Popular Music Before 1960 Notes

• Pitch- how high/low a note is (measured by Hertz)
• Registers- pitch ranges
• Melody- musical tone/ tune/ voice / line
• Harmony- simultaneous pitches/ chords
• primary harmonies/triads- I, IV, V – most common chord progression in music
• diatonic scale – “white note scale”
• scales (major and minor)
• pentatonic scale- musical scale with 5 notes per octave
• Timbre- tone color/ quality of musical note that distinguishes different types of sound production (voice vs wind vs percussion, etc.)
• Dynamics – how loud or quiet music is
• Meter (Duple or triple)
• Tempo- speed – beats per minute
• Rhythm- where notes fall in relation/ correspond to a pulse and emphasize a pulse
• Square/ straight- e.g. European music styles
• Syncopated- do not correspond to the pulse- eg. African American

Form/structure:

• Strophic- A A A A

• every stanza gets sung to the same line of music e.g.
• A way to tell a story simply and clearly
• E.g. “Fatal Flower Garden” (Child Ballad #155)

• AABA- Tin Pan Alley song form (*A= hook, hook is at the beginning) e.g. Rudolph red nose reindeer
• Verse-chorus form (*chorus= hook, hook is at the chorus)

Popular= “of the people”

• folk music = music for personal use among people
• popular music= mass production, commercial purposes, music industry
• folk music can be popular, and vice versa

European Song in the New World

• English ballad- a song that tells a story in English

• Function: to entertain, to tell a story, teach a moral

• folklorists → Industrial revolution (Francis Child- one of the first and most popular)

• Child Ballad #155- “The fatal Flower Garden”

• broadside- printed version of a song, just the lyrics
• Thomas Moore- “Thomas Moore’s Irish Melodies” – 1808-1834

• Took preexisting Irish folk tune and give it new words, publish as a new song

• Arranger- take original tune/ melody and arrange it for recording
• Melodic leap - nostalgia, bittersweetness, strain for vocalist= reaching for something, pastoral (because of industrialization) e.g. somewhere over the rainbow

• “Home Sweet Home” (Henry Bishop, 1823)

• Strategic essentialism- latching onto traits of your national background

• E.g. irish- leprechauns, 4 leaf clover, st patricks day
• Solidify groups identity, but also stereotypes
• Paddy Wagon- Police car, because Irish were police in America
• St Louis World’s Fair- 1904 – Kenneth McKellar
• John McCormack- opera singer, combat racist Irish act, combat it using music about love and nobility
• “Believe Me, If All Those Endearing Young Charms” (Thomas Moore, 1808; sung by John McCormack)

• Pentatonic scale- 5 note scale- (e.g. black keys are pentatonic)
• Robert Burns- Scottish poet/ songwriter- changed stereotype of Scottish people

• “My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose” (Robert Burns, 1794)

Blackface Minstrelsy

• “Woodman Spare that Tree” (Henry Russell, 1837)

• blackface minstrelsy- white people in blackface lampooned black people as buffoonish, dumb, lazy, etc. in America

• Thomas Dartmouth Rice- popular white American playwright/performer of blackface – “father of American minstrelsy”

• Jim Crow- trickster blackface character

• Inversion- black actors playing white people

• Carnival→ masquerade “King for the Day”

• George Washington Dixon- blackface performer  “Zip Coon” (George Washington
• Dixon, c. 1830s)

• Zip coon – black minstrel show character- arrogant, dressing sophisticated to attempt to look dignified, ridiculed

• masking
• Virginia Minstrels- invented first minstrel show

• Dan Emmett
• “Old Dan Tucker” (Dan Emmett, 1843)”
• “De Boatman’s Dance” (Dan Emmett, 1843)

• Plantation melodies- songs from slaves during work

• “Mugging”- exaggerating racial features to be demeaning/ funny

-         Harriet Beecher Stowe – abolitionist and author

•         Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852) – novel depicting harsh life for African American’s under slavery

• parlour songs- songs intended for the home

• Genteel culture- idea of refinement, respectability, dignity
• pianos= now affordable, represent middle class respectability

