Lesson 2. Traditional and choral music in america

Quiz

1. Do you think folk (traditional) music is still popular in big American cities like New York?

2. What ethnic groups have contributed to the making of American folk music?

3. Is America famous for choral singing? Are there good choruses in the U.S.?

American Traditional Music

In the 1800s, much of the southern United States was rural. The residents were poor. They didn't travel much. Many little towns were almost cut off from the outside world.

The residents of these towns entertained themselves with music. Many songs had been passed down to them from their European ancestors. But the words were changed.

Jimmie Rodgers was the most famous of the early country stars. He wasn't a cowboy. But he liked to wear cowboy clothes. He started to sing about the West. Soon, other singers were imitating him. "Hillbilly" music became known as country-western music.

Country music deals with everyday problems. When people hear that music, they get a feeling that they belong to the music and the music belongs to them.

Not all early Americans were of European descent. By the early 1800s, about a million black slaves from Africa had been brought to the United States. Like the Europeans, the Africans brought their music with them.

African music featured rhythms different from those used in European folk songs. Some songs used a call-and-answer style. Africans used various types of drums in their music. They also brought the banjo to America. In America, African music was changed. It started to include some European melodies. And the slaves began to sing about their troubles and their new religion, Christianity. They sang songs such as "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen" and "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot." These songs were called spirituals.

Black folk music has had a huge effect on other types of American music. Spirituals led into the gospel music of today. Jazz also developed out of the slaves' music.

Blues music talks about real-life problems, such as being out of work, being lonely, or going hungry. But not all blues music is about sadness and pain. Many blues songs have a happy feeling. The blues tell about all aspects of black American life.

Blues music developed from the work songs of black slaves.

Some of the best rural blues singers were Josh White, Blind Lemon Jefferson, and Lightnin' Hopkins.

Most of the great urban blues singers were women. They were often backed up by a jazz band. Urban blues singing had great power and emotion. Some great urban blues singers were Bessie Smith, Ma Rayney, and Billie Holliday. Many experts call Holliday the greatest jazz singer of all time. (“News for You”).

Folk Music Club

New York Pinewoods Folk Music Club (Folk Music Society of New York, Inc.): We make music the old-fashioned way. We play it. We sing it. Sometimes we even dance to it… Traditional Music is alive and well in New York.

The New York Pinewoods Folk Music Club runs concerts, weekends, classes, singing parties, and get-togethers, all with an emphasis on traditional folk music of all kinds.

Call FolkFone, (212) 563–4099 for a weekly listing of folk music concerts and events in and around New York City.

Blarney Star Productions with Glucksman Ireland House at New York University present a new monthly Irish traditional music concert series in New York.

Liz and Yvonne Kane

Friday, June 4 at 9:00 p.m.

Fiddling sisters Liz and Yvonne Kane grew up near Letterfrack (Ireland) in the Connemara gaeltacht (Irish-speaking district). Liz is senior All-Ireland fiddle champion and also won the prestigious "Fiddler of Dooney" and "Fiddler of Oriel" competitions. Yvonne is five years younger. The Kane Sisters' distinctive repertoire includes many compositions of the east Galway fiddle legend Paddy Fahey. Their duet The Well Tempered Bow is one of the most highly praised Irish fiddle recordings of recent years. Donna Long, a veteran of the Cherish the Ladies ensemble, will back the Galway girls on the piano.

Joe "Banjo" Burke Music Festival

Sunday, June 6 – McLean Avenue, Yonkers, New York

Sessions and performances from 1:30 to 7:30

The much-loved County Kilkenny singer and tenor banjo player Joe "Banjo" Burke passed away at the age of 57 last December, leaving his wife Bridget and their three children – Siobhán, Rory and the severely disabled Finbar – in great need of assistance. An all-day music festival on McLean Avenue in Yonkers, New York on Sunday, June 6 will raise funds for Bridget and the kids. Afternoon sessions and performances will be followed by a concert at Rockin' Robin's featuring the John Whelan Band, Cherish the Ladies and The Whole Shabang. More than 100 musicians, including most of the New York area's best Irish singers and traditional instrumentalists, have volunteered their services for the day.

