The Melody Web what each genre heard, and what it passed on

heard passed on Click or tap a node to recenter. Use a connecting line, or Influence, for the story.

Heard

Parlor song genre · 1820–1900

Vaudeville takes parlor song’s sold strophe-and-refrain number and bills it as a vocal turn.

Influence
Ragtime genre · 1890–1920

Vaudeville bills ragtime’s syncopated hook as a song-and-dance type on the variety program.

Influence

Vaudeville

genre · 1880–1930

Also called American vaudeville, variety

U.S. variety theatre of the 1880s–1920s: billed turns, comic and sentimental songs, and a pit, on a circuit from Keith-Albee to the Palace. It hears Parlor song for the extractable strophe-and-refrain number and Ragtime for the billed syncopated type. It already gives Musical theatre the variety-and-hit-song stage that the book musical recodes as plot, and Traditional pop the billed singer who moves onto disc. Minstrel leftover as an earlier circuit. Revue leftover as a plotless sibling. British music hall leftover as a parallel variety job. Empty extra Received/Given is historically checked.

Listen

  1. Give My Regards to Broadway George M. Cohan (1904) YouTube · Spotify
  2. Shine On, Harvest Moon Nora Bayes / Jack Norworth (1908) YouTube
  3. Swanee Al Jolson · written by George Gershwin / Irving Caesar (1919) YouTube · Spotify
  4. I Want a Girl (Just Like the Girl That Married Dear Old Dad) Harry Von Tilzer (1911) YouTube
  5. Alexander's Ragtime Band (vaudeville circuit) Irving Berlin / variety singers · written by Irving Berlin (1911) YouTube

Passed on

Musical theatre genre · 1927–

The book musical takes vaudeville’s commercial variety stage — billed songs, comic turns, a pit — and recodes it as plot.

Influence
Traditional pop style · 1920–1955

Traditional pop takes vaudeville’s extractable billed hit and recodes it as a recorded standard.

Influence

Parlor song → Vaudeville

melodyform and structurefunction and contextstrength: highscholarly consensus1880–1910notationpatronage

Mechanism

Vaudeville takes parlor song’s sold strophe-and-refrain number and bills it as a vocal turn. Strength high. parlor song traditional pop is the later record hop; parlor song musical theatre is the book-number hop; this edge is the variety-stage job. Ragtime leftover as a billed type, not this song grammar.

Evidence

Von Tilzer and allied Alley writers placing sheet hits on the Keith-Albee bill; Starr–Waterman on parlor/Tin Pan Alley song as the extractable vaudeville number.

Debate

Whether vaudeville song simply is parlor song in a theatre. Home parlor is parlor song’s room; the two-a-day billed turn is the named recoding.

Mediators

artist: Harry Von Tilzer; institution: Tin Pan Alley / Keith-Albee circuit

Ragtime → Vaudeville

rhythmmelodyfunction and contextstrength: mediumscholarly consensus1897–1915notationrecordingpatronage

Mechanism

Vaudeville bills ragtime’s syncopated hook as a song-and-dance type on the variety program. Strength medium. ragtime traditional pop is the Alley-record hop; this edge is the stage-type job. Piano rag remains Ragtime.

Evidence

Berlin’s Alexander’s Ragtime Band as a circuit song, not a Joplin rag; billed ragtime turns on U.S. variety (Berlin, Starr, Grove).

Debate

Whether a ragtime song on a bill is still ragtime. The sectional piano piece stays ragtime; the billed variety type is vaudeville’s hearing of it.

Mediators

artist: Irving Berlin

Vaudeville → Musical theatre

form and structurefunction and contextperformance practicemelodystrength: highscholarly consensus1900–1930patronagenotationrecording

Mechanism

The book musical takes vaudeville’s commercial variety stage — billed songs, comic turns, a pit — and recodes it as plot. Strength high. operetta musical theatre is the light-opera parent; this hop is the American variety-and-hit-song job. Revue leftover as a plotless sibling. Minstrel leftover as an earlier circuit.

Evidence

Cohan’s song-and-flag shows; 1920s Broadway still hiring vaudeville talent into books; Starr–Waterman and Grove on variety as a parent of the musical.

Debate

Whether the musical simply is a long vaudeville bill. A bill of turns is vaudeville; a book that uses those songs as plot is the named recoding.

Mediators

artist: George M. Cohan; institution: Broadway variety-to-book stage

Vaudeville → Traditional pop

melodyform and structurefunction and contextstrength: mediumscholarly consensus1910–1930recordingradionotation

Mechanism

Traditional pop takes vaudeville’s extractable billed hit and recodes it as a recorded standard. Strength medium. parlor song traditional pop is the home-sheet parent; musical theatre traditional pop is the book-number hop; this edge is the variety-stage singer moving onto disc and radio.

Evidence

Jolson and Bayes as circuit singers whose numbers become records; Starr–Waterman on variety talent feeding early popular recording.

Debate

Whether this is already parlor song on a disc. Parlor supplies the strophe-and-refrain grammar; vaudeville supplies the public billed singer the record industry hires.

Mediators

artist: Al Jolson; artist: Nora Bayes