History of Popular Music notes PDF

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These are the lecture notes for the first half of the semester for History of Popular Music in the US
Prof. Duvall ...

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History of Popular Music Lecture Notes: -Music is everywhere we go -What is popular music? → music that is popular w/ public but it's also music that is generating $$ through sales → Can measure w/ a mixture of popularity, $ generated, critical acclaim -Categories of Music: -3 broad categories: → Popular music → classical music → folk music -American Pop Music → american pop music grew out of the interaction of 3 distinct musical traditions -art music of central europe -folk music of the british isles -west african music → Importance of american pop music? -Culturally -Commercially -Artistically -Functional music: → makes up most of the music you hear today → functional music is played in order to elicit a response -Energy level of music that is played in clothing stores, sports arenas, elevators and offices is calculated by research/planning -Artistic worth: → assessed by subjective, hard to assess by popularity -can have high artistic worth but might not be considered popular -can also very popular but considered low artistic worth ____________________________________________________________________

Elements of popular music: → instrumentation, dynamics, performing style, rhythm, melody, harmony, texture & form

-4 properties of musical sound: → Timbre: -“color” of musical sound - reason why you are able to distinguish instruments → Intensity: loudness of musical sound → pitch: specific frequencies of sound → duration: measures how long a sound lasts -Instrumentation → both instruments and voices → Most musical instruments are defined as definite pitch instruments → which means it is pretty easy to sing the sound being produced Ex) Chimes, triangle, Xylophone, Piano, Flute Bass, Guitar, Trumpet → Indefinite pitch instruments means it's almost impossible to sing the sound being produced by those instruments Ex) Snare Drum, Violin -Performing Style: how instruments are played or voices are used -Dynamics: musical term for intensity or volume -Inflection: related to dynamics in that its the note-to-note dynamic shading of a singer or instrument -Rhythm: any aspect of the music considered as a function of time → the rhythm section and the backbeat have defined the sound of rhythm in American popular music. → the backbeat is a heavy emphasis on beats 2 & 4 -Melody: group of pitches heard in a series, one after another → Related to melody, a riff is a short melodic idea that are usually repeated over and over to create a melody -Harmony: group of pitches heard at the same time AKA a chord -Arpeggio: notes of a chord in a series, one after another -Texture: the # of instruments/voices performing at any time during the performance -Form: organization of music in time → 2 most popular forms are AABA and verse/chorus

-5 groups of instrumentation in Popular Music: -Rhythm section -Winds -Strings -Percussion -Electronic instruments -Rhythm Section: → Contains at least: -1 chord instrument (piano, banjo, guitar) -1 bass instrument (tuba, brass bass, string bass, electric bass) -1 percussion instrument (drum set) -Wind instruments: → the military band which includes...trumpet, trombone, flute, clarinet & saxophone -Most commonly used String instruments in popular music are… → violin, steel guitar, piano & guitar -Tempo: defines the speed of the beat being played → beats are usually grouped together in long rhythmic units called measures The sources of Popular Music: -Central European music in America ranged from Italian opera to German liedar -Melisma: is a singing style used by many artists today such as beyonce -Melisma is a series of pitches sung on the same syllable -People from England, Ireland and Scotland brought over a folk tradition -The African heritage is known as the influence of african slaves on popular music and is almost always visual → Drums were banned from the plantations because masters realized that, in addition to music, they could be used to communicate Biggest impact of african music: → use of percussion instruments Pentatonic scale is a five note scale used in many traditional gospel songs

