Music Notes: Midterm One
Introduction
Studying Rock: * Fan mentality: reject other forms of music * Gold Records: 500,000 copies * Platinum Records: 1 million copies
Themes:
* Social, political, and cultural issues * Issues of race, class, and gender * The development of the music business * The development of technology
The Popularity Arc: * Mainstream popularity is the ‘peak’ * Genres tend to develop underground and aren’t written about historically during these years (subcultures)
Musical Form: * The way different sections in a song are organized
Rhythm: the way music sounds are organized in time; beat is the pulse
Meter: organization of rhythm and beats into music * Simple; one & two & three (2 parts) * Compound; one & uh two & uh three (3 parts) * Duple (2 beats per measure) * Triple (3 beats per measure) * Quadruple (4 beats per measure)
Timbre (colour): voice is: warm, smooth, rich * Chest voice, falsetto, crooner (male who sings with background jazz music)

The 1920’s, 30’s and 40’s * Upheaval in politics, reflected in music * Baby boomers

Chapter 1: Roots to 1955
Before Rock and Roll (Main stream music, rhythm and blues, country & western)
Part 1: The World of Mainstream Pop Leading up to 1955
National vs. Regional Changes * Emergence of technology took music from a regional scope to a national level * Radio (1920’s) directed at white middle class * Broken up into Superstations (high power) and Networks (NBC coast to coast broadcasting, developed in one area and broadcast nationally, model used today) * All music was live and records were seen as ‘fooling people’ * Overnight popularity * Some styles became national (Bing Cosby, Frank Sinatra) while Country and Blues stayed regional as they were considered low income