   #copyright

Music of the United States

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Musical genres, styles,
eras and events

   The United States is home to a wide array of regional styles and
   scenes.
   Enlarge
   The United States is home to a wide array of regional styles and
   scenes.

   The music of the United States reflects the country's multi-ethnic
   population through a diverse array of styles. Rock and roll, country,
   rhythm and blues, jazz, and hip hop are among the country's most
   internationally renowned genres. Since the beginning of the 20th
   century, popular recorded music from the United States has become
   increasingly known across the world, to the point where some forms of
   American popular music are listened to almost everywhere.

   The earliest inhabitants of the United States were Native American
   tribes, who played the first music in the area. Beginning in the 17th
   century, immigrants from the British Isles, Spain, and France began
   arriving in large numbers, bringing with them new styles and
   instruments. African slaves brought musical traditions, and each
   subsequent wave of immigrants contributed to a melting pot.

   Much of modern popular music can trace its roots to the emergence in
   the late 1800s of African American blues and the growth in the 1920s of
   gospel music. African American music formed a basis for popular music,
   which used elements derived from European and indigenous musics. The
   United States has also seen documented folk music and recorded popular
   music produced in the ethnic styles of Ukraine, Irish, Scottish,
   Polish, Mexican and Jewish communities, among others. Many American
   cities and towns have vibrant music scenes which, in turn, support a
   number of regional musical styles. Aside from cities such as Detroit,
   New York, Chicago, Nashville and Los Angeles, many smaller cities have
   produced distinctive styles of music. The Cajun and Creole traditions
   in Louisiana music, the folk and popular styles of Hawaiian music, and
   the bluegrass and old time music of the Southeastern states are a few
   examples.
   Music of the United States
   History ( Timeline)
   Colonial era - to the Civil War - During the Civil War - Late 19th
   century - Early 20th century - 40s and 50s - 60s and 70s - 80s to the
   present
   Genres: Classical - Folk - Popular: Hip hop - Pop - Rock
   Awards Grammy Awards, Country Music Awards
   Charts Billboard Music Chart
   Festivals Jazz Fest, Lollapalooza, Ozzfest, Monterey Jazz Festival
   Media Spin, Rolling Stone, Vibe, Down Beat, Source, MTV, VH1
   National anthem " The Star-Spangled Banner" and forty-eight state songs
   Ethnic music
   Native American - English: old-time and Western music - African
   American - Irish and Scottish - Latin: Tejano and Puerto Rican - Cajun
   and Creole - Hawaii - Other immigrants
   Local music
   AK - AL - AR - AS - AZ - CA - CO - CT - DC - DE - FL - GA - GU - HI -
   IA - ID - IL - IN - KS - KY - LA - MA - MD - ME - MI - MN - MO - MP -
   MS - MT - NC - ND - NE - NH - NM - NV - NJ - NY - OH - OK - OR - PA -
   PR - RI - SC - SD - TN - TX - UT - VA - VI - VT - WA - WI - WV - WY

Characteristics

   The music of the United States can be characterized by the use of
   syncopation and asymmetrical rhythms, long, irregular melodies, which
   are said to "reflect the wide open geography of (the American
   landscape)" and the "sense of personal freedom characteristic of
   American life". Some distinct aspects of American music, like the
   call-and-response format, are derived from African techniques and
   instruments.

   Throughout the early part of American history, and into modern times,
   the relationship between American and European music has been a
   discussed topic among scholars of American music. Some have urged for
   the adoption of more purely European techniques and styles, which are
   sometimes perceived as more refined or elegant, while others have
   pushed for a sense of musical nationalism that celebrates distinctively
   American styles. Modern classical music scholar John Warthen Struble
   has contrasted American and European, concluding that the music of the
   United States is inherently distinct because the United States has not
   had centuries of musical evolution as a nation. Instead, the music of
   the United States is that of dozens or hundreds of indigenous and
   immigrant groups, all of which developed largely in regional isolation
   until the American Civil War, when people from across the country were
   brought together in army units, trading musical styles and practices.
   Struble deemed the ballads of the Civil War "the first American folk
   music with discernible features that can be considered unique to
   America: the first 'American' sounding music, as distinct from any
   regional style derived from another country."
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   The Civil War, and the period following it, saw a general flowering of
   American art, literature and music. Amateur musical ensembles of this
   era can be seen as the birth of American popular music. Music author
   David Ewen describes these early amateur bands as combining "the depth
   and drama of the classics with undemanding technique, eschewing
   complexity in favour of direct expression. If it was vocal music, the
   words would be in English, despite the critics who declared English an
   unsingable language. In a way, it was part of the entire awakening of
   America that happened after the Civil War, a time in which American
   painters, writers and 'serious' composers addressed specifically
   American themes." During this period the roots of blues, gospel, jazz
   and country music took shape; in the 20th century, these became the
   core of American popular music, which further evolved into the styles
   like rhythm and blues, rock and roll and hip hop music.

Social identity

   Music intertwines with aspects of American social and cultural
   identity, including through social class, race and ethnicity,
   geography, religion, language, gender and sexuality. The relationship
   between music and race is perhaps the most potent determiner of musical
   meaning in the United States. The development of an African American
   musical identity, out of disparate sources from Africa and Europe, has
   been a constant theme in the music history of the United States. Little
   documentation exists of colonial-era African American music, when
   styles, songs and instruments from across West Africa commingled in the
   melting pot of slavery. By the mid-19th century, a distinctly African
   American folk tradition was well-known and widespread, and African
   American musical techniques, instruments and images became a part of
   mainstream American music through spirituals, minstrel shows and slave
   songs. African American musical styles became an integral part of
   American popular music through blues, jazz, rhythm and blues, and then
   rock and roll, soul and hip hop; all of these styles were consumed by
   Americans of all races, but were created in African American styles and
   idioms before eventually becoming common in performance and consumption
   across racial lines. In contrast, country music derives from both
   African and European, as well as Native American and Hawaiian,
   traditions and yet has long been perceived as a form of white music.

   Economic and social class separates American music through the creation
   and consumption of music, such as the upper-class patronage of
   symphony-goers, and the generally poor performers of rural and ethnic
   folk musics. Musical divisions based on class are not absolute,
   however, and are sometimes as much perceived as actual; popular
   American country music, for example, is a commercial genre designed to
   "appeal to a working-class identity, whether or not its listeners are
   actually working class". Country music is also intertwined with
   geographic identity, and is specifically rural in origin and function;
   other genres, like R&B and hip hop, are perceived as inherently urban..
   For much of American history, music-making has been a "feminized
   activity". In the 19th century, amateur piano and singing were
   considered proper for middle- and upper-class women, who were,
   nevertheless, frequently barred from orchestras and symphonies. Women
   were also a major part of early popular music performance, though
   recorded traditions quickly become more dominated by men. Most
   male-dominated genres of popular music include female performers as
   well, often in a niche appealing primarily to women; these include
   gangsta rap and heavy metal.

