1.
Ballad
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A ballad /ˈbæləd/ is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French chanson balladée or ballade, which were originally danced songs, Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of the British Isles from the later medieval period until the 19th century. They were widely used across Europe, and later in the Americas, Australia, Ballads are 13 lines with an ABABBCBC form, consisting of couplets of rhymed verse, each of 14 syllables. Many ballads were written and sold as single sheet broadsides, the form was often used by poets and composers from the 18th century onwards to produce lyrical ballads. In the later 19th century, the took on the meaning of a slow form of popular love song and is now often used for any love song. The ballad derives its name from medieval French dance songs or ballares, from which ballet is also derived, as a narrative song, their theme and function may originate from Scandinavian and Germanic traditions of storytelling that can be seen in poems such as Beowulf. Musically they were influenced by the Minnesinger, the earliest example of a recognizable ballad in form in England is Judas in a 13th-century manuscript. This means that the two words, ballad and ballet, are derived from the French language. Ballads were originally written to accompany dances, and so were composed in couplets with refrains in alternate lines and these refrains would have been sung by the dancers in time with the dance. Most northern and west European ballads are written in ballad stanzas or quatrains of alternating lines of iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter, known as ballad meter. Usually, only the second and fourth line of a quatrain are rhymed, there is considerable variation on this pattern in almost every respect, including length, number of lines and rhyming scheme, making the strict definition of a ballad extremely difficult. Ballads usually use the dialect of the people and are heavily influenced by the region in which they originate. Scottish ballads in particular are distinctively un-English, even showing some pre-Christian influences in the inclusion of elements such as the fairies in the Scottish ballad Tam Lin. The ballads do not have any known author or correct version, instead, having passed down mainly by oral tradition since the Middle Ages. The ballads remained a tradition until the increased interest in folk songs in the 18th century led collectors such as Bishop Thomas Percy to publish volumes of popular ballads. In all traditions most ballads are narrative in nature, with a story, often concise, and rely on imagery, rather than description. Themes concerning rural laborers and their sexuality are common, and there are many ballads based on the Robin Hood legend. Another common feature of ballads is repetition, sometimes of fourth lines in succeeding stanzas, as a refrain, sometimes of third and fourth lines of a stanza and sometimes of entire stanzas
2.
Sheet music
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Sheet music is a handwritten or printed form of music notation that uses modern musical symbols to indicate the pitches, rhythms and/or chords of a song or instrumental musical piece. The first printed sheet music made with a press was made in 1473. Sheet music is the form in which Western classical music is notated so that it can be learned and performed by solo singers or instrumentalists or musical ensembles. Many forms of traditional and popular Western music are commonly learned by singers and musicians by ear, Score is a common alternative term for sheet music, and there are several types of scores, as discussed below. Sheet music from the 20th and 21st century typically indicates the title of the song or composition on a page or cover, or on the top of the first page. If the song or piece is from a movie, Broadway musical, or opera, if the songwriter or composer is known, her or his name is typically indicated along with the title. Black market sheet music, such as illegal jazz fake books may or may not indicate the songwriter or composer, the type of musical notation varies a great deal by genre or style of music. In most classical music, the melody and accompaniment parts are notated on the lines of a staff using round note heads, the lyrics, if present, are written near the melody notes. However, music from the Baroque music era or earlier eras may have neither a tempo marking nor a dynamic indication. The singers and musicians of that era were expected to know what tempo and loudness to play or sing a song or piece due to their musical experience. In the contemporary music era, and in some cases before, composers often used their native language for tempo indications. These conventions of music notation, and in particular the use of English tempo instructions, are also used for sheet music versions of 20th. Popular music songs often indicate both the tempo and genre, slow blues or uptempo rock, pop songs often contain chord names above the staff using letter names, so that an acoustic guitarist or piano player can improvise a chordal accompaniment. In other styles of music, different musical notation methods may be used, in jazz, while most professional performers can read classical-style notation, many jazz tunes are notated using chord charts, which indicate the chord progression of a song and its form. Like popular music songs, jazz tunes often indicate both the tempo and genre, slow blues or fast bop, professional country music session musicians typically use music notated in the Nashville Number System, which indicates the chord progression using numbers. Chord charts using letter names, numbers, or Roman numerals are widely used for notating music by blues, R&B, rock music. Many guitar players and electric bass players learn songs and note tunes using tablature, tab is widely used rock music and heavy metal guitarists. Singers in many music styles learn a song using only a lyrics sheet
3.
