Music in America: Jazz and Beyond

Music Categories

• Cultivated music refers to the formal, developed styles often found in conservatories and concert halls.
• Vernacular music encompasses the everyday songs and sounds that resonate within society.

Early American Music Challenges

• A significant obstacle in early American music production was the scarcity of written music, complicating preservation and performance.

Jazz Characteristics

• Key elements of jazz include:
  • Improvisation: spontaneous creation and variation of music.
  • Syncopation: emphasis on unexpected beats.
• Characteristics that are not typical of jazz include:
  • Heavy emphasis on the first beat.
  • The AAB poetic scheme.

Early Rock Music Influences

• Early rock music emerged from a fusion of:
  • Country or "hillbilly" music.
  • Rhythm and blues.
• Influential styles that contributed were American musicals and jazz.

Big Band Jazz

• A notable trend in big-band jazz was the reduction of improvisation, favoring more structured performances.

Rhythm Terms

• Backbeat: Displacement of metrical accents to normally unaccented beats.
• Swing: Accents shifted slightly ahead of standard metrical points.

Fisk Singers Contribution

• In the late 19th century, the Fisk Singers played a crucial role in popularizing Negro spirituals.

Racial Dynamics in Jazz

• The rise of big-band jazz saw white musicians enter the market, which marginalized many black musicians who had originally shaped the genre.

American Composers and Their Genres

• John Philip Sousa is famed for composing marches.
• Amy Beach is known for her symphonic music.
• Stephen Foster is recognized for his contributions to popular tunes.

Musical Innovations Timeline

• The sequence of musical innovations from earliest to most recent:
  • Ragtime
  • Big band jazz
  • Bebop
  • Fusion jazz

Terminology

• Big-band jazz is also referred to as swing.

Prominent Improvisation

• Specific pieces exhibit prominent improvisation, while others do not, indicating varying styles and performances.

Musical Style Identification

• Big-band jazz, blues, bebop, and jazz fusion can be identified by specific audio excerpts showcasing their unique sounds.

Influential Jazz Figures

• Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman are prominent figures known for their mastery of swing style jazz.

Instrumentation in Bebop

• Typical instruments in a bebop combo include:
  • Saxophone
  • Trumpet
• Instruments not typically found in a bebop combo include:
  • Violin
  • Clarinet

Global Youth Music

• The unifying element of global youth music is the half-spoken, half-sung rhythmicized poetics found in rap.

Gershwin's Themes

• Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" features distinct themes including:
  • Theme 1
  • Theme 2
  • A Cuban dance tune.

Duke Ellington Excerpts

• Various instrumental melodies in Duke Ellington's "Conga Brava" include:
  • Brass and clarinet
  • Trombone
  • Tenor saxophone.

Musical Characteristics in Excerpts

• Analyzing excerpts, characteristics such as syncopation and improvisation can be identified along with what is absent like ragtime and monophony.

Solomon Linda's "Anoku Gonda"

• This piece is recognized for:
  • Call and response
  • A cappella singing.
• Characteristics not present include unmetered choral declamation and monophonic texture.

Poetic Scheme

• The lyrical structure observed features an AAB poetic scheme.

American Conservatories

• The first American conservatories were established in the 1860s, marking a significant advancement in music education.

Post-War Jazz Landscape

• Following World War II, the big-band jazz scene saw a notable decline which led to its eventual collapse.

Evolution of Black American Popular Music

• The chronological emergence of black American popular music includes:
  • Motown
  • Soul
  • Funk.

Tin Pan Alley

• Tin Pan Alley refers to a New York City district famous for the many music publishers that thrived there.

American Musical Influences

• During the 19th century, Americans primarily sought inspiration from Italy for opera and from Germany for instrumental music.

British Rock Invasion

• The Beatles are credited with initiating the "British Invasion" in rock and roll music, significantly influencing American popular music.