"Race" and "hillbilly" are here to stay

When we read the chapter in Rockin’ Out that was about the eighties, I was greatly intrigued by the discussions of race in music. Due to this factor, I decided to read chapter 2: Blues and Country Music: Mass Media and the Construction of Race. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect of this chapter, but it still fell a little short for me.

I’m not saying that there weren’t some interesting facts I learned in this chapter, but on the whole, I felt like it was a list of musicians from each type of music: race, hillbilly, country blues, classic blues. This was not outrageously helpful to someone with no background knowledge in these types of music, or these specific artists.

I feel like this book could have benefited from a CD accompaniment. It would have helped its reader to understand faster about not only the different artists, but the subtle (or not so subtle) differences between the various types of music.

Having said that, I truly enjoyed looking up and listening to some of the artists and songs mentioned in this chapter. The songs listed below showcase my musical journey through this chapter as well as my initial reactions to the songs and their history.

• Fisk Jubilee Singers (Ezekiel Saw De Wheel) – It seems that there is nowhere else that the blues could have started from. The sound of this soulful music holds so much emotion, mostly lamenting, that shines through to its listeners. I really enjoyed this style of call-and-response song and I particularly liked the specific version I listened to. It had a crackly sound, either from the recording or the playing of a phonograph record. I think this added to the history of this music.

• Johnny Cash (Casey Jones) – I feel like this version retains some of its history. You can feel the nod to the early blues. First off, Johnny Cash has a wonderful voice for this style music, but then you bring in both the backup singers and all the instruments. It is these to properties that truly make this a joy to listen to.

• Grateful Dead (Casey Jones) – Of course this version is much different from the Johnny Cash version, but I think that speaks to almost the oral tradition of music. While the sound wouldn’t always stay the same, the message would, and that was the important part.

• Clarence “Pine Top” Smith (Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out) – When I read the term “boogie-woogie blues” I did not expect what I heard in this recording. Of course I did expect the piano, since Reebee Garofalo talks about the classically trained musicians that make up this style, but I was not expecting the slow talk-style of singing. Boogie-woogie, to means, sounds like it would have been a little more upbeat than this song showed.

• Mamie Smith (Crazy Blues) – While I am not really crazy for this style I don’t understand how it took record companies so long to tap into this market. I think this section frustrated me the most. Why wouldn’t you want to open your markets up to all people? I guess it is easy for me to say this now since all the groundwork has already been laid, but come on. We are all people and we definitely do not all tlike the same type of music. It seems like good sense, as well as good business sense, to be open to producing all types of music to draw in all types of audiences.

• Bessie Smith (Downhearted Blues) – I can definitely see the jazz influence in this song. While the instrumental seems simple behind her, Bessie’s voice is complex and rich as she croons about her life. Going from saving Colombia from bankruptcy with this song to having no career after the Great Depression struck six years later seems like a tragedy. Luckily, places like iLike.com keep her music library there for you to hear.

• Bessie Smith (Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out) - This will be a short one…no disrespect to Clarence “Pine Top” Smith, but I enjoyed this version more. I liked the rhythm and beat better. It is interesting to note that this was her last song before the depression. I guess it came true for her.

• Blind Lemon Jefferson (See That My Grave Is Kept Clean) - To me, this sounds like much of the bluegrass music that I listen to today. It would make sense that bluegrass and country blues are linked. I love his voice and style of music. It sounds similar to the music I had at my wedding.

• The Carter Family (Keep on the Sunny Side) – Who knew I had heard this song before. Thank you O Brother Where Art Thou?. Again, I enjoyed this song, both this version and the movie version. It is unfortunate that country music no longer sounds like this. You can almost hear in this recording the essence of the family. I think this songs goes well with the image I am sure they wanted to portray.

• Jimmie Rodgers (Blue Yodel #9) – The first thing that struck me was the title. On iLike.com it is now called Standin’ on the Corner (Blue Yodel #9). I wonder why the change. The other thing that strikes me is his musicality. It is definitely in contrast with what the Carter Family was putting out at the same time. He is a bit freer and more open. He also “rocks” a bit more. Could his song choices be a part of carrying on his “ramblin’ man” image?

