Music of the united states
The music of the United States is a reflection of the country's multi-ethnic population in a wide range of styles. Among the most internationally recognized popular genres originating in the country, the march, the country, the bluegrass, the so-called Afro-American music (such as blues, hip_hop, gospel, rhythm and blues, jazz and music house), disco, ragtime and rock and roll. Other musical genres that originated there are pop, techno, reggaeton, salsa and barbershop. In addition to the various subgenres, such as dixieland and other regional music. Likewise, there are variations such as film music and musicals.
This rich musical heritage is the product of numerous influences, most notably the interplay between European classical traditions and the vitality of regional and ethnic expressions. In fact, many classical music composers have worked on popular forms.
There are countless songs and compositions written by Americans known throughout the world; as, for example, "Jingle Bells" (1857) and "Happy Birthday" (1893), or jazz standards such as "When the Saints Go Marching In", in addition to those that are part of the American singer, the Great American Songbook.
The United States represents the largest market for the music industry worldwide, with a total value of 4,372.9 million dollars. In 2011, the United States led the world ranking of global music sales, representing 26% of the total worldwide, followed by Japan, with 25%.
African American Popular Music
Ragtime
MacDowell's combination of traditional Romanticism with new musical forms significantly influenced certain composers who followed him, including the distinguished neo-Romantic Samuel Barber (1910-1981). As MacDowell strove to spread serious music to mainstream audiences, ragtime, a rhythm derived from dixieland and Southern saloon music, raised spirits in halls and theaters across the nation.. The first black music to gain widespread popularity, ragtime was created primarily for the piano, featuring nearly continuous syncopation. The most notable composer was Scott Joplin (1868-1917), who wrote two operas in that rhythm and was confident that his music would stand up to comparison with European classical music. Historically, however, ragtime is perhaps more important because of its association with the blues. And out of the blues came Jazz, America's great contribution to the world of popular music.
Blues
Tracing its origins to African folk songs and Christian religious music, the blues is a lament with a hint of resignation and frequent humor. Among the first great voices to be recorded were those of many women, including Gertrude "Ma" Rainey (1886-1939) and Bessie Smith (1900-1937). Typically, modern blues is performed by small bands that feature the electric guitar and other instruments in the foreground, as well as the singer's voice.
Jazz
When blues and Dixieland musicians refined their instrumental techniques, jazz was born, one of whose vital characteristics is improvisation. Usually, the musicians write a basic harmonic structure and the other parts are created spontaneously based on the music played by the rest of the group.
Around 1920, jazz spread from the South as black musicians moved to Chicago and New York. The most influential of the early jazz musicians was trumpeter Louis Armstrong (1900-1971). Born in New Orleans, one of the cradles of jazz , he was the first famous singer of this genre and creator of the scat, a resource that consists of using the voice as an instrument, singing nonsense syllables. Another of the most outstanding jazz players of that generation was Duke Ellington (1899-1974). Pianist, conductor, composer and arranger, he had an enormous impact on the composition and performance of jazz .
Each new generation of jazz has explored new directions. In the early 1940s, a complicated style called bebop emerged, supported by trumpeter "Dizzy" Gillespie (1917-1993) and saxophonist Charlie Parker (1920-1955).
In the 1960s, jazz musicians such as trumpeter Miles Davis (1926-1991) and saxophonist John Coltrane (1926-1967) experimented with the most varied musical influences. The younger ones began to introduce rock and roll rhythms. Then, in the 1970s, many jazz musicians experimented with electronic instruments and created a mix of rock and jazz called fusion. In the 1950s, jazz began to enjoy wide popularity as one of the most important cultural assets, increasing its audience among intellectuals and higher education students. Today it is part of the entertainment mainstream in the United States, and jazz concerts attract thousands of listeners each year.
Musicals
Since the 1940s, composers have tended to move in many different directions. Some drawing directly on traditional influences and popular culture, they have achieved fame through their scores for musical comedies. Inheritor of the old minstrel shows and light opera, musical comedy has become an original form of entertainment where song, dance, comedy and drama are combined. Among the most successful composer-lyricist duos are Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, authors of Oklahoma! (1943) and Carousel (1945).[citation required]
Rock and roll
Initially popularized by white musicians, who during the 1950s sang a mix of Southern gospel, country music, and black rhythm and blues, rock and roll quickly became a second language of youth. The musician Elvis Presley (1935 - 1977) was the first "king of rock 'roll", with sales that exceeded 500 million records.
Folk music
Bob Dylan (b. 1941) emerged as a leading performer during the American folk music explosion of the early 1960s. His protest songs became anthems of social change, and he exerted a extraordinary influence on other musicians and writers. The '60s also saw the birth of the motown sound, Detroit's irresistible rhythm and blues. Among its shining stars stands out Diana Ross (b. 1944).
