On Becoming a Rock Musician

H. Stith Bennett

Published by Columbia University Press 2017

On Becoming a Rock Musician

H. Stith Bennett
With contributions by: Howard Becker

In the series Legacy Editions

https://doi.org/10.7312/benn18284

Overview
Contents

About this book

In On Becoming a Rock Musician, the sociologist H. Stith Bennett observes what makes a rock musician and then persuades others to take him seriously.

Author / Editor information

H. Stith Bennett has taught at the University of Illinois, the University of Washington, the University of Missouri, and Colorado Women’s College. He now lives off the grid in a cabin in Colorado, where he writes his own prose, poems, and songs.

Reviews

Babette Babich, author of The Hallelujah Effect: Music, Performance Practice, and Technology:
At long last back in print and with a foreword by Howard Becker! This book is indispensable for any ethnomusicology of contemporary pop music. H. Stith Bennett brings the resources of phenomenology to the sociology of pop and rock music, meaning not only field work but method. Bennett’s celebrated notion of recording consciousness is the key to On Becoming a Rock Musician, yet the book as a whole shows the reader how ethnomusicology is done.

Ben Sidran, host of NPR's Jazz Alive:
The information captured in these pages remains as relevant today as it was thirty years ago when rock and roll was still in its nova stage. Bennett’s book is perhaps the only one of its kind to explain the relatively inscrutable process of how one finds their own ‘sound,’ and in so doing, he expands the reach of sociology deeper into the meaning of social music. A rare combination of scholarship and street smarts.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Foreword to the Legacy Edition Howard S. Becker Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	vii
Preface Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xi
A Guide for the Reader Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xix
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xxix
Part I. Group Dynamics
1. Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	3
2. Group Definition and Redefinition Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	18
2. Group Definition and Redefinition Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	18
Part II. Rock Ecology
3. Instruments and “the Outside World” Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	49
4. Equipment and the Band Van Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	72
5. Gigs Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	85
Part III. Mastering the Technological Component
6. Technology and The Music Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	103
7. The Realities of Practice Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	133
Part IV. Performance: Aesthetics and the Technological Imperative
8. Playing Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	165
9. “Other People’s Music” Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	198
Afterword Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	229
Appendix Loudness and Equalization Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	235
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	239
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	247
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	265

Language: English
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 320

eBook

Published: June 12, 2017
ISBN: 9780231544405