Ted Gioia Biography
According to the biography (Gioia, N.D.), Ted Gioia - a man of many hats - grew up in Hawthorne, California and graduated from Hawthorne High School. Gioia focused his studies at Stanford and Oxford University, with degrees in English, philosophy, politics, and economics. Dabbling in the business world as a consultant, Gioia proved himself the jack-of-all-trades as he also made himself prominent in the music realm as an author and musician. Gioia has written many books, including History of Jazz, Love Songs: The Hidden History, and his first book The Imperfect Art. Furthermore, Gioia has produced music including The end of the Open Road and The City is a Chinese Vase. Currently continuing his work as both an author and musician, the world awaits Gioia’s next product.
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In the interview, “There’s Nothing ‘Silly’ About Love Songs” (Lehrer, N.D.), Gioia promotes his latest book Love Songs: The Hidden History by describing the incorrect and unsentimental history of love songs.
As the interviewer takes Gioia and the audience on a journey throughout time, Gioia describes themes in love songs revolving around “prohibition and repression” – starkly unlike the gushy, loving perception we have today. The interviewer mentions various songs including “Greensleeves”, whereby Gioia points out the real history behind the song involves a prostitute. Ultimately, through various examples and explanations, Gioia drives the point home that our perception regarding the history of love songs is starkly misconstrued. Those who are accredited for the history of love songs are often incorrectly credited. In reality, marginalized people, such as slaves and prostitutes, created love songs. Furthermore, Gioia discusses the constant shift in love songs from romantic to dance music, claiming we are currently in a period of dance
music.
In the article discussion regarding MTV and YouTube (Gioia, 2015) Gioia explains the stark shift of romantic music, especially in the 1980’s. The music genre skyrocketed into a more sexy approach because of cable television and music videos. The article discusses the shift of traditional love songs into a more sexual appeal as eroticism took precedence. The article listed many examples, including some of Miley Cyrus’s outrageous stunts. With sex barriers in place, one would think the love song has gone to shambles. However, Gioia goes on to explain that the love song is strong and has overcome such barriers before. Therefore, he expects the love song to reemerge, perhaps from an unknown source.
The song “All of Me” by John Legend uses a strong vocalist accompanied by a piano as timbre to make sound throughout the song. The song creates an emotional ambience as the vocalist accompanied by the piano resonates with the audience. The song uses a range of dynamics including piano to fortissimo. In comparison to more typical pop culture songs, such as Maroon 5’s “Sugar”, the song illustrates a less upbeat tempo with more drawn out, elongated notes; however the songs both uses back up vocals to enhance the performances. The song, “I want a little sugar in my bowl” by Bessie Smith also uses a piano and a vocalist to create the timbre in the song. The song uses repetition, repeating the phrase “I need a little sugar in my bowl.” Furthermore, the artist uses variations of pitch throughout the song, changing from a low, raspy tone to a higher, sharper tone. In comparison to other music I have heard, this song has an older, more iconic feel. Whereas songs today, such as Taylor Swift’s “Shake it off” are clearly popular, this song has the ability to take me back in time – unlike many songs today. The song, Farhang' E A 'Vam (Iran) (Female Islamic Slaves) uses a multitude of instruments without vocals to create the timbre accompanied by an upbeat tempo. The song uses brief moments of silence to set the tone for the song and a decrescendo at the end to get softer and ultimately conclude the song. Compared to songs today, this song did not sound like modern day pop songs because vocals and electronic sounds were not prominent in the piece.
If given the opportunity to ask Ted Gioia questions, I would first ask, what inspired you to create a book about the history of love songs? I would also ask, what sparked your interest in music? Lastly I would ask, if you had to choose one word to describe music, what would the word be?
In the interview, “There’s Nothing ‘Silly’ About Love Songs” (Lehrer, N.D.), Gioia promotes his latest book Love Songs: The Hidden History by describing the incorrect and unsentimental history of love songs.
As the interviewer takes Gioia and the audience on a journey throughout time, Gioia describes themes in love songs revolving around “prohibition and repression” – starkly unlike the gushy, loving perception we have today. The interviewer mentions various songs including “Greensleeves”, whereby Gioia points out the real history behind the song involves a prostitute. Ultimately, through various examples and explanations, Gioia drives the point home that our perception regarding the history of love songs is starkly misconstrued. Those who are accredited for the history of love songs are often incorrectly credited. In reality, marginalized people, such as slaves and prostitutes, created love songs. Furthermore, Gioia discusses the constant shift in love songs from romantic to dance music, claiming we are currently in a period of dance
music.
In the article discussion regarding MTV and YouTube (Gioia, 2015) Gioia explains the stark shift of romantic music, especially in the 1980’s. The music genre skyrocketed into a more sexy approach because of cable television and music videos. The article discusses the shift of traditional love songs into a more sexual appeal as eroticism took precedence. The article listed many examples, including some of Miley Cyrus’s outrageous stunts. With sex barriers in place, one would think the love song has gone to shambles. However, Gioia goes on to explain that the love song is strong and has overcome such barriers before. Therefore, he expects the love song to reemerge, perhaps from an unknown source.
The song “All of Me” by John Legend uses a strong vocalist accompanied by a piano as timbre to make sound throughout the song. The song creates an emotional ambience as the vocalist accompanied by the piano resonates with the audience. The song uses a range of dynamics including piano to fortissimo. In comparison to more typical pop culture songs, such as Maroon 5’s “Sugar”, the song illustrates a less upbeat tempo with more drawn out, elongated notes; however the songs both uses back up vocals to enhance the performances. The song, “I want a little sugar in my bowl” by Bessie Smith also uses a piano and a vocalist to create the timbre in the song. The song uses repetition, repeating the phrase “I need a little sugar in my bowl.” Furthermore, the artist uses variations of pitch throughout the song, changing from a low, raspy tone to a higher, sharper tone. In comparison to other music I have heard, this song has an older, more iconic feel. Whereas songs today, such as Taylor Swift’s “Shake it off” are clearly popular, this song has the ability to take me back in time – unlike many songs today. The song, Farhang' E A 'Vam (Iran) (Female Islamic Slaves) uses a multitude of instruments without vocals to create the timbre accompanied by an upbeat tempo. The song uses brief moments of silence to set the tone for the song and a decrescendo at the end to get softer and ultimately conclude the song. Compared to songs today, this song did not sound like modern day pop songs because vocals and electronic sounds were not prominent in the piece.
If given the opportunity to ask Ted Gioia questions, I would first ask, what inspired you to create a book about the history of love songs? I would also ask, what sparked your interest in music? Lastly I would ask, if you had to choose one word to describe music, what would the word be?