American History Through Music

American Musical Roots
Ethnic Traditions
Music by Eras
Music by Genres
Web Resources

America's Musical Roots
From the outset, American music has been formed out of a mixture of distinct musical traditions. "Mainstream" American music in the colonial era was primarily a product of three traditions: 1. Upper class urban music in British Isles 2. Lower class rural music in British Isles (folk music) 3. West African music which arrived directly in the United States through the slave trade and indirectly from Cuba, Brazil and other Afro-Caribbean countries. Over the course of American history, African and African American traditions have repeatedly revitalized popular American music. American music acquired a distinctive identity because of the infusion of African and African American elements: syncopation, a layered texture mixing percussion, voice, and pitched instruments, a call and response pattern, a continuum between speech and song, and a rough vocal style. From upper-class urban British music came a stress on harmony, on melody with a chordal accompaniment, the piano as main chord instrument, a clearly outlined form, and an aspiration to music as a form of art. From British folk music came a "down to earth" attitude and singing and playing style, a tradition of using songs to tell stories, repeated refrains, and energy and vitality, since this music was often used to accompany dancing.
Group	Website
African	African and African-American Music Dancedrummer (audio) World Music (audio) Music of Sub-Saharan Africa (text) Examples: o Traditional African Music Magonde (Traditional African music of Zimbabwe) Akasozi Mwiri (African school song of Uganda) o African Griot Music: This is a musical tradition common in Western Africa; the griot is a bard or storyteller who recounts cultural stories through song. There are two examples of griot singing here. "Kedo," Jali Nyama Suso (recorded 1974, Bakau Village, The Gambia) (296kb wave file) "Tutu Jara," Dela Kanuteh, Mawdo Suso, and Kurunka Suso (recorded 1974, Bakau Village, The Gambia) (279kb wave file)
Anglo-Saxon	The British Folk Tradition and American Music Cantaria Samples: Pastime with Good Company Thus Sings My Dearest Jewel I Love, Alas, I Love Thee So ben me ch'a bon tempo Hark, All Ye Lovely Saints Above
Native American	The music of Native North Americans is primarily a vocal art, usually choral, although some nations favor solo singing. Native American music is entirely melodic; there is no harmony or polyphony, although there is occasional antiphonal singing between soloist and chorus. The melody is, in general, characterized by a descending melodic figure; its rhythm is irregular. There is no conception of absolute pitch and intonation can appear uncertain, the result of the distinctive method of voice production, involving muscular tension in the vocal apparatus and making possible frequent strong accents and glissandos. Singing is nearly always accompanied, at least by drums. Various types of drums and rattles are the chief percussion instruments. Wind instruments are mainly flutes and whistles. For the Native American, song is traditionally the chief means of communicating with the supernatural powers, and music is seldom performed for its own sake; definite results, such as the bringing of rain, success in battle, or the curing of the sick, are expected from music. There are three classes of songs-traditional songs, handed down from generation to generation; ceremonial and medicine songs, supposed to be received in dreams; and modern songs, showing the influence of European culture. Songs of heroes are often old, adapted to the occasion by the insertion of the new hero's name. Love songs often are influenced by the music of whites and are regarded as degenerate by many Native Americans. Examples: o Omaha Indian Music http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/omhhtml/ o Kiowa Songs http://www.uapress.arizona.edu/extras/kiowa/kiowasng.htm o An Omaha Song Played by Carlos Nakai http://www.thepaintedpage.com/sosngr/nakaiomaha.rm