Diversity

   The United States is often said to be a cultural melting pot, taking in
   influences from across the world and creating distinctively new methods
   of cultural expression. Though aspects of American music can be traced
   back to specific origins, claiming any particular original culture for
   a musical element is inherently problematic, due to the constant
   evolution of American music through transplanting and hybridizing
   techniques, instruments and genres. Elements of foreign musics arrived
   in the United States both through the formal sponsorship of educational
   and outreach events by individuals and groups, and through informal
   processes, as in the incidental transplantation of West African music
   through slavery, and Irish music through immigration. The most
   distinctly American musics are a result of cross-cultural hybridization
   through close contact. Slavery, for example, mixed persons from
   numerous tribes in tight living quarters, resulting in a shared musical
   tradition that was enriched through further hybridizing with elements
   of indigenous, Latin and European music. American ethnic, religious and
   racial diversity has also produced such intermingled genres as the
   French-African music of the Louisiana Creoles, the Native, Mexican and
   European fusion Tejano music and the thoroughly hybridized slack-key
   guitar and other styles of modern Hawaiian music.

   The process of transplanting music between cultures is not without
   criticism. The folk revival of the mid-20th century, for example,
   appropriated the musics of various rural peoples, in part to promote
   certain political causes, which has caused some to question whether the
   process caused the "commercial commodification of other peoples'
   songs... and the inevitable dilution of mean" in the appropriated
   musics. The issue of cultural appropriation has also been a major part
   of racial relations in the United States. The use of African American
   musical techniques, images and conceits in popular music largely by and
   for white Americans has been widespread since at least the mid-19th
   century songs of Stephen Foster and the rise of minstrel shows. The
   American music industry has actively attempted to popularize white
   performers of African American music because they are more palatable to
   mainstream and middle-class Americans. This process has produced such
   varied stars as Benny Goodman, Eminem and Elvis Presley, as well as
   popular styles like blue-eyed soul and rockabilly.

Folk music

   Folk music in the United States is varied across the country's numerous
   ethnic groups. The Native American tribes each play their own varieties
   of folk music, most of it spiritual in nature. African American music
   includes blues and gospel, descendants of West African music brought to
   the Americas by slaves and mixed with Western European music. During
   the colonial era, English, French and Spanish styles and instruments
   were brought to the Americas. By the early 20th century, the United
   States had become a major centre for folk music from around the world,
   including polka, Ukrainian and Polish fiddling, Ashkenazi Jewish
   klezmer and several kinds of Latin music.

   The Native Americans played the first folk music in what is now the
   United States, using a wide variety of styles and techniques. Some
   commonalities are near universal among Native American traditional
   music, however, especially the lack of harmony and polyphony, and the
   use of vocables and descending melodic figures. Traditional
   instrumentations uses the flute and many kinds of percussion
   instruments, like drums, rattles and shakers. Since European and
   African contact was established, Native American folk music has grown
   in new directions, into fusions with disparate styles like European
   folk dances and Tejano music. Modern Native American music may be best
   known for powwow gatherings, pan-tribal gatherings at which
   traditionally styled dances and music are performed.

   The Thirteen Colonies of the original United States were all former
   English possessions, and Anglo culture became a major foundation for
   American folk and popular music. Many American folk songs are identical
   to British songs in arrangements, but with new lyrics, often as
   parodies of the original material. American-Anglo songs are also
   characterized as having fewer pentatonic tunes, less prominent
   accompaniment (but with heavier use of drones) and more melodies in
   major. Anglo-American traditional music also includes a variety of
   broadside ballads, humorous stories and tall tales, and disaster songs
   regarding mining, shipwrecks and murder. Legendary heroes like Joe
   Magarac, John Henry and Jesse James are part of many songs. Folk dances
   of British origin include the square dance, descended from the
   quadrille, combined with the American innovation of a caller
   instructing the dancers. The religious communal society known as the
   Shakers emigrated from England during the 18th century and developed
   their own folk dance patterns such as: the square order shuffle and the
   quick step manner. Their early songs harken back to British folk song
   models. The best known Shaker song is Simple Gifts, written as dance
   song in 1848.

   The ancestors of today's African American population were brought to
   the United States as slaves, working primarily in the plantations of
   the South. They were from hundreds of tribes across West Africa, and
   they brought with them certain traits of West African music including
   call and response vocals and complexly rhythmic music, as well as
   syncopated beats and shifting accents. The African musical focus on
   rhythmic singing and dancing was brought to the New World, and where it
   became part of a distinct folk culture that helped Africans "retain
   continuity with their past through music". The first slaves in the
   United States sang work songs, field hollers and, following
   Christianization, hymns. In the 19th century, a Great Awakening of
   religious fervor gripped people across the country, especially in the
   South. Protestant hymns written mostly by New England preachers became
   a feature of camp meetings held among devout Christians across the
   South. When blacks began singing adapted versions of these hymns, they
   were called Negro spirituals. It was from these roots, of spiritual
   songs, work songs and field hollers, that blues, jazz and gospel
   developed.

Blues and spirituals

   Spirituals were primarily expressions of religious faith, sung by
   slaves on southern plantations. In the mid to late 19th century,
   spirituals spread out of the U.S. South. In 1871 Fisk University became
   home to the Jubilee Singers, a pioneering group that popularized
   spirituals across the country. In imitation of this group, gospel
   quartets arose, followed by increasing diversification with the early
   20th-century rise of jackleg and singing preachers, from whence came
   the popular style of gospel music.

   Blues is a combination of African work songs, field hollers and shouts.
   It developed in the rural South in the first decade of the 20th
   century. The most important characteristics of the blues is its use of
   the blue scale, with a flatted or indeterminate third, as well as the
   typically lamenting lyrics; though both of these elements had existed
   in African American folk music prior to the 20th century, the codified
   form of modern blues (such as with the AAB structure) did not exist
   until the early 20th century.

Other immigrant communities

   The United States is a melting pot consisting of numerous ethnic
   groups. Many of these peoples have kept alive the folk traditions of
   their homeland, often producing distinctively American styles of
   foreign music. Some nationalities have produced local scenes in regions
   of the country where they have clustered, like Cape Verdean music in
   New England, Armenian music in California, and Italian and Ukrainian
   music in New York City.

