PL on Music Theory Print

Plainsong

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

History#

Plainsong developed during the earliest centuries of Christianity, influenced possibly by the music of the Jewish synagogue and certainly by the Greek modal system. It has its own system of notation. Their collection consists of 170 volumes of plainsong chants for the procession, Mass, and Office. It is probable that even in the early period the two methods caused the differentiation in the style of musical composition which is observed throughout the later history of plain chant, the choral compositions being of a simple kind, the solo compositions more elaborate, using a more extended compass of melodies and longer groups of notes on single syllables. The last type of plainsong performance is the solo performed by the choir or the individual performer. The Plainsong and Medieval Music Society was founded in 1888 to promote the performance and study of liturgical chant and medieval polyphony. Interest in plainsong picked up in 1950s Britain, particularly in the left-wing religious and musical groups associated with Gustav Holst and the writer George B. Chambers. In the late 1980s, plainchant achieved a certain vogue as music for relaxation, and several recordings of plainchant became “classical-chart hits”.

Plastic soul

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

Usages#

Paul McCartney referenced the phrase as the name of the Beatles 1965 album Rubber Soul, which was inspired by the term “plastic soul”. In a studio conversation taped in June 1965 after recording the first take of “I’m Down”, McCartney says “Plastic soul, man. Plastic soul”.

Popularity#

David Bowie also described his own funky, soulful songs released in the early to mid-1970s as “plastic soul”. These singles sold well, and Bowie became one of the few white music artists to be invited to perform on Soul Train. In a 1976 Playboy interview, Bowie described his recent album Young Americans as “the definitive plastic soul record. It’s the squashed remains of ethnic music as it survives in the age of Muzak, written and sung by a white limey.”

Plena

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

Origins#

The plena genre originated in Barrio San Antón, Ponce, Puerto Rico, around 1900. It was influenced by the bomba style of music. Originally, sung texts were not associated with the plena, which was rendered by guitar, accordion and pandero, but eventually, in 1907, singing was added. Plena was often called the periodico cantado or “sung newspaper” for the lower classes because it spread messages among people.

History#

The plena was a result of the mixing of the culturally diverse popular class, where their workplace, neighborhood, and life experiences met to create an expressive, satirical style of music. It became a way for the working class to gain empowerment through parody. Due to originating in the lower social class, it was regarded by the upper class as “a menace to public order and private property” and was for many years associated with people of la vida alegre (the merry life), referring to prostitutes, dancers, alcoholics, and moral degenerates. Singing and dancing of the plena often happened in cafetines, bars that frequently doubled as brothels and where interracial socializing and sexual encounters were free to take place. According to singers discussing the use of the plena, they stated it was song with lyrics that related to a current event. For example, if someone drowned or was killed, a plena would be written about it. , , , and were some plenas which became wildly popular. The eventual widespread acceptance of the plena can be attributed to the increased number of people joining the workforce, which led to a new demand for public leisure. It was still considered indecent by the upper class, who fought against its rising popularity. In December 1917, an ordinance was passed banning the dances from happening inside the city limits. It took another decade for the plena to gain widespread popularity throughout Puerto Rico and cross racial and cultural boundaries. Listening to plena at home and at neighborhood- or municipal-sanctioned celebrations became acceptable and was no longer considered morally tainted by “respectable” white upper class Ponceños. Eventually, with much whitewashing to make it more palatable to the masses, plena was embraced in earnest as a style of music that united Puerto Ricans. However, with the acceptance of the upper class, what began as a vitally important cultural identifier and personal expression of philosophy, community, and self to the lower class became an entertaining spectacle for the white upper class. By the 1930s, the plena was accessible to all through the radio and record industries.

Plugg

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

Etymology#

The genre derives its name from the “Plug!” producer tag on SoundCloud used by the members of the BeatPluggz collective since 2013. MexikoDro of the Beatpluggz collective claimed that fellow collective member StoopidXool or someone else from Beatpluggz recorded the vocals for the tag. At first, the tag used the word “Plugs”, but they later shortened it to “Plug”. Both variants “plugg” and “plug” are used to describe the genre. Other names for the genre include descriptive terms such as “new wave” and “smooth jazz” (not to be confused with new wave and smooth jazz genres).

Plunderphonics

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

Early examples#

Although the term plunderphonics tends to be applied only to music made since Oswald coined it in the 1980s, there are several examples of earlier music made along similar lines. Notably, Dickie Goodman and Bill Buchanan’s 1956 single “The Flying Saucer”, features Goodman as a radio reporter covering an alien invasion interspersed with samples from various contemporary records. According to Chris Cutler, “It wasn’t until 1961 that an unequivocal exposition of plunderphonic techniques arrived in James Tenney’s celebrated Collage No. 1 (‘Blue Suede’), a manipulation of Elvis Presley’s hit record ‘Blue Suede Shoes’. The gauntlet was down; Tenney had picked up a ’non art’, lowbrow work and turned it into ‘art’; not as with scored music by writing variations on a popular air, but simply by subjecting a gramophone record to various physical and electrical procedures.” According to Oswald, “the difference with ‘Blue Suede’ is how it audaciously used a very recognizable existing recording of another musical work. This blatant appropriation pioneered the discovery, for myself and many others, of an ocean of sampling and plunderphonics in following decades.” The Residents’ “Beyond The Valley Of A Day In The Life” consists of excerpts from Beatles records. Various club DJs in the 1970s re-edited the recordings they played, and although this often consisted of nothing more than extending the record by adding a chorus or two, this too could be considered a form of plunderphonics. Some classical composers have performed a kind of plunderphonia on written, rather than recorded, music. The composer Lukas Foss composed his Baroque Variations in 1967, whose three movements involved the performance of a Baroque work which provided the framework (sometimes inaudibly) for a fresh composition. Perhaps the best-known example is the third movement of Luciano Berio’s Sinfonia, in which multiple quotations from the music of other composers are superimposed on a complete performance of the second movement from Mahler’s second symphony. Alfred Schnittke and Mauricio Kagel have also made extensive use of earlier composers’ works. Earlier composers who often plundered the music of others include Charles Ives (who often quoted folk songs and hymns in his works) and Ferruccio Busoni (a movement from his 1909 piano suite An die Jugend includes a prelude and a fugue by Johann Sebastian Bach played simultaneously). During the ’90s Oswald composed many such scores for classical musicians which he classified with the term Rascali Klepitoire. In France, Jean-Jacques Birgé has been working on “radiophonies” since 1974 (for his film “La Nuit du Phoque”), capturing radio and editing the samples in real-time with the pause button of a radio-cassette. His group Un Drame Musical Instantané recorded “Crimes parfaits” on LP “A travail égal salaire égal” in 1981, explaining the whole process in the piece itself and calling it “social soundscape”. He applied the same technique to TV in 1986 on the “Qui vive?” CD and published on the 1998 CD “Machiavel” with Antoine Schmitt, an interactive video scratch using 111 very small loops from his own past LPs.