GUITARIST DICK DALE, SINGER OTIS REDDING AND THE BEATLES ARE SOME OF THE ARTISTS WHO TAKE CENTER STAGE IN ROBERTA SCHWARTZ'S HISTORY OF ROCK AND ROLL CLASS.

SCHWARTZ, A UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF MUSIC AND DANCE, TEACHES THE CLASS EACH FALL SEMESTER. SHE SAYS MOST STUDENTS FIND THE COURSE MORE DIFFICULT THAN THEY EXPECTED.

THE CLASS IS OPEN TO ALL K-U STUDENTS. TO DEVELOP AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE INGREDIENTS THAT MAKE UP ROCK AND ROLL, THE CLASS BEGINS WITH A STUDY OF AMERICAN POPULAR MUSIC IN THE MID 19TH CENTURY.

SCHWARTZ SAYS STUDENTS WHO PLAY IN ROCK AND ROLL BANDS FIND THE CLASS PARTICULARLY USEFUL.
SCHWARTZ: "People who are in bands have told me that it has made a difference in the way they write pieces. Studying structure and form, they now know all the tricks. There are tricks to the trade but, again, these are the same tricks that classical composers have been using for centuries." (15 sec.)

HER RESEARCH SPECIALTY IS MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE MUSIC. BUT SCHWARTZ SAYS MUSICAL ASPECTS OF RHYTHM, HARMONY AND MELODY ARE CONSTANT THROUGH ALL MUSICAL GENRES.
SCHWARTZ: "All of those fundamentals are the same, no matter whether they're happening in rock and roll or jazz or classical music. I find that when I teach the music of the Baroque period, I refer a lot to early rock and roll because the walking bass pattern doesn't just happen in rock and roll, it's also happening in Baroque music." (18 sec.)

THOUGH SHE WON'T BE ATTENDING THE ROLLING STONES CONCERTS IN CHICAGO OR OKLAHOMA CITY THIS MONTH, SHE'S A BIG FAN OF THE STONES AND DEVOTES AN ENTIRE CLASS PERIOD TO THEIR MUSIC.
SCHWARTZ: "My heart is definitely in the British Invasion bands of the late 1960s, what I call the second-wave British Invasion -- the Rolling Stones, the Animals, Led Zeppelin, the Who, those really blues-influenced bands that, more than anything, reintroduced blues into rock and roll." (19 sec.)

SCHWARTZ SAYS THE FRESHEST NEW ROCK MUSIC TODAY IS EMPHASIZING MELODY OVER RHYTHM.
SCHWARTZ: "The melody seems to really be asserting itself very strongly in cutting-edge bands that are coming out over the rhythmic aspects that have governed a lot of rock in the past five, 10 years. So that's what I predict, a new infusion of melody, a lot more influence of pop." (16 sec.)

SCHWARTZ IS WRITING A BOOK ABOUT THE INFLUENCE OF AMERICAN BLUES MUSIC ON THE ENGLISH BANDS OF THE 1960S. SHE BELIEVES THE BLUES ARE THE FOUNDATION OF ROCK AND ROLL AND POPULAR MUSIC IN MOST COUNTRIES.
SCHWARTZ: "One of the things that I believe has kept rock alive is that about every 20 years, there's a new infusion of the blues in its pure form, and I think for anyone to make credible rock and roll, to know those roots in some depth is pretty important." (19 sec.)

SCHWARTZ IS ALSO DEVELOPING A COURSE ON RAP MUSIC, WHICH SHE CALLS A HEALTHY AND VITALIZING INFLUENCE ON ROCK AND ROLL.
SCHWARTZ: "And I don't believe that rap is different, that it's really isolated from rock. In fact, rap comes from reggae. Developmentally, it's a Jamaican form that was then transmitted to the streets of New York, and though it has heavy influence of poetry in it, the beat structure really comes from rock music." (18 sec.)