• Roy Acuff (Great Speckled Bird) – TI choose this artist due to his history surrounding baseball. I wondered what a former baseballer would sound like on a record. I wasn’t disappointed. The instrumentation in this piece adds greatly to the tune. This song didn’t only showcase the voice but also made the instruments part of the story they were telling. It was almost like they were using the instruments to portray the “great speckled bird”. I feel like you don’t find this technique much anymore (in the limited music I listen to these days).

• Meade Lux Lewis (Boogie Woogie) – I had to find out about this artist because the person who read this copy before me had underlined his name and let me tell you - this was what I expected from boogie woogie. The piano playing was upbeat and complex. You don’t need the voice to tell the story, the piano does it all on its own. I can imagine people having a grand old time out on the dance floor listening to this song.

Assignment #1:

For this assignment, I would like my students to take a musical journey similar to that which I just took. I would start off by having them, either alone or with a partner, research and present on a specific time period in music history.

As a part of this presentation, I would have the students come up with a list of musicians that impacted this time period. Following the presentation, I would give them time in the computer lab in order to look up these specific artists and their music. They would have to react to a set number of the songs or artists similarly to how I reacted to them. They would then turn in their paper.

I think that this would not only be a good follow-up for the time period presentations, but would be a good precursor to having them write a review later on in the course.

Assignment #2:

While I was listening to the songs from this section, it struck me that many of them had been redone – if not once, multiple times.

For this assignment, I would have the students find a song from this era that had been covered by at least two other artists. They would then write not a review, but a comparison of the songs. How are they similar? How are they different? Vocally and instrumentally? How does this change the message of the song, etc? This will help them to see how music changes depending on the time period in which it is sung.

Review Assignments

Assignment #1:

This assignment is an extension of one already posted. In the previous assignment, the students had to put together a CD of songs that represented who they were or a time capsule of songs that represented their life.

For this extension, the students would write a review of their partner’s CD. They would focus on the placement of the songs and talk about if they are good transitions between songs or if things could have worked better with a rearrangement of the playlist.

Assignment #2:

For this assignment I am going to ask the students to find a song that they want to review. The catch is that the song they find must be a remake of an older song. In their review they should make sure to make some comparisons to the older song. In effect, this will be a combination review and compare/contrast paper.

One More Cup of Coffee

The White Stripes

One More Cup of Coffee

In 1976, Bob Dylan sang One More Cup of Coffee as a song of regret and absolution, the ending of a love affair based on physical passion but marred by deep differences. Sung as a duet with Emmylou Harris, the lyrics hinted at forgiveness, both to Dylan’s female companion who he was leaving, and to himself for walking away from what was still good in their relationship.

The White Stripes covered the Dylan tune on their 1999 self-titled debut album. Carrying the weight of Jack White’s heavy, blues-influenced guitar and the deep, droning beat of Meg White’s drums, the same lyrics Dylan sang in 1976 no longer offer any forgiveness, but rather aim to ridicule and shame the singer’s lover. Dylan wrote of leaving a beautiful, sensual woman, whose family and background doomed any hope of a long-term relationship. Jack sings it as a scornful ex, who is using his lover’s insecurities – things like her lack of education and lack of money – as a weapon to leave her broken as he walks out the door.

Jack and Meg’s version, while more forceful, also lacks the depth of feeling that makes the Dylan version so haunting. Dylan is torn, and Harris’ back-up vocals make the song a conversation – two lovers parting ways agreeing that they will always remember each other. The Stripes bring a harder edge, but fail to capture the sadness that accompanies even the ending of even the most ill-fated relationship.

Social Networking Site Assignments

Assignment #1

The objective for this assignment would be to understand how a celebrity’s celebrity is decided upon and showcased in society.

Day One:

I would first talk to the students and have a discussion about what is a celebrity. What are the characteristics a person must have in order to be considered a celebrity. I would write their responses on the board.

I would then have them throw out some names of people they consider to be celebrities. We would then compare these so-called celebrities to the list of characteristics we made as a class.

