This week's videos, readings, and listening assignments focused on a rather short period in American music history - the 1920s and 1930s - but one in which recorded music exploded into mainstream life. Some of the music I listened to was recorded before the invention of the microphone in 1925, and the other half was recorded after. This provides the listener with significant differences in quality of recorded performances.
Before the Microphone
Many of the recordings that I listened to that were recorded before the microphone were of similar styles and related to dance music. For my own enjoyment, I listened to "Mary" by the Joseph C. Smith Orchestra (found on youtube here), which was the first piece of music to become popular because of the recorded performance as opposed to the sheet music, and "Dardenella" by the Selvin Novelty Orchestra (found on youtube here), which was the first piece of recorded music to sell one million copies. Following those, I listened to the assigned rag pieces. The two rag pieces "Castle House Rag" and "Tiger Rag" were very similar in style. Like typical rags, both pieces contained several differing themes and no really obvious melody. With each theme, a new instrument seemed to be featured. This added contrast to a piece of music that retained the interest of the listener. I particularly found myself toe-tapping to "Tiger Rag," which contained very prominent syncopation and several stoptime sequences that involved three beats of other instruments and one or two beats of only sliding trombone.
Also in the style of early jazz was the recording of "Dipper Mouth Blues," performed by the Creole Jazz Band. I chose this as my discussion assignment, and I found another recording of the performance from the Lawrence Welk show in 1960 (found on youtube here). The two performances are very different from one another. In the original performance by the Creole Jazz Band, the music is much looser and free. The Lawrence Welk show version is very refined and high class, and sounds much more like typical Tin Pan Alley style, marked by grace, gentleness, and sophistication, but still upbeat and fun. Both are excellent performances. I particularly enjoy the impeccable clarinet solo in the 1960 performance. "Dipper Mouth Blues" set the stage for future jazz by switching back and forth between the refrain that remains the same each time and the improvised sections in between.
After the Microphone
The rest of the music had quite a better recording quality, as it was recorded after the invention of the microphone. The microphone essentially allowed for a new era of singers called "crooners" who used the microphone as an instrument to amplify their voices and to create a particular smooth sound that allowed for ultimate intimacy between the performer and audience. The first of these crooners was Bing Crosby. I found a youtube video of his performance in the short film "Blue of the Night" which you can see here. In the same style was Gene Austin's beautiful performances of "My Blue Heaven" from 1927. As I listened to Austin perform the piece, I couldn't help but be reminded of one of my favorite childhood videos from Disney Sing-Along Songs that sort of mocked crooners in a lighthearted way. The sound recording of the one I was reminded of can be found here on youtube. Austin's performance imitates recitative and aria, as there is a verse that sets up the main melody very nicely, and the main melody is repeated as the refrain. The primary part of the performance that reminded me of the video from my childhood was the use of the sound "boo" to scat a section during the second return of the refrain. I think my students would be entertained, since I still have the original VHS video of the Disney Sing-Along Songs "Fun with Music" to show them the real crooners, and then show them the mockery. I feel like there is the possibility of a lesson plan with comparing and contrasting and/or the discussion of satire. I should add that I was in college before I realized that the Disney version was satire because of my limited experience with listening to actual crooners.
Another performance after the invention of the microphone, but not used for crooning, was the performance of "East St. Louis Toodle-Oo" by Duke Ellington and His Washingtonians. The primary characteristics that made this performance different from the earlier mentioned dance music, besides the better recording quality, was the complexity of harmonic ideas that Duke's band uses. The textbook mentions that Duke was an excellent and progressive arranger, and the obvious representation of an older man who is bent like a toad can easily be heard in the performance, including both the harmonic structure and the use of muted brass with a growling sound. I look forward to exploring more of Duke's music in the future weeks to see more of the development of his arranging style, since the textbook mentions that this is one of his earliest recordings.
As the textbook discussed the development of jazz music, I was reminded of this excellent musical I performed with my students last year in fourth grade. The students really enjoyed learning about famous jazz musicians (and playing them as characters). I usually do one musical per year, so I used this musical last year as the curriculum for jazz exposure (and I learned a lot, as I had never heard of an alarming number of the featured musicians, including Jelly Roll Morton and King Joe Oliver and many more, and I had no idea that Louis Armstrong was nicknamed Satchmo, since I had essentially no jazz history experience). I think I'd like to develop the curriculum further and include the information somehow. Many of the listening examples in this book are real examples of the music performed by those who are mentioned in the musical as well.
Additionally, this week's listening assignments have prompted me that I would like to further study Irvin Berlin and George Gershwin's works and find ways to incorporate them into lessons about American music history. I am sure I could find youtube sections of movies like "An American in Paris" and "Annie Get Your Gun" that are considered age-appropriate by my administration and the parents in my district. This has been an issue in the past.
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