TAMU MUSC 226 Exam 1

Rock and Roll

Slang for sex

Art Music

(Think Classic)

-Upper class

-Rigorously trained musicians

-Individual creativity

-Highly specialized

-Was written down

-Can depend on state patronage

Folk Music

-Oral tradition

-Rural/working class

-Communal and ritual contexts, milestone events

-Ethnic identity

-Nonprofessional, noncommericial

-"It's just what people do"

Popular Music

-Mass media and commercial industry

-Urban, modern, middle class

-Novelty and originality prized along with mass appeal and sales

-Format, length and other key aspects tied to technology of the time

-High turnover

Enculture

In the context of this class, emigrating and assimilating into a second culture different from the culture of one's home country

Social Construct

A concept or practice that is construct of a group. Everybody in society agrees to treat a certain aspect a certain way regardless of its inherent value in nature

Appropriation

Deliberate adoption of another culture, or at least some of the aspects of it

Acculturation

When one culture exerts and influence on another,

"Second culture learning"

Transculturation

Cultural change resulting from contact between different cultures

Syncretism/Hybridization

the blending of cultures/traditions to form a new, synergistic form of culture

Pure culture

There is no such thing as ____

Schizophonia

When a sound is removed from its point of origin and transmitted through recording and reproduction, creating environmental and cultural rupture and raising ethical questions.

Pitch

the highness or lowness of a sound

Rhythm

How sounds are organized in time

Harmony

Relationship between pitches occurring at the same time

Chord

Unit of harmony with two or more tones

Beat

rhythmic pulse

Meter

The way beat groupings are organized, often signified by a time signature such as 4/4

Measure

A segment of time corresponding to a specific number of beats in which each beat is represented by a particular note value and the boundaries of the bar are indicated by vertical bar lines

Subdivision

The way beats are divided

Syncopation

Rhythmic accent or emphasis that creates a sense of displacement from the primary pulse, "On the off beat"

Timbre

Distinctive quality of sound that is not pitch; basically everything about a note that is not pitch or volume

Texture

the way that musical sounds are organized (melody and harmony)

Monophony

Single melody, can be one or more voices

Heterophony

multiple performers playing simultaneous variations of the same, single melody

Polyphony

the style of simultaneously combining a number of parts, each forming an individual melody and harmonizing with each other.

Homophony

occurs when one melodic voice is prominent over the accompanying lines or voices

Form

Structure or plan of a piece of music in terms of contrasting sections

Walking bassline

A bassline which "walks" up and down the notes of the chord. Has a four beat feel

Back beat

Emphasis on beats 2 and 4

Shuffle feel

Swing pattern, e.g. 1 2, 1 2, 1 2 or 1 2 3, 1 2 3, 1 2 3

12 bar blues

A chord progression that lasts 12 bars and typically uses three chords. Associated with blues music.

I, I, I, I, IV, IV, I, I, V, IV, I, I

Black Face Minstrelsy/Minstrel Shows

-1830's-1840's

-Consisted of songs, dances, skits and jokes

-Popularity rose with abolition movement

-Imitation of African American vernacular, song and dance

-Origin of popular music in USA

-Popular in the South

-Associated with white hillbillies

Coon Songs

-Songs whose lyrics stereotyped African-Americans as being laughable, comic, lazy creatures

-written from the perspective of exaggerated black caricatures among first popular parlor songs

-Black people started imitating white people acting like them

Jim Crow

-Stage name

-Lazy, lascivious, cowardly plantation slave

Zip Coon

-Urban black dandy

-Humor from failed attempts to appear educated, refined and genteel

Vaudeville

-A type of inexpensive variety show that first appeared in the 1870s, often consisting of comic sketches, song-and-dance routines, and magic acts.

-1880's-1920's

-great influence from minstrel shows

The Boatman's Dance

-Monophonic, heterophonic

Appeal of minstrel shows

-Living vicariously

-Nostalgia

-Exoticism

Early Hollywood

Vaudeville influenced ____

Sheet music sales coincided with ____

The rise of Tin Pan Alley and the American Popular Music Industry

Tin Pan Alley

-The name given to the collection of New York City-centered music publishers and songwriters who dominated the popular music of the United States in the late 1800's and early 1900's.

