THE INSTRUMENTAL COMPONENT AS THE LEADING FACTOR OF THE FIGURATIVE SYSTEM OF PROGRESSIVE ROCK

Abstract

Relevance of research.Addressing the issue of progressive rock instruments is relevant in view of the artistic significance of this direction of rock music, its influence on subsequent generations of musicians and the interest of listeners. Ideas about creative concepts and systems of artistic means of progressive rock bands remain incomplete and scattered. This includes the issue of musical texture and its instrumental component.
Main objective of the study. The purpose of this article is to highlight the nature of the use of musical instruments and their role in its figurative system, based on the artistic practice of progressive rock of the «classic period» (late 1960 – 1970 s).
The research methods. The methods of analysis and generalization, as well as the comparative method, are applied.
Results and conclusions. The processes of more than ten years of experimentation with sound (including the combination of acoustic and the latest – electromechanical and electronic – instruments) in the practice of prog-rock bands corresponded to the general trends of enriching the timbre, color and textural means of music, no matter what field it belonged to. The adaptation and «absorption» of academic instruments by rock music, adapting them to embody one's own concepts, that was actively unfolding in the practice of progressive rock, significantly enriched the system of its expressive means. The intermediate position of prog-rock – between popular and academic music – led to the absorption of influences from both sides and the emergence of prog-rock manifestations in both directions.