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Chapter 4:

• Know the 5 main precursors of Rock Music (Work songs, Spirituals, Minstrelsy, Ragtime, Blues).
• Understand drum styles.
• Blues Notes? Which notes are they typically?
• What are African traits in European music and religion?
• What are European Traits in Rock, Jazz, Rag, Spirituals, and Blues?
• African concept of sound - That magical powers are inherent in sound is one of the basic fundamental beliefs of the traditional African - a correspondence between sound and cosmic phenomena, which included birth and death, man and woman, the seasons, reincarnation, etc. Written word/music can't capture nuance, inflection, and body language, thus writing not central to African culture. Tribal history is an oral history. Heritage (inheritance) and disputes are settled by Shaman. Character Assassination songs. Know the 5 strata of sound in African society [ritual (worship), ceremonial (official), social (birth/death/marriage/education), functional (work songs), recreational (jammin')]. Remember the spiritual aspects of Drum making. Percussion and rhythm is the most salient AA trait. We should not loose sight of the fact that African music has a mythological origin, and ministers to the psychosomatic needs of the group.

• Slave trade was banned in the US in 1808 but continued in underground markets in the south until the civil war.
• Slaves were bought and captured by every major European power and taken newly colonized lands. Among these were the early Portuguese settlers in Brazil. Their slaves were from Senegal. The Spanish slaves were Yorubas, the French slaves were Dahomeans, and the English planters used the Ashantis. If you trace the musics from settled New World territories, you'll find the influences of these specific tribes accordingly. Cuba was settled by the Spanish, thus Yoruban, Jamaica by the British, thus Ashanti, Haiti and the West Indies by the French and thus Dahomean.
• The fact that African traditions were oral made them hard to preserve. Furthermore, African traditions were accustomed to tribal war where the prevailing tribe's religion and doctrine was assumed by the acquired tribe. This is not new.
• The nature of Catholic and Protestant regions/countries differed. How?

How did this impact NO and what is its historical significance?

• A Latin-Catholic possession for 82 years.
• The first 46 years were French. These customs survive strongly today. France ceded the territory to Spain in 1764 ; the Spanish cultural impact was slight, but no negligible.
• For 36 years it continued to blend Indian, African, French, and Spanish cultures. In 1800, Napoleon made Spain return the territory.
• Sold to American (British-Protestant) in the Louisiana Purchase 1803.
• Who were Creoles? Background, Education, and forced integration.
• African culture survived in Vodun rituals and Congo square (dances legalized in 1817).
• Vodun ceremonies featured circle dances. How did these survive in Christianity? What are the jerks?
• The mix of African and European traits is well underway by the mid18th century.
• Black Code of 1724? Why important?
• Racism and discrimination came to NO in 1889 (White League). How did jobs and social structure change.

Precursive Popular Idioms:

• Military band importance and the French legacy. Why? How long did this practice persist?
• Buddy Bolden is the first quintessential jazz figure. He could not read music but "never lost a carving contest." His band outlined the lineup. Main influence was church music. Black church music was (is) rooted in the bluesy nature of the work song.
• Storyville created in 1897 (and closed in 1917) by Alderman Sidney Story. What is it and why is it musically significant? Why is its closing equally significant?
• Jazz begins c.1900 in NO.
• Where did the Spanish Tinge come from? (Cuban slaves and Spanish ownership of NO.)

