help me with my class?

I am starting this thread for a specific purpose: to harness the collective knowledge of ILM in order to help me provide the best music appreciation class to my students. I think ILM has the friendliest group with the widest-ranging interests, so that is why I am posting here. Also, I have been a community member for some time. I hope and trust that the conversation can remain civil and helpful.

There is a course syllabus and a structure I have in mind; I'm not looking for teaching strategies or ideas.
I am looking for information, youtubes/links, recommendations within certain parameters (TBD).
(Note: I plan to use youtube for sharing with students, so all other streaming services are out, I'm afraid.)

My plan is to post questions here, and then hopefully people will help me to answer them.
I thank you in advance for your help and civility, you are doing a musical community service :)

bookmarked

The first few weeks will be introduction, overview of various facets of the music industry, basic musical terminology, how to describe music, examples of certain terms (this is what I might need some help with initially)
I need to meet my students before I proceed much beyond that, at least wrt this thread.

Bookmarking is a good idea -- that way you will know when I have a question and you can help me answer it! :)

Down!

Yep, bookmarked!

https://youtu.be/JkYhneTczXo

Ok I forgot a rule -- please do not post youtubes without words telling me what they are. Thank you.

Bookmarked

Good thread idea

Bookmarked. HMU for classical, 20th c and film score stuff.

I've bookmarked as well.

LL, I have to admit the first time you mentioned this I had an image

You're sitting at a drum set in the front of a classroom, drumming as students file in. The class begins, and you pause

"Music!"
drum a little more

"What is it?"
do a little fill

and then a little more of the intro to the class until you finally wind down into slow cymbal crashes, then get up and present the syllabus

I feel like this is cheesy and completely reminiscent of something I've seen and I've been holding back

On the actual practical advice side:

How music is taught. After using some of the books in learning, I found reading up on the background of the Suzuki Method fascinating: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzuki_method

I wanted to learn via the Suzuki method so badly when I was a kid. The teacher was too expensive iirc :( But this isn't a music performance class and students aren't learning how to play instruments (although I may do a short workshop introducing improvisation in the 2nd half of the semester because I already have that all done)

My initial goal with this class is to be as inclusive as possible, and start off by giving them some tools for listening to, describing, and discussing different types of music as well as its context. Then we can start talking about different types of music.

I only hope I am up to the challenge, and I hope to do the best job I can this first time. The next time will certainly be better and easier.

Things I may be asking from this thread:

1) examples of certain key terms (what is a quintessential example of a crescendo? examples of songs in xyz scale? different types of melody, etc)

2) essential artists/tracks in a variety of types of music -- folk (from anywhere in the world), popular music (from anywhere in the world), classical music (not just Western but other types too -- I don't know much about this so I'll def need ILM assistance)

3) musicians who are willing to be interviewed by students (questions will be predetermined -- I did this for a student last year and it was exceptionally enjoyable as no one had ever interviewed me about music before)

4) electrifying live performances on youtube to share and watch in class

Overall, fun questions to answer! At least I think so.

i can maybe connect you with certain artists to discuss an interview
and can generally talk folk/pop/genre-specific suggestions out the wazoo

cool, thank you -- folk/pop/genre-specific suggestions out the wazoo this is why i started this thread, to harness the substantial collective knowledge of ILM!

may i also recommend the playlists here:
Listening to ILX Listen - 2015 Spotify Genre Playlists
Listening to ILX Listen: 2016
Listening to ILX Listen: 2017 Genre Thread Spotify Playlists

It's a little basic but this video of Bobby McFerrin guiding an audience through the pentatonic scale is delightful:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ne6tB2KiZuk

yes! basic is what i am looking for -- this is a survey course and i need to cover the basic before i can go into any more depth

i've seen mcferrin do that bit live in concert; it really works somehow!
see also: entire arenas knowing the right notes for "AIR-BALL"

I took a Music Appreciation class in 6th grade (1977) that was very influential to me, but the only thing I really remember now is that our teach (Ms. Kennedy) went through all the lyrics of "American Pie" explaining the lyrical metaphors ("jester" = Dylan, etc.) and it BLEW MY MIND

Will likely benefit from this myself and happy to share when I can.

Whole thread reminded me of this Stark Reality edu-jam: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FIm60fP_KwY

Skip to 4:25 is you’re not feeling super patient

When you get to chords and chord changes, the widely shared Axis of Awesome doing "4 Chord Song" should provide familiar reference points for your students.

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=every+4+chord+song

Ooh yeah -- the other thing I'd like to find is the youtube of a drummer going through like 50 years of popular beats?! I googled and couldn't find it.

I started a youtube channel w playlists, let's hope I can keep it organized and updated...

There's a really great documentary on the music scene of New York in the 70s which is a great primer for cbgbs, bands like talking heads, ramones and I think it focuses on disco as well. Probably too long for class tho, but certainly gives a good look at the social climate too and how music was a reaction to that.

I'll wait for your questions :)

here's a drumming history in multiple parts that might be interesting for your budding percussionists?
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpKMeH_MXcaSL7sTLRAzOaWf6NLQgX9W4

i should probably watch that myself

none of my students are required to be musicians -- they are not being trained to be musicians either. they are fulfilling an academic obligation to the humanities in order to earn their credits to graduate. i can't say for sure since i haven't met them yet, but they are probably interested in a fun class where they get to learn about stuff that isn't boring. my obligation is to provide a well-rounded overview as well as opportunities for fun projects with maximum mind-blowing listening opportunities for everyone :)

Ooh, F bomb in part of that though...

...part of that Axis of Awesome vid.

thanks for the warning

you're supposed to listen to aaron copland in this kind of class iirc

Not outside of North America. At least I hope not.

I doubt I'll have much to contribute as I'm a rank amateur when it comes to this stuff but great thread idea, btw.

When you get to chords and chord changes, the widely shared Axis of Awesome doing "4 Chord Song" should provide familiar reference points for your students.

Rob Paravonian's "Pachelbel Rant" is also good for showing connections between contemporary popular chord progressions and Baroque/CPE antecedents. He calls Pachelbel a one-hit wonder of the 1790s, though, when he was really closer to a one-hit wonder of the 1690s.

spent a few minutes grimacing at j.'s post

well i have no idea if this will be any use but here's a half-finished series of amateur thoughts on classical music:

https://rateyourmusic.com/list/rushomancy/the-classical/

i’m also interested how music curriculum now deals with the “classical music” versus “classical period” dichotomy. I had a few teachers who would grimace if anything other than the period (1750-1820ish) was referred to as “classical” and insist we use the right terms, but I think generally things are looser?

Generally, in an academic context, "Western art music" is the preferred term for the entire tradition. "Classical music" may sometimes be used in more general lower-level courses, especially if WAM is not the primary focus of the course.

That said, no one says e.g. "I play guitar in the Western art music tradition" as opposed "I play classical guitar".

Also WAM also commonly stands for Mozart which makes things extra confusing

i might adopt the western art music terminology to distinguish between "classical" traditions in other parts of the world.
the syllabus that i was given spends a week each on the baroque period. the classical period, the romantic period, 20th c/modern classical music and...buckle your seatbelt..."music of the oklahomans"
i am going to see what my students are like before i commit to 4-5 weeks of western art music + whatever the oklahomans are up to in the second half of the semester.

i need to emphasize that this is 1) an elective 2) students are not only not studying music, they are barely studying the arts. this class might be the best opportunity they have/have had to explore different types of music in an academic context.

i also need to get them to a live performance, which shouldn't be too hard since our class is at night. we also have a performance space we could potentially use with a fully functioning piano in it!

Leonard Bernstein explains intervals and the development of the circle of fifths with brevity and giddy enthusiasm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gt2zubHcER4

I've spent a couple of years reading about and listening to pre-WWI recorded music, minstrel shows, ragtime, cakewalk, Sousa, etc, would by no means call myself an expert but can recommend the best books and recordings I've encountered if you feel like going in that direction.

Yeah, I was answering mh's question, to be clear, not suggesting that you should be fussy about terminology in a gen ed music appreciation class. 2xp

(Very curious about this Oklahomans business, though.)

that bernstein video is perfect, thank you

pre-WWI recorded music, minstrel shows, ragtime, cakewalk, Sousa, etc, would by no means call myself an expert i may need your help, thank you. for some reason* i am really excited about telling them about the gigantic shift that occurred once music started to be recorded and played at home (not family singalongs, but records!) and the resulting explosion of music. i remember learning that and finding it so compelling to contemplate. also my gpa worked for RCA so i was familiar with the gramophone and the doggie. i'm trying to stay away from forcing them to learn the pet things i am interested in but i'm sure a little of that is inevitable.

i thought maybe the oklahomans was like grapes of wrath/okies/oh susanna/i've been workin' on the railroad?! if that's not it, i have no idea tbh.

* the reason is obvious, this is the kind of music dork i am

LL if you want to have some retro fun i recommend showing the classic "Mr. B Natural" short. MST3K famously riffs it but i was actually shown this film in class.

If you're looking for the broadest possible overview of Western art music, I very much enjoyed A Concise History of Western Music by Paul Griffiths.

i have a textbook -- World of Music by David Willoughby

there are so many movies i want to show them. one of my priorities is to give them a solid background for talking about music and then encouraging them to research, describe, and present their findings to the class. there are three projects where they can choose their topic. i haven't settled on the general themes for each one yet.

they also will write 2 short papers 1) describing a performance they saw 2) interview a musician

in between all that, i need to present information to them. that's the basic structure of the class. it is 3 hours every tuesday night.

music of the oklahomans

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YGhPXE0FRw

from a history of the musical Oklahoma!

With most of the writing in place, a creative team for the show was assembled: director Reuben Mamulian(ph) and choreographer Agnes de Mille, who had recently created the western ballet "Rodeo" with Aaron Copland.

I knew he'd sneak in there somehow

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulsa_Sound

you could outline Oklahomans' contributions to making "Lay Down Sally" a hit.

idk, i think the Oklahomans are going to get scrapped for something else. Sorry folks.

I could swap for Ohioans and have a lot more fun

it reeks of "we need something not-quite-contemporary to introduce"

Akronians even

xpost

I was thinking this morning that it might be cool if you showed them the basics of synthesis on some basic synth at some point in the course, like

1. Demonstrate how the raw unfiltered sine, triangle, square and saw waves sound (play some three note riff on each)
2. Show how they sound with a filter applied, in a few diff positions (lowpass set low, lowpass set medium, same with resonance turned up)
3. Show how the filtered waveforms sound with an amp envelope applied (wah shaped envelope, twang shaped envelope, percussion hit envelope, long pad shaped envelope)

Synths are in everything they listen to probably and the elements of how they make sound are simple and cool and also relevant to how everything makes sound!

hah, I was having some of the same thoughts about music theory -- talking about arpeggios and then showing an arpeggiator would be an easy building block

This guy's YT channel is kinda great, it may be a little advanced in places but among a lot of the music theory explanations he dissects some modern tunes or bands and it's executed in a very visual and appealing way.

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTUtqcDkzw7bisadh6AOx5w

Also WAM also commonly stands for Mozart which makes things extra confusing

― Winter. Dickens. Yes. (Jon not Jon)

WAM also commonly stands fro "wet and messy". don't google that.

oy

what else does LVB stand for?

per wikipedia: "In addition, a number of prominent jazz musicians came from Oklahoma; these include Charlie Christian, Oscar Pettiford, Don Byas, Cecil McBee, Barney Kessel, Sam Rivers, Don Cherry, Chet Baker, Jimmy Rushing, Sunny Murray, and Jay McShann."

i don't know, i could spend a week on that easy. also, oklahoma is basically the home of western swing - bob wills worked out of tulsa (don't be fooled by his band's name), and the fantastic steel guitarist bob dunn was from oklahoma. seriously listen to this shit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zga4bjJxFwM

collective cadenza doesn't really make videos anymore, but they have a few fun videos about the evolution of pop music styles and instruments within genres. a little simplistic, a little corny, but fun and generally informative

history of jazz piano: https://youtu.be/IstFVThvo1A
intro to drums: https://youtu.be/_jntqBIjVNc
styles of western music: https://youtu.be/qOZb7KeJUQ8

my biggest road block was learning basic musical notation and that "note" and "beat" are one and the same. i remember my teacher tapping his feet and counting "1...2...3...4" and i was like, wait, how is this a note, you are doing percussion? maybe when you get to this part have a keyboard ready so you can demonstrate the note-beat interplay

time signature!

REQUEST: a recommended online glossary of musical terminology with audio examples ideally?
REQUEST: a quality (not for kids, clear, accurate) video explaining basic notation?

i have had a few good ideas thinking about this
i'm sure the oklahomans are worth my time and effort, maybe i will keep them in there just for the hell of it

i can demonstrate some of these concepts after introducing them
i have drums, a synth, an amp, a microphone, a self

this is a sweet pep talk for reluctant listeners https://www.naxos.com/education/enjoy_jobdesc.asp

That Naxos thing is right on. Contrast with Youtuber comment on the Bernstein thing: "It needs to be pointed out that when a musician listens to music as opposed to a layman the parts of the brain that engage (EEG) are the spatial reasoning area and the area associated with language then emotion." Which just makes me hate people.

so much misinformation and general assery about how to enjoy music out there!

it needs to be pointed out

Think you mentioned books? If so (or even if the students don't read these, might give you some more ideas), maybe try David Byrne's How Music Works and, re the relatively modern side of "classical", Alex Ross's The Rest Is Noise.

Yes, Alex Ross can tell you all about how America saved classical music after WW2, just like it saved Europe.

I have a textbook and I would like to provide supplemental readings, but they would need to be pdf or somehow reproducible because I can't have students buy anything else. If anyone has pdf copies of these books they want to share with me that would be cool! I have The Rest is Noise on kindle but I can't do anything with that :(

i can't stand "some people have musical/artistic brains, some people are dullards" esp backed by pseudo science. i find it bourgeois and alienating. a student could get frustrated and think "well, maybe im just hard wired to not get art" and give up.

love that Naxos link. no right way to listen. your personal experience is valid. also this is very useful to bring up wrt live performance, where what the audience hears is different from what the performer hears. even in those cases it breaks down further, what one performer hears on one side of the stage will be different than what another performer hears on the other side of the stage. or maybe a performer is so fixated on getting this one part right that the entire concert is defined by it, whereas the audience experiences it in a completely different way. all these subjective experiences co-mingling together, a meta description of "the concert was good/bad" can only ever be an attempt at approximation.

so much misinformation and general assery about how to enjoy music out there!

― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera)

it might be good for you to provide them a particular example to ridicule because they will run into it and learning to take anything anybody says about music with a grain of salt is pretty helpful. nicolas slonimsky's "lexicon of musical invective" is a fun collection. (you don't have to give them a copy of it but you might read from it? idk.)

"you belong here" is one of my north stars in terms of education in general
i'll be ok with this stuff -- i was intimidated out of participating in musical conversations for a good portion of my life, so being inclusive is a primary goal in teaching this class. they're going to be well taken care of in this regard! they are in the right place and belong there.

I'm trying to track down a Jlin interview where she talks about asking someone with formal music training if they could teach her more about music theory, and they opine that they could only mess up her creative flow. There's no one entry point to music, and no wrong one imo

here we go! I was somewhat off but I enjoyed this anecdote

You mentioned that you don’t play any traditional instrument proficiently. Do you find that your lack of music training liberates you while making music? Or would you like to know more about things like music theory?

For me, music theory is more of a hindrance. At one point I was trying to learn how to finger drum, so I decided to take piano lessons to strengthen my fingers. I actually had a professional piano player who studied at Juilliard, a prestigious music school in New York, tell me that she could not teach me. I wanted her to show me some basic things on the piano and played her some of my music. After hearing some tracks, she said there was no point in teaching me because I already had everything I need. Then she recommended another teacher to me who had mentored under her. I went to his house, played him some of my music once again, and after some sessions he said the same thing: he couldn’t teach me because he would be undoing what I already know. He said my innovation might be undone by learning this instrument. So I got turned down twice and realized that I’m never going to learn how to finger drum.

http://www.electronicbeats.net/native-instruments-komplete-sketches-jlin/

gershwin famously had the same issue. he tried to get european composers to teach him how to compose, but ravel said something to the effect of "Why become a second-rate Ravel when you're already a first-rate Gershwin?"

personally i disagree with ravel's judgment on this issue but i understand why he was concerned

related to the "training" discussion:

How to Play Guitar, by David Fair

i love the instructions for Rhys Chatham's guitar trio http://www.rhyschatham.net/g3english/GuitarTrioScore.pdf

esp the special note for drummers

For the first set on the high hat, you can start out with a basic quarter note beat, and gradually, over the 20-
minutes, get more complex and frilly, evolving into a kind of Max Roach kind of high hat solo kinda thing,
maybe. Anyway, may the force be with you, it always works out fine. Don’t worry too much about this
section, you’ll know what to do by instinct, I promise.
For the second set, hit the drums real hard, yet somehow poetically. The snare drum sound has gotta be
AWESOME… I like LOTS of fills, so pull out every over-the-top fill lick you know and use it in this piece.
Lots of ride and crash cymbals. Don’t be afraid, out of politeness, to be a rock n roll hero, i.e., don’t hold
back.
What I’m saying here is that this piece is essentially a 20-minute solo for you, first on high hat, then on the
full kit. Listen to the record to get an idea of what I’m after. The recorded version (David Linton), though
the definitive one and completely inspired, was a bit tamer in terms of fills than the one Jonathan Kane (of
Swans fame, who joined the band later) used.
Anyway, you get the idea, I’m sure you’ll do great

simon frith is a good resource, also contains this classic of music appreciation

https://books.google.com/books?id=BPdIfT6scIoC&pg=PA3&lpg=PA3&dq=frith+performing+rites+poison&source=bl&ots=Z6K6ddb2ib&sig=Tq1Ze_L3F6_yxffVATA3wcQujHY&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiJqL_1wuLYAhVSjK0KHezDDWAQ6AEIQzAD#v=onepage&q=frith%20performing%20rites%20poison&f=false

There is no way possible that Poison can EVER be on top. Them little underdeveloped chromosomes don't got cock big enough to fuck an ant. So all you fucking whores out there who praise the ground Poison walks on are in shit. METALLICA RULES and that will never change.

Letter from LaDonna to Metal Mania, May 1990

my favorite in the mock instructional video genre is this one by lol coxhill:

https://vimeo.com/85724438

xxxpost Gershwin was one of the great songwriters---still is; I could turn on the local jazz station right now and hear a demonstration of that, like as not. His orchestrating chops weren't equivalent---maybe they would have been, if he hadn't died young. But, to me, he's a bit like any number of perhaps overly ambitious/prematurely satisfied rock and pop stars in that respect (also some jazz artists).

on the other hand you have a guy like mussorgsky, where all the other russians like balakirev kept trying to "fix" his "mistakes" and what he was doing was actually totally awesome. wish there were more orchestrators who didn't know what they're doing in the same way that mussorgsky allegedly didn't.

i love music

i also love music and hope to transmit some of that love to my students
there are 12 of them btw

Required reading:

https://www.amazon.com/Hatred-Music-Margellos-Republic-Letters/dp/0300211384/

'Customers who bought this item also bought… The Hatred of Poetry.' Sounds about right.

Both books only serve to deepen one's love of music and poetry btw.

If you ever get into the concept of perfect pitch, this clip is kinda interesting, musician guy has raised his kid with a rigorous ear for music and tests him out. It's pretty amazing his ability to parse really complex chords.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhLNXXxbfNA

xxxxxpost Gershwin, pop-rockers, others reaching beyond/below their greatness: it's all about being fully aware and accepting your own limitations, your *own* gifts. Also testing them, but figuring out how far you can/should push. Also sometimes it helps to ask yourself, "What would I think of this, how would I hear it, if I just came across it"---without any hype, incl. self-hype, incl. what you're trying to do and how this fits the inner saga (although all of that's also part of necessary self-awareness). Worth a discussion with students, seems like.

"gifts": no, make it "capabilities", re talent x skills. Editing is 4ever.

good advice for coping with snobs (from naxos)

Coping with Snobs

Snobs are everywhere, in every field. Baseball snobs sneer at neophytes who don’t know Ty Cobb’s lifetime batting average or Willie Mays’ hat size. Computer snobs roll their eyes if you don’t know ROM from RAM.

Classical music snobs can be some of the snobbiest snobs of all. They assert their superiority by showing off their knowledge and declaiming opinions. Often their snobbery masquerades as helpfulness, but snobs have a way of making ignorance appear to be shameful.

Nobody should feel ashamed of ignorance. If a classical music snob tries to shame you at a concert, don’t take it personally. They’re just showing off, and may be unaware of diminishing others.

Classical music has a reputation for snobbery, but in fact the audience is full of wonderful people who aren’t snobs at all, people who come to enjoy the beauty of the music. These people know that what really matters is your willingness to open your mind and heart to the music.

A good crescendo sequence that comes to mind
Starts about 4:30 here:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=W6CjO0H2j0s
From Rainbow - Stargazer

opera snobs are even worse, like ilx rolling trap thread level of bad

I have no idea what you're talking about there. Btw, it's not the rolling trap thread it's the rolling face tat thread.

Rolling face tat thread has always been anti-snob, thus names like “rolling face tat thread” “rolling snap thread” “rolling super fruity swag thread”, animating spirit of the thread has been an openness to styles typically derided

i was just referring to snark level of rolling face tat thread, not its egalitarian scope. the way you guys tear each other apart on there (or used to), that's like opera fans with their psychotic pro- and anti- certain singer stances

itt jnj talking out his ass

an open forum for people to talk smack about all kinds of opera

Rolling face tat thread has always been anti-snob, thus names like “rolling face tat thread” “rolling snap thread” “rolling super fruity swag thread”, animating spirit of the thread has been an openness to styles typically derided
― Listen to my homeboy Fantano (D-40), Friday, January 19, 2018

kermitdrinkingtea.jpeg of course

i'm glad those threads are more welcoming than i thought they were
i turn off when i see interpersonal bickering (universally dull imo) or incomprehensible clowning (my fault for not getting it)

anyway i have a youtube channel now!

pre-WWI recorded music, minstrel shows, ragtime, cakewalk, Sousa, etc, would by no means call myself an expert i may need your help, thank you. for some reason* i am really excited about telling them about the gigantic shift that occurred once music started to be recorded and played at home (not family singalongs, but records!) and the resulting explosion of music. i remember learning that and finding it so compelling to contemplate. also my gpa worked for RCA so i was familiar with the gramophone and the doggie. i'm trying to stay away from forcing them to learn the pet things i am interested in but i'm sure a little of that is inevitable.

i thought maybe the oklahomans was like grapes of wrath/okies/oh susanna/i've been workin' on the railroad?! if that's not it, i have no idea tbh.

* the reason is obvious, this is the kind of music dork i am

― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Thursday, January 18, 2018 2:04 PM (two days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Ok, some good books I've found on this topic

Greg Milner - Perfecting Sound Forever - This is excellent on the way that recording techniques shape our ideas about music, very accessible and entertaining as well as enlightening, lots about the 'sound tests' where a soprano would be on stage and the curtain would pull back to reveal it was a record, etc.

Susan Schmidt Horning - Chasing Sound - On a similar topic, but going in-depth into the changes in engineering through the years, good anecdotes about the earliest recording studios

Mark Katz - Capturing Sound; How Technology Changed Music - A series of scenes on the topic, feels like four random chapters from a much larger book. Good stuff on cultural impact of the phonograph, how it led to styles changing and becoming unified as musicians heard each-others work, then skips forward 80 years to a chapter on turntablism. Comes with a website with extensive audio examples.

David Wondrich - Stomp and Swerve: American Music Gets Hot, 1843–1924 - Less academic, more enjoyable opinionated narrative on the leadup to jazz and blues, comes with an excellent CD covering the early years of the century, not what you're looking for but would reccommend generally.

so helpful!! thank you!
i need to spend some time today gathering resources.

Byrne's How Music Works also looks at music x technology, incl. how listening experiences evolved, incl. for professionals, incl. what engineers and producers told him going back to the beginning of his recording career (and what he told himself in home tape "sessions" in teens) also considerations of live performance & presentation, going back to busking in Berkeley etc in late 60s (fave is the tour where dancers got the players doing some dancing and vice-versa). The finale goes back to ancient Greeks, having sympathetic fun w "music of the spheres" and then how that concept influenced later composers, The ebook has music excerpts, but haven't heard it.
xpost Greg Milner's book is among those mentioned on the thread about the Centuries of Sound archive, with links to it and each section (starting w 1859-60); also Mr. CoS shows up on there to talk about the tracks and artists, as he adds more: Centuries of Sound - pre-jazz-era recorded music

lot of good old pop music and trivia on this radio show:

The Old Codger: playing 78 RPM records like they're going out of style!

https://wfmu.org/playlists/OC

Updates:

* first night of class tonight, feeling pretty prepared for the first week at least. i think i have week 2 under control but we'll see...
* i have a playlist on my youtube channel "is this music?" that should be fun
* chose "in a silent way" as my students' entrance music. it's interesting, palatable, they have probably never heard it. i have the complete sessions, probably going to play disc 2 :)

psyched!

in undergrad, my intro to anthropology prof started each class by playing us a piece of music and asking us to try to guess what country it was from, which I remember quite fondly as a fun/challenging intro to understanding diff music traditions. My most vivid memory is being baffled by the sound of portuguese

oh man in a silent way great choice

sterling example of how in recorded music editing is indistinguishable from composition

Wonder if it would be worthwhile for them to compare Miles' version (or versions, if you're playing takes from the box) with Zawinul's own, from his s/t album (which I haven't heard in ages, but was a late-night favorite for some of my friends and me, even though I was never that big on Weather Report, aside from Mysterious Traveler and Tale-Spinning). I read somewhere that his composition of it drew on (sense?) memories of being a shepherd boy in the hills of Austria.

forks contributing to this thread by self-promoting his shitty playlists and dragging personal beefs into it is A++++ posting

was thinking that too... play miles and then play zawinul and be like 'these are the same song did i just blow your mind'?

Oh yeah, reminds me: Giddens wrote that his students didn't gasa avant jazz, until he played them some reworkings of early jazz; think he might have incl. this one, well-described by xgau:
Air Lore [Arista Novus, 1979]
Demonstrating not only that ragtime (Scott Joplin) and New Orleans (Jelly Roll Morton) are Great Art consonant with Contemporary Jazz, but also that they're Corny. And that both Great Art and Corn can be fun. Which is why the somewhat stiff, if not corny, readings of the themes, especially "King Porter Stomp," don't get in the way. Although just what could get in the way of Henry Threadgill improvising over an explicit pulse for a whole album I can't imagine. A
Nor that it has to be Corny, or corny but yinow that whole Ancient To The Future thing, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Sun Ra, Archie Shepp & Horace Parlan's Going Home and Trouble In Mind (even Shepp's reworking of commercial funk with an atonal solo, on "Mama Too Tight", way before Ornette's Prime Time, which itself may have been a response to Beefheart & Magic Band, especially when he was still playing sax and the whole act was sometimes tagged as "Howlin' Wolf meets Ornette Coleman). Not too far from "Bourbon Street," on
The Complete Basement Tapes (or "If Dogs Run Free," where D. might be saluting Mose Allison).

xp, not my fault if the truth hurts pal

you're literally the worst poster on ilx

perhaps drag the personal beefs to another thread; Lechera teaching a class.

Excited to hear about the first lesson LL!

Perhaps I missed this, but: what age are your students?

maybe next week i will compare the two versions -- we're also working on description, vocabulary & discussing/writing about music next week so that should be fun.

the problem is not that i don't have ideas, but that i have too many and can't do all of them. i was telling my husband that usually when my head is full of work stuff, it stresses me out but since my work stuff is music stuff now, it's much more pleasant and enjoyable to be thinking about all the time. a nice change of pace, at least.

LBI -- students are college students, adults of various ages. hard to know bc our student population average age tends to be somewhere in their 30s?
ulysses is hardly the worst poster on ilx. at least he is a real person. i beg of you: civility itt.

