MUS 505 : Weeks 1-6 Notes + Study Guide - Minstrelsy to Country Swing
27 Feb 2012
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Document Summary
Early european settlers in the us brought music with them; transmitted orally and documented onto sheet music. Songs became the foundations for much popular/parlour songs through out the 19th century. Often based on pre-existing folk melodies and well-known songs. Way of telling story set to a melody. Strophic: same music used for each verse but different lyrics. Performance contexts included private concerts, larger classical venues, life music in drinking establishments, and outdoor gatherings for various purposes. Seen as social status marker if you can play an instrument. African slaves brought over their music b/w 17th-19th centuries to work for european land owners in north america. Minstrel shows: white performers with black face paint (black-face) danced and sang in exaggeration of stereotypical portrayal of blacks. Cakewalk meant to imitate the ridiculousness of white dancing arm in arm. Jim crow = black person, a noun, a verb, an adjective, a comic way of life.
