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109-447: The Georgia Sea Island Singers are an American folk music ensemble from Georgia , United States. Formed in the early 1900s, the group is formed of African Americans who travel performing songs and other elements of the Gullah culture. The group's members change with time, and have included Bessie Jones , Joe Armstrong, Mable Hillery and Frankie Sullivan Quimby (a current member of

218-661: A Cajun Waltz . In mild contrast, zydeco dancing is a syncopated two-step or jitterbug . A Cajun dancer will cover the dance floor while the zydeco dancer will primarily dance in a smaller area. Cajun music can be found predominantly at Louisiana festivals and dance halls, in addition to weddings in Acadiana. In 1968, CODOFIL (the Council for the Development of French in Louisiana) was created. The goal of this agency, which still exists,

327-584: A melting pot . There are also some African-American influences in the musical tradition of the European-American settlers, such as jazz, blues, rock, country and bluegrass. The United States has also seen documented folk music and recorded popular music produced in the ethnic styles of the Ukrainian , Irish , Scottish , Polish , Hispanic , and Jewish communities, among others. Many American cities and towns have vibrant music scenes which, in turn, support

436-459: A bridge. This is followed by the next vocal verse, and so on. Lawrence Walker , Aldus Roger , Nathan Abshire , Iry LeJeune , Al Berard , and Sidney Brown are examples of this musical period. The characteristics of dancehall Cajun can be seen in current artists such as Jesse Légé and The Basin Brothers Band. Drawing on elements of the earlier traditional, Texas swing, and dancehall periods,

545-709: A community with varied non-Anglo ancestry, mostly descendant of people who lived in Louisiana before its purchase by the U.S. The Cajuns are a group of Francophones who arrived in Louisiana after leaving Acadia in Canada. The city of New Orleans, Louisiana , being a major port, has acted as a melting pot for people from all over the Caribbean basin. The result is a diverse and syncretic set of styles of Cajun music and Creole music . Spain and subsequently Mexico controlled much of what

654-563: A distinct folk culture that helped Africans "retain continuity with their past through music". The first slaves in the United States sang work songs , field hollers and, following Christianization, hymns . In the 19th century, a Great Awakening of religious fervor gripped people across the country, especially in the South. Protestant hymns written mostly by New England preachers became a feature of camp meetings held among devout Christians across

763-427: A distinct form of middle-class blackness to audiences, which was particularly appealing to whites. Cajun music Cajun music is relatively catchy with an infectious beat and a lot of forward drive, placing the accordion at the center. The accordionist gives the vocal melody greater energy by repeating most notes. Besides the voices, only two melodic instruments are heard, the accordion and fiddle, but usually in

872-507: A few major pop stars. The most influential country musician of the era was Hank Williams , a bluesy country singer from Alabama. He remains renowned as one of country music's greatest songwriters and performers, viewed as a "folk poet" with a "honky-tonk swagger" and "working-class sympathies". Throughout the decade the roughness of honky-tonk gradually eroded as the Nashville sound grew more pop-oriented. Producers like Chet Atkins created

981-402: A form of white music. Economic and social classes separates American music through the creation and consumption of music, such as the upper-class patronage of symphony -goers, and the generally poor performers of rural and ethnic folk musics. Musical divisions based on class are not absolute, however, and are sometimes as much perceived as actual; popular American country music, for example,

1090-624: A large audience. A bluesy style of gospel also became popular in mainstream America in the 1950s, led by singer Mahalia Jackson . The blues genre experienced major revivals in the 1950s with Chicago blues musicians such as Muddy Waters and Little Walter , as well as in the 1960s in the British Invasion and American folk music revival when country blues musicians like Mississippi John Hurt and Reverend Gary Davis were rediscovered. The seminal blues musicians of these periods had tremendous influence on rock musicians such as Chuck Berry in

1199-415: A major foundation for American folk and popular music. Many American folk songs are identical to British songs in arrangements, but with new lyrics, often as parodies of the original material. American-Anglo songs are also characterized as having fewer pentatonic tunes, less prominent accompaniment (but with heavier use of drones ) and more melodies in major. Anglo-American traditional music also includes

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1308-421: A major part of African American dance, and came to be accompanied by a popular dance called the swing dance . Jazz influenced many performers of all the major styles of later popular music, though jazz itself never again became such a major part of American popular music as during the swing era. The later 20th-century American jazz scene did, however, produce some popular crossover stars, such as Miles Davis . In

1417-577: A major part of early popular music performance, though recorded traditions quickly become more dominated by men. Most male-dominated genres of popular music include female performers as well, often in a niche appealing primarily to women; these include gangsta rap and heavy metal . The United States is often said to be a cultural melting pot , taking in influences from across the world and creating distinctively new methods of cultural expression. Though aspects of American music can be traced back to specific origins, claiming any particular original culture for

1526-406: A more palatable mainstream style, which turned into pop hits. By the end of the 1950s, however, there was a wave of popular black blues rock and country-influenced R&B performers like Chuck Berry gaining unprecedented fame among white listeners. Motown Records became highly successful during the early and mid-1960s for producing music of black American roots that defied racial segregation in