"is this music?"

this is the best part of teaching a class like this, they've literally almost never thought about this and then you play them like, whatever, and then ten more whatevers, and they're like, O_0 zomg

omg
1) 10/13 students showed up on the first day
2) 10/10 were women
3) they loved "is this music?" and a meditating preschool teacher is now a stars of the lid fan; a harry styles obsessive who has only listened to music via youtube on her phone (ever! her whole life!) said she could imagine falling asleep to kevin drumm because it sounds like white noise; a "soft jazz" enthusiast discovered miles <3

great 1st day even if i only got through 2/3 of what i had prepared. more for next week! this is a good problem.

:)

that's awesome!!

a harry styles obsessive who has only listened to music via youtube on her phone (ever! her whole life!)

i taught a class abt 8 years ago in which a student had never listened to an entire album straight thru, only skipped and scanned thru tracks in itunes, sometimes not even songs, just looking for good bits to see if she felt like listening to the whole song

we encouraged her to try listening to whole albums, and she went bonkers when she found out that made music better

i did not know these people existed. seriously.

RE: rhythm, Pretty Purdie talking his way through his famous shuffle of quarters, eights, sixteenths, triplets (12/4 AND 12/8) while being half-time:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1j1_aeK6WA

I mean, he's showing off, but more importantly explaining (sorry, "splainin") the individual components one-by-one before he launches into it. I have probably watched this video a hundred times.

That reminds me of a track that might be fun to introduce to your class: one of my fallback favorite meta-songs, Glenn Gould's "So You Want to Write a Fugue"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZM4yxbE0ZE

bonus video of Gould puckishly discussing the "process piece"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5s4TKOaUZ7c

ok we are about to embark on week 2: basic musical terminology, how to describe music, examples of certain terms (this is what I might need some help with initially)

we are never going to make it through all of the stuff i am supposed to make it through, but one thing i would like is to have a week 2 playlist for them to practice the following for homework:

1) recognizing instrumentation
2) recognizing and identifying elements of music like melody, tempo, rhythm, harmony, dynamics, tone quality
3) writing about above in a descriptive way and taking notes
4) recognizing their own responses and how they feel about what they're hearing/the subjective reaction they have to the music

I am looking for about 10-12 youtubes of any musical genre or type that have exemplary elements of the above qualities that would stand out to a novice -- i want them to be able to hear what they are listening for, not stump them. I want them to succeed at this exercise and feel that their musical listening is becoming more active and informed.

harmony: The Roches - Hammond Song https://youtu.be/09ypwCN9FDc
dynamics, tone quality: Talk Talk - Ascension Day https://youtu.be/sGHwWwQw3tc
tempo, dynamics: War - City Country City https://youtu.be/DZmeFGmiQDI

for instrument identification, still nothing beats Peter and the Wolf

Oh YES!! I love Peter and the Wolf!!!!

My middle school music class, which was taught by the same teacher who was my orchestra instructor, definitely used Peter and the Wolf!

Also, a lot of sweet Bach pipe organ fugues on vinyl

this is still one of my favorites btw, and you can transition from the idea of a round (people doing "row your boat" starting sequentially) to a fugue pretty easily

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fugue_in_G_minor,_BWV_578

it's also great for class listening imo because it's under four minutes

added the roches -- beautiful song
idk about talk talk since i have never heard that song before

i am trying to use my own examples when i can because i can talk about those songs more intelligently (since i have probably listened to them a zillion times)
also, now that i've met my students, i know what they like too and i can choose examples to let them write about songs they have a chance of liking

speaking of, what is the best harry styles song?

re organ fugues -- yes, thank you -- i found a good video!

"best" harry styles is a toughie but i don't hate 'Sweet Creature'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uD6s-X3590

ha that sounds like dan fogelberg at the beginning

post-fahey 1 direction folk

using Fruko/El Preso for rhythm because one of my students likes "old salsa" and it's one of my all time favorites
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5YmrtnLESE

tonight i learned that none of my students had the foggiest clue who Bob Dylan is
and they enjoyed this David Munrow video I showed them, which made me happy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKxdCSbAtOE

Yay I’m so glad munrow got his nose in!
Could couple Peter + Wolf with Britten’s Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra (as happens often on record)

Yeah, I was going to suggest that one but then everyone said Peter and the Wolf and I thought that might be more interesting. For a combination of traditional and more modern instruments, you could mix things up with Tubular Bells, maybe?

For timbre, I usually either play both guitar and piano recordings of Albeniz's Leyenda for comparison or else I play the "Purple Haze" solo with a totally clean tone (when it sounds a bit like a modal jazz solo) and then play with distortion (and maybe an octave splitter, although that's technically cheating).

wait you play it on the guitar for them? lucky them!
i am fighting off waves of imposter syndrome this week but i don't really have time to indulge bad feelings, just gotta do the best i can with what i have
my students seem mildly disappointed that i don't play a prettier instrument (the last person who taught this class was a violin player)

oh well!

Tubular Bells is a good idea, I'll add it to the playlist.

Some examples I've used in pop history classes:

For metres: I often use the Be Good Tanyas' version of "Oh Susanna" for 4/4 (because this leads into a discussion of Stephen Foster) but you could use lots of things. 3/4: Gene Autry's "Home on the Range". 6/8: Nat King Cole's "Bicycle Built for Two". 2/4: "Stars and Stripes Forever"

Textures: "The Fiddle and the Drum" or "Mercedes Benz" for monophony; "Good Vibrations" for both homophony and polyphony (after showing the two things individually with e.g. "Both Sides Now" and the Little Fugue in Gm)

Wide-ranging vs narrow-ranging melody: "Blue" vs "Hello I Love You" (keeping a Joni theme seemed to work)

wait you play it on the guitar for them? lucky them!

Yeah, increasingly, I just demonstrate things this way. Also, in my current classes, which have a mix of advanced majors and people with no musical background, I break down melody, harmony, rhythm, etc by playing mvt 1 of Mozart's K. 545; having them go at it cold, describing as well as they can in small groups; and then breaking down all the terms when they discuss as a whole class. Lets the music students take the lead a bit and feel like they get to do some aural analysis while non-majors get everything broken down for them (and are sometimes surprised by how much they can get).

Also "Norwegian Wood" or "House of the Rising Sun" for 6/8

Also fuck pretty imo

It's a massive cliche but guess I originally learned this stuff from Peter & The Wolf / Young Person's Guide To The Orchestra

thank you sund4r -- this helps a lot. teaching this class for the first time was fueled by powerful excitement at first and now that i am in the middle of it, i realize i need a little more help.
you sound like an excellent teacher and i salute you <3

i'm going to add some of those to the week 2 playlist. my students were pleased and relieved that all the songs on the playlist had been chosen specifically for them (thanks thread contributors!!) to illustrate the elements they learned about in class today. i brought my floor tom, maracas, claves, and a small synth/amp and did some demonstrating but nothing impressive.

Ha, thanks. I wish my students were always so positive about my teaching.:P Parts of Zep's version of "You Shook Me" can work for heterophony.

Sounds like you're doing great btw

i am doing my best, it's all i can do
thank you :)

next week we are going to start working on the first project -- which I think will be folk ballads! i figured it would be a good place to start since 1) I love them and know a lot about them 2) simple/clear instrumentation most of the time 3) everyone loves a story 4) they love romantic/love songs. they made me listen to Luis Miguel last night.

so start thinking about folk ballads -- esp ones that don't fall into the US/UK tradition (those are the ones I know the most about) are corridos folk ballads? they do not like corridos, unfortunately, but iirc it's because they're violent. understandable.

Take Five is useful in the meter demo. And good old Mars Bringer of War which will already feel familiar to them because of every film score of the past 40 years.

xp - i guess they would have to be in English or Spanish or have a translation of the lyrics

I generally don't get into asymmetrical metres unless it's in e.g. a 20th century theory class, really. If we're going to talk about progressive rock, I will go over the 7/4 in Pink Floyd's "Money" but I would never expect gen ed students to be able to pick out 5 or 7 by ear in a piece of music, which I do hope they can do with 4 and 3.

tbh trained musicians have trouble figuring out what time signature some songs are "supposed" to be in, so students getting it close is a feat

yeah not going there

*cries in 11/7*

A couple of interesting (to me) non-Anglo folk ballads with lyrics that should be fairly googleable:

Imam Alimsultanov - Gunib: very simple (probably three chords) and emotive epic folk ballad in the Chechen / Dagestani tradition about the last stand of Imam Shamil vs the Imperial Russian army in 1859. There are numerous versions but Imam Alimsultanov's is a classic and easy to find. It builds up a huge amount of momentum just through the growing intensity of his voice.

Nooran Sisters - Dama Dam Mast Kalandar: 13th century poem that morphed into a qawwali classic. There are a million and one interpretations but the live version by the Nooran Sisters at folk festival in Bangladesh (on Youtube) is extraordinary.

Pelageya - Ptashechka: Kind of an updated / modernised version of a Russian folk standard. A few of the Youtube versions have subtitles.

a few options for 'folk music' that i'd recommend:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XJjBUL2BvI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMhmswVLKdg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2JgmWWYr1U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xOxHyTP91c

I liked the bit in Byrne's book about the relationship between the space (basilica, opera house, CBGB's) and the music made there. For example, a cathedral accepts long delays because the reflected sound will still be consonant with the sound you're making. The concrete block walls and sharp angles of a NY club lent itself well to the trebly guitar and nervy feel of early Heads, etc.

It's a version of a TED talk that is probably pretty easy to find (can't right now, but it should be around somewhere; I think I saw it on Netflix).

Going back a ways I think it would be sufficient for survey-level students to draw a distinction between small-c classical and big-C Classical.

Small-c "classical music" is a broad and imprecise general catchall term. Most people associate with concert halls and violins and stuffy rich people wearing tuxes and such. Of course, as you become educated in music appreciation, you will grow to understand that it actually includes like a thousand years of very different styles of serious Western art music, and usually ropes in opera and chant and also experimental art music. "The classical music station" on the radio will also play Baroque music, for example. A lot of the time it means "not rock, pop, or jazz," so is easier to define in terms of what it isn't. It's sloppy, sure, but is still a common term and if you don't address it as such you will be doing your students a disservice.

You can (and probably should) tell people that there is also a thing called "Classical" with a specific meaning, and it refers to a type of Western art music made in the 18th/19th centuries. A student of music appreciation will become able to tell the difference between what Mozart sounds like and what, say, Copland sounds like. They might both get called small-c "classical" but only one is big-c Classical. And of course there is also Persian classical music and Indian classical music and and and.

This may be wrong or unhelpful but I think that's how it was explained to me. There's a similar distinction between romantic (pertaining to romance) vs. Romantic (pertaining to a specific tendency in 19th century arts to focus on strong emotions at the expense of ordered patterns, yadda yadda).

The concrete block walls and sharp angles of a NY club lent itself well to the trebly guitar and nervy feel of early Heads, etc.
talked about this last night wrt basements and DIY spaces/shows
showed them some fancy interior shots of the sydney opera house to contrast

all that other stuff is already under control, i have a textbook

oh! also last night we all fell in love with the sound of the celesta -- any recs for celesta music on youtube?

this is the video we watched
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOKZPyHBmbU

Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy?

Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, 3rd movement, (spectral, creepy celesta - see especially at 2'50" and 3'55") - this movement good generally for talking about different orchestral instruments and the different types of sounds they can make

It had its breakthrough w/Tchaikovsky in the nutcracker

Bartok “music for strings percussion and celesta” cast the mold for creepy celesting

Danny elfman used the shit out of it in most of his best known stuff esp Edward scissorhands iirc

Pre emptive xpost

mind meld! :)

McCoy tyner plays it (and harpsichord) on some of the tracks on Trident

Also I think monk plays one on brilliant corners???

If you're getting to it when you cover modern music, my students enjoyed this video of Stephen Drury breaking down and demonstrating how he prepares the piano for Cage's Sonatas and Interludes/

thanks -- these look good. i was trying to avoid sugar plum fairies because we talked about that last night but it's a logical choice
they said it sounded like fairy tale music
one student said it reminded her of a song from final fantasy (iirc)

oh! also i told them about 4'33" and told them they were free to use it as a joke in the future :) it was when we were talking about performance spaces and the different sounds they make.

Btw I also love celesta, definitely top 5 orchestral seats for me

(Viola, horn, flute, oboe, celesta for those keeping score)

i just realized the i saw the bulgarian women's choir upthread perform last year. or whatever incarnation of them exists these days. on the way there some lady plowed her car into my car and if their music hadn't been so beautiful i might have freaked out about that but instead i just drove my jacked up car to the show and tried to relax. lol

tonight's class is intro to folk/traditional music: folk ballads
i am going to define them contextually/historically, musically, and thematically (for emotional impact) and then we are going to examine some examples
after that, they will explore the lomax archives and our youtube playlist for a song to research themselves, and the presentations will be next week (short, structured, practicing research skills)
kind of can't believe i am going to have a captive audience for this + it is my job
http://www.culturalequity.org/lomaxgeo/ <-- look at this map!

since it's my first time teaching this course, i know i will only improve the course with time and trial/error. i am hoping they are not bored to tears by this, but i have encountered that reaction before when trying to share my enthusiasm for folk ballads...we'll see! i feel realistic about my expectations. even if they don't like it, they will learn something :)

also homework for this week was to listen to and write about the songs on last week's playlist with attention to the elements of music, which we discussed (and demonstrated) in class. (i didn't blow anyone's mind with my drumming, but people don't appreciate how much work goes into being able to play a particular pattern in the same way they appreciate a soaring melody or whatever. it's ok) i am looking forward to reading their descriptions a lot!

mention silences/pauses as an element of music IMO

it's interesting that corridos are too related to crime for comfort but olde folk ballads are not. Long time ago criminal acts vs right now criminal acts.

