Music and Instruments of Hardships

● Slaves from the continent of Africa were brought to the Americas.

● These enslaved people came from different African indigenous groups and they
brought with them their music and instruments.
● Music became their expression amidst the hardship of work that could lighten the
pain of being slaves, work with each other effectively, and communicate with each
other creatively and secretly.

BIG IDEA: The power and language of music eased the pain and gave temporary comfort to
African slaves in America.

● The slaves created drums and percussion instruments which they used to
accompany their singing.

NOTE: The African slaves brought with them the banshaw in the 17th century, which we now
know today as the banjo.

● The American slavemasters soon discovered that the slaves used these instruments
to secretly communicate with one another, thus, these were prohibited in their
workplaces.
● In the southern region, a type of music developed while working on plantations was
called holler songs or work songs which followed a “call and response” sequence
which was similar to antiphonal singing used in sacred music.

NOTE: These songs were secular in nature and expressed the hardships of slaves and their
hope for a better future.

NEGRO SPIRITUALS

● These songs expressed the hardship of the slaves and their longing for freedom
(both spiritual and physical), for their safety, and relief as they performed difficult
tasks.
● These use biblical metaphors to express enslavement.
● These songs serve to give them hope that eventually life will improve for them.

NOTE: Spirituals became part of the American music repertoire in the early 1900s.

● Composers set these spirituals to choral versions and accompanied songs to

preserve this genre of black music.
RAGTIME

● Black musicians in the 19th century called syncopated rhythms (off-beat rhythms)
as a way of “ragging” a tune.
● Syncopations were done on instruments as they were used and this referred to the
piano music that we call today as ragtime.

DID YOU KNOW? The first ragtime hit was Maple Leaf Rad, composed by Scott Joplin around
1899.

NOTE: Ragtime’s basic character is its syncopated rhythm.

BLUES

● These are considered one of the simplest musical genres that evolved from the
music of Black or African Americans.
● These require flexibility as a high level of improvisation in their performance.
● Blues music is structured on three main chords: tonic, subdominant, and dominant
triads with its minor seventh included to form the chord.

NOTE: Due to the high level of improvisation, singers would create their own trademark by
making vocal scoops and slurs.

JAZZ

● This began in New Orleans during the 19th century.

● This is acknowledged as the most creative and complex genre of music America
has produced.
● This combines the traditional black sound of New Orleans and the characteristics of
the blues.

NOTE: Jazz is very dynamic, as it constantly evolves and develops into new subgenres.

● In Jazz music, the performer becomes the composer as his or her musical
spontaneity creates a unique musical experience.
● Even if the piece has been played by different musicians, Jazz music possesses the
ability to be unique in its every performance.
DIXIELAND

● This is one of the early forms of Jazz

● This started in the early 1920s in New Orleans
● This is a combination of the traditions of blues, ragtime, and brass band, thus, it is
played on a band with the following:
○ Trumpet Cornet
○ Trombone
○ Clarinet
○ Saxophone
○ Banjo
○ Piano
○ String Bass
○ Drums

DID YOU KNOW? Dixieland music is instrumental in nature but began to integrate vocals as it
evolved through the years.

Prominent Performers
● Jazz Trumpeter Louis Armstrong
● Pianist Jelly Roll Morton

BIG BAND

● This followed the steps of Dixieland, as another jazz subgenre.

● It saw its rise in the 1920s.
● This is composed of 10 or more players with the same instrumentation as Dixieland.
● This specialized in swing music, a highly danceable music type that became famous
until the 1940s.

Prominent Performers
● Duke Ellington
● Benny Goodman
● Paul Whiteman

BEPOP

● This followed Big Band.

● A bebop group is relatively small, with just four to six musicians compared to the
Big Bands.
● This is characterized by complex melodies and chord progressions.
 SEE THE DIFFERENCE? Unlike big band music, bebop is not suitable for dancing.

NOTE: Bebop gave rise to “scatting” a style of singing that uses syllables sung to improvised
melodies.

