music Pedagogy and Hard Rock Groove – a Design-Based and Psychodynamic Approach

This study explores a fresh approach to instrumental popular music pedagogy that aims to integrate the advantages of student-centeredness and pedagogues’ musical expertise. To that end, I introduce the Student-Centered Musical Expertise (SCME) design. In contrast with many student-centered views, where the pedagogue only plays the role of a facilitator, this design emphasizes the pedagogue’s role as a professional musician but also combines it with empathy by applying the students’ favorite music as learning material. To deepen the current theoretical understanding of why student-centeredness is beneficial in popular music pedagogy, I apply psychodynamic theories in order to study the meaning of learning music through student-selected repertoire. This perspective emphasizes that a learner has subliminally ascribed emotional meanings to his or her favorite music through prolonged engagement with that music as a listener. For a practical and musically detailed implementation of this design, I present a pioneering study on the musical phenomenon called groove in the genre hard rock. Within popular music instrumental learning, this study thus suggests the SCME approach as a solution to a common problem in the field of education, that student-centered pedagogy remains poorly actualized. Methodologically, this study is founded on Design-Based Research, however it is also a multi-disciplinary study that combines critical examinations of music analysis, music pedagogy, the learning sciences, and psychodynamic psychology. The main research materials are approximately 45 hours of video-documented individual lessons with nine (9) electric guitar students. I apply the Video-Stimulated Recall method in order to access the students’ subjective views of their learning with the SCME approach. I study hard rock groove mainly through spectral analysis of recordings of the band AC/DC. I research the recordings to the millisecond. This illuminates musical aspects that have been previously considered somewhat mysterious. My main finding is that an essential characteristic of hard rock groove is a phrasing of eighth notes that is almost imperceptibly swinging – although it appears to be even. I term this effect Implied Moderate Swing Phrasing. Consequently, I apply my analysis of groove to musical exercises in instrumental pedagogy and I also develop novel practices. By applying these exercises to student-selected repertoire, I study how groove can be taught in a student-centered way. Additionally, I briefly explore how the SCME approach can be applied to teaching musical fundamentals, improvisation, technical instrumental skills, and stylistic versatility. The results of this study suggest the importance of utilizing certain instrumental exercises that are, on the one hand, exacting and thus effective, and on the other hand applicable to various student-selected repertoires. This study showed that the research participants’ skills, for example in groove, developed considerably through challenging work, and at the same time the music that they practiced felt personally meaningful. Thus, the integration of student-centeredness and a pedagogue’s musical expertise both promoted musically ambitious learning outcomes and supported the students’ good relationships with music – not one or the other. The SCME design suggests that a pedagogue’s highly advanced musical knowledge does not necessarily impel an authoritarian, teacher-directed pedagogy. Therefore, this study contributes to dismantling the dichotomy between the master-apprentice tradition and student-centered learning.Tutkin tuoretta lähestymistapaa populaarimusiikin instrumenttiopetukseen, joka pyrkii yhdistämään opiskelijalähtöisen pedagogiikan ja opettajan musiikillisen asiantuntijuuden edut. Esittelen kehittämäni pedagogisen mallin Opiskelijalähtöinen musiikillinen asiantuntijuus (Student-Centered Musical Expertise, lyh. SCME). Malli korostaa pedagogin ammattimuusikkoutta, mutta yhdistää sen empatiaan, jota opettaja osoittaa käyttämällä oppilaan lempimusiikkia oppimateriaalina. Opettajan aktiivinen rooli tässä mallissa on siten erilainen kuin monissa opiskelijalähtöisissä suuntauksissa, joissa ohjaajan rooli oppimisen mahdollistajana on passiivisempi. Syventääkseni teoreettista ymmärrystä siitä, miksi opiskelijalähtöisyys on tarpeellista erityisesti populaarimusiikin opetuksessa, tutkin psykodynaamisesta näkökulmasta, minkälainen on hyvä musiikkisuhde. Tämä näkökulma korostaa, että jo ennen soitonopiskelua, pitkän kuunteluhistorian kautta, oppija on myös tiedostamattaan antanut tunnepitoisia merkityksiä lempimusiikilleen. SCME-mallin musiikillista soveltamista varten tutkin groove -ilmiötä (so. svengi, rytminen imu) hard rock -musiikkigenressä, mitä ei ole aiemmin tutkittu akateemisesti. Sovellan kriittisen groove -analyysin tuloksia musiikillisesti kunnianhimoisten oppimistavoitteiden asettamiseen. Populaarimusiikin saralla tutkimukseni esittää SCME-mallia ratkaisuksi siihen ongelmaan, että opiskelijalähtöinen pedagogiikka toteutuu heikosti käytännössä. Metodologisesti työni on kehittämistutkimus sekä monitieteellinen tutkimus, joka yhdistää musiikkianalyysin, musiikkipedagogiikan, kasvatustieteen ja psykodynaamisen psykologian. Tutkimusaineistona on n.45 tuntia videoituja sähkökitaransoiton oppitunteja yhdeksän (9) oppilaan yksilöllisistä opinnoista. Käytän stimuloitua haastattelumenetelmää (Video-Stimulated Recall) tutkiakseni opiskelijoiden kokemuksia omasta oppimisestaan SCME-mallin soveltamisen jälkeen. Tutkin groove -ilmiötä pääasiassa spektrianalyysin avulla ja analysoin AC/DC-yhtyeen levytysten mikrorytmiikkaa millisekunnin tarkkuudella. Tärkein löydökseni on, että keskeinen piirre hard rockin groovessa on fraseeraus, joka onkin hyvin lievästi kolmimuunteista – vaikka se mielletään tasajakoiseksi. Annan tällä ilmiölle nimen Vihjaus lievästä kolmimuunteisuudesta (Implied Moderate Swing Phrasing). Hyödynnän tätä analyysia instrumenttiopetuksen harjoitteissa ja niiden kehittämisessä. Erityisesti tutkin, miten groovea voidaan opettaa opiskelijalähtöisesti, kun näitä harjoituksia sovelletaan opiskelijoiden valitsemiin ohjelmistoihin. Lisäksi tutkin lyhyesti, miten SCME-lähestymistapaa voidaan käyttää muiden musiikillisten valmiuksien, kuten improvisoinnin, teknisten instrumenttitaitojen ja tyylillisen monipuolisuuden opetuksessa. Tulokset osoittavat, että pedagogisesti arvokkaat harjoitteet ovat yhtäältä täsmällisiä ja siten tehokkaita, ja toisaalta niitä on mahdollista soveltaa vaihteleviin opiskelijalähtöisiin ohjelmistoihin. Tutkittavien oppilaiden musiikkitaidot, esimerkiksi groovessa, kehittyivät huomattavasti vaativan harjoittelun avulla. Samalla musiikki, jota he harjoittelivat, tuntui heistä henkilökohtaisesti merkitykselliseltä. Täten opiskelijalähtöisyyden ja opettajan musiikillisen asiantuntijuuden integrointi sekä edisti musiikillisesti kunnianhimoisia oppimistuloksia että tuki oppilaiden hyviä musiikkisuhteita – ei ainoastaan jompaakumpaa. SCME-malli osoittaa, että soitonopettajan pitkälle erikoistuneen ammattimuusikkouden ei tarvitse johtaa autoritääriseen, opettajalähtöiseen pedagogiikkaan. Näin tutkimukseni purkaa vastakkainasettelua mestari-kisälli-perinteen ja opiskelijalähtöisyyden välillä

