Music of the United States

American music is as diverse as the people who make up the population of the United States. Influences from around the world are found in American music. When immigrants came to America, they brought their music with them. Jazz, rock 'n' roll, blue grass, tejano, reggae, calypso, polka, and ragtime are just a few types. The music of Charles Ives and George Gerschwin mixes an American aspect to traditional European music. Sousa and his marches are a famously unique American type of music. Gospel blues are a blend of sacred texts and blues tunes.

Several types of music show the influence of African Americans. The blues, ragtime, and jazz are perhaps the most popular today. The blues are in patterns of 12 measures with divisions into three equal phrases. They deal with human problems. The melodies use scales with the 3rd, 5th, and 7th slightly lowered, also known as blue notes. Blues traits can be traced to the polyrhythms and call-response techniques used in traditional African music. Ragtime music was developed by pianists, and is so named because the right hand plays a syncopated rhythm while the left hand plays a steady rhythm. These elements of blues and ragtime music were important in the development of jazz, which emerged in New Orleans in the early 1900's. Originally, jazz was not notated. Improvisation was the main focus of early jazz and improvisation is still an important part of jazz. Louis Armstrong is one of the greatest jazz soloists ever.

Big B and music was popular in the 1930’s and 1940’s. Big Bands consisted of 10 or more musicians and played a variety of styles of swing music. Their music could be heard in ballrooms, hotels and on radios across the country. Some of the most famous Big Band musicians were Frank Sinatra, Glen Miller, Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, and Benny Goodman. Big Band music was meant for dancing.

Tejano music is Mexican American, with its roots in Texas. It is a combination of Spanish and country. Influences on tejano music from other styles of music are seen in ranchero and mariachi music. Traditionally, tejano was sung in Spanish, but English is also used. Mariachi bands consist of violins, trumpets, and Mexican guitars along with a vocalist.

Native American music is another form of music in the United States. Among the Pueblo, songs are monophonic, sung by groups and accompanied by a single drum. Their songs are a way for them to communicate with the spirits and their ancestors. Songs accompany all ceremonies. Drumming is important and represents the heartbeat of the deities. Rattles represent rain and the two combined create the tempo. The music is always sung and is almost always used as an accompaniment to dances.

The first truly American form of music is the psalmody of the Protestant Calvinist churches developed by the colonists. The unique method that they developed for notating their psalms developed out of efforts to teach entire congregations to read music. This technique came to be known as shape-note singing. The notes that were used in notation were in the shape of triangles, circles, squares and diamonds, with each shape representing a step in the solfege system. However, the solfege system used in shape-note singing is an older version than the one commonly used today. The solfege system that was used showed the distance between pitches, rather than the exact pitch.

Broadway musicals are centered in New York. The most famous composers are mainly Jewish Americans, and immigrants or sons of immigrants. Broadway musicals have many of the same characteristics as Romantic music. Musical expressions are based on thematic and motivic processes. The musicals use American popular songs and the style of popular songs. Elements of jazz and rock were often mixed into the songs. George Gerschwin, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Jerome Kern, and Stephen Sondheim are just some of the composers of Broadway musicals.