Ethnic Traditions
American popular music has resulted from the interaction of diverse ethnic traditions. The arrival of new immigrant groups, such as the Irish and the Germans, infused American music with new tone and themes.
African American	The African Musical Tradition in the United States http://www.mtsu.edu/~baustin/afrtrad.html Music Under Slavery o Glossary Ring shout: a form of black expression originating in Africa, fusing dance and song and reaching a peak in a state of ecstasy called "possession" Antiphonal: a song with a singing leader and the responding chorus or work gang Call and response: another word for antiphonal Field holler/arhoolies: solo exclamations of individual slaves- half sung, half yelled, half yodeled, these fragments of song sometimes rise into a falsetto Work songs: the earliest form of music developed by slaves to break up the long days of hard work o Hollers and Shouts Before I'll be Beaten. Sung by Joe MacDonald http://www.pbs.org/jazz/time/time_slavery.htm o Spirituals Antebellum Spirituals http://www.authentichistory.com/audio/antebellum/AA_spirituals_01.html African American Influence on Early "White" Music (essay) http://home.earthlink.net/~tshack/academics/termproject/shacklett/preface.htm The Blues: A Definitional Essay http://www.mtsu.edu/~baustin/music.html Black Theater African American Theatre and Dance Eubie Blake Josephine Baker Bill "Bojangles" Robinson Cakewalk Dance History Archives: Cakewalk http://www.streetswing.com/histmain/z3cake1.htm The Cakewalk
Irish and Celtic	The Virtual Tunebook http://www.celticmusic.com/cgi-bin/~celticmusic/tunes.pl Bagpipes http://www.bagpipesatbest.com/
Latin	The term Latin music is used to refer to music from anywhere in the Caribbean, Central America and South America where Spanish or Portuguese is the national language. Until recently, the dominant Latin influences came from Cuba and Brazil. More recently, they have come from Mexico. Latin music tends to be much more complex rhythmically than "traditional" American popular music. Two main contributions of Latin music to American popular music include instruments and complex rhythms. In the Caribbean and South America, African slaves retained much more of their culture, including music. Percussion instruments allowed and slaves re-created African instruments while also creating new instruments, often from found objects (e.g., cowbell). Latin music in the United States has evolved through a series of stages. At first, it was treated as an exotic novelty but over time it has been assimilated into mainstream popular styles. Latin influences regularly appeared in popular music after 1895. The "cakewalk" rhythm probably derived from habanera. (Habana = Havana, capital of Cuba) There were three Latin dance fads during the 20th century: in the 1910s this involved the tango; in the 1930s, the rumba; and in the 1950s, the mambo. Each anticipated an American dance fad: the tango/fox-trot; the rumba/swing; and mambo/rock and roll. The tango was the most popular dance in Argentina, was probably a variant of the habanera. It was introduced in New York by Vernon and Irene Castle. The rumba, the next big Latin craze, derived from Afro-Cuban son. (Black Cuban musicians popular on radio; white listeners unaware of their color.) "El Manisero," recorded by Don Azpiazu was a surprise hit. Mambo, the third Latin dance craze, combined Afro-Cuban music with big band swing. It was created in New York by musicians from Spanish- speaking Caribbean Islands, including Cubans, Puerto Ricans, and Dominicans. It featured dense, complex rhythms and a massive percussion section. During the 1960s, Bossa Nova offered a rhythmically simplified, more melodious, jazz-influenced samba.