   The Creoles are a community with varied non-Anglo ancestry, mostly
   descendant of people who lived in Louisiana before its purchase by the
   U.S. The Cajuns are a group of Francophones who arrived in Louisiana
   after leaving Acadia in Canada. The city of New Orleans, Louisiana,
   being a major port, has acted as a melting pot for people from all over
   the Caribbean basin. The result is a diverse and syncretic set of
   styles of Cajun and Creole music.

   Mexico controlled much of what is now the western United States until
   the Mexican-American War, including the entire state of Texas. After
   Texas joined the United States, the Mexicans living in the state
   (Tejanos) began culturally developing separately from their neighbors
   to the south, and remained culturally distinct from other Texans.
   Central to the evolution of early Tejano music was the blend of
   traditional Mexican forms such as the corrido, and Continental European
   styles introduced by German and Czech settlers in the late 19th
   century. In particular, the accordion was adopted by Tejano folk
   musicians at the turn of the 20th century, and it became a popular
   instrument for amateur musicians in Texas and Northern Mexico.

Classical music

   The European classical music tradition was brought to the United States
   with some of the first colonists. European classical music is rooted in
   the traditions of European art, ecclesiastical and concert music. The
   central norms of this tradition developed between 1550 and 1825,
   centering on what is known as the common practice period. Most American
   classical composers attempted to work entirely within European models
   until the 19th century. When Antonín Dvořák, a prominent Czech
   composer, visited the United States from 1892 to 1895, he iterated the
   idea that American classical music needed its own models instead of
   imitating European composers; he helped to inspire subsequent composers
   to make a distinctly American style of classical music. By the
   beginning of 20th century, many American composers were incorporating
   disparate elements into their work, ranging from jazz and blues to
   Native American music.

Early classical music

   During the colonial era, there were two distinct fields of what is now
   considered classical music. One was associated with amateur composers
   and pedagogues, whose style was based around simple hymns that were
   performed with increasing sophistication over time. The other colonial
   tradition was that of the mid-Atlantic cities like Philadelphia and
   Baltimore, which produced a number of prominent composers who worked
   almost entirely within the European model; these composers were mostly
   English in origin, and worked specifically in the style of prominent
   English composers of the day.

   European classical music was brought to the United States during the
   colonial era. Many American composers of this period worked exclusively
   with European models, while others, such as William Billings, Supply
   Belcher and Justin Morgan, also known as the First New England School,
   developed a style almost entirely independent of European models. Of
   these composers, Billings is the most well-remembered; he was also
   influential "as the founder of the American church choir, as the first
   musician to use a pitch-pipe, and as the first to introduce a
   violoncello into church service". Many of these composers were amateur
   singers who developed new forms of sacred music suitable for
   performance by amateurs, and often using harmonic methods which would
   have been considered bizarre by contemporary European standards. These
   composers' styles were untouched by "the influence of their
   sophisticated European contemporaries", using modal or pentatonic
   scales or melodies and eschewing the European rules of harmony.

   In the early 19th century, America produced diverse composers like
   Anthony Philip Heinrich, who created a unique American style and was
   the first American composer to write for a symphony. Many other
   composers, most famously William Henry Fry and George Frederick
   Bristow, supported the idea of an American classical style, though
   their works were very European in orientation. It was John Knowles
   Paine, however, who became the first American composer to be accepted
   in Europe. Paine's example inspired the composers of the Second New
   England School, which included such figures as Amy Beach, Edward
   MacDowell, and Horatio Parker.

   Louis Moreau Gottschalk is perhaps the best-remembered American
   composer of the 19th century, said by music historian Richard Crawford
   to be known for "bringing indigenous or folk, themes and rhythms into
   music for the concert hall". Gottschalk's music reflected the cultural
   mix of his home city, New Orleans, Louisiana, which was home to a
   variety of Latin, Caribbean, African American, Cajun and Creole musics.
   He was well acknowledged as a talented pianist in his lifetime, and was
   also a known composer who remains admired though little performed.

20th century

   The New York classical music scene included Charles Griffes, originally
   from Elmira, New York, who began publishing his most innovative
   material in 1914. His early collaborations were attempts to use
   non-Western musical themes. The best-known New York composer, indeed,
   the best-known American classical composer of any kind, was George
   Gershwin. Gershwin was a songwriter with Tin Pan Alley and the Broadway
   theatres, and his works were strongly influenced by jazz, or rather the
   precursors to jazz that were extant during his time. Gershwin's work
   made American classical music more focused, and attracted an unheard of
   amount of international attention. Following Gershwin, the first major
   composer was Aaron Copland from Brooklyn, who used elements of American
   folk music, though it remained European in technique and form. Later,
   he turned to the ballet and then serial music. Charles Ives was one of
   the earliest American classical composers of enduring international
   significance, producing music in a uniquely American style, though his
   music was mostly unknown until after his death in 1954.

   Many of the later 20th-century composers, such as John Cage, John
   Corigliano, John Adams and Steve Reich, used modernist and minimalist
   techniques. Reich invented a technique known as phasing, in which two
   musical activities begin simultaneously and are repeated, gradually
   drifting out of sync, creating a natural sense of development. Reich
   was also very interested in non-Western music, incorporating African
   rhythmic techniques in his compositions. Recent composers and
   performers are strongly influenced by the minimalist works of Philip
   Glass, a Baltimore native based out of New York, Meredith Monk and
   others.

   With the rise of the American film industry, film scores also became a
   notable area of symphonic composition, and maintained an increasing
   position in popular recognition of orchestral works; selections from
   motion picture soundtracks would eventually become part of the
   programming in popular concert series.

Popular music

   The United States has produced many of the most popular musicians and
   composers in the modern world. Beginning with the birth of recorded
   music, American performers have continued to lead the field of popular
   music, which out of "all the contributions made by Americans to world
   culture... has been taken to heart by the entire world". Most histories
   of popular music start with American ragtime or Tin Pan Alley; others,
   however, trace popular music back to the European Renaissance and
   through broadsheets, ballads and other popular traditions. Other
   authors typically look at popular sheet music, tracing American popular
   music to spirituals, minstrel shows and vaudeville, or the patriotic
   songs of the Civil War.