1635-401: A more polished sound. The acoustic guitar was added, mostly as a rhythm instrument, and the triangle provided a traditional percussion. Modern groups sometimes include drums , electric bass , electric guitars and amplified accordion and fiddles. There are several variations of Cajun dance: a Cajun one-step, also called a Cajun jig , a Cajun two-step, also called a Cajun Jitterbug , and

1744-509: A musical element is inherently problematic, due to the constant evolution of American music through transplanting and hybridizing techniques, instruments and genres. Elements of foreign musics arrived in the United States both through the formal sponsorship of educational and outreach events by individuals and groups, and through informal processes, as in the incidental transplantation of West African music through slavery, and Irish music through immigration. The most distinctly American musics are

1853-460: A nascent revival of honky-tonk-style country with the rise of performers like Dwight Yoakam . The 1980s also saw the development of alternative country performers like Uncle Tupelo , who were opposed to the more pop-oriented style of mainstream country. At the beginning of the 2000s, rock-oriented country acts remained among the best-selling performers in the United States, especially Garth Brooks . R&B, an abbreviation for rhythm and blues ,

1962-465: A number of local scenes like the Bakersfield sound . A few performers retained popularity, however, such as the long-standing cultural icon Johnny Cash . The Bakersfield sound began in the mid to late 1950s when performers like Wynn Stewart and Buck Owens began using elements of Western swing and rock, such as the breakbeat , in their music. In the 1960s performers like Merle Haggard popularized

2071-508: A number of regional musical styles. Musical centers around the country have all have produced and contributed to the many distinctive styles of American music. The Cajun and Creole traditions in Louisiana music , the folk and popular styles of Hawaiian music , and the bluegrass and old time music of the Southeastern states are a few examples of diversity in American music. The music of

2180-469: A result of cross-cultural hybridization through close contact. Slavery, for example, mixed persons from numerous tribes in tight living quarters, resulting in a shared musical tradition that was enriched through further hybridizing with elements of indigenous, Latin, and European music. American ethnic, religious, and racial diversity has also produced such intermingled genres as the French-African music of

2289-484: A standard of modern Cajun music. "Louisiana Man" has been covered by more than 800 artists. The unaccompanied ballad was the earliest form of Cajun music. These narrative songs often had passionate themes of death, solitude or ill-fated love — a reaction to their harsh exile and rough frontier experience, as well as celebrations of love and humorous tales. Ballads were ritually sung at weddings and funerals, and sung informally for small groups of people at house parties as

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2398-538: A technique known as phasing , in which two musical activities begin simultaneously and are repeated, gradually drifting out of sync, creating a natural sense of development. Reich was also very interested in non-Western music, incorporating African rhythmic techniques in his compositions. Recent composers and performers are strongly influenced by the minimalist works of Philip Glass , a Baltimore native based out of New York, Meredith Monk , and others. The United States has produced many popular musicians and composers in

2507-432: A variety of broadside ballads , humorous stories and tall tales , and disaster songs regarding mining, shipwrecks, and murder. Legendary heroes like Joe Magarac , John Henry , and Jesse James are part of many songs. Folk dances of British origin include the square dance , descended from the quadrille , combined with the American innovation of a caller instructing the dancers. The religious communal society known as

2616-612: Is a melting pot consisting of numerous ethnic groups. Many of these peoples have kept alive the folk traditions of their homeland, often producing distinctively American styles of foreign music. Some nationalities have produced local scenes in regions of the country where they have clustered, like Cape Verdean music in New England , Armenian music in California , and Italian and Ukrainian music in New York City. The Creoles are

2725-513: Is a commercial genre designed to "appeal to a working-class identity, whether or not its listeners are actually working class". Country music is also intertwined with geographic identity, and is specifically rural in origin and function; other genres, like R&B and hip hop, are perceived as inherently urban. For much of American history, music-making has been a "feminized activity". In the 19th century, amateur piano and singing were considered proper for middle- and upper-class women. Women were also

2834-442: Is a style that arose in the 1930s and 1940s. Early R&B consisted of large rhythm units "smashing away behind screaming blues singers (who) had to shout to be heard above the clanging and strumming of the various electrified instruments and the churning rhythm sections". R&B was not extensively recorded and promoted because record companies felt that it was not suited for most audiences, especially middle-class whites, because of

2943-529: Is available on the ten buttons (over two octaves) and it can play a tune in the key of C with all the notes of the C scale available (C-D-E-F-G-A-B). A "C" accordion can also play a few Cajun songs in the key of F however the Bb note will be missing. Also it can play in the key of D with a "bluesy" sound since the F natural note becomes a flat third or minor third in the key of D. However a skilled accordion player can play in these other keys and still make good music whereby

