Musc 200 1st Edition Exam 2 Study Guide Lectures 9 16 Lecture Summaries Finishing up Rhythm and Blues We started out this portion of the class by finishing up the discussion of the different styles and techniques of rhythm and blues Chicago Blues and Gospel influenced Chicago Blues like jump blues placed an emphasis on the electric guitar But unlike jump blues Chicago Blues didn t have the solo virtuosos Chicago Blues borrowed techniques from rural blues specifically the Mississippi Delta style and had little to no big band influence One of the most prominent techniques of the Chicago Blues was the slide guitar method In this technique a hard tube was placed over the finger so when it was touched to the string it allowed for more pitches in between notes This created a brighter and glassier timbre and allowed for sliding long distances only short distances could be accomplished by bending the strings Harmonicas were also commonly used and were played right up against the microphone to change the tone quality to a more electric and modern sound Chicago Blues songs were usually built around one chord or a rif Riff short melodic theme that is repeated several times can be vocal or instrumental This style was influenced directly by the Mississippi Delta blues as were the rough vocals Chicago Blues had a smaller ensemble consisting of an electric guitar drums a piano and a harmonica The musical texture of Chicago Blues often changed within the song itself Many times it would start as an intense and busy heterophony but would begin to approach polyphony Heterophony 2 or more variations of the same melody played at the same time Polyphony more than 1 independent melody going on at the same time 60s and 70s rock was greatly influenced by Chicago Blues In the late 40s early 50s there was a large migration of African Americans from the South into Chicago Independent labels began to emerge to record the new artists coming in and satisfy a new market Chess Records was started by two Jewish brothers from Poland They could somewhat identify and understand what the African Americans had been and still were going through Chess recorded primarily African American Chicago Blues Their most famous recordings were Chuck Barry and Muddy Waters Gospel influence rhythm and blues was the blending of secular blues and sacred church music After WWII rhythm and blues musicians began to borrow from gospel music and some gospel singers shifted over to sing rhythm and blues This upset many people and many ended up alienated due to the music they performed In the late 40s there were two main styles of Gospel music A Capella male quartets and virtuoso female singers accompanied by a choir or band The male quartets were very creative as there were no instruments involved besides the voices Although there were only four singers they still managed to cover the full vocal range They would either sing in harmony or separate into a bass singer 2 middle singers with chords and the higher singer with the melody Specific features of this music included smooth tone quality and blends and complex vocal arrangements Gospel music had characteristic ways of pacing and voicing which gospel influenced rhythm and blues borrowed from Pacing how frequently chords change how many chords per measure Voicing how notes are selected and stacked for a chord can voice the same chord in many different ways Another element of Gospel music that made its way into rhythm and blues was the climatic form With the climatic form the song would start out with less intensity and build up with the singer embellishing and adding emotional intensity There are also parallels in the lyrics of Gospel music and Gospel influenced R B While Gospel music would be singing about loving Jesus the secular version would be about loving your girlfriend Gospel influenced R B could be viewed as the secular version of Gospel songs 1950s Rock and Roll After a couple years of a poor economy things took off in 1947 1950s This time period is often called the Golden Age of Capitalism There were three main reasons for this 1 lack of competition from other countries as many were ruined in the war 2 huge amount of government spending on the militaryindustrial complex as well as schools housing and interstate highways 3 massive development of consumer goods 1957 brought the peak of the baby boom a huge population growth Suburbs began developing in the 1950s Highways sprung up so people could easily get into the city to work But segregation was still very much alive African Americans and other minority groups were often unable to get loans or buy houses in most suburban areas This means that the growth of suburbs actually increased segregation People living in the suburbs usually had more money which led to their children having disposable income In the 1920s consumer culture began to emerge By the 50s it was omnipotent The advertising industry shifted consumption from buying for practical and pragmatic reasons to buying things that say something about your personal identity Many teenagers now had disposable income and their identities began to be shaped by the music they bought and listened to The mainstream music industry missed this and so didn t take advantage of this new market of white suburban teens Lots of these teens began to listen to rhythm and blues as they could relate and find meaning in it better than the mainstream TPA pop White teens would also listen to R B as a sort of rebellion against segregation Teenagers were aware of segregation but not all of them completely bought it R B was also alluring to teenagers because it was upfront about sexuality unlike TPA music Music became a way to express sexuality Public expressions of sexuality were not acceptable and gender roles were very rigid in principle but many began to break them The advertising industry took advantage of this and advertisements exploded with expressions of sexuality linking consumption with sexuality As you can see there were many contradictions of what was socially acceptable and what was actually going on R B was ignored by the mainstream music industry and promoted by independent labels instead The mainstream didn t understand this new style didn t want to sell African American music and risk upsetting people and thought only African Americans were buying it But R B appealed to several audiences For teenagers this music spoke of fun pleasure dancing good times and other teenage