Chapter One

Music in Society

Early Music

People have created music to express themselves since the beginning of human societies.

Oldest known instrument is a fragment of a bone flute almost 43,000 years old.

Some scientists speculate that music predated speech.

Diversity of Musical Styles

Music reflects the culture it is from

Music is passed down through an

apprenticeship system

Music is a reflection of social contexts

Diversity of Musical Styles

The diverse musical styles world wide are shaped by Social conditions Geographic conditions Political conditions Group philosophies

Language of Music

Music communicates that which cannot be put into words

Music, like the other arts, allows us to create works that reflect those feelings, thoughts, ideas, and emotions that words can’t capture

Group or Individual?

FormalRock Concert

Symphony ConcertReligious Ceremony

InformalClub or Bar

Street CornerLiving Room

Musical Setting

•CeremonialReligiousPoliticalSocial

•UtilitarianWork SongsMotivational MusicBackground Music

•ArtArtistic ExpressionEntertainment Music

Three Purposes of Music

Ceremonial Music

Weddings Church/ synagogue/ temple/

mosque services Inaugurations Graduations Funerals

Utilitarian Music

Sea Chanteys Used to coordinate movement as sailors

raised and lowered the sails.

“Whiskey Is the Life of Man”

Even Rhythm

Simple Melody

Call and Response

Work Songs

Ghana Postal Workers

What sounds do you hear?

•Music for “Its Own Sake”

•Music that “is”NOT music that “does”

•Classical, jazz, fusion, outsider, etc.

Art Music

The Shakers

The Shakers began as a small band of dissenting Protestants, led by Ann Lee. They became known as the "Shaking Quakers" because when they bore witness, their bodies shook and moved. In 1774, Mother Ann and her followers left England and emigrated to New York; from there, the movement spread and flourished throughout the northeast and as far west as Kentucky and Ohio. A community of Believers still lives, committed to the Shaker life, at Sabbathday Lake, Maine.

The Shakers

For the Shakers, good design rested solely upon utility. "That which in itself has the highest use, possesses the greatest beauty"- this Shaker adage sums up their craftsmen's attitude nearly a century before Chicago architect Louis Sullivan voiced the same concept-“form follows function."

The Shakers

Shaker simplicity is nowhere more evident than in chair design. Outwardly straightforward, each element of the design was carefully considered for greatest efficiency in use. Shaker chairs were famous for being light in weight yet sturdy. Because they were light they could be hung on the walls while the floors were being cleaned; their sturdiness provided durability over many years.

The Shakers

The trestle table had its ancestry in early European styles. Shakers transformed the heavy, ornate style by narrowing and lightening the trestle ends to dimensions still sufficient for rigidity and strength. The variation they introduced succeeds in combining beauty and utility.

The Shakers

The Shakers understood that there was no need to dress up a table with carved feet or inlay. To do its job, the table only needed legs and a top, intelligently designed and sturdily constructed. Most designers and furniture historians agree that the Shaker style was the predecessor of the modern furniture movement.

The Shakers

Like their highly-prized crafts, their music was the outward expression of their faith, celebrating their ideals of simplicity and love. These are melodies born directly of the Shakers’ spiritual life, yet deeply rooted in the Anglo-American folk tradition.

Here is a folk instrument version of “Simple Gifts.”

The Shakers

The Quick Dance was introduced into Shaker worship in 1811 and lasted into the 1870s. The music was lively, and verses replaced the vocables. Here is an instrumental version of a Quick Dance (normally sung when performed by Shakers).

• Born in Brooklyn, New York

• First American Student of Nadia Boulanger, Fontainebleau School, Paris

• Important Works from “American Period”

RodeoBilly the KidOld American Songs12 Poems of Emily DickinsonFanfare for the Common Man

Aaron Copland (1900-1990)

• Renaissance Dance Pairs Early use of word meant a group of dance pieces usually in pairs --Tanz and Nachtanz

•The Baroque Suite 4 or 5 movements- Bach Cello Suites

•Dramatic Suite An arrangement of excerpts from a larger dramatic work--Nutcracker Suite; Appalachian Spring

•Independent Suite A group of musically non-related movements--The Planets; Grand Canyon Suite; Suite Thursday

The Suite

•PremiereLibrary of Congress October 30, 1944 13 Instruments

•New York Music CriticsCircle Award 1944-1945 Season

•Organized into a suite called Appalachian Spring

Appalachian Spring, Ballet for Martha

CeremonialShaker Hymn

UtilitarianAppalachian Spring: Ballet for Martha

ArtSuite from Appalachian Spring

“Simple Gifts”

Music That Has Changed Function