North American Traditional Music
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The United States and Canada NORTH AMERICAN TRADITIONAL MUSIC A MIX OF DIFFERENT CULTURES Different regions and cultures have vastly different music. Influences from Native American, European, Hispanic, and African cultures. Native American Cajun Appalachian Blue Grass Gospel Hawaiian Other terms you might hear to describe types of American folk music would be , old time, jug band, country, and fiddle. NATIVE AMERICAN Tribal groups from different areas have varying traditions. Musical Areas Southwest Eastern Woodlands Plains Great Basin Northwest Coast Sub-Arctic EXAMPLES OF NATIVE AMERICAN MUSIC Navajo - Blackfire Navajo Squaw Dance Hoop Dance Harmonized Peyote Song Lakota – Lullaby Yaqui – Deer Dance Iroquois Iroquois – Flute Iroquois – Stick Dance Inuit Singing Smithsonian Folkways WHERE THESE TRIBES LIVE CAJUN Louisianna Instruments Accordion Fiddle Triangle Guitar Language – Creole Major keys The waltz and two-step are common dances. Balfa Brothers L'anse aux pailles D.L. Ménard & the Louisiana Aces Zydeco APPALACHIAN – OLD TIME Eastern United States mountain range. Maine to Georgia. Anglo-Celtic – First Settlers APPALACHAIN CHARACTERISTICS Influences from various cultures – immigrants. British African German, Polish, Czech Instruments Fiddle Appalachian (Fretted) Dulcimer (modified zither) Concertina (Accordion) Mandolin Guitar Banjo APPALACHIAN CHARACTERISTICS CONTINUED… Songs borrowed from Anglo immigrants. Lyrics are often changed. References to revenge or the supernatural were changed to repentance and place in heaven. This was due to a strong religious culture and the fear of superstition and explicit content. (i.e. Salem Witch Trials) Pretty Polly/The Gosport Trajedy. Christian Hymns CLOGGING Also known as flat footing, buck dancing, hoedown, stepping, etc. Borrowed from European cultures. Style of dance where the sound from shoes is a percussive part of the music. Flat footing example. And another. Ok, one more. BLUEGRASS OLD TIME Newer genre than Old Time Soloists take turns playing the melody (much like jazz). Often played in a concert setting. Quick tempos. Precursor to Bluegrass Many instruments play melody at the same time, or one person plays melody while others accompany. Main function is for dancing. Variety of tempos. Instrumentation is mostly similar. Instruments in common – Fiddle Guitar Banjo Mandolin BLUEGRASS VS. APPALACHIAN/OLD TIME BLUEGRASS AND APPALACHIAN EXAMPLES Earl Scruggs – Ground Speed Foggy Mountain Top Chet Atkins – Bill Cheatham Cumberland Gap Square Dancing – Wabash Cannonball Bill Monroe – Bluegrass Breakdown Down in the Valley Devil’s Dream English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians Wabash Cannonball Old Joe Clark Angeline the Baker Red River Valley CANADIAN FIDDLE TRADITION Just like American fiddle tradition, Canada received their tradition from European cultures, with the addition of a heavy French influence. Ook Pik Waltz Jean Carignan – Hangman’s Reel Medly of fiddle tunes. American country television program which features artists of all varieties of country music. Office Website Youtube GRAND OLE OPRY GOSPEL African American Christian Culture Origins from: spirituals work songs slave songs white Pentecostal hymns evangelistic congregational songs Influences from: blues, jazz, rock, soul, classical, and country CHARACTERISTICS OF GOSPEL MUSIC Lyrics Commonly heard instruments. Piano, Organ, Guitar, Bass, Drum Set, Tambourine, Violin, Brass – Depends on specific sub-genre. Rhythm Sacred Simple and clear Expressing God’s love and forgiveness Frequent clapping Repetition Often features a soloist. Call and response between soloist and choir/congregation. EXAMPLES OF GOSPEL MUSIC Swing Low Sweet Chariot Oh Happy Day Go Down Moses HAWAIIAN Melody Falsetto vocals – most often by men. Long duration of notes Music is functional. Used to express praise, communicate genealogy and mythology, and accompany games, festivals and other secular events. Mele – Chant (song), Hula – Dance Innovations on the guitar – Slack Key and Steel Guitar was brought over by outside settlers, most likely Mexican workers. Immigrant influence – Pacific, Asian, Hispanic, and European cultures influencing and bringing new styles. SLACK KEY Most slack-key tunings can be achieved by starting with a guitar in standard tuning (EADGBE) and detuning or "slacking" one or more of the strings until the six strings form a single chord, frequently G major. Adapted to accompany the rhythms of Hawaiian dancing and the harmonic structures of Hawaiian music. STEEL Usually positioned horizontally; strings are plucked with one hand, while the other hand changes the pitch of one or more strings with the use of a bar or slide called a steel. HAWAIIAN GUITAR STYLES UKULELE Small version of a guitar. Said to be adapted from the Portuguese machete. 4 nylon or gut strings. Softer in dynamic than a guitar – why? FALSETTO Singing is the main focus of Hawaiian music. In Western falsetto singing, the singer tries to make the transition between registers as smooth as possible. In Hawaiian-style falsetto, the singer emphasizes the break between registers. Sometimes the singer exaggerates the break through repetition, as a yodel.
