L'attirail

You will discover multitudes of music genres in today’s musical world. Country music is just one of my favorites and so I thought I would provide a little bit of country history to the forefront. If you don’t know a great deal about country music suffice it to say that every country songs tell a story. It has been said most of these songs are about our lives, who we are and where we began. Country music made a couple of the most notable selling solo musical artists ever in the USA. Elvis Presley’s early career was certainly country hillbilly music and then he went on to become one of the defining figures in the birth of Rock n Roll. Garth Brooks is the second bestselling solo artist in United States history and has a popular show in Las Vegas. That’s quite a remarkable start. Going back in history, however, we find that Country music extends back to the early 1920′s in America and has its roots in classic folk music, Celtic music, Blues, Bluegrass and Gospel music. Early country music was termed “Hillbilly” music but the verbiage changed to Country Music in the early 1940′s. In its beginnings, Country music was pure American; the country music crowd was American, its artists were American and its tone was American.  Read more...

It may seem to be a daunting task to trace back the history of rap music and history of bossa nova, though you can see one similarity—informal music associated with highly informal dance style. As far as origin of rap music is concerned most people agree that it is Afro-American and Latino Street culture of New York City. Not only this city but the surrounding areas as well that have influence of African people and their culture. 

If we see it carefully, then we will definitely notice that rap music rhyming poetry combined with heavy drum beats and music usually sung at higher pitches. Most of the time rap music is associated with chorus sung by another performer in their original traditional pop, rhythm and blues. Though, rap music was primarily an American music style with African influence over music and lyrics, but recently it has been spread evenly to almost entire world.

There is hardly any country or nation, where rap music can not be seen in some form or other. Perhaps this is one of the most sought after music styles amongst the youngsters. However, when it comes to trace back the history then it is believed that hip hop and rap music started in the early 70s and during the late 70s and early 80s it gained much popularity not in America but throughout the world.  Read more...

When I first started studying the history of music, I did not know what I was getting into. I had a notion that music history was somewhat of a trivial pursuit…

Honestly, I only followed my history of classical music course because I needed the credits. I am sure some of you out there can relate to that. I did not know how fully interesting music history could be. You see, in our culture many of us do not really study to comprehend music. For much of the world, music is a language, but for us it is a thing that we consumed passively.

When I started to study about the history of Western music, however, it changed all that for me. I have had some experience using musical instruments, but I have never mastered one enough to really comprehend what music is all about. This class showed me.

When a lot of us think about the history of music, it means the history of rock music. We presume that the history is plain because the music is plain. In fact, neither is the case. The history of music, whether you’re talking about classical music, rock music, jazz music, or any other kind, is always complex. New chord structures are set up carrying with them new forms of understanding humanity. New rhythmic patterns are established, carrying with them new methods of understanding history. And music shows all of it.  Read more...

I remember when I started to study the history of music, I did not realize what I was getting into. I had a notion that music history was like a trivial pursuit. Honestly, I only took my history of classical music class because I needed the credits. I did not realize how fully interesting music history is. You see, in our culture a lot of us do not truly study to comprehend music. For much of the world, music is a language, but for us it is something that we consumed passively. When I began to study about the history of Western music, though, it changed all that for me. I have had some experience playing musical instruments, but I have never mastered one enough to really understand what music is all about. This class showed me.

When a lot of us think about the music history, we think of the history of rock music. We suppose that the history is plain because the music is plain. Actually, neither is the case. The history of music, whether you mean classical music, rock music, jazz music, or any other kind, is always complex. New chord structures are set up carrying with them new ways of comprehending humanity. New rhythmic patterns are introduced, bringing with them new ways of understanding time. And music shows all of it.

 Read more...

No one is certain when the first musical instruments were made. It’s possible that they predate language in human cultural development, but I’ll leave that argument to the anthropologists. What is sure is that there is a deep, ancient desire within people to express themselves using sound. Our voices were almost certainly used for more than communication. Somehow that was not enough. Our ancestors pushed creative sound further.

The first instruments were probably percussive because they are the simplest to make. Clapping hands or striking flint on flint, it’s easy to imagine that this would be our earliest attempts to make our own rhythm, our own pulse, sent out into the world and echoed back. What likely followed were simple mallets and skins stretched on bowls. What makes these tools so distinct is that they had no other purpose than create a controlled, predictable sound. Our modern drums are a descendant of this type of early instrument.

Most likely wind instruments came next. These could have been created relatively easily with a hollowed out plant stem or animal horn to create a simple flute or horn. This innovation gave a greater range of notes and pitches. Another feature is that it uses breathing to generate and control the sonic effects, more closely resembling our vocal chords. Further technical advancements in smelting and metal working gave us instruments with more sound making precision and exceptional durability. Modern trumpets and saxophones are closely related to these early instruments.  Read more...