Part VII Music beyond the Concert Hall

Transcription

1 Part VII Music beyond the Concert Hall They teach you there s a boundary line to music. But man, there s no boundary line to art. Charlie Parker

2 Prelude 7: The Rise of American Popular Styles Broadway Early musicals John Gay: The Beggar s Opera Gilbert and Sullivan: H.M.S. Pinafore Vaudeville Variety and music acts Cities around the United States Tin Pan Alley Music publishing George Gershwin

3 Prelude 7: The Rise of American Popular Styles Patriotic songs and ragtime World War I George M. Cohan: Over There James Reese Europe: U.S. army band leader Early Radio and Film Roaring 20s Harlem Renaissance Charleston dance craze The Great Depression Economic collapse Jazz club scene

4 Prelude 7: The Rise of American Popular Styles World War II Big bands Irving Berlin Recordings and TV LPs and 45s Ed Sullivan Show Renewed prosperity Musical theater Rogers and Hammerstein Leonard Bernstein

5 Prelude 7: The Rise of American Popular Styles Political Issues Communism Blacklisting Protest Songs Bob Dylan Pete Seeger Civil Rights movement Vietnam War Woodstock Festival

6 40. Ragtime, Blues, and Jazz Jazz New Orleans West African music, African American ceremonial and work songs Ragtime Blues Precursor to jazz American genre of folk music Repeating harmonic pattern African traditional herding song (excerpt)

7 40. Ragtime, Blues, and Jazz Scott Joplin ( ) and Ragtime American composer, teacher, performer The King of Ragtime Ragtime as serious art form Opera premiere (Treemonisha) Died in New York in 1917 Posthumous Pulitzer Prize Steinway player piano rolls

8 40. Blues and New Orleans Jazz Blues Mood and harmonic progression 12 (or 16) bars in length Blue note Texts: Three-line stanza, first two lines are the same Vocal style from work songs B.B. King Improvisation

9 40. Blues and New Orleans Jazz New Orleans Jazz Fusion of African-American elements: Blues, ragtime, spirituals, work songs, shouts Improvisatory Multiple players, polyphonic texture Melody: Trumpet and cornet Countermelody above: Clarinet Countermelody below: Trombone Rhythm section: string bass or tuba, guitar and banjo, or piano and drums 1920s New Orleans musicians traveled throughout the country Louis Satchmo Armstrong developed early jazz styles Scat singing: Improvised syllables without meanings (vocables)

10 40. Blues and New Orleans Jazz The Jazz Singer Billie Holiday Billie Holiday Lady Day ( ) Leading female singer in jazz history Little formal education 1933 recorded with Benny Goodman Featured in prominent big bands Alcohol and drug abuse Memorable recordings I can t stand to sing the same song the same way two nights in succession, let alone two years or ten years. If you can, then it ain t music; it s close-order drill or exercise or yodeling or something, not music. Billie Holiday

11 Holiday: Billie s Blues (Listening Guide) 12-bar blues, short introduction, six choruses Laid-back slow tempo, steady accompaniment Vocal choruses 2, 3, 6 Masterful rhythmic flexibility Jazz embellishments: Scoops, dips Chorus 4: Clarinet improvisation Chorus 5: Gut bucket trumpet (raspy tone quality) I don t think I m singing. I feel like I m playing a horn. I try to improvise like... Louis Armstrong... what comes out is what I feel. I hate straight singing. I have to change a tune to my own way of doing it. Billie Holiday

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14 40. Ragtime, Blues, and Jazz The Swing Era and Beyond Big band or swing era: 1930s and 40s Great Depression: Opportunities for black musicians Duke Ellington s big band style Black and white audience Dance clubs, hotel ballrooms

15 40. Ragtime, Blues, and Jazz Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy Duke Ellington ( ) Born in Washington, DC Jazz pianist, composer, arranger, band leader Major artistic figure of the Harlem Renaissance 1920s, The Washingtonians played in New York jazz clubs, Cotton Club in Harlem 1930s began touring: Need for arranged, composed music Collaborated with Billy Strayhorn, composer, arranger Somehow I suspect that if Shakespeare were alive today, he might be a jazz fan himself. Duke Ellington

16 40. Ragtime, Blues, and Jazz Bebop and Later Jazz Styles Rebellion against big band Bebop (also known as bop), two-note phrase Dizzy Gillespie (trumpet), Charlie Parker (saxophone), and Thelonious Monk Bebop substyles: Cool jazz: Miles Davis West Coast jazz: Dave Brubeck Quartet, Gerry Mulligan Quartet Hard bop, soul jazz Latin dance music brought into the mainstream

17 41. Musical Theater The development of American musical theater European operetta (Gilbert and Sullivan) Romantic plots, comic moments, appealing melodies Large ensemble and dance numbers Early vs. later plots Composer/lyricist teams Lerner and Loewe Rodgers and Hammerstein The hills are alive with the sound of music. Oscar Hammerstein II

18 41. Musical Theater Later Musicals Stephen Sondheim increased sophistication Andrew Lloyd Webber created dazzling scenes Animated film Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King Literary influence Les Misérables (1987) Wicked (2004) Dance musicals (Riverdance, Billy Elliot) Jukebox musicals (Mamma Mia!)

19 41. Musical Theater Gershwin and the Merger of Classical and Jazz Styles George Gershwin ( ) mastered the fusion of jazz and classical styles Accomplished pianist and songwriter Tin Pan Alley song plugger Swanee, sung by Al Jolson Composer of concert music Rhapsody in Blue (1924) Musical theater productions: Girl Crazy, Porgy and Bess Often collaborated with brother, Ira Formed a union of popular and classical styles

20 41. Musical Theater Leonard Bernstein and the Broadway Musical Bernstein ( ) American composer and conductor New York Philharmonic Serious and popular music Symphonic and choral music, film music, and musical theater works West Side Story: Attempted union of jazz with musical theater Any composer s writing is the sum of himself, of all his roots and influences. Leonard Bernstein

21 Bernstein: West Side Story (Listening Guide) Shakespeare s Romeo and Juliet Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim Street gangs of New York City Jets vs. Puerto Rican rivals, the Sharks Latin dance music and jazz Mambo (Afro-Cuban dance) Tonight love duet in A-A-B-A form found in jazz

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