-
Earliest forms of dance in America were modeled after ____?
European forms
-
Three early American dance forms?
- (hint: ALL C's)
- Contra dance
- Couples dance
- Cakewalk
-
What was a "cakewalk"?
Early form of dance in America in which the slaves were making fun of the contra dance of their owners. Whoever won received a cake.
-
What dance did the cakewalk emulate?
Contra dance (it was a mockery from the slaves)
-
What was the grand ball?
Dance setting for upper-class, with a dance master who calls out dance steps, place with high culture
-
Use of wind bands in Civil War?
- Recruiting - as use of a pep band.
- AND
- On the front line - literally in the battle to frighten enemies.
-
What happened to wind bands after the war?
They went home and started local bands
-
What did Adolfo Sax say about wind playing?
"Playing wind instruments makes you healthy, strings not so much."
-
Who said, "playing wind instruments makes you healthy, strings not so much"?
Adolfo Sax
-
Crazy instruments in wind bands?
Horn w/ no valves, ophicleide, and serpent
-
National Peace Jubilee, World Peace Jubilee
Patrick Gilmore conducted 1/2,000 players and 10/20,000 singers at one time to celebrate the end of the Civil War/Franco-Prussian War
-
Patrick Gilmore conducted lots of people at which events
National Peace Jubilee and World Peace Jubilee
-
John Phillip Sousa
- Started on violin (Fun fact)
- Focused on conducting and composing
- He wrote more than just band music
- Toured for 40 years
- Great business man
- Founding member of ASCAP
- Stars and Stripes Forever
-
Stars and Stripes Forever. GO!
- FORM - AABBCDCDC
- COMPOSER - John Phillip Sousa
- GENRE - March
- MUSICAL CHARACTERISTICS -Trio has famous piccolo part and then the famous trombone part
-
Tin Pan Alley
- Named after the genre and the part of the city (some random alley)
- The longest era of genre that we study (1880s-1960s)
- Publishers were in control of what happened musically
- People wrote their own songs and lyrics (very industrialized)
- Got $ for however many songs you wrote
-
What is the longest era of genre that we study?
Tin Pan Alley (1880s-1960s)
-
First time in American History where you got royalties for your music? What genre?
Tin Pan Alley - you got money for however many songs you sold.
-
Best way to market Tin Pan Alley songs?
Through Vaudville shows
-
Syncopation
Placing accents on traditionally weak beats
-
Ragtime forms resembled which forms closely?
Marches. They were sectionalized - think S&SF, like AABBACCC, AABBCCDD, etc. (even had key changes within it like the trio of a march)
-
What is a player piano?
A piano that records the motions of its player and later plays back what the player had done previously. This is how we have Scott Joplin recordings of the Maple Leaf Rag.
-
What genre do we see the "oom pah" bass?
Ragtime music
-
What is the "oom pah" bass?
Essentially, for our purposes, it is what keeps time in ragtime music - it is the lower left-hand pattern going on in the piano
-
multi-sectional form
- Associated with marches and ragtime pieces.
- For example ("Maple Leaf Rag") AABBA/CCDD
-
Marches and ragtime pieces have what forms?
Multisectional
-
James Reese Europe, tell me about him, bro.
CHR(O)SS
- The Castles hired him to accompany dances.
- He accompanied the Hellfighters (Af.Am. regiment) to France.
- Signed the first Recording contract of an Af.Am. band.
- His group was the (O)SS... Syncopated Society Orchestra.. (The vowel had to go somewhere, alright, asshole?!)
-
What was the Clef Club?
It was a special African American musician's union
-
Name the famous old African American musician's union
Clef Club
-
Did ASCAP accept black members in the early 20th Century?
No (very few). However, they had the Clef Club, so they were okay for the most part.
-
Define: "to jazz"
to make livelier or faster
-
Development of Jazz music?
Stemmed from an Uptown vs. Downtown rivalry in New Orleans, followed by unity when "seperate but equal" laws came into effect. First recording - Dixieland Jazz Band. ("Tiger Rag")
-
Dixieland Jazz Band
Original jazz recording, "Tiger Rag"
-
"Tiger Rag"
- COMPOSER: LaRocca
- RECORDED BY: Dixieland Jazz Band
- MUSICAL CHARACTERISTICS: african roots (tailgating, dirty sounds, collective improvisation)
- GENRE: JAZZ JAZZ JAZZ NOT RAG
-
What is Congo Square?
It was a place in New Orleans where Af.Am's were allowed to dance and play music.
