Study Questions 1_5

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STUDY QUESTIONS, MUSIC 241 American Music, Winter 2024 Friday 1/5: A) Secular Music in the Colonies, B ) African Music in Early America, and C) African-American Traditions: Slave Songs and Spirituals Lecture Recording A) Secular Music in the Colonies 1. Name and describe five musical centers (cities) in the colonial United States: (a)New York: New Amsterdam 1614, New York 1664. First documented concert was in 1736. Lively concert scene46 public concerts advertised between 1736 and 1775. (b)Boston: One of the first settlements in the United states(1630). Sacred music was very important from the early days (psalms and puritans). Organ was added later on. Anti- theatre law, 1750. Singing was absolutely forbidden in public. Operas and public performances were banned unless religious. Over 150 ballad operas were performed in Boston Before 1800. The earliest documented public concert in America was in Boston 31 December 1731. (c)Philadelphia: Founded in 1682, Original settlers were quakers. They had little interest in music. It was a tolerant city, very progressive. Important Early center of music printing. New york shared printing aspect. Music publishing was more popular in Philadelphia and New york. Earliest private concert in 1734. Earliest known public concerts in 1757.Subscription concert begins in same year. Flora also performed here in 1754. Harpsichord and piano makers also flourished here throughout the century. (d)Charleston, South Carolina: Founded in 1670. Became a cultural mecca. Records of public music as early as 1732.First opera performance in America: Flora, or hob in the well, 1735. Before Boston and New York city. Saint Cecillia society founded in 1762, oldest musical society in America. Sponsored many concerts, mostly european. (e)Baltimore: Settled in 1682 but was not a town until 1730. Became a musical center after the revolutionary war. First concerts noted in 1784. Musical theater in Baltimore also took off in the 1780s. 2. What is a ballad ? A ballad is a narrative song in strophic form, multiple verse after verse after verse. Preserved through oral traditions. Not many could read or write. Ballads protected them through songs. 3. How does John Dickinson's (1732-1808), “The Liberty Song” (1768) epitomize a broadside ballad ? Broadside ballads contained pictures… woodcuts. New pictures printed on broadsheets to be sung in a specific time. Revolutionary way, later running for president, against the british. People would be kept up to events and know what happens when viewing these ballads. The

melodies were interchangeable. The star spangled banner was a drinking song. Many of political nature but usually topical themes. The liberty song had someone singing the first verse and then the other men in the song would repeat it and so on. 4. How does the traditional song “Irish Washerwoman” typify folk dance music in the colonial U.S. in regards to the following: (a) instrumentation: The accordion, British flute, fiddle (b) texture: Monophonic single melody at first, and then it changed texture. There was a second instrument that played a variation of the melody. It had a heterophonic texture. One instrument played the melody and the other played the accomponent. The text contributes to the irishness. Lots of drinkings, staying home, clapping in the background, rhythm in the background that made people want to dance. 5. What role did the following individuals play in the popularization of colonial music making? (a) Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) Third president of the United states. He encouraged people to learn music in order to be a part of polite society. He was from the aristocracy. It was normal for young gentlemen to learn music. He played violin and read music. He took interest in fiddle music and copied tunes. Amateur chamber group. Forte piano as a wedding gift. (b) Francis Hopkinson (1737-1791) One of the original declaration of independence signers. From Philadelphia, one of the first graduates at the University of pennsylvania. Was a lawyer, judge, and a self trained harpsichordist and was an organist. He began to copy manuscripts of Italian and English masters. He preferred english and italian music but enjoyed particularly english songs. He wrote “America independent, or the temple of Minerva”. 6. Describe Hopkinson's song “My Days Have been so wondrous free” (1759) in terms of the following elements: (a) Style: Not moravian so not german. Not a full orchestra. Style was handle, italian.Not germanic but british style and italian style. Is not sacred american music. It is secular. (b) Instrumentation: Harpsichord and voice is used throughout. Keyboard in background. (c) Text: Homonphpnic texture, Asyncular text. Things that dealt with nature and imagery in a poetic form. (d) Melody: Wheeps, some step wise, arpeggiated melodies. Moving right up the 1-3-5-1 in the scale. Some flourishes. Nov overly complex.

Military music, “hail columbia”. Lecture Recording B ) African Music in Early America 1. When was the slave trade, and approximately how many slaves arrived in the New World? During the 17th century, places like Argentina, Buenos Aires, Columbia, Brazil, Lima Peru. By the 1537s, there were approximately 338 slaves in Peru. In 1590, there were 20,000. 299,000 in British America. 2. What are some Western religions that maintain strong ties to African cultures? Cuban Santeria, Haitian Vodou, Jamaican kromanti. These are syncretic religions meaning religion A+ religion B+ religion C. African drums. 3. Name and describe several musical "Africanisms" that contributed to the American cultural soundscape: (a) Emphasis on rhythm: includes poly rhythm improvisation, lots of very complicated rhythms, two or more contrasting rhythms played at the same time. (b) Instrumentation such as drums,bells, marimbas, xylophones, hand clapping, musical bows, banjos. (c) Call and response: Where one person would give a call and then another individual would give a response. Question answer back and forth type of scenario. This could help communicate with one another. (d) Circle dances, partner dances, lion dances. Dependent on the type of ritual where it was performed. (e) Cyclical structure: Pattern repeats and does not stop. Rhythm can be played indefinitely. 4. Why do we find certain African-derived features in one part of the Caribbean and other features elsewhere? There is lots of physicality, lots of jumping spinning dancing. There is lots of clinical structure with repeated cycles. Keeps mind active and in tune as well as focuses on working. Everything emphasized rhythm. Polyrhythms are common in Haiti and less common among African- American music. For example in blues or jazz or even funk. This is less seen in Trinidad and Tobago because it has less African retention. Another example is that African-derived musical elements are stronger in Cuba than in jamaica. These islands are not as far apart from one another. One aspect is the Yoruba kingdom. This kingdom fell in the early 1800s. As a result, thousands of yorubians went to spanish controlled places like Brazil or Cuba where their import of slaves continued throughout the 1860s. In 1861 slavery was outlawed in the united states, slaves were emancipated and traveled much more. This diffused their cultural identity and became infused with lots of other influences. Salves in cuba were kept more close together

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