a) What is the topic you are interested in pursuing and why?
I would like to explore San Francisco's cultural influence on the psychedelic rock music movement of the 1960s. Music is something that I am very interested in and I think that the rock movement of the 1960s was a very important part of music history and would make an interesting paper topic.
b) How does this topic relate to San Francisco materials or frameworks read for the course? Which of the readings are particularly relevant to this topic?
Many of the bands that came out of the San Francisco Sound movement were inspired by and followed the example of the Beat poets. The musicians liked their music to have a free flow to them similar to the free flow poetry of Allen Ginsberg.
c) What are some of the other materials you will need or want to read and/or inter-connect to cover this topic?
I will need to gather more texts on the psychedelic music movement. I also need to go over the Beat texts we have read in class (such as Ginsberg, Ferlinghetti, Brautigan, and Kerouac) and find textual evidence to back up my claim that the musicians were inspired by them.
d) What is your provisional “thesis” (hypothesis) at this point concerning this topic and these materials?
Following the example of the Beat poets and the counter culture movement, musicians used the city of San Francisco and all that it had to offer as a playground to explore new ways to change the sound of rock-n-roll music during the 1960s.
e) What problems or limitations do you anticipate in pursuing, framing, researching, and writing on this topic?
I'm afraid I might not be able to find enough textual information to write about for 8-10 pages. I'm also having a little bit of difficulty sculpting my ideas and information into a thorough and coherent paper.
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1 comment:
Rhiannon,
Sounds like a great topic - from your proposal, I can see potential ties between the concerns/themes of the Beat and 60s rock movements, plus a continuing pattern of artistic "experimentation." Seems like there'd be tons of directions or observations you could make, based on theme, style, reception/audience, history...
I have a feeling that once you start to lay down the materials, listen to songs, and consider the history of 60s rock movement, you'll likely end up with more information than you know what to do with. A few questions right off the bat:
+ Who are prime figures in the 60s rock movement? How did they come to be movers at the time?
+ What were the themes and styles of the music? Were they reacting to dominant or traditional ways of making music? Were they providing social critique?
+ What ideas or energies are shared between the rock movement and the Beats?
One cautionary note on the idea of being "inspired by the Beats" - it might in some cases be difficult to know for sure whether certain bands or songs were influenced directly by the Beats. And we want to avoid making quick assumptions. But you can work around this by simply noting patterns between works, and pointing out the echoes and similarities... and then comment on their likeness.
Keep chiseling away - if you're still having trouble coming up with material, let me know and we'll work out some more questions. Good luck, and looking forward to your paper.
sc
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