American Music Essay

Introduction

American music originated from Native Americans who were the first musicians and comprised of different ethnic groups in the country with unique folk music styles. These cultures and traditional music are now extinct following the encroachment of Hawaiian music. In the 16th century, there was a huge immigration of English, Spanish and French settlers which brought new types of folk music (Ran and Morad 101). The diversity was compounded by Africans imported as slaves who also brought African music along. Due to the mixture of different cultures and ethnic groups, music diversity in the United States grew significantly. In the 19th century, there was a large-scale Chinese, Indian, Japanese, Italian, Mexican, Irish, Swedish, Armenian and Ukrainian immigration. It resulted to the first copyrighted song "The Kentucky Volunteer" in the United States Constitution and was composed by Raynor Taylor and published by Benjamin Carr following a subsequent England immigration (Ran and Morad 103).

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Folk music utilized techniques and styles which did not require polyphony and harmony. It also used vocals and downward melodic figures. Traditional instruments used flute and different types of percussion instruments such as shakers, rattles, and drums. American native folk music has developed to new dimensions through fusions with various styles such as Tejano music and European folk dances. Modern American native music is best recognized for pan-tribal gatherings, powwow gathering where traditionally stylistic music and dances are being executed. Many music genres started developing in the 20th century beginning with Jazz music in the 1920s, country, rhythm, blues and pop music in 1940s and early rock music in 1950s. In the 1960s there was British invasion and formed band music like Rolling Stones and Beatles, R and B music also developed (Wierzbicki 249). There was the emergence of disco music, punk rock, progressive rock, funk and soul music in the 1970s. During the 1980s popular music genres were hip-hop, pop and rap music, hair metal and new wave.

Jazz Music

Jazz music originated in New Orleans during the early 20th century but the roots exist in the traditional music of both Europe and Africa. Jazz music was formed from a combination of South American rhythms and songs, American blues and European classical music. There has been a dispute on the origin of jazz word; others believe it is a sexual term because it uses sexual overtones. The music was born in America and developed through the experience of African-Americans in the United States. It evolved from spiritual songs and slavery songs with African Americans being the primary innovators. As stated by Crawford and Hamberlin (120), it is believed that jazz acquired blues quality, feel and rhythm from African music, while through European music jazz received harmony, music improvisation and instruments like trumpet, saxophone, and piano. The music acts as a sense of reflection of individualism and cultural diversity in the country. Concentration on jazz music improvisation has made it so unique through the help of a trumpet player Louis Armstrong from New Orleans. Louis was termed the father of new jazz improvisation, his trumpet plays melodic and playful solos full of strength that makes people be composed on spot. Leading several groups in the 1920s and 30s, Armstrong inspired several individuals to develop their own music by creating personal improvisation styles. Improvisation makes jazz music greatly attractive making it distinct compared with other music genres.

New Orleans was home of most jazz musicians but arise of racial tension and violence led to flew of musicians to Kansas City, Chicago, and New York in 1940s (Raeburn 1144). This musician movement promoted play of jazz music all over on national radios spreading the music style to new viewers in the United States. The spread of jazz music brings modification on content and music styles as white musicians change the genre to be attractive to the middle-class white Americans. American jazz music was performed first in bars, now it is heard in concert halls, clubs, universities and large festivals worldwide. The music today is a greatly developed art and it is in a continuous formation and expansion to various directions. Every decade's music sounds fresh and different from the preceding music. Jazz is very broad and diverse today thus each stylistic style has an interesting and unique feature, styles are very different any sounds completely distinct from the other. Most famous jazz musicians in the 20th century are King Oliver Joe, Johnny Dodds, Bill Johnson, Ella Fitzgerald, Bessie Smith and Louis Armstrong among others (Raeburn 1146).