Music by Eras
Colonial	The Rise of a Native American Balladry http://www.mtsu.edu/~baustin/natbalad.html Moravian Music http://www.moravianmusic.org/samples.htm
Revolutionary	Loyalist, British Songs & Poetry of the American Revolution Songs of the Revolutionary War
Antebellum	Minstrelsy The first internationally popular form of American music, minstrelsy also represented the first introduction of African American music to a broader audience. A major figure in the popularization of minstrelsy was Thomas Darmouth Rice, who was white and who, in 1829, popularized the "Jim Crow" song and dance known as "Zip Coon." Minstrel shows typically consisted of three parts: songs and jokes; olio (novelty acts); and a walk around, a strut that later became know as the Cakewalk. The banjo, derived from African instruments, played an important role in minstrel shows. Featuring a syncopated style, minstrel songs included fiddle and banjo tunes, jigs, reels, square dances. The lyrics emphasized nostalgia and also humor. Blackface Minstrelsy, 1830-1852 Text: Blackface Minstrelsy Minstrel Show Minstrel Show (George Mason) Stephen Foster America's premier songwriter of the 19th century, Foster died pennliness in New York's Bowery at the age of 37. He grew up in Pittsburgh and only visited the deep South once, late in life. He wrote fast-paced rhythmic songs as well as sentimental love songs. Frederick Douglass believed that Foster's minstrel songs expressed sympathy for the lives of enslaved African Americans, while Foster's critics charged that his songs expressed nostalgia for the slave South and gave expression to racist sentiments. Ah! May the Red Rose Live Always. Stephen Foster Songs: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/foster/sfeature/sf_foster.html Click on Foster the Songwriter Band Music of the Civil War Era http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/cwmhtml/cwmconcert.html Political Music Lincoln/Net (audio) Slave Songs Jubilee Songs (audio)
Civil War	Authentic History Text and MIDI American Civil War Songs Music of the American Civil War Songs of the Union Songs of the Confederacy
Gilded Age	Marches Sousa Parlor Music Sheet Music, 1870-1885 (audio) Popular Music Emile Berliner http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/berlhtml/berlrecording.html Wild West Show http://www.bbhc.org/bbm/wwsMusic.cfm
Progressive Era	Popular Music Dismuke's Acoustical Recordings, 1900-1925 Suffrage Songs Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Suffrage Songs and Verses Suffrage Songs (audio) God Moves on the Water by Blind Willie Johnson (Titanic)
World War I	Music of World War I (audio) Some Hits of World War I (audio) Musical Clips (audio) World War I Songs (samples)
1920s	Dismuke's Acoustical Recordings, 1900-1925 Dismuke's Electrically Recorded 1920's and 1930's Phonograph Records
Great Depression	Manufacturing Memory 1930-1934 1934-1939 Northern California Folk Music Some Music from the 1930s
World War II	Belfer World War II Songs (audio) English Songs Popular During the First World War (audio) Remembering the 1940s (audio) Music of the Holocaust (text) Popular Music During WW2 (essay) 1940s Real Audio Favorites
1950s	1950s Real Audio Favorites
1960s	1960s Real Audio Favorites
Since 1970	1970s Real Audio Favorites 1980s Real Audio Favorites 1990s Real Audio Favorites 1960s Real Audio Favorites