Other styles from the South that began to gain widespread popularity included country music, dominated mainly by established Nashville musicians such as Willie Nelson (b. 1933), and bluegrass, a mix of of folklore, blues and country music. Bluegrass increased its audience thanks to the songs of Bill Monroe (1911-1996), among others.
Classical music
The North American composers of the second half of the 18th century and the first half of the 19th century have been grouped into the so-called First New England School, which focused its musical creativity on the link between classical European forms and indigenous native motifs. Among them, for example, stood out William Billings (1746-1800), specialized in hymns. However, the first composer dedicated full time to the trade was Anthony Philip Heinrich (1781-1861), who will stand out as the first to compose symphonic orchestral works. He would also be the first to conduct a Beethoven symphony, in Lexington, Kentucky, in 1817.
The so-called Second New England School has brought together those composers born around the middle of the 19th century. They were also known as the "Boston Six". These were: John Knowles Paine (1839-1906), Arthur Foote (1853-1937), George Chadwick (1854-1931), Edward MacDowell (1861-1908), Horatio Parker (1863-1919), and Amy Cheney Beach (1867- 1944). Thus, the first female composer of art music on a large scale was Amy Cheney Beach, to such an extent that in 1896 she premiered her Gaelic Symphony. Another of the relevant composers of that period was Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829-1869). He studied in France as a teenager and later toured Switzerland and Spain displaying his talents as a brilliant and virtuoso pianist. He also toured his own country, Central America, and South America. He composed among other works, Symphony No. 1 & # 34; A Night in the Tropics & # 34; (1859).
Few composers have identified their work more closely with American themes and rhythms than Aaron Copland (1900-1990). His work exemplifies the tendency of many modern composers to write music for a wide range of purposes: orchestra, film, radio, recording sessions, for elementary school and high school. Some of his most frequently performed concert pieces were composed for the ballet, such as the suite & # 34; Billy the Kid & # 34; (1938) and "Appalachian Springtime" (1945).
Jazz has had an enormous influence on the entire range of music in the United States. In no work can such an influence be more clearly observed than in that of George Gershwin (1898-1937). Author of popular songs and musical comedies for the Broadway stage, George Gershwin always wanted to access the musical forms of learned European tradition. Thus he was one of the first to successfully incorporate jazz into them, receiving help from third parties in the orchestration. The concert Rhapsody in Blue (1924) and the opera Porgy and Bess (1935) stand out.
Many other composers have radically experimented with anti-traditional music, which has not been readily accepted by the majority of the orchestra-loving public. Although virtually unknown during his lifetime, Charles Ives (1874-1954) is now recognized as a major innovator. In fact, some of his works, such as The Unanswered Question (The question without an answer, 1908) and Symphony No. 4 (1916), inaugurate a whole musical universe full of novelties. Also with an experimental search in the 20s, 30s and 40s, Ruth Crawford Seeger stood out, especially with her Sonata for violin and piano (1926). Among the African-American community, the composer William Grant Still knew how to combine his musical roots with the learned Western tradition. The first example of total serialization in music is due to Milton Babbitt (1916-2011), with his work Three Compositions for Piano (1947). Then he dedicated himself with great resolution to electronic music.
Many critics consider Elliott Carter (1908-2012) the foremost American composer of his generation. John Cage (1912-1992) is remarkable because he leaves some elements of his work to chance, and also because he mixes live musicians with electronic devices. In his performative work 4´33 & # 34; the elements that make up the music are silence and ambient external sounds. Belonging like Cage to the "New York School", Morton Feldman achieved notoriety with several works among which his String Quartet No. 2 (1983) stands out. The nexus, the link between the Ives generation and the Cage generation, was Henry Cowell (1897-1965). He delved into the exoticism of oriental music and the use of avant-garde techniques such as clusters, the piano treated as a percussion instrument, etc.
In the late 1970s and into the 1980s, Philip Glass (b. 1937) achieved recognition among the younger "minimalist" composers; characteristic of his work is the eccentric opera Einstein on the beach. Other notable minimalist composers included Steve Reich, La Monte Young, and Terry Riley. To the latter belongs In C (1964), one of the most paradigmatic works of the movement. Philip Glass's contemporaries are the composers Ellen Taaffe Zwilich and Gloria Coates, who knew how to give new and original forms to the symphony genre. Among the composers belonging to the new generations, Carter Pann (1972) and the Soviet-American (she settled, studied in the USA with Milton Babbitt, among others, and spent a large part of her career there) Lera Auerbach (1973) stand out. Some of her most important works are the ballet The Little Mermaid and her Symphony No. 4 & # 34; Arctica & # 34;.