Edison Records
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Edison Records was one of the earliest record labels which pioneered sound recording and reproduction and was an important player in the early recording industry. The first phonograph cylinders were manufactured in 1888, followed by Edisons foundation of the Edison Phonograph Company in the same year, until 1910 the recordings did not carry the names of the artists. The company began to lag behind its rivals in the 1920s, Edison invented the phonograph, the first device for recording and playing back sound, in 1877. The earliest phonograph was something of a curiosity, although it was one that fascinated much of the public. Early machines were sold to entrepreneurs who made an out of traveling around the country giving phonograph concerts. Talking dolls and Talking clocks were manufactured as expensive novelties using the early phonograph, in 1887, Edison turned his attention back to improving the phonograph and the phonograph cylinder. The following year, the Edison company debuted the Perfected Phonograph, Edison introduced wax cylinders approximately 4 1⁄4 inches long and 2 1⁄4 inches in external diameter, which became the industry standard. Several experimental wax cylinder recordings of music and speech made in 1888 still exist, the wax entertainment cylinder made its commercial debut in 1889. At first, the customers were entrepreneurs who installed nickel-in-the-slot phonographs in amusement arcades, saloons. At that time, a phonograph cost the equivalent of several months wages for the worker and was driven by an electric motor powered by hazardous. When relatively affordable spring-motor-driven phonographs designed for home use appeared in the mid-1890s, blank records were an important part of the business early on. Most phonographs had or could be fitted with attachments for the users to make their own recordings, one important early use, in line with the original term for a phonograph as a talking machine, was in business for recording dictation. Attachments were added to facilitate starting, stopping, and skipping back the recording for dictation, the business phonograph eventually evolved into a separate device from the home entertainment phonograph. Edison Records brand of business phonograph was called The Ediphone, see Phonograph cylinder, Edison also holds the achievement of being one of the first companies to record the first African-American quartet to record, the Unique Quartet. A notable technological triumph of the Edison Laboratories was devising a method to mass-produce pre-recorded phonograph cylinders in molds and this was done by using very slightly tapered cylinders and molding in a material that contracted as it set. To Edisons disappointment the commercial potential of this process was not realized for some years, most of the regional Edison distributors were able to fill the small early market for recordings by mechanical duplication of a few dozen cylinders at a time. Molded cylinders did not become a significant force in the marketplace until the end of the 1890s, before using metal cylinders though Edison used paraffin paper. In 1902, Edisons National Phonograph Company introduced Edison Gold Moulded Records, cylinder records of improved hard black wax, capable of being played hundreds of times before wearing out
4.
