Rap music, and in particular the practice of sampling in rap music, can be grounded within a larger context of African-American interest in imitation. Early examples of imitation in slave culture suggest interests similar to sampling, namely the desire to reconfigure aspects of dominant culture into strictly African-American forms. Sampling can be seen as a way to archive interactive historical material. Rap artists use new language to describe their use of samples, and acknowledge their sources to avoid legal trouble. EMPD, for example, thanks their sources and introduces their raps by indicating which pre-existing compositions the new rap embodies.

Index Classifications: 1900s, Jazz

Contributed by: Felicia Miyakawa

According to Charles Seeger, folk music represents the epitome of plagiarism. Since rap music relies so heavily on digital sampling, rap and folk music are therefore linked through similar processes of musical borrowing. The explanation for such borrowing is not plagiarism but a new definition of creativity: creativity as synthesis of existing materials. Rap and folk music are also extensions of oral traditions, which value synthesis over novelty.

Index Classifications: 1900s, Popular

Contributed by: Felicia Miyakawa

Barry Manilow and Adrienne Anderson wrote two versions of the 1975 hit "Could it be Magic." The first version was intended for the LP and FM radio airplay, while a substantially shortened second version was intended for a 45 single and AM radio airplay. "Could it be Magic" quotes intact a substantial amount of Chopin's Prelude Op. 28, No. 20 in C minor; the first version of the song begins with measures one through eight of the prelude and ends with measures nine through thirteen of the prelude. There are several possible reasons for quoting Chopin: this could be simply another example of the growing number of rock musicians who quote classical music; the composers seem to share a fascination for modal ambiguity with Chopin; Chopin's preludes have become part of a narrow canon of classical music known to composers of all musical genres; and the constant demand for novelty in the popular music industry has encouraged popular music artists to draw from other styles to ensure quick composition. The two versions of Manilow's song allow us to examine how a popular artist responds to the demands of different media.

Index Classifications: 1900s, Jazz

Contributed by: Felicia Miyakawa

Jazz today can be considered part of the avant garde movement of the early twentieth century. One of the common characteristics of the avant garde is pastiche, a characteristic jazz shares, particularly in improvisatory virtuosic solos. The purpose of such pastiche is to call into question the distinction between high and low art. Soloists such as James Moody, Lester Young, and Louis Armstrong regularly quoted other works from both the classical tradition and the popular tradition. Juxtaposing a jazz melody with a quotation from the classical tradition provides irony for the listener, who will understand at least that the quotation comes from an entirely different genre of music. A list of several examples is included.

Works: James Moody, Body and Soul (92, 104); Louis Armstrong, Ain't Misbehavin' (93); more in footnotes.

Sources: Percy Grainger, Country Garden; George Gershwin, Rhapsody in Blue.

Index Classifications: 1900s, Jazz

Contributed by: Felicia Miyakawa

Sampling techniques in popular music give credence to Walter Benjamin's theory of the "age of reproduction." Recent trends in popular music have seen the resurrection of older popular music through two means: new digital reproductions of otherwise unavailable records; and the integration of samples from older music into new music. There are so many references in today's pop music that we now have references to references of original sources. Authorship and authenticity are problematized in the process. Some popular artists claim that samples and references preserve a popular music archive, but by reproducing these sounds digitally, the human element of original production is lost.

Index Classifications: 1900s, Popular

Contributed by: Felicia Miyakawa

In the late 1960s rock began to appropriate values more closely resembling the classical tradition, such as virtuosity, creativity, and originality. One of the complaints leveled against newly emergent disco by proponents of rock was disco's perpetual use of pre-recorded music as the basis of new dance tracks. Reusing existing music was seen as an affront to rock's newly won creativity and individuality and represented a collective approach to music found frequently in African-American musical traditions. Because of its use of musical borrowing, therefore, disco represented a challenge to white hegemony in the production of popular culture.

Index Classifications: 1900s, Popular

Contributed by: Felicia Miyakawa

Paul Simon's Graceland is an excellent example of both artistic and stylistic collaboration. Simon and Ladysmith Black Mambazo navigate through traditional South African and American popular styles in a constantly changing compositional process. Three songs from this album, "Gumboots," "The Boy in the Bubble," and "That Was Your Mother," are particularly interesting because they are cover versions of African popular songs. Simon credits the authors of the first two songs, but neglects to do so for the third. The differences in crediting represent the complex issues of collaboration on an international scale.

