Rock School, Series Two
DEIRDRE CARTWRIGHT * ALASTAIR GAVIN
HENRY THOMAS * GEOFF NICHOLLS
TONY BANKS * GRAHAM BONNETT * SELWYN BROWN * BILL BRUFORD * VINCE CLARKE * THE COMMUNARDS * JIMMY SOMERVILLE * RICHARD COLES * OMAR HAKIM * JAN HAMMER * HERBIE HANCOCK * JOOLS HOLLAND * JAMES INGRAM * MICHAEL McDONALD * ANDY SUMMERS * MIDGE URE
The second series of ROCK SCHOOL television programmes focused its attention on the then new technology and its implications for the musicians of the day.
Synthesisers, samplers, sequencers and drum machines are all covered, as are electronic drum systems, computer hardware and software (remember this is 1987 - so this is for retro-heads only) and synthesisers for guitar and bass. There are also tips on how to make the most of the human voice, and on songwriting and arrangement.
This series was shown on TV in the UK during 1987. If you are a fan of eighties music then this is for you as it features analogue and early digital synths such as the Mini Moog , Memory Moog , Yamaha DX7 etc and interviews with such musicians as Jan Hammer and Omar Hakim (drummer for Sting)
The quality of the recording is very good.
Screen shots from across the entire DVD show the quality. This was originally taped from the TV in 1988 using a video recorder and has now been digitally encoded to DVD
Contents
Episode one
Keyboards
The acoustic piani with the communards on 'breadline britian' and Herbie Hancock
History of the synthesiser
Touch sensitivity, modular synths, Minimoog, clip of Jan Hammer and The Mahavishnu Orcestra in 1972, clip of Rick Wakeman, polyphonic synths, Mellotron, Tony Banks, synths with memory such as the prophet five, clip of Japan on the 'Old Grey Whistle Test', rack-mounted effects.
How does a synth work?
Waveforms, oscillators, how to create a sound, what to play - clip of Thomas Dobly
Episode two
MIDI
How to use MIDI, Jan Hammer on layering sounds using MIDI.
Guitar synths
A demonstration of Roland's G-707 and G-77 Bass.
Sequencers
Clip of Depeche Mode, demo of Roland MC-500, Vince Clarke using the BBC computer.
Drum machines
Demo of Korg DDD-1, programming your sequencer or drum machine, clip of Erasure, drummers using drum machines and 'working with the click', demonstration by sting drummer - Omar Hakim.
Episode three
Eighties synthpop
Clip of Yellow Maic Orchestra in 1979, Clip of Bronski Beat
So! - How do you make up these single note melodies ?
Major and minor scales, triads, chords, chord inversions and two-handed keyboard playing.
The vocals
Clip from James Brown, Midge Ure on vocal technique and Graham Bonnett on looking after your voice, clip from Eurythmics
Episode four
Soloing - Vocals
Expression, phrasing and dynamics, Midge Ure and James Ingram on vibrato, Graham Bonnett on technique.
Soloing - Guitar
String-bending, vibrato and tremelo techniques, improvising, the pentaphonic blues scales, major and minor scales, dorian and mixolydian modes, hammer-ons and pull-offs, fret tapping.
Soloing - Bass
Bass playing techniques
Soloing - Keyboards
Pitch bending, modulation, touch-sensitivity and after-touch, fingering techniques, Jan Hammer demonstrating his technique and Tony Banks on writing solos.
Soloing - Drums
How to build a drum solo.
Episode five
Guitar and bass synthesisers
Using Rolands' GR-707, GK-1 pickup and GR-77B, connecting to synthmodules via MIDI, Midge Ure on the diggiculties of using guitar synths.
The SynthAxe
In-depth look at the SynthAxe, plus demonstration by Alan Holdsworth
Creating sounds on digital synthesisers
Programming the DX-7, controlling other keyboards via MIDI using a SycoLogic patch bay.
Electronic drum kits
Overview using electronic kits and MIDI, Bill Bruford using the Simmons SDS-9, SDS-7 and MTM.
Episode six
Keyboard techniques
Two-handed playing, bass-lines, blues, rock 'n' roll and boogie licks, full demonstration of techniques by Jools Holland, clp of Elton John playing 'Love lies bleeding'. Selwyn Brown on reggae keyboard techniques.
Drum techniques
Building from basic rythmns, left-handed playing.
Guitar and bass techniques
Building from simple to complex funk patterns, fittng-in the bass with the drum rythmns.
Episode seven
Orchestration techniques
Structuring chords and melodies, Tony Banks on comple arrangements, major tenth and minor tenth chords, vocal harmonies, Michael McDonald, James Ingram, Amy Holland and Dacid Pack demonstrating vocal harmonies using the Doobie Brithers hit 'Minute by Minute' and pyramid harmonies using 'Just can't let go'.
Sampling
Using a sampler for adding touch-sensitivity to an analogue synth sound and combining several keyboards onto one
Guitar orchestration
Guitar voicings and chord arrangements, Andy Summers (The Police) on arrangements and harmonic techniques, artificial harmonics.
Bass orchestration
Use of pedal notes, chord intervals
Episode eight
Song structure and arrangements
The bridge, the middle-eight, putting together all the techniques discussed during the series.
Arrangements for the drums
Choosing a rhythm, 'String' drummer Omar Hakim on how we developed the drum parts for the track 'Childrens crusade'.
Basslines
Developing a bass line using, thirds, fifths, octaves and key scale notes to build a melody, using the 5-string bass guitar
Keyboard and guitar arrnagements
Riffs, sustained chords, pads, Selwyn Brown on arrangements, Midge Ure (Ultravox) and Tony Banks (Genesis) on major and minor keys with reference to 'suppers ready', Richard Coles and Jimmy Somerville (The communards) on choosing keys.
The vocals
Juliet Roberts (Working Week) on lyrics, vocal techniques, getting to know your voice, Midge Ure on vocals and rounding off the series with the 'Rock-School' band playing a full song.
DVD features
Aspect ratio 4:3
Scene access
Running time: 208 minutes, approx.
The cost of this double DVD including case is £9.95 plus the post and packing detailed below.
Kindly note that this is a Region 0 PAL DVD. Region 0 DVDs are unrestricted and unencoded discs that are playable on DVD players worldwide, provided that PAL players are used to play PAL discs.
Any PC or Mac with a software decoder such as Power DVD - which I use - will play the disc back no matter where you are in the World!. Please check that you can play this type of disc before buying either using a computer or stand alone DVD player.
Post and packing
Postage discount for multiple items offer
Buy any number of my DVDs or CD and pay only ONE postage amount. So if you buy Synth History Revisited and\or Synth History Revisited 2 and\or The Shape Of Things That Hum and\or Rock School Series 2 DVDs as well as Electronic Soundmaker CD plus you live in the Europe then the postage amount to cover all of these is still just £2.00!
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Europe - £2.00
North America and South America - £3.50
Australia, New Zealand, Japan - £4.00
Thank you very much and I hope you enjoy this as much I did.
