4. African American Spirituals - Lecture Highlights

African Musical Heritage

• African music cultures, while diverse, shared important characteristics that influenced African American musical traditions.

• Key features included the functional role of music in daily life, the centrality of group singing, and the integration of music, poetry, and dance.

Important concept:

• The use of creative metaphors and call-and-response singing served not just artistic purposes but also functioned as a form of communication—a practice that would take on new significance in the context of slavery.

Identity Formation in the New World

Two key factors enabled diverse African peoples to forge a common African American identity:

• Shared Experience - facing a unifying predicament as involuntary captives
• Cultural Commonalities - shared values centered on communal identity

"I am because we are; and because we are, therefore, I am." John Mbiti (West African scholar)

Folk Spirituals

Historical Context

• Earliest form of Black religious music in the U.S. (18th century)
• Outgrowth of slavery, created by and for Black Americans
• Conversion to Christianity was prerequisite; accelerated during the Great Awakening (1740s)
• Developed in autonomous spaces: "Invisible Churches" (South) and Independent Black Churches (North)

Cultural Significance:

• Folk spirituals represented a reinterpretation of Christianity through an African cultural lens—an act of resistance.
• Old Testament references preferred because of obvious parallels to the conditions of the enslaved.

Musical Characteristics

Be familiar with these features:

• Call-and-response structure
• Textual and melodic repetition with internal refrains
• Heterophonic vocal texture

Songs of Survival

• Spirituals functioned as both expressions of suffering and transformation.
• They conveyed communal understanding of shared pain and, at times, served as coded signals for secret meetings or escape plans.

Arthur Jones points out that the persistent reality of children without mothers created a shared understanding that people could use to express the depth of their emotional pain. Even someone who had never actually been separated from their mother could sing Sometimes, I Feel Like a Motherless Child during hard times, confident that others in the community would immediately grasp the exact intensity of suffering connected to whatever difficult experiences the singer was going through.

Critical perspective:

• Spirituals should be viewed as conscious expressions of African American beliefs and aesthetic values, not merely as religious songs.

Ring Shout

• A distinctive form combining stylized counterclockwise movement with religious singing.

Post-Civil War Developments

Key Figures and Institutions

• Reverend Richard Allen - Founded African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME) in 1794
• Fisk University - Founded 1866 for newly freed slaves
• Fisk Jubilee Singers - Tour began 1871, raised funds through concerts
• Harry T. Burleigh (1866–1949) - First to arrange spirituals for solo voice (1916)

A new performance tradition emerged for the concert stage, characterized by:

• Predictability and controlled reserve
• Vocal qualities reflecting European ideals
• Choral - A cappella
• Burleigh’s solo spirituals had piano accompaniment
• Syllabic singing: one note per syllable
• Use of Western European compositional arrangements and vocal timbres
• Call and response embedded in compositions
• Use of folk melodies and of folk dialect

Key distinction to understand:

• How do "arranged spirituals" differ from "folk spirituals" in purpose, setting, and performance practice?

Contemporary Legacy

• Spirituals maintain prominence in both contemporary African American worship and as integral repertoire for renowned African American operatic singers (arranged Spirituals), ensuring this powerful tradition continues to resonate today.

5. Intro to French Louisiana Music: Cajun & Zydeco - Lecture Highlights

Louisiana History

Indigenous Peoples

• Many Indigenous people had long lived in the area.
• In the 1700s, historians estimate that there were tens of thousands of Indigenous people speaking 22 distinct languages in what is now Louisiana.
• European colonization brought warfare and disease which decimated local populations, but many survived.
• Today, there are four federally recognized tribes in Louisiana.

Louisiana European Colonial Timeline

• 1682: Area claimed by the French
• 1762: Land west of the Mississippi ceded from France to Spain
• 1763: Land east of the Mississippi ceded from France to England
• 1800: Spain agrees to give territory back to France
• 1803: Louisiana Purchase: France sells the territory to the United States (at this point, there were seven times more French speakers than English speakers)

Throughout these centuries, French remained the main spoken language in the area.

African Descended Peoples

• 1719: The first Africans were taken to what is now Louisiana as a part of the Transatlantic Slave Trade
• Estimated 124,000 people were taken from Africa before emancipation
• Most came from West Africa (Mali, Senegal, Congo, Benin)
• As early as 1782 free People of Color were living in Louisiana
• Spanish and French colonial rule led to unique possibilities for free People of Color in Louisiana (compared to British colonies)
• Free People of Color could own property and businesses
• Today, Louisiana is the US state with the 5th largest Black population

Acadians in Louisiana

• Early 1600s: Original Acadians were French migrants in Northeast Canada (Acadia)
• 1713: Area ceded to Britain (Treaty of Utrecht)
• British demanded French settlers give up their French identity, Catholic faith, and swear fealty to the British crown
• Acadians refused; ethnic cleansing began
• 1755: Le Grand Dérangement (The Great Expulsion): thousands killed and exiled
• 1763: Treaty of Paris allowed 18 months for French immigrants to resettle
• Acadians created a settlement in Southwest Louisiana funded by French colonial government
• Contemporary Cajuns are descendants of these Acadian settlers

The French Language

• Identity in Southwest Louisiana is tied to the French language
• 1916: French banned in public schools (Louisiana Board of Education)
• 1921: French banned again (Louisiana Constitution)
• This was another attempt to force assimilation
• French-speaking remains a central marker of Southwest Louisiana identity today

Creole & Creolization

• Etymology: from Latin creare (“to create”) → Portuguese crioulo, Spanish criollo, French créole
• Originally meant anything born in the Americas with parentage from elsewhere (people, food, cultural practices)
• In Southwest Louisiana today: refers to mixed (esp. African heritage)
• Can describe people, languages, cultural expressions, cuisine, etc.