Loving where u are going with this LL

we talked about corridos last night and how they are essentially modern crime ballads! i think they had a new appreciation for them after we discussed the nature/purpose of folk ballads.
they were super interested in the connection between the Lomax archive and Shirley Collins
i brought in my Sounds of the South box set and showed them the tiny little spot at the very end of the booklet where she was thanked/acknowledged.

i have a new favorite student though -- their homework was to write about songs on the week 2 playlist using vocabulary, but one of my students went back to the Is this music? playlist and chose a Steve Lacy track that is pretty far out and 1) she did not say she hated it 2) she did not say it sounded crazy 3) the thing she noticed most about it is how some instruments came through one ear and others came through the other. observant! tolerant! i let her borrow one of my CDs from the box set for her project next week :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vvW8ZdLjGs&list=PLdfn7UDTewpCtuEx3FhjZ1-lU5T4Z2lTF&index=3

wish i could take this class!

yeah, it looks fun!

it is so much fun. i described it yesterday as "every week it is [part of] my job to talk about music for 3 hours with a group of people who listens to me"
i made some progress securing a performance space for an end-of-semester performance of some kind -- idk what exactly it's going to be, but we would have a room and a piano. surely we can make something happen. i just have to persuade the administration that it's not going to bring in hordes of people who will need parking spots.

if there's one thing i can assure them, it's that in Chicago there are unlikely to be hordes of people who show up for a musical performance at a random location on a Tuesday night. even with significant promotion, you'd be lucky to get 10 people to show up. and those 10 people are not going to be arriving in separate cars.

I learned something last night about the one and only Richard Clayderman -- his song "Ballade pour Adeline" is a ubiquitous tune used at quinceañeras & graduations in Mexico (acc to my students, who were all certain about its ubiquity in their experience)

https://streamd.hitparade.ch/cdimages/richard_clayderman-ballade_pour_adeline_s_6.jpg
https://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_500/MI0002/466/MI0002466371.jpg?partner=allrovi.com

lest you think for a millisecond i was trying to encourage them to appreciate the music of richard clayderman, i was not
if you did think this for a millisecond, please go back in time and give me some credit :)

That is an extremely frilly shirt.

I did not know Richard Clayderman was listened to outside of impulse purchases driven by infomercials! His wikipedia discography has a length and a repetitiveness that would impress Mark E Smith, especially the title Null Piano Moods. Zodiacal Symphony and Love the Aboriginal's also intrigue.

i actually kinda dig the look in the first pic! i enjoy the audacity of a frilly shirt
his music...not as much, in spite of its shocking abundance

Shaun Cassidy ‘73 meets Ray Davies ‘66. He’s got it going on.

He looks wicked baked in the first pic

otm

i want to take this class!

my next task is to talk about 1) the roots of jazz and 2) the evolution and influence of jazz (idk how far i will make it before the midterm) in preparation for a class outing in 3 weeks to the legendary green mill!

currently accepting recommendations for the early roots of jazz lesson :) :) :)

recommendations in the form of:
links, readings available for free online and youtubes of examples

(which is to say that i can't read or buy any entire books for this purpose, i have to make do with what i have available for free to share with students)

lots of great things happened in class this week -- one student gave her presentation about almeda riddle and said that her preschool class especially enjoyed "i love my little rooster" and they hollered out the cocka DOODLE DOO doodle DOO doodle doo part

i had it stuck in my head for the entire next day :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtbPk5NsEQA

The Original Dixieland Jass Band's "Livery Stable Blues" is commonly cited as the first jazz recording. It's from 1917. It's on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um4xhfwYnvg

From there, jump to Louis Armstrong's "Wild Man Blues," from 1927.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xO3k-S_pqK4

Interesting note from that Armstrong YouTube clip, which could spark a discussion in class about the record business:

The tune is credited to Louis and Jelly Roll Morton, though Louis said he never could figure out how they could have written it together: "I never had a conversation with him until 1936; guess he was working for the publisher at the time."

thank you! i am really excited about this part and also SUUUUUPER nervous because i don't want to screw it up

one slightly negative thing that happened is a new student arrived in week 3 and started giving me a little bit of a hard time. this week he scoffed because i didn't know how yodeling was invented. i told him he was free to do his presentation on the origins of yodeling since he was not prepared when it was due in class this week.

funny you should mention the youtube comments -- they have been quite helpful in giving added contextual information (both factual and subjective emotional reactions) to support my recommendation of that particular song. you can imagine the comments for joni mitchell's "both sides now" -- one of my students read them and asked if she could do her project about joni because she seems very important <3

King Oliver's "Deep Henderson" is the early jazz track that gets me every time, something about the heave-ho of the rhythm and the cornet arpeggios in the second half

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2zER0jmrps

Crystal clear transfer of Armstrong's "Ain't Misbehavin'" from the original metal mother disc: https://kottke.org/16/04/unbelievably-clear-recording-of-louis-armstrong-from-1929

with the influences of jazz it could be fun to show just how far it went. "country" outfits like Bob Wills whose main job was to get people to dance would regularly play popular jazz tunes. jazz being essentially functional dance music in many of its incarnations. here he is with the Texas Playboys doing "take the A Train"

https://youtu.be/ZMyXOv3ttCE

musically, the hard-driving "swing" beat in take the a-train and many other classic jazz tunes was the crucial ingredient grafted onto folk/country to create Bob Wills' genre of "western swing"

(which in turn influenced rock and roll, rockabilly, etc)

Glad it's going so well, wish I could enroll! Seems like you're covering use of folk in some other musics, are you considering maybe that re Joni, Dylan, Richard Thompson, John Fahey? Plenty of Fahey on youtube, duh, and as something of a backstory gateway, here's the 2001 Fahey section at Perfect Sound Forever, incl. the Byron Coley overview and 90s update is often credited with relaunching Fahey's career: some Warners-Rhino people read it and got stoked, put out the comp Return of the Repressed, followed hella reissues and new releases, shows etc.
http://www.furious.com/Perfect/fahey/index.html

xp - yes, that is going to be info i share with them when we transition away from jazz
i love bob wills & western swing. one time i was in an interview for a music related job and mentioned my affection for spade cooley. did not get the job :-/

Bob wills is a heavy influence on the way my mom and her sisters (all in their late 80s, raised in rural SD) sing at family singalongs. There’s a whole lot of spontaneous “AWWWW-haww” ing.

Aunt Clarice who just passed last year was an accomplished yodeler, the only one in the family.

xxxpost Yeah, Spade Cooley is not somebody I'd rec. mentioning on a job interview---read a good history and *description* of Western Swing in its original glory days, and h0w many participants fared later---most hitting a wall re the commercial headlock of The Nashville Sound and Countrypolitan, not hanging on 'til the WS revival of the 70s, though some did, and--well, read it yerselves in Southwest Shuffle, by Rich Kienzle. He could use an editor, but he knows a lot about the music and the people, and that certainly comes through---real good discography too. It's kind of like Four Lives In The Bebop Business in reverse, because we know how well most of those scufflin' outsiders ended up (all of 'em really, if you consider that even Herbie Nichols got posthumous studies and a kickass box set on Mosaic, among other reissues).
More on Fahey, by me, not as rah-rah as Coley, but no trolling; search on here for the term "Faheytronica" and you'll see it, and one of our good Fahey threads anyway:
Search and Destroy: John Fahey

the great nat hentoff on louis armstrong:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/born-on-the-fourth-of-july-how-louis-armstrong-taught-us-to-swing

a good piece that trace's armstrong's career in the context of civil rights:
https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/what-louis-armstrong-really-thinks

a really cool vintage video, from 1937, on how to make records, starring duke ellington:
http://www.openculture.com/2016/01/how-vinyl-records-were-made-from-start-to-finish.html

i'm prejudiced because i never much liked cooley's work, but yeah it strikes me as kind of like saying "you know who does some really great clown paintings?"

way to pick on me y'all! the person interviewing me didn't even know who spade cooley was. i deserved that job and would have been good at it. fortunately, i did not get it, went on to grad school and now i am a teacher.

thanks sincerely for the reading material fcc

i am not trying to argue with y'all
i just wanted to clarify that the reason it was stupid to bring up spade cooley in an interview was not because spade cooley sucks; it was because the person interviewing me didn't know what i was talking about.
spade cooley being a clown painter is incidental

This course sounds so damn good. Any scope for putting it online?

I'm always wanting to bring things back to text but could you introduce some of the sections from Coming Through Slaughter- the descriptions of Buddy Bolden? Obviously he never recorded but goddamn those descriptions are extraordinary.

ooh i have been looking for good examples of descriptions of music
is this something that can be found online? i don't have time or energy to chase down a book, too much work :(

Can c+p here? Or can email if that's more convenient. James Baldwin in Another Country would be another one.

please email if it's not too much trouble -- my ilxmail works, just send me your address and we can take it from there
thank you!

Re: Richard Thompson and jazz, there's a track from a couple of years ago where he pays tribute to several of his jazz heroes, let me find it. ...

Ha, it's called "Guitar Heroes:"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abFBhMdbjIo

OK, maybe not much jazz.

my next task is to talk about 1) the roots of jazz and 2) the evolution and influence of jazz (idk how far i will make it before the midterm) in preparation for a class outing in 3 weeks to the legendary green mill!

currently accepting recommendations for the early roots of jazz lesson :) :) :)

― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Thursday, February 15, 2018 4:24 PM (three days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

If it's not too late -

* The first episode of Ken Burns Jazz is a pretty good primer on the orthodox view of the roots of jazz
* The 'Stomp & Swerve' book & CD I mentioned upthread are a good attempt at an alternative theory - Jazz having roots in band music (like Sousa) as well as the oft-cited unrecorded early blues music of the deep south - the use of solos and improvisation through the selections is really an eye-opener
* My pet theory is that a lot of this can also be linked to latin music, for example Son Cubano (which also has African roots of course) - here is an example of something from a full decade before the "first jazz record"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bstBjWn1ge0

* Also should be remembered that in the late 1910s and early 1920s jazz was taken into the mainsteam by the professional (white) musicians who were already around - so could be argued that the biggest name in early jazz is Paul Whiteman. The real revolution happened much more slowly and many of the classic records of the 1920s were not that successful at the time - the history of the jazz we know is very much a selective one.

not too late! thanks!

Was thinking about Levon Helm describing the local music scenes of his Arkansas area, and how it all died down when TVs took over, which reminded me of another thing Byrne said in xpost How Music Works, about the difference records made: now you could listen alone (without playing the song yourself), and quotes an early description of the mutual embarrassment of intruding on such a listener's very private experience---also thinking of how it became even more private w headphones, the term "headphones music" among collectors, also before headphones when you might have to listen under covers or with ear up to the transistor radio (itself quite a change, re portability, as I dimly recall).
Also in a Hemingway story, an invalid gets fascinated with the stations coming in so clearly at night, from so far away (something to do with the Kellogg-Heaviside layer, I think, and its facilitation of AM broadcasts when the sun can't interfere). He pictures those calling in requests to a dance music show live from a Seattle club (also pictured in his mind), a series---several more like this in his nightly rounds, and then we learn that he listens with the volume turned almost to silence, that kind of focus--reminding me of Eno saying that he had his revelation leading to Discreet Music etc. when he was sick, and a friend brought him an LP of harp music, and when he managed to put it on and got back to his bed, one of the speakers went out, but he was too weak to see about it, so he just lay there and listened...

Also in Arakansas, could imagine that live music for most?) became, at least for a while, more significantly part of a different kind of scene: sing "Happy Birthday," "Aud Lang Syne," sing a hymn at church, sing National Anthem at ball game etc. (or fake it in most such situations, no prob). And then later on maybe back to the clubs, on to the festivals etc., when media promoted those.

whoo boy
right now i am wading through "what is jazz"
pick me up from the floor when today is over please

Does it swing y/n

Y: it is jazz
N: it is not jazz

(Just kidding)

Ha, I just finished a jazz intro lecture an hour ago.

i have a slide entitled "why is jazz so confusing?"
lol

post-swing jazz is like wine in that it requires some level of being inculcated into the conversation around it before one can really talk about it at its level, and this is a conversation with decades of history, one that is contentious and speaks to both internal politics but is still connected at its root to outside ideological divides around i.e. race, class, etc

unlike pop but like wine, post-swing jazz has an internal conversation that is not exactly democratic, although of course anyone can enjoy wine and anyone can enjoy jazz being able to speak knowledgeably about it is def one of those secret society things w/ concentric circles ringing a core group of artists whose stylistic choices drive it. It's not exactly auteur-driven, though, because it's more about (especially in small combo jazz) the interplay between different auteurs, its a community-auteur kind of thing

the styles of individual players, the artists who are seen as Greats, tend to be performers whose stylistic choices were so distinctly their own that it creates a center of gravity around them, where they are frequently imitated ... jazz aficianados can hear the difference between one trumpet player & another not just through surface level characteristics like the tone or context but through melodic choices & tendencies, stylistic tics that give it away even as that artist is pushing (as they do improvisationally every time) to create something that resists their own cliche

this is generally my pov on jazz post-swing

its also my issue w a lot of the way the 'alternative press' would write about jazz is it would ignore this discourse & prefer to take novel surface aesthetics from the music first and foremost, so you'd get cult fanbases for like a random miles or coltrane or mingus record that doesnt take his catalog into context / reflects overvaluing of alt tastemakers like lester bangs / generally overvalues novelty of form vs. novelty of performance

idk i hope that's somewhat helpful

this is intended as an explainer for my pov not 'this is how jazz is' fwiw, dont mean to pretend mine is The Word here

thanks -- maybe i will use the wine comparison. i was thinking of trying to explain how jazz is like druids but wine seems uh more accessible and less crazy
that is stuff i am reserving for next week
this week we are discussing basics, multicultural roots, elements, stuff like that
i want them to be able to identify/discuss improvisation, syncopation, instrumentation, use some vocab (most are not native English speakers) and hear some samples and hopefully enjoy them!!

my textbook is pretty weak on jazz and i have made an executive decision to not mention smooth jazz in class; it's in the book, that's enough.

more than enough!

