Chorus Attendance/Binders $5 Please! Review natural minor order Harmonic Minor scales Warm-ups Sight singing! “Kuna Karamu” (soloists?) “Seasons of Love” (soloists?) “Cum Sancto Spiritu”

Journal for Wednesday April 14, 2010 Answer the following in four sentences or more: Explain some reasons for performing music.

Music Appreciation Journal Continue with Love Songs More Major scales

Incorporating African-American Traditions A new form of public entertainment was introduced in 1828 by Thomas “Daddy” Rice who performed in blackface. At New York’s Chatham Square Theater in 1843, Dan Emmett, the composer of “Dixie,” transformed this form of entertainment in the first minstrel show – Virginia Ministrels was a theatrical sensation. – Ed Christy who gave the minstrel the unique form that made it the most popular type of entertainment in America during the second half of the century.

Continued… The minstrel was a variety show consisting of comic songs and sentimental ballads, soft-shoe dancing and clogging, instrumental playing, comedy skits, sight gags, jokes, and amusing matter. – Song-and-dance routines incorporated many of the rich musical traditions that were part of the African- American entertainers with their first opportunities to perform for white audiences.

Incorporating African-American Traditions continued… “Bill Bailey, won’t you Please Come Home?” (1902) by Hughie Cannon ( ), who was one of the best of the minstrel song-and-dance men of that time. Listen to “Bill Bailey, Won’t You Please Come Home?”

Incorporating African-American Traditions... The song is a cakewalk: an exuberant dance with syncopated rhythms that may represent an early form of jazz. The infusion of African-American musical style gave American popular music a distinction that makes it familiar anywhere in the world. – The stitled language language is gone. In its place is a directness and an honesty-the ordinary language of the street. – The rhythms are fresh and catchy. – The music captures confidence of a new society discovering itself and incorporating the best of its diverse creative resources.

Love Songs of other times and places Poet-musicians called “troubadours” in southern France, “trouveres” in northern France, and “minnesingers” in Germany composed music and poetry and traveled widely, entertaining in the palaces of the feudal lords. – Their songs told the news and other stories. – Their songs were often about love. As early as the 10 th century in Europe, minstrels performed secular poems set to an uncomplicated melody. They also composed and performed simple narratives accompanied by theatrics or dance.

A 13 th century monophonic song Guillaume d’Amiens, sang of love. The text of one of his songs, “Prendes I garde” (be on your guard), tells of the secret meeting between two lovers. Only the melodies (not the rhythms) were notated in the manuscript. Listen to “Prendes I garde”

English Translation Take care, lest anyone see us If someone see us, tell me. It’s just there in that wooded grove. Take care lest anyone see us. Take pleasant lass was looking after the animals. “Charming brunette, I would like to meet with you” Take care lest anyone see us, If someone sees us, tell me.

Determine Musical Form Rondeau: a fixed poetic form of the 13 th century Listen to a recording of “Prendes I garde” as you follow the music. Decide which of the following patterns represents the musical form on the eight phrases of the song: – ABABACAC – ABAAABAB – ABABABAB – ABCADEAB Now determine which represents the poetic form of the text. Which lines repeat the same music with different text?

The minor scale This song is in the minor mode. Minor scale: a scale built on the pattern of one whole step, one half step, two whole steps, one half step, and two whole steps. The pattern of the natural minor scale is w, h, w, w, h, w, w.

An 18 th Century Chorus During the Baroque period, George Frideric Handel composed the oratorio: a sectional form for soloists, chorus, and orchestra. He achieves intensity of emotion through the basic elements of melody, harmony, and rhythm. There is the dotted rhythm, one of the greatest discoveries of the Baroque. The dotted rhythm, occurring in the minor mode at the words “wild despair,” evokes tragedy and death. Handel sets “death” with a diminished chord.

An Early 20 th Century opera aria Madama Butterfly (1904) by Giacomo Puccini. – Story-told-in-song: action is realistic and the characters are understandably human. – “Un bel di” (One fine day) – World premiere at La Scala Opera House in Milan, Italy and American premiere at the Metropolitan Opera in Another successful Puccini opera, La Boheme (1896), tells the story of a young poet and his love. – The theme of love appeals to a universal audience. – RENT is a Broadway musical that retells the story of La Boheme, set in New York City in the 1990s. Listen to “Un bel di”

An American opera duet A duet can serve as the perfect medium for a lovers’ quarrel or to show the emotion of two people who are happily in love. “Bess, you is my woman now” from George Gershwin’s opera Porgy and Bess (1935) incorporates the local dialect of the Gullah African Americans of Charleston, South Carolina, about 1912, where and when the opera takes place. – At first, Porgy sings alone to Bess. Then, after a key change, Bess sings her response to Porgy.