Music has shaped the world since it originated and it keeps developing to inspire people. The Twentieth Century music was in the time frame of 1900 through 2009. Every musical period in time has some influences that help develop the unique styles of this era. Aaron Copland was an intelligent individual of this time. He participated in musical works from 1900 to 1990. Aaron Copland was known as the American Composer because his works were simply the American sound. Copland’s development as the iconic American figure was emerged from his life background, the time era’s events, and his cultural context of his music.…
A key similarity between jazz and hip-hop is that they were both started by young African-Americans, who had nowhere else to turn but music. Jazz entered the United States at the turn of the 20th century in the city of New Orleans, Louisiana. It only emerged after the introduction of the Jim Crow laws though. Before this, third-class black musicians played ragtime and blues, while the then superior second-class self-proclaimed creoles of color (light-skinned blacks of European decent) played more formal marching band type music, as they were above their fully African-American counterparts. This all changed with the introduction of Jim Crow, which said that all African-Americans, no matter how black they actually were, were second-class citizens. After, both communities combined their sounds and fused together to create the first sounds of jazz. Consequently, as jazz became popular amongst the African-Americans, it became unpopular in the eyes of the superior white community. The first places where jazz was being played was…
American music of today has spawned from music of the past. As explained in chapter four of the A History of the Music in American Life by Ronald Davis, Jamestown is the founding spot of American music. Yet compositions were not conceived until the early eighteenth century with the musical compositions by the drastically differing composers, Billings and Hopkinson. Francis Hopkinson was a popular composer of the time but does not change or influence music in society of today. William Billings is an original composer, writing from the heart, appealing to all classes and very influential in the furthering of "American" music. The venues playing these two types of music differ in the past as they still do. The distinction between "European" music and "American" music in the present day, lends itself to an age old dichotomy of musical correctness that can be traced back to Hopkinson and Billings.…
George Gershwin is considered to be one of the most successful composers of the united states. Many of his compositions have become jazz standards which have survived from…
knowledge and make what we know as “jazz” better. Many may say “Well, Duke Ellington created jazz so…” that’s not true. Jazz was beginning to spread across the United States thanks to records, and travelling bands, and Ellington had already established himself as a serious jazz artist, so he could take advantage of the nationwide popularity. Considered one of the greatest jazz composers of all time, Duke Ellington had an enormous impact on the popular music of the late 20th century. Among his more than two thousand songs are such hits like, “In A Sentimental Mood,” “Sophisticated Lady,” “I Got It Bad And That Ain’t Good,” and “I’m Beginning To See The Light,” just to name a…
Blues, work songs, ragtime, spirituals, and minstrel songs were, in their own ways, all part of the great "Africanization of American music" that was originated by enslaved Africans in the southern United States. But the greatest of the musical forms developed in this process was jazz--one of the major American contributions to world culture. Each of these forms of music made essential contributions to the development of jazz itself but each, more or less, retained its own integrity and none could be said to have been transformed into jazz. What differentiated Jazz from these earlier styles was the widespread use of improvisation, often by more than one player at a time. Jazz represented a break from Western musical traditions, where the composer…
The first place of jazz is normally recognized as New Orleans. New Orleans has always been very important to the jazz era, mostly because this is where it had all began. The huge wave of fans that went to the bars was a big part of the development of jazz. Many people spent a lot of time in bar rooms during this time because of the depression, trying to drink their sorrows away.…
The Jazz Age lasted from 1915-1935, and the music created during that time period has left a lasting impression on American pop culture. The music still has a large fan base, and can be found in numerous books and movies. Biographies and movies have been made about people like Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, who made huge contributions to jazz. However, many of jazz artists from that time period died without much money or fame. Jazz originated in New Orleans, and traveled on to Chicago and New York, changing and growing along the way.…
In this paper we will compare two compositions by composer, conductor, pianist, Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990). Bernstein was born in Massachusetts to a Russian Jewish family and began playing and taking music lessons at a young age. He went on to study music at Harvard and Curtis Institute of Music (Seldes Web).…
Jazz’s growing popularity in the United States in a time known as the Roaring Twenties, was a dramatic turning point in the American life. The growing of this musical industry meant jazz would be thrived in adversity and come to symbolize a certain kind of American freedom, and would be called upon to lift the spirits and raise the morale of a frightened country. The growing of this genre would break barriers between Americans.…
The Jazz music of the Big Band Era was the pinnacle of more than thirty years of melodic advancement. Jazz was so creative and diverse that it could truly clear the world, changing the melodic styles of about each nation. Enormous band Jazz that makes the feet tap and the heart race with fervor that it is perceived with almost every kind of music. The melodic and social upset that achieved Jazz was an immediate consequence of African-Americans seeking after vocations in expressions of the human experience taking after the United States common war. As slaves African-Americans has learned couple of European social conventions. With more opportunity to seek after vocations in expressions of the human experience and conveying African imaginative customs to their work, African-Americans changed music and move, in the U.S., as well as everywhere throughout the world. For after the war, African American artists and performers…
This especially had a great effect on aspiring African American musicians. Originating in New Orleans, jazz came to be through many cultural changes. Many jazz enthusiasts will argue that you are born with a love of jazz. Like Louis Armstrong once said "If you have to ask what jazz is, you'll never know." In conjunction with the roaring twenties jazz made it to the top and became very widely known across the united states and in some parts of Britain. Becoming a…
New York City was the cultural center of the U.S. and was the jazz center as well. Most of the city’s black jazz musicians lived in Harlem, which had been the creative focal point of…
Louis Armstrong, an influential figure in the Jazz world, once said, “If you have to ask what jazz is, you’ll never know.” Over time, jazz has kept its essential elements and original style, even as new styles have developed. Jazz, in its most basic form, is defined as “music that includes qualities such as swing, improvising, group interaction, developing an 'individual voice', and being open to different musical possibilities,” by Travis Jackson, a Professor of American Music. Improvisation, being the key element in every type of jazz, must be present for a piece to be considered jazz music. This element turns jazz musicians into composers and is essential to jazz styles of music. Another thing unique to jazz is its approach to rhythm. The…
I am doing my end of the semester paper on Jazz music. Jazz was created in the twentieth century and was said that it was, “created to bring people together.” Jazz was also known in many cities around the time of the jazz age, but the city that was known as the birthplace of jazz was New Orleans. There are many important names that people still know today from the jazz ages. One important name during the jazz age was Louis Armstrong is known for many Jazz songs like “What a Wonderful World”, “When the Saints Go Marching In” and “Go down Moses.” Another name was Billie Holiday and she was known for “God Bless the Child” and “Billie’s Blues.” The other name was Duke Ellington, who have many recordings like “Take the A Train”, “Black and Tan Fantasy”,…