-
Name the place where slaves were allowed to play music and dance on Sundays in New Orleans back in the day?
Congo Square
-
What is Creole?
Children of French or Spanish men who had slave mistresses - their families I guess. It says they were lighter skinned, and thus had more access to education, classical training, etc.
-
Families in New Orleans that mixed French/Spanish with slaves?
Creole
-
Nick LaRocca?
Composer of "Tiger Rag"
-
What is "collective improvisation"?
A jazz practice derived from African music in which several musicians improvise at once
-
What is the jazz practice derived from African music in which several musicians improvise at once?
"collective improvisation"
-
What is a glissando?
Scooping between pitches, hitting microtones in between. Slang for this is called "tailgating"
-
What is "tailgating"?
Glissando
-
What is Vaudeville?
- Closely related to Broadway
- Tin Pan Alley composers would write for these shows to gain popularity.
- It replaced the Minstrel Show as the most important medium for popularization.
-
What medium replaced Minstrel Shows as the most important way to popularize music?
Vaudeville
-
What is a "song plugger"?
- Composers that would market very aggressively (TPA)
- They used various persuasion tactics (free copy of new song, favors, flat fee, % of profits, etc)
-
Which group of people marketed the most agressively in their attempts to gain popularity for their songs in TPA?
Song pluggers
-
Describe Tin Pan Alley music?
- Had a homogenous style
- It was dominated by a few composers
- Changed with the decades (parlor-dance-sentimental)
- Adapted subordinate genres of music (rag)
- Text serves as form of escape
-
Who was Charles K. Harris?
- A songwriter, music publisher, and banjo player
- He was musically illiterate
- Started his own publishing company
- Wrote "After the Ball"
-
Who wrote "After the Ball"?
Charles K. Harris
-
Describe "After the Ball"
- COMPOSER - Harris (who made $25,000 a week off it)
- FORM - Verse/chorus
- GENRE - Tin Pan Alley Ballad
- MUSICAL CHARACTERISTICS - Emphasis on the Chorus, this verse/chorus was emulated by many others
-
Define: "assimilation"
The integration of an immigrant, outsider, or subordinate group into the dominant, host community
-
Identify: "The integration of an immigrant, outsider, or subordinate group into the dominant, host community"
What is: "assimilation"
-
Who is Irving Berlin?
- He epitomized the Tin Pan Alley era
- Born in Russia
- Son of a jewish cantor
- He was a song plugger
- Owned a publishing company, established a theater
-
What were "ethnic novelty songs"?
Songs that portrayed members of ethnic groups in humorous but demeaning ways
-
What were songs that portrayed members of different cultural groups in humorous but demeaning ways?
"Ethnic novelty songs"
-
George and Ira Gershwin?
- Emigrated from Russia in 1890s
- Brothers
- George composed Rhapsody in Blue, Porgy and Bess
- Successful in classical and popular genres
- Tolerant of Af.Am.'s, composed in their style and worked w/ them
-
TPA Song form?
Typically verse/refrain form, with an AABA refrain.
-
What genre that we're studying had verse/refrain form typically??
Tin Pan Alley
-
Who was Al Jolson?
- The main dude from the "Jazz Singer"
- A Vaudeville entertainer who performed in Blackface
- Sang on one knee (his trademark)
- Son of a jewish cantor
-
Who are the two people that are sons of Jewish Cantors???
- Al Jolson ("Jazz Singer")
- Irving Berlin (the song plugger who "epitomized TPA")
-
What is "crooning"?
A vocal style that was smooth and personal enabled by invention of the microphone (Sinatra used this)
-
What is the vocal style that was smooth and personal enabled by the advent of the microphone?
"crooning"
-
Talk to me about "The Jazz Singer"
- Made in 1927
- Based on the life of Al Jolson
- Had a jewish cantor as a father who didn't approve of his son's jazz singing
-
What are wax cylinders?
- Method of recording and playing back music
- 6 inches
- replaced by 12" discs
-
Hillbilly vs. Race recordings
Catalogues had to be segregated just like everything else, so when buying music and browsing, the two were separated
-
Advent of Big Band music?
- It grew out of small orchestras that played in clubs/restaurants
- Mainly white groups (ODJB)
- Replaced black ragtime bands
- Sax replaced clarinet
- Fletcher Henderson created with starting it?
-
Who is Fletcher Henderson?
- He is credited with creating the big band genre by using a new approach with arranging the ensemble
- Louis armstrong played with him
-
Who is credited with starting big band music?
