Doo-Wop Acappella (eBook)

A Story of Street Corners, Echoes, and Three-Part Harmonies

Lawrence Pitilli (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2016
240 Seiten
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers (Verlag)
978-1-4422-4430-6 (ISBN)

Infos

Scholar and singer Lawrence Pitilli explores doo-wop acapella groups as manifestations of urban change, mass migrations, ethnic acculturation and changing radio and recording industries. He reveals how groups displayed the dynamics of cultural change in the “sounds”—sonic and linguistic—that every generation seeks to make and remake for themselves.

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In Doo-Wop Acappella: A Story of Street Corners, Echoes, and Three-Part Harmonies, scholar and musician Lawrence Pitilli details this too-little-explored area of 1950's - early 60's American culture. As Kenny Vance and the Planotones suggested in their classic song ';Looking for an Echo,' every doo-wop acapella group's missionthe search ';for a sound, a place to be in harmony, a place we almost found'was more than the story of street kids seeking recording glory. It is the tale of urban change, mass migrations, ethnic acculturation, a changing radio and recording industry, and the dynamics of cultural change in the ';sounds'sonic and linguisticthat every generation seeks to make and re-make for itself. In his study of this neglected period, Pitilli uncovers a rich musical tradition practiced largely by amateurs in an almost mythologized urban America. Although most of these practitioners were musically untrained, their lack of formal music education and financial support neither diluted their passion for singing or their quest for possible fame and fortune. In this engagingly written and celebratory work, Pitilli further demonstrates that doo-wop acappella was closely tied to broader issues, including the self-invented individual, gender roles, ethnicity, race, and class.

Autor

Lawrence Pitilli is associate professor at St. John’s University. He has lectured on and written about music and popular culture and has sung in an acappella doo-wop group. He contributed a chapter to Finding Fogerty: Interdisciplinary Readings of JohnFogerty and Creedence Clearwater Revival (2013).

Inhalt

Chapter 1: History in the Making: A Cappella and now…Acappella!Chapter 2: City Soundscapes: It Ain’t The Grand Ole Opry, That’s For SureChapter 3: Nonsense Syllables, Echoes, and the Sweet Science of It All: Who Put the Bomp?Chapter 4: Gender Roles in the Acappella Community: The Glass Ceiling Chapter 5: From Street Corners To Vinyl: A Tale of Supply and DemandChapter 6: Song Selection in the Acappella World: Let’s Try Stormy Weather and Gloria FirstChapter 7: Where Do We Go From Here?

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 2.8.2016
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Kunst / Musik / Theater ► Musik ► Jazz / Blues
• Themenwelt: Kunst / Musik / Theater ► Musik ► Pop / Rock
• Themenwelt: Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Kulturgeschichte
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften
• Schlagworte: 1950s • 1960s • a cappella • American History • Barbershop • chorus • Doo Wop Acappella • Harmony • music • Music History • popular culture • singing groups • street singing
• ISBN-10: 1-4422-4430-5 / 1442244305
• ISBN-13: 978-1-4422-4430-6 / 9781442244306