Re: Tin Pan Alley

[Robert Cohen <rlcm17...>]

And it was Monroe Rosenfield, a successful Jewish composer of American pop 
music early in this century, who _coined_ the term "Tin Pan Alley."  What's 
below came through google, but I didn't take note of the source.  Rosenfield 
wrote some better-known songs, I believe, than the ones cited.

--Robert Cohen

The term 'tin pan alley' was coined by the songwriter Monroe H. Rosenfield, 
composer of such immortal classics (?) as Take
back your gold (1897) and Those wedding bells shall not ring out. The term 
refers to the location of the music publishing
industry which thrived in New York City from the 1890s through to the end of 
the second World War. It is also used to refer
to the type of song to emerge from this tradition. The phrase suggests the 
tinny sound of the overworked upright pianos which
could be found in all music publishing houses. These were used by song 
'pluggers' attempting to sell their newest compositions
to publishers. The exact location of 'tin pan alley' shifted along with the 
sheet-music industry as it, in turn, followed the
entertainment center of the city. Initially located around East 14th near 
Union Square, it shifted at about the turn of the century
to West 28th Street. Later, between the two World Wars, it moved further 
uptown to Broadway at about 50th Street.

At the turn of the century over 100 companies were in the business of making 
pianos in the United States, and the homes of
many families, even those of modest income, contained a piano. (No records 
or radio yet!) This translated into an enormous
market for simple, accessible songs, arranged for piano. Important popular 
music publishers at this time included Thomas B.
Harms, Willis Woodward and Isodore Witman. Most companies employed one or 
more 'house' songwriters who worked on
contract; but publishers were more than willing to buy songs cheaply from 
struggling outside composers.

Though most music publishers were white, many of them subsidized smaller 
black firms which specialized in the 'race' market.
Publishing companies were constantly trying to appeal to their various 
markets, and songwriters needed to constantly adapt
their songs to new trends. This was the case with Ragtime. Though it 
originated, and was still practiced, primarily as an
improvised form, rags were being published by the early 20th century. Scott 
Joplin was the foremost Ragtime composer. His
Maple Leaf Rag was published in 1899. The rhythmic vitality of ragtime was 
soon incorporated into the tin pan alley popular
song idiom. A good example of this is Irving Berlin's Alexander's Ragtime 
Band, published in 1911.

In the early days of Tin Pan Alley, live music performances primarily served 
to introduce and popularize new songs, and thus to
promote sheet music sales. These performances usually took the form of 
'revues' including numerous songs which were, for the
most part, unconnected by any underlying narrative plot-line. Later, more 
effort was made to integrate the songs into a coherent
drama. This was the beginning of the American 'musical play' or simply the 
'musical'. The burgeoning record industry would, by
the mid 1920s, overtake sheet-music in terms of profitability, though the 
music publishing industry was slow to realize the
implications of this. And with the establishment and rapid proliferation of 
commercial radio stations, stage productions became
largely unnecessary as a means of selling sheet music; and in any case, 
sheet music was commanding a smaller share of the
'home entertainment' market. Lavish musical productions gradually became a 
money-making end in themselves (though sheet
music sales remained a subsidiary goal).

The formal structure of tin pan alley songs remained fairly constant 
throughout this period, though composers were writing with
ever more harmonic complexity. Generally, songs open with one or two verses 
which prepare the mood and setting of the song
(and often the dramatic situation). These are frequently performed in a 
free, quasi-recitative style. The chorus follows in tempo
and usually contains the title of the song. In performances of the song 
outside the context of the musical, the verse was often
omitted. By 1930 some composers were dispensing with the verse entirely. The 
chorus is almost always cast in a 32 bar form
with four sections of eight measures: either AABA, ABAB, ABCA or AABC. These 
songs, or the harmonic progressions
behind them, later served as vehicles for jazz improvisation in the swing 
era and beyond.



> >From the Brittanica Encyclopedia CD; "the industry" means popular music 
>writers in the early 20th century.   Many were Jews.
>
>"The genre took its name from the byname of the street on which the 
>industry was based, being on 28th Street between Fifth Avenue and Broadway 
>in the early 20th century; around Broadway and 32nd Street in the 1920s; 
>and ultimately on Broadway between 42nd and 50th streets. The phrase tin 
>pan referred to the sound of pianos furiously pounded by the so-called song 
>pluggers, who demonstrated tunes to publishers."
>
>The more successful writers moved to the Flatiron Building, the first NY 
>skyscraper at Broadway and 23rd street.
>
>It wasn't a stupid question at all.  I doubt many Americans remember where 
>the phrase came from.
>   ----- Original Message -----
>   From: Michel Borzykowski
>   To: World music from a Jewish slant
>   Sent: Wednesday, July 25, 2001 9:59 AM
>   Subject: Tin Pan Alley
>
>
>   Forgive me as a *foreigner* to ask a *stupid* question: I often read 
>about "Tin Pan Alley" in american klezmer music books and, recently, in 
>some emails on this list. Can somebody explain me briefly the meaning of 
>this US expression?
>   A dank!
>   Michal
>
>   Michel Borzykowski
>   borzykowski (at) infomaniak(dot)ch
>   Geneva klezmer page: http://borzykowski.users.ch
>   AMJ Homepage: http://www.club-association.ch/amj
>


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