Call and response is found in many styles of music like jazz, blues and gospel Interaction between European and African traditions is a crucial factor in the birth of american popular music Birth of popular Music: Songs of the 1850’s -very popular -sounded homegrown Cultural awakening during the 1840's and 1850’s -During this time, american piano builders made important improvements to piano designs → Builders included: -Babcock, who made the single piece frame for the standing piano -Chickering: who made the iron frame fit to the grand piano -Steinway: who combined the iron frame from babcock with the over-strung bass strings Piano: -most people learned to play this instrument -people would learn songs from sheet music while learning the piano -Sheet music was the primary source of popular song distribution Stephen Foster: → most significant innovation was the plantation song -had both parlor and minstrel styles and it was the 1st important instance where a popular song was made by mixing styles together → The most important songwriter in 19th century of american pop music → He composed parlor, Minstrel and Plantation type songs during this time Parlor songs→ made for home use -Strophic form is when the same melody is several parts of text Minstrel Show: the beginning of American Popular music → 1st show was in Boston 1843 → City slickers and country bumpkins -Grew into 3 parts: 1st- featured pop songs 2nd- “olio” (variety portion of the show)

3rd- walkaround -Contributions to Minstrel Show 1- entertainment to the public 2- incorporated everyday speeches and lyrics 3-helped develop out of the synthesis of classical music 4- energetic music that made people want to get up and dance

Popular Music after Civil War: -2 decades before the civil war saw the birth of popular music but... the 2 decades after the civil war saw the birth of the popular music industry -’grandfather’s clock’ predicts the emphasis on chorus -Tin Pan Alley: -a group of music publishers in NYC opened for business & differed from other, more traditional publishers because they sold only popular music -NYC then became home to popular stage entertainment and popular music publishing -1st big hit of Tin Pan Alley was “after the ball” by Charles Harris → this song was a waltz, which means it has 3 beats to the measure -The waltz became the most popular dance rhythm around 1900 After the civil war, African American musicians/entertainers had new opportunities: -they found opportunities in Jubilee choirs & minstrel shows James Bland: → he was a minstrel performer who became the 1st african american songwriter to gain commercial success Gussie Davis: → became the 1st african american songwriter to gain commercial success on Tin Pan Alley

Popular Stage Entertainment: 1-Minstrel show → this show became bigger and the cast grew larger so they lasted longer 2-Vaudeville → known as the most popular form of live entertainment and was a variety show 3-American musical comedy → the start of this began with “The black crook” show → the plots to these shows were usually about ‘here & now’ situations → Interpolate was sometimes used and is an insert without regard to the plot → Main people: Harrigan & Hart 4-European operetta → operetta plots were usually about situations from a long time ago → Main people: Gilbert & Sullivan 5-Revue → this soon began to take place of the minstrel show The concert band: -known as the most popular instrumental ensemble in 19th century -standard band included: brass, woodwind and percussion → Municipal band: local version of a concert band -these were found almost everywhere -Gilmore Band, led by Patrick Gilmore was the most famous concert band before 1890 -Sousa Band, led by John Phillip Sousa was the most famous concert band after 1890 -John Phillip Sousa was the most prominent bandleader/composer of his era -Nickname was March King

Ragtime: -This is a body of piano music made primarily by Scott Joplin → He had formal music training in european tradition and wanted to make sure he would legitimize ragtime → viewed himself as a serious composer → his composition ‘Maple leaf rag” was 1st commercially successful piano rag → His tempo markings for most of his pieces was ‘not too fast’ -Ragging was a way to change already existing material so that it would sound more like ragtime -1st pieces of ragtime were published in the 1890’s -Ragtime rhythms were heard in John Phillip Sousa ragtime arrangements by the europeans before anyone else -Many people didn’t like the mix of black and white influence in ragtime and thought of it as inappropriate

Ragtime dance: -Turkey trot -- this dance allowed for close contact -Ragtime was the 1st documented sheet music instance of african americans that interpreted european music -demand for their services allowed african american musicians unions to form in the 1900s Ragtime styles: → Cakewalk: known as a precursor of piano rag Instruments: -Player Pianos: → piano that plays music without the need for someone to reduce normal keys/pedals → Music roll: also known as a piano roll, is a continuous sheet of paper used in the player piano -Pianola Piano: → type of player piano → designed for rolls that were not recorded at a piano -Reproducing Pianos: → this type of piano used rolls made from recorded performances of many famous musicians...