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Music in American Cultures
27 January 2011
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Early European American music
Religious (shape note) and secular (ballad)
Variety of European nationalities andcultures within white racial category
Music serves as record of new anddistinct immigrant experiences andcultural change
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European migration to U.S. 1607 - First permanent settlement
New colonists come for political, economic,
social (religious) reasons
1619 - First African slaves to U.S.
1620 - Pilgrims land on Plymouth Rock
1776 - Declaration of Independence 1787 - Constitution
1861- Civil War begins
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Shape-note Singing
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Early Anglo-American Music
Psalmody- Singing psalms from the Bible to simple
tunes- Often sung a cappella (without
accompaniment)
From the early 17 th century
Sung by lining out-Call and response the leader sings a line, thecongregation repeats
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Shape-note singing
A system of notation that uses shaped note-heads to make music easier to read
From the early 18 th century
Origins in New England singing schools
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also called:
Shape-note hymnody Sacred Harp singing
[Sacred Harp = human voice; also the name of a book of shape-note songs]
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Shape-note Singing
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Shape-note music andperformance
Open harmoniesmostly fourths and fifths Melody in the tenor part (not the soprano)
Tenor and treble (soprano) can be sung byboth men and women
Mostly Christian texts
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Seven-syllable system
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Four-syllable system
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remember:
Tenor (melody)
Soprano (harmony)
fa | la la | sol sol | la la | sol sol | la fala | sol fala | sol || sol | fa fa | la sol | la lasol | fa fa | sol fa | la sol | la | la ||
sol | fa lafa | la sol | fa la | sol sol | fa la fa | la sola | sol | solla | sollasol | falasol | falasol | sol sol | fa lafa | la sol | fa | fa
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Shape-note music andperformance
Hollow square Leadership rotates
Sing through songs on syllables, then words Pedagogical roots: the group is a class, to
lead is to give a lesson
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Books! Music literacy means printed music!
Books contained repertoire of oldsacred and secular songs with newharmonies and newly composed songs
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Community! Shape-note music sung in church, at religious
revivals, and at singings Singings retain church rootsno audience, everyone
participates
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Shape-note singing
A combination of making music and
reading musicso is folk music only oral tradition?
Provided a social space for its
participants
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Shape-note singing
Fell out of favor in New Englandwas
seen as too simple
In the 19 th century
Remained popular in the South; thus
came to be associated with rural, lesseducated Americans
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Beginner cheatsheet passed out atmany Sacred Harpsingings
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Today 18thCentury
19th Century
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Now, as a century ago, fasola singing, as it has cometo be called, is a way of life for thousands of ruralSoutherners. Independent and thoroughly democratic,the Sacred Harp remains today a vigorous tradition of
time-honored song, a living vestige of the past.
Buell Cobb, The Sacred Harp: A Tradition and its Music (1978), pg. 5
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Documentary: Awake, My Soul:
The Story of the Sacred Harp(2006)
These singers are surprisingly articulate, deeply thoughtful and
often very funny individuals who are passionate about Sacred Harpsinging.
www.awakemysoul.com
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Popular Images of Sacred Harp Today
Unchanged and ancient
Preserved in rural areas A Southern tradition
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And Whats at stake?
Why would urban Northerners claimallegiance to a tradition, and assert thatit is Southern, ancient, and unchanged?
Can something really remainunchanged?
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Ballad = song in which a series of versestelling a story, often about a historical eventor personal tragedy, are sung to a repeatingmelody
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Musical features of the ballad
Narrative - tell a story
Strophic form (AAA)
Dispassionate delivery - about story not thesinger
Oral tradition main form of transmission Much variation between singers, region, etc.
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Barbara Allen Texas Gladden (1895-1967)
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She walked up to sweet Willys bedsideYoung man I think youre dyingHe turned his face to the cold, cold wallAnd bursted out to crying
Do you remember the other day
Down at the tavern a-drinkingYou drank your health to the ladies all aroundAnd slighted Barbry Allen?
Oh no, oh no, oh no, said heI think you are mistakingI drank my health to the ladies all aroundMy love to Barbry Allen
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As she went walking up the roadShe heard some birds a-singing
And everyone it seemed to sayHard-hearted Barbry Allen
She looked to the east, she looked to the west
And spied the corpse a-comingOh bring him on, now let him downThat I might look upon him
The more she looked the more she weptShe bursted out to cryingI mightve saved this young mans lifeAnd kept him from hard [heart?] dying
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Oh mother, mother, go make my bedGo make it long and narrow
For Willys died for the love of meAnd I shall die for sorrow
They buried sweet Willy in the new church yard
And Barbry in the tower [?]On Willys grave sprang a bright red roseOn Barbry Allens a green briar
They grew as tall as the new church topThey could not grow any higher They wrapped and tied in a true-bow knotAnd the rose ran down the briar
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1st personLyrics / POV
Strong voice, nasal, emotionsame throughoutPerformance Style
ModerateTempo
Duple, irregular Meter / RhythmVoice (female), a cappellaInstrument(s)
Strophic (AAA)Form
BalladSong TypeTexas GladdenSinger(s)
Barbara AllenName of Song
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Ballads transform in U.S.
Broadsides - songs sold on large sheets Start to incorporate current and local
references and more urban content
Ballad operas also performed here Originally British tradition drawing from
ballad repertoire
Take on regional character
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