1. Rhythm and blues (hip-hop)
The full name of R & ampb is rhythm &；; Blues, generally translated as "rhythm complaining songs". R &； in a broad sense; B can be regarded as "black pop music", which originated from black blues music and is the basis of western pop and rock. Billboard magazine once defined R& B as all black music, except jazz and blues, which can be classified as R&; B, visible R &；; How wide is the scope of B. Hip Hop and Rap, which are very popular in black music circles in recent years, both originated from R&; Save a lot of research and development expenses during research and development. Component B.
2. rap< rap music >
The origin of rap music can be traced back to the chanting passages in The Roots of Black Music. In the 1970s, rap music formally established its own style, and the most important contribution was attributed to the DJ in the popular disco at that time. They mixed the funk rhythm popular among blacks with the disco rhythm, repeated the contents of the same record on the record player and made their own cycle. With the appearance of DJ's well-known and widely used "disc-playing" method, rap began to be circulated by street black culture and derived quite rich branches. For example, West Coast rap, South rap, pop rap, old-school rap, Midwest rap, Latin rap, hardcore rap and gangster rap. Foreign rap, East Coast rap, cross-border rap, comedy rap, Christian rap, alternative rap, etc. What we call HIP-HOP is a new word which is born by combining these schools with popular elements. Although as early as the early 1990s, some people thought that this kind of sloppy, abusive and rebellious concert soon disappeared, in fact, in the late 1990s, with the popularity of a group of new rappers and rap rock dominated by whites, the music once abandoned by blacks returned to the forefront of pop music, at least in the new century, this trend will not fade.
Rap is an important part of American black music, the main tone of street culture and a "dark chocolate" in world pop music. This paper tries to introduce several popular American rappers/groups, so that fans can know their background information and find their favorite rappers. First of all, we briefly introduce the origin and development of Rap rap.
[13] Rock music (a little punk again, but a little more comfortable than punk)
A, B, C and D all have their own answers. Do you like it? Are A, B, C and D smiling or sad? Forget it, I won't discuss what rock and roll is here, just like a younger brother who dabbled in another world for the first time and watched a movie called rock campus, but I can't help asking: Your enlightenment was Pink Floyd, Led Zeppeln and jimi hendrix. The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, Madonna, do we have a topic? Can we also form a rock band?
Rock campus evokes my fragmentary memories of rock music with an uncomplicated plot-who finally got the records of the Red and Blue Beatles? The audio-visual world accumulated from one issue to another has probably turned into pulp, full of other words? How long have two thick rock guides been idle in the corner of the bookshelf?
But the movie actually tells you that rock music is actually normal. For a long time, this is a well-organized industry-people with musical talent form bands-and vertical classical guitar has become a weapon of rock music. Honey, isn't the cello a bass after losing weight? It's a piece of cake to say keyboard-a lively comedy movie is always looking for the object of ridicule, so classical music has to be wronged for a while. Anyway, there are more blockbusters that need you. There are also the lights, shapes and costumes of the subordinate bands ... When everyone does their part, those who are really idle can become exclusive fans of the band-a childish little girl seriously asks: Isn't the fan just going to sleep with the musicians? No, no, no, a lovely girl who didn't want to be an ordinary fan became the manager of the band because of her glib tongue-with the help of frustrated rock musician Dewey, the film instantly turned a rich boy into a small rock class run by a middle-class elementary school.
The scene of Dewey, a rock musician, anonymously distributing rock music records in front of the teaching desk is really fascinating-you see, it took many years to buy the record of The Dark Side of the Moon in the mouthwash market, so don't accuse him of "destroying people". In those few short days, he didn't take the great mission of "teaching you". With the flow of this comedy, taking a break and enjoying a holiday is actually a kind of cuteness and relaxation, which has nothing to do with challenging the system, teaching students in accordance with their aptitude, ideals and beliefs.
Mr. s stood on the platform and said to those lovely children: serve the society with rock and roll. So we heard a rock song created by children themselves, slowly telling the troubles of teenagers in the inexplicable pain, sadness and crazy noise of the adult world. At that moment, music did not express feelings in some form after all, it was a song!