"Okay, here's how it works -- if it puts me to sleep, it's folk; if it's played by black guys, it's funk; and if I don't understand it, it's jazz."

https://www.discogs.com/The-Frosted-Flaykes-Waste-Your-Time-Rockin-Rhythm/release/1858055#images/15877774

I love the (possibly apocryphal/overly romantic?) notion that the development of jazz was hastened after the civil war, where so many discarded brass instruments were retrieved from battlefields.

i think of smooth jazz tbh as being more in the R&B lineage

omg Lechera play them that scene from Matewan where the Italian, black and white miners start improvising over each others' riffs - it's like the ultimate idealised version of American roots music compressed into about 20 seconds of screen time

if you can find it for me, i might
right now i have to clean dog poop off my shoe and get to work!

there is a paragraph about smooth jazz in the textbook but i am going to ignore it unless someone brings it up

cool, can now find my way back down here by Ctrl+F "poop."

From 'On The Road' by Jack Kerouac
'Nobody knows where Slim Gaillard is'

'... one night we suddenly went mad together again; we went to see Slim Gaillard in a little Frisco nightclub. Slim Gaillard is a tall, thin Negro with big sad eyes who's always saying 'Right-orooni' and 'How 'bout a little bourbon-arooni.' In Frisco great eager crowds of young semi-intellectuals sat at his feet and listened to him on the piano, guitar and bongo drums. When he gets warmed up he takes off his undershirt and really goes. He does and says anything that comes into his head. He'll sing 'Cement Mixer, Put-ti Put-ti' and suddenly slow down the beat and brood over his bongos with fingertips barely tapping the skin as everybody leans forward breathlessly to hear; you think he'll do this for a minute or so, but he goes right on, for as long as an hour, making an imperceptible little noise with the tips of his fingernails, smaller and smaller all the time till you can't hear it any more and sounds of traffic come in the open door. Then he slowly gets up and takes the mike and says, very slowly, 'Great-orooni ... fine-ovauti ... hello-orooni ... bourbon-orooni ... all-orooni ... how are the boys in the front row making out with their girls-orooni ... orooni ... vauti ... oroonirooni ..." He keeps this up for fifteen minutes, his voice getting softer and softer till you can't hear. His great sad eyes scan the audience.

Dean stands in the back, saying, 'God! Yes!' -- and clasping his hands in prayer and sweating. 'Sal, Slim knows time, he knows time.' Slim sits down at the piano and hits two notes, two C's, then two more, then one, then two, and suddenly the big burly bass-player wakes up from a reverie and realizes Slim is playing 'C-Jam Blues' and he slugs in his big forefinger on the string and the big booming beat begins and everybody starts rocking and Slim looks just as sad as ever, and they blow jazz for half an hour, and then Slim goes mad and grabs the bongos and plays tremendous rapid Cubana beats and yells crazy things in Spanish, in Arabic, in Peruvian dialect, in Egyptian, in every language he knows, and he knows innumerable languages. Finally the set is over; each set takes two hours. Slim Gaillard goes and stands against a post, looking sadly over everybody's head as people come to talk to him. A bourbon is slipped into his hand. 'Bourbon-orooni -- thank-you-ovauti ...' Nobody knows where Slim Gaillard is. Dean once had a dream that he was having a baby and his belly was all bloated up blue as he lay on the grass of a California hospital. Under a tree, with a group of colored men, sat Slim Gaillard. Dean turned despairing eyes of a mother to him. Slim said, 'There you go-orooni.' Now Dean approached him, he approached his God; he thought Slim was God; he shuffled and bowed in front of him and asked him to join us. 'Right-orooni,' says Slim; he'll join anybody but won't guarantee to be there with you in spirit. Dean got a table, bought drinks, and sat stiffly in front of Slim. Slim dreamed over his head. Every time Slim said, 'Orooni,' Dean said 'Yes!' I sat there with these two madmen. Nothing happened. To Slim Gaillard the whole world was just one big orooni.'

Oh yeah meant to say re post-swing (or any jazz)(or anything else), as long as I can find and follow and care about the beat, the rest tends to work its self out. Later.

welp, tonight my students learned what feel is, what it means to swing, and several took me up on the opportunity to play an instrument (a small hand drum) in a straight feel vs swing feel
i heard presentations about joni mitchell, joan baez, and "yodeling" and then played them "prince of peace" to show yodeling in jazz
while the song was playing, another teacher came in from the hallway and was like IS THIS LEON THOMAS?! and i was like YOU KNOW IT and then we talked about jazz and yodeling and alice coltrane

prepping for tonight was a lot of work but i feel like it was worth it :)

ok best class

(there is no YT clip of the Matewan scene that i can find ☹️)

thanks for trying! it's ok -- we had a lot to cover anyway

idk why but i freaking LOVE talking about improvisation. it's such a relatable topic, maybe more relatable than playing composed music because everything about life is improvisation. i feel like my students connected with the concept really well.

Here's another possibly useful thread---we also talk about some school marching bands and stuff like Music For The Knee Plays on here, but mostly the evervolution of
New Orleans Brass Bands S/D

Also: Brooklyn Raga Massive's performance of Terry Riley's "In C" is all here:
https://bkragamassive.bandcamp.com/album/terry-riley-in-c-2

I think maybe all or a good many of the tracks from The Langley Schools Music Project collection, developed with Orffian techniques, are currently on youtube, anyway here's some of the backstory etc:
http://www.bar-none.com/langley-school

this week i am heading into the growth and reach of jazz (jazz pt 2). it's going to be a pretty lite overview, but they will have 3 weeks to work on their next presentations so we can do some of the research together. i think we need to do this considering how the last ones turned out to mostly be artist bios and very little discussion of the music. aside from the one about yodeling, which suffered from rather severe technical difficulties.

now i have to start writing the midterm! it's the week after next. man i have so many things to do :-/

my slides this week are so cluttered with information it's dizzying
going from jelly roll to sun ra in 3 hours, put on your helmets!

i was thinking of trying to explain how jazz is like druids

<3

Sorry for those last two inclusions, somehow I didn't get just how jazz the focus is right now----are you ging to have ear quiz? I took this course where we had to name the artist and styles, especially the latter--rag, stride, swing, classic bop, hard bop etc.---hardest thing was just that the teacher had kept talking ("YA HEAR WHAT HE'S GETTIN' TO THERE?")over the records when originally playing them, some way early in the semester, but it turned out okay (for the students who hadn't dropped out long before, having realized it wasn't going to be an easy-peasy elective after all).

I didn't take *this* course; at another school, I took Jazz and Pop Culture (which was almost all the former, except for some crossovers like Cole Porter and Kurt Weill and several older performers; also I turned the teacher on to Pretzel Logic, this being the 70s).

no name that tune in my class
we are however going to bliss out to this at some point

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxPMKgY_8qk

La lechera, this class is sounding like a great success! Good job

going through slides and making my midterm study guide
we have learned a lot!

choosing what selections to use for their midterm exam listening/writing section is tough
going with two songs i think they will like and have a lot to write about given the stuff we have covered in class so far.
i think they have learned a lot! there is always more to learn.

folk: "the foggy dew" (folk ballads unit)
jazz "lush life" (this has been tough but i am happy with my choice -- they liked the coltrane/hartman album when i played it for them as intro music once and it is not going to aggravate them)

for a different class, i would have chosen different songs. for this group, i think they will both like and have things to say about these two selections. we'll see i guess!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XCzbdXivCM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0izjSUqCcSQ

i gotta brag because i am pleased with myself -- i offered two options for listening: youtube or CDs. we have laptops available for the people who want to use youtube, and i set up a listening station (complete with party light for visual entertainment) for students who prefer to listen offline. the IT department had headphones for us to use and everything seems to be working. it's a nice reprieve from the constantly malfunctioning laptop projectors/their speakers. i have so far avoided spending my own money on a bluetooth speaker.

also proud because my students are all working really hard, brought their study guides, and seem very focused.

idk how they handle testing on these subjects at other places. i wrote my own exam because the existing one was pitifully bad. is there a departmental exam you have to teach to, sund4r?

I've actually never had to teach to a departmental exam for anything, even for core theory courses. I know that it does happen for theory at some places but I've never heard of it for elective history/appreciation sorts of courses.

my school where i teach is very small and very weird, i have no idea how it's done elsewhere. this course was moribund when i took the assignment and there were basically no materials.

when i was in college, the course was called "history of rock and roll" and i did not take it because i thought i already knew everything i needed to know about "rock and roll"
lol

the hubris of youth, I almost miss it sometimes
(I do not)

your students are so lucky to have you, srsly and sncrly

also, i would love to take over a 'History of Rock n' Roll' college course and start out the semester in full crumhorn squall

I don't know anything about music but you sound like a great teacher.

thanks y'all! i think i am an above-average teacher. i could probably be greater and for that, i have time. hopefully! this class has taken its toll on my pursuit of my own musical endeavors, which is alright because spring break is coming up AND summer AND this will be easier next time. and i think i am doing a good job. i am looking forward to reading their answers to the midterm. that's not something i say every semester.

Great song selections for the midterm!

thanks!
i was extra pleased about "the foggy dew" because i was having trouble finding the lyrics, was about to type it out myself, and then typed in my favorite phrase from the song ("what the foggy dew has done") and up popped the folkways pdf of the liner notes from the original folkways release of false true lovers, which i screenshotted and used on the exam!!! it is a tiny bit...ribald but my students are adults. i truly enjoyed this pointless tidbit and sharing it with them. also they got to read a short paragraph about the song as well as Shirley's opinion about that version of "the foggy dew"!! WIN WIN WIN WIN

now playing shirley box disc 3 bc of u

enjoy!

take a warning by me itt

this is mostly off-topic and might be old news but i'm gonna put it here anyway because because dag

The University of Glasgow's Historical Thesaurus of English

post-midterm having a serious disciplinary situation to deal with

REQUEST: need to find good examples (online, need links) of evocative descriptive writing (in English or Spanish) about music
scene reports, issues- or beef-based music journalism less useful; looking for descriptions of music -- ideally popular music, nothing super out there (i can handle that part!)

is allmusic still the most comprehensive online (professional) review site?

I've never looked into this myself, but maybe worth a look? https://www.rocksbackpages.com/

that does look useful, thanks!!

The Guardian's jazz critic John Fordham is one of the best at writing evocative descriptions of music, imo. Describing free improv in words is no easy feat but he does a great job, as here for example:

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/mar/06/dave-holland-evan-parker-review-vortex-london

thank you!

we discussed the rest of the semester last night, and what we were going to cover. i thought for sure students would want to learn about classical music (at least a little?) but interest was low. they became more animated when i suggested that we go through the 20th-21st c decade by decade focusing on innovators & the most influential figures & sounds from around the world. so i have a lot of work to do, but it sounds fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun (to me)

we're going to launch this spaceship with the carter family & the difference between harry smith's folk anthology/the lomax recordings that we have already studied and land somewhere in the post-spotify landscape. i think learning this stuff will result in at least as much "music appreciation" as a syllabus that focuses mostly on western art music..

oh! and i played the half-speed Heavenly Music Corporation from No Pussyfooting as their entry music this week. i walked out of the room and came back and it sounded like my classroom was underwater and inside a whale. :) i also taught them what a synthesizer is!

Love the plan!

Disappointed a tiny bit to hear they have zero interest in poking around classical music but I have had to accept that by and large people are super turned off by it (there’s a reason the ny port authority pipes classical music into the halls to keep homeless people from loitering)

Heh, at least several students in yesterday's class liked Wendy Carlos's version of Bach's Fugue in Cm more than Angela Hewitt's.

my favorite carter family song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-n7RwGfnn8

the verses about lawyers and doctors are hilarious, and great reminders about how the stuff that drove us crazy 90 years ago isn't all that different from the stuff that drives us crazy today.

class tonight was really fun -- we covered Tito Puente (a student presentation), the beginning of the recording and distribution of recorded music (Thomas Edison*, records, radio), the 1950s from Doris Day to Bo Diddley to a lively discussion of La Bamba, and so many other things. They loved "Only You", laughed at "Yakety Yak", did not seem to care about Buddy Holly (one student knew Weezer, but only "Beverly Hills" and I am not joking) and did not recognize the picture I chose of Celia Cruz on the front page of the presentation. i feel like i did a good job considering the circumstances. that's all a person can expect.

* My youngest student (spent her 20th birthday on an outing for class <3) said, upon hearing (what i assume is an actual recording of Thomas Edison) "That is actually Thomas Edison?" and (based on my understanding, this is not a hoax video?) I told her yes, that is Thomas Edison. I hope it is not a hoax because that blew her mind.

this is the one i used, seriously hope i did not lie to my students!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnGsHx7QD2o

It's not a hoax, it's just a recording from much later (I think 1930s) that people always cut up and try to pass off as the original, long-lost tinfoil recording from 1877.

oh
do you know if there is a real one?

this is what i get for trying to show off!

there are def extant v v primitive recordings of brahms playing the piano which were made in 1889... twelve years earlier though...

are they on youtube? i feel dumb for believing that this was real but oh well.
if everything else didn't ruin my feelings about this class, this isn't going to do it!

i think so yeah (brahms 1889 on youtube)

wow the earliest playable sound recordings are a LOT earlier than I guessed

http://www.firstsounds.org/sounds/

Is the 1878 Edison on this site the debunked one?

Don't worry, it's still really him! So you didn't really lie to them.

I am trying not to spam my website too much, but I do make this history of recorded sound - the relevant episodes are here - https://centuriesofsound.wordpress.com/2017/02/15/1878-1885/ - and here - https://centuriesofsound.wordpress.com/2017/03/13/1887-1888/ - please feel free to dig around there too, the most recent episode about 1901 is easily my favourite so far - https://centuriesofsound.wordpress.com/2018/04/02/1901/

But as for the specifics - there *is* a recording of a voice reciting 'Mary Had A Little Lamb' from 1878, but it almost certainly isn't the voice of Edison, actually very interesting anyway, you can find out about it here - https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/10/scientists-recover-the-sounds-of-19th-century-music-and-laughter-from-the-oldest-playable-american-recording/264147/

The earliest recording of Edison's voice that I'm aware of is this weird thing 'Around The World on the Phonograph' from 1888

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3ajRIMXgFA

ooooooh thank you!! that's awesome!! i will share with them.

