The Early Music Industry Flashcards
Stationers Company
Given power by Queen Mary I in 1556 to review and censor any negative press about her. The Stationer’s Company regulated all publishing houses. In exchange, publishers were provided with a new concept—copyright—which gave them the authority to collect royalties (a small sum of money) for every copy of print (books/media) that was sold.
How did the music industry make money before the technological developments of the late 19th century? What were these early developments?
The industry was for sheet music. Songs were sold as sheet music. That was how people made money.
Player pianos (a mechanical piano) had “piano rolls”—spools of music placed inside the piano to play a piece without a performer (more about that later). Phonograph records (early versions of LP records you see today) were also available.
What are parlour songs?
an early model of production and consumption: music composed (produced) for selling sheet music (for profit) as piano music, and consumed by playing that music at home, or as entertainment in public venues.
purchased in books, as single pieces (just one or two pages), and some even published in magazines.
What were the two main venues for parlour songs?
The first is pleasure gardens: public spaces that people would congregate (like a public park, sometimes paying a small fee). A band would find sheet music to perform for background music.
The other venue was at home. In the United Kingdom (and throughout Europe), young women of middle- to upper-class families were provided piano lessons more commonly than boys. They would gain the requisite skill of reading music quickly, and this music was composed for that demographic of performance ability.
For whom was some of the first popular music geared for?
some of the first popular music was specifically geared for women! As you might expect, we see the role of class (middle- and upper-class) and gender within a cultural context of music production and consumption.
What was Minstrelsy?
The Minstrel show, (called Minstrelsy), was a form of popular entertainment that became “mainstream” (the centre of entertainment) during the 1830s and lasted until ca. (circa, that means “around”) 1910. It was a novelty act. It was like going to the theatre, but with “comedy” where performers would tell jokes and perform skits (e.g., traditional stories or current events). A major part of the show was dancing and music. The patrons were white, and ranged from the lower- to upper-class.
What were the visual aspects of Minstrelsy?
> African Americans were originally portrayed by white performers in blackface
African American performers, brought into minstrelsy in the 1840s, also painted their faces black.
Costumes: A focus on African American stereotypes was captured in costumes of what white America believed African American’s were.
What were the musical aspects of Minstrelsy?
the music was composed and performed to portray black music. It wasn’t real black music. It was what white America believed black music to be.
What stereotypes did Minstrelsy perpetuate?
> African American’s were believed to be illiterate, and therefore untrained in music literacy. Black music was therefore improvised, and emotional.
> Instruments: the main instruments that made up an ensemble were the banjo (West African instrument), tambourine (African), bones (“Bones” were two bones struck together to create rhythms with a percussive “click” sound. Sticks could have been used. Bones were a musical signifier of the primitive.) , and fiddle (portrayed as innate, natural, and improvised, the trained musical ability of “musicianers” was not part of the minstrel show.)
How did the body of Minstrelsy portray an identity?
The idea of “blackness” was constructed by white Americans to sell to white Americans.
Dance: like the music, dance was an imitation of African American dances.
Music: music is embodied. In the 1800s, music was always something you would see someone do. That doing of music seemed improvised or coming from an “untrained natural ability.” Playing (moving about) instruments that were considered “primitive” were embodied actions.
Who were the stock characters of minstrelsy?
Jim Crow: This character is based on one African American stereotype of the slave that is ignorant and lazy, primitive, “uncultured,” and superstitious. Jim Crow’s demeanor was jolly or “happy-go-lucky.”
Zip Coon: The “Zip Coon” is the urban African American ex-slave that tried to fit in with white culture, but did not know how (a “dandy” is an urban man in suit, top-hat, and usually carrying a cane or umbrella—most dandy’s were white). The idea of ignorance and an attempt to assimilate with white culture is portrayed.
Who was Stephen Foster?
he was a “hit maker”: his songs from minstrelsy were sold famously as sheet music. One of the first in American popular music.
Along with minstrelsy during the late 1800s, what other musical forms were popular entertainment?
> The waltz (dances to pieces in in 3/4 metre—i.e., counting 1-2-3, 1-2-3, etc) became a very important social dance and created a demand for pieces in that style.
> Brass bands were military bands that arranged pieces for a larger orchestra of trumpets, cornets , trombones, and tubas. Some bands were marching bands, that would include percussion. Brass bands played a range of pieces, including popular minstrel “hits” for dances. The significance of the brass band tradition is that it demonstrates how dance and music were closely related during the late 1800s.
When does the shift away from minstrelsy occur?
Chronologically, we see a shift away from minstrelsy during the 1890s. Vaudville acts (similar musical theatre with limited of less overt racism) began replacing minstrelsy. As brass bands were a trademark for all rural and urban dances, the popular music industry consolidated in New York City (NYC) in the area called Tin Pan Alley.
What was Tin Pan Alley?
Tin Pan Alley was a street in the southern part of NYC where songwriters would work endlessly to produce the next pop tune for vaudeville, and more importantly to sell as sheet music.