Hip hop music

Hip-hop as a culture and music emerge in the 1970s from the African American and Latino teenagers living in the Bronx in New York City (Persaud 633). Hip-hop culture was made up of four key elements namely rapping, breaking, Djing or scratching using turntables and graffiti writing. Other elements consist of sampling beats and rhythmic beatboxing. The music developed when block parties popularize in New York City among youths living in the Bronx. Due to lack of acceptance and poverty in neighboring ghettos, hip-hop music was not officially recorded to be played on television and radio until 1979. At block parties, percussive breaks on popular music were played by the DJs using a DJ mixer and two turntables to play breaks of the same record in two copies. The music emerged with Kool Herc, imitators and disc jockeys which developed rhythmic beats through looping breaks. Rap later emerged comprising a rhythmic poetry style presented in beatboxing and 16-bar time. During that time notable artists included DJ Kool Herc, Fab Five Freddy, Afrika Bambaataa and Marley Marl among others.

In 1983 and 84 new school hip-hop music originated LL Cool J and Run-D.M.C being the early records. Artists in this era involve the Public Enemy, Juice Crew, Beastie Boys and Big Daddy Kane (Persaud 629). Hip-hop music diversified to regional styles like Atlanta hip-hop and southern rap in the 1990s. The music assimilated other genres like neo-soul and nu metal and emerged the top-selling music genre in 1999. Hip-hop music became popular and influential hence paving the way into the pop mainstream. Hip-hop in the United States evolved greatly until 21 century where popular rappers like Lil Wayne, Drake, Nicki Minaj and B.O.B emerged producing numerous songs. According to Wierzbicki (247), hip-hop subgenre like Trap became famous in the 21st century with popular artists like Travis Scott and Migos. Hip-hop music gives individuals chance to dance, sing, communicate via lyrics and enjoy themselves. It originated during slavery hence providing a strong sense of culture and identity among the people the music lyrics motivate and brings the importance of value in the society. Persaud suggests that although hip-hop music is valued by many, some individuals view the music as thug music, gangster, and hard-core in context (631). They believe the song lyrics are based on drug and substance abuse thus promoting violence and sexuality.

Music tolerance

In the USA, the music industry reflects ethnic diversity in the country since most genres were developed through a mixture of various cultures. The hip-hop, country, jazz, blues, rock and rhythm music were based on cultural and social identity, race, language, religion, sexuality, and gender. Immigration of the Europeans and African slaves has led to music growth in America. During the 19th century, the American wrote various patriotic songs describing America as the land of peace, promise land, beautiful and land full of freedom. The song promotes tolerance, peace, and unity among the citizens. The American patriotic song with the national anthem course, the "Star-Spangled Banner" was written by Francis Scott Key in 1814 (Crawford and Hamberlin 124). The burning of Washington during the war outraged the writer hence composing the song. The song was made US national anthem in 1931. The poem describes America as a brave and great nation which is fighting for freedom and victory. The song motivates the citizen to tolerate any harsh conditions they are facing as a result of war since everything will be right.

People will have freedom and peace thus giving hopes the African slaves that they will be free one day. Various songs like my country " are of thee", America the Beautiful and Philadelphia Freedoms promoted peace and tolerance among the American citizens (Ran and Morad 89). The song "America" by Neil Diamond in 1981 depicts positive American immigration interpretation and praises America as a free country, welcoming and a dream country (90). This motivated various immigrants to settle in the USA and work in achieving their dreams. In the 21st century, globalization puts America to be the most influential nation and president Barrack Obama gave great hope for more tolerance in America. White and black communities become friendly encouraging the introduction of rap music among the youths promoting much tolerance in the nation. American music defines the country culture and identity, it loves, praise while others condemn but the overall music industry has helped promote peace, unity, and tolerance among its citizens and immigrants.

Works Cited

Crawford, Richard and Larry Hamberlin. An introduction to America's music. NewYork: Norton and Company, 2013.

Persaud, E. Jerry. "The Signature of Hip-Hop: A Sociological Perspective." International Journal of Criminology and Sociological Theory (2011): 626-647.

Raeburn, Bruce Boyd. "New Orleans Style and the Writing of American Jazz History." The Journal of American History (2011): 1144-1145.

Ran, Amalia, and Moshe Morad. Mazal tov, amigos! : Jews and popular music in the Americas. Boston: Leiden, 2016.

Wierzbicki, James. "Music in the Age of Anxiety: American Music in the Fifties." The Journal of American History (2017): 243-250.