Final Project

For my final project I decided to do a triple swing dance to Elvis Presley's song “All Shook Up”. The dance represents how Elvis helped the music of that time transform into something completely new. Swing dancing was fresh and new when it was introduced, as was rock and roll. Elvis was one of the main artists who helped rock and roll become a mainstream genre in the music industry. Swing dancing and rock and roll music were both unique for their time and helped revolutionize the way youth would enjoy musical entertainment.

Elvis found his musical inspiration through an Assembly of God church that his family attended. When he was around 11 years old, he received a guitar for his birthday. He had no formal musical training but did take a few guitar lessons from his uncles. He never learned to read music and so every thing he played and studied was by ear.

After graduating high school, Elvis got a job as a truck driver. He would occasionally go to different studios and pay to record a few of his songs but nothing ever came of it. In the summer of 1953, Elvis went to Sun Records to make a couple of recordings. Sam Phillips, the owner of the company, was looking for a young white artist who had an African American sound and feel to his music. Phillips liked Elvis' style and invited him back for another recording session. The next year Elvis held another session with Sun Records. Towards the end of the recording session, which was mostly unsuccessful, Elvis picked up his guitar and started to play an old blues song, “That's All Right”. During the song he was dancing around which caused the other musicians to do the same and the music came alive. Phillips found the type of rhythm he was looking for. Elvis' career as a rock and roll artist had begun.

One interesting thing about Elvis was his wild stage presence. During one of his appearances on NBC's “Milton Berle Show”, Elvis performed the song “Hound Dog” without playing his guitar. Instead of playing, Elvis gave an energetic performance of the song, dancing around while exaggerating his body movements. His “gyrations” were considered inappropriate to many and caused a widespread controversy. Nonetheless, the broadcast drew in such high ratings that he immediately became a nationwide sensation. Ed Sullivan, who had his own variety show and who criticized Elvis' performance on the “Milton Berle Show”, ended up having Elvis perform on his own show. The reason that Elvis' music was so successful was his ability to match his stage performance with his genre of music. Since both his music and stage performance were innovational and unconventional, it created a stir among the younger generation that drew them to his music. That's why I believe that he was so significant in American culture. His music created a large generation gap. On one side you had youth that admired the music and on the other side were adults that detested not only the music but the artist as well. The same type of pattern in music can be found in today's mainstream genres.

The reason I chose to perform the triple swing with one of Elvis' songs was because the two fit very well together. Both the triple swing and Elvis were very popular among the younger generation during the 1950s, yet both were shunned upon by the parents of that same generation. While I was trying to find a song to dance to, I was able to listen to many different Elvis songs. However, after seeing a clip of one of his songs played on the “Milton Berle Show”, I realized that half of the talent in Elvis was in his stage presence. Elvis was a sensation because he was the first artist to create a fusion with his music and his stage presence. He also had a very interesting way of fusing rhythm and blues with country music. He took two existing genres and melded them into one to create his own type of music.

Through this project I've gained a greater respect for Elvis and what he did as an artist. I've always known who Elvis was but I never fully understood how he affected American music and how it's viewed today. He truly was the King of Rock and Roll.