Concepts:

• Related to “hybridity” and “métissage”
• Implies myth of original purity
• Implies value-laden ideas of “center” and “periphery”
• Related to adaptability in Southwest Louisiana

“Adaptability is presented as a choice instead of a survival strategy...” (le Menestrel 2015, 26)

Cedric Watson, "Cochon de Lait"

Cajun

• The word comes from "Acadien," which became "Cajun" through creolization of French
• Cajun refers to French-speaking Louisianans descended from the original Acadians
• Savoy Family Band "Diggy Diggy Lo" - listen to the first piece

Cajun Music

A genre associated with Cajun people.

Musical Characteristics:

• French lyrics (generally)
• Homophonic texture
• Duple and triple meter
• Syncopation
• Dense texture
• Social music associated with dancing

Instruments (generally acoustic):

• Accordion (diatonic button)
• Fiddle
• Guitar (sometimes)
• Triangle

Generally associated with white Francophone peoples of Southwest Louisiana.

Zydeco

• Describes a musical genre, dance style, and events where it’s present
• Term from phrase "Les haricots sont pas salés" (“There’s no salt on the green beans”)
• Associated with Francophone people of African and mixed descent in Southwest Louisiana
• Corey Ledet "Alon Kouri La Bas" - example begins at [5:06]

Musical Characteristics:

• French lyrics (often)
• Homophonic texture
• Duple and triple meter
• Syncopation
• Dense texture
• Social music associated with dancing

Instruments (acoustic and electric):

• Accordion
• Frottoir (rubboard or washboard)
• Electric guitar
• Electric bass
• Keyboard
• Drumkit
• Horns

Cajun or Zydeco?

Juré

• An a cappella, call-and-response musical style of African-descended peoples of Southwest Louisiana
• French lyrics
• Spiritual
• Lots of body percussion (stomping and clapping)
• Juré comes from the French verb jurer meaning “to swear” or “to testify”

6. Zydeco: Music and Migration Lecture Highlights

Background Context

Creolization and Cultural Hybridity

• Creolization as a culturally specific practice of hybridity
• "Creole" as a method of referring to people of mixed heritage, especially African heritage
• Relationship between Cajun music (Acadian/French traditions) and Zydeco music (Creole traditions)
• The role of French language in Louisiana music traditions

6. Zydeco: Music and Migration - Lecture Highlights

Background Context

Creolization and Cultural Hybridity

• Creolization as a culturally specific practice of hybridity
• "Creole" as a method of referring to people of mixed heritage, especially African heritage
• Relationship between Cajun music (Acadian/French traditions) and Zydeco music (Creole traditions)
• The role of French language in Louisiana music traditions

Instrumentation

Be able to identify the key instruments in Zydeco:

• Accordion (both diatonic and piano varieties)
• Rubboard / vest frottoir (played with spoons or bottle openers)
• Drumkit, electric guitar, electric bass
• Saxophone / horns

The Great Migration (1914–1950)

Migration Patterns and Context

• Black migration out of the Southern United States driven by economic opportunities and escape from Jim Crow–era deteriorating race relations
• Important nuance: Most narratives discuss only South-to-North or South-to-West movement, but rural-to-urban migration within the South was also significant
• Houston's dramatic population growth: from 44,633 (1900) to over 600,000 (1950)
• Migration into Houston came primarily from Louisiana and Eastern Texas

Zydeco and Migration

Music on the Move

• Musicians either born in Louisiana and moved to Houston, or born to parents who migrated during the Great Migration
• Music traveled with people and became established in Houston's Sixth Ward
• Key figure: Clifton Chenier moved to Houston in 1946, performed in both Houston and New Orleans
• Folk music shaped by and responding to new urban environment
• Urban blues idiom became incorporated into Zydeco

Technology and Folk Music

Critical Theoretical Question

John Minton challenges narrow preconceptions of folklore that equate mediated (technologically recorded/distributed) performances with static “item-centered” folksong collections. Question: How does this apply to Zydeco?

