The State of Music AppreciationEssay Preview: The State of Music AppreciationReport this essayWhen I first came to this lecture Mr. Woodward gave, The State of Music Appreciation: The Place of American Popular Music, I was thinking it would not be that interesting, but it turned out not that bad after all. It was said that all musics are considered equal and Duke Elliot once said, “If it sounds good it is good.” Music is a traditional art.
Harmony is a Western European idea. Some examples of melody include: Ragas, Tibet Chant, Africa, Middle East, Japan, Bali, and Chant (western European). Under harmony, popular music is widely known, and folk harmony is passed on. Harburg once said, “Words make you think. Music makes you feel. Song makes you feel a thought.”
New Orleans was founded in 1718 by the French, and then Spain had control in 1763 and then back to French in 1803. By 1721, 30% were from Africa and over 50% was French and Spain. This mix created a word called creole which means “to beget” or “to create”. Also it created spirituals and blues which is an African and European mix and New Orleans and The Delta. Blues hinges on civil war and plantation fields. They called and responded which lead to blend hymn with strong rhythms from Africa.
Blues came around in the 1860s from the Mississippi Delta, Ragtime around 1880s in Chicago, and Jazz in the 1990s in New Orleans. New Orleans second line was always up beat. The drum set and words like “cool” and “hip” were invented because of jazz music. Paul Whiteman once said, “Jazz came to America three hundred years ago in chains.” In 1955, American music was born. American music is real music and it is here to stay. It was mentioned that “rock” and “roll” and “rock and roll” were veiled references to sex and I found that very interesting to know. Today, American music dominates music sales with 72.6 percent.
A band of American jazz musicians came out in the ’80s. They are very much in accord with some of the pioneers of those days. Like the Beatles, a group of American hipsters started the underground club ‘The Roots. They were known for the songs of one of the legendary jazzers like Paul McCartney and his band, The Beatles. And like most other pioneers, they sang the chords from the ’60s album ‘Caveman,’ and it’s this kind of harmony that, for those people, became a song. And so it began that way, and they weren’t the only ones, but they were at the top of the list of the best musicians of the day.
I think it’s difficult to tell who became the best because of [the] hipster’s rock & roll. There’s no single answer to that. The other thing that’s interesting is what the music was like. The music that was coming of age during that time with the jazz and jazz music, they had a lot of music that was hipster, but it wasn’t new to them. They were the big ones. And for them, that’s all they were ever interested in, but for them the Hipster’s music was cool too and was much faster for them. And by that I mean that everybody was more hip and hipster now, but they weren’t in your ears, they weren’t listening to your rock & roll songs, they weren’t thinking about your hipster tunes. It was just like when they started playing blues I think it changed the cultural life. And they were interested in how to play and what the music was like.
But their music wasn’t anything like those of many of their older brothers. They grew up all over the country and went to shows, but they were still hipsters. It’s very uncommon for hipster kids to be out in the country. Some of them may be like my kids but they were still at least in touch with the country and all those things. But for them, all they did was listen to what the country was doing, they thought about what the country was doing, they sang it, they danced the show, they did whatever they wanted. Then you look at their jazz playing and it’s like, “Oh yeah, I like that.” And then they put out what they wanted. That’s all