Making Sense of American Popular Songs - Research Paper Example

?Making Sense of American Popular Songs Outline Making Sense of American Popular Songs Annotated Bibliography………………………………………………………………. 2 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………… 5 History of the American Popular Music………………………………………………. 5 Popular Music and the American Culture…………………………………………….. 7 Work Cited:…………………………………………………………………………… 8 Annotated Bibliography Popular Music and Society. Published by the Sociology Department of Bowling Green State University. Began in 1971. This article puts songs in their past historical context. The author asserts that songs are a true depiction of the society and their socio-economic activities done during a specific timer in history. As such, the article is well suited for the research in the American popular music so that the identity of American people can be established through their songs. What was sung in the pop music shows their thought and in fact their cultural practices. Cockrell, Dale. Demons of Disorder: Early Blackface Minstrels and Their World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997. There are a wide range of books that discuss the minstrelsy which appeared in the past years of American history. However, this book is considered the best in exploring its musical as well as performance aspects. It talks a lot about the movement and rise of popular music in America and how such songs were performed in the past. It is suited for the research since it helps in the drawing of a comparison to establish what has changed over time since the setting in of pop culture. Crawford, Richard. America’s Musical Life: a History. New York and London: W.W. Norton & Company, 2001. This can be termed as a contemporary book when it comes to surveying pop music and culture in America. Diversity within the popular music has been of significant importance to the author in this book. Based on this, the book is good in looking at what has happened in different parts of America as far as popular culture and music is concerned. Forte, Allen. The American Popular Ballad of the Golden Era, 1924-1950. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995. In this work, much emphasis has been put on specific individuals that perform and work on popular music. In addition, the work has focused on a specific eras in which popular music were at its best in America. The book reveals what propelled people to start singing and performing popular music. These factors taken into consideration, the work is good enough to address the issues of American identity through popular music. Fuld, James J. The Book of World-Famous Music: Classical, Popular and Folk. Foreward by William Lichtenwanger. New York: Crown Publishers: 1966. This book looks at a wide range of music in America and their artists. The important information given about such music and their artists is imperative in the tracing of American identity through music. Among the cultures explored in this work are classic, popular and folk. As such, I found this book imperative in the writing of this paper. Grove Dictionary of American Music. Restricted database available online at through some schools and colleges. This source has a lot of information on the artists of popular music from the composers of songs to the performers. The information included is the bibliographic works for the artists. This makes the book significant in researching on the American identity through analysis of bibliographies of the composer and performers of pop music. Hamm, Charles. Yesterdays: Popular Song in America. New York and London: W.W. Norton & Company, 1983. Of significance about Charles’ work is that it concentrates on major works. Through the information found in this book, it is easy to establish the wave movement of Americans to the initiation of popular music. As such, the book remains extremely helpful for this paper. Lawrence, Vera Brodsky. Strong on Music: The New York Music Scene in the Days of George Templeton Strong. 3 vols. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987-1999. This article is good for the purpose of research in popular music and culture. It as well focuses on a specific period of time in history; that is between 1836 and 1865. This gives better reason as to how people lived and performed music during this era. As such, it is s magnificent methodical investigation at New York’s music scene between 1836 and 1865, especially through the eyes of an elite and astute observer, George Templeton Strong. Levine, Lawrence W. Highbrow/Lowbrow: The Emergence of Cultural Hierarchy in America. Cambridge and London: Harvard University Press, 1988. Although the author has devoted just a single chapter to music, he makes it clear that diversity between popular music, culture and art. This helps to draw the link on which aspect of American people led to the other and the manner in which the larger society was influenced by pop culture and music during a specific era. The work therefore can be considered as having wonderful information on popular music needed for the writing of this paper. Music of the United States of America. Middleton, WI: A-R Editions, 1993-. In this series, there is a collection of primary material concerning popular music and how it has influenced the identity of Americans. This implies that the collection not only talks about the songs in the genre but also the artists and how they ended up working on pop music instead of any other form of music. Introduction Reference to popular music has a lot of elements. In the wider perception, popular songs can be studied in terms of tunes, lyrics, recordings and sheet music. Research indicates that popular music is the best in provision of knowledge to student as well as teachers particularly in understanding the past history of a people. In this paper, the main focus will be to make sense out of popular music in America and how the same has shaped the history and cultural background of Americans. The study will particularly