Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 18, 1993 TAG: 9302180199
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: KEN DAVIS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
THE ROCK STOPS HERE
If you want to know about the poetry of Emily Dickinson or the prose of Mark Twain, any college literature class will do.But if you want to know about the growing influence of the Seattle music scene or when Bob Dylan went electric, Virginia Tech is the place to be.
Along with the traditional English classes that come with higher education, Tech is offering students a slightly different course this semester.
It's called "The Literature of Rock 'n' Roll," and the only prerequisite a student needs is a background in freshman English and an appreciation for the people who turned underground street-corner harmonies and back-porch blues into a mainstream American musical and cultural phenomenon.
"Rock 'n' roll is 40 years old by now; it's a tested product," said Anne Cheney, the Tech English professor who is teaching the course. "It deserves to be studied."
Cheney, who has been teaching writing and literature classes at Tech for 15 years, tried to get the course included in the curriculum for more than two years. She said it wasn't until the arrival of department head Michael Squires that the course was approved.
"It is thoroughly because of his leadership that this course went through," she said. "He is very open to new courses."
The students were open to it, as well.
Cheney said 50 students signed up for the course, but the class had to be trimmed to 35.
Although she grew up a disciple of classical music, Cheney said she took a personal and an academic interest in rock 'n' roll when she was an undergraduate at Birmingham Southern College majoring in English and music.
Since coming to Tech, Cheney has received most of her education about rock from her students. Her growing musical interest over the years led her to coordinate Blacksburg's Lifefest concerts, which brought many local bands together for live performances to benefit AIDS research.
But Cheney said it wasn't until she considered teaching the class that she realized she wasn't alone as a rock educator.
"I designed this course before I realized there are others like it across the nation," she said.
Cheney has been coordinating with several professors across the country who are teaching classes on various rock 'n' roll styles and artists.
"There is about one teacher per state right now," Cheney said. "It's my ultimate goal to produce a newsletter and a directory of those of us teaching this type of music."
The class is divided into seven sections that focus on various artists and musical styles - the music of Seattle, the South, the West, Great Britain, female artists - and such areas of concentration as authority and government and Bob Dylan.
"Of course, you've got to have Bob," Cheney said.
She said the students will study the artists themselves and the lyrics of their songs. They are listening to music in class and hearing live bands in some of Blacksburg's nightclubs.
Sound like a great way to study?
Cheney thinks so. But she said not enough people think rock 'n' roll is serious as well as fun.
"So many people don't bother learning about it; they just dismiss it," she said. "I feel very strongly that it is a serious, legitimate art form. It's also something the students are familiar with. It's a course they will take seriously."
Cheney said rock 'n' roll not only has evolved into a new art form but also a new language.
"Think of all the new phrases that have evolved just due to Bob Dylan," Cheney said. "Whenever anyone says, `You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows,' most people know what you're talking about and who said it."
Cheney said rock performers deserve as much study and respect as other artists receive.
"I'm really into getting rid of rock 'n' roll stereotypes," she said. "These are thinking people; these are normal people involved in serious intellectual areas."