• The very first Negro spirituals were musical pieces inspired by traditional African sounds, rhythm and beats. Some of these traditional sounds were called “shouts” which were accompanied with dancing, hand clapping and foot tapping.

• Ring Shouts

The Story of American Gospel Music

• The basic elements of shout rings are:– Calls– Cries– Hollers– Moans and groans– Call-and-response– Various rhythmic

aspects

The Story of American Gospel Music

• The Second Great Awakening was a Christian revival movement during the early 19th century in the United States.

• It stimulated the establishment of many reform movements designed to remedy the evils of society.

Second Great Awakening, 1820s – 1870s

• In the early nineteenth century, African Americans were involved in the “Second Awakening”. They met in camp meetings and sang without any hymnbook.

• The Second Great Awakening was a Christian revival movement during the early 19th century in the United States.

• It stimulated the establishment of many reform movements designed to remedy the evils of society.

Second Great Awakening, 1820s – 1870s

• As they had done in the Motherland, the early African slaves came together as a community to share stories of their daily lives, to worship God, and to pay homage to their ancestors through music and dancing.

• The gatherings where the slaves joined together to create this new music appeared to be religious in nature and did possess some elements of Christianity.

Ring Shouts

• To appeal to God, call out to the ancestors, and talk with each other, the slaves continued the sacred African circle dance known as the "ring shout."

• The dance combines singing with rhythmic shuffle dancing performed in a circle and executed in a counterclockwise movement.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmmTMg3e5Uo&feature=related

Ring Shouts

• As traditional negro spirituals continued to be sung, new Gospel songs were created.

• The lyrics of these new songs dealt with praising the Lord, with personal improvement and with brotherly community life.

• Many of them were inspired by social problems: segregation, lack of love, relationships, social issues etc...gateway to the Blues

• Ragtime is an African American original musical genre which enjoyed its peak popularity between 1897 and 1918. Its main characteristic trait is syncopated, or "ragged," rhythm.

• It began as dance music in the red-light districts of American cities such as St. Louis and New Orleans years before being published as popular sheet music for piano

• Scott Joplin: Maple Leaf Rag– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMA

tL7n_-rc

Ragtime: Scott Joplin

• The Blues were born in the North Mississippi Delta following the Civil War. Influenced by African roots, field hollers, ballads, church music and rhythmic dance tunes called jump-ups evolved into a music for a singer who would engage in call-and-response with his guitar. He would sing a line, and the guitar would answer.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=025QQwTwzdU&feature=relmfu

The Birth of American Blues Music

• Rock music has experienced a great deal of musical growth and maturity since its creation. It evolved from African American and European musical traditions as they were formed within the United States during the 40s and 50s.

The Birth of American Rock-n-Roll

Musical Roots of the Blues• Earliest roots of blues lie in

African, Middle East, and European cultures

• Earliest American blues songs were sung by griots (oral poets)

The Roots of American Rock-n-Roll

• Rhythmic flow, varied vocal tones, and duple (double) rhythms

• American blues is a transplant version of griot songs (personal expression)

• African music was mixed with European traditional music

The Birth of American Rock-n-Roll

Country blues is the earliest known blues inAmerican. Its origins are from the U.S.southern regions.• Mississippi Delta (called delta blues) had a direct

influence on rock music• Delta blues music is highly emotional, rough,

expressive, and rhythmic (Robert Johnson, Charley Patton, and Son House)

• Traditional blues style was influenced by West African call-and-response methods

The Birth of American Rock-n-Roll

• Son House• http://www.youtube.com/

watch?v=8jN5vqEyV7g

Country Blues cont.• Plantations in

Mississippi built the foundation of the music

• Delta blues express desire of liquor, women, sex, and love

• It is poly-rhythmic (African tradition)

The Birth of American Rock-n-Roll

Classical Blues• Twelve bar form and

usually a female lead vocalist

• Ma Rainey (Mother of the Blues) and Bessie Smith

• Moans, dramatic pauses, and melody slides

Bessie Smith http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MzU8xM99Uo&feature=related

The Birth of American Rock-n-Roll

Classical Blues• Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton recording “Hound

Dog” influenced Elvis Presley and Janis Joplin re-recorded Johnson’s “Ball and Chain”

• Big Mama (1952), 12 bar format, rough classical blues style, and lyrics were song by a woman to a man

• Elvis (1956), 12 bar format, polished urban blues style, and lyrics were song by a man to a woman

