MUS Exam 1
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80 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 backbeat | pattern of alternate stress on beats 2 and 4; an essential component of rhythm |
| minstrelsy | white performers would dress up in black face, imitating the entertainment styles of black slaves which blacks had created as parody of their white masters dance and entertainment style. first form of "pop" music. Showed disdain for the attitude of elite/genteel society; Enforced ugly racial stereotypes; Instruments included Banjo, bones & tamborine (all of African origin) as well as the fiddle (Anglo-American origin); |
| Cakewalk | imitation of whites making grand entry to social dance done by blacks which was later imitated in minstrelsy performance by Timothy "Daddy" Rice as the "Jumpin Jim Crow" |
| syncopation | a musical rhythm accenting a normally weak beat |
| black vaudeville | popularity of black culture and music style being promoted in minstrelsy |
| ragtime | originated in Mississippi Valley and introduced syncopated African American rhythm in to popular music. steady marching band beat with "ragged" piano ex: Maple Leaf Rag by Scott Joplin |
| Scott Joplin | famous ragtime pianist who wrote "Maple Leaf Rag" and developed the ragging piano style |
| Jim Crow | permanent character in minstrelsy shows that acted as the stereotypical black country bumpkin |
| crossovers | songs that orginate in one market of music then succeed in another market of music |
| classic blues | Blues written by professional songwriters and performed by professional female blues singers. follow classic 12 bar blues style |
| 12 bar blues | repeating harmonic pattern divided into three phrases of four bars each I I I I / IV IV I I / V IV I I |
| star system | Promoting popular movie personalities to lure audiences |
| keith-albee | Vaudeville theater chain |
| Ma Rainey | Known as the "Mother of the Blues" and was a mentor to Bessie Smith |
| Bessie Smith | Powerful, influential blues singer in the 1920's, "Empress of Blues" sang "Backwater Blues" |
| commodity | Term used to describe the creation of music as a product to sell. (ie: The development of the record) |
| sheet music | 1890s: 25 -60 cents sheet music, wholesale value more than tripled later. used to be popularly sold so anyone could perform it any way they wished to. However, people soon became more interested about a particular artist's version of a song, and songs started to be identified by who recorded them rather than who wrote them. |
| riff | the series of notes, chord pattern or musical phrase that is repeated, they are usually short. Appeared often in Motown melodies. They are usually instrumental, while hooks are vocal. |
| Thomas "Daddy" Rice | came up with the "cakewalk" |
| syncopation | a musical rhythm accenting a normally weak beat |
| Tin Pan Alley | located in NYC. produced sheet music and popular songs. Named after the barrage of different sounds that could be heard coming out of windows as songwriters worked. Notion of crossing racial divide. |
| composers | person who creates the music, either by notation or oral tradition |
| arrangers | person who prepares are adapts an already written composition in a different way |
| publishers | people responsible for assuring artists and composers are paid when their material is used commercially |
| pluggers | person responsible for advertising songs/sheet music |
| AABA | Tin Pan Alley song form. verse, verse, chorus, verse. |
| Irving Berlin | prolific Tin Pan Alley composer |
| Hokum Blues | a humorous song which uses extended analogies or euphemistic terms to make sexual innuendos. urban style with end weighted refrain form. ex: "It's Tight Like That" by Red Tampa |
| boogie woogie | piano based blues and became popular in 1930s and 1940s. has shuffle beat with bass figure outlining the blues harmony. associated with jitterbug dance. ex: Pinetop Smith's "Boogie Woogie" |
| Robert Johnson | sings "Come In My Kitchen" country blues song, Texas musician |
| Huddie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter | BMI writer who played major role in redefining folk music. discovered by Alan Lomax and sang "Goodnight Irene" |
| Alan Lomax | famous ethnomusicologist/folklorist in the 1940s. Interviewed Lead Belly, Muddy Waters, Jelly Roll Morton with Library of Congress |
| Pinetop Smith | Clarence "Pinetop" Smith sang "Boogie Woogie" - the song style that was eventually sped up to become rock 'n' roll |
| Muddy Waters | McKinley Morganfield of Chess Records. "Hootchie Cootchie Man", chicago/electric blues. |
| Benny Goodman | clarinetist who in 1934 formed a big band (including Black as well as White musicians) and introduced a kind of jazz known as swing (1909-1986). "King of Swing" |
| W.C Handy | artist of "St. Louis Blues" "jazz" genre - blended Tin Pan Alley with blues. cornet replies with call and response. |
| Dixieland Jazz | originating in New Orleans, used marching band instruments and "Livery Stable Blues" was the first jazz recording in 1917 |
| Big Band Swing | a type of musical ensemble associated with playing jazz music and which became popular during the Swing Era from the early 1930s until the late 1940s. A big band typically consists of approximately 12 to 25 musicians and contains saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. ex: Count Basie's "Jumpin' at the Woodside" |
| Ralph Peer | coined the term "race records" |
| oral tradition | passing of songs through generations in country/hillbilly/blues through oral communication |
| rise of radio | In the 1930's, independent radio stations discovered that a set of recorded songs provided for a suitable show on the radio. |
| race records | Recordings of performances by African American musicians produced mainly for sale to African American listeners. |