Electronic Mediation in Zydeco Development

• Zydeco (especially 1950s–1990s) developed in conjunction with recording and distribution technologies
• Localized recording industry produced Zydeco (first on 45s, then on tape)
• Critical question: Remembering Zydeco as dance/social music, why might musicians not define themselves primarily by their commercial recordings?
• Videotaping emerged in the 1980s as a new form of engagement
• Key distinction: Mediation driven by performers and community versus commercial mediation

Contemporary Zydeco

Ongoing Migration and Evolution

• Migration remains an ongoing process (both forced and voluntary)
• Hurricane Katrina (2005) as a modern migration event that brought New Orleans culture to Houston
• Zydeco continues to evolve, performed at Jazz festivals in New Orleans as part of Louisiana culture
• Contemporary artists like Geno Delafose & French Rockin' Boogie continuing the tradition
• Important Reminder: Migration is not just a historical process—it continues to shape American music and culture today.

1. The Blues & Race Records - Lecture Highlights

The Modern Music Industry

The modern music industry emerged from the gradual merging of two separate 19th-century enterprises:

• The recording industry (newly established, not initially about music)
• Music publishing (sold sheet music, established business model)

Tin Pan Alley

• Specific location in Manhattan where music publishers and songwriters consolidated by the 1880s
• Dominated music publishing from 1880s until WWII
• Virtually no African American representation despite extensive borrowing from African American musics
• Exception: Scott Joplin and John Stillwell Stark partnership

Copyright Laws and Exclusion

• U.S. copyright laws focused on melody and lyrics = elements associated with written music
• This made it more difficult for certain forms of African American music to be defined/defended as intellectual property
• ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers) founded in 1914 had only 6 African American members out of 170
• W.C. Handy was one of the few composers to join professional songwriter ranks and was the first person to popularize the blues

The Music Industry “Discovers” Blues

• Mamie Smith records “Crazy Blues” in 1920
• Beginning of Race Records — Black music, by Black artists, intended for a Black audience (Industry dubbed these Classic Blues)

Race and Hillbilly Records

Terms used by the American music industry (early 1920s–late 1940s) to classify and advertise southern music:

• “Race Music” — promotional catchphrase applied by Ralph Peer
  • Talent scout for Okeh Records who worked on the Mamie Smith recording sessions
  • Sent recording units into the South to record local talent
• Race Records included: blues, jazz, gospel choirs, vocal quartets, string bands

Genre as Construct

Record companies create genre labels as a way to package and sell music to particular audiences. Once these labels take hold, listeners adopt them as their primary way of understanding and organizing the music they consume.

The Blues: Origins and Context

Historical Context

• Musical genre that emerged in Black communities of the Deep South toward the end of the 19th century
• Part of broader innovation in Black American music: ragtime, jazz, gospel, barbershop-style vocal harmony
• Emerged alongside increased resistance to Black social and economic advancement

Jim Crow Laws

• Collection of statutes that institutionalized racial segregation from post-Civil War era (1861–1865) to the late 1960s
• Named after a Minstrel Show character (white performers who blackened their skin and performed stereotyped parodies)
• Disillusionment with reality after emancipation: emerging musical genres reflected a shift inward

Distinctive Characteristics of the Blues

The blues combined elements of both European and African traditions to create a completely unique musical practice.

Be able to identify and explain:

Text

• What perspective are blues lyrics sung from?
• What themes do they address?
• How do blues texts function as assertion of personhood?

Example: “Why Don’t You Come Home Blues” – Furry Lewis (1927)

Sarah Lee why don't you come home Sarah Lee why don't you come home I ain't had no loving gal since you been gone

My mama told me when I was a child My mama told me when I was a child Good time now trouble after a while

If I had a-listened to what my mother said If I had a-listened to what my mother said I wouldn't be in here treated this a-way

I'd rather see my coffin roll in front of my door I'd rather see my coffin roll in front of my door Than to hear my good gal say I don't want you no more

Role of Instruments

• How do instruments function in blues music?
• What is the relationship between vocal and instrumental parts?

Blue Notes / Blues Scale

• What is a "blue note"?
• Is there a single blues scale?

Blues Form

• What is the typical lyric pattern? (Hint: AAB)
• How many bars in a standard blues? How are they organized?
• What is the harmonic progression?

Rhythm

• What is the "shuffle" rhythm?
• Note: not the only rhythm but a dominant one.

Categorizing Recordings

Classic Blues

• Disseminated through Race Records
• Female singer
• Piano accompaniment (by someone other than the singer)
• Or jazz combo: clarinet, cornet, trombone, banjo
• Example: Bessie Smith “Lost Your Head Blues”

Rural Blues

• Rural musicians were not recorded until the mid-1920s
• Male singer
• Acoustic guitar/banjo (played by singer himself)
• Phrasing can be very flexible (not strictly 12 bars of 4 beats)
• Example: Robert Johnson “Cross Road Blues” (1936)

Urban Blues / Chicago Electric Blues

• Emerged in 1930s/1940s
• Derived directly from the Mississippi Delta tradition
• Mostly male singers
• Electric guitars, harmonica
• Rhythm section: Bass, piano, drums
• Example: Muddy Waters “Hoochie Coochie Man” Remember: These subcategories are industry constructs used for marketing.

