![]() ![]() 3) The final act consisted of a slapstick musical plantation skit or a send-up of a popular play. 2) The second part featured a variety of entertainments, including the pun-filled stump speech. The troupe first 1) danced onto stage then exchanged wisecracks and sang songs. The typical minstrel performance followed a three-act structure. Generally, as the civil rights movement progressed and gained acceptance, minstrels lost popularity. The genre has had a lasting legacy and influence and was featured in a television series as recently as the late 1970s. The form survived as professional entertainment until about 1910 amateur performances continued until the 1960s in high schools and local theaters. By the turn of the 20th century, the minstrel show enjoyed but a shadow of its former popularity, having been replaced for the most part by vaudeville. By 1848, blackface minstrel shows were the national artform, translating formal art such as opera into popular terms for a general audience. Minstrel shows emerged as brief burlesques and comic entr'actes in the early 1830s and were developed into full-fledged form in the next decade. ![]() Minstrel shows lampooned black people as dim-witted, lazy, buffoonish, superstitious and happy-go-lucky. There were also some African-American performers and all-black minstrel groups that formed and toured. The shows were performed by white people in make-up or blackface for the purpose of playing the role of black people. Each show consisted of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music. The minstrel show, or minstrelsy, American form of entertainment developed in the 19th century. Dixieland was the musical backdrop of city life during the Roaring Twenties (AKA the Jazz Age) and the early years of the Harlem Renaissance. Early jazz made its way from New Orleans, to Chicago, to New York, to the rest of the country. Freedom was and continues to be an integral issue regarding all styles of jazz. Although hardly experiencing civil rights, African Americans were no longer slaves and celebrated their newfound freedom through jazz improvisation, playing whatever they wanted they were not "restricted" to notes written on a page, but instead could play whatever they "heard" in their hearts and minds (the music was not read, it was played "by ear"). The collective improvisation of Dixieland jazz represented, in part, African Americans' newfound freedom. Most early jazz recordings were made on brittle hard plastic (shellac) records called 78s the number 78 refered to the number of revolutions per miniute (RPM) that the record would make when played on a record player of the day. It was entitled "Livery Stable Blues" and was recorded in 1917. ![]() ![]() Interestingly, the very first jazz record was made by an all white group known as the Original Dixieland Jass Band (this group spelled jazz "jass"). Almost all early Dixieland jazz musicians were African American. There are those who say that without Louis Armstrong, there would be no jazz today. Louis Armstrong was the first great jazz soloist (improviser) and one of the most important figures in jazz history. There were few long solos in Dixieland jazz until the appearance of trumpeter Louis Armstrong. Besides playing for dances and parties, in the early 1900s Dixieland bands would also play for funerals (marching along with the procession) in celebration of the life of the departed. Each instrument has its own specific role: trumpet or cornet: plays the melody (jazzed up) clarinet: adds to (embellishes) the melody trombone: usually embellishes the bass line but sometimes plays the melody plays "afterbeats" (adding to the rhythm) and sound effects such as "smears" and "slides" piano and banjo (or guitar): play chords string bass or tuba: plays the bass line drums: keeps the beat steady and swinging Dixieland bands (excluding piano and using tuba rather than string bass) were originally small marching bands. The primary feature of Dixieland jazz is "collective improvisation," that is, rather than each musician taking a solo in turn (as in most styles of jazz today), Dixieland jazz musicians all improvise at the same time. The usual instrumentation of a Dixieland band was (and still is) trumpet (or cornet), clarinet, trombone, piano, string bass (or tuba), drums, and banjo (or guitar). Dixieland developed in the early 20th century (1900 - 1928) 1 its four main influences were ragtime, military brass bands, the blues, and gospel music. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |