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You left off at TRANSCRIPTION JAZZ is AMERICAN blend of African, European, and Caribbean, but only in the American melting pot Most traditional African forms of music are part of an oral tradition Passed from one generation to the next via performance and teaching by rote African American music has a diverse and varied background Different African traditions Varies by region of the United States Largely developed by the end of the nineteenth century Slaves were all over the US. In the south, they were generally confined to separate living quarters, and sometimes they rarely interacted with White Americans. This isolation allowed for some cultural preservation preservation of language, of social customs, of musical practices, etc.. IN the North, however, slaves were more likely to live close by Whites, and therefore were much quicker to assimilate, preventing the preservation of African culture except in the blending of African tradition with European American traditions 15

African American music began in the early seventeenth century Based largely on music tradition of western, sub-saharan Africa Social function of African musical culture Accompanies work, religious and social events; created by group participation; accompanies all dance, whether recreational, theatrical, or ceremonial 16

Relationship of West African and African American music The approach to metrical organization with cross-rhythms as the norm... the density of musical activity, the inclusion of the environmental factors as part of the musical event, the propensity for certain buzzy-like musical timbres all these are African features which have been consistently maintained in Afro-American music. 19

Call-and-response musical procedure in which a single voice or instrument states a melodic phrase and a group of voices or instruments respond with a completing phrase Overlapping call-and-response the responding group begins before the originator finishes, and vice versa Common aspect of African-based music KASUAN KURA ACTIVE LISTENING GUIDE http://alg.cengage.com/alg.aspx?id=202&t=847 20

Front line described the lead (melody) instruments in early jazz bands; usually included trumpet (or cornet), trombone, and clarinet Saxophone was not an original member of jazz instrumentation The instrumentation was drawn directly from the European tradition. With the exception of the Banjo, which has roots to an African lute called the Akonting, all of the instruments were commonly used for creating European music. In the decades just before the birth of jazz, the most popular musical group was the European Marching Band or Brass Band. The assignments of each instrument to a specific role is clearly related to the roles given those instruments in the Marching band. The drums, while a percussive entity in nature, were not in any way related to African percussion instruments. IN fact, the first drum set, invented after the birth of jazz, was simply a collection of various orchestral percussion instruments set in a circle in such a way that one person could play many drums at once, namely the bass drum, the snare drum, the cymbals, and the hi-hat Early jazz sometimes featured cowbell and woodblock instead of a drumset. 21

In the Front Line, the three main instruments, the trumpet, clarinet, and trombone, were all playing melodies at the same time, but they each served a specific role. The trumpet played in the middle register (not low, not high), playing the main melody of a song, with notes not too slow, not too fast. The trombone played lower notes between trumpet statements, and he often outlined notes that were important to the underlying chords / harmony. The clarinet played a highly decorated and ornamental passage, called an obligatto, in the higher register, rhythmically more active. 23

First recorded by ethnomusicologists in the nineteenth century Slave Songs of the United States, 1867 First publication of African American music Largely transcriptions of African American music originally an oral tradition 26

These transcriptions were entirely inadequate to capture the essence of the music. 1. The European system could easily handle the melody and harmonic material of African music, as it was never that complicated. But they couldn t transcribe the vocal inflections, the pitch-bending, and stretched rhythmic phrasing, etc. 2. Although the European tonal system was ostensibly one of the most developed in the world, their rhythmic abilities were extremely primitive compared to their African counterparts. European explorers in Africa simply couldn t UNDERSTAnd the complex cross rhythms and polyrhythms that they were hearing it was not a part of European culture, so it was not ingrained in them. The African metronomic sense facilitates rhythmic expressions at the most complicated levels, right at the edge of human comprehension. Not only were the Western notation systems inadequate to recording the rhythms in written form, but the people transcribing the music were likely unable to comprehend the multiple streams of concurrently flowing rhythmic cycles, seeming unrelated to the uninitiated, but part of a greater rhythmic whole and a higher musical expression for the African cultures that nurture it. 27

Although rooted in an African tradition, much of African American music takes on European elements Many African Americans were called on as musicians to perform at dances and concert venues in a European tradition It exposed musicians to a duality of musical backgrounds 28