Fletcher Henderson
-
Who is Paul Whiteman?
- A classically trained racist violinist
- Hired the best white jazz musician
- Commissioned George Gersh. to write rhapsody in blue
- Had a series of concerts in NYC "Experiment in Modern Music"
- Symphonic jazz - not even SWUNG!
-
"Sweet" jazz
- What Whiteman would play
- symphonic jazz
- smooth syncopation
- no solos
-
"Hot" jazz
- Duke Ellington
- Contrasted with "sweet" Whiteman style
- (real jazz)
-
What is walking bass?
Bass player playing on all four beats
-
Identify: "bass player playing all four beats"
Walking bass
-
Identify: "four on the floor"
drummer playing on all four beats
-
Drummer playing on all four beats
Four on the floor
-
What was the "Harlem Renaissance"?
- Afr.Am. cultural movement 20's & 30's
- Black writers, actors, musicians, artists explored their culture and celebrated heritage
- Black middle class was in Harlem
-
What are "black and tan clubs"?
- Places like the Cotton Club, Apollo Theater
- Clubs in black neighborhoods in large cities where blacks and whites mixed
- Arose during prohibition
- Training ground for both black and white jazz musicians
-
What is the Lindy Hop?
Movements and improvisation of black dances with the formal 8-count structure of European partner dances
-
What dance had the movements and improvisation of black dances along with the 8-count structure of European dances?
Lindy Hop
-
Jitterbug
The white response to the Lindy Hop, a little more tame than the Lindy hop
-
What was the "Cotton Club"?
- Most famous of NYC's nightclubs in the 20s and 30s
- Black performers, white audience
- Most prominent jazz musicians of the day (Ella F, Louis A, NatKCole, etc)
- Ellington's band performed there
-
Duke Ellington
- Famous for big band jazz, but composed in wide range of styles
- Played both hot and sweet style
- Wrote over 2,000 compositions
- famous for the "jungle style"
-
What was "jungle music"?
Took sounds from the environment, and blended with african roots
-
Where did swing rhythm come from?
It grew out of black musical practices
-
Who was Benny Goodman?
- Most popular performer of the swing era
- Specialized in hot, syncopated jazz
- Had a show "Let's Dance"
-
What is "small group jazz"?
Ellington made this a thing, basically combo music
-
Who was John Hammond?
- He came from a wealthy family,
- studied music at Yale
- Worked with Goodman
- Helped integrate the music world (black/white)
-
What were "songsters"?
African american itinerant musicians, characterized with banjos, fiddles, etc.
-
Identify: "African american itinerant musicians, characterized with banjos, fiddles, etc."
Songsters
-
Blues form?
AAB... 12-bar blues
-
AAB form associated with?
Blues (12-bars?)
-
What are the blue notes?
Flattened 3rd, 5th, and 7th
-
Delta/rural/country blues?
- Mississippi Delta (poor as hell)
- More improvisatory, free form, had an oral tradition, voice and guitar
-
Who was Blind Lemon Jefferson?
- Traveling musician,
- Over 80 songs, 100 recordings
- Had a pseudonym for when he played other music because Blues was the devil's music
- Sang "Black Snake Moan"
-
Who was Robert Johnson?
- Most famous rural blues artist
- Sold his soul to the devil
- Died early by poison from the man who's wife he was sleeping with
- "Crossroad blues"
-
Classic Blues?
- It was more composed,
- had a 12-bar structure,
- had sheet music,
- had TPA influence,
- more instruments used.
-
Classic vs. Country blues
- Composed vs. improv
- 12-bar form vs. free form
- sheet music vs. oral tradition
- more instruments vs. small ensemble
-
What was the Theater Owners Booking Association?
- They booked touring shows throughout the country
- White-owned
- Touring conditions varied WIDELY
-
Who was W.C. Handy?
- "Father of the Blues"
- Made the first Afr. Am. publishing house
- Major role in the popularization of blues
-
Who was the Lomax family?
They went around recording various songsters and blues artists, making it more famous
-
Who sang with Leadbelly?
Blind Lemon Jefferson
-
Who did Blind Lemon Jefferson sing with?
Leadbelly
-
What is a medicine show?
A travelling show featuring music and other entertainment designed to attract a audience in order to pitch them a product.
-
Identify: "A travelling show featuring music and other entertainment designed to attract a audience in order to pitch them a product."
