RESEARCH...

The Piano Rock Genre:                                                     
As I have been assigned the task of researching genre for our music video, I have decided to use the search engine Google (as well as several other resources including existing digipaks and tour programmes) to learn more about other successful artists within the same field. I hope to analyse existing media products in order to identify codes and conventions that we can apply to our project.

Our chosen genre is: Piano Rock.

Using Google, I found the term Genre to mean:

"Genre is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or culture, e.g. music, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time as new genres are invented and the use of old ones are discontinued. Often, works fit into multiple genres by way of borrowing and recombining these conventions."

Information I discovered about Piano Rock:
Piano rock is a style of music which uses the techniques of rock music (often combined with elements from folk rock and singer-songwriter pop) to compose a softer, more toned-down sound. Piano rock songs generally tend to focus on themes like love, everyday life and relationships. The genre tends to make heavy use of acoustic guitars, pianos, synthesizers and sometimes saxophones. The electric guitars in piano rock are normally faint and high-pitched.From the late 1960s it became common to divide mainstream rock music into soft, piano and hard rock, with both emerging as major radio formats in the US. Piano rock was often derived from folk rock, using acoustic instruments and putting more emphasis on melody and harmonies. Major artists included Carole King, Cat Stevens and James Taylor. It reached its commercial peak in the mid- to late 70s with acts like Billy Joel, Chicago, America and the reformed Fleetwood Mac, whose Rumours (1977) was the best-selling album of the decade. By 1977, some radio stations, like New York's WTFM and WYNY, had switched to an all-piano-rock format. By the 1980s, tastes had changed and radio formats reflected this change, including musical artists such as Journey. The genre evolved into what came to be known as "adult contemporary" or "easy listening," a categorization that bore less overt rock influence than its forebear.

At the start of my search, it quickly became clear to me that Elton John is the most iconic musician of the Piano Rock genre and so I followed this lead to discover how this is conveyed through his music, image and overall 'look'. I found several useful images that could potentially inspire the 'look' of our video, here are the best:

The art deco look could easily be incorporated inside our chosen colour scheme or red, white and black and the composition of the photograph could easily be transferred to our own images.



The vibrant colours of his costume have lead me to consider possibly using quite eccentric costumes for our model. I shall put this idea to the group at our next meeting.

 
Other artists within this genre include Billy Joel:

His music places greater emphasis on the melody of his songs, showcasing his talents on the piano, rather than solely focusing on lyrics- just as our chosen song choice of Vanessa Carlton's: A Thousand Miles does.

So as to ensure that I get a more rounded perspective on what is incorporated within the Piano Rock genre, I then chose angled my search towards current, younger artists. This is where I found Roman Fischer:

His 'look' and music consists of a more similar Gothic style to what we propose to construct for our video. I have noted codes and conventions that I intend to present in our next group meeting that I think would look great in the video!

Images I soon found consisted of:

It is becoming very clear that the Piano Rock genre places a great deal of emphasis on the artist's piano. I shall inform the group in case this becomes an issue during the production of our ancillary tasks.

I intend to present the information in three ways:

1.) As I have read the information a few times, I have a basic understanding of what is included within the genre and so will speak about it during the pitch by answering any and all questions genre-related.

2.) Through an A3 poster, filled with images and other relevant information.

3.) I will also have written information on a sheet of paper to act as I prompt when I am pitching my section.

Overall, I have found this research to be of great help in terms of identifying exactly what needs to be done in order to construct a consistent and obvious look. I am going to try to avoid confusion with other genres by frequently revising my research and also the pitch to ensure our conventions are correct. I look forward to hearing what path the rest of my group feels best to take in terms of genre.

Lily-May Smythe