Vernacular Music Flashcards
What is Vernacular music?
musical traditions outside the concert hall
-intended to reach broad musical public
What was used to preserve more vernacular music?
recordings
What country became the leading exporter of vernacular music?
US
Where did band music originate?
military origins
When did John Philip Sousa run the US Marine band?
1880-92
What was the band music repertory?
marches, dances, arrangements, medleys, transcriptions of classical pieces
Stars and Stripes forever
- Sousa
- Band Music
- 1897
- Known as March King
- one of the many pieces he composed for band
- made band prominent
What became important in black and white social life in big cities at the turn of the century?
Black bands
-at this point, relatively little improvising
What distinguished black from white bands?
the swinging, syncopated style
What were some traits of African American music?
- call and response
- improv
- syncopation
- repetition of short rhythmic or melodic patterns
What was the banjo base on?
a west african stringed instrument
What type of African American music had the biggest impact?
Spirituals
What group first popularized spirituals?
The First Jubilee Singers
-1870s, concerts in US and Europe
What is Ragtime and when did it become popular?
It features syncopated (Ragged) rhythm, regular march like bass
- popular from 1809-1910’s
- syncopation derived from patting juba of American Blacks
- emphasis on offbeats
- reflects complex cross-rhythms in African Music
Who was Scott Joplin?
- leading ragtime composer
- son of former slave, studied music in Texarkana Texas
Where did scott joplin move in 1907?
New York
Maple Leaf Rag
- Joplin
- piano Rag
- 1899
- Mixture of European and African Elements
- King of Ragtime
- impression of 3/16 meter in right hand against 2/4 meter in left hand
What did composers of popular songs want to do?
- entertain the audience
- accommodate amateur performers
- sell sheet music
What were some of the subject included in pop song?
Love, ethnic satire, new inventions, family, baseball
-there were also songs for causes
What was the standard form of pop song?
verse and refrain
- one or more verses
- 32 measure refrain often scored for chorus
What is Tin Pan Alley?
the district on west 28th st. in NY
- 1880’s, publishers specialize in pop songs
- link between success on stage and sales of printed music
In what ways were the 1920’s a rich time for American pop music?
- vaudeville troupes toured the continent
- operettas, revues, musicals attracted large audiences
When was the “golden age” of Tin pan alley?
1920-1955
How did songs become popular in the 1920s?
- made familiar in hit shows
- sold as sheet music
- recordings
- sound technology for films/hollywood musicals
Which composer wrote both music and lyrics to his songs and was known for sentiments, patriotic tunes like God Bless America and White Christmas?
- mastered all current pop song genres
- involved in every aspect of music business
Irving Berlin (1888-1989)
Which genre was significant in featuring songs and dance numbers?
Musical Theater
What was the first musical?
Little Johnny Jones
-by George M. Cohan 1904
What was so great about musicals?
- complex collaboration of different artists
- some were vehicles for star entertainers
Who wrote the book and lyrics to Show Boat?
Oscar Hammerstein II
Who was Hammerstein’s first partner?
Jerome Kern
What was the hit song from Show Boat?
“Ol’ Man River”
Who was George Gershwin?
-composed classical music, pop songs, and musicals
Who wrote some of George Gershwin’s best known songs?
his brother Ira Gershwin
I Got Rhythm
- George Gershwin
- 1930
- Musical
- Has a famous chord progression that is used later on (rhythmic Changes)
- syncopated rhythms draw on ragtime
- the style and energy attracted jazz musicians
Which musical had a record-breaking run, with over 2,000 performances and was a pivotal development in integrated musical?
Oklahoma!
Who is Leonard Bernstein?
- major presence on broadway and classical music
- 1944 last minute replacement for the New York Phil, overnight celeb
- “Our Town” 1944 was a success on broadway
What was West Side Story?
