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A blues piano tradition that sprang up during the early twentieth century in the “southwest territory” states of Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma. In boogie-woogie performances, the pianist typically plays a repeated pattern with his left hand, down in the low range of the piano, while improvising polyrhythmic patterns with his right hand. |
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A style of singing made possible by the invention of the microphone. It involves an intimate approach to vocal timbre. |
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A style rooted in the venerable southern string band tradition. It combines the banjo, fiddle, mandolin, dobro, guitar, and acoustic bass with a vocal style often dubbed the “high, lonesome sound.” The pioneer of bluegrass music was Bill Monroe. |
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A cool style of rhythm and blues; a blend of blues and pop singing. |
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A style of postwar urban blues that was derived directly from the Mississippi Delta tradition of Charley Patton and Robert Johnson. It featured the amplified sound of instruments such as the electric guitar and harmonica and reflected the musical tastes of black Chicagoans, many of them recent immigrants from the Deep South. The music tended toward rougher, grittier styles, closely linked to African American folk traditions but also reflective of an urban orientation. |
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A style of postwar country and western music sometimes called “hard country” or “beer-drinking music.” Born in the oil boomtowns of Texas and Oklahoma, it conveyed the sound and ethos of the roadside bar or juke joint. |
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The first commercially successful category of rhythm & blues, flourished during and just after World War II. Ensembles were smaller than the big bands of the swing era and specialized in hardswinging, boogie-woogie-based party music, spiced with humorous lyrics and wild stage performances. |
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Vocal singing without instrumental accompaniment. |
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A version of a previously recorded performance; often an adaptation of the original’s style and sensibility, and usually aimed at cashing in on its success. |
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an electrically amplified guitar |
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Short for “reverberation”—a prolongation of sound by virtue of an ambient acoustical space created by reflective surfaces. Reverb can occur naturally or be simulated either electronically or by digital sound processors. |
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Illegal practice, common throughout the music industry, of paying bribes to radio disc jockeys to get certain artists’ records played more frequently |
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Behind-the-scenes role at a record company. Can be responsible for booking time in the recording studio, hiring backup singers and instrumentalists, assisting with the engineering process, and imprinting the characteristic sound of the finished record. |
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African American musical genre that emerged after World War II. Consisted of a loose cluster of styles derived from black musical traditions, characterized by energetic and hard-swinging rhythms. At first performed exclusively by black musicians for black audiences, R&B came to replace the older category of “race records.” |
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Introduced as a commercial and marketing term in the mid-1950s for the purpose of identifying a new target audience for musical products. Encompassed a variety of styles and artists from R&B, country, and pop music. |
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Vigorous form of country and western music informed by the rhythms of black R&B and electric blues. Exemplified by artists such as Carl Perkins and the young Elvis Presley. |
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Technique that involves the use of nonsense syllables as a vehicle for wordless vocal improvisation. |
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solid-body electric guitar |
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Electrically amplified guitar developed after World War II and first used in R&B, blues, and country bands. |
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Song form that employs the same music for each poetic unit in the lyrics. |
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Rock ‘n’ roll’s vertical Tin Pan Alley. It was home to many pop-rock songwriting teams during the early 1960s. |
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Album conceived as an integrated whole, with interrelated songs arranged in a deliberate sequence |
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Nickname of Motown Records. |
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Record company founded by Berry Gordy Jr. in Detroit. |
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Teen-oriented rock ‘n’ roll song using a twelve-bar blues structure; it celebrated a simple, hip-swiveling dance step. |
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Term used to describe the studio production techniques of Phil Spector. The sound was achieved by having multiple instruments— pianos, guitars, and so forth— doubling each individual part in the arrangement, and by using a huge amount of echo, while carefully controlling the overall balance of the record so that the vocals were pushed clearly to the front. |
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Country music style involving polished arrangements and a sophisticated approach to vocal presentation. The recordings of Patsy Cline were among the most important manifestations of the Nashville sound. |
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Sophisticated approach to the vocal presentation and instrumental arrangement of country music; a fusion of “country” and “cosmopolitan.” |
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Music played by San Francisco bands that encompassed a variety of styles and musical influences, including folk rock, blues, “hard rock,” Latin music, and Indian classical music. |
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African American musical style rooted in R and gospel that became popular during the 1960s. |
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Style of folk music that grew in popularity in the burgeoning New York folk scene during the 1960s. It included artists such as Bob Dylan. |
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