Listening Journal Week 3

The listening's from these chapters still seem to break things down both by race, and social status. This has been one of the most interesting things for me to discover through reading these chapters. It furthers the thoughts that social status and racial segregation proved apparent even in the vernacular music. The St. Louis Blues performed by Bessie Smith and Louis Armstrong epitomizes the blues music of this time. I find this recording most interesting, because it blends the forms of the typical Tin Pan Alley and 12 Bar Blues. I loved how the instrument and the voice played off of each other. It was almost as if the cornet was feeling the same pain and desperation as the singer. This song feels as though this is the upper crust of blues music once you compare it to the more "front porch" style blues as recorded by Blind Lemon Jackson and Charley Patton. Those two songs, seem to have more of a lower class feeling of down home music rather than the upscale version of the St. Louis Blues. The vocal styles are less clear, and the instrumentation is more simple. However, "That Black Swann" did use the call and response type instrumentation between the singer and the guitar. Very few genres during this time period blended styles particular by one race, however, the music of Jimmie Rodgers does seem to have some of the styles from the African American centered pieces we have heard to this point. He was able to blend styles from blues and hillbilly music that would allow his music to cross over to the popular style and connect to the mainstream audience as well. Producing million dollar sellers and appearances on the pop charts. These music selections by Jimmie Rodgers bring me back to my grandfather's couch. I can remember listening to this style of music quite often. The distinct nasal "country" twang is distinct for this style of music. Like the blues, most of these early country/hillbilly songs display emotions of despair and sadness. Most likely a reflection of the hard times during the depression. With church music, we also see a separation between race. We have gospel music that is essential white, such as the Carter family which mirrors the secular country music as well as African American gospel music of the Golden Gate Quartet. Being encouraged not to participate in music the black gospel music was more ornate. It reminds me of a barber shop quartet or a minimal version of the popular "A Capella" genre of today. Using the bass voices for instrumentation this music was much more ornate. As we move to the Swing Era, we get music of what I would perhaps call the upper crust music. The music of the swing era was not created on someones back porch or in the valley of Tennessee. Most of the dance music from this era was performed in clubs and sophisticated venues. Although still segregated, it was not uncommon for the Cotton Club to be full of a white audience although a black band was playing there. Although Benny Goodman integrated parts of his band, segregation through this genre within the cities, was still apparent. I have always enjoyed this era of music. In fact, one of my favorite musicals is Swing. I enjoy the vocal style such as presented in "Taking a Chance on Love" The instrumentation and the simple form. With all of these recordings, I could see the dancing in the clubs. The primary purpose for this music was for dances. "In the Mood" has always been one of my favorites. From the very beginning opening fanfare, your attention is hooked and you immediately start to move. Also during this time we get a reoccurrence of Latin influenced Dance music with Caravan, and Brazil. These two pieces made me immediately think of the I Love Lucy show, another one of my favorites. The dark textures of the Latin inspired music with it's rhythmic syncopation just bring the samba and salsa to my mind and I can just see Ricky Ricardo singing "Babaloo" and conducting his big band. The fiddle techniques to incorporate different timbres in Caravan just give it the lasting piece of Latin Flavor. The percussion effects also give you the tropical feeling. The instrumental introduction puts you in the mood to dance and takes you back in time.