Music Genres

African American music is divided into many subgroups that led to another style, which allowed empowerment. Such styles as spiritual, blues, jazz, r&b, and hip hop created an incredible history.

This week I learned a lot about music and the different genres. The first genre I learned about was Motown. The Motown Sound is a style of soul music with original characteristics, including tambourine, drums, bass instrumentation, a distinctive melodical and chord structure, and a "call and response" singing style originating in gospel. The second genre I leaned about was Blues. Blues is a genre originated by African Americans in the South of the United States around the late 19th century. This genre emerged from roots in African musical traditions. Blues included spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, etc. The third genre, which I found most interesting and amusing was Psychedelic. Psychedelic music was influenced by the 1960s psychedelic culture, a subculture of people who used drugs such as LSD, mushrooms and DMT to experience visual and auditory hallucinations and altered states of

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

The birth of R&B was created by African American in the early 1960’s from Soul music, Jazz, Gospel, Pop music and Blues as time went on R&B was born. In its earlier days, R&B Music was all about racial issues, and artists gave a lot of importance to the style and arrangement, which included different instruments and rhythms to produce different types of sounds. The result was live music that had catchy lyrics and was widely used in dance

Music is an important aspect of every society. Music can tell stories, release emotions, build bridges and break down barriers, but above all music is entertaining. There are various forms of music but not many have as rich a history as gospel music. The importance of gospel music has been relevant in American music for more than a century and its importance to society is still relevant to this day (See Appendix A). Gospel music helped slaves escape to freedom and paved the way for other styles of music. It promotes a spirit of hope and provided an outlet to worship God. So how exactly has Gospel music impacted today’s society?

Gospel music emerged during the twentieth century following the Great Migration of African American towards the north. Influenced by blues gospel music is a religious genre. Gospel music is used during religious practices, ceremonial purposes, pleasure and entertainment. During the Great Migration, two denominations followed by African Americans, Black Baptist and Methodists. The congregations were small and they utilized storefronts for worship. Smaller congregations allowed them to connect with their pastor and have better understanding of the sermon provided. Others preferred larger congregations that used an emotive style of worship known as the shouting churches, they were highly energized. (Burnim & Maultsby, 2015)

Music is such a beautiful creation, the way the melody, rhythm, tempo, all mix together to become a masterpiece. One specific genre of music, the blues, was heavily popular in the early 20th century. The blues is a tradition-oriented music style from the rural Southern African-American origin (“Jazz in America”, n.d. ). It usually had secular content, which is disparate from how it was when it first began. Blues music originated in plantations, where slaves sung, using it as a mental escape method from their oppression. Even though it started off in a simple way, it eventually turned into a serious entertainment. Bessie Smith and Billie Holliday, two well-known blues female singers, became hit sensations.

The slave era brought together many African Americans who were from all different backgrounds and spoke different languages so when they were forced to work together in the plantations it was as if, they had a common communication by singing the slave shouts together. Slaves were not always allowed to speak however, they could sing and together this was harmony that is found in jazz and Spirituals. The oppression from the slave shouts transferred over to the early blues and Spirituals. The rhythm is also heard from early on in the slave shouts. In the slave era when they were slave shouting or ring shouts singing together there was a rhythm they had going or a pulse you could hear with their signing. It was an amazing way of communication

Thus the similarity between ragtime and blues is significant but there are numerous differences between the two music styles. First, their origin was different. Even though they both had African influence as mentioned, ragtime was more strongly influenced by European music style, and blues was heavily African music style. According to Durk Sutro in his book Jazz for Dummies, “Ragtime was European-influenced, in the sense that it was composed, not improvised, and featured carefully crafted melodies and harmonies…ragtime could sound concisely European” (ch.5). Although European-influenced, there is some African influence such as rhythm and African banjo music as mentioned during the lecture. Ragtime rhythm was “the rhythms of the black dancers who used their heels to make drum sounds, or to that of the black church singers who could vary the rhythms of a Christian hymn so much that a white Christian could not even recognize it”(Tirro, pp.37).

American Gospel music is founded in the African American church. It has a deep culture in America. It is used as an outlet for people who have been oppressed, beaten down, and persecuted. Gospel music acts as a source of inspiration for those who had all but given up. It speaks of the various trials and struggles they’ve undergone, and how they were able to overcome. Is also used as a form of praise and worship, giving thanks to the Lord. The term “gospel” means “the good news.” Gospel music is used to tell the good news of the salvation people have received from the Lord, rescuing them from all of the trials and struggles of the world. Gospel music has been influenced by genres such as jazz and blues. It is a combination of many different forms of music, producing a new and unique type of sound.

Throughout the history of this country, the music of African-Americans has remained a strong influence upon our society and culture. Beginning with the music carried over from Africa with the slaves, up until now, with the new styles created by urban youth today, African-Americans have retained certain elements within their music which makes it unique from any other musical form. Some of the musical forms which were created from, and/or were strongly influenced by afro-centric musical characteristics are: Hymnals, Gospel, Spirituals, Ragtime, the blues, and R&B. While many of these musical forms are still popular today amongst Blacks and Non-Blacks, jazz and hip-hop are arguably the two most widespread and

Rhythm and blues, also known today as “R & B”, has been one of the most influential genres of music within the African American Culture, and has evolved over many decades in style and sound. Emerging in the late 1940's rhythm and blues, sometimes called jump blues, became dominant black popular music during and after WWII. Rhythm and blues artists often sung about love, relationships, life troubles, and sometimes focused on segregation and race struggles. Rhythm and blues helped embody what was unique about black American culture and validate it as something distinctive and valuable.

For centuries, Gospel music has influenced and promoted African-American social, moral and ethical values, playing an imperative role in modelling their past and future. Originating from the hardships of slavery and the strength of Christian worship, Gospel music has adapted to musical tastes through the development of a number of sub-genres, while retaining its moral and spiritual framework. Throughout its musical history, Gospel music has had a profound and predominant influence on its devotees and followers. During the turbulent years of the American Civil Rights Movement, Gospel music played a vital role in building the foundations of stability and

As the popularity of black artist started to build, especially in America, new variations of gospel and R&B developed; forming soul and funk. Were in the past, black musicians were ignored by the record companies, because they were not part of the music business model.

One cannot speak about music especially in America with referencing Jazz or the Blues. The two genres of music are synonymous with the American music scene originating from Southern America. Their similar point of origin has caused much confusion in distinguishing the two mainly due to the way today’s artists’ music crossover. Both Jazz and Blues, are two independent genres that formed concurrently in the 20th century and were produced at the same time.