"medicine show"
-
Talk about the term "hillbilly"
- A term used for Country music until at least WW2
- Before country music became popular that's what they'd call it
- Poor southern whites
- Some embraced it
-
Describe the Hawaiian guitar
- Developed in Hawaii, it had a slack key, tuned all notes to major triad
- Used with a sliding comb - produces glissandos
- Popular in hillbilly /country music
-
What is a "dobro"?
A resonoator guitar, made to produced a greater volume than conventional guitar (before amplification was a thing)
-
Identify: "A resonoator guitar, made to produced a greater volume than conventional guitar (before amplification was a thing)"
Dobro
-
Who was Ralph Peer?
- A talent scout for Okeh Records
- Began the distinction between "race" and "hillbilly" music
-
Who began the terms "race" and "hillbilly" music?
Ralph Peer.
-
What was the Grand Ole Opry?
Performance venue and radio show, featuring string bands, traditional singers, gospel quartets, and banjo players as well as comedians and announcers
-
Identify: "Performance venue and radio show, featuring string bands, traditional singers, gospel quartets, and banjo players as well as comedians and announcers"
Grand Ole Opry
-
What were the Bristol sessions?
Series of recording sessions in 1927 by Ralph Peer that popularized both known and new musicians.
-
Identify: "Series of recording sessions in 1927 by Ralph Peer that popularized both known and new musicians."
Bristol Sessions
-
Who was the Carter family?
- Conservative Country group
- "Keep on the Sunny Side"
-
Who was the conservative country group that sang "Keep on the Sunny Side"?
The Carter Family
-
Who was Leslie Riddle?
- Famous blues guitarist
- Helped the Carters record folk songs
-
Who was the famous blues guitarist that helped the Carter family record songs?
Leslie Riddle
-
Who was Jimmie Rodgers?
- 1st hillbilly star
- known for his yodeling
- "Waiting for a Train"
-
Who sang and wrote "Waiting for a Train"?
Jimmie Rodgers
-
Yodelling in American popular music?
Country/hillbilly songs - came from german origin, adapted by both blacks and whites
-
What is "communalism"?
African musical idea of music as an activity not just for entertainment, a communal activity.
-
Identify: "African musical idea of music as an activity not just for entertainment"
Communalism
-
What is a griot?
A low-status travelling professional musician/historian
-
What is patting juba?
An African-American derived body drumming technique
-
Identify: "An African-American derived body drumming technique"
Patting juba
-
What is a "ring shout"?
African derived shuffling circular dance of chanting and hand-clapping that puts participants in a trance
-
Identify: "African derived shuffling circular dance of chanting and hand-clapping that puts participants in a trance"
Ring shout
-
Music Identify: "Kneebone"
- GENRE - Black spiritual/ring shout
- MUSICAL CHARACTERISTICS - Blends European hymns, Call and response, strophic, repetitive, handclapping
-
Music Identify: "Arwhoolie"
- GENRE - Field Holler
- MUSICAL CHARACTERISTICS - arhythmic, wailing quality, melancholy, "ohh"
- FORM - Verse/refrain
-
Music Identify: "Hammer Ring"
- GENRE - Work song
- MUSICAL CHARACTERISTICS - rhythmic pulse of hammers, makes work easier
- FORM - verse/refrain
-
Music Identify: "Cornbread and butterbeans"
- GENRE - songsters
- GROUP - Carolina Chocolate Drops
- MUSICAL CHARACTERISTICS - kill yourself.. played with bones and jug, bass and banjo
-
Hickiest music you'll hear with banjo and jug and everything?
"Cornbread and Butterbeans" by Carolina Chocolate Drops
-
You hear a song with someone wailing away, really sad. What is it?
"Arwhoolie" - a field holler
-
You hear a song - a dude is singing and everyone is replying. He keeps singing "kneebone", this must mean something.
It is called "Kneebone", and it is a black spiritual/ring shout
-
You hear an old-timey blues guitar song. It sounds sad and wailing kind of, but theres a blues guitar.
"Black Snake Moan" by Blind Lemon Jefferson
-
Music Identify: "Black Snake Moan"
- GENRE - Country blues
- COMPOSER (kinda) - Blind Lemon Jefferson
- MUSICAL CHARACTERISTICS - moaning, improvisatory, guitar accompaniment
-
You hear a dude playing guitar and singing, he's not wailing though. "I went to the.... ___...."
"Crossroad Blues" by Robert Johnson (most famous blues artist)
-
Music Identify: "Crossroad Blues"
- GENRE - Country blues
- COMPOSER (kinda) - Robert Johnson
- MUSICAL CHARACTERISTICS - improvisatory, free form sounding, voice and guitar
-
You hear a trombone accompanying some chick singing a blues song.
