Music in the 1930’s

Alex Lei, Hannah De Lima, Charles Weissman

Composers

Composers Irving Berlin George Gershwin Jerome Kern Cole Porter

● Composers and lyricists’ successes heightened in the 1930’s.● Wrote music for movies and Broadway musicals● The 1920’s set the stage for musical theatre, where it matured in 1930’s.● Musicians were supported throughout the Great Depression

Genres

Popular Artists

Fred Astaire Ethel WatersRoy RogersShirley Temple

Genre: Jazz Genre: Pop Genre: Country Genre: Jazz

“Cheek to Cheek” “When I Grow Up” “Happy Trails” “Stormy Weather”

Jazz Music

● Famous Artists: Artie Shaw, The Mills Brothers, Glen Miller, Duke Ellington, and Benny Goodman

● Began the “Swing Era”○ A style of couples’ dancing○ The “Jitterbug” is a dance where partners throw each other over

the head and through the legs

● Jazz was typically made up of instruments such as piano, saxophone, guitar, drums, bass, and trumpets

Country / Western Music

● Famous Artists: Bill Monroe, Bob Wills, The Delmore Brothers, and Jimmie Rodgers

● Named after it Eastern and Northwestern roots● Brought the beginnings of Bluegrass, cowboy musicals,

and Western swing

Folk Music

● Famous Artists: Woody Guthrie and Huddie Ledbetter (Leadbelly)

● Folk songs often talked about war, work, civil rights, and love

● The earliest folk songs, such as “Down by the Riverside”, came from slave fields

Musicals

● Famous Musicals: The Wizard of Oz (1939), Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), and Swing Time (1936)

● Musicals were a way to lift the spirits of the people during the Great Depression

● The first musical film releases was The Jazz Singer○ Introduced the sound era of motion picture

Instruments

Instruments

● One Instrument that has been around since the 1600’s is the piano. Used for it’s emotional melodies and rhythmic basslines, no song, artist, or band was complete without one.

● Drums were the heartbeat of the band, keeping the whole orchestra in tempo like a living being.

● From Jazz to Romance, Horns such as the saxophone, trumpet, and trombone could always be depended on to breathe life into a song with sensual solos and a sound no one could resist.

● In the rise of pop, guitars were often used to fill the space behind a sweetly singing voice or to give some rhythm to a jazzy song.

Works citedhttp://www.ecusd7.org/columbus/columbusstaff/rcanada/09kids/grant/musicinthe1930s.htm

https://www.thoughtco.com/the-history-of-american-folk-music-1322572

http://www.encyclopedia.com/history/culture-magazines/1930s-music