Day Two:

I would first have the students choose a celebrity they wanted to complete this project on.

Then, we will spend the hour in the computer lab finding current news stories or articles on their chosen celebrity. These articles could be more factual or more entertainment based (Us Weekly/Star/etc).

Day Three:

The students will again be spending the day in the computer lab. Today they will be looking up their celebrity on Facebook and Twitter. I want them to see what types of news or posts are posted.

One they are finished with the research, the students will be writing a paper comparing and contrasting the information they found on Facebook/Twitter and other “news” sites. I want them to describe how each set of news or posts changes the representation of that celebrity.

Assignment #2

For this assignment, I would like the students to try and figure out if the posts on social media sites are authentic to the celebrity.

In order to complete this assignment, the students will have to choose a myriad of celebrities and groups that they want to research. They will then have to take the time to study the posts found on sites such as Facebook and Twitter. They will need to notice the minute details that account for the differences in author.

They will need to write a paper using posts as their evidence and try to determine if the posts are authentically their celebrity or not.

The Authenticity of Social Networking Sites

What I first have to say is “Wow!” I must be one of the most naïve people in the whole world. I had no idea how much social networking sites were being used for promotion. I mean, I knew that Barack used these sites throughout his campaign, but I never really made the leap to actors and musicians. I guess it only makes sense. Why wouldn’t you use the popular social media to promote both you and your celebrity, if you do happen to be a celebrity?

In my defense, I do have a Facebook account, a MySpace page, and a twitter account, but let me tell you how little I delve into each of them. Lets start with the latter. While I do have a twitter account, I have never tweeted. In fact, I have never read or followed anyone else’s tweets. I signed up for the account during my last Masters course with Rick Beach. My husband, on the other hand, uses his Twitter account daily. So, for this assignment I gave myself over to the expert to find out more about this exciting new social medium.

He gave me a run down of how it works. How people can post small status updates quite often. To me, that sounded a lot like what occurs on Facebook. But, the benefit of Twitter is that it is only the statuses without all the other annoying Farmville and Mafia Wars updates. My husband doesn’t follow a lot of celebrities. I think he does follow Joel McHale, but he is an anomaly. Being that he works at the state capitol, he mainly follows legislators and news media. He says that Twitter is an invaluable tool for knowing what is going on in the world of politics. He continues to say that if a reporter has a fact, they typically tweet it before they write the story.

Last night, I asked him about the celebrity postings and how he knows that they are truly posted by the celebrity. He said he didn’t know. He did not seem to care too much about if it was really Joel McHale or his publicist. He did say that most of the post sounded like McHale himself. I talked with him about what I learned in the reading regarding Mariah Carey and Brittney Spears using first and third person to distinguish between their true selves and their publicist. We both found that extremely interesting.

On to MySpace…I do not have to talk about this one for very long because I truly only set up this account to stay in touch with my nephew. I later on found out that he wasn’t using that particular social media site. Due to that, I have not logged into that account in a really long time.

The same cannot be said for Facebook, however. I log on to Facebook multiple times a day. I do not believe, however, that I use this site in the same manner as most of the people (at least most of the younger generation) do. Again, my main reason for signing up was to keep in contact with a friend who moved over seas. If he had not left, I am unsure if I would have entered the Facebook realm. I typically use Facebook as another email. I sign in, check the home page, look at my profile, see if I have any new invites/requests, and sometimes play a game.

Up until two days ago I had never searched for people or organizations outside my realm of friends. I didn’t really know that different organizations had pages, but now I do and I am interested in looking up some Facebook pages that would be beneficial to my teaching career. I love the idea that there are other teachers out there that I can hook up with and exchange ideas with. And while I knew that celebrities had Facebook pages, I didn’t really care about them. They’re not my friends.

After reading Celebrity Studies: The promotion and presentation of the self: celebrity as a marker of presentational media by P. David Marshall, I was highly motivated to do some research on the issue of using social networking sites as a was to promote both the self and the performer. I know we talked earlier about how an authentic performer would not separate these two halves of the whole, but I think believed it to be different in the case of the online self.