Early popular song

   The patriotic lay songs of the American Revolution constituted the
   first kind of mainstream popular music. These included "The Liberty
   Tree", by Thomas Paine. Cheaply printed as broadsheets, early patriotic
   songs spread across the colonies and were performed at home and at
   public meetings. Fife songs were especially celebrated, and were
   performed on fields of battle during the American Revolution. The
   longest lasting of these fife songs is " Yankee Doodle", still well
   known today. The melody dates back to 1755 and was sung by both
   American and British troops. Patriotic songs were mostly based on
   English melodies, with new lyrics added to denounce British
   colonialism; others, however, used tunes from Ireland, Scotland or
   elsewhere, or did not utilize a familiar melody. The song " Hail
   Columbia" was a major work that remained an unofficial national anthem
   until the adoption of " The Star-Spangled Banner". Much of this early
   American music still survives in Sacred Harp.
   Sheet music for "Dixie"
   Enlarge
   Sheet music for " Dixie"

   During the Civil War, when soldiers from across the country commingled,
   the multifarious strands of American music began to cross-fertilize
   each other, a process that was aided by the burgeoning railroad
   industry and other technological developments that made travel and
   communication easier. Army units included individuals from across the
   country, and they rapidly traded tunes, instruments and techniques. The
   war was an impetus for the creation of distinctly American songs that
   became and remained wildly popular. The most popular songs of the Civil
   War era included " Dixie", written by Daniel Decatur Emmett. The song,
   originally titled "Dixie's Land", was made for the closing of a
   minstrel show; it spread to New Orleans first, where it was published
   and became "one of the great song successes of the pre-Civil War
   period". In addition to popular patriotic songs, the Civil War era also
   produced a great body of brass band pieces.
   19th-century song composer Stephen Foster
   Enlarge
   19th-century song composer Stephen Foster

   Following the Civil War, minstrel shows became the first distinctively
   American form of music expression. The minstrel show was an indigenous
   form of American entertainment consisting of comic skits, variety acts,
   dancing, and music, usually performed by white people in blackface.
   Minstrel shows used African American elements in musical performances,
   but only in simplified ways; storylines in the shows depicted blacks as
   natural-born slaves and fools, before eventually becoming associated
   with abolitionism. The minstrel show was invented by Dan Emmett and the
   Virginia Minstrels. Minstrel shows produced the first well-remembered
   popular songwriters in American music history: Thomas D. Rice, Dan
   Emmett, and, most famously, Stephen Foster. The composer John Philip
   Sousa is closely associated with the most popular trend in American
   popular music just before the turn of the century. Formerly the
   bandmaster of the United States Marine Band, Sousa wrote military
   marches like " The Stars and Stripes Forever" that reflected his
   "nostalgia for [his] home and country", giving the melody a "stirring
   virile character".

   In the early 20th century, American musical theatre was a major source
   for popular songs, many of which influenced blues, jazz, country, and
   other extant styles of popular music. The centre of development for
   this style was in New York City, where the Broadway theatres became
   among the most renowned venues in the city. Theatrical composers and
   lyricists like the brothers George and Ira Gershwin created a uniquely
   American theatrical style that used American vernacular speech and
   music. Musicals featured popular songs and fast-paced plots that often
   revolved around love and romance.

Blues and gospel

   The blues is a genre of African American folk music that is the basis
   for much of modern American popular music. Blues can be seen as part of
   a continuum of musical styles like country, jazz, ragtime, and gospel;
   though each genre evolved into distinct forms, their origins were often
   indistinct. Early forms of the blues evolved in and around the
   Mississippi Delta in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The
   earliest blues-like music was primarily call-and-response vocal music,
   without harmony or accompaniment and without any formal musical
   structure. Slaves and their descendants created the blues by adapting
   the field shouts and hollers, turning them into passionate solo songs.
   When mixed with the Christian spiritual songs of African American
   churches and revival meetings, blues became the basis of gospel music.
   Modern gospel began in African American churches in the 1920s, in the
   form of worshipers proclaiming their faith in an improvised, often
   musical manner (testifying). Composers like Thomas A. Dorsey composed
   gospel works that used elements of blues and jazz in traditional hymns
   and spiritual songs.

   Ragtime was a style of music based around the piano, using syncopated
   rhythms and chromaticisms. It is primarily a form of dance music
   utilizing the walking bass, and is generally composed in sonata form.
   Ragtime is a refined and evolved form of the African American cakewalk
   dance, mixed with styles ranging from European marches and popular
   songs to jigs and other dances played by large African American bands
   in northern cities during the end of the 19th century. The most famous
   ragtime performer and composer was Scott Joplin, known for works such
   as "Maple Leaf Rag".
   Blues singer Bessie Smith
   Enlarge
   Blues singer Bessie Smith

   Blues became a part of American popular music in the 1920s, when
   classic female blues singers like Bessie Smith grew popular. At the
   same time, record companies launched the field of race music, which was
   mostly blues targeted at African American audiences. The most famous of
   these acts went on to inspire much of the later popular development of
   the blues and blues-derived genres, including the legendary Robert
   Johnson. By the end of the 1940s, however, pure blues was only a minor
   part of popular music, having been subsumed by offshoots like rhythm &
   blues and the nascent rock and roll style. Some styles of electric,
   piano-driven blues, like the boogie-woogie, retained a large audience.
   A bluesy style of gospel also became popular in mainstream America in
   the 1950s, led by singer Mahalia Jackson.

Jazz

   Jazz is a kind of music characterized by swung and blue notes, call and
   response vocals, polyrhythms and improvisation. Though originally a
   kind of dance music, jazz has been a major part of popular music, and
   has also become a major element of Western classical music. Jazz has
   roots in West African cultural and musical expression, and in African
   American music traditions including blues and ragtime, as well as
   European military band music. Early jazz was closely related to
   ragtime, with which it could be distinguished by the use of more
   intricate rhythmic improvisation. The earliest jazz bands adopted much
   of the vocabulary of the blues, including bent and blue notes and
   instrumental "growls" and smears otherwise not used on European
   instruments. Jazz's roots come from the city of New Orleans, Louisiana,
   populated by Cajuns and black Creoles, who combined the French-Canadian
   culture of the Cajuns with their own styles of music in the 19th
   century. Large Creole bands that played for funerals and parades became
   a major basis for early jazz, which spread from New Orleans to Chicago
   and other northern urban centers.

