mus103 midterm

• Popular song publishing largely revolved around sheet music sales during most of the 19th century in North America and Western Europe
• Music was generally performed at home by people who could read and play instruments

Vaudeville and Tin Pan Alley

• NYC became the center of the music publishing industry due to organizers of vaudeville and theatrical producers focusing their offices and businesses there in the 1890s
• Tin Pan Alley, located on West 28th Street in Manhattan, became the nickname for the area where music publishers set up shop
• The vaudeville circuit and Broadway relied on Tin Pan Alley songwriters
• Tin Pan Alley songwriters were called Tin Pan Alley because of the out-of-tune pianos in clubs and bars that sounded like banging on pipes
• Instruments were good enough for writing music

Late 1800s Popular Music

• Popular music in 1890 was dominated by Victorian-style ballads and waltzes by European songwriters
• Ragtime, a new style created by African American musicians, emerged before the end of the decade
• Tin Pan Alley music was a combination of ragtime and popular music

Irving Berlin

• Irving Berlin, born in Western Siberia in May 1888, was an important figure in music during this era
• He moved to NYC with his family in September 1983 and they resided in a basement apartment in the Lower East End of Manhattan
• He left home at 14 and was a singer
• Berlin sang the latest hits in Bowery bars and dance halls, buying them off by Tin Pan Alley publishers
• He taught himself piano at a popular underground cafe
• His first composition, “Marie from Sunny Italy,” was written with a pianist from the cafe
• He was recognized by the Harry von Tilzer Company and had multiple successes
• Berlin was a featured performer at Hammerstein's vaudeville house in the fall of 1911
• He composed "Alexander's Ragtime Band"
• Berlin was a product of the multiethnic and predominantly immigrant community of turn-of-the-century NYC
• His early songs reflected the culture and values of multiethnic NYC
• Notable works included Piano Man, What'll I Do?, Always, Blue Skies, Puttin' on the Ritz, Marie, and Say it Isn't So
• Tin Pan Alley songs were accepted far beyond their community of origin
• Writing a Tin Pan Alley song was long and laborious
• The writer would start with a title or phrase or melody and hum it out
• Collaboration with another arranger or songwriter would further elaborate the concept

Early Jazz and Technological Shifts

• Early Jazz emerged around the 1920s due to new technologies revolutionizing the music industry
• The music industry shifted from focusing on musical recreation with sheet music to listening to recordings or broadcast performances
• Record players and radio broadcasting increased domestic entertainment through portability and mass production
• A classification system developed in the music industry that affected what music was recorded and how it was distributed
• A popular music category emerged that was made for rich, white, literate, urban residents and contrasted classical or serious music
• The 1920s are referred to as the "Jazz Age"

Jazz Music Styles

• The music of Paul Whiteman and Guy Lombardo, bears little resemblance to "jazz"
• Paul Whiteman was a classical musician who promoted his music as Symphonic Jazz
• Demands of jazz often include orchestral modifications
• Accounting for the nuance when recording became essential, arranging instrumentation so it was evenly balanced and audible and letting the recording be perfect
• Perfection of recordings became important
• Jazz dancing also became prevalent
• The most identifiable jazz of the 1920s consisted of small instrumental combos led by Louis Armstrong
• Ragtime-influenced compositions of Jelly Roll Morton and Scott Joplin were also part of it
• The period from the mid-1930s through the early 40s is known as "The Swing Era" or "The Big Band Era” with large ensembles, and band leaders
• Black musicians like Count Baise, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, and Artie Shaw played “hotter” jazz, while white musicians played “sweet” bands

Racial Elements

• There was perceived spontaneity from black musicians, while the white musicians were calculated and feminine
• Musical style differences were not always social or biological
• Awareness of the racial politics of popular music was prevalent
• Black ragtime, the Golden Age of jazz and Tin Pan Alley led to an orchestrated style of jazz celebrated by black and white musicians
• Louis Armstrong played trumpets and was a vocalist and bandleader
• Count Baise played piano and led a band
• Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday were vocalists
• COle Hawkins, Ben Webster, and Lester Young played saxophones
• CHick Webb, Gene KRupa, and Philly JOe Jones were drummers
• Fats Waller and Teddy Wilson played pianists
• ROy ELridge, Bunny Berigan, and REx Stewart played trumpet