"Empty Bed Blues" - (she's sad that her bed is empty) Bessie Smith
-
Music Identify: "Empty Bed Blues"
- GENRE - Classic blues
- FORM - 12 bar blues
- MUSICAL CHARACTERISTICS - voice, trombone,piano, altered timbre, tailgate technique (glissando)
-
You hear a hick sounding thing. It sounds like something you've heard on O Brother Where art Thou. Family singing
"Keep on the Sunny Side" - Carter Family
-
Music Identify: "
- GENRE: hillbilly
- COMPOSERS: Carter Family
- MUSICAL CHARACTERISTICS: Guitar, southern dialect,
-
You hear a train sound... followed by trumpet, guitar, slower tempo
"Waitin for a Train" - Jimmie Rodgers
-
Talk to me about the song "Barbara Allen"
- FORM - strophic
- GENRE - ballad (all about story!)
- MELODY - pentatonic
- COMPOSER - anonymous
- 243 different versions in the Library of Congress
-
Talk to me about "De Boatman Dance"
- COMPOSER - Dan Emmett
- FORM - verse/chorus
- CHARACTERISTICS - major mode, banjo accompaniment, bones accompaniment
- GENRE - Minstrel show
-
Commodification of music occurs when?
Music becomes a product that can be bought or sold
-
What tends to generally be simple in form and structure, shared by a particular community and passed down through oral tradition?
folk music
-
Define: folk music
Genre that tends to be simple in form and structure, shared by a particular community and passed down through oral tradition.
-
What was the first popular music genre created in the U.S.?
Minstrel show
-
Identify: "music becoming a product that can be bought or sold"
Commodification
-
Jim Crow
Minstrel show character and song
-
Who is Thomas Dartmouth Rice?
Famous minstrel show composer and performer
-
Who is William Billings?
He was a tanner who wrote hymns and patriotic songs
-
Name a minstrel show character/song
Jim Crow
-
Name a famous minstrel show composer/performer
Thomas Dartmouth Rice
-
Who was the tanner who wrote hymns and patriotic songs?
William Billings
-
Who was Stephen Foster?
The first important composer in the U.S.
-
Who was the first important composer in the U.S.?
Stephen Foster
-
Who was Cecil Sharp?
A British scholar and collector of ballads
-
Name the British scholar and collector of ballads?
Cecil Sharp
-
What is the issue with Grove Music Online's database and its definition of "popular music"?
It is biased in that it includes implied judgments on the value of popular music v. classical music.
-
What are new music genres often created by?
subordinate cultures
-
What is often the role of subordinate cultures?
Creating new music genres, ironically.
-
What is shape note singing?
- Music written out in a manner so that music-illiterate singers can participate.
- Often used in hymns for mass participation.
- Notes are different shapes for quicker associations (triangles, squares, etc)
-
Identify: "Music written out in a manner so that music-illiterate singers can participate. Often used in hymns for mass participation. Notes are different shapes for quicker associations (triangles, squares, etc)"
Shape-note singing
-
What are parlor songs?
- Songs that were sung at home
- Typically simple so that many could participate
- (SOMETIMES song by professionals)
- Easy accompinament
-
Explain the Bay Psalm Book
- The first music book made in America
- Had a vast collection of different hymns
-
Identify: "songs sung at home, usually simple, with easy accompaniment. 19th century"
Parlor songs
-
Identify: "first music book made in America, with a vast collection of different hymns"
Bay Psalm Book
-
Theodore Adorno - tell me about him.
- First person to truly account for pop music as a legitimate study.
- Studied at the Frankfurt School.
- Influenced by Karl Marx
- Classically trained (Alban Berg)
- Thought pop music was partially damaging society
-
Who was the first person to account for pop music as a legitimate study?