   Though jazz had long since achieved some limited popularity, it was
   Louis Armstrong who became one of the first popular stars and a major
   force in the development of jazz. Armstrong was an improviser, capable
   of creating numerous variations on a single melody; he also popularized
   scat singing, an improvisational vocal technique in which nonsensical
   syllables ( vocables) are sung. He was influential in the rise of a
   kind of pop big band jazz called swing. Swing is characterized by a
   strong rhythm section, usually consisting of double bass and drums,
   medium to fast tempo, and rhythmic devices like the swung note, which
   is common to most jazz. Swing is primarily a fusion of 1930s jazz fused
   with elements of the blues and Tin Pan Alley. Swing used bigger bands
   than other kinds of jazz, leading to bandleaders tightly arranging the
   material which discouraged improvisation, previously an integral part
   of jazz. Swing became a major part of African American dance, and came
   to be accompanied by a popular dance called the swing dance.
   Bebop pioneer Dizzy Gillespie Enlarge
   Bebop pioneer Dizzy Gillespie

   Jazz influenced many performers of all the major styles of later
   popular music, though jazz itself never again became such a major part
   of American popular music as during the swing era. The later 20th
   century American jazz scene did, however, produce some popular
   crossover stars, such as Miles Davis. In the middle of the 20th
   century, jazz evolved into a variety of subgenres, beginning with
   bebop. Bebop is a form of jazz characterized by fast tempos,
   improvisation based on harmonic structure rather than melody, and use
   of the flatted fifth. Bebop was developed in the early and mid-1940s,
   later evolving into styles like hard bop and free jazz. Innovators of
   the style included Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, who arose from
   small jazz clubs in New York City.

Country music

   Country music is primarily a fusion of African American blues and
   spirituals with Appalachian folk music, adapted for pop audiences and
   popularized beginning in the 1920s. The origins of country are in rural
   Southern folk music, which was primarily Irish and British, with
   African and continental European musics. Anglo-Celtic tunes, dance
   music, and balladry were the earliest predecessors of modern country,
   then known as hillbilly music. Early hillbilly also borrowed elements
   of the blues and drew upon more aspects of 19th-century pop songs as
   hillbilly music evolved into a commercial genre eventually known as
   country and western and then simply country. The earliest country
   instrumentation revolved around the European-derived fiddle and the
   African-derived banjo, with the guitar later added. String instruments
   like the ukulele and steel guitar became commonplace due to the
   popularity of Hawaiian musical groups in the early 20th century.

   The roots of commercial country music are generally traced to 1927,
   when music talent scout Ralph Peer recorded Jimmie Rodgers and The
   Carter Family. Popular success was very limited, though a small demand
   spurred some commercial recording. After World War II, there was
   increased interest in specialty styles like country music, producing a
   few major pop stars. The most influential country musician of the era
   was Hank Williams, a bluesy country singer from Alabama. He remains
   renowned as one of country music's greatest songwriters and performers,
   viewed as a "folk poet" with a "honky-tonk swagger" and "working-class
   sympathies". Throughout the decade the roughness of honky tonk
   gradually eroded as the Nashville sound grew more pop-oriented.
   Producers like Chet Atkins created the Nashville sound by stripping the
   hillbilly elements of the instrumentation and using smooth
   instrumentation and advanced production techniques. Eventually, most
   records from Nashville were in this style, which began to incorporate
   strings and vocal choirs.
   Country singer Randy Travis, a new traditionalist singer
   Enlarge
   Country singer Randy Travis, a new traditionalist singer

   By the early part of the 1960s, however, the Nashville sound had become
   perceived as too watered-down by many more traditionalist performers
   and fans, resulting in a number of local scenes like the Lubbock sound
   and the Bakersfield sound. A few performers retained popularity,
   however, such as the long-standing cultural icon Johnny Cash. The
   Bakersfield sound began in the mid to late 1950s when performers like
   Wynn Stewart and Buck Owens began using elements of Western swing and
   rock, such as the breakbeat, in their music. In the '60s performers
   like Merle Haggard popularized the sound. In the early 1970s, Haggard
   was also part of outlaw country, alongside singer-songwriters such as
   Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings. Outlaw country was rock-oriented and
   lyrically focused on the criminal antics of the performers, in contrast
   to the clean-cut country singers of the Nashville sound. By the middle
   of the 1980s, the country music charts were dominated by pop singers,
   alongside a nascent revival of honky-tonk-style country with the rise
   of performers like Dwight Yoakam. The 1980s also saw the development of
   alternative country performers like Uncle Tupelo, who were opposed to
   the more pop-oriented style of mainstream country. At the beginning of
   the 2000s, pop-oriented country acts remained among the best-selling
   performers in the United States, especially Garth Brooks.

R&B and soul

   R&B, an abbreviation for rhythm and blues, is a style that arose in the
   1930s and 1940s. Early R&B consisted of large rhythm units "smashing
   away behind screaming blues singers (who) had to shout to be heard
   above the clanging and strumming of the various electrified instruments
   and the churning rhythm sections". R&B was not extensively recorded and
   promoted because record companies felt that it was not suited for most
   audiences, especially middle-class whites, because of the suggestive
   lyrics and driving rhythms. Bandleaders like Louis Jordan innovated the
   sound of early R&B, using a band with a small horn section and
   prominent rhythm instrumentation. By the end of the 1940s, he had had
   several hits, and helped pave the way for contemporaries like Wynonie
   Harris and John Lee Hooker. Many of the most popular R&B songs were not
   performed in the rollicking style of Jordan and his contemporaries;
   instead they were performed by white musicians like Pat Boone in a more
   palatable mainstream style, which turned into pop hits. By the end of
   the 1950s, however, there was a wave of popular black blues-rock and
   country-influenced R&B performers like Chuck Berry gaining
   unprecedented fame among white listeners.

   Soul music is a combination of rhythm and blues and gospel which began
   in the late 1950s in the United States. It is characterized by its use
   of gospel-music devices, with a greater emphasis on vocalists and the
   use of secular themes. The 1950s recordings of Ray Charles, Sam Cooke,
   and James Brown are commonly considered the beginnings of soul. The
   Motown Record Corporation of Detroit, Michigan became highly successful
   during the early and mid 1960s by releasing soul recordings with heavy
   pop influences to make them palatable to white audiences, allowing
   black artists to more easily crossover to white audiences.

   Pure soul was popularized by Otis Redding and the other artists of Stax
   Records in Memphis, Tennessee. By the late 1960s, Atlantic recording
   artist Aretha Franklin had emerged as the most popular female soul star
   in the country. Also by this time, soul had splintered into several
   genres, influenced by psychedelic rock and other styles. The social and
   political ferment of the 1960s inspired artists like Marvin Gaye and
   Curtis Mayfield to release albums with hard-hitting social commentary,
   while another variety became more dance-oriented music, evolving into
   funk. During the '70s some highly slick and commercial bands like The
   O'Jays and Hall & Oates achieved mainstream success with styles like
   Philly soul and blue-eyed soul. By the end of the '70s, soul, funk,
   rock and most other genres were dominated by tracks influenced by
   disco, a kind of popular dance music. With the introduction of
   influences from electro music and funk in the late 1970s and early
   1980s, soul music became less raw and more slickly produced, resulting
   in a genre of music that was once again called R&B, usually
   distinguished from the earlier rhythm and blues by identifying it as
   contemporary R&B.
   R&B singer Mariah Carey.
   Enlarge
   R&B singer Mariah Carey.

