The Emergence of Black Music

Chapter 3Kristy Gualdoni and Elizabeth Beauchamp

Styles Discussed• Ragtime• Syncopated Dance• Blues• Jazz

Ragtime• A popular style at the turn of the

twentieth century that mixed European forms, harmony, and textures with African-inspired syncopation. Ragtime began as a piano music, but soon the term was applied to any music-song and dance as well as piano music-that had some syncopation.

History of Ragtime• Ragtime emerged in the

years following the Civil War, but not published until the 1890s.

• They named the syncopated style “ragtime” towards the end of the century.

• Ragtime opened the eyes of white Americans to African American music.

• White Americans were able to start playing African American music because it was finally printed in sheet form, which made it accessible to everybody.

Scott Joplin• Had first

commercially successful piano rag, “Maple Leaf Rag” in 1899.

• Spent most of his life composing music and trying to validate ragtime.

• “Maple Leaf Rag”

Ragtime Enters Popular Culture

• By the 1900s, Ragtime was spreading across the country, but was not widely accepted.

• Some serious musicians tried to degrade ragtime and the musicians who wrote it.

The Legacy of Ragtime

• Ragtime marks the first time African American music was written down instead of passed down through oral traditions.

• It changed popular music and paved the way for jazz and other African styles.

Syncopated Dance Music

• 1905-1925• Basically ragtime music that has been

changed to allow more dancing to take place.

• Milestone in popularizing black music and a step toward equality.

Ragtime Dance• People started

creating new dances to replace the cakewalk like the animal dances.

• These dances were rejected by respectable people because they were said to be trashy.

• “The Grizzly Bear”

• Some animal dances include, the grizzly bear, chicken glide, and the turkey trot.

James Reese Europe and the Foxtrot

• “Castle House Rag” • Europe organized the first rag orchestra for African American musicians and changed the concept of ragtime entirely.

• Europe’s ragtime has a faster tempo, less syncopation and less ‘ragged’ melodies, and gave the chance for improvisation.

Commercial and Classic Blues

• An umbrella term for blues styles performed by professional entertainers during the first part of the twentieth century, as opposed to folk or country blues

• The popular blues style of the 1920s, which typically featured a woman singing the blues accompanied by one or more jazz musicians.

First Professional Blues Musicians

• Blues started in the South mainly by blacks for blacks in the early 1900s.

• After moving North and to urban areas, the blues become more widespread.

• Most blues singers were women.

The First Published Blues Songs

• He is the self-proclaimed “Father of Blues.”

• W.C. Handy was one of the first to publish blues sheet music.

• “Memphis Blues” and “St. Louis Blues” were two very popular blues songs recorded in the 1910s.

• “St. Louis Blues”

Bessie Smith• Smith changed

everything about the blues with the release of “Crazy Blues” in 1920 because she sang.

• Smith was accompanied by a trombonist and pianist when she sang.

• She had black and white fans and was in a film, uncommon for the times.

• “Crazy Blues”

Classic Blues• The Blues have three main

components: form, style, and feeling.• When the great depression hit

Americans could no longer afford to keep up with commercial blues.

• “What ragtime and syncopated music did for the hips and the feet, blues did the the heart and soul.”

Jazz• A group of popular related styles primarily

for listening. Jazz is usually distinguished from the other popular music of an era by greater rhythmic freedom (more syncopation and/or less insistent beat keeping), extensive improvisation, and more-adventurous harmony. There are two families of jazz styles: those based on a four-beat rhythm and those based on a rock or 16-beat rhythm.

The Roots of Jazz• New Orleans was the

birthplace of jazz mixing with the already diverse culture.

• Most of the jazz musicians lived in Storyville, until they got in trouble and were put out of work.

• The Jim Crow laws had an impact on how jazz developed over the twentieth century.

• Before the Jim Crow laws New Orleans had its own social structure, not just simply black and white.

New Orleans Jazz and the Front Line

• Style of jazz performance based on the early bands that performed in and around New Orleans; revived in the late 1940s, it typically features collective improvisation (all the musicians together make up the music as they go) and quick tempos.

• The front-line instruments usually include cornet or trumpet, clarinet, and trombone, with a rhythm section partial or complete. Also called Dixieland Jazz.

King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band

• Oliver was among many of the jazz musicians to emigrate to Chicago from Storyville.

• One of their most famous songs “Dippermouth Blues” is an example of a song with deep roots in the blues and early jazz.

• Louis Armstrong started out playing with this band, but left to go to New York where he became one of the greatest jazz musicians of his era.

King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band

“Dippermouth Blues”

Swing and Improvisation

• Armstrong sets these as the standards of quality jazz.

• Swing is the rhythmic play over a four beat rhythm.

• Improvisation is creating music spontaneously and one of the key elements of jazz.

Louis Armstrong• First great soloist in

jazz.

• Other musicians saw him as the standard of a great jazz artist, and no one knew swing better than him.

• “If you have to ask, you’ll never know.”

• “Hotter Than That”

Jazz in America During the 1920s

• Chicago and New York were the hot spots for jazz with a variety of white and black musicians.

• At this time jazz was spontaneous, fast paced, optimistic, and exciting.

• “What blues did for the heart and soul, jazz did for the spirit.”