Tin Pan Alley

1
Tin Pan Alley

• The Golden Years

2
Tin Pan Alley Song Form

• Redefining verse
• Previously referred to as a group of lines of
  poetic text such as in a ballad
• New context refers to an introductory section

3
Verse-refrain form

• Verse sets mood and context of song. Frequently
  dropped from performances today.
• Refrain is the main body and is usually in AABA
  form, often in ABAC

4
My Blue Heaven

• George Whiting-Walter Donaldson
• Made famous by crooner Gene Austin (1927)

Verse (hook)
Refrain A
Repeat refrain
A
B (is for bridge)
A
5
My Blue Heaven

• Form -
• About -
• Instruments -
• Hooks -
• Singing -
• Rhythm -
• Style -

6
The Tin Pan Alley Song

• Importance of arrangers
• Balance of predictability and novelty
• Privacy and romance escapism in uncertain times
• First person associated with crooning

7
Al Jolson

• Explain Al Jolsons singing style. Was it new or
  old-fashioned? What are the technological
  influences on his voice? How big of a role did
  technology play in his singing?

8
Irving Berlin (1888-1989)

• God Bless America
• White Christmas
• Theres No Business Like Show Business
• Blue Skies

9
George Gershwin

• Jazz and the Tin Pan Alley Song
• Syncopation
• Riff
• The difficulty in defining Gershwin

10
I Got Rhythm

• George and Ira Gershwin (1930)
• Ethel Merman (1947)

Verse A
Refrain A
A
B
B
A
B
B
11
Embraceable You

• George and Ira Gershwin (1930)
• Nat King Cole (1943)
• Jazz standard (cross-over?)
• Note the difference in Coles singing style from
  Mermans!

Verse is skipped
Refrain A
B
A
C
What happens in repeat?
12
The European/Jewish Stream

• Lower class immigrants had little upward mobility
• Anti-Semitism common
• Song industry primarily concerned with commercial
  success
• Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, George Gershwin