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History of music and how globalization affects
Music and its impact on history
Music and its impact on history
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Nearly a century’s worth of compositions has earned Aaron Copland extensive recognition as the foremost American composer of his time. Ironically, Copland was raised the son of Russian Jewish immigrants and inhabitant of a colorless city environment, yet would become known for producing the music of “rugged-souled Americans” (Mellers 4). Unbounded by historical musical constraints such as those present in the culture of France, where Copland studied for many years, Copland found himself free to explore and experiment in pursuit of a unique, undoubtedly American sound. This elusive sound is notable in one of Copland’s most well-known works, Appalachian Spring. Written for choreographer Martha Graham, this ballet tells the story of the small …show more content…
Returning to Appalachian Spring, composed in 1944, the ideals of Western strength and stability in context of the time provided for listeners not only a collective history, but a reinforcement of the supremacy of their nation. In utilizing Western themes, the ballet brings listeners back to the roots of the country and serves as a reminder of the still pertinent Western stereotypes and ideals. It is the “plain honesty” of Copland and these ideals which helped his work become the first authentically American compositions (Mellers 131). Reaching even beyond Appalachian Spring, many more of Copland’s works embodied simple prairie life and the foundation of what America is today. For example, the film score he produced for the screen adaptation of Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men brings to life “the intrinsic American qualities of John Steinbeck’s narrative” (Bick 427). The American sound of Copland’s work nearly exactly matches the stereotypical American settings and plots of Steinbeck, each artist seeking to unite viewers and listeners in one common image of a resilient, prosperous nation. Growing up as the son of immigrants and as a foreigner in the country in which he studied, Copland developed a strong affinity for the long withstanding American ideals. The results of this affinity can be traced throughout his musical career as he established
For centuries, music has been defined by history, time, and place. To address this statement, Tom Zè, an influential songwriter during the Tropicália Movement, produced the revolutionary “Fabrication Defect” to challenge oppression as a result from the poor political and social conditions. On the other hand, David Ramsey discusses, in mixtape vignettes, the role of music to survive in New Orleans’ violent setting. Furthermore, “The Land where the Blues Began”, by Alan Lomax, is a film and perfect example to understand under what musical conditions profound ways of communication are made to stand the hard work of cotton plantations. As a result, music plays a crucial role in the sources’ cultures and its creation relies on particular conditions such as the social
Daniel Felsenfeld reveals a positive, impactful significance — one that has completely changed his life — in his literacy narrative “Rebel Music” by drawing upon what his early adolescent years of music were like before his shift into a new taste for music, how this new taste of music precisely, yet strangely appealed to him, and what this new music inspired him to ultimately become. Near the beginning of his narrative, Felsenfeld described his primal time with music in Orange County, Calif. He had developed his musical skills enough to jumpstart a career around music — working in piano bars and in community theater orchestra pits. However, Felsenfeld stated that the music he worked with “... was dull, or at least had a dulling effect on me — it didn’t sparkle, or ask questions,” and that “I [he] took a lot of gigs, but at 17 I was already pretty detached” (pg. 625). Felsenfeld easily
Throughout history, and even today, music has shaped America’s culture, society, and even politics. One of the most outstanding and enduring musical movement has been from African American artists, ranging from bebop to jazz to hip-hop to rap. During the 1920’s , jazz artists stepped into the limelight and began their impact on American and even world history. Louis Armstrong was one of the most influential leaders during the Harlem Renaissance and his jazz legacy and impact of American history is everlasting. A master of his craft, Armstrong and his music heavily influenced America’s white and black populations from the 1920’s and up until his death.
“Together the matrices of race and music occupied similar position and shared the same spaces in the works of some of the most lasting texts of Enlightenment thought..., by the end of the eighteenth century, music could embody differences and exhibit race…. Just as nature gave birth and form to race, so music exhibited remarkable affinities to nature” (Radano and Bohlman 2000: 14). Radano and Bohlman pointed out that nature is a source of differences that give rise to the different racial identities. As music embodies the physical differences of human, racial differences are not only confined to the differences in physical appearances, but also the differences in many musical features, including language, tonality and vocal expression. Nonetheless, music is the common ground of different racial identities. “In the racial imagination, music also occupies a position that bridges or overlaps with racial differences. Music fills in the spaces between racial distinctiveness….” (Radano and Bohlman 2000:8) Even though music serves as a medium through which different racial identities are voiced and celebrated individually, it establishes the common ground and glues the differences
Throughout Let the Trumpet Sound: Part one, Odyssey, we learn about the early life of Martin Luther King, Jr. (or M.L according to the book). The writer, Stephen B. Oates, tells different stories of MLK’s childhood: from him going to Jesus to his Grandmother dying. Though the telling tales, the reader understands what made MLK develop into great man; which changes how the readers view MLK. Before this book, we saw MLK as a man gifted by God, which is he is, that accomplished great wonders. However, the success that he had was not this own. This family members, as well as influential thinkers, laid down the foundation, which MLK use to propel himself to help others.
