Popular Music in America-MUHL 2622 01 and O2-Spring 2017 (Make sure your name an
ID: 3123034 • Letter: P
Question
Popular Music in America-MUHL 2622 01 and O2-Spring 2017
(Make sure your name and section is on your final-01 is the 12:30 class, 02 is the 9:30 class)
John Wilcox
You are welcome to use your notes, text and internet to develop your thoughts. Please write your narrative paragraphs in proper English, accurate spelling and well thought out information (A good aid is to read what you write out loud and listen to what you are saying). Turn in the final on Tuesday April 25 at the latest. I will not accept an online or hand written version.
Do your own work. There are questions that were only discussed in class and if one of you leaks or offers said information to another it surely will become available to all via social media prompting me to lower everyone’s grade by at least one letter. If I read inconsistencies that run up a red flag your grade will be lowered. The use of musically descriptive terms in your discussion of the following questions is encouraged. (Ok, since you’re going to ask anyway I’d suggest around three pages-16 font, single spaced should be about right for both of us-more is fine.)
I really enjoyed getting to know many of you and wish you all well. Get after the rest of your careers and be successful-strive to be well-rounded, continue to learn with an open mind and give back when it’s time to give back.
What is Music?
Music gives us all an avenue to cross over into a realm of communication without words; an expression of self, an awareness of self, a melding of physical actions to create emotional and intellectual expression with others that are experienced by participants both performing and listening. And importantly, when we cross back over this river of the mind we have no regrets and no need to look back. JW
Example answer: How have sexuality and gender been expressed in popular music?
JW-Music is a unique art since on first hearing we are touched by it emotionally, (on subsequent listening the intellectual process joins in the fun). This is the perfect vehicle for tender romance and dance. Now, try saying in your best robotic voice, “I want to hold your hand” and listen to how you sound. That may work if you’re into some weird techno stuff, but you won’t get far with anyone with a pulse (my opinion). Certainly a good dance tune gets the blood going and warms up the mood. And the Ballard style that came over from Europe, further developed by the Tin Pan Alley tradition, and now continuing after some 200 years sets the stage for sex and love at any age and with any genre of music.
In regard to gender, women got kind of left out of the music performance world until the rock ‘n’ roll era and even then they didn’t get into the mainstream. Female vocal groups did get on equal footing to a degree during WWII (a la the Andrews Sisters “Boogie-Woogie Bugle Boy” and others) and then big time during the Motown and urban folk genre. Groups/artists like the Ronettes, the Supremes (Diana Ross), Carol King, Aretha Franklin, Janis Joplin, Madonna, Tina Turner, Joni Mitchell, Queen Latifah, Gloria and Selena, and Taylor Swift
are some of the women who have led the way. Interestingly, women aren’t big in the rap era. The “toast” tradition of African American males-showing off their skills and cunning to command their status within the community-seems to support the male dominance in especially earlier rap and hip hop. Down-home country and bluegrass has always had a place for women as their strength and consistency helps to drive the shared lifestyle of the country home setting.
Answer these questions in your own narrative way:
1 What is my definition of “Classical” music?
2 Every aspect of popular music that is today regarded as American in character has sprung from three broad “streams.” What are the three streams and your thoughts on how they interact today?
3 What are a “standard” and a “cover”?
4 Define these terms: Rhythm, tempo, meter, the beat, syncopation, pitch, dynamics, melody, timbre, crescendo, decrescendo, accelerando, retardando, rubato, introduction and coda.
5 What is your understanding of consonance and dissonance in music and beyond?
6 What is your understanding of the connection between “Classical” and “Pop” music?
7 Akrasia is a term from the Greek philosophers that was the topic in an article I sent out titled “My Own Worst Enemy: Why We Act against Our Better Judgement”. Give your thoughts on Akrasia in your life.
8 We had guest artist(s) in class. What instrument(s) did they play, and what memory do you have of them as a performer?
9 A paradigm shift is an important concept of being able to solve problems or understand situations by viewing subject matter in different perspectives. How has this class helped you to hear music and sound in different ways?
