The Origins of Pop

In using the term Pop music we refer not simply to mainstream pop as represented by the contemporary charts but to all styles of popular music from metal to drum and bass. For us this begins at the turn of the 20th century. The key influences on the birth of rock and roll are: Birth of Jazz Ragtime Gospel Early Blues Folk & Country Tin Pan Alley Swing You can listen to examples from these formative styles on our Spotify playlist, click on the logo below:

The Origins of Pop Pop music originates essentially from American musical styles. Pop consists of a blend of black and white musical influences in which the black styles predominate.

The fundamental roots of pop music lie in the following styles:

BLACK MUSIC EARLY BLUES RAGTIME GOSPEL BIRTH OF JAZZ SWING MODERN JAZZ STYLES

WHITE MUSIC FOLK AND COUNTRY TIN PAN ALLEY ENTERTAINMENT MUSIC

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African Influences
Some important West African musical traditions survived in America despite the culturally destructive practices of the slave trade. The influence of these musical sensibilities can be heard throughout the development of American popular music: Timbre fuzzy or reedy sounds can be heard widely in West African Music. The use of harmonica and, later, distorted electric guitar reflect this sensibility. Complexity of rhythm Syncopation and poly-rhythm. Improvisation Call and Response prevalent in blues and gospel. Pitch bending of notes and use of pentatonic scales. Function music used in a more participatory fashion - there is less demarcation between audience and performer. Music fulfils a socially cohesive role. Dance an important aspect.

European Influences
Melody & Harmony - Christian music of particular importance. In church, black people encountered European major and minor scales and harmonies through hymns. Notation. Instruments.

The following styles can all be considered important antecedents of pop music:

Early Blues
The end of the civil war meant great social changes in America. Many ex-slaves settled on smallholdings while others took to the road in search of work. Blues grew out of these new conditions which gave black people little real freedom but the ability to travel. Blues consequently emerged as a tradition of solo song. Blues grew out of the slaves work songs. The songs were call and response style with someone leading and the rest of the work gang responding.. Blues lyrics reflected the hardship and suffering of life. Subject matter covered in blues songs often included injustice, unemployment, love, drinking, loneliness and the 2

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longing for a better life. Such lyrics were sung in a raw and passionate style and were passed on orally from musician to musician. The influence of this style and delivery lies at the very foundation of modern white rock music. The guitar was widely used by early blues musicians for its availability (they were relatively cheap) and flexibility as an accompanying instrument. At this time the use slide originally made from old bottlenecks became a popular addition to the guitarists texture. The harmonica was also popular. Blues were recorded from 1920 onwards. Robert Johnson (19111938) EARLY BLUES MUSICAL FEATURES: 12 BAR BLUES CHORD SEQUENCES USING CHORDS I IV V USE OF BLUES NOTES IN MELODIES FLATTENED 3RD/5TH/7TH USE OF PENTATONIC SCALE IN MELODY SHUFFLE RHYTHMS WALKING BASS FIGURES LYRICS REFLECT DIFFICULT, TROUBLED TIMES USE OF GUITAR ACCOMPANIMENT (SOMETIMES WITH SLIDE)

KEY EARLY BLUES ARTISTS & RECORDINGS ARTIST KEY RECORDINGS Robert Johnson Son House Cross Road Blues My Black Mama

RECORDING DATE 1936 1930

Country
Country music was rooted in the European folk musics brought by white settlers to the USA. Its audience was the poor white population of the rural south, particularly the southern states and the Appalachian Mountains. It has roots in traditional folk music, Celtic music, gospel music and old-time music and evolved rapidly in the 1920s. Commonly used instruments included banjo, guitar and fiddle. Jimmie Rodgers became countrys first big recording star in the late 1920s. Rodgers music showed stylistic influences of blues 3

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musicians with whom he had been in contact in his early life. He sang sentimental lyrics which appealed greatly to his listeners in the depression of the 1930s. Bluegrass, a genre of country music which developed during the mid 1940s and featured a more improvisatory style with instruments trading solos. This continued the folk dance traditions using fiddles, banjos, guitars and mandolins.