I am trying not to spam my website too much, but I do make this history of recorded sound

which is totally amazing.

it's not spam if "help me" is in the thread title :)

Thanks for the reassurance, it takes up most of my free time right now and will do for the next decade or more, so I'm sort of self-conscious about talking about it too much on here, especially when I post a new episode and don't get any replies, just don't want anyone to feel that they are being continually told about something not of interest to them.

it takes up most of my free time right now and will do for the next decade or more, so I'm sort of self-conscious about talking about it too much on here, especially when I post a new episode something i made and spent time/effort on and don't get any replies, just don't want anyone to feel that they are being continually told about something not of interest to them.

i know that feeling -- hard to straddle the line between not bothering people and being invisible. these days i am erring on the side of "do it regardless" because no one will know it's there unless i tell them. likewise for your project! the more you share it, the more other people will see it and be like hey that's cool. if people are annoyed, they are free to ignore me, which is where i was at the beginning so no harm done. self-promotion is unnecessarily stigmatized because a minority of people go overboard imo. in general, there is no other way to let people know what you have been working on! i have thoughts about this apparently.

wow also thank you for sharing all of that information.
i for one am grateful and my students will love that i made a mistake and found better information for them.

No worries sharing information - I have been immersed in (so far) 1859 to 1913 for more than two years now and am absolutely itching to share things with anyone even vaguely interested.

Thanks for the reassurance, it takes up most of my free time right now and will do for the next decade or more, so I'm sort of self-conscious about talking about it too much on here, especially when I post a new episode and don't get any replies, just don't want anyone to feel that they are being continually told about something not of interest to them.

― mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length)

yeah i know the feeling, no, your site is great and your project is great and i'm quiet about it because i have nothing meaningful to contribute most of the time - i can't speak for anybody else but i get the feeling i'm not alone in that

love those mixes, Camaraderie. They get together so many facets of the era while feeling cohesive.

I wonder if your students might find George Gershwin's piano roll albums interesting? Came out on two sep. CDs (that I know of, might be more) a number of years ago: just George, playing his songs, pretty awesome. Also have occasionally heard (on NPR) some episodes of his live, music-centric radio show ("And who's this, dropping in on us this evening? Paul Robeson, oh, hello, Paul.") Might be online etc.

The piano rolls have a sparkling, somewhat surreal robo-flow, as you might expect.

Also wonder what they might think of Four Saints In Three Acts, the opera with gospel singers, by Virgil Thomson and Gertrude Stein? "Pigeons in the grass alas," GS doing her wordkouts w VT's gospel-derived/-based motifs, sometimes entire melodies of trad. hymns I think. Thomson and some of the singers may have come by George's show, or did I dream that? I'm sure he would have played right along, nothing seemed to faze him.

Yeah, piano rolls can be just amazing - the standard ones for player pianos, not so much, but Welte-Mignon rolls also recorded the tempo, phrasing, dynamics and pedalling, so with the proper production (a player grand piano in a concert hall!) we can get new recordings of performances by not just Gershwin but Debussy and Ravel. The rolls by Scott Joplin are unfortunately from the end of his life and he seems to have a tremor, so they are more sad than enjoyable.

(thanks for kind words above rushomancy & bendy!)

The Debussy piano rolls are bizarre to me. I wish we could know how accurate that rubato is to what he played.

practical matters --

QUESTION 1 -- Aside from Stax/Volt & Motown, remind me if there are other musically/historically significant record labels (not existing/major labels) that emerged in the 1960s
QUESTION 2 -- Aside from Phil Spector, Brian Wilson were there other mainstream producers whose ideas characterized the music of the 1960s or were revived at a later date? Berry Gordy?

i am trying to organize my 1960s lesson and it feels like i am burying myself in information
too much to say for one class

re producers, George Martin

1: Studio One, Fania, Impulse!

1. ESP-DISK 2. John Hammond signed Dylan and made sure his then-unusual sound and material came through, unscrewed-with, and on major label Columbia, not Vanguard etc (see also "Hammond's Folly"). Made sure Robert Johnson's sides were finally issued on legit LP, also weird then for Columbia. Signed
Canadian thirtysomething hubbie-dad-novelist-poet L. Cohen, to Columbia as a deep singer-songwriter, the kids don't want that, John!

producers: bacharach & david

producers: norman whitfield, holland-dozier-holland

yes, now we're talking
thank you. these are people/things i know of but never directly associated with the 1960s or forgot!
we are def getting into fania (even though i recently learned that willie colon is an active trumpist :( )

Producer: Lee Hazlewood

REQUEST: youtubes of Beatles-inspired bands from around the world (contemporaneous with the Beatles or shortly after) I know there was a comp released of maybe Mexican Beatles-inspired bands? I can't remember. Help!

(I am googling like crazy today getting ready for my 1960s class. I have limited time and resources but I want to give them as much info as possible, all relevant suggestions appreciated!)

ohhh, i have a ton of global beatles covers, hope i'm not shitting up the thread too bad with video links:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hp_cBozufs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSqh0bZmwQk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpN9JkV8dU4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mS6deAXRzY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtpDmZpjsJE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-XtLm_VsPg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkFG5SoXsVk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pb4naN_r7M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfSXJ0d2P3M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gs5NxjxG0_8

I seem to remember reading somewhere that Os Mutantes were Beatles fanatics? Don't think they covered any Beatles songs, though.

perfect -- that is exactly what i needed! mission accomplished!
i have Os Mutantes on the plan already ;) i need to cover the big topics so this "meanwhile, in the rest of the world" section is an aside with links so we're not going into super detail bc there is so much to cover

i am excited to go from "theme from a summer place" to VU but also trying to stay focused & keep breathing :)

Ooh there is also a Cathy Berberian record where she does her thing to the Beatles songbook, I can ysi if u need it.

Also, in terms of doing something distinctive, self-expressive with Beatle-y sounds, the first two Big Star albums---Third/Sister Lovers has more of a Velvet Underground vibe---although they always seemed like they liked Left Banke too, and LB had their own bittersweet childe of JohnPaulGeorge thing going on, gliding on thee strings more often and reliably than actual Beatles did.

Ray Charles' "Eleanor Rigby," Wilson Pickett's "Hey Jude" (even way before Duane Allman cuts loose), 80i(Eno, Manzanera etc)'s live "Tomorrow Never Knows," Smokey Robinson's "Yesterday," Willie Nelson's too: both live and acappella (or just about). Maybe Beatallica, but I haven't heard it (reminds me that Cobain said his basic idea for Nirvana was Black Sabbath Beatles)

801, that is.

glad to help - oh i forgot one more:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYnqVS0eDdA

as for ray charles more people need to hear his version of "the long and winding road", which is actually good

i spent many hours putting together tonight's presentation and it was worth it. my coverage of the 1960s was far from comprehensive but i did the best i could under the circumstances, as usual
highlights:

* going from "theme from a summer place" to "black sabbath"
* they liked "sittin' on the dock of the bay"
* youngest student (ardent 1D fan) heard more beatles songs than she had ever heard in her life and she liked them
* talking about beatlemania was fun
* i wore a period-appropriate dress & shoes
* the big one -- their favorite version of "all along the watchtower" truly shocked me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmrql7Zhg-c

* they also enjoyed learning about leonard cohen

It's that time!!

REQUEST: nonanglophone punk/new wave/synth pop from around the world in the late 70s/early 80s

REQUEST: essential must hear rap 1977-1984? is there a list of such a thing somewhere (on ilx or elsewhere)?

i have been trying not to feed them any company line about the "invention" (usually dubious) or "importance" (extremely subjective) or any particular type of music or subgenre. just trying to give them an idea of when and how influential sounds emerged.

Have you seen Hip Hop Evolution on Netflix? First episode is as good a primer on hip hop's beginnings as I've run across.

REQUEST: nonanglophone punk/new wave/synth pop from around the world in the late 70s/early 80s

Kleenex (who later changed their name to LiLiPUT) - an all-female Swiss punk band, very influential on some (obscure) 90s bands I love

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cp8NYBUBnss

I also love early-80s Japanese new wave synth pop but don't know much about it - know this is amazing though-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHGqvYVfpEU

i'm going to have to save hip hop evolution (the whole concept) for next week, will watch
thanks for those two -- helpful!
i just need a few examples of international iterations of the punk/new wave/synth pop concept -- any contributions welcome. i don't know much about this but i know it's out there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7X6oYg6iro

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2lvpLX8CCU

You can cover international synth pop/wave with this one, and mention Italo in passing :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSqdiyg4iAU

I know that Poland was especially replete with synth pop acts in that period but I don’t know any names

neither do i!
i am looking for more non-euro stuff if anyone has brilliant ideas

not non-euro, but...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTo79sPCVXA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFHanoST-vI

English version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6raFS_dxns

(Polish so not non-Euro; also check out Dezerter for Polish punk. Timothy Ryback's "Punk in Poland" in Rocking the State, ed. Sabrina Ramet, is a good start.)

i forgot about yellow magic orchestra!

A good soul jazz comp on Brazilian post-punk

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sexual_Life_of_the_Savages

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmPA4wEMGf4

Los Prisioneros, from Chile, worked in many different New Wave subgenres

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8RhLiHh5nA

A good French comp on Cold Wave

https://www.discogs.com/Various-Transmission-81-89-The-French-Cold-Wave/release/430644

This one seems to foreshadow PJ Harvey

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBNEJX6GC20

From the German angle, I find the career of Gudrun Gut really fascinating, as she's followed the post-punk impetus through the decades, from industrial and goth to techno and modern DAW approaches.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13OiNFPINKc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CWkq1zXs10

excellent -- thank you!

one of the highlights from this week was letting my students browse some of my early 80s records. one of them asked me from across the room "what's this?" and held up new order's low-life <3 she liked the look of it
lots of highlights this week though for sure. i told them that rock music started to splinter like those brooms in fantasia
lol

low-life was a little after my cutoff date for this week but we were talking about joy division and she fell right into my teaching trap :)

question --

the billboard charts appear to introduce Latin music to their archives in 1985. then, in 1986, there appears to be a war between two artists recording the same song "toda la vida" (franco & emmanuel) and trading off #1 spots? does anyone know what was going on there?
https://www.billboard.com/archive/charts/1986/latin-songs

nm i found some articles about it in English and Spanish !! here is one in english https://www.lemonwire.com/2017/10/18/classics-latin-music-toda-la-vida-emmanuel-also-franco/

More important question for rap heads --
any recommended lists of classics from the mid-late 80s? I am looking for someone with more authority than me to tell my students what rap albums were essential during that period.

run-dmc raising hell

Er, haven't listened to any of these in quite a while, but sounded pretty damn good at the time and should still be at least of historical interest (several seemed vanguard back in the day):
Eric B & Rakim: Paid In Full, Follow The Leader
Afrika Bambaataa: Planet Rock---The Album, Looking for the Perfect Beat 1980-1985
Beastie Boys: Licensed to Ill
Boogie Down Productions:Criminal Minded (the only one I know of feat. innovative DJ Scott LaRock, though I always enjoyed the musicality of KRS-One's voice, despite/sometimes in tandem with some of his nutty words)
Think female rappers may have been more 90s? But some good albs in 80s:
Neneh Cherry, Raw Like Sushi
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five: The Message
MC Lyte: Eyes On This
Public Enemy: It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
Queen Latifa: All Hail The Queen(some were v. skeptical 'til I played it)
The Real Roxanne: s/t
Salt-N-Peppa: Hot, Cool and Vicious (def. on the pop side, but got the flava!)
Blanking on some of my compilation tapes, but these should be historical and fun:
Rap's Greatest Hits (Priorty label: breezy & gritty & goofin')
Rap's Greatest Hits Vol. 2 (Sugarhill!)
Mr. Magic's Rap Attack, Vol. 4 (radio radio!)

Big Daddy Kane - Long Live the Kane is a must, plus some obvious ones like De La - 3 Feet High and Rising and NWA - Straight Outta Compton

I'm not enough of a head to attest to the value of these personally, but Ego Trip's lists are online: http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/ego_trip_page2.htm

The Perfect Beats: New York Electro Hip Hop + Underground Dance Classics 1980-1985 (I've got four volumes, may be more)

Also, Steinski always had his own vision of hip-hop, from the early 80s at least, maybe the 70s, and some of the 80s stuff, remastered, is posted via this official site, his and early partner Double Dee's--join the mailing list and get a code for download of yr. choice: https://ddski.com/ (early stuff on youtube as well).Burning Out of Control, Steinski's panoramic mix album of Sugarhill tracks, some deep in the catalog, is very edutational.

*has* always had, I meant: he's still at it.

"edutational"? Screw it, it's very educational and entertaining.

RIP Jabo :(

working on my final exam study guide
i can't believe i get paid to do this!
what a blessing

this thread has been really helpful content-wise and as a place to gather my thoughts. thank you ilxor.com :)

it was a true pleasure

final exam today!
i have also realized that this semester was like a rough outline of what the class should be; it's more than nothing, but it will get better. overall, i think my students learned a lot! it's a lot to learn in three hour weekly bursts.

i brought the yamaha dtx drum pad i played in a show on friday to class and encouraged all of my students to try it out as they left class. it's always a joy to watch people pick up drum sticks and play for the first time, and i liked the way it marked the end of the semester. we had to keep it down because this is a school during finals week but everyone gave it a try. troopers!

new semester starts tomorrow!! i have already planned an outing for us to see a local teen mariachi troupe (who are getting sort of famous) for free on a saturday during the world music fest in september. i am exciiiiited to teach this class while the world music festival is going on!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6dRZk8QQYM

Good luck. What age/grade are students (I forgot)? Different students this semester but similar curriculum?

They are college students; it's a humanities course at a school without any humanities majors, so it's an elective for everyone. Different students, plan to keep the curriculum as much as I can since I worked so hard to develop it. I'll have to meet them and see what their musical backgrounds/interests are before I know anymore.

It is a huge relief to know I have the first few weeks pretty well figured out. Can't wait to have the "is this music?" discussion again!