   The first contemporary R&B stars arose in the 1980s, with the
   funk-influenced singer Prince, dance-pop star Michael Jackson, and a
   wave of female vocalists like Tina Turner and Whitney Houston. Hip hop
   came to influence contemporary R&B later in the '80s, first in a style
   called new jack swing and then in a related series of subgenres called
   hip hop soul and neo soul. New jack swing was a kind of vocal music,
   often featuring rapped verses and drum machines. Hip hop soul and neo
   soul developed later, in the '90s, the former being a mixture of R&B
   with hip hop beats and the images and themes of gangsta rap, while the
   latter is a more experimental, edgier and generally less mainstream
   combination of '60s and '70s-style soul vocals with hip hop beats and
   occasional rapped verses. In the 2000s contemporary R&B has produced
   many of the country's biggest pop stars, including Mariah Carey, Usher,
   and Justin Timberlake. R&B has lost it's original meaning, and now
   simply serves as a variation of the 'pop' marketing label.

Rock, metal and punk

   Rock and roll is a kind of popular music, developed out of country,
   blues and R&B. Rock's exact origins and early influences have been
   hotly debated, and are the subjects of much scholarship. Though
   squarely in the blues tradition, rock took elements from Afro-Caribbean
   and Latin musical techniques. Rock was an urban style, formed in the
   areas where diverse populations resulted in the mixtures of African
   American, Latin and European genres ranging from the blues and country
   to polka and zydeco. Rock and roll first entered popular music through
   a style called rockabilly, which fused the nascent sound with elements
   of country music. Black-performed rock and roll had previously had
   limited mainstream success, but it was the white performer Elvis
   Presley who first appealed to mainstream audiences with a black style
   of music, becoming one of the best-selling musicians in history, and
   brought rock and roll to audiences across the world.
   Folk singer Pete Seeger
   Enlarge
   Folk singer Pete Seeger

   The 1960s saw several important changes in popular music, especially
   rock. Many of these changes took place through the British Invasion
   where bands such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and later Led
   Zeppelin and Black Sabbath were and still are immensely popular and had
   a profound effect on American culture and music. These changes included
   the move from professionally composed songs to the singer-songwriter,
   and the understanding of popular music as an art, rather than a form of
   commerce or pure entertainment. These changes led to the rise of
   musical movements connected to political goals, such as civil rights
   and the opposition to the Vietnam War. Rock was at the forefront of
   this change. In the early 60s, rock spawned several subgenres,
   beginning with surf. Surf was an instrumental guitar genre
   characterized by a distorted sound, associated with the Southern
   California surfing youth culture. Inspired by the lyrical focus of
   surf, The Beach Boys began recording in 1961 with an elaborate,
   pop-friendly and harmonic sound. As their fame grew, The Beach Boys'
   songwriter Brian Wilson experimented with new studio techniques and
   became associated with the counterculture. The counterculture was a
   movement that embraced political activism, was closely connected to the
   hippie subculture. The hippies were associated with two kinds of music,
   folk rock and country rock, and psychedelic rock. Folk and country rock
   were associated with the rise of politicized folk music, led by Pete
   Seeger and others, especially at the Greenwich Village music scene in
   New York. Folk rock entered the mainstream in the middle of the 1960s,
   when the singer-songwriter Bob Dylan began his career. He was followed
   by a number of country-rock bands and soft, folky singer-songwriters.
   Psychedelic rock was a hard-driving kind of guitar-based rock, closely
   associated with the city of San Francisco. Though Jefferson Airplane
   was the only local band to have a major national hit, the Grateful
   Dead, a country and bluegrass-flavored jam band, became an iconic part
   of the psychedelic counterculture, associated with hippies, LSD and
   other symbols of that era.
   Folk rock singer-songwriters Joan Baez and Bob Dylan
   Enlarge
   Folk rock singer-songwriters Joan Baez and Bob Dylan

   Following the turbulent political, social and musical changes of the
   1960s and early 1970s, rock music diversified. What was formerly a
   discrete genre known as rock and roll evolved into a catchall category
   called simply rock music, which came to include diverse styles like
   heavy metal and punk rock. During the '70s most of these styles were
   evolving in the underground music scene, while mainstream audiences
   began the decade with a wave of singer-songwriters who drew on the
   deeply emotional and personal lyrics of 1960s folk rock. The same
   period saw the rise of bombastic arena rock bands, bluesy Southern rock
   groups and mellow soft rock stars. Beginning in the later 1970s, the
   rock singer and songwriter Bruce Springsteen became a major star, with
   anthemic songs and dense, inscrutable lyrics that celebrated the poor
   and working class.

   Punk was a form of rebellious rock that began in the 1970s, and was
   loud, aggressive and often very simple. Punk began as a reaction
   against the popular music of the period, especially disco and arena
   rock. American bands in the field included, most famously, The Ramones
   and Talking Heads, the latter playing a more avant-garde style that was
   closely associated with punk before evolving into mainstream New Wave.
   In the 1980s some punk fans and bands became disillusioned with the
   growing popularity of the style, resulting in an even more aggressive
   style called hardcore punk. Hardcore was a form of sparse punk,
   consisting of short, fast, and intense songs that spoke to disaffected
   youth. Hardcore began in metropolises like Washington, D.C., though
   most major American cities had their own local scenes in the 1980s.
   Hardcore, punk, and garage rock were the roots of alternative rock, a
   diverse grouping of rock subgenres that were explicitly opposed to
   mainstream music, and that arose from the punk and post-punk styles. In
   the United States, many cities developed local alternative rock scenes,
   including Minneapolis and Seattle. Seattle's local scene produced
   grunge music, a dark and brooding style inspired by hardcore,
   psychedelia, and alternative rock. With the addition of a more melodic
   element to the sound of bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam, grunge became
   wildly popular across the United States beginning in the late 1980s and
   peaking in the early '90s.
   Aerosmith performing in 2003
   Enlarge
   Aerosmith performing in 2003

   Heavy metal is characterized by aggressive, driving rhythms, amplified
   and distorted guitars, grandiose lyrics and virtuosic instrumentation.
   Heavy metal's origins lie in the hard rock bands who took blues and
   rock and created a heavy sound centered around the guitar and drums.
   Most of the pioneers in the field were British; the first major
   American bands came in the early 1970s, like Blue Öyster Cult and
   Aerosmith. Heavy metal remained, however, a largely underground
   phenomenon. During the 1980s the first major pop-metal style arose and
   dominated the charts for several years; this was hair metal, a hard
   rock and pop fusion with a raucous spirit and a glam-influenced visual
   aesthetic. Some of these bands, like Bon Jovi, became international
   stars. The band Guns N' Roses rose to fame near the end of the decade
   with an image that was a reaction against the hair metal aesthetic. By
   the mid-1980s heavy metal had branched in so many different directions
   that fans, record companies, and fanzines created numerous subgenres.
   The United States was especially known for one of these subgenres,
   thrash metal, which was innovated by bands like Anthrax, Megadeth,
   Metallica and Slayer.