Columbia Records
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Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, Inc. the United States division of Sony Corporation. It was founded in 1887, evolving from an enterprise named the American Graphophone Company. Columbia is the oldest surviving brand name in the sound business. Columbia Records went on to release records by an array of singers, instrumentalists. It is one of Sony Musics three flagship record labels alongside RCA Records and Epic Records, rather, as above, it was connected to CBS, a broadcasting media company which had purchased the company in 1938, and had been co-founded in 1927 by Columbia Records itself. Though Arista Records was sold to Bertelsmann Music Group, it would become a sister label of Columbia Records through its mutual connection to Sony Music. The Columbia Phonograph Company was founded in 1887 by stenographer, lawyer and New Jersey native Edward Easton and it derived its name from the District of Columbia, where it was headquartered. At first it had a monopoly on sales and service of Edison phonographs and phonograph cylinders in Washington. As was the custom of some of the regional companies, Columbia produced many commercial cylinder recordings of its own. Columbias ties to Edison and the North American Phonograph Company were severed in 1894 with the North American Phonograph Companys breakup, thereafter it sold only records and phonographs of its own manufacture. In 1902, Columbia introduced the XP record, a brown wax record. According to Gracyk, the molded brown waxes may have sold to Sears for distribution. Columbia began selling records and phonographs in addition to the cylinder system in 1901, preceded only by their Toy Graphophone of 1899. For a decade, Columbia competed with both the Edison Phonograph Company cylinders and the Victor Talking Machine Company disc records as one of the top three names in American recorded sound. In order to add prestige to its catalog of artists. The firm also introduced the internal-horn Grafonola to compete with the extremely popular Victrola sold by the rival Victor Talking Machine Company, during this era, Columbia used the famous Magic Notes logo—a pair of sixteenth notes in a circle—both in the United States and overseas. Columbia was split into two companies, one to make records and one to make players, Columbia Phonograph was moved to Connecticut, and Ed Easton went with it. Eventually it was renamed the Dictaphone Corporation, in late 1923, Columbia went into receivership
5.
American popular music
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American popular music has had a profound effect on music across the world. In addition, the American music industry is diverse, supporting a number of regional styles such as zydeco, klezmer. These popular styles included country, R&B, jazz and rock, the 1960s and 1970s saw a number of important changes in American popular music, including the development of a number of new styles, such as heavy metal, punk, soul, and hip hop. Though these styles were not in the sense of mainstream, they were recorded and are thus examples of popular music as opposed to folk or classical music. Minstrel shows generally used African instruments and dance, and featured performers with their faces blackened, a technique called blackface. By the middle of the 19th century, touring companies had taken this music not only to part of the United States, but also to the UK, Western Europe. Minstrel shows were advertised as though the music of the shows was in an African American style. However, these important milestones still occurred entirely within the conventions of European music, the first extremely popular minstrel song was Jump Jim Crow by Thomas Daddy Rice, which was first performed in 1832 and was a sensation in London when Rice performed it there in 1836. Rice used a dance that he copied from a boy with a tune adopted from an Irish jig. The African elements included the use of the banjo, believed to derive from West African string instruments, fosters songs were typical of the minstrel era in their unabashed sentimentality, and in their acceptance of slavery. Blackface minstrel shows remained popular throughout the last part of the 19th century, during that time, a form of lavish and elaborate theater called the extravaganza arose, beginning with Charles M. Barras The Black Crook. Extravaganzas were criticized by the newspapers and churches of the day because the shows were considered sexually titillating, david Ewen described this as the beginning of the long and active careers in sex exploitation of American musical theater and popular song. Later, extravaganzas took elements of burlesque performances, which were satiric and parodic productions that were popular at the end of the 19th century. Like the extravaganza and the burlesque, the variety show was a comic and ribald production, popular from the middle to the end of the 19th century, at which time it had evolved into vaudeville. By the early 20th century, vaudeville was an entertainment for women and children. Tin Pan Alley was an area called Union Square in New York City, the songwriters of this era wrote formulaic songs, many of them sentimental ballads. During this era, a sense of consciousness was developing, as the United States became a formidable world power. The increased availability and efficiency of railroads and the postal service helped disseminate ideas, Some of the most notable publishers of Tin Pan Alley included Willis Woodward, M. Witmark & Sons, Charles K. Harris, and Edward B
6.
