Module 2: Popular Music of the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries

Minstrel Shows

Entertainment featuring white performers in blackface, parodying African American culture.

George Washington Dixon

First prominent white "blackface" entertainer known for "Turkey in the Straw."

Thomas Dartmouth Rice

Creator of the "Jim Crow" character, pivotal in popularizing blackface performances.

Stephen Foster

First important American popular song composer, known for songs like "Oh! Susanna."

Brass Bands

Military and community bands that became popular post-Civil War, fostering national unity.

John Philip Sousa

Renowned bandleader who negotiated royalties and popularized American band music.

"After the Ball"

First mega-hit pop song, selling over 5 million copies, written by Charles K. Harris.

Tin Pan Alley

Music publishing hub in NYC, known for producing popular songs in the late 19th century.

Vaudeville

Theatrical variety shows that popularized Tin Pan Alley songs, featuring diverse performances.

Paul Dresser

Early Tin Pan Alley composer known for sentimental songs like "On the Banks of the Wabash."

Harry von Tilzer

Influential songwriter who emphasized simplicity in popular music composition.

James A. Bland

First successful black songwriter, known for "plantation songs" and promoting African American music.

Ragtime Music

A genre characterized by syncopated rhythms, representing a more authentically African American style.

Scott Joplin

Best-known ragtime composer, famous for "Maple Leaf Rag," influential in both popular and classical music.

Schizophonia

Concept describing the separation of sound from its original context due to mechanical recording.

Arrangements

Connected with Vaudeville; performers had to find gigs and music places

Strophes

Includes a verse and a chorus; a musical unit that is repeated in a song

Syncopation

Related in ragtime music; syncopated rhythms and dialects to spice up otherwise bland popular tunes

Waltz

Was seen as the ultimate symbol of sophistication and romance

Charles K. Harris

Wrote “After the Ball”; self-taught banjo player who couldn’t write music but instead dictated it to a professional musician

Enrico Caruso

The first to demonstrate financial opportunity in phonographs

“Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair”

Written by Stephen Collins Foster; Features a high male tenor with an Irish accent and guitar accompaniment, contains hints of origin in Irish popular song and sturcture of AABA

“Maple Leaf Rag”

Written by Scott Joplin; named after the Maple Leaf social club in Sedalia, uses the AABBACCDD pattern with syncopated rhythms on the right against the regular bass part on the left