Role of Harpsichord in Classical Music

Series Summary

Classical and rock music may not seem like a logical mix, yet from the Beatles forward, popular musicians have looked to classical music for inspiration. Progressive rock bands such as Genesis and Yes utilize complex time signatures and instrumental passages that at times seem more like the “long-haired” music of Beethoven and Mozart than contemporary rock and roll. Bands such as Pink Floyd and the Moody Blues have utilized symphony orchestras in their recordings. Even Tom Petty has released orchestral versions of his big hits.

In this free series of music cross pollination videos, professional musician Scott Smith outlines the history of rock and classical music, then discusses how these genres overlap. You will learn how to adapt musical scores written for traditional classical instruments such as the harpsichord and organ to the contemporary electric instruments of rock and pop bands. He discusses how to change time signatures and add the familiar blues beat common to rock and roll music.

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Scot Smith with Expert Village. Today we're going to talk about, classical music and modern instruments. Classic music, like classic rock, has a certain age to it, and that's probably why we call it classic music. Music of that period, from the 1400's till today, like today, was played because of what was going on at the time. If there was war, writer's would write songs that had a Marshall feel to it, that had strength and inspired people to go to war. It also was music that was from the church. The church would hire musicians like Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart, to write certain things that typified what the church wanted. Most of the classical music at time was written for loyalty, were written for the rich. So this is what we are going to do, we are going to show how we take those instruments, from those days, and bring it to today."