Theodore Adorno
-
Define: broadside ballad
a ballad composed and written on a newspaper-like pamphlet that people could purchase at a market
-
Define: pleasure garden
influenced from a European tradition, this is where people would go to socialize (beautiful, lush gardens) and often hear music in the form of small groups
-
Identify: "a ballad composed and written on a newspaper-like pamphlet that people could purchase at a market"
broadside ballad
-
Identify: "influenced from a European tradition, this is where people would go to socialize and often hear music in the form of small groups"
pleasure garden
-
Define: lining out
a process of learning music in a more simple manner, done by first simply singing melody without words and generally getting more complex by adding lyrics
-
Identify: "a process of learning music in a more simple manner, done by first simply singing melody without words and generally getting more complex by adding lyrics"
lining out
-
Define: music
Humanly organized sound
-
Identify: "humanly organized sound"
music
-
Talk about the "of" vs. "for" argument
It has to do with a cycle of influences - essentially an argument can be made either way, that people are influencing popular music with their culture (music OF the people) or music is influencing how culture is effected, controlled by ... who? (music FOR the people)
-
Define: eurocentrism
the dominant view of Western culture that privileges European-derived cultural forms and generally reflects white, upper middle-class, heterosexual male perspectives
-
Identify: "the dominant view of Western culture that privileges European-derived cultural forms and generally reflects white, upper middle-class, heterosexual male perspectives"
Eurocentrism
-
Define: ethnomusicology
study of folk and traditional music of the entire world (broadened to include any type of music and surrounding culture)
-
Define: ballad
A song that tells a story
-
Identify: "a song that tells a story"
Ballad
-
Ballads were mostly what form?
Strophic
-
Define: strophic (in our terms)
same melody repeating with different words
-
Identify: "same melody repeating with different words"
strophic
-
Define: blackface
whites blackened their face with burnt cork, exaggerated their facial features - performed with pretty crazy racial stereotypes.
-
Identify: "whites blackened their face with burnt cork, exaggerated their facial features - performed with pretty crazy racial stereotypes."
blackface
-
Who was Thomas Dartmouth Rice?
- He wrote the song "Jim Crow", which became a stock character in minstrel shows.
- He also toured Europe in the 1830s
-
Who invented "Jim Crow"?
Thomas Dartmouth Rice. He even toured around after gaining fame in the 1830s
-
Define: "Zip Coon"
Another character in minstrel shows that parodied upper-class "city-slickers", of course performed in blackface
-
Who was the character in minstrel shows that parodied the upper-class? He was known as the "city-slicker" type.
The "Zip Coon" character
-
Define: interlocuter
Typically the so-called "master of ceremonies" (not blackface) of the minstrel shows. He was an upper-class white character, with refined vocabulary.
-
Identify: "Typically the so-called "master of ceremonies" (not blackface) of the minstrel shows. He was an upper-class white character, with refined vocabulary."
Interlocuter
-
Who was Stephen Foster?
- He wrote "Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair"
- Wrote over 200 songs, including more than just folk songs
- He was the first important composer of American songs
- First to live solely from sales of compositions
-
Who wrote "Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair"?
Stephen Foster
-
Who was the first important composer of American songs?
Stephen Foster
-
What was the baby boomer generation?
- The youth of the 1950s who "invented" the teenager as a commercial and cultural entity
- Record companies started targeting them
- 1/3 of total record-buying population
-
What was important about the teen market in the 1950s?
As a new generation they were the focus for record companies, as they used the new music as a form of rebellion
-
What was important about American Bandstand?
- It spread culture of consumerism, and was one of the most popular venues of music as by 1955 nearly 2/3 of American households had TVs.
- It was presented "live" and included teenagers dancing to records
- Hosted by Dick Clark
- Soldified growing youth culture
-
What were the Billboard's 3 categories pre-1950?
- Pop Music
- Country/Western Music
- R&B
-
What is "jump blues"?
- Rhythmic R&B style
- Evolved from black big bands
- Featured simple riffs, blues-based tunes, explosive improvised solos and spontaneity
-
Who was Louis Jordan?
- Famous for his jump blues
- Saxophonist, singer, and band leader
- His band was "The Tympani Five"
- Grandfather of rap
-
Differences between Big Companies and Independents in mid 20th century
- Big Companies: ASCAP, Independents: BMI
- Big Companies: White audience, Independents: teens, country, R&B, etc.
- Big Companies: Older exec's out of touch with baby boomers, Independents: attuned to new teen market
-
Who was Alan Freed?
- Famous DJ in 50s.
- Promoted R&B on his radio show
- Refused to play white cover versions
- Among first to term "rock n' roll"
- Charged with 26 counts of bribery
-
Who was Bill Haley?
- The first white artist to successfully adapt R&B style for a mass pop audience
- "Rock Around the Clock" was his big hit
-
Who sang "Rock Around the Clock"?
Bill Haley
-
Who was the first to adapt R&B style to a mass pop audience?
Bill Haley
-
What was "Blackboard Jungle"?
- MOVIE, not a song
- Featured the first rock song ("Rock around the clock")
- Was about teenage rebellion in schools and how crazy things were getting
- The rock song symbolized the teenage rebellion
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What was important about cover versions in the 1950s?