The Sea Islands are located off the coast of the eastern United States. Because of their isolation from much of the rest of the country through the midtwentieth century, these areas featured a vibrant black culture sometimes called Gullah with a remarkably close connection to the African roots of the inhabitants ancestors. Traditional African percussion instruments were usually banned Percussive inclusion of handclapping and stomping often replaced percussion Increase in syncopations sometimes compensated for loss of individual percussion timbres needed to hear polyrhythms The Ring Shout, originally derived from African religious practice, was a rhythmic dance performed in a circle. Dancing was also prohibited by slave owners, specifically, it was forbidden to collectively lift and cross your feet. To circumvent this obtuse law, the slaves invented shuffling, whereby they were dancing and worshipping without lifting their feet off the ground. http://alg.cengage.com/alg.aspx?id=170&t=785 29

Field Hollers could be considered Work Songs in many cases as a means of communication, in half-sung half-shouted language, the worker called for water or asked for help across long distances in the cotton fields. Aurally passed down through generations, Dodson s father was born a slave, and after emancipation, he became a farmer. He taught this song to his daughter, Annie. The Blue Notes heard in this song suggest that the blues scale, and blues inflection come from African musical heritage as well, but the lineage is very difficult to trace, especially since the Blues developed in the US using Western European Instruments and tonal systems, Western scales and tunings, etc. http://alg.cengage.com/alg.aspx?id=485&t=535 30

Although this is an African American spiritual, all the musical elements on display are European, except for the lyrics in dialect Dere s No Hidin, and the informal change to spoken text. The harmony and melody are in the Western tradition. The piano and solo vocals evokes a well established European musical form, the Western Art Song. http://alg.cengage.com/alg.aspx?id=204&t=957 31

William Francis Allen (one of the transcribers for Slave Songs of the United States) recognized that African American musicians seem not infrequently to strike sounds that cannot be precisely represented by the gamut (scale) The were repeatedly returning to notes that existed in between the notes of our scale, implying a different tuning system, or at least an African scale with notes that don t exist in the Western chromatic scale. The pitches are sung between the natural and the flatted versions of the third and seventh scale degrees pitches not heard in the equal-tempered Western system of tuning. (Historians still do not agree on the origin story of the Blues one theory claims that slaves and African Americans who preserved African musical practices, were trying to assimilate their traditions with the West. As African melodies consist primarily of pentatonic scales (5 note melodies), they sought to add two more notes to make the scale equal to the Western 7 note scale this theory falls short for many reasons. Whatever the origins, we can say that the blue notes allow a melody to exist somewhere between Major and Minor, and the Blues scale adopted to the Western tuning system is a staple of most jazz and popular music in the US) 32

Minstrelsy was a form of musical theater and variety show that flourished in the nineteenth century. Traveling minstrel troupes performed songs, dances, and skits based on caricatures of African Americans, which were often derogatory and based on negative black stereotypes. However racist the minstrelsy was, it ironically created a means of employment for many blacks, perhaps the first American industry that allowed blacks to pursue a career. It was performed by both whites and blacks in painted blackface, and it is often considered the FIRST DISTINCTIVELY American MUSICAL and Theatrical GENRE, that is, distinct from all previous European traditions. Stephen F. Foster 1840 s through 1860 s Early American Popular song composer who was hugely influential on all subsequent songwriters. One of his keys to success was the fact that he was not scared to blend songs from the minstrelsy with the more Genteel European folk songs. Another famous minstrel performer and composer was James Bland (1854 1911) He was the first African American songwriter to gain substantial success, equal to his white counterparts, and his performances and songs gained him international fame. 33

As mentioned, The minstrelsy contained racial stereotypes, but it also contained some accurate elements of African American culture, such as the Cakewalk. CLICK. The cakewalk was a plantation slave dance that originated when slaveowners put on a contest between the slaves, offering a cake to the best dancer. The dance step developed by the slaves was actually a subversive mockery of the white slaveowners, which was meant to be an exaggerated version of a European squaredance. CLICK Minstrelsy helped introduce African American performers and music to a wide swath of the American public, both through performances, and through printed sheet music, such as Walking for Dat Cake 34

