September 18, 2013

Music Deliverables -

Review at least ONE song.

Make a presentation on a GENRE of music.

Review at least ONE artist.

Make THREE songs with any tool you like (hint: I would use Garageband!) (for specific things - ie a soundtrack song, a genre song (metal, EDM, etc), a “use” song

One actual test - yes - a test. A live review in class test.

The History of Modern Music

How did we get here?

There is one thing to which we can trace back that Number 1 song in September of 2013.

The Slave Trade

many years ago, New Orleans was a very unusual and culture-rich city
black (African heritage), white (European heritage), native (Creole, First Nations), Caribbean, “country” and more
port city - sailors from everywhere
head of the biggest river in America - The Mississippi
it’s a gathering place

an entire group of people was dropped into another culture - straight up
these people were African - they were not treated well - duh
they were not allowed to use their culture
Sunday in Congo Square - there was a moment of peace

in that moment of allowing their own music and culture, white people gathered and watched and were amazed

one thing they loved was the “polyrhythm” - layers of drums and percussion, among other stuff

the black African music tradition is just WAY cooler and more powerful and the white folks back in the old days couldn’t believe what they were seeing

The Cakewalk

this was a dance that the black folks did where they made fun of white people (people who were rich enough to eat cake)
they did this dance for white people to watch, and the whites didn’t seem to get that it was a joke on them
they even copied it and did it and loved it and it became huge
the music that went along with it was also very popular

There was another popular form of entertainment that came up with this that was called

Minstrel Show
a ton of weird “black” stereotypes that were performed in blackface (ie all the performers painted their faces black - even black people)
there were songs and stories and jokes and it was insane and brutally racist and white people went bug nuts for it

Ragtime
cakewalk music
a very strange kind of piano music
it caught on immediately and was a world wide hit
Scott Joplin - black guy who wrote ragtime songs
became a huge force in the industry
made a fortune - selling the sheet music to his songs
of course, more and more people are learning this odd style of music and using it and spreading it around
it was good for dancing and was very much influenced by black culture

Black performers start spreading that ragtime music.
Some adopt it and change it and make it their own.

One guy did it on the piano and became famous - Jellyroll Morton

Another did it on the trumpet and became a GIANT - Louis Armstrong

These guys are two of the first real JAZZ musicians.

Jazz was a black slang for sex.

Here’s the weird thing - white people thought black people were more sexual, more primitive, more frightening, less controlled, more dangerous and more prone to emotion - they thought their music was the same
they thought black dancing was obscene and not suitable for white folks
it was the first true ALT music -

WOW!

People become influenced and the sound spreads.
It becomes a trend in the exact same time as THREE other things

the invention of the phonograph
the invention of the radio
the Jazz Boom of the 20s where people got rich

Out of this explosion