2. Bluegrass, Jam Culture, and the Early Recording Industry - Lecture Highlights

Origins: From Hillbilly Records to Country Music

1920s: Hillbilly Records

• Produced alongside Race Records — marketed to rural white southerners
• Capitalizing on pre-Jim Crow nostalgia
• “Old-Time” string band dance music of Appalachia
• Famous figures: Jimmie Rodgers, Carter Family

1940s: Rebranded as Country Music

• Postwar diversification of regional record labels
• Subgenres: Country and Western, Western Swing, Rockabilly
• Grand Ole Opry (Nashville) — Southern music industry hub; radio & TV show that popularized songs

Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys

• Born in rural Kentucky; moved to Chicago urban area for work
• Influences: Old-Time, Scots-Irish music, African-American blues, and gospel
• Formed band in 1938; reached peak popularity in late 1940s
• Earl Scruggs: signature banjo style made the banjo a melodic instrument
• New genre marketed as “bluegrass” to distinguish from country and western

Musical Characteristics of Traditional Bluegrass

Instrumentation (1940s–50s)

• Acoustic instruments only
• Melody instruments: mandolin, fiddle, banjo
• Rhythm instruments: bass, guitars, dobro (resonator guitar)
• Vocals: 1–4 singers

Tempo, Texture, & Form

• Texture: Homophony; some heterophony (in jams)
• Tempo: Extremely fast
• Rhythm: Offbeat accents, syncopated melodies
• Form: Binary (AABA, AABB, ABBA...) — vocalists and instrumentalists take turns
• Emphasis on individual virtuosity, ornamentation, and improvisation (NOT dance music)
• Borrowings from blues: 12- or 16-bar chord progression, blue notes

Vocal Style

• “High, Lonesome Sound” — distinct vocal style that distinguishes bluegrass from country
• Three- and four-part harmonies (lead, tenor, third, bass)
• Inspired by African-American spirituals and southern gospel
• Sometimes uses call-and-response

Bluegrass in Practice: Folk Revival & Festivals

1960s Folk Revival

• Mostly in American North: urbanites renewed interest in rural “folk” genres
• Bluegrass considered “folk” even though commercially developed in the 1940s
• Critical question: What is “authentic” folk music?

Bluegrass Festivals

• Proliferation across West and Northeast — sites for teaching and learning
• Major festivals: Bean Blossom, Indiana (1967); Telluride, Colorado (1974); Grey Fox, New York (1984)

Michelle Kisliuk: “A Special Kind of Courtesy”

• Bluegrass festivals = sites for informal “jams”
• Settings: parking lots, tents, campgrounds
• Mingling of novices and (semi)professionals
• Oral tradition: learning through osmosis
• “Structured improvisation” — in between a live rehearsal and a performance
• “Special Kind of Courtesy” = unspoken jam etiquette
• Subtle social cues — ability “to respond musically to a social situation”
• Ethnographic method used to study this practice

Bluegrass Repertoire Today

• Repertoire = songs that usually get played as a certain genre
• Individuals bring songs to each jam session:
  • Recorded bluegrass classics
  • Traditional Old-Time dance tunes
  • Irish & Scottish folk songs
  • Country and western hits (e.g., Dolly Parton)

Key Takeaways

• Bluegrass was defined by the recording industry in the 1940s–50s to market a new “folk” sound to rural white southern audiences
• Genres evolve through practice: designated by industry, redefined by players
• Genres change over time as people play music in new places, with new people
• Music is deeply embedded in social life — social relations are another way people express and experience cultural identity through music

3. Musical Enactments of Rock 'n' Roll - Lecture Highlights

The Term 'Rock 'n' Roll'

• First used commercially by DJ Alan Freed
• Applied to any music pitched to a mostly white teenage audience in his radio show
• Derived from references to "rockin" and "rollin" found in rhythm and blues
• Commercial and marketing term targeting the baby boom generation (1946–64)

Context of Emergence - 1950s

• Economic stability: Sales of record players and radios expanded significantly after WWII
• Political and cultural traumas: Post-WWII, Cold War, anticommunism, fear of atomic weapons
• Social changes:
  • End of racial segregation in public schools (1954)
  • First generation that grew up with television
  • Teenager invented as commercial and cultural entity
• Marketing shift: Away from racial/regional considerations → toward generational considerations

Cover Versions

Definition

Recording a song previously recorded by another artist or group.

Key Characteristics

• One of the most important precedents for the rise of rock 'n' roll as a commercial phenomenon
• Involves adaptation of original style
• End goal: profiting from its success
• Most notorious examples: white performers covering work of African American recording artists
• Occurred not only between individual musicians but also between competing institutions
• Famous example: "A Little Bird Told Me" — Paula Watson (Supreme, 1948) vs. Evelyn Knight (Decca, 1949)

Case Study: "A Little Bird Told Me"

Original – Paula Watson (Supreme, 1948) Cover – Evelyn Knight (Decca, 1949)

• Supreme sued Decca, claiming infringement on arrangement, texture, and vocal style.
• Judge ruled in favor of Decca: musical arrangements were not copyrightable.
• Established legal principle that the song (sheet music) is copyrighted, but individual interpretations/arrangements are not.
• Decision opened floodgates for cover versions in the 1950s.

