Thursday, August 23, 2007

HUM 223: Folk, popular, art music

Here's some more on the terms we were throwing around in class Wednesday, from the 2nd edition instead of the 3rd (“Author’s Guide to the Panorama” xv-xvi) in our textbook American Music: A Panorama. [With a few of my own observations and opinions thrown in.] The definitions are a little more complete, and we'll want to refer to them as we go along.

Folk music. "... evolves within fairly close-knit homogeneous communities possessing a strong sense of group solidarity. It is music known to and enjoyed by a large proportion of the community, who identify it as 'their music,' made by and for themselves. Many of the members of the community … perform the music themselves, with varying degrees of skill." Used to be rural and geographically isolated, but this is no longer always true. Conventional in style. Catchy melodies. Often easy to sing. Emphasis is on the song and not the singer. Other the music has a purpose in daily life beyond making pretty sounds -- e.g. work songs, dance tunes, reglious music. In the past learned by oral tradition instead of written music, "but this must now include by extension radio, recordings, television, and film." Often the community is defined by ethnic identity. But not always -– e.g. protest songs, labor songs, other types of music sung by close-knit groups with a common purpose. A lot of sacred music started out as folk music.

Popular music. “… created for and enjoyed by the vast majority of the people, undefined by region. No specific ethnic background is requisite to fully appreciate or identify with it. It is primarily (though not exclusively) music for entertainment, and as such it makes only modest demands on its listeners’ musical knowledge and experience. It tends to adopt sounds from both folk and classical music that have become sufficiently familiar to the wider public.” Played by skilled professionals. [p. xvi] It's commercial, sold as sheet music in the old days, now radio, sound and video recordings. Is gospel popular music or folk music? Or both?

Art music (which the 2nd edition calls “classical”). Has been around longer than pop music, and includes music from earlier periods. Says Kingman (main author of the 2nd edition), “As cultivated music it rewards a certain degree of musical experience in the listener, though its devotees are not defined by any intellectual, social, economic, regional, or racial classification.” I like calling it “art music” instead of classical, as the 3rd edition does, because it includes both classical music and jazz. However, art music often uses techniques and conventions borrowed from classical music -- symphonies, concertos, operas, requiem Masses, etc. The online Wikipedia encyclopedia says art music “primarily refers to classical traditions (including contemporary as well as historical classical music forms), focuses on formal styles, invites technical and detailed deconstruction and criticism, and demands focused attention from the listener.” It also tends to demand a very highly skilled, totally focused performer (most of us can't sing opera). So are the members of a very good techno band classical musicans? Are they art musicians?

Jazz. Here’s what Kingman says about it: "Jazz is a special case. Emerging from African American roots (in both sacred and secular music) at the turn of the last century, it has become in my view arguably a form of classical music, despite the undoubted influence on popular music of jazz-related rhythms, styles, and orchestration. But it is a classical music set apart by virtue of its having retained certain identifying and obligatory stylistic traits (mainly rhythmic), and on being uniquely dependent upon, and shaped by, its traditional ingredient of improvisation."

See how they all kind of blur together? A good example is Charlie Patton’s “Spoonful Blues” that we heard Wednesday, which shows elements of all four categories. Probably most of what we hear in class will show a fusion of genres.

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