Chapter 2The Beginnings of American Popular Music

Sources of Popular Music

African InfluencesNo hard evidence of music of slaves in the U.S. during the early 19th century.

Comparing field recordings of African folk musicians to musicians of African descent living in New World show strong connections: Cubans singing in old Yoruba (Nigeria) dialect and Mississippi bluesman sounding like one from Senegal.

African Roots

“Song for Odudua”Prominent percussion

Complex rhythms – constant syncopations

Call and Response – exchange between leader and group

Melody built on African pentatonic scale

Syncopation: accents that come between the beats of a regular rhythm rather than with them.

From Senegal to Mississippi

“Louisiana”/Field SongSimilarity in vocal styling between Henry Ratcliff, a Mississippi prison inmate, with a fieldworker in Senegal

Vocal timbre: basic sound and inflection of the voice

Melodic shape

Rhythmic Freedom

Melody built on pentatonic scale

Use of melismas: several notes sung to a single syllable

Reconstructing a Heritage

During the 20th Century, we hear prominent African-derived musical features in pop music

Yoruba chorus/”Ladies Night”Dense, syncopated rhythms

Melismas in vocals

Layered texture made up of voice, percussion, and pitched instruments

Reconstructing a Heritage, cont.

Popular Music musical traits derived from African roots:

Unvarying beat or other regular rhythm

Several layers of rhythmic activity/syncopation/rhythmic conflict

Percussion instruments and percussive techniques

Riff-like melodic ideas

Layered textures

Folk Music from the British Isles

Folk Song from the British Isles

“Barbara Allen” (1936)Ballad: simple song with a lyric that tells a story

Simple four-phrase melody

Anglo-American pentatonic scale

Strophic: different words sung to same melody

Important points: storytelling song, telling a “real” story, strophic form (leads to verse/chorus form), unpolished but effective vocal style.

Folk Music from the British Isles, cont.

Anglo-American Folk Dance

“Old Joe Clark” (1927)Down-home, good-humored

Story told in everyday language

Melody set to danceable beat

Rough, untrained singing voice

Verse/chorus form

Folk Music from the British Isles, cont.

Upper- and Middle-Class European Music

“Casta Diva” from Norma (1831)Aria from an opera

Simple arpeggiated accompaniment

Florid, wide-ranging vocals

“Woodsman, Spare That Tree” (1837)Simpler than “Casta Diva”, but unfolds similarly

Style leads to use of chords/chord progressions, melody/accompaniment texture, form in which phrases coalesce into larger formal units

Many of the instruments will be used in pop music: piano, several wind/brass instruments, violins, acoustic bass

American Popular Music: From Sources to Synthesis

Differences between African and European:

URBAN EUROPEAN:Chord instrument (piano) is only instrument

Chordal harmony

Long, flowing melodies

Gentle rhythmic beat keeping, no syncopation

WEST AFRICAN:Several percussion instruments (including handclaps); also plucked instruments

No chords

Short melodic phrases ending in long notes

Strong rhythmic feel

Prevalent syncopation in drum parts

Popular Song in the Mid-19th Century

Stephen Foster and the Parlor Song

The Early Minstrel Show

Social Acceptance and Synthesis

Stephen Foster and the Parlor Song

Parlor song: resemble art songs of classical music, but more modest in their expressive range and musical requirements

Told sentimental stories, set to simple melodies with modest accompaniment

Meant to be played in the “parlor” of the home.

Stephen Foster and the Parlor Song, cont.

Stephen Foster (1826-1864)Most important songwriter in the 19th century American popular music

Versitile and skillful, his songs were well-written and often inspiring and innovative

“Oh, Susanna!”, “Camptown Ladies”, “Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair”

Stephen Foster and the Parlor Song, cont.

“Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair”Style: Parlor Song

Form: AA1BA2

Long flowing lines, ending in clearly punctuated phrases

Sentimental text

Songs for home use

Irish connection – British Isles – pentatonic scale

Beautiful melody

The Early Minstrel ShowDef.: A form of stage entertainment distinguished by cruel parodies of African Americans.

Early 1840’s to end of 19th century.

Lacked consistent form and evolved quickly.

Crowds were often rowdy (rock concerts/soccer-match hooligans)

Loosely structured: At least three minstrels: the interlocutor and two endmen, “Tambo and Bones” (one played tambourine, one played bones)

Troupe sat in semicircle with interlocutor in middle and endmen at either side.

No plot or storyline, though there were stock routines and characters

Interlocutor spoke with proper diction, rich vocabulary

Endmen spoke in caricature of African American speech.