Tell you, rock and roll is a part of life, there are relaxing and cheerful movies, and it is another way to distinguish between serious vomiting blood and recommending rock and roll. The method is never unique, rock and roll.
Jazz (blues, soul music)
Among the so-called "pop music" in the 20th century, jazz is probably the most influential. There are different opinions about its origin, some of which are almost legends. There have been countless special studies on its musical form. However, it is still difficult for us to simply answer the most basic question, "What is jazz?" Someone once asked the famous fat man Waller louis armstrong, "What is jazz?" He replied, "If you answer in words, you will never understand."
Jazz originated in New Orleans, USA, which was once the capital of Louisiana and located at the mouth of the Mississippi River, and played an important role in American history. Louisiana has several main characteristics: 1, warm climate, rich in sugarcane and cotton; 2. This place was originally a French colony (Louisiana means "Louis' place", and when 1682 named this place, the king of France was Louis XIV). 1803, the American government bought it from Napoleon for150,000 dollars, but French did not disappear with the change of government. Due to the needs of large plantations, this is the place where slaves are most concentrated. So far, blacks account for one third of the population in this state. Because of its strategic position, it is a battleground for military strategists. French, Spanish, British and American armies fought fiercely here. 186 1 During the American Civil War, it was also the battlefield of fierce fighting between the two armies. It is these characteristics that make it the cradle of jazz.
The music components of jazz include the rhythm of black music from Africa, the heritage of simplified church music, labor songs from plantations, and playing techniques evolved from popular songs and their singing styles at that time. Generally speaking, Storey, a red light district in New Orleans, is considered as the birthplace of modern jazz. There are many black musicians here. They are all experts in improvisation and often use wind instruments left over from the two armies during the Civil War. 19 17, Storey Ville was seized by the police, so these black musicians went to other places to make a living. The most concentrated and famous city is Chicago. Within a few years, jazz replaced regetam as the hottest music. It used to be popular only among black people, but since then it has gradually become the most popular dance music in the world, and its fanaticism has surpassed the most popular waltz and polka in the past. Jazz style has also entered symphonies, concert halls, university classes and become a formal course.
There are many theories about the origin of the word "jazz", and the most credible one is that it originated from the French word jaser. As mentioned earlier, the residents of these southern States in the United States spoke French at that time. Jaser's original intention is gossip and loquacity; Music is the main form of entertainment for slaves. They get together, play earth instruments at will, sing miscellaneous songs, and beat the rhythm with anything at hand. There is no notation or harmony that everyone should follow, and there are no technical restrictions. It's like a group of people getting together and chatting, which is exactly what the word jaser means. There are many other sayings. For example, some people say it comes from the name of a drummer. Because he can push the music to a climax with exciting drums, he calls his name whenever the audience wants more exciting effects. Over time, it became the name of this kind of music; Others believe that according to the analysis of the cultural background of the venue (* courtyard) and participants (slaves) of jazz performances at that time, this word originated from the vocabulary related to sexual behavior in the local black dialect. The word first appeared in 19 14, and a band in Chicago was named "Old Dixieland Jazz Band". 19 17, Shengli Company recorded a record for this band, even though it used the name "Jazz".
The instruments of early jazz bands included banjo, piano, violin, saxophone, brass and percussion. Musicians don't use music at all, but play by their own memory and imagination. It is common that a familiar tune is played by the piano first, followed by other musical instruments. Although the outline of the song has not changed, after such improvisation, it has become "jazz" and has become another thing that no one has heard of.
In other words, jazz did not have any melody characteristics at first, but was characterized by improvisation without music score; However, as it became more and more popular, musicians developed more novel melodies. The earliest sources of these melodies are mainly black Tian Ge, blues, soul songs, white pop songs and folk songs. Apart from some dance music in Africa and South America, "regetam" music has the greatest influence on jazz in rhythm. The specific characteristics of these factors, we will introduce below.