1920s and Beyond

• The music industry in the 1920s developed race and hillbilly music, catering to white and black audiences, respectively
• New audiences were targeted for musical appeal between WW1 and WW2
• Recorded music came from black and white folk and cultural traditions from the South
• Race and hillbilly were used for marketing to African American listeners and to whites who live in the south
• Ralph Peer first applied term "race record"
• Jazz, blues, gospel choirs, vocal quartets, string bands, jug/washboard bands, sermons, stories, and comic routines were included in styles
• The blues describes a feeling and refers to the style of singing and playing
• Blues vocals had narrow range, unlike Mozart’s arias
• The blues form was a 12-bar form starting with four measures of chord one, followed by two of chord four, back to two of chord one, one of chord five, one of chord four, ending with two of chord one

Blues Artists

• Mamie Smith pioneered blues singing, piano playing, and was a black vaudeville performer and was known as the queen of blues
• Her success opened the record industry to recording by and for African Americans
• Bessie Smith was the Empress of the blues and pivotal in black vaudeville
• Alberta Hunter and Ethel Waters were classic blues artists
• Gertrude “Ma” Rainey performed in a rougher style of blues
• WC Handy was the father of blues and the most influential of the classic blues composers
• Handy co-founded the first African American owned publishing house
• Handy's music owed much to Tin Pan Alley and African American folk traditions
• His biggest hit "St. Louis Blues" was written in 1914

Rhythm and Blues / Country

• Country music began in the 1920s and was a mix including ballads from the british, string band music, fiddle tunes, hymns, and blues
• Western Swing arose from a fiddle-led, string band dance music and big band swing; uses drums, amplified guitars, horns and piano alongside bass and fiddle
• Honky Tonk music featured amplified guitars and produced stars in the late 1930s and the early 1940s such as ernest tubb, cliff bruner and ted daffan

Folk and Country Music Growth

• In the late 1940s, the popularity of country music increased
• Folk artists were imported from country fairs to theaters and nightclubs
• Entertainers in the popular and concert fields included folk music on their programs
• Radio and motion pictures included folk artists and folk music
• Interest in folk music spread
• With the second world war, hillbilly music spread
• Large training camps in the south exposed many to the relatively unfamiliar music
• Postwar shifts in population helped spread folk music

Country Music's Popularity

• Disk jockeys followed through and aired country music to a widening audience
• Titles range from "my daddy is only a picture" to "life gets teejus, don't it?"
• Country music has spilled over into the more conventional popular field
• The 1940s most successful recordings of popular country songs were covers of country songs by pop artists or quasi-country songs written by Tin Pan Alley songwriters
• Numerous versions of country songs as well as crossover hits occurred
• Radio brought country music to national and international popularity
• Radio station WSM, owned by the national life and accident insurance company was a part of this

Grand Ole Opry

• The Grand Ole Opry maintained a tradition of preserving country music
• Country artists take a vested interest in being involved in and celebrating the opry's legacy
• The Opry is affiliated with the WSM

Rhythm and Blues

• Clyde McPhatter was the first rhythm and blues singer to attract attention, with Billy Ward, the Dominoes, and the Drifters
• McPhatter adopted the dynamic solo style of female singers, utilized rewards gospel lyrics in his songs
• Jackie Wilson (McPhatter's successor in the dominoes) similarly employed interchangeable gospel lyrics zigin, harmonic progressions, and melodic phrases
• Ray Charles was skilled in performing and playing jazz, gospel, blues, country, pop, and classical music
• He formulated a unique kind of high energy blues
• Charles built upon Clyde McPhatter's innovations in gospel music
• Charles technically made adaptations of gospel songs
• In 1962 Charles introduced his modern sounds in country and western music
• Charles had a desire to accept many styles of music, bled them together, and incorporated the resulting innovations

Doowop

• Doowop effectively transforms the syllable utterances of charles' early rhythm and blues into pseudo lyrics
• Call and response, harmonization, blues form, and instrumental soling all represented traditions
• Represented traditions of blues, rhythm and blues, and gospel music

