Week 6: Crooners and Swing Bands
Essay titles
In what ways did the performance methods of 1950s swing-band musicians differ from those of mainstream classical musicians? Consider such matters as rhythm, instruments and instrumentation, tone colour, balance (including amplification), and the relevant socio-economic conditions.
Discuss the performing techniques of Bing Crosby. In what ways were they geared to advances in media technologies?
Reading
George T. Simon, The Big Bands, 4th edn (London: Collier Macmillan, 1981) (library)
Mark White, The Observer’s Book of Big Bands (London: F. Warne, 1978) (library)
Ted Heath, Listen to My Music (London: F. Muller, 1958) (library)
Henry Pleasants, The Great American Popular Singers (London: Gollancz, 1974) (library) (web)
Michael R. Pitts, Frank W. Hoffmann, Dick Carty, Jim Bedoian and Ian Whitcomb, The Rise of the Crooners (Lanham MD: Scarecrow Press, 2002) (web)
Ruth Prigozy and Walter Raubicheck (eds), Going My Way: Bing Crosby and American Culture (Rochester NY: Boydell & Brewer, 2007) (library)
Bing Crosby, Call me Lucky (London: F. Muller, 1953) (library)