Midterm Review

Midterm Review
(Preliminary - updated 9/26)

This review is a reasonably thorough guide to preparation for the midterm exam; it is not intended to be an exhaustive list of possible questions or necessary information.

Important Terms:

Jim Crow	Zip Coon	blackface	vaudeville
Tin Pan Alley	song pluggers	West 28th St. (NY)	country/delta blues
city blues	race records	Child ballads	ASCAP
Radio Barn Dance	Grand Ole Opry	American Federation of Musicians	negative tropism
hillbilly	commodification

Important Dates:

1843 - the first full-scale minstrel show played in New York
1891 - International Copyright Law passed
March 16, 1922 - WSB in Atlanta begins broadcasting; WSB was the first station to feature commercial "hillbilly" music.
January 4, 1923 - WBAP in Fort Worth featured a 90-minute program of square-dance music. This was probably the first "radio barn dance" and may have started the trend.
April 19, 1924 - Chicago station WLS begins airing a show that eventually became Radio Barn Dance, the first such show to gain national recognition.
November 28, 1925 - George Hay started a program called WSM Barn Dance, which eventually became the Grand Ole Opry.
July-August, 1927 - The Bristol Sessions; Ralph Peer signed Jimmie Rodgers, the Carter Family, and others to recording contracts for Victor Records. For many people, this marks the beginning of country music as a genre.

Important People:

Thomas Dartmouth "Daddy" Rice	Monroe Rosenfeld	Bessie Smith
Charles K. Harris	Robert Johnson	Muddy Waters
Francis Child	Irving Berlin	Alexander Campbell "Eck" Robertson
George Hay	Fiddlin' John Carson	Ralph Peer
Polk Brockman	Jimmie Rodgers	Carter Family

Some Important Radio Stations (know the city and why they are important):

WSB
WBAP
WLS
WSM

Other important stuff:

from Folk, Art, and Popular Music:
- Know the differences between the three types.
- How does the music industry (in whatever form) relate to popular music.
from The Minstrel show:

How did blackface serve as a "racial marker" and as a mask?
typical musical instruments used in the minstrel show.
typical content of the minstrel show.

from Tin Pan Alley:

Understand the growth of music publishing in the 1800s. How does music publishing relate to the American popular music?
Besides the song itself, for what did people value sheet music during this era?

from The Blues:
- How does the term "blues" relate to performance practices and a performer's ability?
- performance techniques associated with the blues.
- the form of the blues.
- Know general characteristics of early blues and the 7 distinctive features of country vs. city blues
from class notes on balladry (also available at my MUS390 website at the University of Kentucky):
- general characteristics of ballads
- Who is Francis Child?
from The Broadway Musical:
- What is the relationship between Tin Pan Alley and Broadway musical theater?
from Early Commercial Country:
- How did radio affect country as an emerging genre?
- How did ASCAP and the AFM limit the access of "rustic" musicians to major performance venues?
from The Bristol Sessions:
- Know the components of Polk Brockman's mutually reinforcing system of production. Why did Ralph Peer become so much more successful than Brockman?
- In general, know what the Bristol Sessions were and why they are important.

Listening:

Bonaparte's Retreat - William Stepp
Hoedown (from Rodeo) - Aaron Copland
Hoedown - Emerson, Lake, and Palmer
Instrumental Medley (Minstrel Show Intro) - traditional
Fascinating Rhythm - George Gershwin (perf. Fred & Adele Astaire)
Berta, Berta - Branford Marsalis
Hellhound On My Trail - Robert Johnson
St. Louis Blues - Bessie Smith
Hootchie Cootchie Man - Muddy Waters
Barbara Allen - Bob Dylan
Sallie Gooden - Eck Robertson
Wildwood Flower - the Carter Family
T for Texas - Jimmie Rodgers

Return to the American Popular Music Class Notes Page