Evolution Of Music Research Paper

Black and white teenagers listen alike to rock music on the radio and attended clubs to hear it, together. Rock ‘n’ Roll’s roots helped accustom white teens to black music through the lenses of white, male vocalists—a normalcy to ground these drastic changes in race relations. The stars, like Elvis Presley—know for his sexual and riveting performances—began to blur the line between different forms of music and more importantly, black and white music.3 Rock ‘n’ Roll music was a blend of these two different cultures, demonstrating the enormous consumer power of this emerging youth culture and giving it the power to unite an entire

​ Rock n roll came from the mix of country and rhythm and blues. The origins of rock n roll can be traced back to when the great migration brought African Americans to the U.S. with them they brought a different sound for music. After the great migration, new genres of music began to become very popular in the late 1920’s and 1930’s. These genres of music influenced the development of rock n roll such as blues, boogie-woogie, jump blues, jazz, and gospel music “Rock n Roll developed from blues and country so no one invented rock n roll” ( Tim Janis) Rock n roll was definitely influenced by African American roots. The African music tradition of storytelling using music of African origins was a big influence on the creation of blues and other genres. These genres of music soon developed into rhythm and blues. Later

The Blues also became a hit in the 1920s after Mamie Smith recorded “Crazy Blues” and it grew into a huge part of the Jazz Industry. African Americans were given credit for the creation of the Blues industry of music as well. Bessie Smith was known as the “most famous of the 1920s Blues singers.”

How did Blues Influence Rock and Roll? When we think of rock and roll, we think electric guitars, amplified sounds. Blues music is one of the most influential characteristics that gave birth to rock and roll. Beginning in the Mississippi region with African slave work songs and expanding to areas of Chicago and Dallas, blues went on to inspire rock legends such as: the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and Jimi Hendrix.

Looking back at the history of Blues music, one can see the influence of the African-American community, tradition, and culture very apparent in it. The Blues music genre came into being from the songs

Different from other forms of music, blues was only recorded by memory and passed down through generations through live performances. The blues began in the North Mississippi Delta post Civil War times. It was heavily influenced by African roots, field hollers, ballads, church music and rhythmic dance tunes called jump-ups. This eventually developed into music that was set up in a call-and- response way so that the singer would sing a line and he would then respond with his guitar.

A single source of blues music cannot be traced, but Ma Rainey is rightfully credited with introducing it to the world. Hence the reason she was dubbed as “The Mother of the Blues”. During an interview in the 1930s, Ma told musicologist John Work, that she heard what would be called blues, for the first time around 1902. She was in a small town in Missouri working a show at the time, and one morning a local girl came into the tent singing about a man whom had left her. This new style of soulful music drew in Ma Rainey so much she later had the girl teach her the song. Rainey performed the song as an encore in a show soon after, earning a special place in the show, and marking the start of her career (Jas Obrecht Archive).

On the other hand, Blues were basically from work songs of African Americans slaves at the time. “It is a native American music, the product of the black man in this country, or, to put it more exactly the way I have come to think about it, blues could not exist if the African captives had not become American captives”(pp.17), said Jones and Baraka. In Jazz – A History, Frank Tirro wisely analyzes and explains the relationship between the unique background and

     The Blues musical move was prominent during the 1920s and '30s, a time known as the Harlem Renaissance. Blues music characteristically told the story of

Blues music was described as an African folk music harmonized with Western chords. It was the main influence of the development of rock and roll and basically every other sub-genre of rock and roll. Its rhythm comes from African traditions. A variety of the melodies found in this genre of music come from slave work songs, and the main source of music that was very influential to it was Southern religious music.

A few researchers portray the advancement of blues music in the early 1900s as a move from group performance to individualized performance. They contend that the advancement of the blues is related with the relatively recently gained freedom of the oppressed African Americans. Blues has developed from the unaccompanied vocal music and oral customs of slaves imported from West Africa and rural blacks into a wide range of styles. As one can see, blues was a product of both the African American culture combined with the newfound freedom that blacks found in America. Here, culture influenced music first. But, blues did have an impact on culture as we will examine.

The music styles of Jazz and Blues are both considered to be great American musical art forms (Covach, 2015). These styles are also two very important “roots” of music and have evolved from the late 19th century and early 20th century to lead to the development of Rock and Roll. Jazz and Blues both originated from African-American communities when slaves were brought over to North America from Africa (Schuller, 1986). As time passed and the culture of America was constantly changing, so was the music of that time period. The country was starting to recover from slavery and many Caucasians and African Americans were beginning to emerge in the music scene together. From the Blues era, we get artists like B.B.

In contrast, Blues music originated from southern Mississippi and was first recorded in the 1920s. Blues music is further differentiated from Jazz as it was originally played as a solo using a slide guitar. This is not the case today as it has been modified and adapted by practising artists and utilises complex bands.

Though the blues were developed in the rural southern United States, toward the end of the 19th century, and found a wider audience in the 1940s as blacks migrated to urban areas. Jazz music has dozens of variations and also utilizes elements from other genres. Albeit the fact that it is

2.      The blues first emerged as a distinct type of music in the late-1800s. Spirituals, work songs, seculars, field hollers and arhoolies all had some form of influence on the blues. Early blues were a curious mixture of African cross-rhythms and vocal techniques, Anglo-American melodies and thematic material from fables and folktales, and tales of personal experience on