As I said just now, improvisation is a major feature of jazz, but like any other music form, after a long period of development, it is almost unimaginable that there is no recording method. Later jazz bands used music scores, but depended on them to varying degrees, thus forming the difference between "straight jazz" (playing by music score) and "sweet jazz" (improvising). However, it should be noted that this name is easily confused, and it is often just a popular idiom in a certain period. In addition, even if you play according to the score, there are many improvisations, such as this notation:
Musicians can play:
This "traditional" symbol:
The playback effect will be similar to:
Generally speaking, jazz is two beats, two beats or four beats per bar. This double-beat rhythm background always exists in the bass, which makes jazz have a stable and regular rhythm foundation. Above the rhythmic bass, there are parts with irregular stress positions such as melody, harmony and counterpoint, and their syncopation effect is in sharp contrast with the regular bass parts. Among jazz tunes, apart from the elements absorbed from European traditional music, white folk songs and pop songs, the most distinctive one is the "blues scale" (we will introduce the structure of this scale in the part about blues). Jazz harmony can be said to be completely based on traditional harmony, but it is more free to use various chords, and the main difference is also brought by blues chords.
Jazz is very distinctive in musical instruments and playing methods, which is completely different from traditional bands. Since the Jazz Age, saxophone has become one of the best-selling musical instruments. Trombone can play funny or grotesque glide that other brass instruments can't, so it causes a sensation in jazz bands; Trumpet is also a jazz musician's favorite instrument. The novel timbre produced by this instrument combining different mutes and several notes in the highest range has almost become a unique timbre feature of jazz. Piano, banjo, guitar and later electric guitar occupy an important position with their powerful ability to beat music and play chords. On the contrary, the most important stringed instruments in traditional bands (violin, viola and cello) play a relatively minor role; The rich timbre of the French horn is very attractive in the orchestra, but for the jazz band, its temperament is so tame that almost no one uses it. In an orchestra, every instrument tries to integrate the whole sound in tone and volume control, but in a jazz band, on the contrary, musicians try their best to make every instrument "stand up".
The organization of the band is very flexible, and the most basic part is two parts-rhythm group and melody group. In early jazz bands, the rhythm group consisted of bass, banjo and drums. Later, bass and banjo were gradually replaced by bass and guitar, and the piano was also added. In 1930s, a dance band appeared, which was called "Big Band" at that time. It consists of three parts: rhythm group, brass group and woodwind group. The musical instruments used in the rhythm group are still bass, guitar, piano and drum; The common compilation of copper tube group is three trumpets and two trombones, but this number is not fixed; Woodwind bands usually consist of four or five saxophones, and everyone plays clarinet or other woodwind instruments. If the arrangement is five saxophones, it is usually two alto, two tenors and one alto. There is also a business band (sometimes called "Sweet" and "Hotel", etc. ), similar to the "big band", but saxophones are often all alto, and woodwind groups will use more other instruments (such as flute and oboe), sometimes with three or four violins. The sound of this band can often be heard on commercial tapes.
Compared with traditional music, another major feature of jazz is its pronunciation and timbre, which is enough for people to never confuse them with the timbre of any traditional music, whether it is an instrument or a human voice. Most of these features come from imitating African-American folk songs with musical instruments or sounds. If we have the opportunity to listen to the real black field songs and soul songs, we will find that the great changes from coarse to fine, from boring to loud, from harsh to soft, from barbarism to lyricism are so distinctive and touching. In jazz, there are even non-singing roars, shouts and moans, which highlight this feeling. In addition, special playing and singing skills are also important means to produce special effects. Among these techniques, vibrato is the most commonly used, which is different from the traditional concept. As we know, the so-called vibrato is caused by the regular change of pitch (sometimes it may be strength); For example, kneading strings on the violin takes advantage of this change to produce a dynamic sound effect. In jazz, vibrato changes, the direction of change is generally from narrow to wide, and the speed is from slow to fast. The amplitude and speed of vibrato are often increased near the end of a note, which further strengthens the expressive force of this technique. At the same time, at the beginning of a note, the jazz musician will slide to the predetermined pitch from bottom to top, and then slide down from the original pitch at the end. These changes can't be recorded in detail by music. Experienced jazz musicians have mastered this method, especially the concept that they can "create" these effects according to different melodies or accompaniment patterns. Therefore, it can be said that jazz is jointly created by composers and musicians because of the tradition of improvisation and the exertion of personal skills. It is difficult for musicians with traditional education to play jazz because they have not cultivated such a special musical concept. If we carefully compare the difference between real folk singers and formally trained singers singing the same folk song, we will have a more intuitive concept of this meaning.
