Popular Music in America

This week (week 2) we studied in the beginnings of jazz following the popularity of ragtime. Jazz music appeared in New Orleans at the turn of the 20th century. James Europe and his Society Orchestra, the first black groups to sign a deal with a record company, were among the first of those to perform what would eventually become jazz. The jazz “fad” kicked off with the Original Dixieland Jazz Band with their recording of Tiger Rag in 1918. Listening to this track you can hear the beginnings of the jazz sound, including improvisation and the syncopation which came from ragtime but differed from other music of the time. The different lines weaving in and out Making it sound very polyphonic. This song also has stop time sequences as well as the shout course which is reflective to the call-and-response of the African American music traditions mentioned in earlier chapters. Starr and Waterman’s listening guide mentions that “there is no strongly identifiable melody throughout much of t...

This week’s listening started with Barbra Allen as an old-time music song. This is an example of the British Ballad tradition that contributed to the foundation of American popular music, it tells a story about love. Storytelling in music is a centuries-old technique in music but this style contributed its solo singer, verse style of music to American culture. You can see the similarities to Stephen Foster in chapter 2 and his song Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair and the tin pan alley selection that we also listened to this week. These songs influence can be seen in the music of today. A recent example I can think of is the song Lost Boy by Ruth B. It takes another well-known story, Peter Pan, and presents it in the song form very similar to the British ballad. A contrasting piece I enjoyed was Long John . The contrasting simplicity of the lyrics, audience/group interaction, and the communal feel of this song was interesting to listen to right after the old-time music. Diffe...