● From bebop, the following subgenres followed:

○ Boogie-woogie
○ Rock and roll
○ Disco
○ Rap
○ Techno

BID IDEA: The influence of African-American culture on American music is extensive and has
gone far from where it started

The Music of Latin America and Its Rhythm

● Latin-American music comes from the countries and territories of the Americas and the
Caribbean.
● Latin American music has its roots from their forefathers and was used for ceremonies and
rituals.
● The areito is a music and dance ceremony done in Cuba, Dominican Republic, and Puerto
Rico.
● These include chants in a call-and-response accompanied by the following:

○ Idiophone scraper guiro.

○ Idiophone slit drum mayohuacan.

● The influences of Spain and Portugal manifested in the sacred and secular music of the Latin
American countries they colonized.

NOTE: Music has become a part of their lives.

● This encompasses a wide variety of styles due to its syncretic nature (combination of
different beliefs or practices).

CUMBIA

● This is known to have originated in Colombia in the 1880s.

● Originally, Cumbia music was made of flutes (gaitas), maracas, claves, drums,
accordions, and more were integrated.
 ● Cumbia dance has a “windup” motion as its basic character and is performed in a
circular motion.
● The “sleepy leg”, a Cumbia step, mimics the walking motion of enslaved people with
a ball chain attached to one leg and is often used as part of Zumba dance fitness
routines, created by Alberto Perez a Colombian himself.

TANGO

● This originated from Argentina.

● This is an interpretative, sensitive, and improvisational social dance that allows
dancers to connect with the music, their partners, and their surroundings,
● There are two basic types of tango and they are the following

○ Salon Tango - done in big places as its movements would require.

○ Milonguero Tango - an intimately danced version performed in small places
such as cafes and crowded dance floors.

CHA-CHA

● This is a ballroom-style dance that originated from Cuba.

● Its music is said to have originated from the composer Enrique Jorrin in the 1950s
while being a performer of the Orquestra America.
● This is characterized by a strong downbeat with lesser syncopation which became
popular with dancers during that time.

RUMBA

● This began in the second half of the 19th century when Afro-Cuban workers began to
develop a new style.
● In the 1920s, the dance began to appear in the United States using big band music.
● Rumba is said to have originated as a sex pantomime; exaggerated and aggressive
hip and body movements of the male dancer.
● Accompanying musical instruments include idiophones, maracas, slaves, and
drums.

BOSSA NOVA

● Bossa Nova when roughly translated means “new beat”.

● This originated in Brazil during the 1950s.
 Chega de saudade - said to be the first Bossa Nova recording, was recorded by the
following:

- Antonio Carlos Jobim (also composed “Girl from Ipanema”, one of the
most popular songs in the bossa nova genre)
- Lyricist Vinicius de Moraes
- Singer Joaõ Gilberto

● This is characterized by rhythm and melodies from Brazil and improvisation

expresses a refreshingly light relaxing music with that unique Lain American
rhythmic feel.

REGGAE

● This originated from Jamaica in the 1960s and is one of today’s popular music
genres.
● This is based on an earlier Jamaican music form, the ska.
● This is performed by drums doing a heavy rhythm pattern, bass guitar, electric
guitar, and scraper.
● It is widely known that reggae is the voice of the oppressed, expressing the sound
of ghetto life, and was the music of gangster culture.

NOTE: Reggae developed together with the global hippie culture of that decade.

Prominent Composer

● Bob Marley - is a Jamaican composer and songwriter who achieved

international fame with his reggae music that he combined with the skay
music style.
●

FOXTROT

● This is a dance that originated from New York in the United States and was
introduced by Harry Fox.
● Harry Fox was doing trotting steps to ragtime music and from then on referred to his
performance as “Fox’s trot”.
● This is a smooth dance with long walking movements and is set to dance with
music in quadruple time.
● This started in 1910 and reached full popularity in the 1930s.
 PASO DOBLE

● Paso Doble is a Spanish term that means “double step".

● This is a genre of light Spanish music set to binary rhythm and is believed to be set
to 16th-century Spanish dances.
● This music was also used in bullfights in the 19th century, serving as entrance music
for bullfighters.

NOTE: Thus, the paso doble dance is patterned after the movements of a Spanish Bullfight.