3052-519: Is characterized by a strong rhythm section, usually consisting of double bass and drums, medium to fast tempo, and rhythmic devices like the swung note, which is common to most jazz. Swing is primarily a fusion of 1930s jazz fused with elements of the blues and Tin Pan Alley. Swing used bigger bands than other kinds of jazz, leading to bandleaders tightly arranging the material which discouraged improvisation, previously an integral part of jazz. Swing became

3161-556: Is composed of a major scale riff, repeated between verses. This form has existed since the early 1900s and the waltz and two-step are the most common dances of this Cajun music genre. Many songs that became standards in the Cajun music repertoire were first recorded in this period of the 1920s and 1930s. The first commercial recording of Cajun music, "Lafayette (Allon au Laufette)," was made by Joe Falcon and his future wife Cléoma Breaux for Columbia Records on April 27, 1928. A number of

3270-638: Is heard around the world. Since the beginning of the 20th century, some forms of American popular music have gained a near global audience. Native Americans were the earliest inhabitants of the land that is today known as the United States and played its first music. Beginning in the 17th century, settlers from the United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, Germany, and France began arriving in large numbers, bringing with them new styles and instruments. Enslaved people from West Africa brought their musical traditions, and each subsequent wave of immigrants contributed to

3379-506: Is now considered classical music. One was associated with amateur composers and pedagogues, whose style was originally drawn from simple hymns and gained sophistication over time. The other colonial tradition was that of the mid-Atlantic cities like Philadelphia and Baltimore, which produced a number of prominent composers who worked almost entirely within the European model; these composers were mostly English in origin, and worked specifically in

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3488-483: Is now the western United States until the Mexican–American War , including the entire state of Texas. After Texas joined the United States, the native Tejanos living in the state began culturally developing separately from their neighbors to the south, and remained culturally distinct from other Texans. Central to the evolution of early Tejano music was the blend of traditional Mexican forms such as mariachi and

3597-447: Is perhaps the most potent determiner of musical meaning in the United States. The development of an African American musical identity, out of disparate sources from Africa and Europe, has been a constant theme in the music history of the United States . Little documentation exists of colonial -era African American music, when styles, songs, and instruments from across West Africa commingled with European styles and instruments, leading to

3706-475: Is primarily a fusion of African American blues and spirituals with Appalachian folk music , adapted for pop audiences and popularized beginning in the 1920s. The origins of country are in rural Southern folk music, which was primarily Irish and British, with African and continental European musics. Anglo-Celtic tunes, dance music, and balladry were the earliest predecessors of modern country, then known as hillbilly music . Early hillbilly also borrowed elements of

3815-431: Is rooted in the traditions of European art, ecclesiastical and concert music. The central norms of this tradition developed between 1550 and 1825, centering on what is known as the common practice period . Many American classical composers attempted to work entirely within European models until late in the 19th century. When Antonín Dvořák , a prominent Czech composer, visited the United States from 1892 to 1895, he iterated

3924-597: Is the basis for much of modern American popular music. Blues can be seen as part of a continuum of musical styles like country, jazz, ragtime, and gospel; though each genre evolved into distinct forms, their origins were often indistinct. Early forms of the blues evolved in and around the Mississippi Delta in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The earliest blues music was primarily call and response vocal music, without harmony or accompaniment and without any formal musical structure. Slaves and their descendants created

4033-478: The Fisk Jubilee Singers , a pioneering group that popularized spirituals across the country. In imitation of this group, gospel quartets arose, followed by increasing diversification with the early 20th-century rise of jackleg and singing preachers, from whence came the popular style of gospel music . Blues is a combination of African work songs, field hollers, and shouts. It developed in the rural South in

4142-608: The Four Tops , the Temptations , the Supremes , Smokey Robinson , Stevie Wonder , and the Jackson 5 . Visual representation was central to Motown's rise; they placed greater emphasis on visual media than other record labels. Many people's first exposure to Motown was by television and film. Motown artists' image of successful black Americans who held themselves with grace and aplomb broadcast

4251-460: The Hackberry Ramblers are early examples of this style. The Red Stick Ramblers and The Lost Bayou Ramblers are Cajun swing bands from the 1990s. In Cajun Louisiana, public dancehalls are known as fais do-dos . This expression may have evolved from a practice of bringing children to dance halls to lull them to sleep. In French, fais do-do means "go to sleep". This style originated in

4360-482: The Lost Bayou Ramblers have experimented with mixing traditional instruments and cutting-edge technology, as showcased on their last two records, Mammoth Waltz (2012) and Kalenda (2017). This sound has been dubbed “Heavy Cajun Psych”. Doug Kershaw recorded "Louisiana Man", an autobiographical song that he wrote while in the army. The song sold millions of copies and, over the years, it has come to be considered

4469-554: The Louisiana Creoles , the Native, Mexican and European fusion Tejano music , and the thoroughly hybridized slack-key guitar and other styles of modern Hawaiian music . The process of transplanting music between cultures is not without criticism. The folk revival of the mid-20th century, for example, appropriated the musics of various rural peoples, in part to promote certain political causes, which has caused some to question whether