Bing Crosby
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Harry Lillis Bing Crosby, Jr. was an American singer and actor. The first multimedia star, from 1931 to 1954 Crosby was a leader in sales, radio ratings. His early career coincided with technical recording innovations such as the microphone and this allowed him to develop a laid-back, intimate singing style that influenced many of the popular male singers who followed him, including Perry Como, Frank Sinatra, Dick Haymes, and Dean Martin. Also in 1948, the Music Digest estimated that Crosby recordings filled more than half of the 80,000 weekly hours allocated to recorded radio music, in 1963, Crosby received the first Grammy Global Achievement Award. He is one of only 33 people to have three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, in the categories of motion pictures, radio, Crosby influenced the development of the postwar recording industry. He became the first performer to pre-record his radio shows and master his commercial recordings onto magnetic tape. In addition to his work with early tape recording, he helped to finance the development of videotape, bought television stations, bred racehorses, Crosby died at the age of 74 on October 14,1977, from a sudden heart attack in Alcobendas, Spain. Crosby was born on May 2,1903 in Tacoma, Washington, in 1906, Crosbys family moved to Spokane, and in 1913, Crosbys father built a house at 508 E. Sharp Avenue. The house now sits on the campus of Crosbys alma mater Gonzaga University and he was the fourth of seven children, brothers Larry, Everett, Ted, and Bob, and two sisters, Catherine and Mary Rose. His parents were Harry Lowe Crosby, Sr. a bookkeeper, Crosbys mother was a second generation Irish-American. In 1910, seven-year-old Harry Crosby Jr. was forever renamed, the Sunday edition of the Spokesman-Review published a feature called The Bingville Bugle. Written by humorist Newton Newkirk, The Bingville Bugle was a parody of a hillbilly newsletter filled with gossipy tidbits, minstrel quips, creative spelling, and mock ads. A neighbor, 15-year-old Valentine Hobart, shared Crosbys enthusiasm for The Bugle, and noting Crosbys laugh, took a liking to him, eventually, the last vowel was dropped and the nickname stuck. Crosby later described Jolsons delivery as electric, Crosby graduated from Gonzaga High School in 1920 and enrolled at Gonzaga University. He attended Gonzaga for three years, but did not earn a bachelors degree, as a freshman, he played on the universitys baseball team. The university granted him a doctorate in 1937. In 1923, Crosby was invited to join a new band composed of school students a few years younger than himself. Al Rinker, Miles Rinker, James Heaton, Claire Pritchard and Robert Pritchard, along with drummer Crosby, formed the Musicaladers, the group performed on Spokane radio station KHQ, but disbanded after two years
7.
Sylvester Stallone
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Michael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone is an American actor, filmmaker, and screenwriter. He wrote or co-wrote most of the 14 films in all three franchises, and directed many of the films, Stallones film Rocky was inducted into the National Film Registry as well as having its film props placed in the Smithsonian Museum. Stallones use of the front entrance to the Philadelphia Museum of Art in the Rocky series led the area to be nicknamed the Rocky Steps, Philadelphia has a statue of his Rocky character placed permanently near the museum. It was announced on December 7,2010 that Stallone was voted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in the non-participant category, in 1977, Stallone was nominated for two Academy Awards for Rocky, Best Original Screenplay and Best Actor. He became the man in history to receive these two nominations for the same film, after Charles Chaplin and Orson Welles. He received critical raves, as well as his first Golden Globe Award win and third Academy Award nomination, Stallones father was born in Gioia del Colle, Apulia, Italy, and immigrated to the United States in the 1930s. Stallones mother is of half French and half Russian Jewish descent and his younger brother is actor and musician Frank Stallone. As a result, the left side of his face is paralyzed – including parts of his lip, tongue. Around the age of 4, Stallone was flat-footed and put in a tap dancing school by his mother and his father moved the family to Washington, D. C. in the early 1950s, where he opened a beauty school. His mother opened a gymnasium called Barbellas in 1954. Stallones parents divorced when Sylvester was nine, and he lived with his mother. When Stallone was 16, he scored poorly in school and his mother got him a job at her beauty salon. He attended Notre Dame Academy and Lincoln High School in Philadelphia, and Charlotte Hall Military Academy, prior to attending Miami Dade College, Stallone had his first starring role in the soft core pornography feature film The Party at Kitty and Studs. He was paid US$200 for two days work, Stallone later explained that he had done the film out of desperation after being evicted from his apartment and finding himself homeless for several days. He has also said that he slept three weeks in the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York City prior to seeing a casting notice for the film. In the actors words, it was either do that movie or rob someone, the film was released several years later as Italian Stallion, in order to cash in on Stallones newfound fame. While he was in Switzerland, Stallone got his start in films, playing an extra eating in a restaurant near to stars Robert Redford and Camilla Sparv, in the sports drama, Downhill Racer. In 1970, Stallone appeared in the film No Place to Hide, which was re-cut and retitled Rebel, in the Lemmon film, Jack Lemmons character chases, tackles and mugs Stallone, thinking that Stallones character is a pickpocket
8.