| Grand Ole Opry | Famous radio country music show which originated in Nashville in the 1920's |
| record companies | Okeh/Black Swan/Columbia/RCA Victor/Dekka |
| Fiddlin' John Carson | early folk singer that won the Atlanta Old Time Fiddler's Convention many times. recommended to Peer by Polk Brockman to record. |
| The Carter Family | family of country singers with traditional features of nasal untrained vocals and simple accompaniement. "Wildwood Flower" 1928 |
| Bill Monroe | Known as the Father of Bluegrass music "Bluemoon of Kentucky" |
| Jimmie Rodgers | innovator of country music that sings various "Blue Yodels" and "Waiting on a Train" that demonstrated a white take on black music |
| Roy Acuff | first Grand Ole Opry national star that moved country from "hoe down" and "hillbilly" format to star based and made internationally successful. sings "Wabash Cannon Ball" |
| Nashville sound | formed during the late 1950s as a sub-genre of American country music, replacing the chart dominance of honky tonk music which was most popular in the 1940s and 1950s. |
| Jerry Wexler | a music journalist/music producer; regarded as one of the major record industry players behind music from the 1950s through the 1980s. He claimed to have coined the term "rhythm and blues", and was integral in signing and/or producing many of the biggest acts of the last 50 years, including Ray Charles, the Allman Brothers, Chris Connor, Aretha Franklin, Led Zeppelin, Wilson Pickett, Dusty Springfield and Bob Dylan. |
| Billboard | kept various streams of popular music discrete on charts. Because black pop had only 6% of the markets, its charts did not look very impressive in relation to other music. The streams eventually aligned and were given equal weight, emphasizing hillbilly, country, and R&B music. |
| Paul Ackerman | influential music journalist and music editor of Billboard magazine, also may have coined the term "race records" |
| Brill Building | a center of activity for the popular music industry, especially for music publishing and songwriting. Many music publishers had offices in this building and publishers sent out song pluggers to radio stations. Over 120 independent music businesses in the building by the 1960's. |
| Victrola | early hand-cranked record player introduced by the victor company. intended to look more like furniture than machine |
| shellac | varnish record made from the shellac bug that were more durable and expensive (78 records) |
| vinyl | (45 records) shiny, tough and flexible plastic |
| 33 records | "LPs" or "long playing" records that could hold entire albums |
| 45 records | mass produced records that were more durable than 33s and had large donut holes in the middle and commonly only had singles recorded on them |
| 78 records | the original record made of brittle shellac and could only play for 3 minutes on each side |
| american society of composers, authors and publishers (ASCAP) | A membership organization that represents individuals who hold the copyrights to music written in the United States and grants licensing agreements for the performance of that music. |
| broadcasting music inc. (BMI) | BMI allowed songwriters outside of TPA to collect royalties from the use of their songs in the broadcast media, thus boosting western and R&B music. |
| Disc Jockeys (DJs) | responsible for helping R&B music cross the racial divide. They targeted a new demographic, the youth of America in post WWII. They also helped bring back the masses and advertisements to radio with their enthusiastic personality |
| rhythm and blues | replaced the term "race music" - urged by Paul Ackerman |
| Berry Gordy | founder of Motown Records in Detroit. "dry cleaned" rhythm and blues and helped the music cross over to white audiences |
| Chess Records | American record label based in Chicago, Illinois. It specialized in blues, R&B, soul, gospel music, early rock and roll, and occasional jazz releases. |
| acuff rose | publishing firm headquartered in Nashville. |
| imperial records | a United States based label started in 1947 by Lew Chudd and reactivated in 2006 by label owner EMI. |
| sun records | a record label founded in Memphis, Tennessee, starting operations on March 27, 1952. |
| atlantic records | record company founded by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. "the house that ruth brown built" |
| ahmet ertegun & herb abramson | producers at Atlantic Records who worked closely with Ruth Brown, and are responsible for developing a style that fused elements of blues, jazz, and pop (R&B) |
| ruth brown | worked for Atlantic Records. The first and probably most well known African American FEMALE R&B artists |
| ray charles | fused gospel and R&B and was blinded from glaucoma. also added so aspects of country to his music |
| jump blues | an up-tempo blues usually played by small groups with horns, popular in the late 1930's and 1940's. Was an extension of the boogie-woogie craze. Produced "Jump Bands" |
| louis jordan | "Choo Choo Ch' Boogie" Jump Band music |
| Big Joe Turner | "Roll 'Em Pete" of Atlantic records and performed boogie woogie at a faster pace |
| the soul stirrers | doo wop gospel band that transitioned from gospel to soul "Jesus I'll Never Forget" |
| sam cooke | lead singer of The Soul Stirrers who became a controversial sex symbol of the gospel band. eventually left and became a successful solo pop artist |
| cover | When another artist takes a hit song and essentially copies it with some adaptions to cash in on a hit success. This usually occurred when a white artist adapted a black artist's song and usually made more money off of it. Was legal since only the sheet music was legal material |
| syncretism | a + b = c. elements of 2 cultures that combine to make something completely new |
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