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4578-627: The Pine Leaf Boys , and others brought energy to older, more traditional forms. In 1964, Gladius Thibodeaux, Louis "Vinesse" Lejeune, and Dewey Balfa represented Louisiana at the Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island. Their concert was a success and this was a turning point in the awareness of Cajun music at a national level. Contemporary Cajun music is influenced by rock , R&B , blues , soul , and zydeco music. Although led by

4687-707: The Shakers emigrated from England during the 18th century and developed their own folk dance style. Their early songs can be dated back to British folk song models. Other religious societies established their own unique musical cultures early in American history, such as the music of the Amish , the Harmony Society , and the Ephrata Cloister in Pennsylvania. The ancestors of today's African American population were brought to

4796-457: The Texas Playboys . Instead of being dominated by the accordion, Cajun swing relies significantly on the fiddle and piano with a swinging tempo. Bands in the 1940s began using the steel guitar, an instrument also found in Cajun dancehall music. Dances such as " the jig " are common in this genre of Cajun music. Leo Soileau , J. B. Fuselier , Leroy "Happy Fats" Leblanc , Harry Choates and

4905-437: The collective ). The group's music was recorded in 1935 when they were known as the "Spiritual Singers Society" and again in 1959-60 by Alan Lomax . A Newport Folk Festival performance was featured in the 1967 film Festival , and they performed at the inauguration of President Jimmy Carter . This article on a United States folk music band is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Music of

5014-466: The corrido , and Continental European styles introduced by German and Czech settlers in the late 19th century. In particular, the accordion was adopted by Tejano folk musicians around the start of the 20th century, and it became a popular instrument for amateur musicians in Texas and Northern Mexico. Classical music was brought to the United States with some of the first colonists. European classical music

5123-840: The 1950s, as well as on the British blues and blues rock scenes of the 1960s and 1970s, including Eric Clapton in Britain and Johnny Winter in Texas. Jazz is a kind of music characterized by swung and blue notes , call and response vocals, polyrhythms and improvisation . Though originally a kind of dance music, jazz has been a major part of popular music, and has also become a major element of Western classical music. Jazz has roots in West African cultural and musical expression, and in African American music traditions including blues and ragtime, as well as European military band music. Early jazz

5232-494: The American Revolution. The longest lasting of these fife songs is " Yankee Doodle ", still well known today. The melody dates back to 1755 and was sung by both American and British troops. Patriotic songs were based mostly on English melodies, with new lyrics added to denounce British colonialism; others, however, used tunes from Ireland, Scotland or elsewhere, or did not utilize a familiar melody. The song " Hail, Columbia "

5341-479: The Americas by slaves and mixed with Western European music. During the colonial era, English , French and Spanish styles and instruments were brought to the Americas. By the early 20th century, the United States had become a major center for folk music from around the world, including polka , Ukrainian and Polish fiddling , Ashkenazi , Klezmer , and several kinds of Latin music . The Native Americans played

5450-574: The Cajun "renaissance" also incorporates more modern elements of folk , blues, jazz and swamp pop , and bluegrass styles. The fiddle players relax, involving a more legato feel to the solos. The quick fiddle action and double stops are missing, replaced by dominant blues chords and jazz slides. Pioneers such as BeauSoleil with Michael Doucet , Zachary Richard , Jambalaya Cajun Band, Bruce Daigrepont, and others broke new ground, while other musicians such as Eddie LeJeune, Irvin LeJeune, Homer LeJeune,

5559-589: The Cajuns adapted to their new ways of life. The first known record was of a violin in 1780 and a fiddle and clarinet player in 1785. The diatonic accordion was introduced to Cajun music in the mid- to late-1800s. It became popular because of its volume which, along with the fiddle, created sufficient accompaniment for dancing. Originally, musicians and singers performed at house dance parties known as bals de maison . However Cajun music, born from ballads, later transformed to dance music —played with or without words. The music

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5668-468: The Civil War era included " Dixie ", written by Daniel Decatur Emmett . The song, originally titled "Dixie's Land", was made for the closing of a minstrel show ; it spread to New Orleans first, where it was published and became "one of the great song successes of the pre-Civil War period". In addition to popular patriotic songs, the Civil War era also produced a great body of brass band pieces. Following

5777-525: The Civil War, minstrel shows became the first distinctively American form of music expression. The minstrel show was an indigenous form of American entertainment consisting of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music, usually performed by white people in blackface . Minstrel shows used African American elements in musical performances, but only in simplified ways; storylines in the shows depicted blacks as natural-born slaves and fools, before eventually becoming associated with abolitionism . The minstrel show

5886-453: The European rules of harmony. In the early 19th century, America produced diverse composers such as Anthony Heinrich , who composed in an idiosyncratic, intentionally American style and was the first American composer to write for a symphony orchestra. Many other composers, most famously William Henry Fry and George Frederick Bristow , supported the idea of an American classical style, though their works were very European in orientation. It

