Musc 309 Lecture 5: Country Music, Gospel, Folk, and the Latin Tinge
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| MUSC 309 Lecture 5: Country Music, Gospel, Folk, and the Latin Tinge
I. Country music
a. Certain instruments favored - fiddle, banjo, guitar b. High, nasal singing style c. Called old-time music C. Commercial version = country music D. Two types 1. Adheres closely to mountain traditions = Carter family 2. Hillbilly music a. Heavily influenced by popular music, African-American folk music, jazz and blues b. = Jimmie Rodgers E. Mountain tradition 1. Carter family - Ex. Wildwood Flower a. Strophic form: each verse AABA b. Guitar style of Maybelline Carter - "thumb-brush" style i. Melody played on lower strings ii. Chords played on upper strings iii. Adopted by many country, later folk musicians iv. Already used by some blues musicians 2. White gospel a. Religious songs in mountain style b. Vocal harmonies influenced by Sacred Harp or shape note singing i. Popular method of vocal instruction in rural areas ii. Taught harmonizing melodies at 3rd above the melody c. Called tight vocal harmonies d. Ex. Bales Brothers, You Can't Go Halfway (and Get In) F. Jimmie Rodgers - Ex. Waiting for a Train 1. Definite influences from popular music, jazz, and blues 2. Especially the latter 3. blue yodel - very similar to some regional blues hollers; blues in form and style - Ex. Blue Yodel #11 4. Same mixture of influences found in nearly all early rock and roll singers a. Elvis, for example, known first as a "hillbilly" singer b. And country influence on Chuck Berry undeniable G. At about same time, in West, another country hybrid taking shape 1. By way of cowboy music 2. Cowboy songs collected as early as 1910 3. First big singing cowboy "star" Gene Autry 4. Eventually, cowboy songs fused with dance music, jazz, blues in Western swing
i. Pedal steel guitar ii. Heavy two-beat iii. But accents on back beat H. Major employer of country singers were beer joints called honky-tonks
I. From Honky-Tonk, short step to modern Country-Western music
J. Folk Music revival
culture of late 19th century
folk songs
old-time music, and pop songs into something completely new 6. All of these influences come together, combine with Union building activities, labor rallies, in NYC 7. Immediately, brings to rock a. Music as vehicle for social commentary b. Aspects of guitar style of Woody Guthrie 8. Largest influence comes later, when Bob Dylan enters tail end of folk music scene in NYC, revitalizes, and brings into rock 9. Example: Woody Guthrie, "This Land is Your Land" II. Gospel
C. Large mixed choirs not the only ensembles that performed gospel
i. Imitating instruments ii. Vocalizing, with ooohs, or shoo-bop, or other sounds = vocal percussion c. Ex. Golden Gate Gospel Quartet - Golden Gate Gospel Train i. Backing vocalists imitating train ii. Swinging, eight beat feel iii. Provided by riffs of backing vocals iv. Highly syncopated d. Ex. "Jesus, I'll Never Forget" i. Accompaniment of a bass guitar and piano - very soft, but there ii. Bass guitar hitting backbeats iii. Most evident, and important feature is lead singer aa. Not only because Sam Cooke, who becomes soul singer in the 60s bb. But quality of the vocal line cc. Same type of rhythmic freedom as heard from Louis Armstrong e. But seems to soar, rather than float, over backing vocals iv. Clearly influenced by blues aa. Improvisations on melody line bb. Emphatic interjections cc. melismas- stretching word or syllable over number of notes D. Same style heard in probably greatest of the female gospel singers, Mahalia Jackson 1. Ex. Move On Up A Little Higher 2. Vocal style clearly influenced by blues
Houston, Alicia Keys influenced by Mahalia Jackson
a. From spirituals and Methodist/Baptist hymns b. Combination of blue notes, pentatonic melodies, and Western harmonies accounts for distinctive sound of Gospel c. Frequently co-opted in rock music, esp. soul
i. Electronic organ developed in 1930s ii. Frequently employed in gospel music of this period iii. Adopted by rock artists as groovy new sound in mid 60s III. Other influences A. American Folk B. "The Latin Tinge" 1. Jazz, and later rock, also contain hints of Latin American musical styles 2. Most popularized in this country as dance crazes 3. Fusions between European music, African influences, and native musics of individual countries of Central and South America 4.Rumba a. Dance popularized in 1930s b. Introduced by Cuban bandleader Don Azpiazú (Ex. El Manisero)
a. Dance fad created in NY in 1940s b.Based on Afro-Cuban rhythms c. Injected two elements into American musical mix i. Percussion instruments like conga drums, bongos ii. And the clave rhythm aa. Often played by claves, another Cuban percussion instrument (aka “son”) bb. Analogous to backbeat in African-American influenced music cc. Pattern of accents that run contrary to beat e. 1 2 3 4 I 2 3 4 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 C C C C C
Directory: ~rfschwar ~rfschwar -> Minnesingers and Minnesang Brought to you by ~rfschwar -> Musc 309 Lectures 12 and 13: The Beatles ~rfschwar -> Chapter 14: Mainstream Rock in the Seventies ~rfschwar -> Mhst 309 Lecture 18: Rock and the World ~rfschwar -> Musc 309 Lecture 19: Singer/Songwriters of the 1970s ~rfschwar -> Musc 309 History of Rock and Roll ~rfschwar -> Musc 309 Lecture 11: Folk Rock ~rfschwar -> Musc 752 Lecture 16: Instrumental Music in the Middle Ages I. Instrumental music ~rfschwar -> Musc 340 Lecture 16: San Francisco, Psychedelia, and the Woodstock Generation Download 45.15 Kb. Share with your friends:
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