• Stephen Foster- “The father of American music” – songwriter

• Turned blackface minstrel songs into parlor songs
• "Old Uncle Ned" (Stephen Foster, 1848)
• “Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair” (Stephen Foster, 1854)

• James Bland- first successful black songwriter in the United States

• “Carry me back to old Virginny” 1878

• Jim Crow Laws- laws enforcing racial segregation
• Hutchinson Family- advocates of slavery abolition, abstinence, women's/worker rights

• "Get Off the Track" (Hutchinson Family, 1844)

• Bert Williams - Father of black professional comedy

• Tomming- blacks behave in an excessively obedient way- black people playing into stereotypes onstage by performing blackface

• “Dixie”- Dan Emmett (1860)
• Carol Mosely Braun- 1st and only African American woman in US Senate
• Jesse Helms- racist senator
• 1859- John Brown- abolitionist- use violence to fight against slavery- blow up ammunitions depot in Harper’s Ferry to protest in Virginia

• “John Brown’s Body” (Anonymous, c. 1860)

• lynching- 1850-1950s – public murders of people suspected of crimes- racial prejudice against blacks
• American Civil War- 1861-1865
• Julia Ward Howe- “Battle Hymn of the Republic” (1861)- religious battle song against slavery
• Negro Spiritual- Christian songs created by slaves
• Israeli captivity in Egypt- old testament, Moses delivers them to Canaan
• Paul Robeson- Black activist- singer and actor about civil rights movements- spoke against racism, supported communism- blacklisted

•  “Go Down Moses” 1860s- against slavery/ racism, dignified and skilled musical performance

• Biddleville Quintette
• Rythym, percussion, drumming- spiritual African American traditions- taken away from them – turned to body percussion – clapping, stamping, etc.
• Fisk University- African American university

• Fisk Jubilee Quartet- sang Negro Spirituals

• Wallace Willis –wrote negro spiritual “Swing Low, sweet chariot”, 1862 - example of call and response song
• Underground Railroad- Harriet Tubman- escaped slavery to the North- used songs to free slaves

Mid- 19th Century Popular Song

• Industrialization- Labour separated among genders
• Public sphere vs. domestic sphere
• “Housewife” introduced -  women responsible for men being fed, sober, raising children, moral beacon of household, domestic purity, virtue

• double standard- women are blamed for immoral behavior of men 

• Ovarian determinism- women are genetically not capable of holding professional responsibilities outside the house and can only do domestic work
• Square Dances- man leads woman, predetermined orderly pattern, group dance
• Waltz- controversial 19th century dance, round dance, couple dance involving embrace, sensual, appealed to women, female empowerment through dance

• ¾ time
• Louis Jullien- “Prima Donna Waltz”-  1853
• ornamentation- eg. Gracenotes- teasing, playful, disobedient quality
• chromaticism- break the rules of the key

• “New Woman”- feminist, educated, independent career woman  

The Waltz and the Rise of Tin Pan Alley

• the waltz ruining women so they can’t be acceptable housewives
• hybrid form- chorus form and AABA form
• Tin Pan Alley- street where sheet music publishers were located, where they tried to publish the next hits- giving the name, because of all the noise
• Charles K Harris- songwriter of American Popular music, advanced the new genre- first songwriter to create multimillion seller

• “king of tearjerkers” and “master of sentimental ballad”
• “After the Ball” (Charles K. Harris, 1892)

• Monroe Rosenfeld- music publisher- made the phrase “tin pan alley”

• “Those Wedding Bells Shall Not Ring Out” (Monroe Rosenfeld, 1896)

Ragtime

• Frontier towns- transition from slave to free economy, African American populated towns
• Ragtime- ragged/ syncopated rhythm of the right hand

• Ragged time-improvise score of tunes and syncopate the performance
• Syncopation

• Cakewalk- dance accompanying rag time, originated by African American slave culture- forced to dance by white masters, mock pretentious elite slave owners, silly exaggerated gestures that suggest refinement/ dignity

