#etude verse: world traveler

[specialgels]

@astrumballade​ liked for a starter!

“Ah, Mana--! Um, I made something for you...!” Rocking back on her heels, she reached out to place a bracelet into Mana’s hands. “I’m not very good at jewelry making, but I hope that it, well... that it looks good enough for you...”

[dolphingirlfriend]

women, music, culture: an introduction, julie c. dunbar

intro to pt. 2 - visual images in an aural world

gaze- the sexual objectification of a body by an empowered viewer

ch 7 begins before the dawn of electricity- before records, radios or playback devices - popular music relied on live performers. women’s roles in the American parlor song tradition, circuses, theatre, etc. 

ch 8 - gospel and blues, women were sometimes exploited by marketers who used visual images to sell musical products - women used their fame to spread messages of cultural and spiritual importance

ch 9- post 1950 period - opportunities and challenges for women in rock and popular music, and the visual marketing strategies. girl group phenomenon of the late 1950s and early 1960s (me: k-pop - use ideas in discussion), explores the roots of the music video- concludes with internet and interactive advertising media

ch 7 american popular music 1895-1945

int- musical memory - music reminds people of places and things - can also reflect gender beliefs of a time

troubling labels

‘the relationship between art and popular genres is best understood as a continuum that is impacted by era, performer, audience, setting, and musical creator’

16th century madrigals were popular music in their day, orchestral music of johan strauss ii has been art/or popular 

orchestral and band performance has been historically segregated by gender, with professional groups limited to men

women’s groups have been ‘entertainers’ even if their instrumentation/rep was similar of men

songs produced by women in Victorian parlor were published as popular music - even though they were structurally similar to art-music composed by men. 

musicologists don’t necessarily consider dance art, which further erases women 

racism in art and popular music - art music has an ‘elite’ status and if something was created in a minority community, especially the black community (and it’s dance connection) it was ignored by scholars

popular music before electricity

most music was heard live - people traveled by foot or horse to access musical entertainment - city parks, local theatres

minstrel shows, vaudeville acts, circuses - all featured performers who traveled from town to town via train - using tents to shelter the audience and have a performance venue - these were not everyday events. americans performed most music for themselves - a song was a backbone of pop music - ukeleles, mandolins, keyboards - piano, parlor organ - often played by women and girls to accompany singing. women who had money were given music lessons (young girls).

keyboard performers who could read music found it in women’s journals - godey’s ladies book - presented fashion and etiquette advice and also had sheet music, the etude was a magazine that had sheet music and pedagogical advice

breaking into the string world

violin became an acceptable instrument for a woman by the turn of the twentieth century 

women were excluded from professional groups, and turned to amateur ensembles - 1870s all women groups from Europe toured America 

ladies’ orchestras - excellent musicality, people also wanted to see women play as much as they wanted to hear them

women performed at parties, fairs, park pavilions

in cities, music clubs provided opportunities for women to perform for each other and for small audiences

wind ensembles

brass bands and concert bands were popular in 1895 and 1925 - the bands only allowed white men. 

sousa’s band had a travelling group - had a female singer - estelle liebling - trained as an opera singer- the singers were famous - similar to jazz and rock groups to follow

amateur groups formed around the country - college groups, and most of them did not include women or black people

black women were involved in music before - but nobody (apparently) knew until d. antoinette handy published research on black women in bands. black women provided the functional music under the circus tent, and white women’s roles were sometimes quite different (what does this mean?) 

women of the tin pan alley

greatest amount of music-making was accompanied song

tin pan alley was a sheet music industry that put a lot of popular styles and genres on paper, and eventually had recordings with their sheet music sales - also came to signify a popular music style

named for geographical location in nyc

song demonstrators were hired to promote sales, performing on the city streets

some of the music was about baseball - most popular tune in 1908 - ‘take me out to the ballgame’ - an example of tin pan alley musical style

carrie jacobs bond and the parlor song

women were involved in popular song, but men dominated tin pan alley composition and printing

carrie jacobs bond built a publishing company known worldwide

parlor song - simple popular song performed by amateurs to the accompaniment of piano, parlor organ or small stringed instrument

parlor song dates back to late 1700s in the united states - mostly things to do with love  - intended to be sung in the parlor

‘classical’ european songs were often reprinted as parlor songs in america 

she was a gifted pianist, born in wisconsin. she married and had a son, divorced- her second marriage, was good but her husband died accidentally

she needed money - her publisher told her she should write children’s songs. she wrote more anyway and started her own business - established c.j bond and son, the first music publishing firm in the us run by a woman 

she even did the artwork for her sheet music covers

strophic form - each poetic verse is set to the same music

women on stage: opportunity and exploitation

blackface - theatrical makeup used in vaudeville and minstrel shows that portrayed racist stereotypes of black Americans

coon song - late nineteenth century popular song that presented a stereotyped view of black Americans; often performed by white singers in blackface

1890s there was burlesque, vaudeville, minstrel shows - traveling entertainment, musical acts with animal tricks, comedy, magic shows

minstrel shows had roots in south were performed in 1820s by slaves for plantation owners, but by the 1890s they were performed by white people who used blackface and made fun of the genre - ‘coon songs’ were a racist genre sold great numbers in the sheet music industry

review- in staged musical production, a variety show with music, but no plot - in pre-Harlem new york - 1915. 

black performers sang and danced in segregated houses, with black and white audiences. aida overton walker - (1880-1914) was a star worldwide who performed ragtime, cakewalk - she could sing, act, dance

hyers sisters was a vaudeville act - entertainers, addressed discrimination

marie lucas’ orchestra performed in harlem’s lafayette theatre, one of the first theatres to desegregate

best known theatre ensemble of this era - Fadettes - from boston. their conductor was caroline nichols

white theatrical shows such as ziegfield follies from 1907-1931, placed women ias singers and dancers, rather than instrumentalists. follies had scenes but not really a plot. they had a line of chorus girls who wore revealing costumes and performed and danced. men in the show were fully dressed in pinstripe pants and top hats - the women’s costumes displayed sexuality - bare shouldered dresses

musical - a theatrical production that includes singing and dancing, utilizes a plot

broadway - new york theatre district associated with musical productions, also used in reference to the productions themselves

musicals provided opportunities to perform, but most behind the scenes stuff was still men

tin pan alley between the world wars

tin pan alley popular songs were still known between the two world wars - irving berlin, george gershwin - associated with tin pan alley

200 women during the height of the industry joined ascap (american society of composers, authors and publishers). dorothy fields, dana suesse, kay swift - had limited press, but their songs were well known - wrote “you ought to be in pictures” “the way you look tonight” “i’m in the mood for love”

kay swift was a classical musician and composer, george gershwin encouraged her to write popular music. she wrote ‘can’t we be friends?’ 

ballad - in the blues and popular music tradition of the twentieth century, a smooth, lyrical song often about love - in the folk tradition a song that tells a story of every day life

billie holiday, sarah vaughan, ella fitzgerald - heard on records and radio

ethel waters, hazel scott - crossed over into hollywood - they were frequently objectified

girl group - a small ensemble of female vocalists who sing popular music, boswell sisters, andrews sisters - boogie woogie bugle boy ; cantels and the supremes - vocal sound and visual image

the dance hall

popular music is tied to dance

dancing was popular throughout early twentieth century

1910s was the ballroom decade

eventually - turkey trot, bunny hug, grizzly bear, snake - controversial/exciting to white audiences- maybe disturbing to people accustomed to Victorian-style dances

several black dance forms were “revised” by white dances who changed the style for white Americans - vern and irene castle were an iconic couple teaching the ‘castle house’ - they had a manual called modern dancing

country music roots

rhythm and blues of chicago and detroit/ white hillbilly music of the rural south - r & b and country combined to make rock n roll - tin pan alley music wasn’t popular around the 1940s

autoharp, guitar - accompanied folk songs, ballads, gospel and blues

carter family singers - maybelle and sara carter composed lyrics and did arrangements for the carter group. women wrote about women’s ‘lot’ in life, and aside from blues lyrics the carters’ depiction of women was not common in popular music

both women raised kids, did chores, wrote, arranged music, traveled and recorded

maybelle carter used her thumb to play melodic lines on the bass strings and strummed chords with her fingers on top known as the ‘carter scratch’ - made the guitar a lead instrument rather than only accompaniment

summary

women found success /notoriety in popular music before 1945 - but were still oppressed. they performed often for nothing. they became famous but were sexually objectified.

(look at thinking/discussion/research qs later)

[specialgels]

@ofstarsandskies​ liked for a starter!

“Hm? Oh, yes, gardening is a hobby of mine! Back home, I do remember that I’ve been growing potatoes and tomatoes, along with some other vegetables and herbs...” Etude let out a sigh, hand gently pressed to his cheek. “Though... it’s been a while since I’ve been back, so I am a bit worried about how they’ve been doing...”

[specialgels]

@firesongtales​ liked for a starter!

“I think I like pitcher plants the most out of the carnivorous ones, but the corkscrew plants and sundews are really neat, too!”

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@forgexsphere​ liked for a starter!

“Thank you for letting me borrow these, they were really interesting!” Some of the plants in the book were ones that he hadn’t heard from, too. “What kind of plants do you like, Mana?”

[specialgels]

“ you can talk to me, or not talk to me, but i’m here. ” Mana @ Etude 🥺

☞☞ quotes i found on pinterest sentence starters pt. one ☜☜

@fleurforge

“I don’t know which one I want to do more right now... but I always appreciate you being here.” A bright smile stretched across his face, the motion far too familiar to be seen through as a mask. If one repeats a lie enough times, and believes in it enough, it’ll become a truth, wouldn’t it?

That said... his personal thoughts aside, what he said... will be the truth. 

“Umm... can I hug you? And then... after that, maybe we can read something together...! That sounds nice, doesn’t it?”