Introducing 

Prezi AI.

Your new presentation assistant.

Refine, enhance, and tailor your content, source relevant images, and edit visuals quicker than ever before.

Loading content…
Transcript

Folk, Folk Rock, and Singer-Songwriters

American Folk Music

Charles Seeger and Alan Lomax

Robert Zimmerman (?)

  • Two musicologists who researched and recorded a large number of Appalachian folk songs and published their work in scholarly studies
  • Charles Seeger's son, Pete Seeger (born 1919), is a musician who sang and played guitar and banjo
  • Performed many of the songs his father had researched and had a lasting influence on a folk resurgence in the 1960's

Bob Dylan: The Icon of Folk

  • Originally from Minnesota
  • 2nd Generation Russian/Jewish Immigrant
  • Young follower of Woody Guthrie
  • Moving to "The Village", NYC
  • Joined the counter-culture underground folk movement
  • Woody Guthrie in hospital in NY, wanted to get to know the man behind the music
  • Won the Nobel Peace Prize in Literature, 2016
  • Bob Dylan (1962)
  • Debut Album
  • Mostly folk ballads
  • "House of the Rising Sun"
  • Folk music=passed down music coming from an oral tradition
  • Rhythms, melodies, and lyrics of folk songs change often as new performers adapt old songs to their own performance style
  • In contrast to art music, where a composer plans and notates all details
  • Folk musical style and traditions vary from one part of the US to another
  • music based on songs settlers of different cultures brought with them from their homelands
  • British-derived folk music from the Appalachian Mtn. region had a strong influence on rock music starting in the 1960's
  • direct links to old songs from Elizabethan English, Irish, and Scottish music:

The Almanac Singers/The Weavers

Woody Guthrie

  • Almanac Singers founded by Pete Seeger in New York, 1941
  • modified traditional folk songs and performed them with new texts that stressed political concerns of their time
  • The Weavers also founded by Pete Seeger in 1948
  • Harmonized group vocals were a new experience for American audiences; they achieved national recognition
  • Investigated by the House Un-American Activities Committee for left-wing political songs

Songwriter/Singer/Guitarist

  • Member of the Almanac Singers
  • Sang and Performed "True" Folk
  • But also wrote originals in the folk style!
  • Voice of the Common Man
  • sang songs that supported the war cause
  • "This Machine Kills Fascists"
  • his slogan
  • "This Land is Your Land"
  • A Socialist Anthem!
  • Fiddle, Acoustic guitar, string bass, and recorder

Dylan Cont.

Folk Rock

Style Characteristics: traditional American folk/folk revival

Joan Baez

  • use of primarily acoustic instruments
  • use of traditional folk instruments such as accordian, acoustic guitar, mandolin, fiddle, harmonica
  • played by technically adept instrumentalists and singers that can carry the stage on their own
  • a lack of slick production, coordinated dance moves or complicated recording studio techniques
  • stripped down, honest, real
  • traditional folk covers or originals in a traditional style
  • small vocal groups or solo artists: not many large bands
  • lyrics/music can be covered or changed often to reflect a new performers version
  • lyrics can reflect current events, politics, or other aspects of the time in which the song was written

The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963)

  • Second Studio Album
  • Mostly Originals
  • Very Socially Conscience
  • "Blowin' in the Wind"
  • Civil Rights Anthem
  • "Don't think twice its Alright"
  • Plugging In (?!?!?)
  • 1964:
  • The Newport Folk Festival
  • Electric Dylan?!?
  • Controversy
  • traditional folk singer
  • great technical guitar chops
  • can carry the stage as a soloist
  • trait common to many folk musicians

A New Dylan:

  • Album "Bringing it All Back Home" (1965)
  • Electric & Acoustic
  • "Mr. Tambourine Man", "All Along the Watchtower", "It's Allright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding", etc.
  • A new, completely original style
  • Folk influenced, electric rock music
  • Alienated traditionalists

More Folk Rock

  • The Byrds vs. Dylan versions of "Mr. Tambourine Man"

Peter, Paul, & Mary

  • The Byrds also cover Pete Seeger with "Turn Turn Turn"
  • The Mamas and the Papas "California Dreamin"

Joni Mitchell

Folk Trio & Activists

  • Songs about Peace, Love, & Harmony
  • Resisted the use of non-acoustic instruments throughout the 60's
  • "If I Had a Hammer"
  • Pete Seeger cover
  • First big hit
  • "Blowing in the Wind"
  • Bob Dylan cover
  • Many folk groups would cover each other's songs
  • Iconic singer/songwriter with a strong folk background and a uniquely creative style
  • Uses unique chromatic motion (motion by half step) in her original music
  • Vocal style changes quality from high to low: sounds like a different singer when singing high
  • Unique vocal range and control
  • Her album "Blue" is fantastic!!
  • "All I Want", "My Old Man"

Simon and Garfunkel

  • Folk influenced rock music but in more creative, out of the box style
  • Excellent vocal partnership

James Taylor

  • "Scarborough Fair"
  • reworking of a traditional English ballad
  • uses classical counterpoint: a style of writing complex interlocking melodic lines.
  • innovative musical arrangment
  • uses exotic instruments like harpsichord and glockenspiel
  • "Sound of Silence"
  • their most famous song

The Singer/Songwriter

Current musicians taking cues from folk/singer-songwriter style

An Emerging Tradition:

  • Artists Who Sing & Compose Their Own Music
  • Moving away from covers
  • Specifically associated with the folk tradition
  • Lyrics tend to lean away from the political and social activism associated with folk music
  • Instead tells stories about very personal experiences and their own lives and relationships
  • sets up a close, intimate communication between the audience and performer

John Mayer

Bon Iver

"Ohio"

Ed Sheeran

Ben Howard

Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young:

  • A Folk-Rock Supergroup
  • All from different popular acts
  • The Kent State Shootings
  • Kent State University, 1971
  • Group of student protesting Vietnam
  • Cambodian Campaign
  • May 1 - 3
  • Increasingly tense protests
  • Gov. Rhoades proclaims the protestors "Un-American" and declares martial law
  • May 4 at Noon
  • Attempts at dispersal
  • 13 seconds, 67 rounds
  • 4 Killed, 9 Wounded
  • All un-armed

Who else???

Punch Brothers

Learn more about creating dynamic, engaging presentations with Prezi