-Produced sheet music/scores for home use and tours/shows

-e.g. "After the ball"

Tin Pan Alley's business model

-Song pluggers

-Assembly line production

-Different molds: comedy, love, ballads, dance

-Writers with sales experience

-Songs intended to be big hits and popular with the masses

Tin Pan Alley's style

-Easy to understand, accessible lyrics

-AABA form is used most frequently

-Occasional "exotic" flavor elements

AABA form

-32 bars

-8 bars per letter

-Second "A" has the same melody, but different words

-e.g. "Somewhere over the rainbow", "My funny valentine"

1877 tech advancement

Thomas Edison invents the phonograph

1880's tech advancement

more than 45,000 pianos sold, doubles in 1910 (piano a status symbol)

1890's tech advancement

player pianos developed

1894

gramophone invented

1901 tech advancement

10" and 12" shellac disks invented, makes recording and distributing short songs practical

1914

ASCAP - American Society of Composers and Publishers

1920

First commercially licensed radio station in USA

1930's

Records start to outsell sheet music

Tin Pan Alley's view of records

Viewed records as a threat instead of an opportunity

Ragtime

-1890's-1920's

-Syncopated melodies over a marching rhythm

-name derived from ^^, "ragged" melody

-e.g. "Maple leaf rag"

-upbeat tempos

-often used to change up original songs

Ragtime instruments

Piano, marching band horns

Reactions to ragtime

-Negative reactions

-moral panic and racism

-Despite these things, it was popular and sold well

Commercialized radio

Emerged in the 1920's

Victor's "red seal" records

-European classical and opera

-Enrico Caruso, very popular Italian opera singer early 20th century

20th century migrations

African Americans moved from rural south to urban north to escape racism and Jim Crow laws

Okeh Records

-Record label founded by Otto K.E. Heinemann in 1916, a german immigrant

-One of the most important labels in the production and marketing of "race records," which Okeh pioneered with its release of Mamie Smith's "Crazy Blues" in 1920.

-Okeh became a subsidiary of Columbia Records in 1926.

-sought to record neglected music styles

-early success helped establish "race records" and "hillbilly records"

Hillbilly rebranded as

Country/western

Race records rebranded as

rhythm and blues

Mamie Smith

First African American artist to make vocal blues recordings in 1920; Sang "Crazy Blues"

Fiddlin' John Carson

-(1868-1949) Musician from Georgia who made the first commercially successful hillbilly record

-appealed to homesickness of immigrants

Black Swan Records

-First major black owned record company, founded in 1921 by Harry Pace, Harlem

-variety of African American music (blues, jazz, gospel, art, etc)

Old Time Appalachian music

-banjo, fiddle, acoustic guitar, auto harp

-Carter Family, emphasis on Christianity, tradition and family values

-"Can the circle be unbroken"

Jimmie Rodgers (1897-1933)

- Father of Country Music; combined country, blues and yodeling. The subjects of songs will set the standard for future of country music.

- blue yodel series

The blues

- call and response

- rhythmic layering

- syncopation

- pentatonic scales

- banjo, marimba, drums, flutes

Dallas blues

1912 (first published)

First recorded blues

1920, Mamie Smith, "Crazy Blues"

Classic Blues

Blues written by professional songwriters and performed by professional female blues singers such as Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey.

Bessie Smith

- African American blues singer who played and important role in the Harlem Reniassance.

- Empress of the Blues

- openly bisexual

- "Backwater Blues"

King Joe Oliver

Trumpeter; worked with several New Orleans bands, then moved to Chicago in 1918, worked with several more bands, and finally formed one of his own.

Blind Lemon Jefferson (1897-1929)

The first recording star of the country blues. Born blind, Jefferson was living the typical life of a traveling street musician by the age of fourteen. His first records were released in 1926. Jefferson's East Texas style features a nasal vocal timbre and sparse guitar accompaniments.

- matchbox blues, 1927

Country Blues

1) A family of African American folk blues styles that flourished in the rural South. It differs from commercial blues mainly in its accompanying instrument-usually acoustic guitar -and its tendency toward less regular forms

2) the earliest form of the blues performed by solo male singers accompanying themselves on guitar

Delta Blues

- A type of country blues associated with musicians from the Mississippi River Delta

- Robert Johnson

- influenced electric blues

- slow shuffle baseline

Piedmont blues

- Danceable ragtime rhythms played commonly on 12-string guitar

- Generally performed solo

- "It's tight like that"

- two beat bass feel

- banjo-esque finger picking

Chicago Electric Blues

- "I'm your Hoochie Choochie Man" by Muddy Waters

- Chess Records

- slow shuffle

- sexual potency

- guitars, drums, piano, harmonica, brass

Western Swing

- popular in TX, OK, CA

- blends country and popular jazz

- "swing" dance bands

Steel Guitar

An electric version of the Hawaiian guitar that has been a popular instrument in country music since the mid-1930's. It rests on the performers knees or on a stand just above the knees. The strings are stopped with a metal bar held in one hand and plucked with the other.

