Music 2016-17 Music Is Sound Organized in Time. 1. Look up The

Music 2016-17 Music is sound organized in time. 1. Look up the following terms to familiarize yourself with the basic elements of music theory from this section: ● Pitch ● Harmony ● Octave, half steps ● Melody ● Major and minor scales ● Beat, Tempo ● Meter ● Rhythm ● Key ● Diatonic Music ● Chromatic, accidentals ● Chord, triad ● Texture, counterpoint, dynamics, articulation and ornamentation ● Form: Tension and release, memory and anticipation, continuity and contrast ● Introduction, coda ● Common Forms: theme and variations, twelve-bar blues, 32 bar form, ABA form, verse-chorus, sonata Below are some of the larger themes that the selected listening pieces are seeking to highlight. Pay attention and you willl see/hear echoes of some of the themes from the art section- music as propaganda or to celebrate a cultural ideal, attempts to deal with the horrors and dislocation of war via musical versions of abstract expressionism or the effects of artists escaping Europe for the US. One of the themes is the evolution of technology as recordings of music and movies helped spread innovations across the world much faster than in previous generations. Section II: Music Between the Wars ● Since WWI was fought overseas early on America recovered from it quicker during the “Roaring Twenties” but eventually the US too was hit hard economically in the Great Depression. ● Radio became a powerful broadcast medium in America between the wars. Technological improvements during the 1920’s improved listening quality as well as the availability of music. The first movie “talkie” The Jazz Singer came out in 1927. By 1944 movies had increased in popularity some 90 million people went to the movies each week making stars such as Bing Crosby and popularizing genres such as crooning. ● Tin Pan Alley was a music publishing hub in New York with a golden age from 1920 - 1950. The name came to represent a type of popular music. Being in New York there was overlap into the world of Broadway and London’s West End Theater districts as well as supporting thriving nightclub scenes. ● Love songs and patriotic tunes were popular in the US and abroad. ● Princess Shows were musical comedies with integrated songs supporting the story line. ● In the 1920’s two genres, Operettas and musical comedies evolved to what we think of as musical theater. Leading musical comedy composers include George M. Cohan, Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart, and George Gershwin (and his brother Ira) Music 2016-17 ○ EXAMPLE 1: I Got Rhythm from Girl Crazy 1930 George Gershwin ● Showboat in 1927 was a show that encapsulated many of these themes ○ EXAMPLE 2: Ol’ Man River from Showboat 1927 Jerome Kern ● The Blues are “music of the people, a style of music, a type of performance, a despondent state of mind, and a musical form” ● The legacy of African music is in many of blues’ characteristics ● Country blues customarily featured a male singer, playing guitar ○ EXAMPLE 3: Cross Road Blues 1936 Robert Johnson ● Robert Johnson left very few recordings and died young but was a major influencer of the genre as seen in Eric Clapton (who re-recorded the Cross Road Blues) and many other artists of the 1960’s to today ● Classic Blues usually has a female singer with a piano or combo ● Jazz is a broad term for many styles including swing rhythms, improvisation and blue notes. It came from New Orleans with the first jazz recording made in 1917 ● Swing or “big band jazz” owes a lot to three bandleaders: Fletcher Henderson, Duke Ellington and Count Basie. Records and radio popularized swing - Benny Goodman and his swing orchestra are one example. ● Avant Garde and Modernism seen in the Art world are found in music as well. Classical composers traveled more and many emigrated to the US. Musicians in Germany and the Soviet Union had less freedom and often had to meet requirements of their governments ○ EXAMPLE 4: The Banshee 1925 Henry Cowell ● As WWII approached Nationalism was a concern for many composers such as Aaron Copland’s ballets ● Filmmakers began to require original scores for films and increasingly incorporated popular music even in animation (Mickey-mousing) ● Jazz became increasing international and popular and