The Early Twentieth Century: Vernacular Music (Chapter 31)

Vernacular: drawn from ones own land/slang within a language

early 20th century = rapid change in tech, society, and arts

• music becomes diverse in style and approach

• optimism vs uncertainty/anxiety (including nostalgia for “simpler “ time)

• technology development = electrification offers new avenues for art, mechanization of sound (silent movies, recording tech - phonograph (1877), playing pianos )

  • phonograph simplifies into flat disc 10 years later

  • early recordings have to be intimate

  • lp 1946, tape 1960s, cd 1983

• expansion of economy/industry/social conflicts

  • united states becomes world power

    • influx of immigrants, the great migration (black people fleeing the south)

• artists seeing work as “end in itself” to be appreciated for its own sake

  • seeking novel techniques and content

  • work isn’t judged by popularity, judged by other artists

Rag Time and Marches = uniquely american genre

• ragtime remained popular and for the masses

• leading ragtime composer : scott joplin

  • used march form in duple meter (ragtime = syncopating the melody)

  • kinetic thrills

popularity of band music

• gilmore and sousa = principal figures