Fathers and Sons: American Blues and British Rock Music, 1960-1970

This dissertation examines the unique cultural phenomenon of British blues-based rock music in the 1960s. It provides answers to two important questions of trans-Atlantic intellectual and cultural history. First, this dissertation will provide answers to two questions. First, it interrogates how and why African-American blues music became so popular amongst a segment of young, primarily middle-class men in Great Britain. It maps out "blues trade routes"--that is, the methods by which the music was transmitted to Britain. It explains the enthusiasm shown by young male Britishers largely in terms of their alienation from, and dissatisfaction with, mainstream British masculinity. Seen in this light, the "adoption" of African-American bluesmen as replacement "fathers" can be seen as an attempt to fill a perceived cultural need. This dissertation will also examine how these young British men, having formed bands to perform their own music, began in the mid-1960s to branch out from the blues. In a developing dialogue with like-minded bands from the United States, bands such as the Rolling Stones and Yardbirds started combining the lessons of the blues with other cultural influences such as jazz, classical music and English folk. The resulting cultural bricolage innovated popular music on both sides of the Atlantic from the 1970s onward. The dissertation draws on a variety of primary sources, including the popular music press, published interviews with key musicians, and, of course, the recorded music itself. Fathers and Sons uses the development of popular music to address issues that have traditionally been central to the study of ideas and cultures. These include: the role of interpersonal relationships in disseminating ideas and culture; the impact of distance and proximity in impelling cultural innovation; the occurrences of bursts of creativity in distinct places at distinct times; and the ways in which gender and sexual identity are performed and negotiated through mass consumer culture. These are salient issues with which intellectual and cultural historians have dealt for decades. Thus, Fathers and Sons seeks a broader audience than merely that which would be interested in American blues, British rock music, or both

