American Music History

Today’s music has evolved into something more than art. Music is an artistic form of auditory communication that incorporates vocals or instrumental tones. There are many theories as to when and where music originated but, many people believe that music began before man existed. Music can be interpreted in different ways for many people. As stated by Espie Estrella, “What may be music to one may not be so to another.” Historiographers pointed out that there are six periods of music and each period has a particular style. The different styles and periods of music has contributed to the music we listen to today. Music has had a huge impact on all cultures but, today’s music contains too much profanity for little children to listen to and in order for this not to impact little children, parents should only allow them to listen to the clean versions of the music that contains profanity.

How did music come about? Before music could be played everywhere, it could only be heard while it was being recorded. Recorded music has changed the way humans experience the medium. The history of recorded music began in 1877. It was the time when the inventor, Thomas Edison, recorded “Mary Had a Little Lamb” on a tinfoil cylinder phonograph.

There are various types of music in this world. One of them is Jazz, which is an American musical style developed in the late 1800s and early 1900s. It has grown to be one of the major genres in the world. Common instruments that are used to produce jazz are pianos, trumpets, saxophones, and etc. Jazz music originated among African communities in New Orleans, Louisiana. It combined elements from a variety of musical traditions. As the music evolved, it integrated influences and instrumentation from a variety of other music styles. The heart of jazz, the blues is a musical form now standardized as 12 forms. Another form of jazz, which is the earliest form, was ragtime. Ragtime is basically a piano