Hip hop music

   Hip hop is a cultural movement, of which music is a part. Hip hop music
   is itself composed of two parts: rapping, the delivery of swift, highly
   rhythmic and lyrical vocals; and DJing, the production of
   instrumentation either through sampling, instrumentation, turntablism
   or beatboxing. Hip hop arose in the early 1970s in The Bronx, New York
   City. Jamaican immigrant DJ Kool Herc is widely regarded as the
   progenitor of hip hop; he brought with him from Jamaica the practice of
   toasting over the rhythms of popular songs. Emcees originally arose to
   introduce the soul, funk and R&B songs that the DJs played, and to keep
   the crowd excited and dancing; over time, the DJs began isolating the
   percussion break of songs (when the rhythm climaxes), producing a
   repeated beat that the emcees rapped over. By the beginning of the
   1980s, there were popular hip hop songs, and the celebrities of the
   scene, like LL Cool J, gained mainstream renown. Other performers
   experimented with politicized lyrics and social awareness, or fused hip
   hop with jazz, heavy metal, techno, funk and soul. New styles appeared
   in the latter part of the 1980s, like alternative hip hop and the
   closely related jazz rap fusion, pioneered by rappers like De La Soul.

   The crews Public Enemy and N.W.A. did the most to bring hip hop to
   national attention, beginning in the late 1980s; the former did so with
   incendiary and politically charged lyrics, while the latter became the
   first prominent example of gangsta rap. Gangsta rap is a kind of hip
   hop, most importantly characterized by a lyrical focus on macho
   sexuality, physicality and a dangerous criminal image. Though the
   origins of gangsta rap can be traced back to the mid-1980s raps of
   Philadelphia's Schoolly D and the West Coast's Ice-T, the style is
   usually said to have begun in the Los Angeles and Oakland area, where
   Too $hort, N.W.A and others found their fame. This West Coast rap scene
   spawned the early 1990s G-funk sound, which paired gangsta rap lyrics
   with a thick and hazy sound, often from 1970s funk samples; the
   best-known proponents were the rappers Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg. Gangsta
   rap continued to exert a major presence in American popular music
   through the end of the 1990s and into the 21st century, especially
   after the breakthrough of white rapper Eminem. Hip hop became the
   dominant sound of popular music, influencing everything from jazz and
   rock to country and punk, by the mid-2000s.

Other niche styles

   The American music industry is dominated by large companies that
   produce, market and distribute certain kinds of music. Generally, these
   companies do not produce, or produce in only very limited quantities,
   recordings in styles that do not appeal to very large audiences.
   Smaller companies often fill in the void, offering a wide variety of
   recordings in styles ranging from polka to salsa. Many small music
   industries are built around a core fanbase who may be based largely in
   one region, such as Tejano or Hawaiian music, or they may be widely
   dispersed, such as the audience for Jewish klezmer.
   Latin music in the United States
   Enlarge
   Latin music in the United States

   The single largest niche industry is based on Latin music. Latin music
   has long influenced American popular music, and was an especially
   crucial part of the development of jazz. Modern pop Latin styles
   include a wide array of genres imported from across Latin America,
   including Colombian cumbia, Puerto Rican reggaeton and the Mexican
   corrido. Latin popular music in the United States began with a wave of
   dance bands in the 1930s and '50s. The most popular styles included the
   conga, rumba, and mambo. In the '50s Perez Prado made the cha-cha-cha
   famous, and the rise of Afro-Cuban jazz opened many ears to the
   harmonic, melodic, and rhythmic possibilities of Latin music. The most
   famous American form of Latin music, however, is salsa. Salsa
   incorporates many styles and variations; the term can be used to
   describe most forms of popular Cuban-derived genres. Most specifically,
   however, salsa refers to a particular style that was developed by
   mid-1970s groups of New York City-area Cuban and Puerto Rican
   immigrants, and stylistic descendants like 1980s salsa romantica. Salsa
   rhythms are complicated, with several patterns played simultaneously.
   The clave rhythm forms the basis of salsa songs and is used by the
   performers as a common rhythmic ground for their own phrases.

Government, politics and law

   The government of the United States regulates the music industry,
   enforces intellectual property laws and promotes and collects certain
   kinds of music. Under American copyright law, musical works, including
   recordings and compositions, are protected as intellectual property as
   soon as they are fixed in a tangible form. Copyright holders often
   register their work with the Library of Congress, which maintains a
   collection of the material. In addition, the Library of Congress has
   actively sought out culturally and musicologically significant
   materials since the early 20th century, such as by sending researchers
   to record folk music. These researchers include the pioneering American
   folk song collector Alan Lomax, whose work helped inspire the roots
   revival of the mid-20th century. The federal government also funds the
   National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities, which allocate grants
   to musicians and other artists, the Smithsonian Institution, which
   conducts research and educational programs, and the Corporation for
   Public Broadcasting, which funds non-profit and television
   broadcasters.

   Music has long affected the politics of the United States. Political
   parties and movements frequently use music and song to communicate
   their ideals and values, and to provide entertainment at political
   functions. The presidential campaign of William Henry Harrison was the
   first to greatly benefit from music, after which it became standard
   practice for major candidates to use songs to create public enthusiasm.
   In more recent decades, politicians often chose theme songs, some of
   which have become iconic; the song "Happy Days Are Here Again", for
   example, has been associated with the Democratic Party since the 1932
   campaign of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Since the 1950s, however, music has
   declined in importance in politics, replaced by televised campaigning
   with little or no music. Certain forms of music became more closely
   associated with political protest, especially in the 1960s. Gospel
   stars like Mahalia Jackson became important figures in the Civil Rights
   Movement, while the American folk revival helped spread the
   counterculture of the 1960s and opposition to the Vietnam War.

