2. Read and translate the text. Rock music
Rock music dominated popular music in the West since about 1955. It began in the United States, but it has influenced and in turn been shaped by a board field of cultures and musical traditions, including gospel music, the blues, country music, classical music, folk music, electronic music, and the popular music of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Other major rock-music styles include rock and roll, the first genre of rock music; and rhythm-and-blues music (R&B), influenced mainly by black American musicians. Each of these major genres encompasses a variety of sub styles, such as heavy metal, punk, alternative, and grunge. While innovations in rock music have often occurred in regional centers -such as New York City, Kingston, Jamaica, and Liverpool, England—the influence of rock music is now felt worldwide. The central musical instrument in most kinds of rock music is the electric guitar. Famous jazz musician Charlie Christian, who in the late 1930s was one of the first to play the amplified guitar as a solo instrument.
O
ther
instruments commonly
used
in rock music include the electric bass guitar introduced by Fender
in 1951;
keyboard
instruments such
as the electric piano, organ,
and
synthesizer;
and
the drum
set, an
African American innovation that came into rock music from jazz and
R&B music. There is the saxophone which is prominent
in
jazz-rock and soul music. The microphone also functions
as
a musical instrument for many rock singers, who rely
upon
the
amplification
and
various effects such as echo obtainable through electronic means.
The first type of rock music was rock and roll. It is originated in the United States in the 1950s, and was largely derived from music of the American South. Rock and roll was first released by small, independent record companies and promoted by radio disc jockeys (DJs) like Alan Freed, who used the term rock «n» roll to help attract white audiences. The golden age of rock and roll lasted only five years, from 1955 to 1959. In 1964 the Beatles travelled to New York City to appear on a television broadcast and launched the so-called British Invasion. During the late 1960s, rock music diversified further into new styles while consolidating its position in the mainstream of American popular music.
In the early 1970s the popular mainstream was dominated by superstar rock groups, such as the Rolling Stones, the Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, and Chicago, and by individual superstars, such as Stevie Wonder and Elton John.
About 1976 punk rock originated in New York City and London as a reaction against the commercialism of mainstream rock and the pretentiousness of art rock.
Perhaps the most significant rock-music development of the 1980s was the rise of rap, a genre in which vocalists perform rhythmic speech, usually accompanied by music snippets, or samples, from prerecorded material or from music created by synthesizers. Rap originated in the mid-1970s in the South Bronx community of New York City and was initially associated with a cultural movement called hip-hop, which included acrobatic dancing known as break dancing and graffiti art.
Technological innovation continues to drive changes in the way rock music is produced, heard, and sold.