The minstrelsy left a significant legacy in various aspects of American Popular Music CLICK Urban musical theater (which was the origin genre of Broadway) developed out of minstrelsy CLICK Minstrelsy was a major contributing factor to the early sheet music publishing industry CLICK By the late nineteenth century, minstrelsy was replaced by vaudeville -- Vaudeville contained many elements of minstrelsy, but was less overtly racist many successful Black musicians started their careers in Vaudeville While the racist subject matter and offensive nature of Minstrelsy is enough to make you cringe, I must again point out that Minstrelsy actually did a lot to help the Black community, as well. It created a whole entertainment industry in which blacks could succeed by merit and talent many of the original black composers were affiliated with Mistrelsy in some way. CLICK The famous Blues singer, Bessie Smith, was actually a Vaudeville performer and singer before reinventing herself as a Blues singer. This avenue of employment and opportunity was made possible by the minstrel show. In addition, the Minstrelsy was the first form of entertainment that capitalized on White- American society s fascination with black music and dance this trend has yet to cease, and doesn t appear to be slowing down. 35

Ragging was a slang term used in the African American community that describes the process of taking a previous melody with a plain rhythm, and injecting it with infectious syncopated rhythms. Ragtime originally described any music that ragged up other tunes, and this included various instrumental ensembles, but soon it became a piano player s genre. CLICK The way the piano plays Ragtime has musical similarities with banjo technique (whereby alternating regular bass notes underline streams of accented offbeats in the melody) CLICK Many of the songs that were ragged up were Brass Band marches and the like these European ensembles played European repertoire, which often consisted of 16 bar sections, known as Strains, and this is a form that was very common to the Brass Bands all over America, as well. Ragtime was a sensation everybody wanted to hear it, all middle class households with a piano in the salon wanted to buy the sheet music. The success of the sheet music industry after the Ragtime craze led to the development of powerful publishing companies. Hordes of talented profit-driven composers wrote sheet music for the masses. The most famous and monopolizing of these organizations would come to be referred to as Tin Pan Alley. CLICK Tin Pan Alley was a street in lower Manhattan where numerous composers would write songs for publication. It derives its name from the sound that someone might hear from the street, where hundreds of pianos were all being played at the same time, in different keys, at different tempos, creating a cacophony that sounded like the clanging of Tin Pans. 36

CLICK As ragtime grew in popularity, the practice of ragging marches especially those by John Philip Sousa became common practice Proficient ragtime pianists were quickly expected to improvise ragtime versions of popular songs 37

Scott Joplin was one of the most significant ragtime composers. He was financially successful due to the popularity of his songs. He Received 1 cent per sheet music sale which was a lucrative contract for any musician at that time, especially considering royalties based off sales were a new concept in the music industry. CLICK Joplin was from a black middle-class family, which was a rarity at the time. He grew up with formal training in classical music, and was university educated. He wanted to bring a level of respectability and artisanship to African American music 38

We re going to listen to his most famous composition, Maple Leaf Rag. CLICK It was written for solo piano. As expected, the left hand plays bass notes and chords in a steady march tempo, and the right hand plays syncopated melodies and chords. The form consists of the 16 bar strains found in European March music, and each strain is repeated once before going to the next strain. Also, there s a return to the first strain, A, in the middle of the song. CLICK We are going to hear two versions of this song. The first is from a Piano Roll. A Piano Roll was a cylinder of rolled paper punched with holes. When fed through a Player Piano, the holes activated the hammers that played the piano automatically. Many great players recorded piano rolls by performing into a real piano that would punch holes into the scroll according to the real time performance piano rolls cannot record dynamics, nor legato phrasing, etc, so they are not an accurate representation of a performer s actual sound.. 39

After 1913, jazz or at least the use of the term began to gain in popularity over ragtime. There were also some fundamental Rhythmic changes starting to emerge Composers were reflecting the performance practice of pianists who were already beginning to swing the eighth notes CLICK (Jelly Roll Morton s version of Maple Leaf Rag demonstrates how different the swung 8 th notes sound from the straight 8 th notes) WRITE ON BOARD The difference between straight 8ths and swung 8ths can be understood as a reframing of the basic meter underlying any given song. With straight 8ths, a beat (more specifically, a quarter note) is divided into 2 sub-units. In Swing, the beat is divided into 3 sub-units. When applied to a given song with straight 8ths, the first 8 th note in a grouping will sustain for first 2 subunits, and the second 8 th note will sustain for the 3 rd subunit.. CLICK We also hear Jelly Roll adding elements of improvisation performing figures that are simply not in the original written music CLICK And in general, there s a very loose rhythmic interpretation of the original music, not only through swung 8 th notes, but also in displacing the regular entrances of bass notes and melodic figures CLICK This chart demonstrates a rough timeline showing the transition from ragtime READ OFF OF CHART 41

