First American Music

Native Americans lived in America before Columbus arrived. They had songs for many occasions and they used drums and other musical instruments. Dancing and music was an important part of their life and their religion. You can still hear native American music and see dancing at special festivals.

The first British people who came to America were very religious. They came for religious freedom. Their songs were simple and they did not use musical instruments at church.

Soon other people with different forms of the Christian religion arrived in America. They brought different kinds of church music from Europe and they used musical instruments, like the organ and the piano, at church.

Not all early music was church music. Some people liked to drink and dance. Many drinking places opened and fiddle (violin) music and European songs entertained the people.

American farmers soon left the east cost to start up new farms further west. The farms were big and far apart. There were not many towns or churches. Religious leaders, called preachers, rode horses around the country and brought religion to the farm people.

To bring the country people together in a large group, these preachers held “camp meetings”. These religious meetings were held in big tents. Sometimes thousands of people went to hear the preachers. Camp meetings often went on for several days. Popular religious songs were sung and the music was very lively. People clapped their hands and tapped their feet to music. The first camp meeting was held in 1800, and they are still held today. Many pop stars, for example Elvis Presley, first learned to sing and to move at these meetings.

Early Black Music

In the South there were large cotton farms called plantations. Growing cotton was very hard work. Slaves were brought from Africa to work in the fields. The white slave owners did not let the slaves have drums. They knew that Africans could use drums to send messages. They were afraid the slaves would help each other to run away.

Most slave owners did not let the slaves keep their African dances or their religions. All the slaves had to become Christians. They sang in their own churches on Sunday. They sang white religious songs but they added African rhythms to the music. We call these songs “spirituals”. Some spirituals told about the hard life of the slaves or their wish to run away. Although the slaves could not do African dances, in church they clapped their hands and moved their bodies. Today black religious music is called gospel music.

In Louisiana and the city of New Orleans the slave owners were French. They let the slaves and the free blacks play drums and horns. They also let them keep their African dances. Black musicians in New Orleans combined European musical instruments and songs with African rhythms. They made a new musical style which was later called jazz.

Many of the first jazz instruments were homemade. Black people also made rhythm with their hands, feet and bodies. Later black brass bands, in the French style, became common. These bands played at special times like weddings or funerals. This new music was called New Orleans jazz. Some white bands played it too and gave it the name of Dixieland jazz. You can still hear this early form of jazz in the city of New

Orleans.

The slaves were set free in1865 after the Civil War between the North and the South. Since that time black gospel music and jazz have become an important part of popular music in America.

Variety Shows

For a long time, most of the music and musicians in America came from Europe. The Americans themselves did not write much music. But by about 1840 white Americans had begun to listen to the music of black slaves. White people developed a new kind of music in a black style. They put this music in variety shows called minstrel shows. In minstrel shows the performers sang and danced and told funny stories. White actors dressed and acted like black men. They wore black make-up on their faces. This was called “wearing blackface”. Later black men began to do the same kind of shows. Minstrel shows travelled to all the small towns in America. They continued to be popular until the 1930s. White song writers wrote songs for the minstrel shows. They tried to give people the idea of life in the South. The most popular song writer of that time was Stephen Foster. His songs like “Oh Susannah” and “Old Black Joe” are sung by Americans even today. Like many early song writers, Foster died poor and alone.

In the big cities, a larger kind of variety show became popular. As well as minstrel acts, these shows had large dance groups, and funny and unusual acts. These shows were given a French name –vaudeville. By 1900 there were more than 400 big vaudeville houses in the cities.

Al Jolson was one of the most famous vaudeville singers. When the movies became popular, vaudeville died out. But in 1927, sound was added to the silent movies. The first talking movie was called The Jazz Singer, starringAl Jolson. In it he sang minstrel songs, like “Mammy” and “Sonny Boy”, in blackface.

These variety shows brought popular music to all the people in America. And the big, colourful song and dance acts of those early variety shows led to the great musical of Broadway and Hollywood.

Date: 2016-04-22; view: 1117