{"id":396872,"date":"2019-09-17T16:45:06","date_gmt":"2019-09-17T20:45:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=396872"},"modified":"2019-09-25T13:27:08","modified_gmt":"2019-09-25T17:27:08","slug":"music-scholars-come-together-in-rochester-for-abbey-road-conference-396872","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/music-scholars-come-together-in-rochester-for-abbey-road-conference-396872\/","title":{"rendered":"Music scholars come together in Rochester for Abbey Road<\/em> conference"},"content":{"rendered":"

September 26 marks the 50th anniversary of the release of the Beatles\u2019 iconic Abbey Road<\/em>. The band\u2019s final album, named for the London studio in which it was recorded, served as a kind of goodbye letter to the fans. The Fab Four were in the process of a break-up, but amidst lawsuits and internal feuds, they got back together for one last musical turn.<\/p>\n

They were \u201cback to form,\u201d says John Covach, director of the Institute for Popular Music<\/a> at the Ä¢¹½´«Ã½<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s the band playing together, singing together, and working together in a way they haven\u2019t really done for some time.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Abbey Road Conference<\/h3>\n

September 27\u201329, 2019<\/p>\n

Registration and information<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The University will host \u201cCome Together: Fifty Years of Abbey Road<\/em>,\u201d<\/a> a three-day symposium to commemorate the landmark work, from September 27 to 29. Held at the University\u2019s Eastman School of Music<\/a> and sponsored by its Institute for Popular Music, the event brings together scholars as well as participants in the actual recording of the album for presentations, keynotes, poster sessions, and special events open to the public.<\/p>\n

The three-day event will explore the many facets of Abbey Road<\/em>\u2019s production, including audio innovations, instrumentation, art, and the influence of the people who surrounded the band during the making of the album.<\/p>\n

\u201cStylistically, it moves in so many different ways,\u201d says Victor Coelho, chair of Boston University\u2019s department of musicology, of Abbey Road<\/em>. \u201cThe music is indifferent to trends at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coelho will speak on \u201cPerformance, Composition, and the Historical Moment of Abbey Road.\u201d Additional presenters include audio engineer Ken Townsend, who worked on several Beatles albums, including Rubber Soul<\/em>, Revolver<\/em>, and Sgt. Pepper\u2019s Lonely Hearts Club Band<\/em>; Andy Babiuk, a consultant to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame<\/a> and author of Beatles Gear: All the Fab Four\u2019s Instruments from Stage to Studio<\/em>; Walter Everett, a professor of music theory at the University of Michigan and author of The Beatles as Musicians<\/em>; and Kenneth Womack and Katie Kapurch, literary scholars and coeditors of New Critical Perspectives on the Beatles: Things We Said Today.<\/em><\/p>\n

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