CLICK The addition of the blues to ragtime helped create jazz. The Country blues style of performing was already widespread by the 1870 s, well before the Ragtime era. CLICK The origins of blues can be traced to the African American secular and sacred music of the late nineteenth century. It was especially prevalent in Mississippi Delta and Texas. It was an early voice for African Americans in music. Most country blues was in a vocal style that reflected African musical traits, and the lyrics contained stories pertinent to African American life. 42

CLICK As we mentioned earlier, the blues heavily exploits blue notes to create a more expressive melody. As we mentioned in a previous class, the lyrics of the blues usually demonstrate an internal call and response in the lyrics, where the call, or the a lyric, is repeated once, then answered by a concluding b lyric. It is a Highly personal and expressive form of music CLICK The Classic Blues was not actually classic it was a label given to a style of music made popular by the early recording industry in the 1920 s. It was created as an impression of rural blues, usually written by sophisticated urban composers affiliated with Tin Pan Alley (the big business of the day). It featured vaudeville singers, mostly female, who sang frequently with jazz musicians Bessie Smith is an example. It also codified the standard length of a Blues chorus, as we now understand it 12 bars. The rural blues songs performed by authentic country musicians was often completely irregular the singer would shorten or elongate choruses according to what he was feeling at that moment, different form performance to performance, basically in a way that was not compatible with the sheet music industry. The Sheet Music industry simplified the form to make it easier for any composer to write a blues, and also to make it easier for the general public to perform and enjoy. CLICK This codified Blues form is how we understand the Blues today. It is a single 12-bar chorus with a three-chord harmonic progression it is repeated as many times as needed by the performer or group. WRITE ON BLACKBOARD DEMONSTRATE ON GUITAR PLAY STACK O LEE AS EXAMPLE BESSIE SMITH BACK WATER BLUES WHEN IT RAINS FIVE DAYS AND THE SKIES TURN DARK AT NIGHT THE TROUBLE S TAKING PLACE IN THE LOWLANDS AT NIGHT I WOKE UP THIS MORNING, CAN T EVEN GET OUTTA MY DOOR. THERE S ENOUGH TROUBLE TO MAKE A POOR GIRL WONDER WHERE SHE WANNA GO ST. LOUIS BLUES I HATE TO SEE THE EVENING SUN GO DOWN IT MAKES ME THINK I M ON MY LAST GO ROUND 43

The history of the blues can be traced from country origins in field hollers, spirituals, and folk ballads, through the jook joints, circuses, minstrel shows, and vaudeville stages and finally to the center of U.S. songwriting in New York s Tin Pan Alley. CLICK W.C. Handy, known as the father of the blues, was a minstrel performer, and early composer of mass-produced recorded Blues songs (what we referred to as the Classic Blues style earlier). Touring and music studies exposed him to traditional jazz elements and rhythms of the Caribbean. His first exposure to the blues came one day when he was waiting for a train there was an itinerant black musician strumming a guitar, an actual bonafide country blues musician, clearly destitute and impoverished based on his raggedy clothes and dusty skin, who was singing an extremely impassioned song about catching the train when Handy asked him what the song was, he said that he had just made it up. This was Handy s first exposure to the expressiveness of the Blues, and to the bluenotes inherent in the melodies. He is really only the Father of the Blues in terms of being one of the first to capitalize on America s interest in these authentic rural country musicians. And he s also often credited with the modern form of the blues, the Classic 12 bar form that s still in use today. His songs were massively popular. He composed Memphis blues, St. Louis Blues, and Beale Street Blues, among others. 45

Backwater blues, written and performed by Bessie Smith, gave a national voice to African Americans affected by severe Mississippi flooding. It tells the emotional story of a tragic event resulting from the flooding. It represents the classic blues style and 12 bar form. CLICK there is a call-and response between the pianist, James P. Johnson, and Smith s vocal lines. Smith had an especially powerful and rich singing style, and she is famous for pioneering the practice of scat singing. CLICK Scat singing is a jazz vocal style in which the soloist improvises using made-up or nonsense syllables CLICK as we listen to this song, please practice counting the 12 bars of each chorus 47

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