- There was a big argument over "borrowing vs. stealing"
- Oftentimes social inequality (white people covering black songs)
- Major record labels would try to cash in on discoveries of independents
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Talk about Supreme vs. Decca
- Paula Watson recorded "A little Bird Told Me", which was then stolen by some white chick Evelyn Knight
- Supreme (record company) pissed off, and sues Decca (other record company).
- Decca won, musical arrangements were not copyrighted property
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Who was Little Richard?
- He was known for his visually flamboyant styles, sang R&B
- Had an uninhibited shouting style
- Sang "Tutti Frutti"
- Renounced career later to study at a Christian University
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Who was Chuck Berry?
- R&B singer/guitarist famous for his "duck walk"
- Would have been "king of rock n' roll" if not for racism
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Who was famous for the duck walk?
Chuck Berry (first name.. rhymes with duck....get it!?)
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Talk about Elvis
- First to have a chart first in Pop, R&B and country/western charts simultaneously
- Had a suggestive performing style
- Filmed from the waist-up on Ed Sullivan show because of this
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Who was Big Mama Thornton?
She originally sang "Hound Dog", was a big hit on R&B charts
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Who originally sang "Hound Dog"?
Big Mama Thornton
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Who was Pat Boone?
- He built his career by "sanitizing" the classics
- Took Little Richard's "Tutti Frutti"
- Helped gain exposure for musicians
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Talk about the Payola hearings
- a bribe was given by record companies to radio stations to promote certain records (common practice back then)
- DJ's were being brought commercial bribery charges
- 25 DJs/program directors were caught in the scandal
- Not enough hard evidence
- Later outright forbidden in FCA Act of 1960
- Alan Freed got screwed with 26 counts of bribery
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Teen Idols/Schlock rock
- 1950s, new generation of white, middle-class teen idols sprouted
- Meant to put a bland, white, middle-class face on rock n' roll
- Centered in Philadelphia
- Emphasis on image
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Tell me everything you know about "Barbara Allen"
- There are over 243 different versions
- GENRE - ballad
- MUSICAL CHARACTERISTICS - pentatonic scale, tells the story of Barbara Allen
- FORM -strophic
- COMPOSER - anonymous
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Difference between Francis Child and Cecil Sharp
- Child was an American that collected British ballads.
- Sharp was a Brit that collected American ballads.
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Who was Cecil Sharp?
British scholar who collected U.S. ballads
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Who was Francis James Child?
American scholar who collected British ballads.
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Who was the British scholar who collected U.S. ballads?
Cecil Sharp
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Who was the American scholar who collected British ballads?
Francis Child
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You hear a song, it is modal, only has one voice, and sounds like it could be sung at a campfire.
Barbara Allen (anonymous, ballad, strophic, 243, etc.)
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Sing "Barbara Allen"
Out in the merry month of something... where the green grass grows (I think...)... (it's pentatonic.... you got it)
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Tell me everything you know about "De Boatman's Dance"
- GENRE - Minstrel show
- COMPOSER - Dan Emmett
- MUSICAL CHARACTERISTICS - features banjo, fiddle, drums, has "Ethiopian dialect", syncopation
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You hear banjo, fiddle, at about 120BPM, and then the words "High row, ............, floatin' down the river Ohio"
It is "De Boatmen's Dance" (minstrel show, Dan Emmett, banjo, fiddle, drums, Ethiopian dialect, syncopation)
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Sing "De Boatman Dance"
"High ho, de boatman row, floatin' down the river Ohio....dance de boatman daaaance, dance de boatman dance, oooh something something"
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Tell me everything about "I dream of Jeanie with the light brown hair"
- GENRE - parlor song
- COMPOSER - Stephen Foster
- FORM - AABA
- MUSICAL CHARACTERISTICS - simple, major scales, predictable forms, easy accomp.,
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You hear a piano introduction, then a man singing. The accompaniment sounds simple enough, and the words and melody sound familiar. It sounds pretty easy, like almost anyone could sing it. What is it?
Probably "Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair" (parlor, Stephen Foster, AABA, simple, major scales, predictable forms, easy accompaniment)
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Sing "Jeanie with the light brown hair"
I dreeeeam of Jeanie with the light, brown, haair... Born like a VApor on the summer airr..... I see.... (etc)
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Tell me everything about "After the Ball"
- GENRE - ballad/parlor song/Early TPA song
- COMPOSER - Charles Harris
- MUSICAL CHARACTERISTICS - band accompaniment/strings, tells a tale, emphasis on the chorus!, influential in TPA
- FORM - 3 verse ballad, 32 bars
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You hear a band, it's in 6/8, then a man's voice comes in. It sounds like something off of "March of the Wooden soldiers", so its very old-timey sounding, and the man is telling a romantic story. There's a chorus that sounds important! What is it????