5995-470: The French-Canadian culture of the Cajuns with their own styles of music in the 19th century. Large Creole bands that played for funerals and parades became a major basis for early jazz, which spread from New Orleans to Chicago and other northern urban centers. Though jazz had long since achieved some limited popularity, it was Louis Armstrong who became one of the first popular stars and a major force in

6104-480: The Nashville sound by stripping the hillbilly elements of the instrumentation and using smooth instrumentation and advanced production techniques. Eventually, most records from Nashville were in this style, which began to incorporate strings and vocal choirs. By the early part of the 1960s, however, the Nashville sound had become perceived as too watered-down by many more traditionalist performers and fans, resulting in

6213-471: The R&;B market (which was definitively black in the American mindset) and specialize in crossover music . The company emerged as the leading producer (or "assembly line," a reference to its motor-town origins) of black popular music by the early 1960s and marketed its products as "The Motown Sound" or "The Sound of Young America"—which combined elements of soul, funk, disco and R&B. Notable Motown acts include

6322-438: The South. When blacks began singing adapted versions of these hymns, they were called Negro spirituals . It was from these roots, of spiritual songs, work songs, and field hollers, that blues, jazz, and gospel developed. Spirituals were primarily expressions of religious faith, sung by slaves on southern plantations. In the mid to late 19th century, spirituals spread out of the U.S. South. In 1871 Fisk University became home to

6431-830: The United States Religious music Ethnic music Charts Festivals Media Other The United States' multi-ethnic population is reflected through a diverse array of styles of music . It is a mixture of music influenced by the music of Europe , Indigenous peoples , West Africa , Latin America , Middle East , North Africa , amongst many other places. The country's most internationally renowned genres are jazz , blues , country , bluegrass , rock , rock and roll , R&B , pop , hip-hop/rap , soul , funk , religious , disco , house , techno , ragtime , doo-wop , folk , americana , boogaloo , tejano , surf , and salsa , amongst many others. American music

6540-486: The United States as slaves, working primarily in the plantations of the South. They were from hundreds of tribes across West Africa, and they brought with them certain traits of West African music including call and response vocals and complexly rhythmic music, as well as syncopated beats and shifting accents. The African musical focus on rhythmic singing and dancing was brought to the New World, where it became part of

6649-414: The United States can be characterized by the use of syncopation and asymmetrical rhythms, long, irregular melodies , which are said to "reflect the wide open geography of (the American landscape)" and the "sense of personal freedom characteristic of American life". Some distinct aspects of American music, like the call-and-response format, are derived from African techniques and instruments. Throughout

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6758-565: The accordion was pushed into the background by the popular string sounds of the time. Piano and other string instruments joined fiddle to create a jazzy swing beat strongly influenced by Western Swing of neighboring Texas. The Cajun fiddle was a well established instrument which had been somewhat eclipsed by the German accordion fad, which had similar effect in French Canada. But in the Depression era

6867-583: The accordion, the electric guitar , washboard , and keyboard are all present in this form. Musicians such as Wayne Toups , Roddie Romero and the Hub City Allstars, Lee Benoit , Damon Troy, Kevin Naquin , Trent LeJeune, and Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys have popularized this modern form of Cajun music. The band Atchafalaya, active from 1982 to 1986, is another example of this style. More recently,

6976-464: The background can also be heard the high, clear tones of a metal triangle. The harmonies of Cajun music are simple and the melodic range is just one octave, rising a fifth above the tonic and descending a fourth below. Because the Cajun accordion is a diatonic instrument (do-re-mi or natural major scale) it can only play tunes in a few keys. For example, a "C" accordion is tuned such that the entire C scale

7085-532: The ballads of the Civil War "the first American folk music with discernible features that can be considered unique to America: the first 'American' sounding music, as distinct from any regional style derived from another country." The Civil War, and the period following it, saw a general flowering of American art , literature and music. Amateur musical ensembles of this era can be seen as the birth of American popular music. Music author David Ewen describes these early amateur bands as combining "the depth and drama of

7194-473: The ballet and then serial music . Charles Ives was one of the earliest American classical composers of enduring international significance, producing music in a uniquely American style, though his music was mostly unknown until after his death in 1954. Many of the later 20th-century composers, such as John Cage , John Corigliano , Terry Riley , Steve Reich , John Adams , and Miguel del Aguila , used modernist and minimalist techniques. Reich discovered

7303-531: The blues and drew upon more aspects of 19th-century pop songs as hillbilly music evolved into a commercial genre eventually known as country and western and then simply country . The earliest country instrumentation revolved around the European-derived fiddle and the African-derived banjo , with the guitar later added. String instruments like the ukulele and steel guitar became commonplace due to

7412-598: The blues by adapting the field shouts and hollers, turning them into passionate solo songs. When mixed with the Christian spiritual songs of African American churches and revival meetings, blues became the basis of gospel music . Modern gospel began in African American churches in the 1920s, in the form of worshipers proclaiming their faith in an improvised, often musical manner (testifying). Composers like Thomas A. Dorsey composed gospel works that used elements of blues and jazz in traditional hymns and spiritual songs. Ragtime