"Hound Dog"

Big Mama Thornton – Original (1953)

• Perspective: Woman addressing an unfaithful man
• Lyrics: “You ain’t nothin’ but a hound dog... You told me you was high class, but I could see through that”
• Style: Slower tempo, blues-based, powerful female vocal

Elvis Presley – Cover (1956)

• Perspective: Gender-neutral, meaning unclear
• Lyrics changed: “You ain’t nothin’ but a hound dog, cryin’ all the time... you ain’t never caught a rabbit”
• Style: Faster tempo, rock 'n' roll arrangement, energetic performance

Comparison Questions

• How do rhythm and tempo differ?
• How does the use of bass and guitar change?
• How do vocal style and timbre compare?
• How do storyline and meaning of lyrics differ?

Multiple Levels of Appropriation in "Hound Dog"

• Written by white men (Leiber and Stoller) in Los Angeles who admired and stereotyped Black musical idioms
• Originally composed for and performed by Black woman (Big Mama Thornton)
• Made famous through cover by white man (Elvis Presley)

Music Appropriation

Definition: “To take for one’s own property.”

Critical Questions

• Anyone can buy/own/use music and make it their own — but whose music is it?
• How does the music change when separated from its originator?
• Does it involve loss of meaning or acquisition of new meanings?

4. Early MTV & Racial Politics - Lecture Highlights

Music Industry Crisis: 1979–Early 1980s

Industry Structure

• Relied on sales of a few multiplatinum recordings
• Hit albums were cross-promoted across multiple media platforms

Major Sales Drop

Caused by:

• National recession
• Competition from new entertainment forms
• Decline of disco
• Increase in illegal copying of recordings

Rise of New Technologies (1980s)

• Compact Disc (CD) – 1983:
  • Marked the decline of vinyl
  • Higher sound quality, durability
  • Initially expensive but became standard
• Affordable sound devices:
  • Drum machines, sequencers, samplers
• Rise of home studios → independent production

The Pre-MTV Era

Traditional Promotion

• Radio play: Primary method to reach audiences
• Concert performance: Connect with fans, promote records

Search for New Strategies

• Industry needed new techniques to reach younger demographics
• Sought direct visual connection between artists and audiences

Cable Television Growth and the Birth of MTV

• Context: Growth of cable TV from entertainment industry deregulation
• MTV Launch (1981): Founded by Warner Amex Satellite Entertainment Company (WASEC)
• Impact: Became the dominant method to launch and promote artists
  • 24-hour music video programming
  • Revolutionary audio-visual marketing method

MTV’s Format (Early 1980s)

Racial Exclusion

• Focused on white rock artists; Black artists excluded
• Collaborated with radio and media to boost record sales
• Promoted white covers of popular Black songs

Michael Jackson’s Thriller: Breaking the Color Barrier

Turning Point

• Thriller changed MTV’s white-only format
• Became top-selling album in history
• #1 for 37 weeks in 1983

Musical Strategy

• Not a concept album — diverse singles
• Combined pop, R&B, rock, funk
• Collaborations: Eddie Van Halen (Beat It), Paul McCartney (The Girl Is Mine)
• Goal: Bridge divides — racial, generational, genre-based

Thriller’s Music Videos

• Billie Jean, Beat It, Thriller — all groundbreaking

“Thriller” (1983)

• 14-minute mini-movie directed by John Landis
• Horror aesthetic, zombie choreography
• Vincent Price narration
• Elevated music videos to cinematic art
• Became cultural phenomenon
• Most expensive video of its time

Music Videos: Dual Function

1. Sell the song: Promote and boost record sales
2. Standalone product: Entertainment medium in its own right

Impact on MTV and the Industry

• Brought attention to new audiences
• Strengthened MTV’s cultural influence
• Created new visual language for music

Critical Questions: Music and Image

• Do images change how we listen to music?
• How does visual representation shape interpretation?
• Can we separate sound from image once we’ve seen a video?
• Does music give meaning to images?
• How does genre influence visual aesthetics?
• Do music videos create new narratives or reinforce existing ones?

5. The Soundtrack of America: Hollywood’s Sound, Ideology, and Media Representation - Lecture Highlights

Central Question

“What America do we see — and what America do we hear?”

Explores:

• How Hollywood film music shapes what we feel about the nation
• How media representation influences identity and power
• The cultural, industrial, and technological systems behind them

Key Concepts: What is Film Music?

• Adds emotion and meaning (Chion)
• Guides understanding (Gorbman)
• Operates industrially (Adorno & Eisler)
• Organizes sound and image (Buhler et al.)
• Circulates globally (Slobin)

Types of Film Music

• Diegetic: Heard by characters (e.g. band playing on screen)
• Nondiegetic: Heard only by audience (e.g. orchestral score)

Historical Context: Hollywood Film and Film Music

Early Sound Technology

• 1877: Edison invents phonograph
• 1894–1927: “Silent era” (with live accompaniment)
• 1927: The Jazz Singer — first feature with synchronized sound

The Jazz Singer (1927)

• First feature with synchronized singing/dialogue
• Success led to the sound revolution
• Racial context: tied to blackface performance
• Introduced racialized listening from the start

Europe Invented, Hollywood Industrialized

• Geography: California → sunlight, distance from Edison's patents
• Industry: Studio vertical integration
• History: WWI/WWII disruptions gave U.S. export power

From Music to System

• Studio departments institutionalized scoring
• Leitmotif, underscoring, synchronization became standard grammar
• Audiences learned cinematic continuity through sound

Mark Slobin: "The Steiner Superculture"

• Hollywood’s orchestral sound became global “superculture”
• Commercially driven ideology of “normal” cinematic sound
• Quote: “Film music became a supercultural force.”