I would imagine that in the online self, artists are going to show a more intimate side of themselves. I do not believe all of them will go as far as Ashton Kutcher and post pictures of their wives in underwear, but they will still show us some glimpse into their personal life.

One reason I believe that artists and performers would want to do this is because they control the message that gets sent out. This is most definitely not the case in most of the media coverage they get. Usually the paparazzi and other media sites choose what to report, and in turn, how they are represented or come across. By using sites like Facebook and Twitter, the artists cannot represent themselves in the way they see fit. While this may still be a performance, albeit not on a stage, we (their audience) still see this as a more intimate view.

When choosing a celebrity to research I went to Facebook first. I clicked on the music section and scrolled through the artists that have sites dedicated to them. I did not have an opinion on who I wanted to see, so I ended up looking at multiple peoples’ and groups’ sites.

Early in the research, I came up with a hypothesis I wanted to test. It came to me, after looking at Mariah Carey, Brittney Spears, and the band The Killers, that it seemed like it was easier to determine if the posts were actual posts from the artists themselves or their publicist if it was a site dedicated to one person rather than a group. This led me to believe that most single person sites were more intimate in nature than the band sites.

Taking this as my hypothesis, I dug a little deeper and looked at more celebrity Facebook pages. I started by looking at some band sites. For this I examined The Black Eyed Peas, Maroon5, and Weezer. While I know that this is a small sample size, I think the point gets across. After scrolling down and reading a multitude of posts on each of these band’s sites, I noticed a trend in what was uploaded to these particular sites. All that was posted were news pieces on each of these artists, tour dates, and their music, along with other promotional materials. There was never an intimate or more telling post. Even when the band tried to make it more intimate, it was still promotional. This can be seen in Weezer’s post of “Are you ready for Bonnaroo? Share some pics of your camping gear”. I feel that they were trying to make it sound like it was the members posting this, but it was still really all about promotion and telling their fans that they would be at Bonnaroo.

One band site that leaned more into the intimate realm was that of Tapes ‘n Tapes. While their posts were mostly made up of tour dates, I did notice that they took the time to answer some of their fans’ posts.

Shane C Mutter Are you guys ever coming to New Orleans? What the hell? June 3 at 8:30pm

Tapes 'n Tapes

we hope so. it's been at #1 on our list of "cities we haven't played in yet, but want to" for a while. we're trying....guess we'll just have to try a little harder, though.

June 3 at 8:47pm

Shane C Mutter

Glad to hear. Well keep me posted and I'll keep my fingers crossed. My brother, cousin, and a few friends have been following you guys for a few years.

June 4 at 7:19am

I feel that this really lends to the authenticity of these posts. And it makes me feel that they care about their fans and their fans’ desires and wishes.

So, now onto the single artists’ pages, where I expected it to reflect a more intimate relationship with the audience based on the types of posts I would find. Instead, I found that this isn’t really the case. I have found examples of single artist Facebook pages that are very much not intimate. The pages I looked at were Jay-Z, Michael Buble, and Celine Dion. None of these artists posted anything that I would declare truly from them rather than from their publicist. It was still all about the tour dates and promotion.

This makes me wonder then, why do some artists take the time to post materials themselves while others don’t? What is it about Brittney Spears or Mariah Carey, or even Joel McHale that makes them want to have that more personal connection? Unfortunately, I don’t have the resources or time to answer this question, but I hope that someday someone will.

What is Censorship?

Censorship Lesson Plan

Day One:

Present information about the first amendment.

Class Discussion: What is censorship?

• Have the students define the word both my creating a definition and by looking it up in the dictionary.
• Pose the following discussion questions (if needed)

Have you ever been censored? Describe.
Give examples of censorship that has occurred in our society (Hopefully they will bring up the topic of censorship and music).

Let them know our overarching question for this unit will be: Is censorship ever okay?

Day Two:

Start the day by playing some music that has either been censored (lyrics/playtime) or that has a parental advisory sticker.

Disseminate information about the PMRC and their issues with and goals for music.