• Eventually used in minstrel shows to demean blacks

•  1893, Chicago World’s Fair- black performers performed outside

• Scott Joplin- African American pianist/composer – “King of Ragtime” writers
• Introduced ragtime to the fair
• Maple Leaf Rag” (Scott Joplin, 1899)
• John Stark- promoted Scott Joplin’s music
• Strains (section)- march
• Classic rag- AABBACCD

• Irving Berlin- songwriter

• “Alexander's Ragtime Band” (Irving Berlin, 1911)

• Irene and Vernon Castle- ballroom teachers – popularized african American music, loose corsets, shorter full skirts, hair bob

• James Reese Europe

Vaudeville, Music Hall, and Broadway

• Wild west shows
• Circuses
• Burlesque shows

• Parody
• Female performers

• Vaudeville- “voice of the city”- variety show included diverse acts

• publisher, songwriter, lyricist, song plugger (sit in music stores and play new music), performer, arranger
• theatre owners, booking managers/agents performers, tour managers, barker

• rube character- redneck stereotype, dim witted, low class, rural whites
• May Irwin- vaudeville star, coon shouter
• Ziegfield Follies- high class vaudeville variety show, beautiful chorus showgirls

• Sophie Tucker- coon shouting- coon song- African American influenced songs- “the Last of the Red Hot Mamas”- used sexuality in shows- “There'll Be Some Changes Made” (Sophie Tucker, 1927)
• Fanny Brice- “My Man” (Fanny Brice, 1921)

• Under the Bamboo Tree” (James Weldon Johnson and Bob Cole, 1902)

• women are being more empowered by Vaudeville- female independence and strength
• B.F. Keith- making vaudeville family entertainment instead of just men- refined and clean atmosphere

• imposed patriarchy in Vaudeville

The Jazz Age

• 1918-1929
• the “roaring 20s”
• prosperity after WW1 in America
• coincides with prohibition- 1919-1933
• rise of the speakeasy→ underground illegal bar
• dancing “the Charleston”
• New Orleans – the most diverse American city- also known as “The Big Easy”

• Storyville- district that was free from police
• Congo Square- parade bands

• Jelly Roll Morton, aka Ferdinand Lamothe- “inventor of Jazz”

• Jazzman
• Invented riffs
• Improvisation
• swing/ shuffle rhythms-  added bounce and swing to music
• “Maple Leaf Rag” (composer, Scott Joplin; perf. by Jelly Roll Morton, 1938)

• Irvin Berlin – “King of Ragtime”
• Frontline – musicians playing the lead parts stand in front, bass/drums, accompany in the back (rhythm section)
• Dixieland (new Orleans) Jazz- “hot Jazz” – original jazz
• Original Dixieland Jazz Band- “Livery Stable Blues” (Original Dixieland Jazz Band, 1917)

• 1917, recorded 1st Jazz Record by blacks
• 12 bar blues- chord progressions / musical formula for “boogie woogie” songs
• Frontline- cornet/trumpet (melody), clarinet (countermelody), Trombone (bass),
• Rhythm- drums, banjo or piano (chords)

• blue scale- use flatted 3rds and 7ths (minor scale)
• enhance blues sound by pitch bending – sliding between spaces of notes- detuned and retune to create novelty and silliness
• joe “King” Oliver

• King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band- racial mix of black and white
• “Dippermouth Blues” (King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band, 1923)

• Trumpet mute makes the- “wah- wah” sound
• The Great Migration- mass movement of blacks from the South to the North
• Louis Armstrong- most important/ influential Jazz artist

• Grew up in “the battlefield”, in an orphanage
• Louis Armstrong’s Hot 5 (Hot 7)
• Improvisation
• Records “west End Blues” written by King oliver
•  “West End Blues” (Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five, 1928)

• Lil Hardin
• Paul Whiteman
• Charles Black –white supremacy, racist

• Became civil rights lawyer from watching Louis Armstrong play

• Assimilation turned into Black Nationalism—“New Negro” –assertive black person not willing to compromise and fights for their rights

• Started to build their own institutions

• Harlem Renaissance- cultural rebirth- African American artists are celebrated, true to their own heritage

• WEB DuBois
• Langston Hughes
• Zora Beale Hurston
• Marcus Garvey (NAACP)