Max Steiner and King Kong (1935)

• Pioneered click track synchronization
• Mickey Mousing: Music imitates screen action
• Leitmotif: Recurring musical theme for characters/ideas
  • Darth Vader’s Theme vs. Anakin’s Theme — same motif, different tone

The Orchestra as a Social Mirror

• Symbol of order, discipline, cultural prestige
• Represents modernity and industrial coordination
• Elevated cinema by aligning popular art with “high art”

Musical Ethnography and Ideology

• Film scores create musical ethnographies — shaping how audiences “hear” culture
• Mixed authentic and imagined vernaculars
• Hollywood’s orchestral model influenced global cinema

Semiotics of Hollywood Musical Topics

• Heroic: Brass fanfare → unity, heroism
• Danger: Low ostinati, snare rhythms
• Romance: Strings, suspensions
• Exotic: Modal ornaments, “non-Western” percussion
• Comedy: Staccato woods, oom-pah style
• Feeling = historically conditioned.

Ideology of the “Original” Sound

• Recording doesn’t capture the real — it creates authenticity
• Key idea: “Recording produces the feeling of the real.”

Constructing Reality: Foley Sound

• Foley = studio recreation of everyday sounds
• Artists sync sound effects to visuals
• Builds illusion of realism, not actual capture
• If done correctly, sounds “feel natural” but are constructed

Evolution of Sound Technology

• 1938: Academy Curve standardizes theater playback
• 1966: Dolby A noise reduction
• 1970s: Dolby Stereo, THX standards
• 1990s–present: Dolby Digital → Dolby Atmos

Dolby Atmos

• Object-based 3D audio
• Places sounds spatially, including overhead
• Creates immersive, emotional sonic environments

Key Takeaways

• Hollywood film music is ideological — shapes hearing of race, gender, nationality, power
• The Hollywood orchestra = global superculture
• Film sound is constructed, not captured
• Musical tropes (heroic brass, romantic strings, exotic drums) = learned conventions
• Sound tech (from The Jazz Singer → Atmos) = emotional manipulation through realism
• Film music is performative — it produces what feels “normal” and “natural”

1. Swing Historiography - Lecture Highlights

What is Historiography?

• Historiography = the writing of history; constructing narratives about the past.
• Key question: How do ways of writing and practicing music construct meaning and identity?

The "Official History" of Jazz

• Emerged in the 1990s: textbooks formalized style periods (New Orleans → Swing → Bebop, etc.)
• Framed jazz as autonomous and evolutionary
• Dominant narrative is not gender neutral — largely a history of men

Swing Music: Definition & Context

• Swing: Big band jazz style (1930s) emphasizing horn riffs and rhythmic drive

Historical Context (1935–1945)

• Large dance orchestras dominated national hits
• Symbol of sophistication and modernity
• Controlled by white-owned corporations (e.g., MCA)
• Network radio → key promotional tool

Visual Representation

• 1920s: small groups, intimate (King Joe Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band)
• 1930s–40s: large orchestras, formal presentation (Duke Ellington Orchestra)

Musical Characteristics of Swing

• Dance music in 4/4 time
• Riffs: short melodic/rhythmic phrases used as melody, call-and-response, or background texture
• Example: Count Basie’s Sent for You Yesterday (1938)
• Call-and-response between sections; walking bass & swing drums drive rhythm
• Typical form: 32-bar AABA (Taking a Chance on Love, 1940)

Swing Era as Business

• Swing industry = white-owned, profiting from Black music
• Marketed swing to white audiences via jukeboxes and dance halls
• WWII disrupted supply chains and changed demand

Wartime Recruitment & Women Musicians

“Swing Shift Maisies”

• Women replaced men musicians during WWII
• Portrayed as temporary, patriotic, glamorous
• Created both opportunity and limitation
• Publicity emphasized femininity > musicianship

Significance

• War created visibility for women musicians
• Women’s expertise overshadowed by gender performance
• Lasting tension: accepted as “temporary substitutes”

Reading: Pellegrinelli, Lara – “Separated at ‘Birth’: Singing and the History of Jazz”

Central Question

How does gender shape jazz historiography from its origins?

Gendered Parentage

• Blues (Feminine): voice, emotion, body, untrained, spiritual
• Ragtime (Masculine): instruments, skill, trained, secular, professional

“The parentage of jazz... can be read as symbolically gendered.” – Pellegrinelli

Jazz’s “Birth” Myth

• “Beginnings carry weight because they produce meaning.” – Edward Said
• Histories mythologize jazz’s “birth” as a singular event → legitimizes innovation

The Erasure of Singing

• Singing central to origins, then disappears from history
• Historians focus on instrumental evolution

Why the Erasure?

