Referrence to Classical Music

Popular Music (of which Rock, Prog, Jazz and Blues are subgenres) is based upon the folk music of troubadours and minstrels, of sea shanties and tales told around the fire, odes and ditties to unrequited love and songs to make the crops grow, not the classics.

DavetheSlave wrote: Hello again dean - we  gonna argue now now!! Where do you thing that the piano comes from???? Keyboards came from what??? What is the main instrument that epitomises prog!!!! The 6 and 12 string guitar comes from where????

If memory serves -  the piano is a development of the hammered dulcimer and the guitar from the lyre/lute - so historically - both were derived from folk music instruments. I will grant you that their subsequent development to technological level was driven by the needs of a concert orchestra (probably of ecclesiastical origin). But as with virtuosity - the instrument is not the driving impetus behind the development of a popular music genre, but the compositional structure of the music - again I say, Prog is not structured like a symphony - it is a standard 12-bar format with widdley bits added on.

DavetheSlave wrote: Hey Dean - just about every instrument that we love today comes from the classical symphonic orchestra.

Dean just told you that's not the case.  Some form of guitar (as Dean mentioned, a lyre or lute) have been around for thousands of years.

DavetheSlave wrote: Hey Dean - just about every instrument that we love today comes from the classical symphonic orchestra. Our Prog mainstays were all classically influenced. Yes, Genesis, Tull, etc etc - They aren't on the number one to five spot here for nothing!!!!!!

Classically influenced, maybe, but not classical-based - the genre is Prog Rock, not Prog String Quartette.

fandango wrote: I seam to remember this thread having started out as a polite request by Alex, to see whether there would be any possibility in placing a section on the top menu, showing the extent to which Prog's development had been influenced by classical music...   ....we seam to have strayed off the subject, somewhat...

I'm torn apart between wholeheartedly agreeing and straying even more, by asking you what you meant (twice) by "seam"...

Ricochet wrote: I'm torn apart between wholeheartedly agreeing and straying even more, by asking you what you meant (twice) by "seam"...

jimidom wrote: kibble_alex wrote: jimidom wrote: kibble_alex wrote: Also adding to that, I agree that classical music has been a direct influence on the musicians as well. I know for a fact that Hugh Banton, Kerry Minnear and Jordan Rudess have been classically trained (don't like JR's style, but he's a good player nonetheless with very classical technique). Classically-trained musicians, who wanted to rock but who also wanted to hang on to their recital-worthy aesthetic while showing off their chops, could do so thanks to prog. They could even ditch their tails for glittery robes in the process. You wouldn't be talking about Lord Rick would you? Yes! The one and only!

Yes indeed, he is arguably the greatest keyboard player from the 70s, only matched by the two other greats Kerry Minnear and Jan Hammer (and maybe some obscure Krautrock, Avant-Garde and Zeuhl players that I've never heard of ).

One more polite request. Could we stay on topic please? I didn't create this thread to argue whether prog is influenced by classical music, because it obviously is.

No problem Dean. So now we are onto it, what are your feelings on the info page idea?