It is difficult to imagine American culture without the influence of blues. Thousands of hit songs, hundreds of movie sound tracks, and countless performances of all types have been enriched by the music of poor black farmers struggling to survive in the Mississippi Delta. This unique cultural legacy, spawned in the poorest and most segregated corner of America, has shaped the world’s perception of our country. In the blues we can still hear the tragedy of poverty, the work songs of slaves, the rhythms of the Mississippi, and the struggle for survival that formed the culture of the Delta – and that in turn helped form the identity we know as American.¬¬
Amy Beach was a very famous and influential composer and pianist from New Hampshire, United States. She fought long and hard to get to where she got in her lifetime. Back in the late 1800’s, it was hard for women to get noticed because they believe that their role in society was to stay at home and take care of the family. Amy Beach defeated all the odds of a female gender role in her lifetime. She became a role model for young girls wanting to become a composer or becoming anything they wanted to be, as long as they fought for it. She has made an enormous impact on music in America. The following paper will discuss Beach’s life, her struggles, her musical training, how her music was shaped by the society she lived in and famous compositions
African-American music is a vibrant art form that describes the difficult lives of African American people. This can be proven by examining slave music, which shows its listeners how the slaves felt when they were working, and gives us insight into the problems of slavery; the blues, which expresses the significant connection with American history, discusses what the American spirit looks like and teaches a great deal from the stories it tells; and hip-hop, which started on the streets and includes topics such as misogyny, sex, and black-on-black violence to reveal the reactions to the circumstances faced by modern African Americans. First is about the effect of slave music on American history and African American music. The slave music’s
Musical theatre is a type of theatrical performance combining music, dance, acting and spoken dialogue. Written by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim, ‘West Side Story’ is a classic American musical based on William Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’. The through-composed score and lyrics are used to portray different characters and their cultures, the rivalry between the Jets and Sharks, and the emotions felt as the story progresses. This essay will be exploring the music and how effective the score is in realising the world and characters of the musical. Furthermore, it will discuss how Bernstein and Sondheim relate characters’ diverse ethnicities to particular musical ideas and motifs.
According to Albert Murray, the African-American musical tradition is “fundamentally stoical yet affirmative in spirit” (Star 3). Through the medium of the blues, African-Americans expressed a resilience of spirit which refused to be crippled by either poverty or racism. It is through music that the energies and dexterities of black American life are sounded and expressed (39). For the black culture in this country, the music of Basie or Ellington expressed a “wideawake, forward-tending” rhythm that one can not only dance to but live by (Star 39).
For a society that was now being defined by radically changing racial and ethnic diversity, the music that bore the label of “American” by definition required that multiplicity of cultures. Gershwin’s and Copland’s compositions both epitomize this idea because they were so successful in defining and uniting diverse elements of American culture into their arrangements, giving the American music scene a new exclusive tradition of both foreign sounds and exotic rhythms.
...frican American Musicians as Artists, Critics, and Activists. Berkeley, CA: University of California, 2002. 54-100. EBSCOhost. Web. 8 May 2015.
Music often carries information about community knowledge, aesthetics, or perspectives. Toni Morrison discusses the power of music and the way it functions in culture in discussions of her craft. Symbolic and structural elements of music appear throughout all of Toni Morrison’s fiction in one way or another. (Obadike) As mentioned above, the title itself, draws attention to the world-renowned music created by African Americans in the 1920s’ as well as to the book’s jazz-like narrative structure and themes.
George Gershwin was one of America's most well-known composers and respected pianists that introduced the sounds of Broadway and Hollywood together. He coordinated the elements of classical music style and the robust sounds of American jazz; Gershwin created a musical style that made the music of jazz acceptable to the classical listeners, and brought in American music into the mix. “Gershwin wrote mainly for the Broadway musical theatre.” He blended, in different variations, techniques and forms of classical music with the stylistic hints and techniques of popular music and jazz.
Powell, A. (2007). The Music of African Americans and its Impact on the American Culture in the 1960’s and the 1970’s. Miller African Centered Academy, 1. Retrieved from http://www.chatham.edu/pti/curriculum/units/2007/Powell.pdf