Probably "After the ball" (C. Harris, ballad/parlor song/Early TPA, band accompaniment/strings, 6/8, emphasis on chorus)
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Sing "After the Ball"
- (6/8) mi, sol mi, la, mi, sol mi, la mi, ti,
- fa, la fa, ti, fa, ti, ^mi re, mi
- (etc..)
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Tell me everything about "Maple Leaf Rag"
- GENRE - ragtime
- COMPOSER - Scott Joplin
- FORM - multi-sectional, like marches (AABBCDCD, etc.)
- MUSICAL CHARACTERISTICS - piano piece, syncopated, oom pah,
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Who was the "father of ragtime"?
Berlin was credited, but later Joplin has received more fame.
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You hear a piece. It's a piano piece and obviously ragtime. It sounds like Super Mario Brothers.
"Maple Leaf Rag" (ragtime, Scott Joplin, multi-sectional, piano solo, syncopated, oompah)
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Describe "Stars and Stripes Forever"
- FORM - AABBCDCDC
- COMPOSER - John Phillip Sousa
- GENRE - March
- MUSICAL CHARACTERISTICS -Trio has famous piccolo part and then the famous trombone part
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Describe Tiger Rag
- COMPOSER: LaRocca
- RECORDED BY: Dixieland Jazz Band
- MUSICAL CHARACTERISTICS: african roots (tailgating, dirty sounds, collective improvisation)
- GENRE: JAZZ JAZZ JAZZ NOT RAG
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What genre is Tiger Rag?
JAZZ. JAZZ. NOT RAG. JAZZ.
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Talk to me about "Waiting for a Train"
- GENRE - hillbilly
- COMPOSER/SINGER - Jimmie Rodgers
- MUSICAL CHARACTERISTICS - yodeling, train whistle in beginning, trumpet acc. as well, guitar, hawaiian guitar, etc.
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Who was Jimmie Rodgers?
- 1st hillbilly star
- Added blues to country
- "Blue Yodel"
- First to add different instruments like hawaiian guitar
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Talk to me about "Wrappin it Up"
- GENRE - Swing
- COMPOSER - Fletcher Henderson
- MUSICAL CHARACTERISTICS - call and response, walking bass, four on the floor, syncopation,
- FORM - 4 choruses
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Who was Fletcher Henderson?
- He used the new approach for arranging big bands (saxes)
- Louis Armstrong played with him
- He wrote "Wrappin it Up"
- Worked with Goodman
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Tell me about "Whispering"
- GENRE - sweet jazz (not hot jazz)
- COMPOSER - Paul Whiteman
- MUSICAL CHARACTERISTICS - smooth syncopation, no raucous solos
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Music identify: "It don't mean a thing"
- GENRE - swing
- COMPOSER - Ellington
- MUSICAL CHARACTERISTICS - plunger solo in trombone, starts with violin intro, muted brass, blended instruments from different sections, accents and syncopation, vibrato at end of long notes
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Music identify: "Caldonia"
- GENRE - Jump blues
- COMPOSER - Louis Jordan
- MUSICAL CHARACTERISTICS - aggressive, rhythmic R&B evolved out of big bands, simple riffs, blues-based tunes, explosive solos
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Music identify: "Shake Rattle 'n' Roll"
- GENRE - R&B/rock 'n' roll
- COMPOSER - Big Joe Turner... (Bill Haley stole it from him)
- MUSICAL CHARACTERISTICS - bel canto voice style, big band accompaniment, blues influence (bill haley just adapted the R&B for a mass pop audience)
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Talk to me about "Hound Dog"
- GENRE - R&B/ rock 'n' roll
- PERFORMERS - Big Mama Thornton/Elvis Presley
- MUSICAL CHARACTERISTICS - simple riffs, blues-based tunes, Big Mama had growl timbre,
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Talk to me about "Blue Velvet"
- GENRE - Schlock rock
- PERFORMER - Bobby Vinton
- MUSICAL CHARACTERISTICS - syncopation, guitar, choral accompaniment, emphasis on image over talent
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Who was Bobby Vinton?
Teen Idol, schlock rock, blue velvet
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