Jazz Context

Question 1

Give key info about Vaudeville

Answer 1

• public enteratinment
• variety theatre
• actors, dancers, singers, comedians
• 1880s - 1930s
• american equivalnet of UK’s music hall

Question 2

What is a plugger?

Answer 2

A person employed to get songs performed in as many places as possible

Question 3

Give key info about tin pan alley

Answer 3

• area on West 28th Street NYC
• where songwriters + pluggers + puiblishers worked
• songs part of great american songbook written here
• 1910s

Question 4

What are piano rolls + explain the importance of sheet music

Answer 4

A punched roll of paper that allowed a song to be played on a player piano
- success of music judged by sheet music sales
- arrangments for proffesional bands + simple domestic published
- 1910s

Question 5

Give key info on acoustic recording

Answer 5

• A large cone with a sensetive membrane transfering soiund vibrations onto a wax cylinder/disc
• editing not possible so recordings done in one take
• hierarchical recording
• bass hard to record
• quiet + important near front
• 1910s

Question 6

Give key info on 1920s blues

Answer 6

• orginating from spirituals, African music, work songs + folk songs of european immigrants
• developed by African-Americans in south US
• early blues voice + guitar
• mournful or ironic theme
• 12 bar blues pattern + variants popular

Question 7

Give key info on dixieland jazz

Answer 7

• instrumental jazz style
• smaller bands led by trumpet
• clarinet, trombone, drumkit, double bass
• sometimes a banjo, guitar + piano
• two beat - metre with emphasis on 1 + 3
• collective improvisation
• call + response between front line instruments

Question 8

Give key info on radio in 1920s

Answer 8

Electronic device that used radiowaves to play music
- proliferated in US + UK in 1920s
- made recording more important than sheet music

Question 9

Give key info about gramophones + 78s

Answer 9

Early version of a record player
- popular for listening to music at home
- recorded music became more popular than sheeet music
- brittle shellac discs played at 78rpm, holding 3 mins of music each side

Question 10

Give key info on 1930/40s blues

Answer 10

• diversifies into more styles e.g. dance-orientaed and instrumental
• adoption by big bands in clubs + theatres (bridging gap between vocal blues + swing)

Question 11

Give key info about microphones + electrical recording

Answer 11

Converts sound waves into an electrical signal
- advanced recording significantly
- improved fidelity of music as wider range of frequiences captured faithfully
- singing techniques altered as singers no longer needed to compete with instruments

Question 12

Give key info about film soundtracks

Answer 12

As soon astechnology was developed to run sound recordings in saync with video, films incorporated songs + instrumental soundtracks

Question 13

Give key info about swing and big bands

Answer 13

• big band for large band
• trumpet, saxophone, trombone, piano, double bass, guitar, drunkit
• sometimes strings
• most bands featured a vocalist the band was named
• bands often had residencies in theatres or clubs, from where their shows were broadcast on radio
• emphasis on backbeat (2+4)
• solo improvisation
• swung over a shuffle rhythm
• 1930s +1940s

Question 14

Give key info about LP records

Answer 14

Long playing disc
- 12’ vinyl played at 33rpm
- enables 20mins recording each side
- much longer playing time + quality than 78rpm shellac discs
- first development of concept album
- 1950s

Question 15

Give key info about magnetic recording + multi-tracking

Answer 15

• developed for recording in Germany after WW2, commonplace worldwide shortly afterwards
• allowed for editing

Question 16

Give key info about singles + jukeboxes

Answer 16

• 7 inch records could play 45rpm held one song each side
• singles played in bards + diners
• another channel for songs to reach the public