Pass out song lyrics. Have a discussion that includes the following:

• What is your reaction to the song?
• What does it mean to you?
• What is the message of the song?
• Does the artist want to motivate you to do something or persuade you to think a certain way?
• How compelled are you to follow the artist’s direction?

Talk about specific cases where artist’s have been sued.

Day Three:

Explain their assignment.

• The students will be participating in a debate. This debate will center around the 1985 hearings where the decision was made to use parental advisory stickers.
• Each student will be assigned a character they will have to play in the debate. They will have to research their assigned character and formulate an idea of what their character would believe about the issue of the parental advisory sticker.

Assign them characters:

• Tipper Gore
• Sally Nevius
• Pam Howar
• Susan Baker
• Mike Love
• Stan Gortikov
• Frank Zappa
• Dee Snider
• John Denver
• Prince
• Madonna
• Garth Brooks
• Ozzy Osbourne
• Mr. McCullom
• Mrs. McCollumn
• Charles M. Young
• Jason Newsted

Give them the rest of the hour to research

Day Four:

Final research day

Day Five:

The students will have the hour to debate.

Day Six:

For the first half of the class, we will debrief about what happened the previous day during the debate.

Using what they learned during the debate, the students must now write a paper that answers the following question:

• Should CDs that may be considered offensive contain warning labels?

They must take a stand on this issue and provide evidence for their decision. Their paper must be one page in length.

Day Seven:

The students will complete their papers.

Lesson Plans: Authenticity

Lesson Plan 1: Authenticity

Objective:
• To have the students understand the concept of authenticity.
• To have the students take a look at a specific artist and decide if they are authentic or not.

Procedures:
1. Give the students the prompt of, “What does the word ‘authentic’ mean?” Give them five minutes to brainstorm on their own. After five minutes, open up the discussion. Write their responses on the board. Once all the responses have been told, lead a class discussion.
2. During this class discussion, come up with a set of qualities they believe fit the concept of being authentic.
3. Once this list is made, read articles discussing the concept of authenticity in relation to musicians.
4. Go back to the class list and make any changes the students deem necessary.
5. Explain that the students will each need to pick an artist that they will do a project on to determine whether or not they are authentic.
6. Using Kembrew McLeod’s Semantic dimensions, have the students do some research into their artist’s background as well as using their own experience with that artist in order to determine their authenticity.
7. After the research is complete, have the students complete a paper describing the authenticity of their assigned artist. They should also present their results to the class.


Lesson Plan 2: Authenticity

Objective
• To enhance the students’ understanding of authenticity in regards to musicians

Procedures:
1. This lesson should follow an initial discussion of the concept of authenticity.
2. Have the students review the idea of authenticity and discuss what the characteristics of an authentic or true self are.
3. Break them up into groups. Assign each group a different genre of music. Each group now needs to come up with a list of qualities that are necessary for an artist of that genre must have in order to be considered authentic.
4. Once those lists are complete, have each group present their list to the class.
5. Now, assign each student one of the genres that have just been characterized.
6. Have each student pick an artist from that genre and see if they are an authentic member of that genre or not based on the characteristics provided.
7. Have them present their results to the class.

Authentic or Not?

Each day in my life I am faced with the idea of authenticity, though I have never put that name to it. In working with high school students you get to see both their authentic side, and their not-so-authentic side. With them, the struggle to find their “true self” is extremely difficult. And the struggle to have their peers accept their “true self” is even more difficult.

This acceptance of the “true self” occurs throughout each aspect of our lives; with our friends, our family, and in our jobs. I believe that if you become a musician, with the aspect of fame, this drive for acceptance is even greater. due to being in the limelight, your livelihood now depends on creating that authentic self and having people connect with and believe in it. But, what is this “it” that musicians have to get their sudience to believe in?

According to David Pattie, they way in which a performer creates his or her authenticity is through the music. In fact, he states that the music is the “ultimate proof of authenticity.” This means that the audience must believe in the song that is being performed to us.