Jazz has attracted many demobilized composers since its birth. 1920, American conductor paul whiteman organized a famous band and brought the adapted jazz works into the concert hall. This new trend has aroused fierce opposition from many "serious" jazz lovers. However, since then, jazz has become a household name in the United States and Europe and has been widely welcomed. Gershwin's "rhapsody in blue" was born at this time, and the composer of Whiteman Band, Groffe, was the composer who arranged the music for this work. According to the records in the manuscript, the writing of this work took only three weeks, and it caused a sensation almost immediately after the performance. European composers also have many works based on or influenced by jazz, such as Debussy's piano music Ugly Black Gait Dance (1908), Bard (19 10) and Weird General lavina (19/kloc-0). Slow motion in Ravel's violin sonata (Bruce); Stravinsky's Regetime (1919), The Story of Soldiers (19 18) and blackwood Concerto; Hindemith's first chamber music (Op.24, atonality) and piano suite (1922).
Country music (bluegrass music, swing music is not rock)
First, the birth of country music.
Country music appeared in the 1920s. It originated from the folk music of South China agriculture in the United States, and was first developed under the influence of traditional British folk songs. The earliest country music is traditional folk music, with simple tunes, stable rhythm and strong narrative. Different from the sad pop songs in the city, it has a strong local flavor. The lyrics of folk songs are mainly about hometown, lovelorn, vagrancy and religious belief. Singing is usually solo, sometimes accompanied by violin, banjo, guitar and other accompaniment instruments (before the mid-1950s, traditional country music bands did not have drums). The performance venues are mainly at home, churches and country fairs, and sometimes they will take part in regional tours. Isolated from the cultural life of big cities, it has been in a state of self-isolation.
In the 1920s, in order to cater to the tastes of rural audiences, some radio stations began to play mountain music, such as "National Barn Dance" in Chicago (1924) and "Big Old Opry" in Nashville (1925), which were very popular. This practice encourages musicians in mountainous areas to record on the radio, and also encourages record companies to look for talents everywhere to record records. From then on, mountain music began to blend into the mainstream of American pop music, and the earliest country singers appeared, such as James Rogers and the Carter family singing group.
James Rogers (1897 ~ 1933) is regarded as the pioneer of country music, and is nicknamed "the king of country music", which combines blues, white folk songs and folk songs. His singing is calm and carefree, forming a unique singing style of the mountain people: "Blue yodel". Although he suffered from lung disease all his life, he never gave up his love for country music. From 1929 to 1933, Rogers recorded 1 10 songs, and on May 26th, 1933, James Rogers, who was in his prime of life just two days after recording, died due to the deterioration of his illness.
The Carter Family (composed of Alvin Carter, 189 1 ~ 1960, his wife and brother-in-law) won the audience's love with its comfortable and harmonious style and focus on family, God and faith. For artists like the Carters, singing is just an amateur way to make a living. But in the initial stage of country music, they did make great contributions to the development of country music, and also left valuable recording materials for early country music.
Second, the swing of the West.
