Georgios P: What did American folks listen at the beginning of the 20th century?
What did white Americans listen at the beginning of the 20th century. I know for sure that they wouldn’t listen to jazz i think it was mostly popular to the black folks.
Answers and Views:
Answer by jon p
ragtime, ballads, classical music, slapping two rocks together…
Stephen Foster was still one of the most popular for singable songs. He had several contemporaries and successors who are less well known.
Gilbert & Sullivan had reached the US by then and their songs and performances of their operas were wide spread.
John Phillips Sousa was the most popular march composer and the classical composers of other eras were widely played. Although it was beyond the ability of most communities to field a full orchestra, chamber music written for two or four instruments and piano music was accessible to all. Nearly every well to do family had a child taking music lessons whether they wanted to or not.
Jazz owes a lot to kids who learned by fooling around without formal instruction. Most of them couldn’t afford a lot of sheet music (if they knew how to read it) so they improvised and came up with a totally new sound.
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