Popular Song: Blues MR Williams sheets - Context

Question 1

Relative Timeline of the Blues:

what did Victor Records do in 1902?

Answer 1

publish the first known recording of black music to be pressed on vinyl (‘Camp Meeting Shouts’ - Dinwiddie Coloured Quartet)

Question 2

Relative Timeline of the Blues:

why was W.C. Handy significant?

Answer 2

1903- ‘Father of The Blues’, documented the 12 bar blues
1912 - published ‘Memphis Blues’, the first known publication of the 12 bar blues

Question 3

Relative Timeline of the Blues:

why are blues songs very emotional?

Answer 3

describing a person’s feelings during tragic or sad events

Question 4

Relative Timeline of the Blues:

why was Mamie Smith significant?

Answer 4

African- American Music became popular throughout America, recorded ‘Crazy Blues’ showing that women were at the forefront, this became the first official hit blues recording

Question 5

Relative Timeline of the Blues:

what happened to slaves in the 17th and 18th century?

Answer 5

slaves were captured from many African Countries and forced to work in the southern states of America
they mainly worked on the land producing cotton, tobacco and sugar

Question 6

Relative Timeline of the Blues:

what happened in New Orleans that affected the black community even further?

Answer 6

New Orleans was controlled by the French, some black people were free and well educated(called Creoles) however the Spanish took over in 1764 and they lost all their rights to freedom and many left the area becoming travelling musicians

Question 7

Relative Timeline of the Blues:

what forced black families to cities?

Answer 7

by the 1900s slavery was a thing of the past, but very severe racism and poverty forced black families to move away from the south and to industrial cities such as New York and Chicago

Question 8

Relative Timeline of the Blues:

what was the American Civil War?

Answer 8

1861, The Northern and Southern states fought over the southern states desired right to own slaves

Question 9

Relative Timeline of the Blues:

what did President Lincoln do during the Civil War?

Answer 9

signed the Emancipation Proclamation to free the slaves in the Southern States, at the end of the Civil War, around 200,000 freed slaves fought with the north

Question 10

Relative Timeline of the Blues:

what was the 13th amendment?

Answer 10

was passed in 1865 to officially free the African Slaves, though they were not given full citizenship at this point

Question 11

Relative Timeline of the Blues:

when did Ragtime and New Orleans Jazz (DixieLand) become popular?

Answer 11

1899

Question 12

Relative Timeline of the Blues:

who was the Maple Leaf Rag by?

Answer 12

Scott Joplin, this was the most famous among the other rags

Question 13

Relative Timeline of the Blues:

what are the characteristics of ragtime?

Answer 13

upbeat and busy jazz style

Question 14

Relative Timeline of the Blues:

why was Scott Joplin the first celebrity musician in America?

Answer 14

played and composed a new style of ‘ragtime’

Question 15

Relative Timeline of the Blues:

who were other successful jazz musicians, other than Scott Joplin?

Answer 15

Louis Armstrong (trumpet) and Bix Beiderbeck (cornet/trombone)

Question 16

Relative Timeline of the Blues:

who became a leading blues artist in the 1930s?

Answer 16

Leroy Carr, the first blues pianist of note, as well as singer, released ‘Come on in my kitchen’

Question 17

Relative Timeline of the Blues:

when was ‘The Swing Era’?

Answer 17

late 1930s was often called the Swing Era

Question 18

Relative Timeline of the Blues:

what was significant about the Swing Era?

Answer 18

more white artists began to perform jazz and blues. Benny Goodman was a white clarinettist who insisted that his band was mixed

Question 19

Relative Timeline of the Blues:

why was it called ‘Swing’?

Answer 19

came from the emphasis on the off-beat, or weaker pulse. Swing bands usually featured soloists who would improvise on the melody over the arrangement

Question 20

Relative Timeline of the Blues:

what was the dominant form of American popular music from 1935 to 1946?

Answer 20

the danceable swing style of big bands and bandleaders such as Benny Goodman

Question 21

Relative Timeline of the Blues:

what does the verb ‘to swing’ mean?

Answer 21

term of praise playing that has a strong groove or drive

Question 22

Relative Timeline of the Blues:

where did the concept of ‘hit songs’ come from?

Answer 22

were developed due to the evolution of recorded music, songs in film and the the accessibility of music at home, by the 1940s hit songs were becoming the most profitable part of the recording industry

Question 23

Relative Timeline of the Blues:

what was the ‘Lind Hop’?

Answer 23

a dance that spread across to Britain and Europe as American soldiers became involved in WW2

Question 24

Relative Timeline of the Blues:

who pioneered ‘jump blues’?

