POPULAR SONG IN THE MODERN AREA

The Modern Era

The fifteen years between 1914 and 1929 marked the beginning of the modern Era, not only in popular music but also in art, literature and American life.

Being Modern- moving at a faster pace. Believing in progress; cities are booming. Fashion is emerging, more important to this class it ment listening and dancing to a new kind of music.

The entertainment industry was flurishing with the revolution.

Sex, Booze, and All That Jazz

The teens and twenties saw enormous social change in America. Immigration and migration, prohibition and its consequences and a sexual revolution that dramatically redefined the place of the woman in America society all reshaped life in the modern era.

People on the move: flood cities like New York and Chicago. During this time more people were actually leaving the United States

Immigration influence

Most of the great song writers between the wars were of jewish, or black decent.

Irving berlin. Jerome Kern, Richard Rodgers, Harold Arlen, George Gershwin, Duke Ellington, and Thomas “fat” Waller. Were just a few

There were many Vaudeville stars: Eddie Cantor, Al Jolsons, Bert Williams, and Fanny Brice.

The black musicians supplied dance music and entertainment to all levels of society. Bands remained segregated until the late 1930’s

Prohibition

Prohibition ment work for many popular musicians. Jazz spreaded from New Orleans throughout the country by way of Chicagos speakeasies, as Joe “King” Oliver, Louis Armstrong, and other early jazz greats moved north in search of more and better paying work.

Radio broadcasting

This started up in the 1920’s -the first radio station was KDKA in

Pittsburg In 1925 the National Broadcasing

company NBC began broadcasting in the northeast and midwest; they started the network radio. This caused a nation wide sense of unity

In the 1920’s

In 1925 electronic recording and amplified live performances began.

Everything converted from acoustic to electronic recording almost over night

Big benefit of this was volume.. Before this popular bands and performers

were seen in theatres alone now they was being heard everywhere.

Talking films

First talking picture was “The Jazz Singer” starring Al Jolson in 1927.

Soon popular music was firmly entrenched on the screen

Shortly after Broadway stars tracked off to Hollywood.

Broadway melody of 1929 was the first musical and first sound film to win a academy award for best picture

The Modern Era in Poplar Music

New popular music created during the World Wars was different from mainstream popular music in three ways:

1. The application of the new technology2. the infusion of black musical features-

riffs, rhythms, instruments, performing styles3. the more open and vibrant sensibility

expressed in the songs and their performance.Revolutionary developments of the 1910’s and 1920’s

in popular music marked the beginning of a new era. 1910-1960s labeled as the “modern era” in popular

music.

The New Rhythms of Popular Song

Rhythm provided the first evidence of a new kind of popular song.

Before the modern era, the rhythm of the words was adapted to the rhythm of the melody; with the modern era, the rhythm of the melody was adapted to the rhythm of the words.

Popular song and dance music were still distinct at this point.

With the rise of the dance orchestra and a new generation of songwriters, popular song acquired its trademark style beat and a large dose of syncopation. New dances ushered them into the mainstream.

Dance Fads of the 1920s 1920s began with new dances: the black bottom, the shimmy, the blues, and

above all, the Charleston. These began as African American social dances and found a new home among

younger whites. Charleston was the most popular dance. Written by James P. Johnson. The

Charleston served as the new syncopated foxtrot. The Formation of the Rhythm Section: rhythm section takes shape in early 1920s.

It is a key element in the new, more modern sound of popular music. Rhythm section most fundamental role is to supply the beat and the harmony of a song; usually with at least one chord instrument, a bass instrument, and a percussion instrument.

The Dance Orchestras of the 1920s: The rhythm section was the foundation of the dance orchestras that serenaded dancers in ballrooms, hotels, and roof gardens, and eventually on record and radio. During the teens it was mostly black groups that provided the syncopated dance music, but by the end of the decade, white bands also were offering this jazzy new music.

The Saxophone: A New Sound of the 1920s- the saxophones in “Charleston” represent the most enduring new sound of the 1920s. James Reese Europe was the innovator, his was the first dance orchestras to feature the saxophone. But it did not become a staple in the dance orchestra until arrangers began to group instruments into sections: alto, tenor, and baritone.

Rhythm Songs

A Rhythm Song is a song in which the primary interest comes from its rhythm rather than the flow and contour of its melody.