KEY EARLY COUNTRY ARTISTS & RECORDINGS ARTIST KEY RECORDINGS RECORDING DATE Jimmie Rodgers The Blue Yodel 1927 The Carter Family Can The Circle Be Unbroken 1935

Gospel
The church was an important point of contact between white and black music and as a consequence gospel is central to the development of American music in general. African Americans sang European style hymns in church but incorporated call and response, improvisation and the decoration of melody (slides, slurs, yodels etc.). Thomas A. Dorsey (1899-1993, composer of such standards as "There Will Be Peace in the Valley"), is considered by many gospel devotees to be the "Father of Gospel Music." The son of a minister, Dorsey was a consummate musician and as a young man accompanied some of the most famous blues singers of all time-specifically, Bessie Smith (1894-1937) and Ma Rainey (1886-1939). He also arranged and composed blues tunes. Mahalia Jackson (1911-1972) was widely regarded as a central figure in the history of the genre, and is the first "Queen of Gospel Music". With her powerful, distinct voice, Mahalia Jackson became one of the most influential gospel singers in the world. She recorded about 35 albums (mostly for Columbia Records) during her career, and her 45 rpm records included a dozen "golds" million-sellers. GOSPEL MUSICAL FEATURES: CALL AND RESPONSE SINGING EMBELLISHMENT OF MELODY LINE

KEY EARLY GOSPEL ARTISTS & RECORDINGS ARTIST KEY RECORDINGS RECORDING DATE Mahalia Jackson Take My Hand Precious Lord 1956 (sung at the funeral of Martin Luther King in 1968) 4

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Golden Gate Quartet Swing Low Sweet Chariot 1930s..onwards

Ragtime
In the 19th century there was a demand for travelling entertainers. This represented an opportunity for many freed slaves who found work as musicians. As these musicians travelled around African influences crept into their interpretations of white folk music. During the 1870s thousands of people were drawn to the industrial cities of the north in search of work and this urbanisation expanded the market for entertainment, creating work for black musicians. Minstrel shows in which white performers blacked their faces and mimicked crude racial stereotypes became popular. Black musicians even formed their own minstrel companies and played all over the country. Their interpretations of white styles such as the jig and the hoedown were often syncopated and rhythmically ragged. Towards the end of the 19th century this ragtime style became very popular. It was increasingly formalised and notated with large profits being made from the sale of sheet music. Ragtimes African influence could be heard in its syncopation while its harmony and structure were very much related to the European marches and waltzes of the time. This style was an important forerunner to jazz. As the ragtime era largely predated the widespread availability of sound recording, it was more a written form, distributed through the publication of sheet music. Successful ragtime composers could sell hundreds of thousands of copies of their sheet music to the public. Ragtime was also distributed through piano rolls. RAGTIME MUSICAL FEATURES: USE OF MELODIC SYNCOPATION LEFT HAND BROKEN CHORDS (IN OOMPAH STYLE) UP TEMPO, HIGH RHYTHMIC ENERGY PIANO BASED, SOMETIMES ACCOMPANIED BY A BAND BANJO OR BRASS WAS THE PREHISTORY OF JAZZ

KEY RAGTIME ARTISTS & RECORDINGS ARTIST KEY RECORDINGS Written by Scott Maple Leaf Rag & The Joplin Entertainer

RECORDING DATE Published in 1899

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Entertainment Music
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries musical theatre was very popular. The family entertainment of Vaudeville and the more risqu burlesque theatres were very different from the concert hall environment and the often humorous or sentimental songs were to be enjoyed in a noisy informal manner. Broadway musicals grew out of Vaudeville but bore the more sophisticated influence of European operetta. In New York the sheet music publishing industry, known as Tin Pan Alley thrived serving to popularise American music worldwide. Tin Pan Alley composers assimilated a variety of African American styles The big five Tin Pan Alley composers were Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers and Jerome Kern. Many of their compositions have become standards performed particularly widely by jazz musicians. KEY ENTERTAINMENT MUSIC ARTISTS & RECORDINGS ARTIST KEY RECORDINGS RECORDING DATE Pinkard Sweet Georgia Brown 1925 Useful Web Links: PBS - http://www.pbs.org/theblues/roadtrip.html - fantastic resource on the blues check out the interactive map, click on different areas to read about the regional artists and styles.