Popular Music (Pop Music)

● This is defined as “any commercially oriented music principally intended to be received

and appreciated by a wide audience in literate technology advanced societies
dominated by urban culture”
● This may be compared to folk music in the sense that it is widely accepted, the major
difference being its mode of transmission.

KEY DIFFERENCE: Folk music is passed on from one generation to the next through oral
tradition. On the contrary, popular music is disseminated through different modes of
technology.

● The main platform of popular music is analog or digital recordings and passed on through
radio, TV, film, and today through music stores and websites where music can be
downloaded and played in real-time.
● The audience for popular music expanded after the 1920s because of technological
developments.

○ Vinyl Records
○ Phonograph Machines
○ Transistor Radio (Radio Broadcasting)

● Popular music has easily recognizable and catchy tunes that appeal to the general
population.

NOTE: Popular songs usually have a hook, a short musical idea that the listener easily
remembers. This is important since a song’s popularity is based on the recall factor of the
hook of a song.

● The common structure of a popular song is the following:

 ○ Verse
○ Refrain
○ Chorus

NOTE: A bridge (a new sounding section) is added toward the end of the piece in preparation
or modulation leading to the end of a song.

BALLAD

● A ballad in popular music takes different forms, such as sentimental, rock, and pop,
and discusses topics of romance and relationships.
● This may also talk of an aspect of popular culture and the day-to-day life of a
person.
● It is usually sung with a slow tempo, the treatment differing depending on whether it
is pop, rock, or alternative.

STANDARDS

● Standards in popular music are those that were recorded before the rock and roll
years.
● Generally, these are any piece of pop music that has become part of mainstream
pop culture and, thus, considered standard.
● In the United States, this period pertains to the 1940s and 1950s during the times of
the following:

○ Frank Sinatra
○ Nat King Cole
○ Tony Bennett
○ Ella Fitzgerald

The following musics are considered standards today:

○ Barbara Streisand
○ Johnny Mathis
○ Liza Minelli

In the Philippine Context, OPM (Original Pilipino Music), is the following:

○ Freddie Aguilar
○ Sharon Cuneta
○ Celeste Legaspi
 ○ APO Hiking Society

ROCK AND ROLL

● This is an American “born” popular music style.

● It was described to be a combination of country music and rhythm and blues (RnB).
● The music was widely accepted by suburban white and black teenagers for its exotic
and illicit character.
● For the youth of that decade, rock and roll was a euphemism for sex, and Presley was
its icon.
● This is characterized by electronically amplified instrumentation, heavily accented
beats, and simple phrase structure.

NOTE: It did not emerge as a new form without any background, rather, it was the
combination of the elements of music from plantation songs to ragtime, blues, and jazz
that affected the rise of rock and roll.

DISCO

● This is a dance genre of popular music.

● It appeared in the mid-1970s and soared in popularity until the 1980s.
● Initially, disco music was heard inside clubs and dance houses but then eventually it
was heard in mainstream popular music, radio, television, and film.
● This is characterized by its syncopated electric bass lines and the use of
synthesizers.
● The following would add a smooth layer to the overall timbre of disco music

○ String sections
○ Horns
○ Electric pianos
○ Guitars

Popular Stars

● Donna Summer
● Gloria Gaynor
● KC
● The Sunshine Band
● Bee Gees (their music was featured in the 1977 film entitled “Saturday Night
Fever”)
ALTERNATIVE MUSIC

● This is a genre of popular music that began with the underground independent
music scene of the 1980s, soon hitting the mainstream in the 1990s.
● The word “alternative” makes it distinct from the rock music genre in terms of
sound, social context, and historical roots.

REPRESENTATIVES OF ALTERNATIVES

● R.E.M
● Nirvana

● Originally, alternative music bands went against the principle of the commercialism
of mainstream culture. Ironically, these bands fell into the same fray when they
gained popularity and acceptance.
● This genre is characterized by the extensive use of guitars, power chords, riffs, and
effects.
● Lyrics used in these types of songs would talk about social concerns such as
depression, suicide, and drug use.