A Multicultural Approach to American Popular Music

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A Multicultural Approach to American Popular Music

• Ragtime2Rap

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Developing a common cultural vocabulary

• Culture
• Hybridity
• Eurocentrism
• Popular Culture
• Canon
• Borderlands
• Crossover

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Culture

• Culture can be understood as the ever-changing
  values, traditions, social and political
  relationships, and world view shared by a group
  of people bound together by a combination of
  factors that can include a common history,
  language, social class and religion. (APM)

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Many cultures in our lives

• Is Culver a culture?
• Does race dictate a culture?
• Name several cultures to which you feel you
  belong
• Is music a part of those cultures?

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Hybridity

• The blending of different cultures or cultural
  forms such as music, language or art
• Music is a fascinating medium for understanding
  cultural hybridity and change.
• Jazz, rock, blues, salsa, reggae, hip hop and
  country are all hybrids.
• (APM)

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Eurocentrism

• The dominant view of Western Culture that
  privileges European derived cultural forms and
  generally reflects white, upper-middle-class,
  heterosexual male perspectives (APM)

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Popular Culture

• The mass cultural forms of everyday life (APM)
• Examples fashion, music, sport, film, pop
  artBarbie
• Popular Culture link-(WSU-American Studies)

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The Western Canon

• the body of cultural knowledge that is said to
  be important for an educated or cultured person
  to know (APM)
• Questioning this can be dangerousbecause of
  assumptions of cultural superiority.
• Dangers of stereotyping- Youre from Texas you
  must like spicy food and country musicyoure a
  hockey playerfill in the blank, etc

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Living on the Borderland

• Borderland The transitional space between
  cultures where people do not belong fully to one
  culture or another, or where they identify with
  multiple cultures borderlands are often the
  source of important cultural innovations. (APM)

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Crossover

• Crossover occurs when a song or musician
  associated with one style achieves popularity in
  two or more genres. (APM)
• Examples of artists or songs?

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Developing a Popular Music Vocabulary

• Rhythm
• Melody
• Lyrics
• Harmony
• Tone and Texture
• Improvisation
• The Rhythm Section

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RhythmArrangement of time in music

• Tempo
• Measure
• Meter
• Ritard
• Rubato
• Waltz
• Triple Meter
• Quadruple meter
• Back Beat
• Syncopation

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Melody

• Succession of musical notes or pitches that seem
  to have a relation to one another and that
  expresses a musical thought (APM)
• Intervals
• Hook

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Lyrics

• Words or vocal sounds in musical compositions
  are called lyrics. (APM)
• Scat singing
• Libretto
• Choice of language impacts

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Harmony3 Meanings

• 1. Two more musical notes produced or sounded at
  the same time. (APM)
• 2. The underlying chord structure of a song or
  piece of music. (APM)
• 3. The study of the overall musical structure
  within a composition, genre, or style. (APM)

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Aspects of Harmony

• Monophonic
• Polyphonic
• Counterpoint
• Chord

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Tone

• Pitch
• Tone
• Timbre
• Duration
• Dynamics

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Texture

• Instrumentation
• Different types of instruments used in
  performances, genres or styles.

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Improvisation

• Spontaneous creation of musical ideas-music that
  is composed on the spot. (APM)
• Serves as an important tool for self expression.

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Form

• How a musical piece is organized
• Verse
• Chorus
• 32-bar form
• Bridge
• Groove based tunes
• 12 bar blues

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The Rhythm Section

• The Drum set
• The Piano
• The Guitar
• The Bass