The Birth of American Rock-n-Roll

• Big Mama Thornton• http://www.youtube.co

m/watch?v=V_nNNIYTy9g&feature=related

• Elvis Presley• http://www.youtube.c

om/watch?v=X5JALwwaASg

The Birth of American Rock-n-Roll

Urban Blues• Section (bass, drum, guitar

and/ or piano)• B.B. King and rock guitarist

Chuck Berry influenced the musical styles of Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyGGG1I-rf8&feature=fvsr

• Rock musicians were highly influenced by country and urban blues styles

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AscPOozwYA8

The Birth of American Rock-n-Roll

• Bo Diddley• http://www.youtube.c

om/watch?v=MAGoqMZRLB4

Rhythm and Blues• Originally called

“Race Music”• 50s and 60s, rhythmic dance

music to backbeats (swiveled hip dancing)

• Rhythm backbeats and blues formed the basis of much of the rock and roll in the 1950s

The Birth of American Rock-n-Roll

Rock of the Fifties• Boogie woogie, a spirited

and rhythmic piano style that developed in the South in the 1920s

• Fats Domino, Little Richard (pianist/ “Good Golly, Miss Molley,” “Tutti Fruitti”),

• Chuck Berry (guitarist)• Little Richie• http://www.youtube.c

om/watch?v=z3-OaNevkfg

The Birth of American Rock-n-Roll

• Seventeenth – nineteenth centuries, European settled in the south and southwest part of the United States

• Country music had simple rhythms, hymns, and folk melodies

• Africans traditions all influenced this musical style with the creation of the banjo

The Country Roots of Rock Music

• Maddox Brothers and Rose• http://www.youtube.com/w

atch?v=REgjg9xD-lo• Jerry Lee Lewis

• Hillbilly Music – fiddle, guitar, barn dance, with African American boogie woogie and American white country music are the major influence of this musical style. (Jerry Lee Lewis)

The Country Roots of Rock Music

• Blue and Rhythm and Blues played and performed by country musicians (Billy Haley and the Comets, “Rock Around the Clock” and “Shake Rattle and Roll”

• Rockabilly – Elvis Presley Era

• Elvis first signed with Sun Records; then latter was signed to RCA

•

• Billy Haley• http://www.youtube.co

m/watch?v=F5fsqYctXgM

The Roots of Rock Music

• Charles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry (born October 18, 1926) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter, and one of the pioneers of rock and roll music.

• He refined and developed rhythm and blues into the major elements that made rock and roll distinctive, with lyrics focusing on teen life and consumerism and utilizing guitar solos and showmanship that would be a major influence on subsequent rock music.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsp4VCbVvn4

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ofD9t_sULM&feature=related

The Roots of Rock Music

• Rock music also drew strongly on a number of other genres such as blues and folk, and incorporated influences from jazz, classical and other musical sources.

• Musically, rock has centered around the electric guitar, usually as part of a rock group with bass guitar and drums.

Rock Music, 1970s – 1990s

• Musically, rock has centered around the electric guitar, usually as part of a rock group with bass guitar and drums.

Rock Music, 1970s

• Queen• http://www.youtube.com/w

atch?v=xdCrZfTkG1c&feature=fvwrel

• Aerosmith• http://www.youtube.com/w

atch?v=bKttENbsoyk&feature=related

• Hard rock was more often derived from blues-rock and was played louder and with more intensity.

It often emphasized the electric guitar, both as a rhythm instrument using simple repetitive riffs and as a solo lead instrument, and was more likely to be used with distortion and other effects.

Rock Music, 1970s

• Mahalia Jackson reigned as a pioneer interpreter of gospel music whose fervent contralto was one of the great voices of this century.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0a8RNdnhNo

The Women of Rock Music

• The rockabilly field of the Fifties wasn’t exactly crowded with female performers, but Wanda Jackson didn’t let that stop her from making her mark.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0uq1vNHIUI

The Women of Rock Music

• Janis Joplin brought her powerful, bluesy voice from Texas to San Francisco’s psychedelic scene, where she went from drifter to superstar.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7JVxE2SYxo

The Women of Rock Music

• Sister Ann and Nancy Wilson, HEART group rose to fame in the 1970s with their music being influenced by hard rock as well as folk music.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whXeb7Ohfkk

The Women of Rock Music

• Bette Midler• http://www.youtube.co

m/watch?v=m0CvciW9AkQ&feature=related

The Women of Rock Music

• The Ike and Tina Turner Revue was one of the highest energy ensembles on the soul circuit in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uifuzx9TDVY

The Women of Rock Music