I’m really enjoying this class so far. There are a handful of things that I knew before I entered the class, but there are also a lot of new things that I’m learning that are kind of filling in the gaps of my music history puzzle. When I think of music in the 1900’s my mind sees a flicker of jazz and then I just think about the Beatles. However, music in the 1900’s was so much more than that. Music served so much more of a purpose back in the old days. Popular music was the main source of entertainment for the everyday man. The 1900’s were hard all around. There was war after war and financial turmoil happening. There were injustices against women and minorities. Music was what brought the people together. Music is what distracted all of the everyday people from the hardships in their lives and in the world. Popular music allowed everyone to forget the bad and remember all of the good in the world.
I want to now go on to talk about genres in that time period. Musically, I had an understanding of the Blue’s as a genre, but I didn’t realize how many ties it had into other musical genre. Blue’s music has had influences in Gospel music, Jazz, and Rock primarily. In regards to Gospel music, I always thought that the main music all had religious connotations. I wasn’t aware that some of the lyrics of the music in the gospel genre wasn’t necessarily all focused on religion. I also didn’t realize until it was pointed out to me the heavy Blue’s ties in gospel music. When I think of Gospel music, it is soulful and typically upbeat and uplifting. I don’t really think of gospel music being a music that can hold such sorrow and almost a dragging felling. I also wasn’t aware that Gospel Quartets existed. Once I heard the example song, it sounded familiar and like songs that I have heard of before. Also, while listening to the quartets, I could hear influences in different spiritual and choir music I have sung. I’m not really sure if the chicken or the egg came first for that one, but, regardless, it was a musically similarity that I heard. Going back to blues, I have always lumped blues and jazz music into a similar category in relation to one another. Jazz and Blue’s music can make me feel things in very similar ways. The relationship between the genres is most prevalent once Mainstream Blue’s was popular. Mainstream Blue’s really mirrors jazz. Both of these genres both have similar phrasing, intention, and instruments. Blues can be stripped down and played with one or two instruments where jazz music typically requires more. Jazz music includes string bass, electric or otherwise, piano, and usually a brass or wind instrument like trumpet or saxophone. Adding jazz instruments in the Blue’s makes the song fuller and makes it more listenable. When listening to a traditional blue’s song in comparison to a mainstream blue’s song, you can understand why mainstream blue’s became much more popular.