In the beginning...

            In this class, I am excited to further my learning into vernacular and popular music. In order to do this, we have to start at the beginning. Music has such a rich history that us full of development, but nothing is as interesting in looking at the past 200 years. Just the advancement of technology over these past years shows the impact on music and how we as an audience listen and have access to it. In order to get a better understanding on popular music, we must start from the beginning. The listening examples for this week do just this.

            The first piece that was introduced is “Barbary (Barbara) Allen”. This was included as an example of a British Ballad Tradition. “The British ballad tradition is one of the main roots of American music and is the predecessor of such diverse genres as urban folk music, country music, and rock ‘n’ roll” (Starr & Waterman, 2014, p. 21). When listening to the recording of this piece by Jean Ritchie, you can hear the folk roots, specifically with vocal ornamentation. I really enjoy that this piece is recorded a capella because it gives the story a very pure sound. This can be a great teaching tool for students to understand storytelling in music.

            The other recordings that are a part of the old-time music section are examples of “Soldier’s Joy”. I knew this music before listening because we would play it in my fiddling ensemble. This was a popular piece with students because it was fun to play and had exciting parts to play. I liked the Tommy Jarrell version better than the Skillet Lickers version. I enjoy the way it sounds with the solo violin over the ensemble. The Tommy Jarrell version still has a roughness in his fiddle playing that gives it an edge without sounding out of tune. This is what I enjoy about fiddle playing. I feel that my students enjoy this playing because it quite different than classical music. I plan on using these recordings in the future to give my students an idea of how a tune can be interpreted differently between performers. “Listening to these two examples—one a popular commercial recording made at the very dawn of what would later be called “country music,” and the other an informal recording by an octogenarian Appalachian fiddler who learned his craft in the first decades of the twentieth century—will serve to give us some sense of the deep historical continuity and creative vitality of the southern string band tradition” (Starr & Waterman, 2014, p. 25).

            “Long John” gives a great example of the call and response idea that started in the south. This recording done by the Lightning Washington and fellow convicts sets a very raw and emotional scene for the story that it tells. This is another great example of storytelling. I also really loved the song “Stagolee (Stack O’Lee).” This guitar playing is exactly what I thin of with folk music. “In his original 1928 recording, Hurt (Mississippi John Hurt) shows off his virtuoso fingerpicking guitar style, in which the thumb plays a steady bass pattern and the fingers play syncopated patterns that interlock with the bass” (Starr & Waterman, 2014, p. 33). This shows how adding an instrument to the storytelling of these pieces can enhance with a simple polyrhythmic sound. The guitar portion really adds to the music without taking away from the storytelling.

            The portion of this chapter dedicated to Latin American music is very important because we tend to focus heavily on jazz, the blues, and the African American influence when thinking of the development of popular music, but there is a lot to be said about the Latin American style as well. “Musicians in the Caribbean, South America, and Mexico have developed a wide range of styles that blend African and European traditions and have in turn influenced popular music in the United States” (Starr & Waterman, 2014, p. 35). This can be heard in the Afro-Cuban Rumba, “Enigue Nigue,” performed by AfroCuba de Matanzas. I have always enjoyed the percussion in music such as this, full of different instruments and polyrhythmic entities. The percussion parts are just as important as the vocal portion of this music. This music is full of life and one can easily understand its connection with dance. This music breathes life and movement and can be incorporated into any lesson dealing with dance and percussion.

            “Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair,” by Stephen Foster, is a great example of the AABA form that is very well known in American popular music. It is easy to follow and understand. “Forms such as AABA are not just technical features or blueprints for the composer. They also become the basis for listening habit” (Starr & Waterman, 2014, p. 53). This is a very true statement and an important one that the book points out. Many popular songs follow the same format so the listener knows what to expect and understands the progression of the music written. I do not think this is a bad thing for familiarity is something that listeners enjoy.

Resource:

Starr, L., Waterman, C. (2014). American popular music: From minstrelsy to MP3. New York: Oxford University Press.