Bluegrass

- a type of country music played at a rapid tempo on banjos and guitars

- came from white music in the South and Appalachia, building on Irish and Scottish instruments and traditions

- named after the bluegrass state (Kentucky)

- Bill Monroe and bluegrass boys

- bass, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, guitar

- "Bluegrass breakdown"

- "toy heart"

- chorus verse form

- harmonized chorus

- no drums

- nasally voice

Nashville Music Publishing

- Acuff-Rose 1942

- Specialized in country

- Hank Williams

- "Your cheaing heart" 1952

- "Hey Good looking"

Jazz characteristics

- Began in New Orleans

- folk/vernacular roots

- "classicized"

- River boat, Mississippi River

Jazz Age

1920's

Potato Head blues

- Okeh 1927

- Louis Armstrong

- Trumpet, clarinet, trombone

Swing Era

- Count Basie, Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington

- "Take the a train"

- call and response

- huge sound

- makes a lot happen over three minutes

- "Ain't misbehaving"

- "Jumpin' Jive"

- national success with appropriation

- race issues, white men more successful

Use of microphones

- allowed artists to sing quieter

- first used for the radio

- adopted for live application

- crooners

Crooners

- popular among young women

- Bing Crosby

- "I've got a pocket full of dreams"

Industry Developments

- 1920's jazz, classic blues

- 1930's - 1940's singing cowboy genre and barn dance radio shows

- big band, swing, boogie woogie

- 1940's western swing genre, bluegrass genre

- 1940's - 1950's a shift toward more youth/pop influence country songs

- "Hey good lookin"

- mostly white performers marketing to white audiences

- electric blues, jump blues, R&B, Doo Wop

- 1939 BMI

- 1941 radios boycott ASCAP

- 1942&43 AMF goes on strike

- late 40's and 50's High-Fidelity becomes a thing

- 40's and 50's start shifting from radio to tv

- major broadcast networks

- space opens for local radio

Independent Record Companies

'43 - King Records, Ohio

'47 - Atlantic Records, New York

'50 - Chess Records, Chicago

'52 - Sun Records, Memphis, Tennessee

Boogie Woogie

- A blues piano style characterized by repetitive bass figures, usually in a shuffle rhythm

- interwar period (20's-30's)

- walking bassline

- virtuistic piano playing

- shuffle rhythms

- flashy melodic lines in upper register

- intended for dancing

- upbeat tempo

- "Roll 'em Pete"

- Big Joe Turner, vocals

- Pete Johnson, piano

Jump blues

- 1940's

- massive post war success (existed during war)

- small version of big jazz band

- increasing artsiness of jazz

- Louis Johnson "Choo Choo Ch Boogie"

Doo Wop

- type of soul music that emerged in the 1950s as an outgrowth of the gospel hymns sung in African-American churches in urban Detroit, Chicago, and New York; its lyrics made use of repeating phrases sung in a cappella (unaccompanied) harmony below the tune

- I, VI, IV, VI

- chords move quickly

- "Sh-boom"

- page 13 of WTS

Rocket 88

- first rock song recorded in Memphis, Tennessee in 1951 by Jackie Brenston & Delta Cats.

- written by Ike Turner

- recorded by Sam Phillips, Sun Records

- Distributed by Chess records

Rise of the DJ

1950's

Alan Freed

A disc jockey who began playing a unique style of music at the time called "rhythm-and-blues" on a Cleveland radio show, who gained a wide following from black and white teenagers due to his on-air attitude and style, gaining a wide following for this new genre that evolved into rock-and-roll

Fats Domino

"Ain't That a Shame"

Bill Haley and His Comets

- "Shake, Rattle, and Roll" (remade; original by Big Joe Turner)

- Mainstream Pop

Little Richard

An African American rock-n-roll singer and recorded hit songs in the 50's including Tutti Fruiti