• The Great Awakening is a mass protestant religious movement that began to materialize around 1800. It involved a migrating population. Traditional spiritual and revival songs were created with a new spirit — a reincarnation of the religious spirit that had lead to America's settlement in the first place. By 1800, the traditional American religious environment, in many places, had grown stale, bureaucratic, and aristocratic in ways which mirrored the problems that had lead people to leave England a century before.
• Black preachers have a history that extends before the revolutionary war. Rhythmically exciting.
• The songs were European hymns and psalmody, but the result had all the African traits previously discussed:
• Singing by ear rather than by note;
• Raising and lowering notes at will;
• Addition of grace notes, turns, and other embellishments;
• Sliding from note to note;
• Adding harmonies at will;
• Lining out a verse by the preacher or song leader which is repeated by the congregation (responsorial differs from lining out)
• Improvisation. Songs created as an extension of the sermon on the spot.
• By 1820 there were 40K Black Methodists and 60K Black Baptists. How did African ritualism survive in Protestantism? Ring — Shout? Spirit convulsions were similar to African tribal spirit possession rituals.
• Were the songs European?

• Like the great awakening, the work song delineates a similar blend of African and European customs — but here the emphasis is secular, not sacred.
• The work song is mainly rhythmic — short repeated phrases of two or three bars. Leader and chorus alternate instantly. The chorus can be exactly what the leader said (lining-out), or a response (responsorial). The early work songs were sea shanties or rowing songs. Coordinated movement among boat rowers is crucial to getting anywhere efficiently.
• Work Songs reflect African traits: 1) blue quality of pitch 2) lack of harmony 3) rhythmic syncopation and flexibility utilizing the rhythm of the work action 4) falsetto cries 5) and the veiled humor and insults.

• Came into public popularity after WWI (c.1917)
• Blues elements found in the Falsetto Cry or Holler: 1) Excessive sliding (portamento) between notes; 2)Slower tempo; 3) Blue notes; 4) Lyric quality.
• The falsetto Cry or Holler has a distinct element: the upward break in the voice, more distinct than the cowboy yodel. These early songs predate the civil war. The cry had several uses, a walking song or even a work song. Its often described as a blues song without rhythm and harmony.
• Many, especially early blues performers, think the harmony was taken from church music. T Bone Walker claims to have first heard boogie woogie in church. Many blues tunes are derived from spirituals, a process dating even recently in Ray Charles' music.
• Old timers from NO say they heard it growing up in the 1860s. Handy reports hearing it in 1903. The blues was slow to spread before the 1930 recordings except by Theatres. Race recordings appeared in the 1930s, almost disappeared during depression, resurfaced as R&B with the 1945 Gant hit "I Wonder." R&R soon followed c.1955.
• How does the blues extend to Rock and Jazz? 1) Most jazz and rock songs are either blues, or extended forms of the blues. 2) the traits:blues notes, syncopated — almost swing- rhythm, improvization, falsetto holler or cry (upward high breaks of pitch), harmony, and lyric style.

• Minstrel music was the first internationally popular American music. It began in the 1820s, peaked around 1850, and has continued, in varying degrees to effect American music into the 20th century. Its peak period can be considered 1845-1900. It is considered the first major manifestation of African-American culture in America and the world — it was literally the vehicle for the spread of AA music; the first public introduction to the world of what now should be called African American culture- through dance, song and story.

• What began as Anglo-European practices of speech, dance, and song were first Americanized by white America, adapted and recreated through black America, only to be readopted by white America and assimilated (many complain watered down) into white culture, and utlimately reassimilated back into the black culture again by black performers and again remade in their own image.

