MUSI 1530 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Monroe Rosenfeld, Ira Gershwin, George Gershwin
Document Summary
Introduction: ragtime, popular music, & the jazz roots of rock. What are the two ways people consumed music (early 20th century): oral, passing it down generations without a written version, purchased sheet music of popular songs and performed it at home. Music is played entirely by memory and musicians do not use a written score. Performers absorb the music from performances instead of reading sheet music to learn the notes. Because of that, different regions and parts of the world may actually have different versions of the same song because the song was transmuted as it was passed down from generation to generation-through different areas. Music that is created and distributed through oral traditions is often difficult to recreate. Folklorists and folk musicians tried to collect and preserve music of oral traditions. Industrial revolution decreased the cost of pianos, so it was common for most middle-class americans to have a piano at home.