The early history of popular music in the USA

1. The early history of popular music in the USA

2. Popular Music • Music with a broad appeal • Music recorded for commercial consumption • Often oriented towards a youth market • Often intended to encourage dancing

3. Early Pop Music • Mass distribution needed to be considered pop music • 1st way music distributed to a wide audience? • Sheet music- many Americans sang and played music in own homes • Most sheet music sold in 19th century- opera, classical music, marches, minstrel music Now playing: Esprit du Corps John Phillip Sousa

4. Minstrel Music • White singers in blackface exaggerating the styles of African-American song and movement • Had existed in US almost since Europeans encountered Africans • Made most popular form of mass entertainment in 19th century by Thomas Rice, who saw a crippled black stable hand named Jim Crow doing a song and dance called Jumping Jim Crow. • Rice bought the man's clothes and learned the song and dance and made it a stage routine

5. Changing technology- The phonograph • Thomas Edison the father of recording industry • Invented the phonograph (musical cylinder) in 1877 • Music recorded on wax and later plastic cylinders • Dominant form of mass production from 1880s-1910 • Brought professional musicians into homes for first time

6. Changing technology- The gramophone (record player) • 1887- Emile Berliner invents the gramophone • Played a flat record- cheaper to mass produce, easier to store • Gramophone was in millions of homes by the early 20th century Now playing: Red Red Robin Al Jolson

7. Pop Music in early 1900s tended to be: • Mostly European in style (USA still looked to Europe for approval) • Enjoyed by old and young alike (phonograph / gramophone sat in centre of home controlled by head of household) Now playing: California Here I Come Al Jolson

8. The Lost Generation • Young men disillusioned by the horrors of WW1 began to reject the values of the elder generation • Young women fought stereotypical gender roles and adopted the “flapper” lifestyle • Known as the “Lost Generation”, youth in the 1920s began to rebel against the values of the Victorian era

9. The Generation Gap • A disconnect between members of one generation and members of the next based on the later generation developing habits, attitudes, and preferences inconsistent with the experience of the former • Before the 1920s, culturally there was not a significant generation gap • During the Roaring 1920s, the musical tastes of the young and old began to diverge- generation gap in music has been significant since then

10. The Jazz Age • Nickname for the 1920s • Jazz music was developed by African Americans in the Jim Crow south (New Orleans was the centre of the jazz music scene) • Came North as Black musicians tried to escape Southern oppression, particularly during the Great Migration- Chicago & New York became centres for Jazz music Now playing: St. Louis Blues Louis Armstrong

11. Jazz- Music of Rebellion Young, white, Americans embraced jazz music as form of rebellion because: • Roots in Black culture • Loud, fast, wild, improvised sound much different than traditional pop music • Dance that accompanied it seen as too sexual • Played at illegal speakeasies during prohibition Now playing: Hotter than ‘Ell Fletcher Henderson

12. Slumming • Name given to the practice of affluent, whites going to black neighbourhoods, like Harlem, to go to jazz clubs • Went to find authentic “jungle music” and for the thrill of doing something disreputable Now playing: Jumpin’ Jive Cab Calloway

13. Tin Pan Alley & the White Washing of Jazz • Tin Pan Alley- the New York City-centered music industry that dominated the popular music of the United States in the late 19th century and early 20th century • Saw the popularity of jazz music and wanted to make it more acceptable to wider society to increase sales

14. Symphonic Jazz • Effort to get rid of elements of jazz that offended older generation • Music was more arranged & orderly, played in concert halls instead of speakeasies, played by classically trained white musicians. Now playing: Valencia Paul Whiteman Orchestra

15. Stock Market Crash = Jazz Crash • During the early 1930s, popularity of jazz waned due to unpopularity of symphononic jazz; some blamed jazz age for Depression • “Crooners” singing sad songs most popular music in these years • Record sales, attendance at clubs falls dramatically during the early years of Depression Now playing: Pennies from Heaven Mel Torme

16. Swing Music • During mid-1930s, new form of jazz, “Swing”, became popular. • Mixed improvisation, up-tempo beat, danceability of hot jazz; and big bands and organization (led by a band leader) of symphonic jazz • Swing became mainstream pop music- most popular genre of its time Now playing: Sing Sing Sing Benny Goodman

17. Black Musicians During Swing Era • Many Black musicians enjoyed considerable popularity during Swing Era ( e.g. Duke Ellington, Count Basie) • However, the white musicians were the most marketable and highest paid swing artists (Benny Goodman, Glen Miller, Artie Shaw) • Faced racism or were not allowed to perform at Southern venues Now playing: Jumpin at the Woodside Count Basie

18. Bop or Bebop Jazz • Genre created in 1940s • Some believe it was created for musical reasons- gave musicians more freedom to improvise, be creative than swing • Others believe black musicians created to protest that they were not being compensated as well as white swing artists Now playing: Groovin’ High Charlie Parker & Dizzy Gilespie

19. Avant-Garde Jazz • Eventually, jazz became even less of a dance or pop music, more of a musicians music • Avant-garde jazz did not fit style or structure of more popular forms of jazz • End of jazz as a popular form of music (1950s)- replaced by R&B and Rock Now playing: A Love Supreme John Coltrane

20. Overall Impact of Jazz • Initiated the Generation Gap in Pop Culture • First music of American origin to become popular world wide- US becomes leader in world pop culture • Cultural product with African-American origins and played widely by Black musicians became popular in white society- breaking down of racial barriers Now playing: Take the A Train Duke Ellington