• The earliest star of minstrelsy was Thomas Dartmouth Rice. In 1829 he became famous the 'Jim Crow' song and dance which he learned from a stable hand, possibly in Louisville. Zip Coon, as made famous by George Washington Dixon, was a city dandy. Though many popular minstrel songs were adapted from the plantation, just as many were original works written in the minstrel style by both black and white performers. Stephen Foster was easily the most successful 19th century tunesmith. By 1840, minstrel performances by being played all over the world- including Hindus in black face in Delhi, India.
• The majority of minstrel performers were white until the civil war due to slavery. One important exception is William Henry Lane (c.1825-1852), aka Master Juba, who was one of the few to tour as the star of a white minstrel company.
• The first all black minstrel troupe to become nationally popular was Booker and Clayton's Georgia Minstrels in 1865. However, by 1880 black performers dominated.
• Minstrel shows were typically in three parts: 1) songs and jokes, 2) specialty acts and novelties (called 'olio' - the word likely derived from the Spanish word olla, or 'potpourri'), and 3) a walk around finale. A later deriviative was the Cake Walk, which featured the audience members marching around the room trying to invent the most absurd strut with the winner receiving a cake.
• The banjo was an African American invention, based on an instrument brought by slaves from Africa.
• How did minstrelsy foreshadow jazz and rock? First, consider how minstrelsy was truly the first major manifestation of black culture in America. The influence was spectacular and mulitfacided involving dress, dance, language, music, and culture. The style became so popular that it was adopted into mainstream America. This is seen in the music of Stephen Foster- America's first popular song writer. Minstrelsy began as an oral tradition, as did jazz and rock. Its songs spoke of black history and nostalgia. The introduction of the banjo and extensive use of percussion become a staple of jazz instrumentation. The single most significant legacy is seen in its rhythm. Minstrelsy's syncopated dance style captivated the ears and forms the very heart of later pre-jazz styles: Ragtime and Dixieland. Many say minstrelsy turned into ragtime and dixieland. WC Handy played with Martha's Minstrels in 1896. They prided themselves on European technique (read p.120 Sousa/Handy). They even did a Stephen Foster medley as a closer and Sousa's Georgia Camp Meeting was one of their showoff tunes. Jelly Roll Morton played with McCabe and Young Minstrels in 1910. The repertoire presents Africanized versions of European and American popular music: Fiddle tunes, jigs, reels, and square dance numbers were performed and combined with original AA compositions for the show.

• Spirituals have been around for over a hundred and fifty years. Some may be earlier than 1800. Reverse migration places them in Haiti in 1824. Tunes like Swing Low Sweet Chariot are staples of the Christian faith.

• They share traits previously discussed and aligned with other AA genres: rhythmic flexibility, syncopation, and blue notes. Spirituals as a genre became prominent after the civil war. Northern regiments heard them sang by black soldiers. AA religious melodies subdivides into several genres: 1) call + response style works (ring — shouts, song- sermons), 2) the short rhythmic melody (gospel and jubilee tunes), and 3) the long sustained, typically slowly performed spiritual. Even early in their creation, a difference emerged between the concert and folk style of church music performance. Concert style is formal (thus more European) and folk style is not (thus heterophony vs. homophony). Hence one has no dance and ring-shout (African Circle dance) ritual — just music and preaching. Spirituals are not typically call+response songs (think of No Body Knows and Swing Low). (So manage the info by measuring what it is not). Many consider these beautiful spirituals the crowning glory of AA church music — they are also the most similar to European Art song of any AA genre.
• Most scholars think these songs derive from the European psalmody and hymns learned by slaves.
• The Jubilee is happy and rhythmically focused (ainta that good news, or Ezekel Saw the Wheel, or When the Saints Go Marching In.). Spirituals are typically slower and more serious.
• The Fisk Jubilee Singers began touring in 1871. How did their popularity and style change history? They took AA gospel standards, many of which had differing melodies region to region, and popularized one version. They also reflect the emergence of European musical education in AA schools.

Ragtime flourished for about 20 years — from 1896 to 1917 (close of Storyville?)

Unlike blues and spiritual, ragtime is upbeat and cheerful. It soothed emotions after a period of depression in 1890s.

