Phonograph
The phonograph, invented by Thomas Edison, made it possible for people to record sounds and replay them for anyone hear. Because of this invention, people tried to make talking dolls, which were originally a disaster. It changed the way people were able to listen to music.
Edison was not the first person to come up with this idea. In April 1877, Frenchman Charles Cros described an invention that could record and replay sounds. Just months later, in July 1877, Edison went to patent the machine in Britain. The patent was for a sound recording and replaying that sound.
While waiting for the patent, John Krusei, Edison’s assistant, created a device that looked like the phonautograph, a machine that could record sound. The phonograph went a step further, being able to then reproduce that sound. The phonograph had a handle and a horn, and to record sound, one would turn the handle and speak into the horn. It recorded the noise by making spiral indentations on the tinfoil. If the stylus was placed back into the groove where the recording began and the handle was turned, the sound would be replayed.
Edison asked for about 600 tinfoil phonographs to be made. The phonograph did not gain popularity until about ten years later. Though originally designed as an office dictation machine, people soon began to use it for amusement, playing music in arcades. Edison then began to make improvements to his invention so that there could be a cheap home record player.
"History of Phonograph Record Technology - Introduction of the Graphophone." The History of Sound Recording Technology. Web. 03 Jan. 2010.
Yankee Doodle
A popular American song, Yankee Doodle is still well known today. Today, however, it is a children’s song. The song was known all around the colonies.
Yankee Doodle was composed during the French and Indian War. New England colonists joined Braddock’s troops at Niagara, and were the opposite of the flawless British force. The colonists, on the other hand, wore buckskins and furs and were not well organized. A British army surgeon, Dr. Richard Schuckburg, wrote the song making fun of the colonists living in the 1750s. Some surmise it to be a takeoff of the nursery rhyme Lucy Locket. Upon hearing the song, the colonists made the song theirs. When the colonists won the war at Yorktown, they played Yankee Doodle. Many different versions of the song arose, not all of them kind. Some made fun of George Washington and other officers. It is believed that there are at least 190 verses of Yankee Doodle.
This song was very popular. It is widely known even today, proving that it is a classic song that was extremely important to the colonists when they were fighting the war. Yankee Doodle probably lifted the troops’ morale, especially since they probably came up with the verses themselves. Yankee Doodle was a very important song to the 18th century and the Revolutionary War, and is still popular among children today.
Old-Time Music
Old-time music is the type of music traditional to the Southern Appalachian Mountains. It was valuable to the area, but it was not widespread, since the radio and records had not yet been invented. However, in the 1960s brought back the folk music. Now, there are not many fans of this type of music, but it is still important to music’s history.
Old-time music was inspired by the fiddle music from the British Isles and black musicians’ influences, both free and enslaved. It really combined the banjo and the fiddle, from Africa and Europe, respectively. Old-time music was for all occasions: dancing, parlors, and ballads. However, there were never any concerts.
Good fiddlers were highly respected in town. The banjo adapted in American cities before the Civil War. This war helped to spread banjos and minstrel tunes popular in the Appalachian Mountains. The guitar came later, but was used in old-time music once it was invented.
Every state, region, and county had a very distinct style. Since there were no recordings or radio at this time, songs were passed down orally; only people who lived near each other knew those songs. Old-time music was vital to the Appalachian Mountains, and is a perfect example of the combining of cultures in American music.
"Old-Time Music." Welcome to my Web Site. Web. 03 Jan. 2010.
Scott Joplin
Scott Joplin was the “King of Ragtime” music. His music was very popular during his time. He was an extremely talented artist who persevered in his music despite the fact that he was black. His music was in the movie The Sting, and Joplin won a Pulitzer Prize for his opera Treemonisha. Sadly, both of these occurrences happened after his death in 1917.
Scott Joplin grew up in Texarkana, Texas. At only seven years old, he was already showing his proficiency for music, beginning on the banjo and continuing on to master the piano. He then moved to St. Louis and combined European classical music with African harmony and rhythm to form ragtime music. This was his specialty. He joined with seven other people to form his Texas Medley Quartette. The group became popular and would tour around the country, as far east as Syracuse, New York.
Joplin’s most popular compositions were Maple Leaf Rag and The Entertainer. By 1911, he had composed about 60 pieces of music. His opera, Treemonisha, was the first time an African American had composed a grand opera. It failed at first, but then went on to win a Pulitzer Prize. Today, Joplin is respected as a musician, and was the first black man to write a grand opera.
"Scott Joplin (1868-1917)." Lone Star Junction: A Texas and Texas History Resource. Web. 03 Jan. 2010.
The Pirates of Penzance
The Pirates of Penzance was an opera written by Gilbert, Sullivan, and Carte. It was an immediate hit among audiences in the United States. Sullivan described it as, “a great success, for it is exquisitely funny, and the music is strikingly tuneful and catching.” Today, it is “one of the most popular and enduring works of musical theatre.”
Before The Pirates of Penzance, H.M.S. Pinafore had many unauthorized productions. Gilbert, Sullivan, and Carte were angry about this, so they decided to have official presentations of the following opera. The premiere of The Pirates of Penzance took place on December 31, 1879 at the Fifth Avenue Theater in New York. Sullivan conducted the performance. To copyright the opera in England, one performance was given in the Royal Bijou Theatre in Paignton, England. It ran successfully for more than three months in New York.
The Pirates of Penzance is about a man named Frederic who was apprenticed to some pirates as a boy. His nurse could not hear well, so she thought his father said “pirates,” not “pilots.” He turns 21, and cannot wait to return to civility on the mainland. However, he was born on leap day, so he is not free until his 21st birthday. This opera was extremely popular in the United States, and is still well known today.
"The Pirates of Penzance by W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan." Boise State University Department of Mathematics. Web. 03 Jan. 2010.
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