American Music Genres History - Essay Example

Number] Music Rock and roll music developed in the twentieth century from various different musical styles of different social and ethnic groups. All genres of music were developed gradually over time as per the changing trends and fashions. Each genre shared stylistic elements with one another. The African Americans hold the biggest contribution in the development of musical traditions in America. Rock and roll was highly influenced by the rhythm and blues, folk, country, jazz, and classical music along with some other genres too (Nicholls 347). All these genres have distinct qualities but their origins depend on one another. Rhythm and blues is the name given to the genre of African American music in 1940s used by record companies. This term was mainly used for the blues music which is a form of music originated from the African American communities in the 19th century. This music form came from work songs, spirituals, field hollers, chants, and shouts. They also consisted of narrative ballads. Blues music is characterized in rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz by some specific chord progressions. The twelve-bar blues is the most commonly used chord progression. Blues music has special lyrics, instruments and bass lines, and they are sung for expressive purpose (Nicholls 352). Louis Jordon dominated the rhythm and blues charts in 1948 with his songs that were made on boogie woogie rhythms. ‘Pinetop’s Boogie Woogie’ was one of his hit numbers. Folk music genre evolved in the 20th century as the folk revival since it comprises of traditional music which was much older. By the mid twentieth century, folk music was recognized as a new form of popular music and this era was called the revival of folk music. The revival of the folk music consists of other forms too such as folk metal, folk rock, and electric folk. However, the performers and the songs were a blend if the traditional and contemporary folk music (Nicholls 288). This music genre was often related to culture, history, personal events, and were performed for years, at times for generations. Woody Guthrie was from the first musicians to revive folk music whose legacy includes hundreds of compositions. ‘This Land is Your Land’ is his best known song. Country music originated as a form of American popular music from the rural areas of Southern United States. The roots of this style are taken from Western music and American folk music. Country music consists of dance tunes and ballads with simple harmonies (Nicholls 356). The instruments used are banjos, acoustic and electric guitars, harmonicas, and fiddles. “Turkey in the Straw’ was the first recorded country music form commercially by Henry Gilliland and A.C. Robertson in 1922. Jazz music originated in the early twentieth century in the Southern United States’ African American communities. The African Americans combined the European harmony and elements to the existing African music. Its form consists of blue notes, polyrhythm, improvisation, swung note, and syncopation (Nicholls 448). Louis Armstrong is known as one of the best jazz singers of all time. He was an inventive trumpeter and cornet player. He influenced jazz music with his music with “What a Wonderful World” being one of the most famous ones which was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame. Classical music was produced in the western music traditions since the 11th century. The most commonly used medium for this form of music is the symphony orchestra. The concert band also plays classical music comprising of the members from brass, woodwind, and percussion families (Nicholls 435). The forms of classical music are highly sophisticated instrumental musical forms. Joseph Haydn was the most well known composer from the classical period often called “Father of the Symphony”. One of his best compositions was “Farewell” Symphony. 2 The popular music in the 1950s saw a lot of changes throughout the decade which were in regard to the cultural changes while emphasizing on the norms of the societies. Following the World War II’s disastrous effects, US was going to set off on a revolutionary journey that would clearly change the music industry for the future decades. There were several racial tensions which were reflected by the music. Rock and Roll and Rhythm & Blues were the genres that popularized the music by African Americans and many artists rose to higher places of success while some were denied and forgotten through segregation (Nicholls 439). In the first half of the 1950s, popular music ruled in the music industry. Mitch Miller, a musician, producer, and artist and repertoire man, contributed greatly in developing the popular music till the mid 1950s. He incorporated many musical genres such as western, folk, rhythm & blues and country music into the mainstream. He and his producers made the biggest artists of their label record these genres corresponding to pop traditions. His label was the most successful one of the era, Columbia Records where he arranged classical instruments and sound effects with which vocals were recorded. This era focused more on the story of the songs and the expression of emotions. In early 1950s, delivery of emotions through songs had reached its peak. Patti Page gave the biggest hit of the decade “Tennessee Waltz”. Other hits included “Young at Heart” by Frank Sinatra and the icon of the decade Elvis Presley’s “Love Me Tender”. The latter half of 1950s was dominated by rock and roll music. The genre was developing throughout the 1940s and 1950s but the 1950s saw the electric guitar popularity. It was developed by Les Paul who gave hits like “The World is Waiting for the Sunrise” and “How High the Moon”. Chuck Berry developed the distinctive elements of rock and roll music which focused on teen life. Rock music was also influenced by the showmanship and guitar solos. Pat Boone was the first teen idol of rock and roll music who gave hits like “Ain’t That a Shame”. He adopted a traditional approach to his songs which was widespread in the audience. Elvis Presley started singing in mid 1950s and became greatly popular due to his energized song interpretations (Nicholls 439). 3 When a musical composition is created, the copyright law grants rights to composers and musicians to perform their work publicly. These rights refer to the artists performing live, or their songs being played on public mediums like radios and televisions. ASCAP and BMI are performance rights organizations that were founded in order to grant licenses and collect royalties on behalf of their members; publishers and songwriters. The function of these organizations is to bring the burden of the music publishers down by serving the licenses requests and royalty collection processes for them. Both organizations grant performance licenses to all major radio and television networks, online services, websites, colleges, clubs, hotels, bars, and all places that possibly play music (Nicholls 341). The Payola Scandal was associated with the tensions between disc jockeys and record companies in the 1950s. Payola is the word used for the payment of cash or other types of gifts to the jockeys to play particular songs. This was commonly practiced because it helped the songs to reach the audience and expand the career of the artist. The number of disc jockeys immensely increased in the 1950s and so did the impact that they had on the audience. Earlier in 1930s and 1940s, the radio stations and ASCAP went through a troublesome period for royalty payment issues. Hence, the radio stations began their own organization called BMI. ASCAP which represented the white composers, refused to play music of Blacks and Hillbillies. In response to this, the BMI gained control over the market and provided music to areas that were ignored such as South and Midwest. By this time BMI had emerged as a larger and popular company. ASCAP openly opposed payola and used it as a weapon to bring BMI down. BMI was accused by ASCAP to promote payola as a result of which many radio stations fired their disc jockeys under the threat of cancellation of their licenses. In the trial that followed, two influential jocks of the country took stand; Alan Freed and Dick Clark. By this time, the rock n roll music had come to a decline, and Clark had simply refused to play white versions of African American songs. Both of the jocks did not accept payola but they were fined and sentenced. Freed was questioned because he thrived to promote the black artists and this is why he became the enemy of the public (Nicholls 359). The Payola scandal did not serve the main purpose of ASCAP which was to eliminate the genre of rock and roll. However, rock and roll music was in a bad position until the mid 1960s. The consequence of the Payola scandal was on the popularity of the rock and roll music which was promoted by jocks. The scandal had given the vibes that the period of rock and roll had come to an end but the music genre revived in 1960s by the help of the British Invasion (Nicholls 359). Work Cited Nicholls, David. The Cambridge History of American Music. NY: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Print. Read More