7521-480: The classics with undemanding technique, eschewing complexity in favor of direct expression. If it was vocal music, the words would be in English, despite the snobs who declared English an unsingable language. In a way, it was part of the entire awakening of America that happened after the Civil War, a time in which American painters, writers, and 'serious' composers addressed specifically American themes." During this period

7630-605: The concert hall". Gottschalk's music reflected the cultural mix of his home city, New Orleans, Louisiana, which was home to a variety of Latin, Caribbean, African American, Cajun, and Creole music. He was well acknowledged as a talented pianist in his lifetime, and was also a known composer who remains admired though little performed. The New York classical music scene included Charles Griffes , originally from Elmira, New York , who began publishing his most innovative material in 1914. His early collaborations were attempts to use non-Western musical themes. The best-known New York composer

7739-499: The country commingled, the multifarious strands of American music began to cross-fertilize each other, a process that was aided by the burgeoning railroad industry and other technological developments that made travel and communication easier. Army units included individuals from across the country, and they rapidly traded tunes, instruments and techniques. The war was an impetus for the creation of distinctly American songs that became and remained wildly popular. The most popular songs of

7848-865: The creation of new genres and self expression from enslaved people. By the mid-19th century, a distinctly African American folk tradition was well-known and widespread, and African American musical techniques, instruments, and images became a part of mainstream American music through spirituals , minstrel shows , and slave songs. African American musical styles became an integral part of American popular music through blues , jazz , rhythm and blues , and then rock and roll , soul , and hip hop ; all of these styles were consumed by Americans of all races, but were created in African American styles and idioms before eventually becoming common in performance and consumption across racial lines. In contrast, country music derives from both African and European, as well as Native American and Hawaiian, traditions and has long been perceived as

7957-421: The development of jazz, along with his friend pianist Earl Hines . Armstrong, Hines, and their colleagues were improvisers, capable of creating numerous variations on a single melody. Armstrong also popularized scat singing , an improvisational vocal technique in which nonsensical syllables ( vocables ) are sung. Armstrong and Hines were influential in the rise of a kind of pop big band jazz called swing . Swing

8066-461: The end of the 19th century. The most famous ragtime performer and composer was Scott Joplin , known for works such as "Maple Leaf Rag". Blues became a part of American popular music in the 1920s, when classic female blues singers like Bessie Smith grew popular. At the same time, record companies launched the field of race music , which was mostly blues targeted at African American audiences. The most famous of these acts went on to inspire much of

8175-477: The first decade of the 20th century. The most important characteristics of the blues is its use of the blue scale , with a flatted or indeterminate third, as well as the typically lamenting lyrics; though both of these elements had existed in African American folk music prior to the 20th century, the codified form of modern blues (such as with the AAB structure) did not exist until the early 20th century. The United States

8284-462: The first folk music in what is now the United States, using a wide variety of styles and techniques. Some commonalities are near universal among Native American traditional music, however, especially the lack of harmony and polyphony , and the use of vocables and descending melodic figures. Traditional instrumentations use the flute and many kinds of percussion instruments , like drums , rattles , and shakers . Since European and African contact

8393-557: The food cooked and young children played. The early songs were mixtures of la la, contra dances , reels and jigs and other folk influences from Black, white and Native American traditions. Early song lyrics were entirely in Cajun French . Though songwriting in French is still common, today some Cajun music is sung in English with younger singers and audiences. In earlier years, the fiddle

8502-437: The idea that American classical music needed its own models instead of imitating European composers; he helped to inspire subsequent composers to make a distinctly American style of classical music. By the beginning of the 20th century, many American composers were incorporating disparate elements into their work, ranging from jazz and blues to Native American music. During the colonial era, there were two distinct fields of what

8611-523: The later part of American history, and into modern times, the relationship between American and European music has been a discussed topic among scholars of American music. Some have urged for the adoption of more purely European techniques and styles, which are sometimes perceived as more refined or elegant, while others have pushed for a sense of musical nationalism that celebrates distinctively American styles. Modern classical music scholar John Warthen Struble has contrasted American and European, concluding that

8720-441: The later popular development of the blues and blues-derived genres, including the legendary delta blues musician Robert Johnson and Piedmont blues musician Blind Willie McTell . By the end of the 1940s, however, pure blues was only a minor part of popular music, having been subsumed by offshoots like rhythm & blues and the nascent rock and roll style. Some styles of electric, piano-driven blues, like boogie-woogie , retained

8829-493: The middle of the 20th century, jazz evolved into a variety of subgenres, beginning with bebop . Bebop is a form of jazz characterized by fast tempos, improvisation based on harmonic structure rather than melody, and use of the flatted fifth . Bebop was developed in the early and mid-1940s, later evolving into styles like hard bop and free jazz . Innovators of the style included Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie , who arose from small jazz clubs in New York City. Country music

