Research Paper Proposal For "Women in Music" class, Scripps College

Hannah Rapp

Women in Music 119

Preliminary Research Paper Proposal:

Classical blues women performers made their voice known during the rise of the blues genre. Before their talent was recognized by the masses, these women were limited to live audience performances and tours, since African American musicians had yet to be recorded. Yet when large record companies such as Black Swan records, Okeh records and Columbia Records realized that a financially successful business lay in the African American community African American blues singers, particularly women, made it into the studio to record. In my essay I plan to discover how Black Swan, Okeh and Columbia Records marketed classical blues women. First I will need to look into the history of the African American political movement. Additionally I will learn how the movement led to the record companies interest and desire to sign many female artists. I will discover how the musicians were portrayed and treated by the companies and the financial effect the black community experienced after race records were produced. The following questions will be answered in my essay:

I. Harlem Renaissance

1. What was it? Who did it affect/inspire? Who did it produce?

2. Music from Harlem Renaissance

II. Structure of the Companies

1) What were Black Swan, Okeh, and Columbia Records like?

2) Who was Fletcher Henderson?

3) What role did race play in recording companies, all white, all black, white men in control of black singers?

III. Role of the Companies

1) How did they represent Classical blues women, Ma Rainey, Billie Holiday, Bessie Smith, etc.

2) How did they make their clients famous

3) How and why were records produced?

4) Race Record. Its purpose, and public reaction.

5) What were the profits?

IV: Conclusion

1. Was their gender discrimination in the portrayal of women?

2. Or were the recording of the blues a real attempt to break down social barriers?

Sources

Internet:

Boyer, Paul. "Blues". The Oxford Companion to United States History. 10/12/2009 <http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O119-Blues.html>

Calliope Film Resources. "The Classic Blues and the Women Who Sang Them."Copyright 2000, 10/08/2009<>.

Weusi, Jitu. "The Rise and Fall of Black Swan Records". 10/12/2009 .

Video

Billie Holiday: The Ultimate Collection: Universal Music Company, 2005.

Books:

Anderson, Paul. Deep River: Music and Memory in the Harlem Renaissance Thought. London: Duke University Press, 2001.

Baraka, Imamu. Blues People: Negor music in White America. New York, 1967.

Dixon, R.M.W., Godrich, J. Recording the Blues. New York: Stein and Day Publishers, 1970.

Ed. Kelley, Norman. Rhythm and Business: The political economy of Black Music. New York: Akashic Books, 2002.

O’Brien, Lucy. She Bob II. London, New York: Continuum, 2002.

Oliver, Paul. Songsters and Saints; Vocal traditions on Race records. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984.

Spencer, Jon. The New Negroes and Their Music: The success of the Harlem Renaissance. Knoxville: The University of Tennessee Press, 1997.

Stewart, Earl. African American Music: An Introduction. New York: Schirmer Books, 1998.

Sutro, Dirk. Jazz for Dummies. New Jersey, 2006.

Tracy, Steven. Write me a few of your lines; a Blues reader. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1999

Weissman, Dick. Blues; the Basics. New York and London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2005.