Musc 200 1st Edition Lecture 8 Outline of Last Lecture I Social Context II Musical Roots a Folk b Shape notes III Early Country Music and the Music Industry a Radio b Recording industry c Movies IV Early country music styles a Mountain style i The Carter Family b Country style i Jimmie Rogers Outline of Current Lecture II Jimmie Rogers cont III Country Developments a Movies b Honky Tonk IV TPA in the 1940s a Big Band Swing b Big Band post WWII c Importance of BB music V IntroductiontoMutations Current Lecture Jimmie Rogers cont Effortless informality These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute Guitar didn t have a huge part Bass is bowed instead of plucked Coronet clarinet and trumpet had a key part o These instruments also made up the front line of a New Orleans jazz band Polyphonic style each instrument playing its own melody Songs were smooth with the different instruments fading in and out not aggressive but lazy and easy going Country Developments 1930s mountain style still existed but was much less popular o Large ensembles playing in the country style were more common Songs featured fiddles electric guitars and steel guitars o But drums did not play a major role until the 1950s Drums were seen as African American instruments Movies westerns were the dominant genre o Often featured singing cowboys romantic figures of the west o The music in the films was put into a new category called Country and Western Music Honky Tonk country music most strongly related to rock o 1933 prohibition ended o There was an economic explosion in Texas and Oklahoma due to the oil fields and many moved there to work o Bars popped up in these areas and became known as Honky Tonks o Honky Tonk music was the dominant form of country music at this time o Country music was no longer regional but was played all over the country o Themes of Honky Tonk included the pleasures of hard drinking carousing the tensions of lost love and intense loneliness and sadness o Singing style bright high and nasal voice that was also rough and raspy o Instrumentation acoustic guitar electric guitar electric steel guitar fiddle piano bass no drums o Hank Williams Sr one of the best known Honky Tonk singers Listening Your Cheating Heart Instrumentation fiddle acoustic guitar electric guitar steel guitar some percussion Lyrics loneliness and heart break Vocal style Hank developed a series of vocal techniques including vocal tension in which he would sing in a fast and shallow vibrato Cry break vocal technique in which it sounds like the voice is breaking and about to cry the singer typically goes into falsetto Listening I m So Lonesome I Could Cry Acoustic guitar has the chords electric guitar does alternating bass accompaniment o o Electric guitar runs from the root of one chord to the next Listening Much too Young to Die by Ray Price 1950s Fiddle acoustic guitar electric guitar more percussion Cry breaks and vocal tension TPA in the 1940s Big Band Swing TPA meets jazz o For a while there were jazz bands and TPA bands that played pop music and also a lot of music in between o The meeting place of TPA pop bands and jazz bands was the dominate genre during the 40s o Last type of genre that dominated without vocals being the key component o Instrumentation Brass melody background give additional interest trumpets and trombones Reeds melody background give additional interest saxophones tenor alto and baritone and clarinets Rhythm a new element from jazz this was the beating heart of the band which carried into Rock and Roll chords and time o Piano chords and harmony bass walking lines and time holder drum kit group of percussion instruments o Walking bass one note per beat walks up and down the scale to connect roots o Our ear can figure out what the chords are Drum Kit components Bass drum big round drum controlled by a peddle attached to a mallet Snare drum smaller drums with metal snares on a stand in front of the drummer which produced a crackly sound Tom toms larger drums usually two or more added variety Cymbals 3 types o Crash hold each cymbal and strike them together o Stand and ride constant tapping on the side to fill out the sound and keep time o High hat one cymbal face up and one face down controlled by a peddle to separate and then press them together Listening Pennsylvania 6 5000 by Glen Miller and His Orchestra Title of song is actually a phone number Instrumentation trumpet solo saxophone solo background reeds and brass snare drum played on the 2nd and 4th beats which was louder stronger and more aggressive than before Post WWII Big Band starts to fade out o Instrumental music fades out and never comes back o Causes for this Musicians went on strike but vocalists weren t part of the union so they kept on making music 1946 47 were economically lean years and everything was still rationed This made touring difficult for big bands Big Band Swing was strongly associated with WWII and people were looking for a change Importance of Big Bands o Big Band Jazz gave the rhythm section which became the standard in all music drums o Raised the bar for rhythmic energy o 2nd and 4th beats were accented which drew people in It still feels light for us but it was the heaviest music at the time Interplay of main melody and background instruments Late 40s and early 50s Big Band pretty much gone o Replaced by vocal TPA pop o A famous one being Doris Day Big band shrunk into sometimes having only a clarinet for the reed section and a piano replacing bass Listening There s a Bluebird on your Windowsill by Doris Day o Walking bass and a couple notes of alternating bass accompaniment o Accordion and clarinet in place of bass and reeds o Melody is all in the vocals o Vocal style happy sunny Disney Listening Now That I Need You by Doris Day o Pop version of the ballad o Walking bass o Instrumentation piano with bass giving the time and a guitar as a replacement for the brass and reeds section