8938-657: The modern world. Beginning with the birth of recorded music, American performers have continued to lead the field of popular music, which out of "all the contributions made by Americans to world culture... has been taken to heart by the entire world". Most histories of popular music start with American ragtime or Tin Pan Alley ; others, however, trace popular music to the Renaissance and through broadsheets , ballads , and other popular traditions. Other authors typically look at popular sheet music, tracing American popular music to spirituals , minstrel shows , vaudeville , and

9047-474: The most prominent traditional Cajun musicians are featured in the 1989 documentary J'ai Été Au Bal . Amédé Ardoin , Canray Fontenot , Wade Frugé , Dewey Segura , Joe Falcon and Cléoma Falcon , and the Breaux Brothers are examples of this genre. This style draws from Texas country music and moves away from the traditional accordion sound. It has more of a swing style popularized by Bob Wills and

9156-461: The music industry and consumer market. Music journalist Jerry Wexler (who coined the phrase "rhythm and blues") once said of Motown: "[They] did something that you would have to say on paper is impossible. They took black music and beamed it directly to the white American teenager." Berry Gordy founded Motown in 1959 in Detroit, Michigan . It was one of few R&B record labels that sought to transcend

9265-512: The music of the United States is inherently distinct because the United States has not had centuries of musical evolution as a nation. Instead, the music of the United States is that of dozens or hundreds of indigenous and immigrant groups, all of which developed largely in regional isolation until the American Civil War , when people from across the country were brought together in army units, trading musical styles and practices. Struble deemed

9374-425: The noise of the crowd and be heard throughout the dance hall. Electrification of the dance venues also allowed the fiddle to be played in a smoother style and alternate leads with the accordion. The steel guitar also adds remarks. Typically in dancehall Cajun performances the melody is played by the accordion followed by a bridge, a vocal verse, leading lines by the steel guitar, fiddle, and accordion followed finally by

9483-438: The notes missing (because of the limitations of the diatonic tuning) are not needed by the melody. Since an instrument must match the singer's range, much Cajun singing is sung in the singer's upper range. It is unlikely that musical instruments were introduced to colonial Louisiana before around 1780. Although originally there were no instruments, there were songs. Families sang traditional French songs called complaintes which

9592-423: The patriotic songs of the Civil War. The patriotic lay songs of the American Revolution constituted the first kind of mainstream popular music. These included "The Liberty Tree" by Thomas Paine . Cheaply printed as broadsheets , early patriotic songs spread across the colonies and were performed at home and at public meetings. Fife songs were especially celebrated, and were performed on fields of battle during

9701-422: The popularity of Hawaiian musical groups in the early 20th century. The roots of commercial country music are generally traced to 1927, when music talent scout Ralph Peer recorded Jimmie Rodgers and The Carter Family . Popular success was very limited, though a small demand spurred some commercial recording. After World War II , there was increased interest in specialty styles like country music, producing

9810-519: The post-war era of the late 1940s and continues to the present-day in small town dancehalls. During this early period, bands changed from performing at house dances to large halls. Fais do-do music is similar to the traditional Cajun music of house dances, with added accompaniment such as the bass guitar , drum kit , steel guitar , and rhythm guitar , electric or acoustic. The same abrupt, staccato feel can also be felt. The implementation of electrical amplification allowed instruments to cut through

9919-596: The process caused the "commercial commodification of other peoples' songs ... and the inevitable dilution of mean" in the appropriated musics. The use of African American musical techniques, images, and conceits in popular music largely by and for white Americans has been widespread since at least the mid-19th century songs of Stephen Foster and the rise of minstrel shows . The American music industry has actively attempted to popularize white performers of African American music because they are more palatable to mainstream and middle-class Americans. This process has been related to

10028-473: The rise of stars as varied as Benny Goodman , Eminem , and Elvis Presley , as well as popular styles like blue-eyed soul and rockabilly . Folk music in the US is varied across the country's numerous ethnic groups. The Native American tribes each play their own varieties of folk music, most of it spiritual in nature. African American music includes blues and gospel , descendants of West African music brought to

10137-465: The roots of blues, gospel, jazz, and country music took shape; in the 20th century, these became the core of American popular music, which further evolved into the styles like rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and hip hop music. Music intertwines with aspects of American social and cultural identity, including through social class , race and ethnicity , geography , religion , language , gender , and sexuality . The relationship between music and race

10246-411: The sound. In the early 1970s, Haggard was also part of outlaw country , alongside singer-songwriters such as Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings . Outlaw country was rock-oriented and lyrically focused on the criminal antics of the performers, in contrast to the clean-cut country singers of the Nashville sound. By the middle of the 1980s, the country music charts were dominated by pop singers, alongside

10355-559: The start of the 20th century. Formerly the bandmaster of the United States Marine Band , Sousa wrote military marches like " The Stars and Stripes Forever " that reflected his "nostalgia for [his] home and country", giving the melody a "stirring virile character". In the early 20th century, American musical theater was a major source for popular songs, many of which influenced blues, jazz, country, and other extant styles of popular music. The center of development for this style