Bowdoin Orient v.123, no.1-22 (1992-1993)

https://digitalcommons.bowdoin.edu/bowdoinorient-1990s/1004/thumbnail.jp

National Identity in Northern and Eastern European Heavy Metal

In the last thirty years the genre of heavy metal has seen an increasing number of bands utilise aspects of their national or regional identity to inspire their work. This identity portrayal has been manifested in many forms — visual, textual and musical, and often with combinations of more than one. In the context of the work of Benedict Anderson, Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger, and drawing comparison with the Romantic Nationalism movement of the 18th and 19th centuries throughout, this thesis examines the field and seeks to establish that writing on the subject has thus far failed in a number of key areas. The terms Viking metal, battle metal and Pagan metal form the core of current genre classification. I demonstrate how these are both inaccurate and insufficient, as they not only ignore the considerable breadth of work being produced, but also focus too heavily on bands from the Nordic region. As a result, the equally significant role that both the U.K. and Eastern Europe have played in the genre’s development has not been acknowledged. Subsequently, there is a need for transnational identities that are being both presented and received to be recognised or challenged where appropriate. Finally, the majority of writers to date have centered their attention on either textual content or matters of a (sometimes sensationalist) cultural or ethnographic nature. I seek to establish that the deficiency in academic musical analysis on the work being produced does the musicians a disservice. Tracing source material throughout, the thesis utilises a case study on the English band Oakenshield that presents a collage of all of the themes contained, and encapsulates the type of transnational identity being portrayed. The conflict between intention and reception in genre classification as discussed by writers such as Jeffrey Kallberg and Heather Dubrow is therefore demonstrated

La narrativisation des musiques populaires enregistrées : enjeux génériques et politiques des musiques rock et folk (1962-1989)

Cette recherche porte sur les processus de narrativisation des musiques rock et folk, et mobilise une méthode phononarratologique reposant sur des témoignages d'écoute d'auditeurs investis dans ces deux genres à travers l'appartenance à des communautés d'amateurs en ligne. Bien que le champ de la narratologie des musiques populaires se soit développé depuis une quinzaine d'années, les travaux s'appuyant sur des enquêtes de réception y restent en effet marginaux. Le cadre cognitiviste tendant pourtant à s'implanter dans la narratomusicologie, il m'a semblé important de réaliser une étude plus systématique permettant de mieux comprendre comment sont perçus les textes et surtout l'ensemble de l'environnement sonore d'une chanson populaire, et pourquoi ils peuvent être reçus à travers un prisme narratif. En utilisant la théorie des affordances, je cherche dans cette thèse quels éléments, relevant des paroles, de la composition musicale, de la performance, mais aussi des paramètres technologiques et de la mise en scène sonore, semblent encourager une écoute narrativisante. Je m'appuie pour cela sur un questionnaire en ligne distribué auprès de 15 communautés d'auditeurs dédiées à des artistes rock et folk, portant sur la place de la narrativité dans leurs écoutes et dans leur perception des musiques rock et folk. La focalisation sur ces deux genres, dans leurs incarnations allant des années 1960 aux années 1980, me permet de mener une approche comparative du rôle que peut jouer la narrativité dans les définitions et traditions génériques, mais aussi de la manière dont cette narrativité articule et concentre un bon nombre des enjeux politiques soulevés par les musiques populaires. Les liens étroits qu'ont pu entretenir les genres rock et folk avec des mouvements ou discours politisés redoublent l'intérêt de ce questionnement et de la méthode utilisée ici, qui laisse apercevoir comment la réception actuelle des récits rock et folk façonne l'image politique de ces genres. En mettant en regard les contributions des enquêtés avec des analyses phononarratologiques, je me suis attachée à évaluer les contrastes d'affordances sonores, politiques et narratives proposées par les chansons rock et folk, tout en gardant à l'esprit les impressions que ces affordances laissent sur leurs publics contemporains. Les résultats de cette recherche montrent que malgré quelques différences dans les processus de narrativisation des chansons rock et folk, le caractère phonographique de ces musiques les rassemble comme objets narratifs gagnant à être compris sous le prisme de l'expérientialité, dans la mesure où elles encouragent l'auditeur implicite à se positionner dans le monde narratif proposé par chaque piste. Les points de vue et types de voix narratives prenant à parti cet auditeur implicite modulent toutefois considérablement cette relation, et sont essentiels dans la compréhension des pratiques et traditions narratives et politiques des genres rock et folk, dont on peut ainsi dresser des profils distincts en dépit des nombreux échanges qui ont dynamisé l'évolution de ces deux familles musicales sur la période étudiée.This thesis deals with the narrativization of rock and folk music with a phononarratological approach relying on listening accounts gathered from listeners invested in these two genres through an active involvement in online fan communities. Although the field of narratological popular music studies has developed in the last 15 years, studies rooted in reception fieldwork are still rare. Since cognitive frameworks nevertheless tend to get adopted in musiconarratology, it seemed important to me to conduct a more systematic investigation in order to better understand how lyrics and sonic environment are perceived in a popular song, and why they can be received through a narrative lens. Using affordance theory, I seek what elements, relating to lyrics, musical composition, performance, but also technological parameters and phonographic staging, can encourage a narrativizing mode of listening. To this end, I rely on an online survey shared among 15 fan communities dedicated to rock and folk artists, dealing with narrativity's place in their way of listening and in their perception of rock and folk music. My focalizing on these two genres from the 1960s to the 1980s allows me to conduct a comparative approach to the role narrativity can play in generic definitions and traditions, but also to the way narrativity structures and concentrates a range of political issues brought up by popular music. The close links that have existed between rock and folk genres and politicized movements or discourses heighten the relevance of my line of questioning and of my method, which sheds light on how contemporary receptions of rock and folk narratives shape these two genres' political images. By combining the listeners' comments with phononarratological analysis, I try to gauge the contrasts between rock and folk songs in terms of sonic, political and narrative affordances, while keeping an eye on what impressions these affordances leave on contemporary listeners. My results show that despite some differences between the narrativization processes encouraged by rock and folk music, their phonographic nature brings them together as narrative objects that should be viewed through the angle of experientiality, insofar as they incite the implied listener to position themselves in the storyworld suggested by each track. However, some types of point of view and narrative voice alter this relationship and are essential in the understanding of the narrative and political practices of rock and folk music, from which two distinct portraits can be painted despite the numerous exchanges that have stirred their evolution during the period I studied