• Stride piano- extension of ragtime – wide leaping in left hand, larger range
• Rent parties- hire pianist and charge cover at the door
• Cutting contests- musical street battles
• James P. Johnson- composed “the Charleston” – theme of the Jazz age

•  “Charleston” (James P. Johnson, 1923; perf. by Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra)

• Paul Whiteman – the King of Jazz
• Sweet jazz vs hot jazz
• Cotton Club- most prestigious club in Harlem –Duke Ellington

• Called his music - Jungle Music
• “slumming”
• “East St. Louis Toodle-Oo” (Duke Ellington, 1926)

• Bubber Miley and Duke Ellington - A A B A form

The Golden Age of Tin Pan Alley

• WW1 (1914)→ WW2 (1945)
• 1877- Thomas Edison invents phonograph
• “Hello, Ma Baby” (Joseph Howard and Ida Emerson, 1899)-first song to reference telephone- tin pan alley song
• Victor Talking Machine Company
• 1901, Victrola – records are becoming available to middle class households
• Copyright Act of 1909- sheet music publishers get a share of their music that get recorded – royalties
• ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Arrangers, and Publishers)
• The Great Depression→ 1929-1939

• Theodor Adorno – criticized Tin Pan Alley- passive consumers who mindlessly consume happy music to distract/blind themselves from more important issues, like social inequality- called “False Conciousness”

• Rudy Vallee – first radio star, enabled mass culture to hear

• performs “Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries”- 1931
• crooner- mellow, soft voice made possible by invention of microphone

• Bing Crosby- ”Brother can you spare a Dime?”- 1932

Race Records; The Blues

blues- 

1. feeling of sadness
2. a musical form

• 12 bar blues
• “blue notes” – flatted 3rds and 7ths
• pitch bending

1. marketing category

• authenticity- male southern poor rural black musicians, emphasize “folk” quality instead of “popular music or professional entertainment”
• the Bluesman- southern oppressed impoverished black male w personal suffering/misery, untrained musician with a guitar

• Classic blues vs Delta blues
• Classic blues- first style of blues that become popular- female flamboyant, elegant performers w jewelry & boas elegant in Northern cities

• Blues queens

• Field holler- working in hot oppressive fields, to help work, raw vocals, suffering & moaning
• Church Hymn- I, IV, V format, lyrics are A A B format
• A (I/ I/ I/ I) A (IV/ IV/ I/ I) B (V/ IV/I/ turnaround)

• W.C Handy – middle class African American songwriter & performer- “Father of the blues”

• Used 12 Bar blues – AAB structure
• Wrote “Memphis blues”, “St Louis blues”

• Okeh Records- started by Otto KH Heinemann- started ethnic lines of music for expanding market

• 1920s, African American performers started being recorded
• Ralph Peer - took old folk songs and copyrighted them

•  Made the term“race records” – music by African Americans for African Americans
• Mamie Smith- first hit blues record by a black woman - vaudeville performer

• “Crazy Blues” (1920)- composer Perry Bradford
• Not AABA form- closer to “jazz” style, but proved there was a market for African Americans to produce records

• Also made the term “Hillbilly” music
• artificial boundaries between these 2 styles and audiences

• Blues queens- female performers w flashy expensive gowns and jewelry

• strong women, defying conventional roles & not taking abuse from men
• Started in TOBA- theater Owner’s booking Association - Toured in Chitlin’ circuit- southern cities, faced violence from these towns
• Bessie smith- performed “St. Louis Blues”- WC handy

• used AABA form- professionalized/ commercial tin pan alley format

• Gertrude “Ma” Rainey”- mother of the blues”

• “Prove It On Me Blues”- (1928)- challenge view against lesbians, proclaiming her female relationship

• Delta Blues/ country blues – music about desperation and hope that they can endure

-        Blind Willie Johnson- street preacher in small town for donations- accompanied with music

• “It’s Nobody’s Fault But Mine” (1927)- anguish, pain through vocal timbre/style, distorted guitar – used swiss army knife to play guitar- AAB format

-        Robert Johnson- most mythologized blues man – represented suffering artist & authentic expression, oppressed black man – British youth resonated with him