10464-538: The style of prominent English composers of the day. Classical music was brought to the United States during the colonial era. Many American composers of this period worked exclusively with European models, while others, such as Supply Belcher and Justin Morgan , also known as the First New England School , developed a style almost entirely independent of European models. Among the country's earliest composers

10573-511: The suggestive lyrics and driving rhythms. Bandleaders like Louis Jordan innovated the sound of early R&B, using a band with a small horn section and prominent rhythm instrumentation. By the end of the 1940s, he had had several hits, and helped pave the way for contemporaries like Wynonie Harris and John Lee Hooker . Many of the most popular R&B songs were not performed in the rollicking style of Jordan and his contemporaries; instead they were performed by white musicians like Pat Boone in

10682-403: The tide turned, and, according to Stricklin et al. , it had never been eclipsed. After World War II , the accordion regained its popularity in Cajun music. Also, in the late 1930s and 1940s, country music became the dominant influence on Cajun music, and steel guitar and bass were introduced. Modern Cajun music began taking on the influence of jazz and modern country music, resulting in

10791-581: Was George Gershwin . Gershwin was a songwriter with Tin Pan Alley and the Broadway theatres , and his works were strongly influenced by jazz , or rather the precursors to jazz that were extant during his time. Gershwin's work made American classical music more focused, and attracted an unheard of amount of international attention. Following Gershwin, the first major composer was Aaron Copland from Brooklyn, who used elements of American folk music, though it remained European in technique and form. Later, he turned to

10900-596: Was John Knowles Paine , however, who became the first American composer to be accepted in Europe. Paine's example inspired the composers of the Second New England School , which included such figures as Amy Beach , Edward MacDowell , and Horatio Parker . Louis Moreau Gottschalk is perhaps the best-remembered American composer of the 19th century, said by music historian Richard Crawford to be known for "bringing indigenous or folk, themes and rhythms into music for

11009-715: Was William Billings who, born in Boston, composed patriotic hymns in the 1770s; he was also influential "as the founder of the American church choir, as the first musician to use a pitch pipe , and as the first to introduce a violoncello into church service". Many of these composers were amateur singers who developed new forms of sacred music suitable for performance by amateurs, and often using harmonic methods which would have been considered bizarre by contemporary European standards. These composers' styles were untouched by "the influence of their sophisticated European contemporaries", using modal or pentatonic scales or melodies and eschewing

11118-459: Was a major work that remained an unofficial national anthem until the adoption of " The Star-Spangled Banner ". Much of this early American music still survives in Sacred Harp . Although relatively unknown outside of Shaker Communities, Simple Gifts was written in 1848 by Elder Joseph Brackett and the tune has since become internationally famous. During the Civil War, when soldiers from across

11227-414: Was closely related to ragtime, with which it could be distinguished by the use of more intricate rhythmic improvisation. The earliest jazz bands adopted much of the vocabulary of the blues, including bent and blue notes and instrumental "growls" and smears otherwise not used on European instruments. Jazz's roots come from the city of New Orleans, Louisiana , populated by Cajuns and black Creoles, who combined

11336-405: Was essential for small get-togethers on the front porch , bals de maison, and public dances in dance halls called fais do-dos . This style comprises the roots of Cajun dance music, involving only a few instruments such as the Cajun accordion , fiddle , and triangle . This form holds firm to a basic rhythm with staccato style notes, including many fiddle double stops . Each fiddle solo

11445-419: Was established, Native American folk music has grown in new directions, into fusions with disparate styles like European folk dances and Tejano music . Modern Native American music may be best known for pow wows , pan-tribal gatherings at which traditionally styled dances and music are performed. The Thirteen Colonies of the original United States were all former English possessions, and Anglo culture became

11554-434: Was in New York City, where the Broadway theatres became among the most renowned venues in the city. Theatrical composers and lyricists like the brothers George and Ira Gershwin created a uniquely American theatrical style that used American vernacular speech and music. Musicals featured popular songs and fast-paced plots that often revolved around love and romance. The blues is a genre of African American folk music that

11663-519: Was invented by Daniel Decatur Emmett and the Virginia Minstrels . Minstrel shows produced the first well-remembered popular songwriters in American music history: Thomas D. Rice , Daniel Decatur Emmett, and, most famously, Stephen Foster . After minstrel shows' popularity faded, coon songs , a similar phenomenon, became popular. The composer John Philip Sousa is closely associated with the most popular trend in American popular music just before

11772-431: Was originally a piano style, featuring syncopated rhythms and chromaticisms . It is primarily a form of dance music utilizing the walking bass , and is generally composed in sonata form . Ragtime is a refined and evolved form of the African American cakewalk dance, mixed with styles ranging from European marches and popular songs to jigs and other dances played by large African American bands in northern cities during

11881-403: Was the predominant instrument. Usually two fiddles were common, one playing the melody while the other provided the séconde, or back-up part. Twin fiddling traditions represent the music in its purest form, as it was brought to Louisiana with the early immigrants and before popular American tunes mingled with it. Gradually, the Cajun accordion emerged to share the limelight. In the early 1930s,

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