Friday, January 29, 1971
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Page
Friday, January 29, 1971 THE MICHIGAN DAiLY
Dawn's (oCk Tree Times':
A light on the rock horizon
I
Satie and
Ives
Delta SiFmaDelta
Dental Fraternity
EASY
PICK-ItP
By CARL HERSTEIN
A recent release on t!e B0L11
label has risen like a light on the
musical horizon, and the group
which performs this current hit
single is appropriately called
"Dawn." The song "Knock Three
Times on the Ceiling if you Want
me, Twice on the Pipe is the Ans-
wer is No", is well on its way to
becoming a landmark in Rock
Music, due to both the distinction
of its musical style and the scopne
of its theme as expressed in its
free-form lyrics.
The song is a pointed comm n-
tary on modern society, in of;;or-
ating insight into problems o
communication, alienation and
current sexual mores. The muic
reinforces each of these seoa _t.
themes and gives them a coherent
framework as well. For examp
as the groups leaid singe: int:e.
in a voice pulsing with latente -
uality, the words "Knock three
times", we hear the lone paind(
thr)b of the drums, uniting not
merely the theme of alienation
\hich runs th roughout. but also
te poignant cry of the young
adolscent, experiencing frustra-
tion of his nascnet sexual drives.
We have musical punctuation of
liquid, lyrical lphrasing, while still
sticking strictlv to a bubblegum
The symbolic sound and con-
<t: t pounding beat are constant-
ly neated. until the simple yet
subti" melody is engraved upon
or minds to su.-> an extent, that
the ereat ache of alienated youth
of love. becomes our own.
Th lyris e stripped down to
setials, so that a few
sho lines expose thedilemma
of an enti: socity. No stale rhe-
toric or the need for communica-
ion er, but rather an indelible
ima e of the longing for dialogue:
"Knock thre times on the ceiling
if you wnt me ...' Modern man,
alone in his prefab apartment,
pleading for freedom from his ab-
ject alienation, yet painfully aware
of the possibility of nothing more
than a mechanized response:
"Twice on the pipe if the answer
is no."
The lyrical structure is unen-
cumbered with any forced pattern,
but rather changes from rhyme
to free verse with unabashed spon-
taneity. In contrast to the hack-
neyed phrasing of most recent
rock lyrics use of a new technique,
the non-rhyme, is perfected.
Count the many times I say you
How in my silence I adore you ...
Obviously, this development owes
much to folk and country styles:
to an extent at least equal to the
influence Simon and Garfunkle
seem to have shown in these lines.
Yet, the touch of the sensual is
retained:
I can hear thebmusic playing
I can see your body swaying,..
The romantic impu1se, though
cooly restrained, remains, behind
the yearning strains of bass guitar.
Perhaps much of the ideological
attractiveness of the song is its
dialectical relevence. A stratified
society is signified by the hierar-
chical apartment house, separating
man from man.
One floor below me
You don't even know me
I love you.
But in the dialectics of Dawn,
synthesis-the classless Nirvana--
may come if we tap the wellsprings
of our consciousness.
Knock three times
And I'll meet you in the hall-
way...
It is not mere chance then, that
this group is known as Dawn. The
promise shown in their earlier
work "Candida," as well as their
optimistic viewpoint ("We can
make it together/ I promise life
will be sweeter/ cause it says so
in my dreams") shines through.
But as in all great art, the chal-
lenge passes now to the beholder.
Here, it is the call to meet in that
hallway of the spirit. by radiating
the light of the new day. This
calls for more than a mere pat
response if we are i o prevent a ray
of hope from becoming a mere
pipe dream,
(Con ;rflued from F',;uc :2
and the Prelude to the 3rd Act
are any indication, it deserves
better exposure.
The flip side offers Janacek's
"Lachian Dances," about which
the composer writes, "a song of
praise to my homeland . , . I
send this music out into the
world, full of hushing notes, full,
of laughing, twittering, and
written in the late 1800's, the
thoughtful melodies." The work
dances were not performed for
has a curious history. Although
twenty years, and the proofs of
a piano version made by Jana-
cek in 1928 waited another two
decades for publication. He had
nothing to be ashamed of, cer-
tainly. The six dances are lav-
ishly orchestrated in the tradi-
tion of Brahms and-Dvorak's ef-
forts in the realm of folk
dances, and manage to be live-
ly and pleasant despite the ma-
e rial. somewhat more ban:al
than that used by his predeces-
sors.
Last and least is a re-re-re-
lease of three Tschaikovsky bai-
let suites in their intrepid per-
formances by Ormandy and nis
Philadelphians. This is one of
a series of two-record sets on
Columbia devoted to popular
works of sundry composers. I am
able to listen to Tschaikovsky
only in the concert hall, where
.it truly possible to appreciate
his genius in orchestration. On
records, the enormous sound is
gone, and one is left with his
melodies, which are not to my
taste.
Presumably the album would
make a nice gift for somneone
who has no others by Tschai-
kovsky. After this one, he won't
need any others.
"OPEN" TG
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Daily Classifieds Get Res
The University of Michigan
Contemporary Directions En-
semble has been chosen by the
Walter W. Naumberg Founda-
tion to perform in New York
City's Town Hall on April 20,
according to Prof. Leslie Bas-
sett, chairman of the U-M music
composition department.
Prof. Hodkinson is currently
on leave and is serving as Com-
poser-in-Residence for the twin
cities of Minneapolis and St.
Paul. He is participating in a
project sponsored by the Ford
Foundation to place composers
in selected American cities for
two-year periods so that they
can become involved in musical
groups.
Now in its nird year of a
four-year Rockefeller Founda-
tion project, the U-M's Contem-
porary Directions Ensemble was
invited by the Naumberg Foun-
dation to participate with other
inresidence chamber groups in
a competition to determine
w\ hich one would play two per-
formances in New York this
spring. In an unp ecedented
decision, the Foundation chose
both the U-M Ensemble and the
Contemporary Group of the
Univ rsity of Washington. Each
will present a program of
American contemporary music.
The Naumberg Foundation
has given awards to contempor-
ary American composers for a
number of years and also spon-
sors free concerts in Central
Park, New York City.
11
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THE VARIETY SHOW pictured ai nve is only one of the booths
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Students Association. The Fair opens tomorrow and runs through
Saturday at East Quad.
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