Friendly Warning

Test # 2 follows completion of Chapter 4:

DATE TBA next class

covers Chapters 2, 3 & 4

Review Sheets for 2 & 3 now on Course Website

Includes Listening Examples

CHAPTER 3

“Social Dance and Jazz”

Chapter 3 (outline)

• Technology and the Music Business

• “Freak Dances”

• James Reese Europe and the Castles

• (Early) Jazz as Popular Music

• Dance Music in the Jazz Age

• Latin Dance Music

Latin Influences• Bands w/ Latin-American Musicians in US (late 1920s-30s)

• Don Azpiazú and his Havana Casino Orchestra (NYC, 1930)

• “El Manisero” (“The Peanut Vendor”) [textbook, p. 101-03]- “Son” tradition mixed w/ “pregón” (street cries)

• Begins “Rumba” (& other Latin) dance craze

• “Clave” : ||: 1, (2) &, (3), 4 | (1), 2, 3, (4) :|| [repeat]

Ex. Don Azpiazu & His Havana Casino Orchestra - El Manisero (The Peanut Vendor) - YouTube

CHAPTER 4

“I Got Rhythm” :The Golden Age of Tin Pan Alley

Song, 1920s and 1930s

Chapter 4 (outline)

• Tin Pan Alley Song Form

• What Were Tin Pan Alley Songs About?

• What Makes a Song a “Standard”?

• Tin Pan Alley and Broadway

Tin Pan Alley

• The Popular Music Business – 1920s-30s

• Influence of Ragtime & Syncopated Dance

• Jewish Immigrants (performers & composers)- influence of European classical & art music- Cantors & Music from the Synagogue

• Standard Forms (but variety within)

• Pure Capitalism – Music as “Commodity”

• Synergy with Broadway and (later) Hollywood

JewishPerformers

Sophie Tucker"Last of the Red Hot Mamas"

Al Jolson“The World’s Greatest Entertainer”

JackBenny“cheap”

Milton Berle“Uncle Miltie”

George Burns

“Say goodnight Gracie”

George Jessel“Hello Mama”

A Few TPA Composers

Irving Berlin (1888-1989)

Richard Rodgers (1902-1979)

George Gershwin

(1898-1937)

Cole Porter (1891-1964)

Walter Donaldson (1893-1947)

• “Carolina in the Morning”• “How Ya Gonna Keep ‘em Down on th

e Farm”• “Makin’ Whoopie”• “My Blue Heaven” (5 million copies!)• “My Buddy”• “My Mammy” • “Yes Sir That’s My Baby”

• Born Brooklyn, NY• Mother taught piano (and Walter)• TPA song plugger• 1st songs sold 1915• Donaldson, Douglas & Gumble (publ.)• Broadway & Hollywood successes• Walter Donaldson - The Official Website

Tin Pan Alley Song Form• Ex. Gene Austin - My Blue Heaven (1927)

(Textbook, p. 110-12)• Introduction – “hook”• Verse (usually 2) – sets the scene• Refrain – the “tune” remembered• Song Form (used in the REFRAIN)

- A- A(‘)- B – “bridge” or “release” (contrasts)- A (“)

• Can vary: AABC, ABCA, ABCD, etc.,but 4 equal phrases the norm

Lyrics• Anything possible, but…..

- “Romance” is biggest…- …especially for the individual (“I” or “me”)

• “spoken” in the vernacular (everyday speech)- emphasized by “crooning” (intimate voice)

• Topical References (occasionally)• “Brother Can You Spare a Dime?” (1931)• Exs. of Lyrics:

- Brother, Can You Spare A Dime? – YouTube- "Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries" (Rudy Vallee, 1931) – YouTube

- Gold Diggers of 1933 - "We're in the Money" - YouTube

Irving Berlin (1888-1989)• Russian (Jewish) immigrant

- father was a cantor- family to NYC in 1893

• Saloon singer, song plugger• “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” (1911)• Watch Your Step (1914)

- “syncopated musical” w/ the Castles

• Publisher, Producer, Theater Owner• Untutored in music or lyric writing

- “does not believe in inspiration” (it’s a job)- plays “by ear” (uses copyist/arranger)- “If I don’t know the rules, I don’t have to follow them”

• Aims for the “average American”• 1,500 songs (!)

Irving Berlin – Music Examples• “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” (1911)

- Alexander's Ragtime Band Columbia A1032 - YouTube

• “Blue Skies” (1926)- Blue Skies - Al Jolson – YouTube (from The Jazz Singer)- Willie Nelson-Blue Skies (with Lyrics) (1978)

• “Puttin’ On the Ritz” (1930)- Fred Astaire. Put it on the Ritz. (1930?)- Gene Wilder - Young Frankenstein (1974) - Puttin' on the Ritz (1974)

• “God Bless America” (1938)- God Bless America, First Radio performance, Armistice Day November 10, 1938, Kate Smith - YouTube

• “White Christmas” (1942)- Bing Crosby & Marjorie Reynolds White Christmas Holiday Inn 1942

• “Irving Berlin is the greatest songwriter who has ever lived.”- George Gershwin

• “Irving Berlin has no place in American music—he is American music.” - Jerome Kern