LL, curious if you talked about swing era jazz as dance music?

yeah last semester i did -- we haven't made it that far this semester yet
although tonight we have guest speakers and over the weekend i took some students on an outing to see a giant cuban big band
we're about a week behind where we were last semester

Cool! I ask because I used to be a swing dancer.

if you have favorite youtubes of musicians playing while people are swing dancing, share em up! (not revival but of the original era)

Do movie clips count or are you looking for live performances? Because this is iconic:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahoJReiCaPk

i think i included that one last time!
movie clips are fine if they aren't from "a song is born" (actually the musical parts were the only good part of that movie, the romance made me want to hurl and every character was annoying)

Balboa, which came up around the same time as Lindy Hop but on the West coast:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehVZktW0BK4&list=PL1m2S0OSei-VkqsKw0qrxQ0IfgkxBL-vO&index=13

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IH1Fru-RttA

Wow, didn't know about this thread or that you were teaching that, but sounds like a blast. A friend in a CUNY music PhD program once invited me to do a little guest thing on jazz for her freshman music appreciation class and I loved putting together the lesson and teaching it.

it's really fun!! this is the second semester i've taught it, and it's much easier the second time now that i have some presentations prepared. it feels like a privilege and honor to go to work and talk about music for 3 hours!!!

tonight we are getting schooled on afro-colombian traditional music, dance, and drumming!!

omg so this is midterms and i just heard some very loud music coming from the headphones of one of my students. the songs i wanted them to listen to (both fairly quiet) are linked on our LMS as well as available offline (on CD) but apparently one student was determined to just google the song title and wound up listening to a version of "The Foggy Dew" by some group called Wenches and Rogues
lol
it sounded awful

I’m sure it possible to assemble an all-ukulele version of any listening syllabus

but why?

masochism?

To teach the dangers of random YouTube searches

make wenches/rogues read benjamin's "work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction" as penance

my cousin works with a community over 60's ukulele band project. He's always posting the results on youtube like as if this hateful twee shit is bringing some fucking light into the world.

teaching as a profession isn't masochism enough? j/k i love teaching but grading sucks

Lolol wenches and rogues

next week i am expanding my international jazz diaspora content and i would like to see any recommendations y'all have for the following: (requesting googleable search terms and youtubes if you feel like it)

Caribbean/Cuban jazz (past or present)
Brazilian jazz (I think this is actually the easiest one for me but bring it on if you have qreat ideas)
Japanese jazz (i know nothing at all about this but i assume Japan has produced some jazz or jazz-esque artists?)
African (I am aware of some Ethiopian jazz but not much beyond that)
Other parts of the world that have produced jazz-like or jazz-influenced/saturated music?

I'm familiar with some big names but i am wondering what i'm missing
help if you can! thank you

Cuban piano maestro Chucho Valdes (son of Bebo) is someone I like a lot, his 90's Blue Note albums are all brilliant, his solo Pianissimo alb is a good showcase for his piano genius and feel for some Cuban standards. There is probably loads more good stuff, but that is far as I've got.

Just been listening to his Solo Piano alb from '91, it's wonderful!

almost Cecil Taylor wonderful in parts!

I've been digging the by-way-of-Sweden African jazz of Bengt Berger & Don Cherry's Bitter Funeral Beer Band. The 80s fashion disasters can dissuade, but the music is great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4hKAS_tQ9w&index=5&list=PL9E8643186918FD23

Also, Soviet-era Vagif Mustafazade explorations connecting jazz to Azerbaijan's folk and classical traditions. His straight up 1970s jazz is great, but stuff like this is particularly intriguing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BId54VzErTU&index=23&list=PLB290E8FF6C96C1D6

ok this is going to get messy and isn't necessarily going to be straight jazz

eastern bloc jazz - lost of it. really great polish jazz, of course, well-known enough that i figure you won't need me to recommend you for instance zbigniew seifert or tomasz stanko. but also the soviet union itself had some sweet jazz musos, i'm gonna break these links so they don't clog up the thread

melodiya ensemble's labyrinth: fgwNtnGYBAg
yuri morozov from "jazz night": 4a_PbwuuO_E
marimba plus: sE-Ya6rL66c

japanese jazz - a couple of great comps out this year, "j-jazz" it gets called. here's a random comp off the youtube: kNRIFhkYONc - for more modern stuff i really like "soil & 'pimp' sessions", here's a video of them AQMgXPFzdg8 - oh and of course i LOVE LOVE LOVE shibusashirazu orchestra, goddamn you cannot go wrong with these people UfW2j5tFVGI

african jazz - aside from ethio-jazz the biggest jazz scene i know is the south african jazz scene, a lot of these folks came to england and are well-known, chris mcgregor etc, also abdullah ibrahim (FXfWLrLwW_4). the guy known as the south african charlie parker was kippie moeketsi, he didn't record much but here's one of his songs: (k3mMEr5UnRI). like a lot of jazz music jazz in africa mutated into forms we might not necessarily recognize as "jazz" - kwela and suchlike, and of course there's stuff like the famous "skokiaan" by the cold storage band from zimbabwe in the "tsaba-tsaba" style (and the b-side of which is a charming take on "in the mood" with vocals, see: https://soulsafari.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/african-dance-band-of-the-cold-storage-commission-of-s-rhodesia-in-the-mood.mp3) which i'm not going to cover here but much of which is damn good. for more modern south african stuff you want to hear Nduduzo Makhathini: sTr5a93n4fw

cuban jazz - you're talking after the "afro-cuban" heyday, i'm assuming, you don't need to know about machito. jazz in cuba post this of course developed into the well-known "boogaloo" style but also into something called "descargas", one of the best albums in this genre is cachao y su ritmo caliente - "cuban jam sessions in miniature 'descargas'", here: B6KenosUuJ8. some good trombone here, also in this vein worth hearing el trombon majadero by generoso jimenez, ub_l9M3GVWo. for more modern stuff i like yosvany terry's "contrapuntisco", it is definitely very complex and academic, apologies for that, that's just how i tend to like my jazz QCbkJbQLku8

i'd also recommend jan johansson's "jazz pa svenska", this is european jazz but it uses traditional swesish melodies as its basis, see t2D5HlKLh34&list=PLKUyqLlH6brkzzJgD6Gdriga4mdtCAMBJ

you probably got more on brazilian jazz than me, i'd be remiss if i didn't recommend the quarteto novo album tho y374WwqZtOI

a good australian jazz record is yaarandoo by rob thomsett 5ym3rzdx-Bc

anyway. lots of good jazz.

that's ok! thank you!! i am trying to show students how the concept/basic idea of jazz spread all over the world and cross-pollinated with other cultures. they are really interested in cross-cultural stuff.

well, let me give you another swedish song, "be-bop accordeon": vwzVWxyyp7E
i also like stuff like rufus harley's jazz bagpiping, but rufus harley was all-american as they come

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozambique_(music)

apparently the "Afro" of Afro-Cuban jazz is mostly derived from the music of Mozambique.

oh, hell, let's take this from another direction. this isn't jazz, but the saxophone is way more associated with jazz than it is from carnatic music:

ItbPutkMFe0

ok wait sorry check this out this is some some great shit i just stumbled into, the title track of masahiko togashi's "spiritual nature" album from 1975, seriously goddamn wow, just this great pile of basses and flutes and percussion

0sUUlOv0ZFI

https://i2.wp.com/latinjazznet.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Carlos-Averhoff-Jr.-Jazz-Meets-Cuban-Timba-CD-Cover-August-2018.jpg?w=500&ssl=1

this a more current Cuban release I've been liking recently, another bandleader who is the son a Cuban legend, which might suggest nepotism rules over there!

No idea why youtube urls pull from the address bar aren't working, so here's a attempt at pasting in my links through the share buttons

https://youtu.be/ALp9N_lS_b8

https://youtu.be/BId54VzErTU

I can't find any excerpts on YT, but as far as Russian/Central Asian free improv goes, I strongly recommend Astreja (or Astrea depending on the transliteration)'s Music from Davos. It features Sofia Gubaidulina (still one of the greatest living composers) and Viktor Suslin playing a variety of traditional instruments from the Caucasus region, alongside percussionist Mark Pekarsky and singer Valentina Ponomareva. It may not count as jazz if we go by a stricter definition, but that can make for an interesting discussion in its own right.

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3461509042_10.jpg

good noisy Russian Free Jazz group here!

on the cross-cultural/jazz-influenced end I'd be tempted to include some african big band stuff like congolese soukous a la Franco Luambo & OK Jazz, Fela Kuti & more recent afrobeat disciples like Lagbaja, or Salah Ragab's egyptian jazz. you could also have some 50s jamaican ska but I don't enough to recommend.

otherwise surely a bit of Django Reinhardt/gypsy jazz, perhaps L Subramaniam's indo jazz/fusion, or John Zorn/Masada-style klezmer-jazz

baku in azerbaijan is supposed to have a strong jazz history, idk anything about it tho

Hungarian avante garde Jazz meister Szilard Mezei is another interesting player, sort of surreal Marching Music, Bartok and Jazz influences. His last album was a concept album about postwar genocide in the East. Perhaps a bit much for some!

there is one tune he did which was a homage to Mal Waldron, and it was one of the most moving pieces of music I'd heard in years!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVkXT3xQr0Q

this type of stuff

i am getting to fela etc in a later lesson -- have no fear!

Japanese jazz fusion had a surge of international recognition at the start of the 1980s, and there's been a wave of renewed interest in the last few years. Acts of note include Ryo Kawasaki, Sadao Watanabe, Hiroshi Fukumura, Casiopea, Genji Sawai & Bacon Egg, Teruo Nakamura, Pacific Jam, Arakawa Band, Himiko Kikuchi, Nobuo Yagi.

Re African jazz, this group is from thee tyme of far-out sounds making their way even unto Voice of America etc., also increasingly demanded in clubs, and they always had several schools of body language grooving simultaneously---no perfect gateway, so pick any (if it doesn't show, search Orchestre Poly-Rhythmo Cotonou)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_pLdM12yx4

Mulatu Astatke & His Ethiopian Quintet ‎– Afro-Latin Soul Vols 1 & 2 (1966 LPs reissued this year) He plays billowing, rattling vibes over his own piano and percussion---very early, imperfect, but he's already got it, also some hip guests show up occasionally (what is that trumpet player on, I want some)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCxFDt4xSXA

we have a thread for japanese jazz fyi

Japanese jazz, "j-jazz"

Don't sleep onRough Guide To Ethiopian Jazz, with several approaches, all roads leading to a splendid gateway.
Haven't really followed Abullah Ibrahim or South African jazz overall as much as I should, but certainly his Ekaya was a white sky desert rose in my brain, Water from an Ancient Well also an old favorite; he has a way of blending echoes of Monk, Ellington, various homegrown colors, taking 'em a bit further on African Space Program. Still need to check the one with Gato Barbieri, from when AI was still billed over here as Dollar Brand.
Speaking of Gato, I'm still mostly familiar with his nutty romantic music for/in the notoriousLast Tango In Paris and especially Latin America: Chapter I---now that's what I call magic realism (also epic folklore and more romance). Follow-up, Bolivia, brings in some Americans, which works, and then later he goes to New York but haven't heard that one.

I am getting better at this! week 2 is the week where we have a LOT of vocabulary and talk about the elements of music. It's probably the most fun because we can talk about ANY KIND OF MUSIC as long as it illustrates a principle we are trying to learn. I also brought a bunch of instruments to try out and demonstrate the elements of music. This is more fun than I ever expected to have at work and it is because I stepped up and redesigned the whole curriculum. Thank you ilx for helping me!

Is this your third time through teaching this? Pretty curious to see the lecture titles or rough outline.

yes, this is my third time. i have two sections now, and plan to open a third (and find another teacher) in the fall. enrollment is booming!

the class is structured in 4 parts -- intro/vocabulary/what is music and how do i talk/write about it? ---> folk music of the world (description practice, students do a presentation) ---> intro to jazz/jazz diaspora (also includes a presentation) --> popular music by the decade starting in the 1950s (this part could change depending on who is teaching the class, it happens to be something i know just enough about to teach other people)

they also have two larger writing assignments -- observing and writing about a musical performance of their choice (i also host outings) and interviewing a person who works in the field of music (volunteer interviewees welcome! if you are interested webmail me your contact info! no jokers)

I've just started reading something that seems like it might be helpful: Playing Changes: Jazz For The New Century, by Nate Chinen---starts on an evening in 2017! But skimming ahead, can see it loops back aways, tracing M Base Collective and its influence, for inst. Cover flap assures us that this traces the rise of jazz historicism, institutionalism, and and beyond, w increasing influence of R&b, hip-hop, other, also how "shape-shifting elders," like Shorter and Threadgill, "have moved the aesthetic center." Blurbs by Sonny Rollins, Alx Ross, Herbie Hancock.

just a little update --

the smaller of my two classes meets at night and i gave them the option of putting together an end of semester show as their final project. today is flyer/flier-making/digitizing/distributing and the show is in 2 weeks. we have a stylistically and culturally diverse lineup and everyone is giving it their best so far, self included. so far, so good!

my other class is going ahead with the regular curriculum so it's also interesting to see the difference between the two classes.

by show, you mean mixtapes or something like that?

No we’re going to put on a real performance!! In our classroom! Room 169 is about to get lit 🔥

!

yeah! it's the first time i am trying this project and its success depends entirely on my students not dropping the ball on ANYTHING
but
their attendance and participation has been so reliable and of such a dedicated quality that i have faith in them

Any chance that you might post this on the 'Tube? Maybe a student will---

we do have someone in charge of photography and documentation
i would like to have a video, idk if we will post it but if we have it we probably will!

it's about 45 min of live performance (like a small variety show i guess? a very unusual one) followed by karaoke party (to blow off steam the week before finals, naturally)

we did it! still sorting through our media, not sure if any of it will wind up on youtube but i posted some myself
(not linking here because i value the piddling shred of anonymity this website provides me)

update:
* should have two sections again this upcoming semester, good news bc fall is much more lively in the "free concert" department than winter/spring
* upgraded my equipment to a retired phone + bluetooth speaker. I can put my own music onto the phone and play at will or use school wifi to stream. nice! better than relying on the old laptops we have on the carts! way better than carting around a zillion CDs, which I will do to show that they exist but dnw to cart bags of them around town)
* this means i am going to buy a spotify subscription and use it in conjunction w youtube (not thrilled about this but a lot of students use spotify and I can make/share better/more reliable playlists)

we are also using a new LMS this year so cheers to tech upgrades, however late or antiquated they are, and to music appreciation, which almost singlehandedly fuels my zest for life in these trying times
:)

Not completely unrelated, I found this videos on youtube last week and loved the idea:

https://youtu.be/JjfOKyTfLa4

For his final exam at the state music university in Stuttgart, flo koenig formed a band to reinterpret songs into a live format. Covers include: Jasmine by Jai Paul, Our Love by Caribou and Nothing Thought by Sonnymoon.