George Gershwin’s “I Got Rhythm”Irving Berlin “Puttin’ on the Ritz”George and Ira Gerswin “Fascinating Rhythm” is a

good example of the rhythm song.In the early 1920s popular song were either music for

dancing(when performed by dance orchestras) or music for listening(when sung), but not both. The electrical revolution that occurred around 1925 helped make it possible to merge song and dance.

The Integration of Popular Song

The new kind of popular song hit the market in the late 1920s, it was upbeat, up-tempo, and you could dance to it.

The Record and Recording- the term album hasn’t been an accurate description of the delivery format of recordings for over half a century.

A New Kind of Popular Song: AABA Form- “Sunday” Clifford Gray and J. Fred Coots. Jean Godkette’s Orchestra- Born in France, trained as a

concert pianist. Came to the USA to Chicago in search of work as a musician. Mid 1920s put together best Jazz Orchestra of all time. They were known for “Sunday” it sold very well but it wasn’t well enough for the ballrooms.

“I got Rythem”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIpNepgmCQA

Mainstreaming the Blues

Helped shape modern popular song in two ways. 1) indirect relatively unobtrusive. 2) direct and more obvious. This set a model and inspiration for all songwriters.

What makes the impact of blues on popular songs stand out is the decided contrast between real blues and conventional pop.

It’s the style least influenced by European music. 1910 instrumental blues were introduced,

becomes a darker hue in the latter part of the 1920s.

Vocal Blues

Mainstreaming Blues cont’d

All ethnicities brought blues styles of feelings into their music.

Torch Song- lost love Torch singers were women. Helen Morgan

was one of the most famous torch singers.

Generally strong contrast and peppy music of the time.

The Modern Popular Song

The revolution produced the modern era in popular era is just about complete. The interaction of black music with white popular song and the integration of new technology comprehensively reshaped the mainstream popular style.

The merger of song and dance The formation of the syncopated dance

orchestra Foxtrot beat

Popular Singing After the 1930s

The two most influential new singing styles were crooning and jazz singing.

Luis Armstrong whose singing would prove as influential to pop vocalists as his playing was to jazz musicians, and Fats Waller.

Bing Crosby was the first singer to use a microphone well. “I’ve got the world on a string”

“I’ve got the world on a string”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iB527Vys0ew

Popular Song on Stage and Screen

“Charleston” “Fascinating Rhythm” “Am I Blue?” “I’ve Got the World on a String”

For songwriters, hoping for a hit, inclusion of a song in a show or film improved its chances considerably. Even if the show flopped, the song would be heard by influential people.

“Am I Blue?”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FN8-Yy8Rl3s

Show Boat, an American Musical Play

Created by Oscar Hammerstin II and Jerome Kern, opened at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York on December 27, 1927.

Hammerstin wrote the libretto and the lyrics

Kern conceived the idea of the musical and composed the music. Kern was a songwriter.

Libretto- a text for a stage production with singing from opera to musical comedy.

Show Boat was the first of great modern musicals

Fred, Ginger, and the Acceptance of the Modern Popular Song

Films that followed the plot of the predictable pattern; boy sees girl and is immediately infatuated with her, girl rejects boy because of some kind of misunderstanding, boy ardently woos girl, using song and dance; girl succumbs to boy’s charm and dancing ability

Bing cosby

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynpseLDi-1E&feature=fvst

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiXjbI3kRus

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJSUT8Inl14

Great Artist of this time

Benny Goodman “ king of swing” Louis Armstrong Joe ‘king’ oliver Thomas “fat” Waller George Gershwin “I got rhythm” Duke Ellington James P. Johnson “the Charleston” Paul Whiteman “Whispering” James Reese Europe George and Ira Gerswin “Fascinating Rhythm” Clifford Gray and J. Fred Coots. “Sunday” Ethel Waters- Blues singer “Am I Blue?” “Stormy

Weather”

Greatest Artists cont’d

Gene Austin Cliff “Ukulele Ike” Edwards “Whispering” Jack Smith Bing Crosby- dominate popular singer of

the 1930s and 1940s

Terms to know

Speakeasy Acoustic recording Microphone Amplifier Electronic recording Modern Era Charleston

Stride piano Torch song Vibrato Crooning Song interpretation libretto