Music industry

   The American music industry includes a number of fields, ranging from
   record companies to radio stations and community orchestras. Total
   industry revenue is about $40 billion worldwide, and about $12 billion
   in the United States . Most of the world's major record companies are
   based in the United States; they are represented by the Recording
   Industry Association of America (RIAA). The major record companies
   produce material by artists that have signed to one of their record
   labels, a brand name often associated with a particular genre or record
   producer. Record companies may also promote and market their artists,
   through advertising, public performances and concerts, and television
   appearances. Record companies may be affiliated with other music media
   companies, which produce a product related to popular recorded music.
   These include television channels like MTV, magazines like Rolling
   Stone and radio stations. In recent years the music industry has been
   embroiled in turmoil over the rise of the Internet downloading of
   copyrighted music; many musicians and the RIAA have sought to punish
   fans who illegally download copyrighted music.

   Radio stations in the United States often broadcast popular music. Each
   music station has a format, or a category of songs to be played; these
   are generally similar to but not the same as ordinary generic
   classification. Many radio stations in the United States are locally
   owned and operated, and may offer an eclectic assortment of recordings;
   many other stations are owned by large companies like Clear Channel,
   and are generally based around a small, repetitive playlist. Commercial
   sales of recordings are tracked by Billboard magazine, which compiles a
   number of music charts for various fields of recorded music sales. The
   Billboard Hot 100 is the top pop music chart for singles, a recording
   consisting of a handful of songs; longer pop recordings are albums, and
   are tracked by the Billboard 200. Though recorded music is commonplace
   in American homes, many of the music industry's revenue comes from a
   small number of devotees; for example, 62% of album sales come from
   less than 25% of the music-buying audience. Total CD sales in the
   United States topped 705 million units sold in 2005, and singles sales
   just under three million .

   Though the major record companies dominate the American music industry,
   an independent music industry (indie music) does exist. Indie music is
   mostly based around local record labels with limited, if any, retail
   distribution outside a small region. Artists sometimes record for an
   indie label and gain enough acclaim to be signed to a major label;
   others choose to remain at an indie label for their entire careers.
   Indie music may be in styles generally similar to mainstream music, but
   is often inaccessible, unusual or otherwise unappealing to many people.
   Indie musicians often release some or all of their songs over the
   Internet for fans and others to download and listen. In addition to
   recording artists of many kinds, there are numerous fields of
   professional musicianship in the United States, many of whom rarely
   record, including community orchestras, wedding singers and bands,
   lounge singers and nightclub DJs. The American Federation of Musicians
   is the largest American labor union for professional musicians.
   However, only 15% of the Federation's members have steady music
   employment.

Music education

   Music is an important part of education in the United States, and is a
   part of most or all school systems in the country. Music education is
   generally mandatory in public elementary schools, and is an elective in
   later years. High schools generally offer classes in singing, mostly
   choral, and instrumentation in the form of a large school band. Music
   may also be a part of theatrical productions put on by a school's drama
   department. Many public and private schools have sponsored music clubs
   and groups, most commonly including the marching band that performs at
   high school sports games, a trend that began with the wide popularity
   of Sousa's bands in the 1880s and 1890s.

   Higher education in the field of music in the United States is mostly
   based around large universities, though there are important small music
   academies and conservatories. University music departments may sponsor
   bands ranging from marching bands that are an important part of
   collegiate sporting events, prominently featuring fight songs, to
   barbershop groups, glee clubs, and symphonies, and may additionally
   sponsor musical outreach programs, such as by bringing foreign
   performers to the area for concerts. Universities may also have a
   musicology department, and do research on many styles of music.

Musical scholarship

   The scholarly study of music in the United States includes work
   relating music to social class, racial, ethnic and religious identity,
   gender and sexuality, as well as studies of music history, musicology
   and other topics. The academic study of American music can be traced
   back to the late 19th century, when researchers like Alice Fletcher and
   Francis La Flesche studied the music of the Omaha peoples, working for
   the Bureau of American Ethnology and the Peabody Museum of Archaeology
   and Ethnology. In the 1890s and into the early 20th century,
   musicological recordings were made among indigenous, Hispanic,
   African-American and Anglo-American peoples of the United States. Many
   worked for the Library of Congress, first under the leadership of Oscar
   Sonneck, chief of the Library's Music Divisions. These researchers
   included Robert W. Gordon, founder of the Archive of American Folk
   Song, and John and Alan Lomax; Alan Lomax was the most prominent of
   several folk song collectors who helped to inspire the 20th century
   roots revival of American folk culture.

   Early 20th scholarly analysis of American music tended to interpret
   European-derived classical traditions as the most worthy of study, with
   the folk, religious and traditional musics of the common people
   denigrated as low-class and of little artistic or social worth.
   American music history was compared to the much longer historical
   record of European nations, and was found wanting, leading writers like
   the composer Arthur Farwell to ponder what sorts of musical traditions
   might arise from American culture, in his 1915 Music in America. In
   1930, John Tasker Howard's Our American Music became a standard
   analysis, focusing on largely on concert music composed in the United
   States. Since the analysis of musicologist Charles Seeger in the
   mid-20th century, American music history has often been described as
   intimately related to perceptions of race and ancestry. Under this
   view, the diverse racial and ethnic background of the United States has
   both promoted a sense of musical separation between the races, while
   still fostering constant acculturation, as elements of European,
   African and indigenous musics have shifted between fields. Gilbert
   Chase's America's Music, from the Pilgrims to the Present, was the
   first major work to examine the music of the entire United States, and
   recognize folk traditions as more culturally significant than music for
   the concert hall. Chase's analysis of a diverse American musical
   identity has remained the dominant view among the academic
   establishment. Until the 1960s and 70s, however, most musical scholars
   in the United States continued to study European music, limiting
   themselves only to certain fields of American music, especially
   European-derived classical and operatic styles, and sometimes African
   American jazz. More modern musicologists and ethnomusicologists have
   studied subjects ranging from the national musical identity to the
   individual styles and techniques of specific communities in a
   particular time of American history. Prominent recent studies of
   American music include Charles Hamm's Music in the New World from 1983,
   and Richard Crawford's America's Musical Life from 2001.

Holidays and festivals

   Music is an important part of several American holidays, especially
   playing a major part in the wintertime celebration of Christmas. Music
   of the holiday includes both religious songs like " O Holy Night" and
   secular songs like " Jingle Bells". Patriotic songs like the national
   anthem, " The Star-Spangled Banner", are a major part of Independence
   Day celebrations. Music also plays a role at many regional holidays
   that are not celebrated nationwide, most famously Mardi Gras, a music
   and dance parade and festival in New Orleans, Louisiana.

   The United States is home to numerous music festivals, which showcase
   styles ranging from the blues and jazz to indie rock and heavy metal.
   Some music festivals are strictly local in scope, including few or no
   performers with a national reputation, and are generally operated by
   local promoters. The large recording companies operate their own music
   festivals, such as Lollapalooza and Ozzfest, which draw huge crowds.
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