Soul-Guide.Pdf
Soul – the sub-genres: • The Motown Sound • The Stax/Volt Sound • Atlantic Soul • Philadelphia Soul • 80s Soul/Urban ORIGINS Soul music eventually materialized in the early 1960s. It developed out of the Black music that became popular in the 1950's; that is, American gospel and R&B, performed primarily by black musicians almost exclusively to a black audience. Some of the most successful R&B artists of the 50s were the ones who made it into the pop charts in the 1960s with ‘Soul’ numbers. One such person was Ray Charles who was a major force in the early development of soul music with his unique style, which was of a rich blend of gospel, rhythm and blues and Jazz. musical characteristics Soul music, especially that from the 1960s, was simply ‘pop-orientated’ R&B. Therefore, Soul and R&B performances share common instrumentation, with the performing ensemble divided into a rhythm section and a horn section. Typically, the rhythm section consists of a drum kit, bass (electric or acoustic), piano (sometimes organ instead of or in addition to piano), and guitar, while the horn section features saxophones, trumpets, and occasionally trombones (though confusingly almost never, despite its name, horns). The emphasis on the horn section in most styles of soul and R&B has been one of the ways in which the music has historically been differentiated from white rock music, which has tended to be guitar dominated. Other common musical elements of Soul and R&B music include the use of: (1) the twelve--bar form, using a three line lyric, originating in earlier styles of blues; (2) call and response, whereby a singer or instrumentalist will sing or play a phrase and another vocalist or instrumentalist will answer with another phrase; (3) incessant repetition of musical notes, rhythms, phrases, or verses; the use of blue notes and (5) a tightly integrated and complex blending of instruments, in which it is often difficult to differentiate the separate sounds or instruments being played at a given moment.
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