Rediscovering the arcane science of ground handling large airships : an investigation into ways of reducing the risks inherent in the development of a new generation of very large airships and of establishing guidelines for their ground handling procedure

This research, which was begun as part of the now defunct CargoLifter project, concerns the ground handling and support systems of the large rigid airships (commonly known as "Zeppelins") that were built between 1900 and 1940. The intention was to assess the value of such historical information as has survived from the previous generation of very large airships in order to minimise the physical and financial risks inherent in the development of any future generations of such aircraft. The idea was to isolate and understand the fundamental issues that were actually encountered by the ground based personnel responsible for looking after the various British, German, American and Italian airships of the previous generation, and to gather as much information as possible about the techniques and operational procedures that were devised, tried and tested in the field. This information would then be used to establish guidelines for future projects that are based on real experience rather than on prediction, assumption or theory. Sadly, the CargoLifter project foundered in 2002; however the author had by then amassed sufficient research material for him to complete the study independently and to present it as a guide for the ground handling of hitherto unrealised concepts such as the proposed new "Transport category" or "CargoLifter" type large airships. Such practical skills as those required by airship ground crew personnel are normally passed on by firsthand instruction from one experienced practitioner to the trainee. This option is not available for the next generation of very large airships because there are no personnel alive today with any operational experience of the previous generation of really large airships. The problem therefore is to examine the historical records and to evaluate the written information in order to interpret it and pass on knowledge that will reduce the risk of future generations wasting their time in "re-inventing the wheel. " In the course of the study it was found that historical research (HR) enabled the results of the pre-war prototype projects to be usefully assessed despite the fact that very little of the material was written with that end in view. More specifically the analysis of historical airship activities (AHAA) revealed that it was possible to retrieve a considerable amount of lost or forgotten knowledge concerning the ground handling of very large airships, also to unearth ideas that were ahead of their time, which might be applicable today or in the future; and in addition to identify several areas worthy of further investigation (e. g. ideas that were rejected at the time but which may now be feasible due to technological progress). The research and analysis also uncovered some ideas and suggested solutions which are fundamentally flawed and that should be avoided by designers of large airships and their support systems. The work includes a detailed analysis of the tasks involved in the ground handling of very large airships and concludes with a suggested strategy for all those intent upon the design and planning of ground support infrastructures for any further large airship development projects either today or in the future