Final Exam Portfolio Post 1: Musical Web

Cole Kenna
Jul 27, 2017 · 4 min read

Maple Leaf Rag, by Scott Joplin, was the very first song I listened to for this class. As I listen to it again it is no less enjoyable. As I discussed before, Joplin uses syncopation that plays against the straightforward notes. The left hand plays a steady note throughout, but the right hand acts as the syncopation and varies in tune instead. This is easily the most popular ragtime song by Joplin. He lived out the rest of his life with a modest income of royalties from this single song. Maple Leaf Rag, according to the three streams of music culture described in the book, is part of the classical stream. It did, however, begin the rapid growth in popularity of ragtime music. Many composers used Maple Leaf Rag as a basis for their own songs, and it ended up being an exemplary example of a true ragtime song.

Maple Leaf Rag:

Sheep, Sheep, Don’t You Know the Road is same old familiar song I heard at the beginning of this class. Though the song is rather simple, it is still enjoyable to listen to, which is partly why I chose it. “Sheep” easily flows into folk’s stream of music culture. The song was used mostly by groups of church-goers, and was made for them. More specifically, it is a Christian spiritual song. During the nineteenth century, spiritual songs had two sides/groups, one with blacks and one with whites, who had similar songs. White spirituals include Wondrous Love and I’ll Fly Away. While both sides had related spirituals, there were parts of the songs that were unique to them. For example, Sheep contains hall-marks of African-American music such as backbeat an call-and-response singing.

Sheep, Sheep, Don’t You Know the Road:

Gypsy Davy, by Woody Guthrie, was originally an old Scottish ballad called “Gypsy Laddie” before it was naturalized into American culture. Changes include changing “boss” from “lord” and the addition of an old American ballad sentiment “blue-eyed baby”. The song itself follows a rhythm of stanzas, each one progressing the story as the song goes along and repeats throughout. It contains a mix of folk music and popular music. Woody Guthrie was known for making songs for the everyday working American and, while Gypsy Davy origins is Scottish, this song is for them. Gypsy Davy comes from a time in American history when ballads were growing in popularity. It was an excellent example of a naturalized ballad and likely influenced further adaptations of other songs. Gypsy Laddie was changed and adapted not just by Woody Guthrie. As the book states, “they coost their glamour owre her” had been changed to “they called their grandmother over”. This song is a fantastic representation of naturalizing songs into different cultures and how they are changed in the process.

Gypsy Davy:

Cotton-Eyed Joe, by Bob Wills, is another song that simply doesn’t change with time. It still has it’s upbeat and rhythmic tune that it keeps up throughout the song. Cotton-Eyed Joe uses a three-line stanzas to keep a familiar beat and a mix of violins, pianos, a fiddle, and a steel guitar, to form a western swing song. Western swing itself was a mix of big-band jazz and country music. Then after that, country is a mix of folk and popular music, while jazz is a mix of all three of folk, popular, and classical. As you might think, Cotton-Eyed Joe thus has many different roots in a variety of music genres/types. Wills and his band grew in popularity as western swing did. Several other musicians began to also make western swing songs, based on Wills’.

Cotton-Eyed Joe:

The first time I heard the John Henry song, was from a short film by Disney. The original song was based on a true story, but some liberties were taken to enrich the story it tells and make the hero more empathetic. The song fits perfectly into the music culture stream of folk songs. John Henry is an African-American ballad that was adapted into a work song. It was never intended to be used by the mass public, nor is there much need of extensive musical experience to fully understand the song. John Henry is similar to Gypsy Davy in stanza styles. The fifth stanza is extended for emphasis in both songs.

John Henry:

In conclusion, despite each song being different in their own ways, they are still connected. Gypsy Davy, for example, was a folk song that came from a mix of country and jazz, and eventually formed it’s own genre as it grew. Sheep, Sheep, Don’t You Know the Road was also rooted in folk culture, even though both songs are wildly different. As was John Henry and Cotton-Eyed Joe. Maple Leaf Rag, on the other hand, was almost solely in a classical genre. This did not stop it, however, from bursting ragtime songs in popularity for about two decades. Even if two, three, or even more, songs seem completely different, there is always some sort of connection between them.

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