They will perform from 1:30 to 7:30 p.m. in seven venues along the heavily Irish commercial part of McLean Avenue that extends from just west of the New York State Thruway to Kimball Avenue. Participating bars and restaurants include The Bodhrán, J.P. Clarke’s, Ned Devine’s, Fagan’s, the Heritage, the Hibernian Steakhouse and McGilligan’s.

The afternoon music sessions and performances will feature singers Gabe Donohue, Dermot Henry, Peter McKiernan, Deirdre Connolly and Donie Carroll, fiddle champion Brian Conway, flute great Mike McHale, the Morning Star trio, Gerry Finlay and the Cara Band, The0 Andy Cooney Band, Paddy and Sheila Noonan, the McCabes and many, many others. A suggested $20 donation buys an all-access pass to all venues.

The festival will climax with an 8:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. concert at Rockin’ Robin’s Bar and Nightclub at 942 McLean Avenue featuring the all-female traditional music and dance ensemble Cherish the Ladies, button accordion great John Whelan and his band, and, direct from Ireland, the rollicking traditional and popular music group The Whole Shabang. Admission to the concert is $25.

(www.folkmusicny.org/)

Mary Chapin Carpenter

Mary Chapin Carpenter was born Feb. 21, 1958, in Princeton, N.J. Her father was an executive for Life magazine, and she spent part of her early life living in Japan. She grew up with a love of contemporary pop hits, although her mother's Woody Guthrie and Judy Collins records gave her some interest in country/folk music. She spent her time at home with her guitar, and her father encouraged her to perform at talent nights.

Enrolling in Brown University, Carpenter earned a degree in American civilization. By 1986, she was a local star, winning five Washington Area Music Awards. She released her 1987 debut Hometown Girl, produced by guitarist/producer John Jennings, on Columbia Records in Nashville. She also recorded John Stewart 's “Runaway Train” for her first album.

The 1989 album State of the Heart offered four Top 20 hits, including "Never Had It So Good" and "Quittin' Time." She followed it with the 1990 album Shooting Straight in the Dark, which featured the hit "Down at the Twist and Shout." Her career hit its commercial zenith in 1992 when Come On Come On sold 5 million copies and earned her the CMA female vocalist trophy in 1992 and 1993. The seven Top 20 hits from that album included "I Feel Lucky," "Passionate Kisses," "He Thinks He'll Keep Her" and "I Take My Chances." Finally, with the 1994 album Stones in the Road, Carpenter earned her only No. 1, "Shut Up and Kiss Me." She also earned a Grammy for best country album.

Future albums did not become a Top 10 hit, though she remains a consistent favorite on the road. She also toured with Lilith Fair and Concerts for a Landmine Free World and started a songwriter tour with Shawn Colvin, Patty Griffin and Dar Williams in 2003. The album Between Here and Gone arrived in 2004.

(www.cmt.com/artists/az/carpenter_mary_chapin/bio.jhtml)

Judy Collins

Judy Collins is a living legend. Nearing forty illustrious years in the music industry, 30 albums, top ten hits, Grammy nominations and gold and platinum selling albums, Judy is yet again proving to be unstoppable. Ms. Collins will play our June Concert and look for more information in this column, very shortly, about this extraordinary person.

Pete Seeger

Pete Seeger probably has had a greater influence on the development of modern folk music than any other single individual. The son of musicologist Charles Seeger, he began playing the banjo in his teens, soon turning to the five-string version that would become his trademark. He joined Woody Guthrie in the late '30s, and the two formed the politically oriented Almanac Singers with several other folksingers to promote unions and condemn fascism. He was a cofounder of such organizations as People's Songs and People's Artists.

Josh White Jr.

Josh White Jr. is a folk/blues, gospel, pop/jazz vocalist, guitarist, songwriter, actor, adult and children's concert performer and recording artists, teacher and social activist. A career spanning fifty five years, Josh Jr. has released "House of the Rising Sun", a tribute to his legendary father the great Josh White – whom he began his career with at New York's Cafe Society in 1944. An outstanding professional performer for 5 decades, Josh White Jr. also earned a 1987 Grammy Nomination on his tribute album to his father, "Jazz, Ballads & Blues". He has released an instructional video and stars in the musical drama based on Josh Sr.'s life entitled "JOSH: The Man & his Music". (www.ctmd.org)