OL on Music Theory Print

Old Roman chant

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

The chant that is now called “Old Roman” comes primarily from a small number of sources, including three graduals and two antiphoners from between 1071 and 1250. Although these are newer than many notated sources from other chant traditions, this chant is called “Old Roman” because it is believed to reflect a Roman oral tradition going back several centuries. There are several theories concerning the origins of Gregorian and Old Roman chants, but one prominent hypothesis, supported by Apel and Snow, posits that both chant traditions derive from a common Roman ancestor in use circa 750 AD. In order to consolidate ecclesiastical power and strengthen their political ties to the power of the Roman church, the Franks, especially under the Carolingian rulers Pepin and Charlemagne, brought this older Roman chant north. There it was subsequently modified, influenced by local styles and Gallican chant, and categorized into the system of eight modes. This Carolingian, or Frankish-Roman, chant, became known as “Gregorian.” In the meantime, the local chant remaining in Rome gradually evolved into the form in which it was eventually notated, at the same time that Gregorian was supplanting it in Rome. Another theory, advanced by Hans Schmidt, suggests that what we now call the “Old Roman” chant reflected the use in the city churches in Rome, as opposed to the chants used in the Vatican for papal ceremonies, and that it was the latter that was brought north and evolved into Gregorian chant. This would explain the discrepancies between early Gregorian chant and the local Roman chant which were noticed during the Middle Ages. However, this remains a minority view. In the case of other defunct chant traditions, such as the Gallican, Mozarabic, and Beneventan, it is conceivable that Roman pre-eminence in the West tended toward the supplanting of non-Roman liturgies and chant traditions. The supplanting of the local chant of Rome itself would seem to require some other explanation. Several factors influenced this. In the 10th century, virtually no musical manuscripts were notated in Italy. A pattern developed wherein Roman Popes imported chants from the German Holy Roman Emperors during the 10th and 11th centuries. For example, the Credo was added to the Roman rite at the behest of the German emperor Henry II in 1014. The local musical traditions in Rome had already been showing some Gregorian influence, and eventually the Gregorian was taken to be the authentic, original chant of Rome, a misconception that continues.

Old time fiddle

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Definition and distinction of old time fiddle#

Newer traditions have grown out of old time fiddle music but it retains a separate and distinct identity from those styles. These include bluegrass and Western swing and to some degree country rock. However, the positive statement of what, exactly, constitutes the true and authentic delineation of old time fiddle music is not necessarily unambiguous. Different sources draw a sharper distinction than others, and there is a good deal of overlap which purists will acknowledge to a varying degree. The areas of overlap are primarily in terms of the repertoire of fiddle tunes with the genres of bluegrass and Western swing (Texas swing) playing tunes of the same name, but playing them with a different group dynamic, different stylisms, and very often–for fiddles and banjo–in tunings unique to old-time music.

Old-school hip-hop

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Musical characteristics and themes#

Old-school hip-hop is noted for its relatively simple rapping techniques, compared to later hip-hop. with simple rhythms Much of the subject matter of old-school hip-hop centers around partying and having a good time. Busy Bee Starski’s defeat by the more complex raps of Kool Moe Dee meant that “no longer was an MC just a crowd-pleasing comedian with a slick tongue; he was a commentator and a storyteller”. Sci-fi/Afrofuturism was another theme introduced into hip-hop. The release of Planet Rock in 1982 was a game-changer, like “a light being switched on.” The combination of electronic percussive propulsion and Afrika Bambaataa’s rap sounded like “an orchestra being rocketed into outer space.” “Light Years Away”, by Warp 9 (1983), produced and written by Lotti Golden and Richard Scher, explored social commentary from a sci-fi perspective. A “cornerstone of early 80’s beatbox afrofuturism”, “Light Years Away” is characterized as “a brilliantly spare and sparse piece of electro hip-hop traversing inner and outer space.” Freestyle rap during hip-hop’s old-school era was defined differently than today. Kool Moe Dee refers to this earlier definition in his book There’s a God on the Mic: “There are two types of freestyle. There’s an old-school freestyle that’s basically rhymes that you’ve written that may not have anything to do with any subject or that goes all over the place. Then there’s freestyle where you come off the top of the head”. This is in contrast to the more recent definition which usually defines freestyle rap as “improvisational rap like a jazz solo”. In old-school hip-hop, Kool Moe Dee says that improvisational rapping was instead called “coming off the top of the head”. Old-school hip-hop often sampled disco and funk tracks, such as “Good Times” by Chic, when performed live in the 1970s. Recorded hip-hop (such as Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight”) would use a live band to do covers of the famous breaks from the 1970s block parties. However, after “Planet Rock”, electro-funk (the electronic Roland TR-808 drum machine recreation of the original 1970s breakbeat sound from the now infamous block parties) became the staple production technique between 1982 and 1986 (the invention of the sampler later in the 80s and Eric B. & Rakim’s “Eric B. Is President” brought the original 1970s breakbeat sound back to hip-hop, referred to today as the “boom bap” sound). The use of extended percussion breaks led to the development of mixing and scratching techniques. Scratching pioneered by Grand Wizard Theodore in 1975, and the technique was further developed by other prominent DJs, such as Grandmaster Flash. One example is “Adventures on the Wheels of Steel”, which was composed entirely by Flash on the turntables. During the period years of 1984–1987, beatbox was a common thing to rap with someone making a beat with their mouth. Doug E. Fresh and The Human Beat Box made this popular. Doug E. Fresh was with “The Get Fresh Crew”, and The Human Beatbox was with “The Fat Boys”. Quincy Jones was an influential figure in hip-hop as a record producer for Mercury Records, and eventually became its vice president, which made him popular in hip-hop culture. He went on to publish Vibe magazine, which became a cornerstone in hip-hop history. Five Elements of Hip Hop Hip Hop is a culture that is made up of five elements. One is MCing, this is when you can talk or rap on the microphone and make an impact on the audience. The second element is DJing. This is one of the ways that hip hop started out by a Disc Jockey playing beats from earlier artist. The DJ would stop in the song where the beat was broken down, which was called breakbeats. The third element is Break dancing and this is where the person gets to express their dancing through songs. This is made popular by The Bronx group “The Rock Steady Crew.” Some consider break dancing a part of b-boying and b-girling. Next we have graffiti, which is expressed through a form of writing, and it is a way that the letters come together with style. The last one is knowledge, and it goes with the mental side of Hip Hop. This includes the knowledge of self, culture, and style.

Old-time music

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Reflecting the cultures that settled North America, the roots of old-time music are in the traditional musics of the British Isles, Europe, and Africa. African influences are notably found in vocal and instrumental performance styles and dance, as well as the often cited use of the banjo; in some regions, Native American, Spanish, French and German sources are also prominent. While many dance tunes and ballads can be traced to European sources, many others are of North American origin.