Answer 24

T Bone Walker

Question 25

Relative Timeline of the Blues:

in the mid 1940s blues dance music began to emerge as a…

Answer 25

major genre

Question 26

Relative Timeline of the Blues:

what were the key instruments in the rise of ‘jump blues’ by 1948?

Answer 26

drums, saxophones, electric guitars as well as blues shouting becoming a favoured combination of rural and urban vocalising

Question 27

Relative Timeline of the Blues:

what was so significant about the ‘jump blues’?

Answer 27

was so addictive and popular, it became the essence of rock ‘n’ roll in the early 1950s

Question 28

Relative Timeline of the Blues:

what happened in the 1920s?

Answer 28

Prohibition - ban of alcohol, rise of secret clubs called ‘Speakeasys’ were opned where jazz was played and alcohol was served

Question 29

Relative Timeline of the Blues:

what was the Great Depression?

Answer 29

1930s -was spread worldwide and was the longest and most severe economic downturn in modern history, it was marked by steep declines in industrial production and in prices (deflation), MASS UNEMPLOYMENT, BANKING PANICS, AND SHARP INCREASES IN RATES OF POVERTY AND HOMELESSNESS

Question 30

Relative Timeline of the Blues:

why did chicago play a key role in the development of urban blues of the 1930s?

Answer 30

Musicians who had left the South during the Great Depression, (including Big Bill Broonzy, Memphis Minnie and Tampa Red, added horns, piano, bass, drums and percussive washboard to the acoustic blues that had been played by popular pioneers such as Charlie Patton, Lonnie Johnson and Blind Lemon Jefferson

Question 31

Relative Timeline of the Blues:

what happened to the record industry during the Great Depression?

Answer 31

the record industry almost disappeared entirely however by the end of the decade, the music industry bounced back

Question 32

Relative Timeline of the Blues:

by the end of the decade what happened to the music industry?

Answer 32

bounced back, but had changed, there were popular new sounds bluegrass, gospel, hot jazz, Dixieland Swing, and a new type of blues involving a transition from country to urban

Question 33

Relative Timeline of the Blues:

in the 1960s what sort of jazz was there?

Answer 33

Cool Jazz, harmonies became even more complicated and improvisations were longer

Question 34

Relative Timeline of the Blues:

who toured in the 1950s?

Answer 34

Band Leaders such as Count Basie and Duke Ellington and jazz became more popular and complex

Question 35

Relative Timeline of the Blues:

in the 1970s/80s how did jazz link to different styles?

Answer 35

Miles Davies (trumpet) and John Coltrane (saxophone) continued to develop jazz in new ways, it became linked to many styles including rock, Latin American, Indian and African music (Hugh Masekela - trumpet)

Question 36

Ragtime:

what are the origins of the Ragtime style?

Answer 36

origins in African- American communities in cities like St Louis

Question 37

Ragtime:

what composition helped popularize the genre?

Answer 37

(first composition published was ‘La Pas Ma La’ - 1895)
1896, ‘You’ve Been a Good Old Wagon But You Done Broke Down’, (Ben Harney) was a hit.

Question 38

Ragtime:

what was Ragtime a modification of?

Answer 38

of the march style popularized by John Philip Sousa, with additional polyrhythms coming from African Music

Question 39

Ragtime:

what is the structure of Ragtime Music?

Answer 39

mostly based on jigs or marches; in short, dance music with its unique African syncopation coupled with the strict musical structure from classical music (polyrhythm)

Question 40

Ragtime:

who was Scott Joplin?

Answer 40

Ragtime Composer who became famous through the ‘Maple Leaf Rag’ and ‘The Entertainer’

Question 41

Ragtime:

what the significance of the use of syncopation (syncopation is varied and intricate as well as simple)?

Answer 41

excitement came from syncopation, the displacing of the beat from its regular and assumed course of meter. Syncopation caused an individual to feel a propulsion, swing, and if played correctly, a musical looseness generally unknown to the public at large

Question 42

Ragtime:

why was Ragtime ‘threatening’ as well as ‘exciting’?

Answer 42

the threat of syncopation evoked a strong connotation to the ‘low- class’ Negro music found in brothels and saloons

Question 43

Ragtime:

where were there saloons, brothels and cabarets?

Answer 43

The Midwest, particularly postbellum Missouri

Question 44

Ragtime:

what is the most common syncope found in ragtime?

Answer 44

2/4 time, created a feel of ‘short-long-short’ (with a fourth sound added for definition)

Question 45

Ragtime:

where did the feel of ‘short-long-short’ come from?

Answer 45

the cakewalk, a high-stepping dance popularized on the minstrel stage and often served as the show’s finale