To adapt classical music to rock music instruments, variations must be written, keys used effectively and dynamically and sophistocated arrangements produced.http://www.randyellefson.com/guitar/articles/musictheory/Music_Degrees_Rock_Guitarists_2.pdf Multiple parts, including lead and harmony, must also be written.http://www.randyellefson.com/guitar/articles/musictheory/Music_Degrees_Rock_Guitarists_2.pdf Classical composition centers on technique, with a single idea holding the potential to become an entire five-minute piece.http://www.randyellefson.com/guitar/articles/musictheory/Music_Degrees_Rock_Guitarists_2.pdf Varying a piece is about keeping an element of the original idea while altering other elements. These variations can be subtle, or a change the piece into a different genre like rock.http://www.randyellefson.com/guitar/articles/musictheory/Music_Degrees_Rock_Guitarists_2.pdf

There are two main types of music variations used to adapt classical music into rock - cosmetic and structural.http://www.randyellefson.com/guitar/articles/musictheory/Music_Degrees_Rock_Guitarists_2.pdf Cosmetic changes are do not involve manipulation of the material structure, while structural changes involve breaking a musical idea down to its components.http://www.randyellefson.com/guitar/articles/musictheory/Music_Degrees_Rock_Guitarists_2.pdf A cosmetic change is to alter the instrumentation, such as the performer singing the melody. A structural change is to surround a motif (a small part of a melody) with different chords and keys, repeated at different pitches and used to base a new melody on. A motif itself can also be varied.http://www.randyellefson.com/guitar/articles/musictheory/Music_Degrees_Rock_Guitarists_2.pdf

Keys are utilized to define structure in classical music.http://www.randyellefson.com/guitar/articles/musictheory/Music_Degrees_Rock_Guitarists_2.pdf Key changes can be powerful or pointless, depending on their use. Classical forms, from a fugue to a minuet, are partially defined by key changes, which are also used for variation and to add subtle tension.http://www.randyellefson.com/guitar/articles/musictheory/Music_Degrees_Rock_Guitarists_2.pdf

Through borrowing of style, form and instrumentation, rock music has used classical music elements for almost a century.http://rockclassical.com/http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/List-of-popular-songs-based-on-classical-music From 1922's Goin' Home (which was popularized by Paul Robeson and based on the Largo from Dvořák's Symphony No. 9, From the New World), to Elvis Presley's It's Now or Never in 1960 (based on Edvard Grieg's Piano Concerto in A minor) and Oasis' 1996 hit Don't Look Back in Anger (chorus chord progression borrows from Canon by Johann Pachelbel), classical music has long been used to help produce new rock sounds.http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/List-of-popular-songs-based-on-classical-music

• Classico by Tenacious D (2006) - Bach's Bourrée in E minor from Suite in E minorhttp://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/List-of-popular-songs-based-on-classical-music

• Workingman's Blues by Bob Dylan (2006) - uses chords similar to Johann Pachelbel's Canon in D Majorhttp://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/List-of-popular-songs-based-on-classical-music

• Karma by Alicia Keys (2003) - contains a sample from Johannes Brahms' Violin Concertohttp://www.magle.dk/music-forums/940-modern-popular-songs-based.html

• Someone to Call My Lover by Janet Jackson (2001) - uses Erik Satie's Gymnopedie No. 1 (as well as America's Ventura Highway)http://www.magle.dk/music-forums/940-modern-popular-songs-based.html

• Rock Your Socks by Tenacious D (2001) - Quotes Johann Sebastian Bach's Bouree from Suite in E Minor BWV 996. ("This is Bach and it rocks...")http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/List-of-popular-songs-based-on-classical-music