Explanation / Answer
1) classical music. In technical musical usage this means music composed during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, characterized by the development of the sonata by such composers as Mozart. In popular use, however, the term is used to mean any serious art music as distinct from jazz, pop, or folk.
Classical music is a tricky genre, mainly because to the uninformed everything before jazz sounds like it! Indeed, Classical music and Baroque music both use orchestras to produce their distinctive sounds, but the way in which each does it is truly different. For example, Baroque music is very heavy, whereas Classical music is light, almost airy.
Indeed, Classical music greatly emphasized homophonic melodies, meaning that there was a single melody that all the instruments played, instead of the layered melodies of the Baroque period. This allowed for Classical pieces to be much more powerful, whereas Baroque pieces were just pretty in comparison.
2) Every aspect of popular music today regarded as American has sprung from imported traditions. These source traditions may be classified into three broad “streams”: European - American music, African - American music, and Latin - American music. Each of these is made up of many styles of music, and each has profoundly influenced the others
3) Quite simply, standard is the same song performed or recorded by literally hundreds of musicians, but never in the same way as the original and there is no attempt to ‘imitate’ the original singer or band. Instead, each musician interprets it through their own personality and improvises on the theme to create what is really a new composition, with the original melody often used just as a reference.
Contrast this with a cover song, which is more usually performed in much the same way as the original. New recordings of the same song with different artists are often used by copyright owners to keep the song in the public’s eye and sell more CDs and live shows. Artists record covers of already-known songs, sticking closely to the original melody, so their audience can get to know them through a familiar tune.
4) Dynamics: Degrees of loudness or softness in music are called dynamics our second property of sound.
-Loudness is related to the amplitude of the vibration that produces the sound. The harder a guitar string is plucked (the farther it moves from the fingerboard), the louder its sound. When instruments are played more loudly or more softly, or
when there is a change in how many instruments are heard, a dynamic change results; such a change may be made either suddenly or gradually.
Crescendo: A gradual increase in loudness. It often creates excitement, particularly when the pitch rises too.
Decrescendo: a gradual decrease in loudness. It can be used to convey a sense of calm.
Pitch is the relative highness or lowness that we hear in a sound
-The pitch of a sound is determined by the frequency of its vibrations.
-The faster the vibrations, the higher the pitch; the slower the vibrations, the lower the pitch.
Rhythm is the flow of music through time.
Rhythm has several interrelated aspects: beat, meter, accent and syncopation, and tempo.
Beat: is a regular, recurrent pulsation that divides music into equal units of time. When you clap your hands or tap your foot to music, you are responding to its beat.
A note may last a fraction of a beat, an entire beat, or more than a beat. More specifically, rhythm can be defined as the particular arrangement of note lengths in a piece of music. The rhythm of a melody is an essential feature of its personality.
Meter: In music we find a repeated pattern of a strong beat plus one or more weaker beats. The organization of beats into regular groups is called meter.
Accent and Syncopation: An important aspect of rhythm is the way individual notes are stressedhow they get special emphasis. A note is emphasized most obviously by being played louder than the notes around it, that is, by receiving a dynamic accent.
When an accented note comes where we normally would not expect one, the effect is known as syncopation.
A syncopation also occurs when a weak beat is accented, as in 1234 or 1234.
Tempo: is the speed of the beat, the basic pace of the music.
A fast tempo is associated with a feeling of energy, drive, and excitement. A slow tempo often contributes to a solemn, lyrical, or calm mood.
Melody: After hearing a piece of music, we usually remember its melody best. melody is a series of single tones which add up to a recognizable whole. A melody begins, moves, and ends; it has direction, shape, and continuity. The up-and-down movement of its pitches conveys tension and release, expectation and arrival. This is the melodic curve, or line.
Syncopation: an "off-the-beat" accent (between the counted numbers)
Ritardando: gradually SLOWING DOWN the tempo
Accelerando: gradually SPEEDING UP the tempo
Rubato: freely and expressively making subtle changes in the tempo.