Once they have us hooked by song, the performers must themselves be real. This gets a little more complicated. We, as the audience must believe that the performer is onstage giving us their true self. We want to see, know, and understand who they truly are. But, we also know that the self that they are showing us is a performance.

When we finally believe that the “true self” is shining through, and we have a connection to the song, a miraculous moment happens. We connect. And it is almost like the audience and the performer become one.

I do not believe that there is one person out there who can say that they have not felt this bond. That they have not been listening to one of their favorite bands or vocalists and they have felt a deep connection with the person on stage. At times it has felt that they were singing specifically for you (or me). This authentic moment is exactly what these performers want to happen.

Do they all do this? Do you always feel this connection? Probably not. I do like the idea of taking a peek at those that I deem worthy of paying money to watch them play music. So, who would I consider to be some of my favorites? I think I will have to take a look at The White Stripes and Bright Eyes.

The White Stripes

To start with a little background of this band, they are considered a rock duo. In fact, when these two first made it big, they were a self proclaimed brother and sister band. Too bad their divorce papers surfaced later on.

I have seen them in concert three times. The main reason for this is my connection to the music. The connection I have with the music is not on a deep and personal level, however. I just think that they are able to write lyrically fun, musically wonderful songs.

The first time I saw them in concert, they were at Roy Williams Arena and my seats were in the nosebleed section. This made the experience difficult for my by not really allowing me to connect with them. They were too far away to really have a feeling like they were singing to me. It did briefly occur once, when they sang a cover of Bob Dylan’s One More Cup of Coffee. And this was mainly due to the fact that I was one of a handful of people who knew what they were singing.

The second time I saw them they were playing The Orpheum Theater. This venue was much smaller. That allowed for a bit more intimacy and connection to occur. In fact, that night they had much more discourse with the audience than during their first concert. I wonder if they even felt more of a connection with their audience. But, what makes me feel that their performance is really about their true self is what happened during the third concert I saw them perform.

This concert actually occurred the night after I saw them in concert at the Orpheum. They played a second show and I was in attendance. To back up a bit, the night before Jack and Meg had gotten a little frustrated with the amount of people taking their pictures. They continually asked the audience to stop. Flash forward to the next night and you see Jack walking on stage snapping a Polaroid picture of himself. As it develops, he tosses it out into the crowd. This gave him a bit of control of the situation while also interacting with the audience.

One other way I know that they are authentic (in my eyes) is due to the fact that when Meg developed a case acute anxiety, or stage fright, and had to cancel a bunch of concerts, I really felt for her. I felt such a personal connection for her that I remember thinking that I hoped she was okay.

Bright Eyes

The band Bright Eyes is made up of a band with ever changing members but one main singer, Connor Oberst. I have also seen both his band and him playing solo shows a multitude of times. In fact, I have probably seen him in concert more times than any other band.

Do I think he is authentic? It’s complicated. I think that he began authentic and is slowly fading into the inauthentic realm.

His music, and specifically his lyrics, is amazing. He writes some of the most poetic words that I have ever heard (now remember, I am kind of naïve when it comes to music). This is especially true of some of his first albums. Each and every song is able to pull you in to the story. And the story is beautiful.

However, I feel less of a connection with some of his recent albums. In fact, I can’t even name one of the songs on his newest album. I don’t know if it sue to my tastes changing, or him changing.

I do feel like he has changed over the time of his career, and I feel like that has affected my belief in his authenticity. When he first began, he played venues such as First Avenue and the 400 Bar. While First Ave. is a pretty good sized venue, it is nowhere near the size of the venues he is playing now. And the 400 Bar was even smaller. The first time I saw him at the 400 Bar, he told a story about his connection to that venue. He actually knew and was really close to the person who owned that venue and he said he wanted to show his support for that place and was glad that we came out to show our support as well. I think that this declaration really hooked me. I fell for his true self [act] in that moment. However, he has not played this particular venue in a really long time.

Although I can make a case for his authenticity (even though I think it is waning) you can definitely make a case for his inauthenticity. He has been criticized for both over writing his songs and over emoting when on stage. Since these are both important qualities in the idea of authenticity, if you felt this way you would definitely not believe he was authentic.