Transcript Popular Music in America

Popular Music in America
The Roots of American Music
Where it all Began….
Because of it’s location, Louisiana had a unique ethnic
diversity that would blend into the creation of a different
type of music that had never been heard. It would be
become the roots of all popular music of the 20th century
New Orleans
New Orleans, based at the mouth of the Mississippi
River, was an important place in music at the turn of
the century.
A mixture of cultures
There were three distinct ethnic groups that
were living in New Orleans at the turn of the
century. It was the combination of these groups
that led to the formation of a new music.
These groups were:
• Former slaves and their families
•The French
•Latin Americans, especially from Cuba.
African-Americans
Only 35 years after emancipation, many families of
former slaves lived in the south. The spiritual,
characterized by it’s bending pitch style of singing,
was prominent.
The French
The French brought
traditional European
musical harmonies and
instruments to the New
World, where they
mixed with those
around them.
Latin America
The nearby island of Cuba brought many to New Orleans, and
along with them came their music – rhythmic and full of
energy, including “the clave” – an offbeat rhythm named for
the instrument that usually plays it.
The French Quarter
These three
cultures were
fused together
here – in New
Orleans’ French
Quarter – still the
cultural highlight
of the city.
A New Music Is Born
As these diverse people gradually became one local culture, the
combination of their musical styles blended as well. The result
was a new type of music – they called it “Jass”. It later got
changed to the spelling we now use – JAZZ.
The Blues
Jazz got it’s start in a type of music called the blues.
The Blues got it’s nickname from it’s usually
depressing subject matter. It is also characterized by
it’s combination of swung rhythms (reminiscent of
Latin music), blend of major and minor tonalities (the
harmonies of French – Europeans), and a bending of
pitch in instruments and voices (like a spiritual).
The Blues
Blues singers would usually play piano or guitar,
and improvise the melody as they sang.
Since they were making the lyrics up as they
went, it soon fell into common practice to repeat
the first line of a blues song – this gave the singer
time to think of what the next line might be!
Robert Johnson
One of the most important figures in the
Blues was Robert Johnson.
Johnson sang of how he went “…down to the
crossroads”, where he supposedly made a deal
with the devil to get his amazing guitar skills.
Movin’ on up
As Jazz musicians traveled up the Mississippi on
riverboats, their music spread and developed.
In St. Louis, a new style of music called Ragtime
was becoming popular. Ragtime, which was
mostly played on piano, used off-beat rhythms
called syncopation. Because only one performer
was needed, printed versions of ragtime songs
were in great demand.
The Player Piano
A new invention called
the player piano would
allow shop owners to play
ragtime music even if
there was no piano player!
This music, purchased on piano
“rolls”, was essentially America’s
first form of recorded music.
The King of Ragtime
A Black composer named Scott
Joplin wrote many ragtime favorites,
including “The Entertainer” (which
you are now listening to), and
“Maple Leaf Rag”.
Although he never got rich from his
compositions, he was widely known,
and was nicknamed “The King of
Ragtime”.
Dixieland music was called “Hot Jazz” at the time,
and King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band was one of
the most popular “Hot Jazz” bands in New
Orleans.
Dixieland Music
King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band moved from New
Orleans to Chicago, where there was less competition
and where “Hot Jazz” was much newer and fresh for
the young crowd there. Eventually, King Oliver’s
music would gain widespread acceptance.
Louis Armstrong
King Oliver gave a 12
year old boy named Louis
Armstrong a trumpet, and
eventually he joined the
band.
Nicknamed “Satchmo”,
Armstrong would become
one of the most famous
musicians in history, and
the first black Superstar in
America.
America’s Music
Jazz Music was born in New Orleans, and moved up the
river to Memphis, St. Louis, and finally to Chicago. It is
America’s first truly original art form, and gave a new
emphasis to popular music that influenced music for the
entire century.
The End