Music in the US came
from our immigrants who brought their music with them. Those who composed and
played music expanded their music by combining it with other music they heard.
We got our music from the English, Irish, Germans and others who brought their
fiddles, banjos, guitars, pianos and other instruments. They played folk tunes,
classical music, polkas and ballads. Communities built gazebos in their parks
and formed bands to play concerts in the 1800s.
The folk tunes and
ballads grew out of Appalachia and became Hillbilly, Country and Bluegrass
music. In New Orleans, guitarists played the blues, piano players invented Rag
Time and church bands invented Dixie Land.
Polka bands sprang up in German communities in Wisconsin and Minnesota.
Then there were the Big Bands of the 1940s, like Count Basie, Glen Miller, Duke
Ellington, Jimmy Dorsey and Bennie Goodman.
Music was composed to dance to and often included humor. Spike Jones
made fun of the big bands.
Music ranged from
Polka Bands to Jazz to Dixie Land to Rag Time to Country to Bluegrass to Big
Band. Each type of music had its fans
and many had a regional identity.
The US experienced
more population shifts after 1945 and this ended regionalization. The 1950s and
1960s introduced Blues and Rock & Roll music to the mix.
1950s Rock & Roll
with Bill Haley and Elvis Presley was joined by Rhythm and Blues in the 1960s.
Blues mixed with Rock to create music by Chuck Berry, Ray Charles, BB King and
others that inspired the Beatles.
Beatnik and Modern
Jazz developed in the 1940s and 1950s. Coffee House protest music began in the
1960s.
The “Twist” was a
short-lived dance in 1961 that morphed into go-go dancing by yourself doing the
“mashed potato”. Most couple dancing derived from the “jitter-bug”. Later in the 1970s, we did “disco dancing”.
Music improved in the
1970s with complex chords and harmonies from Quincy Jones, the 5th
Dimensions, Carpenters, Burt Bacharach, Brazil 66, Bossa Rio, Mommas &
Poppas, Ramsey Lewis and others. This was the “golden age” for music in the US,
but it ended abruptly in the 1980s.
Pop music had its own
sound by Beetles, Michael Jackson, Elton John, Doobie Brothers, Bee Gees and
others in the 1960s and 1970s. Heavy Metal developed in the 1970s. Rock Groups
like Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, Van Halen, Def Leppard, Metallica and Guns N
Roses played in the 1970s and 1980s. The 1980s saw the beginning of Rap Music,
Classical Music composed from the 1600s to
1900s had its own radio stations that included Symphony and Opera music by Mozart,
Bach, Handel, Beethoven, Chopin, Brahms, Grieg, Verdi, Puccini, Tchaikovsky,
Stravinsky and others.
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody
GA Tea Party Leader
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