found its way into classical music too ○ EXAMPLE 5: Rhapsody in Blue 1924 George Gershwin Section III: Music During World War II ● The Office of War Information (OWI) worked to improve national communication in the US and founded the National Wartime Music Committee (NWMC) to encourage music that supported the war - these and other efforts failed to produce a hit war song. ● Federally supported music served the war effort in 4 ways: helped promote the nation's values; uplifted listeners at home, boosted the spirits of troops and was therapeutic in healing the wounded ● THe USO (United Service Organizations) continues today to entertain the troops but other organizations and arts also supported servicemen ● The Petrillo Ban refers to a brief trike in August 1942 when musicians wanted royalties when their songs were played on radio and jukeboxes - many songs at that time were recorded a cappella ○ EXAMPLE 7: Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition 1942 Frank Loesser was the closest thing to a hit war song ● Country Music grew in popularity as it reflected the themes of patriotism and mixed emotions of war at home and abroad ● Holiday songs were especially powerful among soldiers and families such as White Christmas, I’ll be HOme for Christmas (1943), and Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas (1944) Music 2016-17 ● Few Broadway shows addressed the war. Exceptions Irving Berlin’s This is the Army, 1942, Carmen Jones 1943 and ON the Town 1944 ● Oklahoma! 1943 was the biggest hit on Broadway ○ EXAMPLE 8: Surrey with the Fringe on Top, Oklahoma! Richard Rodgers ● Glenn Miller Orchestra had a short but very successful run with 23 songs reaching #1 on the charts...Miller enlisted in 1942 and formed a military swing band - his plane disappeared on the way to a concert in 1944 ○ EXAMPLE 9: In the Mood 1939 Joe Garland - performed by Glenn Miller Orchestra ● Not all jazz music was also swing. Be-bop was the first style of jazz’s Modern Era. Be-bop was fast, disjunct with earliest ensembles often quintets. It was difficult to play well. ● More than ½ of Hollywood's war-era films acknowledged the war in some way encouraged by the Bureau of Motion Pictures (BMP). Some war-themed movies were musicals. Buck Privates 1941 with Abbott and Costello introduced the song Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy sung by the Andrews Sisters ○ EXAMPLE 10: Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, 1941 Don Raye and Hughie Prince ● Classical performers and composers also put on morale building concerts or wrote new pieces ○ EXAMPLE 11: Fanfare for the COmmon Man 1942 Aaron Copland ○ EXAMPLE 12: American Salute 1943 Morton Gould ○ EXAMPLE 13: Concerto for Orchestra Mvt. I 1943 Bela Bartok Section IV Music in the War Zone ● The USO established in 1941 unified efforts of several organizations including the YMCA, YWCA, National Catholic Community Service, Nati’l Jewish Welfare BOard, Salvation Army and National Travelers Aid Association. THe USO established up to 3,0900 clubs/social centers during the war; by popular demand the USO Camp Shows were established to serve military at home and abroad. There were 4 circuits (Victory, Blue, Hospital, and Foxhole/Overseas) ● USO entertainers include artists as well as musicians and other entertainers. ● Radio delivered musical entertainment to troops. One army survey found troops rated classical music above popular songs. ● Mant musicians served in bands affiliated with various branches of the Armed Forces (Glenn Miller) ● In US internment camps for people of Japanese descent, traditional classical and popular music helped fill the days. Similarly in US prisoner of war camps music was encouraged ● Even at POW camps and Nazi concentration camps music was performed (on demand and in secretly). Olivier Messiaen was a French POW when he wrote the last example assisted by a German Guard. He included imagery of the Apocalypse ○ EXAMPLE 14: Quartet for the End of Time, Mvt. I Liturgie De Cristal (1940) Olivier Messiaen ● After the war Tin Pan Alley songwriters produced little new popular music that focused on the war ● Rodgers and Hammerstein set South Pacific (1940) addressing issues of racial prejudice and set in the Pacific Theater winning many awards .

Load more