In 1930s, due to the economic depression in the southeastern part of the United States, record sales dropped sharply, and country music could only maintain its audience through a large number of radio programs. At this time, the original singing group was gradually replaced by individual singing. For example, Roy Akov, gene autry and others became the focus at this time. In this context, Bob Wills from Texas mixed a lot of cowboy songs (a romantic love song from the countryside) and swing music into country music, creating a western swing style similar to the lineup of "big bands". 1933, Bob Wells successfully introduced this new style, which combines dance rhythm, violin timbre, big band lineup, jazz singing, drum set and twisted guitar, to the market, thus making it the title of "King of West Swing".
Third, bluegrass music.
In the 1940s, another kind of country music called bluegrass music appeared in the mountains of Kentucky. On the basis of country music, it absorbed the banjo music and violin music of the local ancient corn threshing party, as well as the ballads of the southern mountainous areas.
The singing of bluegrass music is generally multi-voice. In addition to the main theme, a harmony part is often superimposed on it with falsetto, and sometimes a bass part or two is added below the main theme. Its accompaniment instruments feature banjo and violin, and sometimes folk instruments such as mandolin and double bass are used. The characteristics of traditional country music without drum sets have also been preserved in bluegrass music. The speed of bluegrass music is generally faster, about 160-330 beats per minute.
Bluegrass music is influenced by jazz during its development, and there are often gorgeous improvisations in instrumental passages. In the 1970s, when electro-acoustic instruments were widely used in other country music, they still played traditional instruments. Famous bluegrass musicians and bands include: Bluegrass Boy led by Bill Monroe (19 1 1 ~), Osborne Brothers, Qiang Sen Hill Boy and Bluegrass in Nashville.
Fourth, the voice of Nashville.
In 1950s, Nashville became a concentration camp for country music, where most famous country musicians came from. Therefore, "The Voice of Nashville" has also become synonymous with country music.
Before World War II, although country music had been widely spread, it was still a kind of regional music in general. Because of the war, the population movement has accelerated, and people from different cultural backgrounds have more contacts, especially many young people from rural areas in the south, who have moved to cities in the north and the east and west. As a result, the influence of country music has further expanded, and it has become a popular music form with national influence, and it is officially called country music (there was no specific name for country music before), and sometimes it is also called country music and western music.
Many country musicians have contributed to bringing country music out of the south or midwest, among which hank williams made the greatest contribution.
Hank hank williams (1923 ~ 1953) was born in Alabama. In style, he is neither like the southeast harmony style nor the popular western swing music style. He created a depressing but firm singing style. Hank williams's position in the country music industry in the 1940s was just like that of James Rogers in the 1920s, or even higher.
Williams started recording in 1946, and he released a series of songs that hit the pop music market. Such as Acacia Blues, No Tears Tonight, Your Cheating Heart and You Win Again, among which Jambalaya (Case 65438+) is the most famous representative work. Williams also retained some ancient religious elements in his music and created some powerful traditional gospel songs.
1953 On New Year's Day, Williams died of drug overdose in the back seat of his car. Almost all the country singers of his generation are influenced by him, and his works in the country song collection may be more than anyone else.
Since the end of World War II, the prosperity of American society has made country music develop rapidly. For example, at this time, the radio program of "Old-fashioned Grand Theatre" had10 million listeners, and the program of "National Barn Dance" became more and more popular. Nashville's voice began to spread all over the country.
Classical pop music
Classical pop refers to pop music with the flavor of classical music, and songs accompanied by strings can be classified into this category, such as Eleanorrigby by by the Beatles. Some works by Australian band Crowded House can also fall into this category. If we say classic pop, we mean classic pop music.
⒏ Folk songs
Folk songs (folk songs) originally refer to the traditional songs of each nation. The ancestors of each nation have their own songs from primitive/ancient times. Most of these songs don't know who the author is, but they are passed down from generation to generation. The folk songs we are talking about today mostly refer to the folk songs in the pop music era, which are accompanied by acoustic guitars and sung in a natural and frank way, singing the simple life feelings of everyone. Woody Guthrie, an American folk singer, recorded the earliest folk songs in 1950s, so she is recognized as the founder of modern folk songs. Since then, pete seeger and The Weaver have continued to promote this kind of music. 60' s, Vietnam War, anti-war folk singer?