Post by artraveler on Jan 27, 2021 18:11:57 GMT -8
Music of America
The music of America is different from other countries. Yes, we have a classical tradition inherited from Europe and there are Americans who compose for large symphony orchestras. However, they are a minority of artists. The best known are Elmer Bernstein and George Gershwin. Both are excellent composers and musicians. Their music is not the classical music we hear with complex contrapuntal phrasing and in the classic three or four movement formats.
The music of the American people is very different and has its roots in the music of two very diverse cultures. The first of these arrived on our shores in the 17th century with settlers who quickly shook off the restraints of the cities and moved into the hill country of the Applications. Music made with string and wind instruments, violins/fiddles, guitar, and banjo. The melodies were Welsh, Irish, and Scotts borderers. The music they brought had complex and active tones suitable for dancing and singing. This music form in our day is recognizable in bluegrass and country and western music. The rethemes of dulling banjos owe their origins to these highlanders.
Not long after the Scotts Irish landed on our shores the first African slaves arrived. The slaves carried a music that was heavy on repeating rethemes and tones. Over time it picked up the wind instruments and kept the drums. In the gathering places of the deep south. Slave, master, and freedmen drank and danced to exciting new tunes and by the late 19th century a new and novel form of music appeared in New Orleans. It was fast innovative and for the first quarter century was never written down. Indeed, it was believed that it could not be written in regular music notation. We call it jazz.
As jazz developed into the 20th century it developed several different forms. There was the NO style rich in trumpet, but also Chicago, Kansas City, and New York stylings. As jazz grew up it specialized into different forms. Blues, Broadway show songs, swing and later rock are all spinoffs of jazz. When you listen to your favorite Neil Diamond, Al Jolson, or Frank Sinatra you are listening to jazz. Moreover, elements of jazz can be found in the music of Ted Nugent, and Michael Jackson. Or the piano of Scott Joplin and ragtime, which briefly took the nation, Maple Leaf Rag once was the most popular music in the country. Of course, Elvis made the transformation of jazz and rock. Throughout all of this the one American music style that has few, if any, roots in either jazz or bluegrass has remained a minority form. Hip-hop and rap remain outside most American music forms.
The music of America is different from other countries. Yes, we have a classical tradition inherited from Europe and there are Americans who compose for large symphony orchestras. However, they are a minority of artists. The best known are Elmer Bernstein and George Gershwin. Both are excellent composers and musicians. Their music is not the classical music we hear with complex contrapuntal phrasing and in the classic three or four movement formats.
The music of the American people is very different and has its roots in the music of two very diverse cultures. The first of these arrived on our shores in the 17th century with settlers who quickly shook off the restraints of the cities and moved into the hill country of the Applications. Music made with string and wind instruments, violins/fiddles, guitar, and banjo. The melodies were Welsh, Irish, and Scotts borderers. The music they brought had complex and active tones suitable for dancing and singing. This music form in our day is recognizable in bluegrass and country and western music. The rethemes of dulling banjos owe their origins to these highlanders.
Not long after the Scotts Irish landed on our shores the first African slaves arrived. The slaves carried a music that was heavy on repeating rethemes and tones. Over time it picked up the wind instruments and kept the drums. In the gathering places of the deep south. Slave, master, and freedmen drank and danced to exciting new tunes and by the late 19th century a new and novel form of music appeared in New Orleans. It was fast innovative and for the first quarter century was never written down. Indeed, it was believed that it could not be written in regular music notation. We call it jazz.
As jazz developed into the 20th century it developed several different forms. There was the NO style rich in trumpet, but also Chicago, Kansas City, and New York stylings. As jazz grew up it specialized into different forms. Blues, Broadway show songs, swing and later rock are all spinoffs of jazz. When you listen to your favorite Neil Diamond, Al Jolson, or Frank Sinatra you are listening to jazz. Moreover, elements of jazz can be found in the music of Ted Nugent, and Michael Jackson. Or the piano of Scott Joplin and ragtime, which briefly took the nation, Maple Leaf Rag once was the most popular music in the country. Of course, Elvis made the transformation of jazz and rock. Throughout all of this the one American music style that has few, if any, roots in either jazz or bluegrass has remained a minority form. Hip-hop and rap remain outside most American music forms.