Kristin Chenoweth
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Kristin Dawn Chenoweth is an American actress and singer, with credits in musical theatre, film and television. In 1999, she won a Tony Award for her performance as Sally Brown in Youre a Good Man, in 2003, she received wide notice for originating the role of Glinda in the musical Wicked, including a nomination for another Tony. Chenoweth also starred in the ABC TV series GCB in 2012, Chenoweth sang gospel music as a child in Oklahoma and studied opera before deciding to pursue a career in musical theatre. In 1997, she made her Broadway debut in Steel Pier, besides Youre a Good Man, Charlie Brown and Wicked, Chenoweths stage work includes five City Center Encores. Productions, Broadways The Apple Tree in 2006, Promises, Promises in 2010 and On the Twentieth Century in 2015, as well as Off-Broadway and regional theatre productions. Chenoweth had her own sitcom Kristin in 2001, and has guest starred on shows, including Sesame Street and Glee. In films, she has played character roles, such as in Bewitched, The Pink Panther. Chenoweth also penned a 2009 memoir, A Little Bit Wicked and she has stated that she is of one quarter Cherokee ancestry. At an early age, she performed songs for local churches. A performing highlight of her childhood was an appearance at the Southern Baptist Convention national conference at the age of 12. The chorus begins, Im only 4 feet 11, but Im going to Heaven, after graduating from Broken Arrow Senior High School, where she participated in school plays, Chenoweth attended Oklahoma City University, where she was a member of Gamma Phi Beta sorority. She earned a degree in musical theatre in 1990 and a masters degree in opera performance in 1992, studying under voice instructor and mentor. While at OCU, Chenoweth competed in beauty pageants, winning the title of Miss OCU and was the second runner-up in the Miss Oklahoma pageant in 1991, in 1992, Chenoweth participated in a studio recording of The Most Happy Fella. Two weeks before school started, however, she went to New York City to help a friend move, while there, she auditioned for the 1993 Paper Mill Playhouse production of the musical Animal Crackers and got the role of Arabella Rittenhouse. She turned down the scholarship and moved to New York to do the show and she made her Broadway debut in the spring of 1997 as Precious McGuire in the musical Steel Pier by Kander and Ebb, for which she won a Theatre World Award. In 1998 she appeared in the City Center Encores, staged concert of the George and Ira Gershwin musical Strike up the Band as Anne Draper and created roles in the original Lincoln Center Theater production of William Finns A New Brain. Ben Rimalower, in Playbill, wrote, Its unlikely anyone will equal Kristin Chenoweth in the role of Nancy D. the waitress. In 1999, Chenoweth performed in the Broadway revival of Youre a Good Man, Charlie Brown as the title characters sister, Sally
9.