1. Legitimization: Present jazz as art, not entertainment
2. Evolutionary Narrative: From primitive → sophisticated
3. “Great Man” Histories: Focus on male instrumental heroes
4. Control of Sexuality: Distance from body, women, commercialism

2. What is (Rock) Music Criticism? Or: Why Detroit Sucks

Why Care About Criticism?

• Music criticism passes judgment on musical taste, legitimizing or delegitimizing certain forms of music.
• These judgments depend on the aesthetics of the music—what makes something artistically attractive or valuable.
• To legitimize a musical aesthetic, critics mobilize politics, class, race, gender, history, and regional identity.
• Written commentary becomes essential because meaning often cannot be derived from listening alone.

Why Care About Rock Criticism?

• Rock criticism became tied to defining Americanness.
• Critiques of American music entangle racial politics, class identity, history, and regionalism.
• Rock's identity as a “national” music made criticism a site for constructing American cultural meaning.

Rock Music in the 1960s

Rock underwent major aesthetic and technological changes:

• Studio experimentation (The Beatles, George Martin)
• Complex poetic lyrics (Bob Dylan, the Doors)
• Influence from folk revival, avant-garde, and free jazz
• Increasing commercialization among white youth audiences

The Big Five of Early Rock Critics

• Robert Christgau (Village Voice)
• Greil Marcus (Rolling Stone)
• Dave Marsh (Creem)
• Lester Bangs (Creem)
• Jon Landau (Crawdaddy)

Mostly white, male, and invested in defining the “American” essence of rock.

Rock Criticism in Late 1960s–Early 1970s

• Emerged alongside rock’s transformation.
• Served as a conservative intervention in delineating the genre’s “roots.”
• Key ideologies:
  • Privileging early rock and roll (Chuck Berry)
  • Treating rock as a uniquely valuable American art form
  • Emphasizing African American musical roots while critiquing white commercial rock

Lester Bangs and “The Party” Aesthetic

• Defined in Bangs’ essay “James Taylor Marked for Death” (1971).
• The Party = physical, wild, non-intellectual, irreverent, amateur, anti-elitist.
• Represents early rock’s ecstatic, chaotic spirit.
• No deeper meaning—just revelry, loudness, and collective release.

Musical Characteristics of “The Party”

Simple

• Amateur musicians
• Conventional forms (12-bar blues)
• Repetitive, sexually suggestive lyrics

Energetic

• Danceable, physical
• Loud, distorted, muddy “live” sound

Low-brow / populist

• Anti-elitist yet populist
• Rejects commercial polish while embracing mass participation

Cold War Context

• The Party happens under the shadow of the Bomb.
• Rock is imagined as a continuous party before an inevitable technological or political apocalypse.

Creem Magazine & Detroit

• Founded by Barry Kramer for Detroit’s bohemian community.
• Home to critics like Marsh and Bangs.
• Detroit rock scene framed as a corrective to coastal scenes.
• “The only real hope is Detroit!” — Lester Bangs

Detroit’s Rise and Fall

• Auto industry boom → Detroit becomes 4th largest U.S. city by 1920.
• Post-1950s decline due to suburbanization.
• 1967 race riots deepen segregation, poverty, and white flight.

Detroit as Aesthetic Realism

• Detroit = the perfect landscape for Bangs’ doom-laden Party aesthetic.
• Urban decay and working-class history become a source of rock authenticity.
• Detroit embodies a gritty “realness” missing from coastal hippie or avant-garde scenes.

Detroit vs. California vs. New York

• 1960s youth culture framed as a clash:
  • Bay Area hippies
  • NYC avant-garde “heads”
• Creem critics position Detroit as a third alternative—raw, working-class, unpretentious.

Two Types of Parties: Political vs. Foolish

Political Party → MC5

• Radical leftist, anti-racist, militant.
• John Sinclair: White Panther Party founder.
• Dave Marsh supports MC5 as true counterculture.
• Kick Out the Jams (1969) as revolutionary high-energy rock.
• Bangs critiques MC5 as pretentious; Marsh praises them as authentically radical.

Foolish Party → The Stooges

• Less political, more chaotic and physical.
• Loud, raw performances; explicit lyrics.
• Fun House (1970) attempts to capture their live “liveness.”
• Bangs: The Stooges represent American youth confusion, boredom, and suburban darkness.

Critical Reception of Fun House

• Robert Christgau (NYC “head”): avant-garde, intellectual.
• Bangs (Detroit “Partier”): stupid, violent, ecstatic, revolutionary.

Conclusion: Does Detroit Suck?

• Yes—but that’s what makes it meaningful in Bangs’ aesthetic.
• Detroit’s decay becomes the essence of rock’s authenticity.
• Criticism shapes not only music but the identity of cities and regions.
• Bangs’ framework shows how critics construct social meaning, not merely analyze it.