Index Classifications: 1900s, Popular

Contributed by: Felicia Miyakawa

In Jazz, quotations of, transformations of, or allusions to existing music are part of a tradition of irony and signifying in African-American music. Most of these quotations, transformations, and allusions are found within improvisations. Allusions to other pieces can function as homage, irony, criticism, or artistic improvement on the original. The success of quotations and allusions depends on the listener's familiarity with the repertoire in question.

Works: Roland Kirk, Rip, Rig, and Panic (121-23).

Index Classifications: 1900s, Jazz

Contributed by: Felicia Miyakawa

One of the central questions in jazz research is the relationship of a specific jazz musician to his or her jazz predecessors. Harold Bloom’s anxiety-based model of influence, despite its current popularity across the humanities, is not an effective starting point in the ethnomusicological discourse surrounding quotation or allusion in jazz. Alternatively, Henry Louise Gates Jr.’s model of “Signifyin(g)” offers a better tool for understanding jazz musicians’ relationship to their precursors, as well as the ways they can generate meaning from this tension. Gates’s model is better for two reasons. First, it directly addresses jazz music and folk improvisation in addition to literary traditions whereas Bloom’s model focuses on literature. Second, it reflects the vernacular, communal nature of African American art versus the refinement and monolithic originality idealized by nineteenth-century authors. In other words, the influence of predecessors is felt joyfully rather than anxiously in jazz improvisation, and musical quotations tend to reflect homage. In the context of “Signifyin(g),” Joe Henderson’s quotation of a motive from Charlie Parker’s Buzzy in a chorus of his 1965 recording If, or in his 1981 recording of Freddie Hubbard’s Bird Like, generates a joyful dialogue between the performer and an audience or ensemble who would recognize the reference, rather than an anxious dialogue between the performer and his predecessor. Repetition, interpretation, and transformation rest on the assumption of a communal language which accurately reflects the nature of mainstream jazz improvisation more broadly.

Works: Joe Henderson: If (10-11, 13); Joe Henderson (performer) and Freddie Hubbard (composer and performer): Bird Like (10-17).

Sources: Charlie Parker: Buzzy (10-17).

Index Classifications: General, 1900s, Jazz

Contributed by: Felicia Miyakawa, Molly Covington, Matthew G. Leone

Although heavy metal music is typically viewed as removed from the classical tradition, the most influential heavy metal guitarists of the last two decades were in their turn highly influenced by the classical tradition, particularly in expressions of virtuosity. These influences range from straightforward borrowing of classical melodies or harmonic progressions to exploring the values associated with being a classical artist and a virtuoso. The reasons for direct quotation vary. Emerson, Lake and Palmer created a 1972 remake of Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition for the purpose of elevating public taste. Rainbow' s hit Difficult to Cure (1981), featuring guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, quotes Beethoven's Ode to Joy with an altered meter and a new introduction, finishing with sounds of laughter. The intent of this example is parody. Perhaps the most subtle form of appropriation lies not in quotation but in adopting values associated with classical music artistry. Yngwie Malmsteen represents not only the height of virtuosity, but also the nineteenth-century concept of the separation between artist and society. Malmsteen is a self-proclaimed "genius" whose style focuses on elitism and experimentation. The most compelling reason to examine the relationship between heavy metal and the classical tradition is heavy metal guitarists' increasing interest in classical models. Electric guitars provide the closest analogy to the virtuosic approaches to the organ, piano, and violin of past centuries.

Works: Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Pictures at an Exhibition (266); Deep Purple / Ritchie Blackmore, Highway Star (268-69); Rainbow / Ritchie Blackmore, Difficult to Cure (270); Edward Van Halen, Eruption (271-77); Ozzy Osbourne / Randy Rhoads, Goodbye to Romance (281).

Sources: Mussorgsky, Pictures at an Exhibition; Beethoven, Ode to Joy from Symphony No. 9 in D Minor; Rodolphe Kreutzer, Caprice Study #2 for Violin; Pachelbel, Canon in D.

Index Classifications: 1900s, Popular

Contributed by: Felicia Miyakawa