ch. 9 music history in the age of recordings Flashcards
modernism
the rejection of traditional boundaries and rules in art
impressionism
a French modernist movement; painters would blur their images and figuratively “blur” the rules that painters had followed since the Renaissance
who wrote and performed “Backwater Blues”?
Bessie Smith (1892-1937)
what does a blues song consist of?
a strophic song most typically in a repeating AAB form of 12 bars
features of blues songs
- entertainment music
- highly syncopated, blue notes
- story telling; emotional; used to deal with hardships
blue notes
pitches that fall in between the pitches of the 12 equal-tempered pitches of the piano.
swing feel
beats are subdivided unequally with the first note longer than the second note
how does it work? (backwater blues)
p. 242
what was “backwater blues” a response to?
a flood in Nashville that displaced nearly 10,000 people, mostly African Americans. white flood victims were entitled to receive relief services for free, while Black flood victims were forced to pay for food and other services, and sometimes take loans which were paid thru unpaid work in the fields. the blues provided a way to deal with this oppression at an individual and collective level
classic blues
usually sung by Black female singers accompanied by a band or pianist. usually performed in theaters, tents, and “juke joints”
Gertrude “Ma” Rainey
- known as “The Mother of the Blues” bc she was one of the first African American women to perform blues music professionally
race records
phonograph recordings of African American musicians produced between the 1920s and 1940s and marketed to African American consumers
country blues
- emerged in rural areas
- typically involved a male singer accompanying himself on the guitar, fiddle, or banjo
- the performer could adjust the form, tuning, and harmonies of a given song since he did not have to coordinate with other instrumentalists or the preset tuning of a piano
John Philip Sousa
- 1854-1932
- the most prominent composer of band music
- composed more than 100 marches
- his father was a trombonist in the marine band
- conducted the marine band from 1880-1892
- helped invent the sousaphone
- helped standardize the typical American march form
who composed “the stars and stripes forever”?
john philip sousa
obbligato
in band music: a second melody played simultaneously and in counterpoint with the main melody
strain
the melody of each section in a march
what is band music an index for?
inspiring loyalty and patriotism
march form
I = introduction; a fanfare (4 bars)
A = first strain; 16 bars, balanced 4-bar phrases repeated once
B = second strain; 16 bars, commonly played softly once + repeated loudly
C = third strain, called trio; 16 bars, played legato, often in secondary key
D = fourth strain, called break strain or dogfight; 24 bars, often the most exciting music of a march + contrasts sharply with the more reserved trio melodies
IAABBCC’DCC’DCC’
mehter
Ottoman armies were accompanied into battle by a mehter; a band of valveless trumpets, shawms, drums, cymbals, and other idiophones
shawms
loud, double-reed aerophones
fifes
high-pitched, side blown flutes
ragtime
features a “ragged” or syncopated rhythm accompanied by a steady bass line with regular accents in duple meter. played by every type of ensemble
“to rag”
African American term meaning to enliven a piece of music by shifting the melodic accents to the offbeats
syncopation
technique of playing “against the beat”, creates rhythmic momentum
who composed “maple leaf rag”?
scott joplin
scott joplin
- best known composer of ragtime music
- african american composer + pianist
- received instruction in classical music theory from a German instructor
- 1893 - attended World’s Fair in Chicago + started a brass band
elements of “Maple Leaf Rag”
- started nationwide craze for syncopated music
- form + style typical of “classic” ragtime
- form: AABBACCDD
- right hand plays syncopated rhythm against regular bass part played by the left hand
how does it work (maple leaf rag)
p. 254
habanera rhythm
a syncopated rhythm that, in a bar of 4 beats, accents the first beat, the offbeat after beat 2, and the 4th beat; appeared in tango and was part of the “Spanish tinge” in jazz
stride piano
a piano style featuring the left hand “striding” b/w bass notes and chords, along with heavy syncopation and many other virtuosic techniques