• Tin Pan Alley took over around 1900 and made the music a national craze along with the Calk-Walk — minstrelsy hold over. To this day ragtime is used by movies, radio, and TV shows to create a period feeling for the turn of the century.
• Ragtime is the most complex and extensive blending of European and African style discussed so far. Ragtime originated in the mid-west, not NOs and touted excellent performers both Black and White.
• Scott Joplin is unarguably the most talented composer of the style. He was a well educated musician in the classical European tradition. His music exists in piano rolls and recordings. Virtually all early jazz pianist played ragtime and could rag any tune they wished. (remember the Morton recording). Much ragtime music is written down and a lot of it was published, albeit in simplified versions, during the period by Tin Pan Alley arrangers. In the end ragtime is more an approach than a repertoire and Tin Pan Alley arrangers took melodies for all genres an turned them into rags. The form is basically a rondo (AABBACCDD) and in some ways its less expressive than the blues, work songs, and spirituals — faster moving and with fewer blue notes — pianos are confined to European tuning so no microtones. The Maple Leaf Rag is an example and Joplin's version is in the rondo, AABBACCDD form. The third strain CC, is often called the trio (per its march predecessor) and is usually the featured tune of the piece.
• This form and genre began the distinction between composer and performer. Its Joplin's tune, but do you think his piano roll version is the best rendering?
• Ragtime rhythm made the style internationally recognizable over any tune. WC Handy described ragtime as rhythm without much melody. This music is syncopated from start to finish. It avoids monotony by maintaining a steady beat layered under the syncopated rag. The accent pattern is though to come from banjo influence.
• Accent Pattern:

But the larger accents also conform to 9/8

• Ragtime evolved, as do many styles, into something more complex. 1) The early period featured the regular and slower rhythms of Joplin and the St. Louis style of his contemporaries, while 2) the next phase, still focused of St. Louis, the birthplace of Ragtime, with players like Tom Turpin and Artie Matthews, began to play the rag standards and compose new works that were faster and more virtuosic. These players were playing a regular unaccented pattern in the left hand with more activity than before in the right. And 3) the next step came with virtuosos like Morton who made the rhythms even more complex and began to swing the beat of the tune. Morton, like other pianists, heard this swing style rag in the marching bands and adopted it into their own style. Though this style is slightly slower, it was complicated by walking bass patterns and counter melodies. The final phase 4) came into prominence as the Harlem piano style during the early 20s (James P. Johnson-Father of Stride style).
• Ragtime music was featured in late minstrelsy, vaudeville, cabarets, and cafes. Many classical pieces appeared in ragged version. John Phillips Sousa's band toured the world (He and his band were as popular as Guns n Roses was in their hayday) playing marching rags (play the Georgia Camp Meeting). Ragtime made a deep impression on classical composer's — consider Debussy's Golliwog's Cakewalk or Stravinsky's Ragtime for Eleven Instruments, even Gottshalk. Ragtimers also composed in the classical forms — Joplin's Rag Opera Treemonisha (1915), and the works of James P. Johnson: Concertos, Symphonies, and Choruses in the rag style. The big hint here is the quest for currency and respectability, a thing sought by jazzers since inception, which means application of European standards of excellence. Many thought Johnson's concertos for piano were more difficult than Mozart's. Ragtime suffered, like minstrelsy, under its own weight and complexity, the best works were too hard for amateurs and the complicated style soon died out. The watered down versions that persist in piano lessons today are a far cry from the virtuosic originals. The fancy style did persist in band music as evidenced by Morton's written out rags for his band which amount to piano versions arranged for band. You can hear this style in his Red Hot Peppers recordings. His orchestrations set a new trend and era in Jazz, something quite unheard of, the written out arrangement. Now musical education, or at least the ability to read music, was becoming a must.
• As Ragtime fades, blues begins its reign of popularity. What rags that remained were being called jazz and those tunes are now called Dixieland (That's A Plenty, Muskrat Ramble, etc…). Dixieland is basically combo Ragtime. The rag genre provides a crossover style for later 30s bands like Tommy Dorsy, Chick Webb, and Benny Goodman — all these groups recorded Maple Leaf Rag…
• Summary- ragtime shows the deepest blending of European and African elements so far. It's a cheerful music, pianistic in nature, with comparatively few blue elements. It European elements gave it a familiarity that made it instantly successful and popular to the whole world.