Emergence of Rock N' Roll

• In 1955, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Bo Diddley, and Fats Domino developed a new form of rhythm and blues that appealed to a teenage audience
• This was a new, young category that had not been seen before
• Berry was an influential player in sign, songwriting and guitar playing
• Berry’s guitar had distinctive, guitar sounds, boogie woogie rhythms, and musical devices characteristics of country western music and the blues
• Chuck Berry used electronic effects
• He displayed a strong interest in Caribbean music
• Berry was influenced by a wide variety of artists
• Berry fashioned his lyrics to appeal to the growing teenage market
• Many performers recorded Berry songs
• Little Richard came from a humble background, his early experiences in backwoods pentecostal church
• Unique sound of evergetic singing, piano playing, and songwriting
• Unique vocal style that has influenced James Brown
• Piano playing is unique as it displays an out of control boogie woogie kind of sensibility
• Visual appearance also added to the uniqueness
• "Tutti frutti" became a hallmark of rock n roll
• Released songs on specialty records that sold well across an interracial audience
• Composed hit songs that combined amusing lyrics with sexually suggestive undertones
• Little Richard demonstrates models of singing and musicianship
• Unique style of Elvis was timeless
• Sun records was crucial for his development
• Elvis' style blended elements of country and R&B without being identifiable as either
• Presley's singing voice swooped almost two octaves at a time
• Elvis had a penchant for juxtaposing musical styles rather than synthesizing them
• Elvis style forged within a contemporary african american idiom, presley, moore and black released singles on sun records that combined blues, R&B with country style numbers
• Rockabilly emerged as a distinct style

Profit in Rock

• With the popularity of music came individuals and institutions to capitalize on the profit
• Teen pop was promoted by a nationally syndicated television show called American Bandstand
• Teen pop and American Bandstand were profitable and corrupt
• Overnight Dick Clark became one of pop music's key tastemakers
• Teen pop incorporated aspects of traditional rock n roll while reshaping roles
• Payola in the music industry is the illegal practice of paying
• In 1959, Clark told a congressional committee that he was unaware that performers in whom he had financial interest had received disproportionate play on his programs
• Numerous corporate holdings and financial interest was part of his success
• Anyone affiliated with these entities gained a special place
• In 1963 when American expanded Clark broadened involvement in production

Rock and Roll Growth

• Clark Presented game shows, made for TV movies, and variety programs
• The American music awards and was a regular host of ABC's new year rockin 'eve
• Dominant aspects of popular music the late 1950s
• Feeling of unhappiness grew among the mainstream
• New teen Idols entered music
• Popular music described as declining quality
• Brill Building helped with conveyor belt mentality
• Breeds of young songwriters emerged
• Outfits combine visceral nature of rock with soulful and sophisticated harmonic and melodic vocalizing, performed predominantly by young african american female singers GIRL GROUPS
• Dance crazes became popular
• “Will you love me tomorrow” initiated one of the dominant trend
• Vocals harmony was the focus
• Lyrics of love were common
• Regarding arrangements and performances, anyone could set up a series of relationships and effectively build their own enterprise from scratch
• Labels and and artists sold their songs to different publishers and producers
• The speed of the Brill Building's business contributed to the popular music scene
• Singers usually at the very bottom of the hierarchy

More Problems in the Rock Scene

• Artists were paid low
• Producers picked and from many young talented black singers
• World of entertainment was often portrayed as a means from hardship, inequality, and poverty
• Popular figure known as the Girl Group producer, Phil Spector
• Phil Spector's recording technique featured a dense, reverberant texture filled with instruments that were often difficult to separate from one another undergirded by a R&B rhythm section
• 1960 Girl Groups such as The Ronettes grew in popularity
• American sentiment migrated to California

1960's Music Growth

• California grew to economic power and influence
• Southern California produced surf music
• Originally an instrumental genre
• The Beach Boys were a dominant force in the music
• Appealed to Middle class white teens
• California became the place to be
• Urban Folk started in the 1930s
• Dominated with HillBilly Music roots
• Musical is less important than the sociological and cultural implications
• Urban folk is about culture
• Woody Guthrie was a great artist that focused on working class struggles
• Civil rights were discussed
• Urban Folk eventually adopted and developed, but it was mainstream.
• The Almanac Singers, including Pete Seeger, stressed political and social issues
• The Weavers, formed by Seeger, continued these themes
• Guthrie had a large influence on Beat writers.