- a retelling of Romeo and Juliet
- lyrics by Sondheim
- Book by arthur Laurents
- Choreography by Jerome Robbins
- set in gang ridden NYC 1950’s
- juxtaposes highly contrasting styles
“Cool”
- Bernstein
- 1957
- Musical
- had bebop and a lot of other different styles
- FUGUE!!!
- retelling of romeo and juliet
When did Sound become synchronized with Film?
late 1920’s
What was the first Talking picture?
Jazz Singer 1927
What were the 2 categories of music film?
diegetic-heard or performed by characters
-nondiegetic: underscoring, background music
When was the golden age of hollywood musicals?
1930’s
Whose choreography made Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, and Ginger Rodgers international stars?
Busby Berkeley
Where were movie musicals so popular?
They offered an escape from the Great Depression
- featured a lot of talent
- tickets were cheap
What kind of people were many film score composers?
European immigrants
-Example: Max Steiner
What was the movie that Steiner scored that established a model for Hollywood film score?
King Kong
-had letimotifs
What era is known as “the jazz age”?
the 1920’s
What is Blues?
- one of the most influential genres of early 20th century america
- origin obscure
- lyrics are about sad stuff, but also about how to overcome that stuff
- allowed performers to display their artistry
Who solidified the 12-bar blues form?
W.C. Handy, the “father of the blues”
How many lines does each poetic stanza have in 12-bar blues?
3 lines
- 2nd line restates first
- third completes the thought
What is the 12-bar blues form?
I-IV-I-I
IV-IV-I-I
V-V(or IV)-I-I
Who is the “Empress of the Blues”
Bessie Smith
Back Water Blues
- Bessie Smith
- 1927
- Blues song
- Empress of Blues
- 12-bar blues
- unique timbres, phrasing, melodic sensibility in recording
What was early Jazz
in the 1910’s, it was the mixture of ragtime, dance music, elements of the blues
what are some of the distinctive features of 1920’s jazz?
- syncopated rhythm
- novel vocal and instrumental sounds
- unbridled spirit
- improv was important
- recording industry, radio played key roles in growth and dissemination
Maple Leaf Rag
- Jelly Roll Morton
- 1938
- Jazz Piano
- example of how players started to extemporize arrangements
- joplin’s rag with swinging rhythm and enriched harmony
- example of New Orleans Jazz
What was the leading style of jazz after WWI?
New Orleans Jazz
What is New Orleans Jazz centered on?
group variation of a given une
What were some of the leading musicians of Early Jazz?
- Joe “King” Oliver
- Louis Armstrong
- Jelly Roll Morton
What was the Name of Louis ARmstrong’s band that he formed after playing in King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band?
The Hot 5 or 7, depends on what time you’re talking about
West End Blues
- King Oliver
- Blues
- 1928
- example of how pop music was sold as recordings by start performers
- illustrates the ways that jazz performers used songs they played as the basis for improv
- exemplifies two of Armstrong’s innovative techniques that were good for the development of jazz: Scat singing and good soloing
In the 1920s, what was the main function of JAzz?
to accompany dancing
What was the typical dance band looking like by 1930?
-brass, reeds, rhythm section:piano, drums, guitar, and double bass
What is Swing?
a combo of stylish arrangements with jazz rhythms
-ignited dance craze across the country
Who was Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington?
one of the most influential American composers
- innovator, expanded boundaries of jazz
- born in Washington D.C.
What was Duke Ellington’s first band?
The Washingtonians HA HA HA
-they were sponsored by the State Department
Where did Duke Ellington have a house band from 1927-31?
The Cotton Club in Harlem
-Ellington used this band to experiment
When was the peak of Ellington’s creative abilities?
The 1940s
Cotton Tail
Duke Ellington
- 1940
- Jazz Big Band
- Tune at beginning is just a series of choruses over the same progression
- contrafact: new tune over borrowed harmonic progression
- used the chorus of Gershwin’s I Got Rhythm
What did Duke Ellington want his music to be referred to as?
Beyond Category