3. Tango Salon

Context of Emergence (1880–1920s)

• Tango emerges in working-class immigrant port neighborhoods of Buenos Aires & Montevideo.
• Diverse cultural origins from the start.
• Gains international acceptance in Europe (1910s).
• Irene & Vernon Castle popularize a “smoothed-out” version in the U.S.
• Elite Argentines embrace tango after European validation.

Golden Age (1920–1950s)

• Expansion into cabarets, theaters, cafés.
• Tango-song develops; Carlos Gardel becomes central icon.
• Tango becomes national symbol of Argentina.
• Modern tango salon repertoire mostly comes from this era.

Musical Features

Melodic

• Melody dominant.
• 8-bar phrases, often in two 8-bar sections (A and B).
• Countermelodies common.
• Two melody types: rítmicas (rhythmic) and ligadas (melodic/legato).
• Embellishment and varied phrasing expected. Rhythmic
• Quadruple meter.
• Accents:
  • Marcato in cuatro (accents on all 4 beats)
  • Marcato in dos (accents on beats 1 & 3)
• Bass lines often use the 3-3-2 pattern.

Instrumentation: Orquesta Típica

• Bandoneon (iconic)
• Piano
• Double bass
• Violin
• Standard roles: bass/piano = rhythmic foundation; bandoneon/violin = melodic lines.

Dance Characteristics

• Close couple dance.
• Lead/follow expressed through subtle upper/lower body signals.
• Walking = fundamental.
• Components: steps, figures, adornments.

The Milonga (Salon Culture)

• Traditional tango event.
• Seating by gender.
• Floor circulation counterclockwise.
• Dancing in tandas (3–4 songs).
• Cabeceo for invitations.
• Silence during dancing.
• Reinforces dominant gender norms.

Kathy Davis – “Should a Feminist Dance Tango?”

• Critiques academic analyses focusing only on gender/power/colonialism.
• Emphasizes lived passion and embodied experience.
• Tango provides experiences of intensity, connection, and gendered difference difficult to access elsewhere.
• Contradictions between feminist ideals and embodied desires should be embraced as “affective dissonance.”

Astor Piazzolla & New Tango (1950s)

• Virtuoso bandoneon player and conservatory-trained composer.
• Studied under Nadia Boulanger.
• Created concert-oriented, non-dance tango.
• Added electric guitar, classical forms, chromaticism, improvisation, tempo changes.
• Helped legitimize tango as high art.

1980s Tango Renaissance

• Renewed global interest via Broadway and touring shows.
• Tango revived both as social dance and concert form.
• Some choreographers tackled Piazzolla’s complex music.

Key Takeaways

• Tango’s salon culture encodes gendered power.
• Piazzolla elevated tango into concert tradition, paradoxically helping revive the dance globally.
• Davis emphasizes understanding the tensions between feminist critique and embodied passion.

4. Asian American Jazz Movement

Normative Jazz Discourse

• Jazz traditionally narrated as African American + white American.
• Color-blind “jazz as democracy” narrative reinforces Black/white binary.
• “Authentic jazz” stereotyped as masculine, emotional, primitive.
• Asian Americans stereotyped as passive or asexual → excluded from normative jazz identity.

Asian American History (Key Points)

• From 1763 Filipino settlements → 19th-century labor migrations → Exclusion Acts → WWII internment → 1965 immigration reforms.
• Asian American identity shaped by xenophobia and exclusion.

Asian Americans in Jazz

• Significant presence in nightclub circuits like Forbidden City.
• Performers often exoticized as “Chinese” regardless of actual ethnicity.
• Erasure of shared cultural grounding with audiences.

Asian American Jazz/Creative Music Movement (1970s)

• Emerged in Bay Area.
• Connected to Asian American political movements.
• Musicians: Fred Ho, Francis Wong, Jon Jang, Russell Baba, Mark Izu, Anthony Brown, Paul Yamasaki.
• Goals: self-determination, community-centered artistic expression.

Community Art Institutions (1980s–1990s)

• 1982: Asian American Jazz Festival & Asian Improv Records.
• 1987: Asian Improv Arts.
• 1998: Anthony Brown’s Asian American Orchestra.
• Movement institutionalized and supported politically engaged artistic production.

Sounds of Asian American Jazz

• Combination of Asian instruments/traditions with free jazz and improvisation.
• “Asian American sensibility” (Anthony Brown).

Fred Ho

• Pioneer, radical activist.
• Rejects “jazz” as a limiting, binary Black/white framework.
• Advocates the term “Asian American Music.”

Jon Jang – “Butterfly Lovers”

• Adapted Chinese folk melody.
• Used Western instruments to emulate Chinese timbres.

Anthony Brown’s Asian American Orchestra

• Reinterpreted Duke Ellington/Billy Strayhorn’s Far East Suite.
• Expanded sound with Persian ney and East Asian flute calls.
• Grammy-winning and critically acclaimed.

Significance

• Challenges the racial binary defining jazz history.
• Establishes visibility for Asian American artists.
• Shows how jazz has always been more ethnically diverse than acknowledged.
• Centers music as political action and cultural affirmation.
• Expands definitions of authenticity and jazz’s sonic possibilities.