the united states and canada. different regions and cultures have vastly different music. ...
TRANSCRIPT
NORTH AMERICAN TRADITIONAL MUSIC
The United States and Canada
A MIX OF DIFFERENT CULTURES
Different regions and cultures have vastly different music.
Influences from Native American, European, Hispanic, and African cultures. Native American Cajun Appalachian Blue Grass Gospel Hawaiian
Other terms you might hear to describe types of American folk music would be , old time, jug band, country, and fiddle.
NATIVE AMERICAN
Tribal groups from different areas have varying traditions.
Musical Areas Southwest Eastern Woodlands Plains Great Basin Northwest Coast Sub-Arctic
EXAMPLES OF NATIVE AMERICAN MUSIC Navajo - Blackfire Navajo Squaw Dance Hoop Dance Harmonized Peyote So
ng Lakota – Lullaby Yaqui – Deer Dance Iroquois Iroquois – Flute Iroquois – Stick Dance Inuit Singing Smithsonian Folkways
WHERE THESE TRIBES LIVE
Inuit
Navajo
Yaqui
Lakota (Sioux)Iroquois
CAJUN
Louisianna Instruments
Accordion Fiddle Triangle Guitar
Language – Creole Major keys The waltz and two-step are
common dances. Balfa Brothers L'anse aux pailles D.L. Menard & the Louisiana Aces Zydeco
RUBBOARD
APPALACHIAN – OLD TIME
Eastern United States mountain range. Maine to Georgia.
Anglo-Celtic – First Settlers
APPALACHAIN CHARACTERISTICS
Influences from various cultures – immigrants. British African German, Polish, Czech
Instruments Fiddle Appalachian (Fretted)
Dulcimer (modified zither) Concertina (Accordion) Mandolin Guitar Banjo
APPALACHIAN CHARACTERISTICS CONTINUED…
Songs borrowed from Anglo immigrants. Lyrics are often changed. References to revenge or
the supernatural were changed to repentance and place in heaven.
This was due to a strong religious culture and the fear of superstition and explicit content. (i.e. Salem Witch Trials)
Pretty Polly/The Gosport Trajedy.
Christian Hymns
CLOGGING
Also known as flat footing, buck dancing, hoedown, stepping, etc.
Borrowed from European cultures.
Style of dance where the sound from shoes is a percussive part of the music.
Flat footing example. And another. Ok, one more.
BLUEGRASS VS. APPALACHIAN/OLD TIME
BLUEGRASS OLD TIME
Newer genre than Old Time
Soloists take turns playing the melody (much like jazz).
Often played in a concert setting.
Quick tempos.
Precursor to Bluegrass Many instruments play
melody at the same time, or one person plays melody while others accompany.
Main function is for dancing.
Variety of tempos.
Instrumentation is mostly similar. Instruments in common –
Fiddle Guitar Banjo Mandolin
BLUEGRASS AND APPALACHIAN EXAMPLES
Earl Scruggs – Ground Speed
Foggy Mountain Top Chet Atkins –
Bill Cheatham Cumberland Gap Square Dancing –
Wabash Cannonball Bill Monroe –
Bluegrass Breakdown
Down in the Valley Devil’s Dream English Folk Songs fr
om the Southern Appalachians
Wabash Cannonball Old Joe Clark Angeline the Baker Red River Valley
CANADIAN FIDDLE TRADITION
Just like American fiddle tradition, Canada received their tradition from European cultures, with the addition of a heavy French influence.
Ook Pik Waltz Jean Carignan –
Hangman’s Reel Medly of fiddle
tunes.
GRAND OLE OPRY
American country television program which features artists of all varieties of country music.Office WebsiteYoutube
GOSPEL
African American Christian Culture
Origins from: spirituals work songs slave songs white Pentecostal hymns evangelistic
congregational songs Influences from:
blues, jazz, rock, soul, classical, and country
CHARACTERISTICS OF GOSPEL MUSIC Lyrics
Sacred Simple and clear Expressing God’s love and forgiveness
Commonly heard instruments. Piano, Organ, Guitar, Bass, Drum Set, Tambourine, Violin,
Brass – Depends on specific sub-genre. Rhythm
Frequent clapping Repetition
Often features a soloist. Call and response between soloist and choir/congregation.
EXAMPLES OF GOSPEL MUSIC
Swing Low Sweet Chariot Oh Happy Day Go Down Moses
HAWAIIAN
Melody Falsetto vocals – most often by men. Long duration of notes
Music is functional. Used to express praise, communicate genealogy and mythology, and accompany games, festivals and other secular events.
Mele – Chant (song), Hula – Dance Innovations on the guitar – Slack Key and Steel Guitar was brought over by outside settlers, most likely
Mexican workers. Immigrant influence – Pacific, Asian, Hispanic, and
European cultures influencing and bringing new styles.
HAWAIIAN GUITAR STYLES
SLACK KEY STEEL
Most slack-key tunings can be achieved by starting with a guitar in standard tuning (EADGBE) and detuning or "slacking" one or more of the strings until the six strings form a single chord, frequently G major.
Adapted to accompany the rhythms of Hawaiian dancing and the harmonic structures of Hawaiian music.
Usually positioned horizontally; strings are plucked with one hand, while the other hand changes the pitch of one or more strings with the use of a bar or slide called a steel.
UKULELE
Small version of a guitar. Said to be adapted from the Portuguese
machete. 4 nylon or gut strings. Softer in dynamic than a guitar – why?
FALSETTO
Singing is the main focus of Hawaiian music.
In Western falsetto singing, the singer tries to make the transition between registers as smooth as possible. In Hawaiian-style falsetto, the singer emphasizes the break between registers. Sometimes the singer exaggerates the break through repetition, as a yodel.