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“I got a lot of funny looks for naming Beethoven or Mozart,” Vance said. “Putting them in the same category seemed like a very absurd thing.”
But to Vance, he saw similarities in the composers. Vance will discuss those in his talk “Classical Music and the Crass and Ignorant World of Rock ’n’ Roll” at
1 p.m. today on the second floor of the Darrell R. Krueger Library at Winona State University.
Vance uses the name of the talk sarcastically, borrowing a phrase coined by musician Frank Zappa.
“I come from the crass and ignorant world of rock ’n’ roll,” Vance said.
Vance started out playing in rock bands. He teaches music at Winona State University and has conducted the Winona Symphony Orchestra for the past 10 years.
Vance will focus on the songwriting of Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys.
“Most people don’t think of classical music and the Beach Boys, but there’s quite a bit going on even in some of the fun-in-the-sun surf songs,” Vance said.
Vance will play guitar and some Beach Boys music to help illustrate the complexity of the songs. He says some of the music is similar to progressive classical composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
“I think most people would recognize Brian Wilson as a great American institution but not as a very fine composer,” Vance said. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to convince people of that, but I hope to get them listening to familiar things in different ways.”
IF YOU GO
WHAT: “Classical Music and the Crass and Ignorant World of Rock ‘n’ Roll”
WHEN: 1 p.m. today
WHERE: Second floor of the Darrell W. Krueger Library at Winona State University
COST: Free
ontact Käri Knutson at kknutson@winonadailynews.com or (507) 453-3523.
WSUalum00 wrote on Jan 29, 2008 3:32 PM: