The Emergence of
Black Music
Chapter 3
Kristy Gualdoni and Elizabeth Beauchamp
Styles Discussed
• Ragtime
• Syncopated Dance
• Blues
• Jazz
Ragtime
• A popular style at the turn of the twentieth
century that mixed European forms, harmony,
and textures with African-inspired
syncopation. Ragtime began as a piano music,
but soon the term was applied to any musicsong and dance as well as piano music-that
had some syncopation.
History of Ragtime
• Ragtime emerged in the
years following the Civil
War, but not published
until the 1890s.
• They named the
syncopated style
“ragtime” towards the
end of the century.
• Ragtime opened the eyes
of white Americans to
African American music.
• White Americans
were able to start
playing African
American music
because it was
finally printed in
sheet form, which
made it accessible
to everybody.
Scott Joplin
• Had first commercially
successful piano rag,
“Maple Leaf Rag” in
1899.
• Spent most of his life
composing music and
trying to validate
ragtime.
• “Maple Leaf Rag”
Ragtime Enters Popular
Culture
• By the 1900s, Ragtime was spreading across
the country, but was not widely accepted.
• Some serious musicians tried to degrade
ragtime and the musicians who wrote it.
The Legacy of Ragtime
• Ragtime marks the first
time African American
music was written
down instead of
passed down through
oral traditions.
• It changed popular
music and paved the
way for jazz and other
African styles.
Syncopated Dance Music
• 1905-1925
• Basically ragtime music that has been changed
to allow more dancing to take place.
• Milestone in popularizing black music and a
step toward equality.
Ragtime Dance
• People started creating
new dances to replace
the cakewalk like the
animal dances.
• These dances were
rejected by respectable
people because they
were said to be trashy.
• “The Grizzly Bear”
• Some animal dances
include, the grizzly
bear, chicken glide, and
the turkey trot.
James Reese Europe and
the Foxtrot
• “Castle House Rag”
• Europe organized the
first rag orchestra for
African American
musicians and changed
the concept of ragtime
entirely.
• Europe’s ragtime has a
faster tempo, less
syncopation and less
‘ragged’ melodies, and
gave the chance for
improvisation.
Commercial and Classic
Blues
• An umbrella term for blues styles performed
by professional entertainers during the first
part of the twentieth century, as opposed to
folk or country blues
• The popular blues style of the 1920s, which
typically featured a woman singing the blues
accompanied by one or more jazz musicians.
First Professional Blues
Musicians
• Blues started in the South mainly by blacks for
blacks in the early 1900s.
• After moving North and to urban areas, the
blues become more widespread.
• Most blues singers were women.
The First Published Blues
Songs
• He is the selfproclaimed “Father of
Blues.”
• W.C. Handy was one of
the first to publish
blues sheet music.
• “Memphis Blues” and
“St. Louis Blues” were
two very popular blues
songs recorded in the
1910s.
• “St. Louis Blues”
Bessie Smith
• Smith changed
everything about the
blues with the release of
“Crazy Blues” in 1920
because she sang.
• Smith was accompanied
by a trombonist and
pianist when she sang.
• She had black and white
fans and was in a film,
uncommon for the times.
• “Crazy Blues”
Classic Blues
• The Blues have three main components: form,
style, and feeling.
• When the great depression hit Americans
could no longer afford to keep up with
commercial blues.
• “What ragtime and syncopated music did for
the hips and the feet, blues did the the heart
and soul.”
Jazz
• A group of popular related styles primarily for
listening. Jazz is usually distinguished from
the other popular music of an era by greater
rhythmic freedom (more syncopation and/or
less insistent beat keeping), extensive
improvisation, and more-adventurous
harmony. There are two families of jazz
styles: those based on a four-beat rhythm
and those based on a rock or 16-beat rhythm.
The Roots of Jazz
• New Orleans was the
birthplace of jazz
mixing with the already
diverse culture.
• The Jim Crow laws had
an impact on how jazz
developed over the
twentieth century.
• Most of the jazz
musicians lived in
Storyville, until they
got in trouble and were
put out of work.
• Before the Jim Crow
laws New Orleans had
its own social
structure, not just
simply black and white.
New Orleans Jazz and the
Front Line
• Style of jazz performance based on the early
bands that performed in and around New
Orleans; revived in the late 1940s, it typically
features collective improvisation (all the
musicians together make up the music as they
go) and quick tempos.
• The front-line instruments usually include
cornet or trumpet, clarinet, and trombone,
with a rhythm section partial or complete. Also
called Dixieland Jazz.
King Oliver’s Creole Jazz
Band
• Oliver was among many of the jazz musicians
to emigrate to Chicago from Storyville.
• One of their most famous songs
“Dippermouth Blues” is an example of a song
with deep roots in the blues and early jazz.
• Louis Armstrong started out playing with this
band, but left to go to New York where he
became one of the greatest jazz musicians of
his era.
King Oliver’s Creole Jazz
Band
“Dippermouth Blues”
Swing and Improvisation
• Armstrong sets these as the standards of
quality jazz.
• Swing is the rhythmic play over a four beat
rhythm.
• Improvisation is creating music spontaneously
and one of the key elements of jazz.
Louis Armstrong
• First great soloist in
jazz.
• Other musicians saw
him as the standard of
a great jazz artist, and
no one knew swing
better than him.
• “If you have to ask,
you’ll never know.”
• “Hotter Than That”
Jazz in America During
the 1920s
• Chicago and New York
were the hot spots for
jazz with a variety of
white and black
musicians.
• At this time jazz was
spontaneous, fast paced,
optimistic, and exciting.
• “What blues did for the
heart and soul, jazz did
for the spirit.”