Early American Song Styles and Popular Music - Rock Music History | MUS 15, Study notes of Music

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Early American Song Styles and Popular Music

Early America

Most early American music was performed

by amateurs

Instruments were available and affordable

to a large portion of the population

People would sing ballad operas (roots of

our musical theater) and hymns in the

home

When Jesus Wept- William Billings

Musical Gifts from Africa

(1600s-1800s) 

Africans from different cultures brought

their musical traditions to the US as slaves

 Griots - “musical storytellers”

○ (^) Africa relied on verbal, not written communication, Griots would pass down history through song ○ (^) Roots of the Blues

Musical instruments such as the bania and halam

(predecessors of the banjo)

Participatory singing and solo singing using a variety

of tonal effects

These traditions evolved into Field Hollers

African American “Field Hollers”

Musical roots of Gospel & Blues 

Slavery in the American South

Venting emotions; day-to-day realities

 Musical characteristics

Calculated repetitions

Emphasized rhythm over harmony

Pentatonic (5 note) scale (blues notes)

Unlike work songs, hollers were sung solo

http://memory.loc.gov/afc/afcss39/260/2603b2.mp

Copyright Act 1790

Important in the early development of

music and literature

Allowed for ownership and royalties

Initially copyright lasted just 14 years

Copyright in the US for a music recordings is 95

years (50 years in Europe)

Composers of the music, like authors of books,

have copyright for their lifetime plus another 70

years

Stephen Foster (1826-64)

Known as the “Father of American Music”

 Oh Susanna, Camptown Races,

Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair

Wrote for minstrel shows, but tried to elevate the

quality of the lyrics and performances

Told performers not to make fun of slaves

First US composer to make a living off his

compositions, but died with only 37 cents

Beautiful Dreamer

Birth of the Blues (late 1800s)

Songs of African American Slaves  American Civil War (1861-1865) Emancipation Proclamation provided freedom for slaves in the South 13th Amendment ends slavery in 1865  African American music moves towards blues Songs relate to new experiences of freedom  Musical characteristics Singer accompanied by solo guitar String bending to raise and lower pitch Bottleneck to raise and lower pitch; “slide” Shuffle rhythm; “long-short-long-short” All improvised, not a notated music Contrast

Birth of Boogie Woogie (late

1800s)

Spirited Blues-based Piano Style 

Evolved in the American Midwest alongside

ragtime, a closely related style

Blues-based piano style with triplet feel

Popularized by Afr. Americans during the ‘20s

Boogie Woogie written by Clarence ‘Pine Top’

Smith (1904-1929)

Dixieland

Early jazz form from New Orleans (early

1900s)

Music was not notated…aural tradition

 Spread to Chicago and NYC ca. 1910

 First jazz recording in 1917-“Original Dixieland

Jass Band” (Caucasian group) Livery Stable Blues

 Scat singing-improvisation for the voice

Frontline-Trumpet, trombone, clarinet

Rhythm section (two of the following)-guitar or banjo,

string bass or tuba, drums and piano

 Hotter Than That -Luis Armstrong, 1927

Chapter 1 Review

Important musical places in early America

Congo Square, New Orleans

Tin Pan Alley, NYC

Important early musical styles

Boogie Woogie

Dixieland

Ragtime

Important musical contributions from Africa

present in blues

Call and response

Shuffle rhythm

Note bending, blues notes

Direct and honest expression