focus on the 20th century popular music. It does appear usual to put songs into diverse categories. In the United States of America, three broad categories of songs are classical, popular and folk. In most cases, the disparity reduces. However, of imperative importance is how popular music has shaped the lives of American people. To successfully review pop music, it is significant to take a wider view point of songs. This implies that songs not only concern lyrics and tunes but also have a contextual meaning; this refers to the experience of the producer as well as the consumer. The analysis involves where the song was performed and the artist who performed a particular song. History of the American Popular Music History of popular and classical music dates back to the 16th century when the first immigrants of Europe and Africa began arriving in North America. It is therefore imperative to note that all kinds of music point to a historical investigation of Americans. Most of the American music draws reference to the colonial, radical and central periods. This was between 1607 and 1820 when the songs were essentially linked to the traditions of Britain. Most of songs however were composed in the name of patriotism to America as a state which had gained independence. History indicates that the first exceptional pop music conventions arose with the minstrel theatre commencing in the 1840s. Most of the songs still popular today were initially composed for the minstrel theatre by white singers who performed in blackface. These artists embraced and overemphasized the techniques of African-American songs and movements which had a political taste. As such, popular music has a lot of its origin in the immigration history particular the African immigrants. This has resulted into the African American singers today to stick on the original popular industrial taste in their musical performance. This led to the abandoning of the European origin of music and art. Popular music in America took on a transformation in the second half of the 19th century to emphasize commercial expansion. This overlapped into the twentieth century and traces can still be seen in today’s popular music. As a result, the expansion of the music industry meant that more songs had to be composed, staged, produced and listened to in the entire country of the United States of America. In the first place, popular music was restricted to ethnic minorities or immigrant people to express their dissatisfaction in the manner in which the government was running social and economic matters in the country. However, commercialization expanded the market for such songs as well as thematic implications attached to the songs. On the other hand, Jewish artists incorporated segments from their tradition into the American music. This is well illustrated when Sophie Tucker performed her pop song “My Yiddishe Momme” which was staged in 12925. The song was performed in both Yiddish and English. Additionally, the Afro-American values resulted into a sequence of characteristic song style. This made most of the African American performers to be enthusiastic and confident with the themes central to pop culture. Nevertheless, there was a change in issues that were held true to popular music by 1950. These changes were in the contradictions over the period in which such songs were performed. In the first place, some songs remained stable from one period to another. The rise of other genres in music performed and composed in America like rock and roll, blues and soul music has an overriding impact on popular music. This implies that music had to be separated by age, race and ethnic boundaries. Popular Music and the American Culture American pop music and culture has not only affected the culture of the American people but also the entire world’s culture. The rise of popular music that has affected the techniques across the universe includes ragtime, blues, jazz, rock and R&B among other styles. The fundamental pop culture in America is traced back to the beginning of the 19th century. Parlor songs are considered the earliest movements in American popular music. Black people are the founders of popular music and culture in which they started performances before the civil war period. The popular culture industry incorporated in music was used as a tool to fight for their rights against racism and patriarchal practices from white Americans. As such, the music has its roots in the remote areas of the country. However, this has come to cover the contemporary society popular music as more and more people realize the values and meanings attached to the songs. Cultural practices attached to the songs therefore depend on the immigrants that began the genre especially finding roots in Africa and Britain. Work Cited: Popular Music and Society. Published by the Sociology Department of Bowling Green State University. Began in 1971. Cockrell, Dale. Demons of Disorder: Early Blackface Minstrels and Their World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997. Crawford, Richard. America’s Musical Life: a History. New York and London: W.W. Norton & Company, 2001. Forte, Allen. The American Popular Ballad of the Golden Era, 1924-1950. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995. Fuld, James J. The Book of World-Famous Music: Classical, Popular and Folk. Foreward by William Lichtenwanger. New York: Crown Publishers: 1966. Grove Dictionary of American Music. Restricted database available online at through some schools and colleges. Hamm, Charles. Yesterdays: Popular Song in America. New York and London: W.W. Norton & Company, 1983. Lawrence, Vera Brodsky. Strong on Music: The New York Music Scene in the Days of George Templeton Strong. 3 vols. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987-1999. Music of the United States of America. Middleton, WI: A-R Editions, 1993-. Levine, Lawrence W. Highbrow/Lowbrow: The Emergence of Cultural Hierarchy in America. Cambridge and London: Harvard University Press, 1988. Read More