I love the idea and the challenge of taking these songs that rely heavily on studio work - could be considered electronic music even - into a live setting.

#goals !!!!!

This is probably too basic for your age group, but last year, with my 3/4 class, I a) did a kind of history of music video, playing around 10 videos that I thought were among the best ever (a mix of obvious ones and personal favourites: "Nothing Compares 2U," "Walking Contradiction," "Man on the Moon," etc.), then b) had them produce their own video, preferably one that was more abstract than just lip-synching along. I had four groups: we were getting near the end of the year, so one group didn't finish, but of the other three, one of them produced something that was
really good!

Posted this on fb but I am also posting here because I want the widest possible range of options:

One of the assignments in my Music Appreciation class is to attend a live performance and write about it, sort of fly-on-the-wall description with some personal observations as well. As you can imagine, this is going to be impossible now.

What I need:
I am making a list of performance/concert films currently streaming and also full sets that are available on youtube. I plan to share this with students as soon as I can so they can use some of their quarantine time to enjoy live music/also complete their coursework. (I can share it here as well)

* What are your favorites?
* ALL GENRES WELCOME, the broader the selection the better
* For films, please type the TITLE of the film, the ARTIST if it is not obvious from the title, and what service it's streaming on
* For youtube links, just list the artist's name and if you want a few words about why you think it's a good choice!

THANK YOU

"stop making sense" (talking heads) - criterion channel

Aretha Franklin's Amazing Grace on Hulu made me cry a few times
https://www.hulu.com/movie/amazing-grace-fdfa744d-1fe1-4982-8a70-157246d148c1

YESS we already watched that one but they LOVED it, they were mesmerized
thank you for posting, please do not worry about overwhelming me with options, i am making a googledoc and i can share if it anyone wants to see

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2-5-g8boIc

Gil Evans and his Orchestra, Live in Lugano, 1983

57:36 HD color TV show, nice presentation of Evans' 19-piece big band with Billy Cobham on drums

https://www.deseret.com/2020/3/16/21181909/metropolitan-opera-streaming-free-performances-covid-19-coronavirus

"storefront hitchcock" (robyn hitchcock), amazon prime

i believe "sign o' the times" (prince, obvi) is still on amazon prime, too.

and there is of course a ridiculous treasure trove of live prince shows on youtube, though they tend to come and go so it's an ever-mutating list.

fugazi "instrument" (has optional spanish subtitles on youtube) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqfvlPZk0R0

YESSS thank you
URLs appreciated for Prince performances if you know of any in particular

an old youtube favorite: replacements live at the 7th street entry, september 1981, in six parts starting here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUFWnbz2siM

this prince 1985 show has decent video quality and has remained up for several months, which is pretty stable as prince youtubes go:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOFem3JEn2E

the boredoms' amazing 77 boa drum show in brooklyn, in multiple parts starting here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXCCJIwLf2w

me and a few other ilxors floating around in that boadrum crowd

me too. that was a good day.

Rahsaan Roland Kirk - I, Eye, Aye: Live at the Montreux Jazz Festival, 1972

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHhPmXqts3M

because there are probably some worthwhile discussions to be had about whether there's a clear-cut dividing line between novelty/spectacle and ~serious art~, and whether handing out free cocaine is a constructive way to boost audience engagement

(fwiw I can't find a better quality upload, it doesn't seem to be available on any streaming services, and the DVD is prohibitively expensive)

nevermind, that DVD link is for a completely different show. afaict the Montreux video was only ever issued on VHS under the title The One Man Twins

Youtube just recommended this “live” performance of Don’t Start Now by Dua Lipa. It’s not the studio version but it sounds too perfect to be live? I also think I noticed she’s doing different things between edits so it might be a multi take, no idea. Seems fishy. If it’s actually live then yeah this one’s great.

One of my all time favorites is this tv performance of Aguas de Março by Elis Regina, she’s so joyful it always makes me smile.

https://youtu.be/FI1b9RK10JI

Ah forgot to link the dua lipa one:

https://youtu.be/YSoT3T58QFY

I also recommend any Julien Baker and Melanie Di Biasio performance you can find on youtube. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a bad one by them.

And this performance of Cellophane by FKA. Love that the setup includes a singer/beatbox doing the “tchk tchk” parts.

https://youtu.be/bNqXhfUfwgc

my favorite is stevie wonder just killing it doing "satisfaction" on sesame street:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ul7X5js1vE

prince? gotta be his performance at the holiday inn in sheridan, wyoming for the premiere of "under the cherry moon":

https://youtu.be/te97LW90d1Q?t=596

starts ten minutes in and just kills it dead for the next ten minutes

Laurie Anderson - Home of the Brave (haven't watched this in full but it looks pretty great)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mua8Pr6uRso

I keep watching Khruangbin's Boiler Room set...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgWnrIC8X-k

... and find my self contemplating all sorts of things as I'm mesmerized: how much sound can a traditional trio make; are vocals important; are they a jam band/indie band/psych band; it's it significant that they're Texan, that they're white/black/latinx; why does the music sound laid back but look showy when performed?

xp my favorite live stevie is beat club ‘73

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Og2mJjecDYw

also here is sonny sharrock on french tv from 1970

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvkUSUlPkZs

Jazz Casual:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jazz_Casual

Jazz Casual was an occasional series on jazz music on National Educational Television (NET), the predecessor to the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). The show was produced by Richard Moore and KQED of San Francisco, California. Episodes ran for 30 minutes. It ran from 1961 to 1968 and was hosted by jazz critic Ralph Gleason. The series had a pilot program in 1960. That episode, however, has been destroyed. 31 episodes were broadcast; 28 episodes survive.

A couple of other things:

Johnny Cash at San Quentin:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3paDG8ulPbY

Elvis from his '68 comeback special
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZe_8u-rGWE

Cab Calloway in a great scene from the movie Stormy Weather (ok, not truly live but still, c'mon)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8yGGtVKrD8

A few favourites: Tyler, the Creator - Tiny Desk Concert
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1w-hDiJ4dM
CAN, Sporthalle Köln, 1972
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FaydRUQ42Q
CAN, Soest, 1970
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zhdNviS0Vs

very recent and very good: The Highwomen covering The Chain

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVLNB3d-2cA

this thread could eat up some social-distancing time

I thought about posting that Khurangbin set myself, I really enjoyed it ... on the same theme of "how much noise can a traditional trio make," here's the Hedvig Mollestad Trio at Taktlos 2017:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsxcMdtO_lw

This is awesome - https://vimeo.com/25619692

That xpost complete set of Jazz Casual episodes should be infotaining, judging by the one I saw, w Art Pepper: the artist and combo perform one or two songs, you get your own impression without pre-sell, then artist sits down for brief conversation with host, gets up for more music, and comments may or may not affect your take (incl. memory of performance before comments). 30 minutes, just right.

Heartworn Highways now a famous proto-Americana doc, several excerpts in Ken Burns country history,, but what's not as well-known among those who have only read about it is the Townes-type mood swings, and not only his: each segment/extended scene-situation is equally immersive. DVD has worthy bonus material.

Wild Combination, re the life and music of Arthur Russell, also a nimble, deep focus sweep & swoop, from Great Plains to Downtown. More excellent extras, and (as w HH), unusually good/justified/crucial talk/music ratio.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0NjZrPX-l0

CSNY - "Down By The River" Live from... idk. I always thought it was Hullabaloo or something.

Anyway this is interesting because of square TV host, square TV set, well coiffed "wholesome" teenagers styled for TV and then CSNY shows up to blow your mind.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbF7LODCIGQ

Liza + PSB on Arsineo Hall

THANK YOU SO MUCH for these!!! I am getting around to compiling them soon and i can share the doc if anyone is interested
everything is crazy right now at my school, we are all seeing each other on webcams for the first time and it's hilarious
meanwhile, i am making this list :)

Einstein on the Beach: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLirLVoOHstO5pYKp_AiWAs9ullp4ieNSl

Boris live at Shimokitazawa Shelter (apparently ripped from a DVD):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tjn-IrkxVbk

Bardo Pond f/ Makoto Kawabata at Terrastock 7:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkXL3yfRSL4

Dum Dum Girls 2014 (I've actually watched this one):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ayb03dUNkKM

This 'un is a trip--take it, wiki:
Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul is a 2005 film/documentary directed by Fatih Akın. The film is a journey through the music scene in modern Istanbul, Turkey as well as portraying its cultural life. It was screened out of competition at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival.
It features German musician Alexander Hacke (member of Einstürzende Neubauten) as the narrator.[2] Hacke and Akın travelled around Istanbul with a mobile recording studio and a microphone, assembling an inspired portrait of Turkish music — from arabesque to indie rock and rap. All of which they make their own thing---I mostly just knew a few vintage vanguard smokin' Turks , like Erkin Koray, who's in here---but dammn. Especially impressed by those who perform music usually assumed to depend on studio or stage wizardry, but here (in streets, vacant lots, etc.) sure seems to be in the moment (however much rehearsal or previous performance may have already transpired). Blanking on her name, but a case in point would be one particularly awesome balladeer, deep folk-pop, RIYL Natacha Atlas or Kate Bush for that matter, but killing it right there in the sun and dust and mobile mic.

I'm interested in your final doc compilation, please.

wiki's on a roll:
Latcho Drom ("safe journey") is a 1993 French film directed and written by Tony Gatlif. The movie is about the Romani people's journey from north-west India to Spain, consisting primarily of music. The film was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival.[1]...The film contains very little dialogue and captions; only what is required to grasp the essential meaning of a song or conversation is translated. The film begins in the Thar Desert in Northern India and ends in Spain, passing through Egypt, Turkey, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, and France. All of the Romani portrayed are actual members of the Romani community.
This is one of the very few music docs I've ever seen that conveys the best of thee festival experience: no copters, cops or runners, no seizures or fistfights or dogbreath, just a series of pellucid dreams, strongest bubbles, leaving my senses refreshed as by the kind of sauna I can rarely afford.

No talk in Jazz On A Summer Day:
Jazz on a Summer's Day is a concert film set at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival [1] in Rhode Island, directed by commercial and fashion photographer Bert Stern and Aram Avakian[2], who also edited the film. The Columbia Records jazz producer, George Avakian, was the musical director of the film.

The film mixes images of water and the city with the performers and audience at the festival. It also features scenes of the 1958 America's Cup yacht races. The film is largely without dialog or narration (except for periodic announcements by emcee Willis Conover).

The film features performances by Jimmy Giuffre; Thelonious Monk; Sonny Stitt; Anita O'Day; Dinah Washington; Gerry Mulligan; Chuck Berry; Chico Hamilton, with Eric Dolphy; and Louis Armstrong, with Jack Teagarden. Also appearing are Buck Clayton, Jo Jones, Armando Peraza, and Eli's Chosen Six, the Yale College student ensemble that included trombonist Roswell Rudd, shown driving around Newport in a convertible jalopy, playing Dixieland.[3]

As was scheduled in advance and announced in the program, the last performer Saturday night was Mahalia Jackson, who sang a one-hour program beginning at midnight, thus ushering in Sunday morning. The film concluded with her performance of The Lord's Prayer. But not too much of that or anything else: editing is deft, although some jazz fans then considered it too damn quirky, as I think Gary Giddens mentioned. Seems like an influence on Monterey Pop and Woodstock, in its cooler way. Does have a cusp-of-the-Sixties vibe at tymes, esp. Chico Hamilton's group.

Also Jimmy Giuffre.

Chuck Berry rocks the Count Basie Orchestra, Anita O'Day is nonchalant badass etc

Zaire 74
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jogVNf1x_Xw
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaire_74

and thanks for that amazing highwomen live version of the chain, that's amazing!

Chuck Berry rocks the Count Basie Orchestra, Anita O'Day is nonchalant badass etc

I like this Talking Heads Rome show - less happening visually than Stop Making Sense, but lots of Adrian Belew:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOirHv4wOv4

here is the list i gave to my students -- please keep in mind it was made for them, not you! it's not exhaustive. but it will provide many hours of quality musical entertainment. i might even watch the Bieber one if i get bored enough ---> shorturl.at/moNRZ

i am also going to add things as i stumble on them + my pitiful "other resources" tab needs help. didn't want to drown my students in choices though. it's a small menu but everything is good!

Oh shit wattstax is on youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdAkEwq0Af8

oh lol you already have it on there

You don't have the TAMI show tho:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OODJDdIbkF4

TAMI Show comes and goes from youtube -- I'll add it if it's the complete thing. the old youtube was super high quality too because of that weird format they used to shoot it. last time I looked for it, it was gone but one semester we watched it in class and my students LOVED the lesley gore part

they didn't know there was an original version of "you don't own me" and they clapped!

necessary

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFgzzWT3zX4

Ok here's a question -- what are some good examples of "listening guides" or "how to get into ______"/an introduction to ________ guides?

With this new online learning situation I am having to get extra creative with the final project this time. We can't do the fun things I've done in the past (put on a show, make a zine) -- I realize they COULD make a zine but it would lose a huge part of the fun. I thought maybe designing listening guides might be kind of fun? Esp for music that isn't in English, it might be fun to have an English speaker's guide to, say, bachata.

you could do worse than the rough guide series?
https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/a-rough-guide-to-the-rough-guides/Content?oid=897715
https://www.librarything.com/series/Rough+Guide+Music+Guides