Its five major instruments are the
fiddle, the guitar, the mandolin
, the five string banjo, and the upright bass.
What instruments are commonly used in bluegrass music?
The
fiddle, five-string banjo, guitar, mandolin, and upright bass
(string bass) are often joined by the resonator guitar (also referred to as a Dobro) and (occasionally) harmonica or Jew’s harp. This instrumentation originated in rural dance bands and is the basis on which the earliest bluegrass bands were formed.
What is the primary role of the fiddle in a bluegrass band?
Terms in this set (10)
The size of a bluegrass band has stayed constant over time and is almost always a four- to six-piece band. … What is the primary role of the fiddle in a bluegrass band?
to provide melodies
.
Which bluegrass instrument often plays short choppy chords
that sound more like drumbeats than chords?
Who came first in the history of bluegrass?
Bill Monroe
, a native of Rosine, Kentucky, is often acknowledged as the “father” of bluegrass music. Bill grew up working and playing music with his siblings on the family farm (known as Jerusalem Ridge) in the early 1900s.
When was bluegrass developed?
Bluegrass music came out of the rural south after World War II, but its roots date back
to the 1930s
. The genre was named after Bill Monroe’s band The Blue Grass Boys who began performing in the 1940s.
What is the most popular instrument used in bluegrass music?
Fiddle
. The fiddle is a mainstay in all styles of traditional and rural music, from classic country to bluegrass, folk, and roots rock.
What are the general characteristics of bluegrass?
Besides instrumentation, the distinguishing characteristics of bluegrass include
vocal harmonies featuring two, three, or four parts
, often featuring a dissonant or modal sound in the highest voice (see modal frame); an emphasis on traditional songs, often with sentimental or religious themes.
What is the difference between country and bluegrass?
Bluegrass is a sub-genre of Country Music with characteristics that differentiate it from
mainstream Country
: The instrumentation is purely ‘string band’ based: Guitar, Banjo, Mandolin, Fiddle and Upright Bass. There is more emphasis on an ‘acoustic’ sound. The music is more free and the structures are more complex.
Is a violin a fiddle?
Western classical players sometimes use “fiddle” as an
affectionate term for the violin
, that intimate companion and workmate. But in the United States, most often “fiddle” means the violin as used in Irish-Scottish-French traditional music and all the descendant American styles: Appalachian, bluegrass, Cajun, etc.
Why is it called bluegrass plant?
The name Kentucky bluegrass
derives from its flower heads, which are blue when the plant is allowed to grow to its natural height of 60 to 90 cm
(2 to 3 feet). Poa pratensis is the type species of the grass family Poaceae.
Who was the first rockabilly star?
Record reviewers coined the term rockabilly—literally, rock and roll played by hillbillies—to describe the intense, rhythm-driven musical style introduced by
Elvis Presley
on his first recordings.
Where did the blues originate?
The origins of the blues are poorly documented. Blues
developed in the southern United States after the American Civil War
(1861–65). It was influenced by work songs and field hollers, minstrel show music, ragtime, church music, and the folk and popular music of the white population.
How did bluegrass develop over time?
The bluegrass genre was created over time
through various influences
. One online film stated that “British and Celtic ballads have been incorporated by the genre, as well as Scots-, Anglo- and Irish-American folk music roots” (Hobbs, “Women of Old Time Music”).
Who made bluegrass music popular?
The bluegrass style first became popular in the 1940s, largely through the efforts of
Bill Monroe
(1911-1996) and his Blue Grass Boys (Earl Scruggs, Lester Flatt, Chubby Wise, and Joel Price).
What does the word bluegrass mean?
bluegrass in American English
(ˈbluˌgræs ) US. noun.
any of a large genus (Poa) of temperate and arctic forage grasses
characterized by a bluish-green color. a kind of Southern string-band music characterized by bluesy harmonies, rapid tempos, and an overall high-pitched vocal and instrumental sound.
Where is bluegrass country?
The Bluegrass region is a geographic region in the U.S. state of
Kentucky
. It makes up the northern part of the state, roughly bounded by the cities of Frankfort, Paris, Richmond and Stanford.