Music by Genre
Country Music	Country music originated in the rural white South and Southwest, where folk music was transformed into commercial music in the early 1920s with the advent of radio and records. From the outset, country music, sometimes known by the derogatory term, hillbilly music, had a distinctive vocal style, instrumentation, beat, and themes. There has long been a conflict within country music between traditionalists, who seek to hold onto older songs, themes, vocal styles, and instrumentation, and progressives who absorb outside influences. Jimmie Rodgers was country music's first great innovator, bringing in outside influences, especially from the blues. Critics frequently denounce country music as inherently sexist, simpleminded, and repetitious. But it is better understood as the "soul music" of the displaced white working class. It gives tangible expression to the personal problem that they face--such as alcohol abuse and infidelity--and their longing for a simpler, less complicated, more moral country life. Origins of Country Music Early Commercial Music The Bristol Sessions Country Music and the Depression Cowboy Songs and Western Music The War Years Bill Monroe and Bluegrass Music Country Crosses Over Rockabilly Class and Class Consciousness in Country Music
Cowboy Songs	Cowboy Songs (lyrics)
Folk Music	Folk songs are generally defined as songs, without a known author, that have been passed down across generations without being written down. Played on traditional instruments, they are songs that tell stories, that draw on archtypal imagery and often deal with essential aspects of human experience: work, love, death, tragedy, and violence. They are often the songs that cultural groups use to define themselves. Folklife (audio) Folkden 20,000 Volkslieder, German and other Folksongs, Genealogy, Ahnenforschung, Folksongs, Gospel, Songs, Spirituals, Hymns, lyrics (lyrics) American Folksongs - Volkslieder aus den Vereinigten Staaten
Jazz	Since its birth in the early 20th century, jazz has evolved through a series of stages. In its first stage, from 1900 to 1925, New Orleans Jazz was dominant. A regional music, it involved improvisation around a ragtime and blues repertoire. Between 1925 and 1945, swing predominated. There was a clear swing feel in the music's rhythm. Bigger bands had arranged music interrupted with solo improvisations. This was music made for dancing, with a toe tapping beat and tunes to hum. Jazz, especially during the 1930s, was heavily influenced by jazz and blues. After 1945, when jazz increasingly lost its popular audience and considered itself an art music, jazz employed advanced harmonies and complicated melodies. Red Hot Jazz Archives Jazz Roots: Early Jazz History
Minstrelsy	Minstrelsy The first internationally popular form of American music, minstrelsy also represented the first introduction of African American music to a broader audience. A major figure in the popularization of minstrelsy was Thomas Darmouth Rice, who was white and who, in 1829, popularized the "Jim Crow" song and dance known as "Zip Coon." Minstrel shows typically consisted of three parts: songs and jokes; olio (novelty acts); and a walk around, a strut that later became know as the Cakewalk. The banjo, derived from African instruments, played an important role in minstrel shows. Featuring a syncopated style, minstrel songs included fiddle and banjo tunes, jigs, reels, square dances. The lyrics emphasized nostalgia and also humor Blackface Minstrelsy, 1830-1852 Text: Blackface Minstrelsy Minstrel Show Minstrel Show (George Mason) Bamboozled
Musicals	During the 20th century, the musical theater would become a major source of influence on popular music. The musical theater used songs as a dramatic tool: to create a mood, to tell a story, and to give insight into characters. From the 1910s onward, many popular songs originated as show tunes.  Black Theater African American Theatre and Dance Eubie Blake Josephine Baker Bill "Bojangles" Robinson A Century of Richard Rodgers
Parlor Songs	Parlor Songs
Patriotic Music	Patriotic Melodies Star Spangled Banner
Protest Songs	Protest Music
Sacred Heart	Frequently Asked Questions http://www.mcsr.olemiss.edu/~mudws/faq/ Sacred Heart Singing http://www.mcsr.olemiss.edu/~mudws/harp.html
Southwestern	The music of the Hispanic Southwest music is the product of diverse musical influences, including Jarocho harp music of Veracruz, the Huastecan fiddlers and falsetto singers, the danzon and mambo orchestras, and above all the norteño sound of the accordion. Influences encompass Mexico and European immigrant groups, especially Czechs, Bohemians, Moravians, Germans, and Italians, as well as fiddle music, swing, and blues. Dance was a particular significant influence, encompassing polkas, waltzes, redovas, and rancheras along with the danzones, mambos, boleros and other Latin American dance styles. Border Cultures: Conjunto Music http://www.lib.utexas.edu/benson/border/ConjuntoIndex.html Música fronteriza / Border Music - by Manuel Peña http://www.lib.utexas.edu/benson/border/pena.html Southwestern Music
Tin Pan Alley	During the 19th century, American popular music took a variety of forms. There were minstrel shows, featuring upbeat, fast-tempos rhythms but also slow-paced songs emphasizing nostalgia, loss, and death. There were sentimental parlor songs. Also important was band music. The period from 1880 to1920 was the heyday of bands in America. Every town had an amateur or semiprofessional band, while major bands, such as John Philllip Sousa's toured the United States and visited Europe. Bands offered a variety of music, including light classics, marches, and popular song and dance hits and ragtime novelties. The main band instruments were the clarinet, trumpet (cornet), trombone, tuba, drums and cymbals. It was not until the late 19th century, however, that a popular music industry arose. Known as Tin Pan Alley, because of its physical location in New York, this industry dominated American music from the late 19th century until the 1950s. Among the factors that gave rise to this new industry were: 1. An expansion of stage entertainment. Alongside the minstrel show, new forms of stage entertainment arose including: musical comedy; operetta imported from Europe (first Gilbert and Sullivan, then others from England and Germany); vaudeville, the most popular form of live entertainment between 1880 and 1930; and the revue (which featured song and dance with a flimsy plot; topical humor). 2. The huge success of Charles Harris' "After the Ball," which sold 5 million copies of sheet music. It was a typical song of the period, featuring a waltz rhythm under a flowing melody. Harris posed as critic, and bribed singer to add it to a show ("A Trip to Chinatown"). 3.  The increased interest in syncopated dance music. The fox trot, a dance invented by Irene and Vernon Castle, helped popularize new styles of dancing. A two-beat rhythm with crisp backbeat became the rhythmic foundation for the new style. A full rhythm section became standard in dance orchestras and jazz bands. Initially, this included the banjo, piano, tuba, drums, but later, the guitar replaced banjo, and the string bass replaced the tuba. Melodies were built from riffs (often syncopated) and lyrics acquired the rhythms of speech. It was during this period that the three minute long song became the standard, and instead of belting out songs, crooning-a softer, more intimate singing style-grew more popular. The emphasis was on love songs, nonsense novelties, sentimental ballads, and the "exotic" dance numbers, which almost never attempted to deal with real events or emotions. The popular music industry was dedicated to the proposition that Americans turned to music for entertainment, amusement, and escape. In the 19th century, music had concerned itself with social and political matters. But Tin Pan Alley was concerned exclusively with personal emotions, nostalgia and romantic love. American society was much less homogeneous before World War II than it has since become. There were still quite sharply defined classes, divided along economic, geographic, and ethnic lines. Each had its own tradition of popular song. During the Depression, however, forces for homogenization (or, more positively, fusion) strengthened. Along with popular songs with sophisticated melodies, rhythmic structures, and witty lyrics, and a dance-oriented form of jazz known as swing that appealed especially to increasingly self-conscious teenagers, came many wistful and sentimental songs which captured the public mood. These ranged from George and Ira Gershwin's "Someone to Watch Over Me," to Shirley Temple's Good Ship Lollipop, Judy Garland's "Over the Rainbow," and Disney's "Someday My Prince Will Come" and "When You Wish Upon a Star."  "A History of Tin Pan Alley" Irving Berlin A Century of George Gershwin
Union Songs	Joe Hill: Songs of Hope (audio) Marxism and Art (audio) Union Songs (audio) Vietnam Songbook (audio)

