Experimental Music Group 'The Velvet Underground'

William Songer

Music 8: Experimental Music

September 3, 2014

Final Essay

What Experimental Music Has Done

As the 1900s came to an end the concept of experimental music had grown much more popular due to a couple of significant composers such as John Cage and also one of Cage's students of composition, Christian Wolff. These two composers, along with a couple others, created works known to be very influential in the world of music and also other composers and music groups. One of the first groups to really begin using experimental music was the group, The Velvet Underground, a rock music group who came together in the early 1960s and stayed somewhat active until the 2000s began. This group is known for influencing the rest of the rock and

Another band called Sonic Youth also came together in the midst of this new kind of experimental music. They even created an album at the end of the century that consisted only of the experimental works composed by some of the most influential people in the experimental world of music, including both John Cage and Christian Wolff. One more music producer rose up during this time period, not a group, but a guitarist by the name of Glenn Branca who was known for his use of loud volumes along with repetition, a concept that proved to be very popular among experimental musical pieces. Both of these rock groups, along with Glenn Branca were all very influential when it came to joining the concept of experimental pieces with rock music, which made a very large impact on the world of Rock and all music in general. In analyzing some of the pieces created by these artists

“Lesson Number 1 For Electric Guitar” falls into this category of experimentally influenced pieces. This song is split into three separate sections as well. In the first section listeners experience the technique of layering different musical notes. A couple guitar notes being played begin this song and are added to as this section goes on. While these first few notes continue to play you begin to hear other sounds as well. Even though they are also coming from a guitar, some are in different keys and are also playing separate notes. By gradually adding these new notes onto this original sound creates a layering effect that is very nice to listen to. In doing this Branca also adds to the introduction of the song, as it builds up stronger and stronger through the first section. Layering of both similar and very different sounding noises is a very popular method found in experimental pieces. In the second section of this piece there are drums that become more apparent to listeners that kind of control the tempo of the song. The guitar seems to begin following the beat of the drums, giving it more structure. I was able to find two subsections within the third section of the song, which lasts for almost two minutes beginning at the 6:35 mark. The first half of this section sounds similar to the final section of the Sonic Youth piece I discussed earlier,