Week 3 : The 1920s and 1930s

Question 1

Irving Berlin (1888-1989)

Answer 1

Irving Berlin was an American composer and lyricist, widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in American history. His music forms a great part of the Great American Songbook. Born in Imperial Russia, Berlin arrived in the United States at the age of five

Question 2

George Gershwin (1898-1937)

Answer 2

•Came from an art music background, studied classical composition and saw live jazz in New York
•Incorporated European and African-American elements in his compositions
•Works include:
oRhapsody in blue
oPorgy and bess

Question 3

Al Jolson (1886-1950)

Answer 3

• Russian-Jewish immigrant
• At 13 began touring with minstrel troupes
• 1911 Broadwa debut as blackface singer/comedian
• 1927 starred in the first “talkie” the Jazz Singer

Question 4

Tin Pan Alley: song form, cultural ideas expressed in song

Answer 4

Tin Pan Alley Song Form
•verse: is a kind of sung introduction, sung only once
•refrain: takes AABA form, and is repeated
•using this standard form but changing the instrumentation, key, tempo, chord changes, etc. great variety is possible
What were tin pan alley songs about?
•Targets middle class aspirations: control of domestic space, promincnce of privacy and romance as cultural ideals expressed
oLyrically: in first person, simple language, allowing the listener to idenitify with the singer
oMode of performance: invention of the microphone 91925) allows for singing in an intimate “crooning” voice rather than a theatrical, projecting voice

Question 5

The Music Industry in the Early 20s: Ralph Pee

Answer 5

1934 Ralph Peer is scouting for race records, but records Fiddlin John Carson (1868-1949) and discovers the hillbilly market

Carter Family
1927 discovered by Ralph Peer

Jimmie Rodgers
1927 discovered by Ralph Peer

Ralph Peer, Okeh Records talent scout (imprint of Columbia Records), invents the term “race records” as a new marketing label
Prior to Ralph Peer’s use of the term in marketing, ‘race records’ was being used as an empowering term in the black community

Question 6

Race Records: The Blues

12-Bar Blues form

Answer 6

as seen in St Louis Blues

moves in a scale

Question 7

Race Records: The Blues

W.C. Handy

Answer 7

WC Handy “Father of the Blues” (1873-1958)
Son of pastor, a school teacher, played cornet on the side
Co-founded the first African American publishing house in 1908
1912 publishes “Memphis Blues” sheet music
Used his European art music training and creates something new; mix of African American and European music
First heard the ‘blues’ sound from a musician playing a guitar with a knife in rural Mississippi in 1903 (but doesn’t sound like blues we think of today)
Used 12 bar blues form to compose/produce

Question 8

Race Records: The Blues

Mamie Smith

Answer 8

1920 Mamie Smith ‘Crazy Blues’

At this time, ‘blues’ sounded more like the jazz that was being produced at this time

Question 9

Race Records: The Blues

The Country blues

Answer 9

The Country Blues
Precursors
African american story songs influenced by English Ballads (eg “Frankie and Johnny”, “StagoLee”)
Work songs (rhythmic), field hollers (contain “blue notes”)

Transmission
Early 20th Century aural
1912 sheet music began to standardize the form
Many rural musicians couldn’t read sheet music but traveling musicians, such as in New Orleans, taught how to read sheet music
Blues becomes more common
1920s recordings of classic blues influenced rural performers

Question 10

Early Country Music and Hillbilly Records:

Vernon Dalhart

Answer 10

1924 Vernon Dallart (1883-1948) due to a fading career in light opera, records first million selling hillbilly records

Question 11

Early Country Music and Hillbilly Records:

The Carter Family

Answer 11

1927 discovered by Ralph Peer
AP Carter, Sara, and Maybelle
AP collected songs all over Virginia, arranged Anlgo-American folk music, old hymns, and turn of century tin pan alley hits into recordable songs
Peer pushes him to copyright them, and they both received royalties 
Gospel Ship
Based on a folk hymn
Voices: 
Texture:
Time:
Performance notes:

Question 12

Early Country Music and Hillbilly Records:

Jimmy Rodgers

Answer 12

Jimmie Rodgers
1927 discovered by Ralph Peer
Sang about rootless ramblers, hobos, gamblers, cowboys, railwaymen
Had a dangerous image, died young of tuberculosis, a template for later country songs
Blue Yodel No 2 (1929)
Voices:
Form: 12 bar blues with yodel breaks
Time:
Lyrics:
Performance notes: blues-based, but more regular rhythm than African American blues, but fewer blue notes