Web Resources

Overviews

Lift Every Voice (audio and text)
http://www.lib.virginia.edu/speccol/exhibits/music/index.html

American Song
http://www.songwritershalloffame.org/era_overview.asp?eraID=1

Uncle Tom's Folk Music History Page (text)
http://www.jsfmusic.com/Uncle_Tom/History.htm

Encyclopedia

MusicWeb Encyclopadia of Popular Music edited by Donald Clarke
http://www.musicweb.uk.net/encyclopaedia/index.htm

Music

Vintage Recordings (Edison)
http://www.edisonnj.org/menlopark/vintage/

Edison Recordings (Library of Congress)
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/edhtml/eddcalpha.html

Edison National Historic Park
http://www.nps.gov/edis/sounds.htm

Red Hot Jazz Archives
http://www.redhotjazz.com/

Old Phonograph Records
http://www.swiss.ai.mit.edu/~hal/misc/78s/

78s
http://www.honkingduck.com/BAZ/baz_one.php?req=title

Tinfoil
http://www.tinfoil.com/archive.htm

Turtle's Jukebox
http://www.turtleserviceslimited.org/jukebox.htm

The Virtual Gramophone: Canadian Historical Sound Recordings
http://www2.nlc-bnc.ca/plsql/gramophone/app78rpm.bsearch

Don Ferguson's Tin Pan Alley
http://www.geocities.com/dferg5493/realaudiopage.html

Lyrics and MIDI Sound Files

History in Song
http://www.fortunecity.com/tinpan/parton/2/history.html

American Revolution
Songs of the Sea
1800s: Immigration and Westward Movement
Outlaws
Songs from Penitentiaries and Chain Gangs
Civil War
Railraod
Tramps, Hoboes, Migrant Workers, Homeless
Tragedies and Disasters
World War I
Labor Movement
1920s and 1930s
World War II
Late 1940s and 1950s
Race Relations and Civil Rights
1960s

Popular Songs in American History
http://www.contemplator.com/america/

Digital Tradition
Song Origins
http://www.mudcat.org/songorigins.cfm
MIDI
http://www.mudcat.org/midi/midibrowse.cfm

Top Hits

1900-1950

Links

American Popular Music Before 1900

American Popular Music, 1900-1950

American Popular Music, 1950-Present

American Roots Music

I Hear America Singing

Voices Across Time

NPR Top 100

NPR TechnoPop:The Secret History of Technology and Popular Music

Honkytonks, Hymns, and the Blues

 Steven Mintz     Copyright 2004