African American Music Research Paper

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Mainstreams of American music include African, Anglo-American, and European music. African music is a very important factor that produced the popular music of this world today. This is why people called African musical tradition ‘the sand in the oyster: from rags to rap’. The main features of this music are rhythms, instruments, and riff based melody. African music, the music of slaves, began in America after the arrival of the slaves. Due to the slavery, African American before Civil War couldn’t use drums and music instruments in America except for New Orleans, and a few other Latin countries like Brazil and Cuba. The reason for why drums were prohibited is the slave owners misunderstood that these instruments were used to communicate among…show more content…
This music originally was the music of Appalachian Mountains and rural South. In other name, it is the country music; the one that Taylor always sings. Anglo-American music began since the settlement of the people from England, Ireland, and Scotland in Pennsylvania and Southern end. Even though those people lived in America, however they still kept their cultures in their own ways. Anglo-music focused on the melody. This melody is a moderately fast tempo and a clear danceable. It includes two different versions: verse and chorus. European music was one of the commons between America and Europe during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It was the American’s mainstream on 1800s and focused on the use of harmony. European music includes classical music, social dancing, patriotic music, hymns and church music. Classical music is an important element that helps producing the popular music of the world today. Ragtime is a syncretism of European and Afro-American music. It began after Civil War. Ragtime is also called as the black music and the first rags were published in the 1890s. It was written out for people to play on piano and was used for dancing. Ragtime is the music of enduring value and appeal and is one of the factors that contribute producing the modern era in popular music. The main points of ragtime are it has the melodies of black folk music, the rhythm, and the harmonies of a

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