Bootsy Collins
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William Earl Bootsy Collins is an American musician and singer-songwriter. Rising to prominence with James Brown in the early 1970s, and later with Parliament-Funkadelic, Collinss driving bass guitar and he is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, inducted in 1997 with 15 other members of Parliament-Funkadelic. With his elder brother Phelps Catfish Collins, Frankie Kash Waddy, in March 1970, after most of the members of James Browns band quit over a pay dispute, The Pacemakers were hired as Browns backing band and they became known as The J. B. s. Although they worked for Brown for only 11 months, the original J. B. B. s. The House Guests released What So Never the Dance and another single on the House Guests label, next Collins moved to Detroit, after Philippé Wynne suggested joining The Spinners, for whom Wynne had been singing. However, following the advice of singer and future Parliament member Mallia Franklin, Franklin there introduced both Collins brothers to George Clinton, and 1972 saw both of the Collins brothers, along with Waddy, join Funkadelic. Collins played bass on most of Funkadelic and all of Parliaments albums through the early 1980s, in 1976 Collins, Catfish, Waddy, Joel Johnson, Gary Mudbone Cooper, Robert Johnson and The Horny Horns formed Bootsys Rubber Band, a separate touring unit of Clintons P-Funk collective. The group recorded five albums together, the first three of which are considered to be among the quintessential P-Funk recordings. Player of the Year reached the top of the R&B album chart and he also adopted his trademark space bass around this time. Collins released two 1980 albums, his first solo album Ultra-Wave, and Sweat Band, on George Clintons Uncle Jam label with a group billed as Bootsys Sweat Band and he also was credited for co-producing the debut of P-Funk spinoffs Zapp and Roger. In 1984, he collaborated with Jerry Harrison of Talking Heads to produce Five Minutes, the record was credited to Bonzo goes to Washington. After a nearly five-year hiatus, he had a comeback in 1988, flaunted a new sound that foreshadowed the 1990s, such as the dance floor smash Party on Plastic. Laswell introduced Collins to Herbie Hancock, resulting in Perfect Machine, the techno-funk they recorded featured turnables for scratch appeal, and the smoothly-stylized vocals of Leroy Sugarfoot Bonner of chart-topping Ohio Players. In 1990, Collins collaborated with Deee-Lite on their massive hit Groove Is in the Heart where he contributed additional vocals. Although he also appeared in the video playing the bass. Bootsys Rubber Band became the de facto backing musicians for Deee-Lite during a world tour, the Rubber Band also recorded the EP Jungle Bass, their first recording in 11 years. In 1992, he joined with guitarist Stevie Salas and drummer Buddy Miles to form the fusion group Hardware. The trio released one album, Third Eye Open, before disbanding, in the same year, Collins played bass guitar on the first Praxis album, Transmutation, alongside fellow Parliament-Funkadelic member Bernie Worrell, Bryan Mantia and Buckethead
10.
The Muppet Show
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The Muppet Show is a family-oriented comedy-variety television series that was produced by puppeteer Jim Henson and features The Muppets. The programmes were recorded at ATVs Elstree Studios in Borehamwood, England, the series shows a vaudeville or music hall-style song-and-dance variety show, as well as glimpses behind the scenes of such a show. Kermit the Frog stars as a showrunner who tries to control of the antics of the other Muppet characters. The show was known for physical slapstick, sometimes absurdist comedy. Each episode also featured a human guest star, as the shows popularity rose, many celebrities were eager to perform with the Muppets on television and in film. Many of the puppeteers also worked on Sesame Street, Jerry Juhl and Jack Burns were two of the show writers. The music was performed by Jack Parnell and his orchestra, since 1969, Sesame Street had given Jim Hensons Muppet creations exposure, however, Henson began to perceive that he was pigeonholed as a childrens entertainer. He sought to create a programme that could be enjoyed by young, Two specials were produced and aired on ABC that are considered pilots for The Muppet Show. Neither led to the sale of a network series. However, the prime-time access rule had just been enacted, which took the 7,30 to 8 pm ET slot from the networks and turned it over to their affiliates. CBS suggested it would be interested in Hensons proposal as a series it could purchase for its owned-and-operated stations. According to the pitch reel, Rowan & Martins Laugh-In co-creator George Schlatter was originally going to be involved. Henson put aside his misgivings about syndication and accepted, the Muppet Show Theme is the shows theme song. It is the opening and closing theme for episode of The Muppet Show and was performed by The Muppets in a scene of The Muppets. Each episode ended with an instrumental performance of The Muppet Show Theme by the Muppet orchestra before Statler. Some last laugh sequences featured other Muppets on the balcony, for example, in one episode, the Muppets of Sesame Street appeared behind the duo who told them, How should we know how to get to Sesame Street. We dont even know how to get out of this stupid theater box, every series, the TV version of the song was presented with re-worked lyrics. While the opening sequence evolved visually over the course of the five series
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