Interlocutor controlled the pace of show.

Grew out of blackface entertainment of late 1820’s and 1830’s.

Two stock characters: city slicker Zip Coon and country bumpkin Jim Crow

The Early Minstrel Show, cont.

Show evolved into three parts:Highly ritualized material w/pop parlor songs

Olio: (from Sp “olla” for stew) variety portion w/wide range of acts from novelty acts to burlesques (humorous parodies) of cultured material (Shakespeare, etc.)

Walkaround: entire troupe in grand finale of song and dance

The Early Minstrel Show, cont.

“De Boatmen’s Dance” (1843)Dan Emmett

Written for Virginia Minstrels show in 1843

Similar to “Old Joe Clark”

Unison: more than one voice or instrument playing the same melodic part

The Early Minstrel Show, cont.

Black Faces and Black SoundsBones and tambourine formed proto “rhythm section”

Song “Zip Coon” became the fiddle tune “Turkey in the Straw”

Majority of minstrel performers had only incidental contact with the African Americans whom they supposedly portrayed

After Civil War, white minstrels “did not capture the quality of African American music making…show evolved away from traditional minstrelsy”

Routes to Popularity: Written and Oral Traditions

In mid 19th century, two outlets for minstrel show songs were sheet music and live performance

Many of the melodies were so simple, audience members could simply remember them

To take advantage of this, publishers put out songters: books with just the lyrics to popular songs of the day

“Camptown Ladies” : original sheet music vs. contemporary version

Social Acceptance and Synthesis

Most “respectable” people felt minstrel show to be low-class entertainment, though some still went

Foster created new genre – “plantation song” – brought sentimentality of middle-class song into rough world of minstrel show and ended up with a more human portrayal of blacks.

Popular Entertainment after the Civil War

Tin Pan AlleyArea of New York City where music publishing house song pluggers, house pianists playing pieces for pro singers or possible customers, could be heard

In 1890, Gussie Davis – first black songwriter to achieve songwriting success in Tin Pan Alley

“After the Ball” (1892) first big Tin Pan Alley hit – sold more than 5 million sheet music copies.

Popular Entertainment after the Civil War, cont.

Waltz songs: songs popular around 1900 in which a flowing melody is supported by a simple, waltz-time accompaniment

“Take Me Out to the Ballgame” (1908)

Waltz time = OOM-pah-pah

Popular Entertainment after the Civil War, cont.

Stage EntertaimentVaudeville: variety show.

Singers, dancers, comics, acrobats, magicians, jullgers, etc.

No dramatic unity

Operetta: Originally a kind of European musical drama that was less serious than opera, with more speech instead of singing between songs, but with more dramatic integrity than musical comedy. Generally a fariy-tale type story. Show Boat began American operetta tradition.

Popular Entertainment after the Civil War, cont.

Revue: topical, upbeat, aimed at the masses, full of comedy, song, and dance

Interpolation: plot of musical comedy was adapted to include a currently popular song

Patriotic Songs: “Yankee Doodle Boy”, George M. Cohan (1904)

Energy of a march, vigorous melody, hint of syncopation, clever lyrics without trace of sentimentality

The Concert Band

Instrumental ensembleIn an era w/out TV, radio, etc., touring bands and municipal bands were found in almost every town

Primary source of musical entertainment

Broad range of music – from classical to current pop songs and marches

JOHN PHILIP SOUSA (1854-1932)Gave over 10,000 concerts in U.S. and Europe.

composed 136 marches, 15 operettas, 70 songs and many other pieces

“The Stars and Stripes Forever” (1897)

Looking Back, Looking Ahead

The infusion of rhythm into pop musicDance rhythms innovation of minstrel show music; by end of century in almost all kinds of music

Impact of “low-brow” stylesImpetus for change comes from more marginalized segments of American society: rural folk traditions, white and black, at mid-century, then African American traditions at end of century

Innovation through synthesisInnovation mainly a matter of integrating diverse, even contradictory, musical elements into a new sound: the minstrel show song and Foster’s plantation songs evidence this trend.

Increased role of blacksPresence of African Americans in pop music industry (post Civil War) continues during later part of 19th century. Blacks being breaking into genres other than minstrelsy around 1900

Terms to KnowCall and response

Melisma

Ballad

Strophic

Parlor song

Minstrel show

Interlocutor

Tambo and Bones

Endmen

Olio

Burlesque

Walkaround

Cakewalk

Unison

Songster

Song plugger

Tin Pan Alley

Waltz song

Vaudeville

Operetta

Revue

Interpolation

Patriotic song

Concert band

March trio