Exam 2 Flashcards
Ragtime
- Identifies a body of piano music
- Composed by scott joplin and others
- First ragtime pieces were published in the 1890’s
Ragging
A way of modifying pre-existing material so that it sounds like rag time
Europeans first heard ragtime rhythms in who’s arrangements
Sousa’s
One of the first ragtime dances was the
Turkey trot
Many people found ragtime’s mix of black and white influence as
unacceptable
What were formed in the 1900’s
African American musician unions
Ragtime represented the first documented instance of African Americans interpreting
European sheet music
Scott Joplin
- Maple leaf Rag, first commercially successful piano rag
- Received formal music training in European tradition
- Devoted most of his effort to legitimizing ragtime
- He viewed himself as a serious composer
- “Not too fast”
Player piano
A type of piano that plays music without the need for a person to depress the normal keys or pedals
Reproducing piano
- Type of player piano
- The rolls were made from the recorded performances of famous musicians
Pianola
These rolls were not recorded in a piano
Related to ragtime
- Cakewalk-precursor of the piano rag
- Ragtime song-any song with a touch of syncopation was labeled a ragtime song
- Ragtime dance music-faster tempo, multi sectional form, less syncopated
Blues
- Around the turn of the century blues was both a rural folk music and music for stage entertainment
- It was often performed by an individual
Shortly after 1900 blues became a commercial music
The term blues has three meanings
- Can describe a feeling
- Can refer to a style
- It can indicate a form
Country Blues
Was sung throughout the rural south
Characteristics of Country Blues
- Rougher vocal timbre
- Acoustic guitar accompaniment
- Irregular form
Robert Johnson
- Great country blues performer
- “Hell hound on my trail”
Commercial blues
Introduced through race records
Race Records
Recordings of artist of a certain race for resale to same race
Bessie Smith
- the most important of the women blues singer at the first part of the first century, she sang “St. Louis Blues”
- St. Louis Blues, most frequently recorded song of the first half of the 20th century
Blues notes
Bending of a pitch
After WW2 what instrument injected new vitality into the Blues
electric guitar
B.B. King
- Acknowledged master of contemporary blues
- His guitar was named “Lucille”
Characteristics of Blues
- Standard blues form is 12 measures long
- 3 four measure phrases
- Primary chords I(1) chord, IV(4) chord, V(5) chord
- Rhymed Couplet← lyrics, with a rhymed couplet the first two lines will be nearly identical, the third line will be different
- Call and response
- Full rhythm section, bass, drums, keyboard, guitar
1877
Thomas Edison produced what
the first working phonograph able to store and playback sound, used cylinders
1888
Berliner invented what
the gramophone, which used a disc
1894
Marconi invented what
the spark transmitter with antenna (radio)
1906
The victrola becomes what
the best selling record player of its time
1921
Sales of records begin what
decline as direct result of radio
In the 1920’s pop music was available to who
anyone who had access to radio
1920
The first commercial radio station did what
began broadcasting
1926
The birth of what
network radio
There were 3 main technological improvements in 1925
- Microphones
- Amplifiers
- Speakers
Impacts of technological improvements in 1925
- Dramatic improvement in recorded sound
- It enabled small voice singers to record and perform
By 1920, syncopated dance music had integrated with popular song to make what
a music both singable and danceable
Syncopated dance orchestra, two key differences
- Full rhythm section
- Also used saxophone
Two important pieces of equipment for drummer
- High hat symbol
- Bass drum pedal
In 1920’s _______ were new to popular music and _____ began to lose status
Saxophone
violin
Most songs in the twenties were ____ songs
foxtrot
“respectable” citizens reacted violently to these dances
Irene and Vernon Castle
- First couple to make dancing to syncopated music socially acceptable
- Opened castle house, dance instruction studio
Fletcher Henderson
- “Copenhagen”
- His was the first african american band to broadcast regularly
“Whispering” performed by Paul Whiteman
First song to sell one million in sheet music and one million is records
Al Jolson
- Most popular Jewish entertainer during the twenties
- Starred in the first sound motion picture titled “the jazz singer”
- “April showers”
Standard
a song that most people and musicians know
Jazz has been called americas art music
It has passed through three phases:
1) 1900-1925: performed mainly in Nola
2) 1925-45: jazz intercepted in pop music mainstream
3) 1945 On: jazz music became music strictly for listening
Jazz musicians play with :
- greater rhythmic freedom
- use a more extensive melodic
- harmonic vocabulary
the head
- Most jazz performances follow a theme and variation form
- What the theme is called
History of jazz begins in the
twenties
Joe “King” Oliver
- One of the major figures of early jazz
- King olivers creole jazz band
- His band used the standard rhythm section of the time, banjo, piano, brass bass(tuba) drums
Front-line
- Clarinet
- Trumpet
- Trombone
The clarinet took highest part, trumpet in middle, trombone took lowest
Collective improvisation
When instruments of front line solo at the same time
Jelly Roll Morton
- Claimed to have invented jazz
- Morton and his red hot peppers
- He changes the instrumentation of the band with great frequency
Louis Armstrong
- The first great jazz soloist
- Upset the balance of the front line
Big band swing
- Was a dance music
- Was only in the swing era was jazz truly a popular music
Fletcher Henderson
Benny goodman bought many of his arrangements
Duke Ellington
- His main collaborator was billy Strahorn
- His arrangements and compositions have strong sense of beginning and end
Small group jazz remained a viable part of the jazz scene throughout which era
swing
Benny goodman “the king of swing”
- His band that launched the swing era
- First white band leader to tour with African American musicians
Bop/ Bebop
- Evolved directly out of swing
- Late 40’s on the east coast
- Bebop had rapid tempo, angular melodies, complex harmonies
- Guitar is no longer regular part of the rhythm section
- Charlie parker
Cool Jazz
- It is simpler and more relaxed
- Happened in 50’s on West coast
- Miles Davis: right of passage to be in his band
- “Freddie freeloader”
Dave Brubeck
- recorded album called “time out”
- 1st million selling jazz album
1920-1960 the golden age of tin pan alley song
- Standard from is aaba
- “Cheek to cheek” biggest hit of the 1930’s
- Written by erving berlin
- Extraordinarily versatile song writer
Crooning
more conservative and less syncopated
Jazz singing
- Billie Holiday
- one of the 1st great jazz singers
Richard rodgers
- Had two careers
- Worked with lorenz hart and oscar hammerstein
- He integrates the sections of a song into a larger unified whole
Song interpreters
Frank Sinatra
Jump Bands
- Late 40’s
- Used lead vocalist
- Reduced instrumentation
- Heavy back beat
- Louis jordan
