Drafting a syllabus for a progressive rock course

You might not be treating eclectic prog as a valid genre in your course - and I can understand why - but I think you'll need to deal with some notable bands therein. King Crimson, Gentle Giant and VdGG should surely feature in your listening list.

One approach would be to amalgamate these bands with symphonic and call it “core prog”, or something of that nature.

Edited by Mascodagama - March 22 2018 at 15:48

If you must go by subgenres, I wouldn't go by the subgenres on this site. Some of them aren't genres at all (eclectic, crossover), many are overlapping and/or vague (the metal genres), at least one is completely made up and not used anywhere else (heavy prog), some are tied to a specific location or scene (canterbury, krautrock) or era (neo-prog) and some are kind of (but not really) defined by style alone (symphonic, electronic).

Manuel wrote: This could go in so many directions, but I'm curious as how your project will end up. I hope you make it available for us to look at it. I think going chronologically is most likely the best way to go, as I will make it easier to see the growth and development of the genre. It would also be nice if you point out the difference between prog as a genre, and progressive as a tendency to write music. I wish you the best of lucks.

Don't forget to include a group or sub-gender of progressive music outside the English-language, Rock Progresivo Italiano for one, South American, etc, each one of them rich and varied with the incorporation of local influences, rhythms, etc.

Groupies 101: Leave room for seconds, watch out for mouth sores and check their I.D. at the door.

I agree with others about bringing out the international scope of this genre. Otherwise, I think you have a great plan in place. Best of luck!

Cristi wrote: No mention of neo-prog and progressive metal? just saying...

I'd audit that course!!!

Anomandaris wrote: The main "homework" of the class will be listening assignments which students would need to write short journal entries on. These would be albums (or collections of albums) that coincide with what I'd be lecturing on on that given day (i.e. which subgenre, point in time, etc.) The purpose of these assignments would be to expose the students to what would have been representative of whatever particular subgenre (or time period) is currently being discussed. Assignments could either be single albums (i.e. true "pillars" of the genre) or a series of albums from a particular artist. For instance, here's some examples of what a listening assignment could look like: "Listen to the following album by KING CRIMSON: In the Court of the Crimson King"

I love the idea of this course!

But exactly how do you plan to make sure all of the students have access to all of the required music for homework?  Do they have to go out and buy it?  It can be expensive, and some bands like King Crimson, are difficult to acquire as digital downloads so they'd have to order CDs.  Is it copyright infringement to make a couple dozen copies to distribute to your students on a temporary basis?  How do you see this all working in a legal/aboveboard way that won't get the school in trouble (and you fired)?

I recommend just putting King Crimson in Symphonic Prog. That’s what they basically were in the early years. They merit the Eclectic classification from their later work. Using PA’s genre’s in broad form doesn’t mean you have to be faithful to them. PA has some rules like a band can only belong to one sub genre, which is a practicality of the PA as an archive that would not be your concern. You don’t want to include Jazz/Rock Fusion, but if you cover the Canterbury sub genre you’ll end up covering a portion of it anyway, so you might think about that. If you leave out Canterbury, that would be just weird, as Prog is often understood as largely an amalgamation of Symphonic Prog and Canterbury Prog developing in parallel.

For Symphonic Prog I would include The Nice, Moody Blues, King Crimson, Genesis, Yes, Emerson Lake and Palmer, and, although I don't like them, Gentle Giant.

For Canterbury I would without a doubt include Soft Machine, Gong, Camel and Caravan, and others.

For RIO I would include Frank Zappa (early stuff Lumpy Gravy, etc.), Univers Zero and Henry Cow and others.

For Jazz/Rock Fusion, if you change your mind, I would include Frank Zappa (Hot Rats album), Mahavishnu Orchestra, and the Miles Davis album, Bitches Brew.

For Krautrock I would include Amon Düül II, Popul Vuh and Faust. Steer clear of Ash Ra tempel (pathetic). A lot of German Prog are influenced by Krautrock even if they aren’t strictly classified that way. I’m thinking here of Nektar and Eloy.

For Psychedelic/Space Rock I would include (early) Pink Floyd, Nektar, Gong, Hawkwind (choose wisely), Jade Warrior. Especially with Sad Barrett's Pink Floyd and the first Nektar album, the central importance of the use of analog delay is something to highlight.

For Prog Folk I would include Lindisfarne, Jethro Tull (Songs From the Wood, Heavy Horses), the Strawbs, Jan Dukes de Gray, and though I’m not crazy about them, Pentangle. Not included on PA, but also well deserving inclusion would Shawn Phillips from U.S.

If you do anything in regard to Ethnic/World Music, Peter Gabriel and Steve Hackett are obvious ones, but I'd encourage you to not overlook Jade Warrior.




Edited by HackettFan - March 23 2018 at 16:44