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Jan 1, 1500
Spanish Exploration Begins
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Jan 1, 1500
Beginning of Church Presence in America
Catholicism arrives
Gregorian Chants in Latin
Used to control indigenous people -
African music begins to arrive
Became part of the economic engine
Sense of community -
Puritans Arrive in North America
Texts came from psalters
"Book of Psalms Englished Both in Prose and Meter" by Henry Ainsworth -
"Bay Psalm Book"
Replaced the Ainsworth psalter
Allowed people to take the music out of the church and into the home
Strophic form
Lining out -
John Lyon publishes a songbook for churches and families
Available for subscription only
1st music book published for the public, not just the church
Borad appeal for its tolerance and diverse approach to religion -
Lining out increases in popularity
Gave singers more artistic freedom
Traditionalists are not happy -
Traditionalists try to reteach "by-the-book" singing
Needed schools, teachers, students and books'
First instance of the music business -
Slaves begin to provide music for events
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Opera
Opera is popular at this time
Began to produce the first popular songs -
Two types of ensembles are standard
Harmoniemusik/Band of Music
Field Instruments -
"Regular Singing" started being taught
Brought about new music schools
By-the-book style -
William Billings publishes the "American Chorister"
Puritan restrictions beginning to lessen
Strong pro-American stance; propaganda
During the leadup to independence -
Secular music starting to grow in popularity
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Ballads come to America
"Broadside Ballads"
"The Beggar's Banquet" by John Gay -
Organs come to America
John Snetzler brought organs from London to New England -
Popularity of dancing increases
Gavotte, Bouree, minuet were popular - high society
Country dances - common folk
Does not mix well with religion -
Most tunebooks are being written by Americans
"Sherburne" by Daniel Read shows changing harmonies in composition
Didn't sound European -
Camp meetings begin
Hospitable to blacks
Put religion above race
Attracted thousamds of people -
Alexander Reinagle arrives from Enland
Immediately associated with music for home -
First sheet music published
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Music in America is varied at this point
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Sheet music is growing in popularity
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Opera begins to produce stars
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Minstrelsy becomes popular
Portrayed blacks in song, dance and humour
Blackface
Most popular form of entertainment at the time
Thomas "Daddy" Rice
Zip Coon -
Music becomes important to the middle class
Middle class wanted a more gentile, sophisticated home life -
Love and chivalry become common song topics
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Percussion and brass were added to military bands
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Rev. Richard Allen compiled "A Collection of Spiritual Songs and Hymns"
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"Star Spangled Bangled" is written
Patriotism poem that became a song -
Piano becomes one of the most popular instruments
Pianos specifically designed and created for the home
Jonas Chickering was one of the first piano manufacturers -
Quickstep style of music
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Hutchinson Family Singers begin performing
Sang songs of reform and protest
Anti-slavery "Get Off the Track" -
Virgnia Minstels perform first show, in Boston
Banjos, tambourines, fiddle, bones
"Old Dan Tucker" by Dan Emmett -
Billboard Magazine established
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Stephen Foster teams up with Edwin P. Christy
Improved show for a large audience
Produced pop songs -
Polka style of dancing is popular
Introduced in 1844 by Bohemian peasants
Influenced "Oh Susanna" by Stephen Foster -
Black entertainers are stars
Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield
William Henry "Juba" Lane -
"Gilmore's Band" founded
Controlled artistic and business sides of it
Stated the "Great National Band" -
George Root writes "Battle Cry of Freedom"
Denounced South and used as a recruiting song -
National Peace Jubilee
Lasted 5 days
Established the wind band's key place in American life -
Edison invents the phonograph
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Scott Joplin beomes the most famous and popular ragtime composer
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Witman & Sons founded
Publishing company
Goal was to sell music -
"After the Ball" by Charles K Harris is a hit
Harris published the song himself
Created a boom in sales -
The cakewalk becomes popular
African American dance performed by couples -
1st player piano was constructed by Edwin S. Voley
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Six booking agents formed the Syndicate
Controlled most major theaters in NY and outside
Coordinated tours, schedules, shows and content -
Tin Pan Alley emerges
NYC became music publishing capital, and "Tin Pan Alley" -
Vaudeville becomes a new form of entertainment
Consolidated different types of acts into one show
Consistent audience of immigrants -
Ragtime arrives on the scene
Features syncopation
Whole new form of expression
Purely American, unconventional,product of slave influencec -
Song subjects begin to explore new areas
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Minstrel shows begin to feature blacks
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Piano jazz becomes known as ragtime
Featured syncopation
New forms of dancing
Improvisation in music
Purely American -
Black folk music emerges
Simple, usually accompanied by one guitar
Lyrics are direct and often personal -
Realization that folk music is a living part of history
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Irving Berlin begins to gain popularity
Chief ragtime composer
"Alexander's Ragtime Band" -
First blues song, "Memphis Blues", published
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US Department of Ed. considers folk to be an endangered genre
Begins collecting songs -
Tin Pan Alley combines blues and dance music
Made blues accessible across the racial barrier -
Victor records the first jazz record
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Music industry scrambles to record folk singers
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Increase in jazz bands and new soloists
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Radio stations start to broadcast folk singers
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"Lady Be Good" is first performed on Broadway
Music by George and Ira Gershwin -
Barn-dance programs are established on the radio
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Experiments with microphones begin
Increased audio quality, wider dynamic range, allowed recordings to capture quieter songs, could project in a live setting -
Carter Family begins recording their brand folk
Marks the time when folk begins to lose its purity and becomes more commercial -
Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein write "Showboat"
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Musicals become a symbol of the quality of American entertainment
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Golden Age of Broadway begins
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Busby Berkley begins directing musicals for Samuel Goldwyn
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Benny Goodman's reign as the "King of Swing" begins
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All theaters can show sound movies at this point
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"Grapes of Wrath" concert held in NY
Woody Guthrie is introduced for the first time
Held for the benefit of migrant farm workers -
Woody Guthrie writes "This Land is Your Land"
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Musicals continue to develop on both stage and screen
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Pete Seeger forms the Almanac singers
First urban folk-singing group
Made folk music a living force -
Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein write "Oklahoma"
Created story and setting first
Symbol of simpler country life, optimism and pleasure -
After WWII, music business began targeting the younger generation
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Marlon Brando and James Dean become cult icons
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Alan Freed first uses term "rock and roll"
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American Bandstand begins
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Elvis signs to Sun Records in Memphis
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"Rock Around the Clock" becomes first commerical rock and roll hit
Bill Hailey and the Comets -
The line between performers and songwriters starts to blur
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Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue" album comes out
Established new style of "cool" jazz -
Solid body guitar is being used in rock and roll music
Allows for more versatility -
Motown Records supports black musicians
Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Jackson 5, Michael Jackson, Smokey Robinson -
Beach Boys form
Icons in pop music genre of the 60s
Developed music as they grew -
Beatles arrive in the US
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British Invasion
Bands come over from the UK
Beatles, Rolling Stones, The Who -
Bob Dylan becomes a figurehead for urban folk music
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Disco emerges
Features a fast, clean guitar strumming rhythm
Used keyboard/synths -
Rock music gets louder
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Peak of glam rock
Queen, KISS, Alice Cooper, David Bowie -
Rock concerts get bigger and more profitable
Many bands begin to tailor their music for stadium performances -
Americana emerges as a style
Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Bob Seger, Tom Petter -
Punk rock emerges
Sex Pistols and the Clash from the UK
Velvet Undergroun and the Ramones in the US
Back to basics rebellion
